The Rebel Palate

I have a love-hate relationship with marketing gimmicks, which sheds some light on how my brain works.   (Click here to jump to the recommended song, Santa Claus is Back in Town by Elvis Presley!) Howdy rebels. This is one of many times of year when we're bombarded by cheesy, tacky and sometimes slimy advertising. As a rebel, I don’t like corporate tomfoolery. I don’t like it when companies try to make you want something you never thought to buy. Especially when it’s supposed to “solve” an incredibly minor inconvenience that affects all humans for simply existing. I see things like this every time I walk into a store. Especially the “aisle of shame” at Aldi and pretty much all of Walmart. Unnecessary products with some “revolutionary new feature” that’s meant to make it better or easier or some other “er”. Honestly I hate the implication that someone’s actually buying those things instead of living their everyday lives th

It's officially December, but not everybody likes Christmas tunes. That doesn't mean you can't listen to winter music! Here's my ten cents in eight songs. Happy December, Rebels. Do you hate Christmas songs, or know someone who does? Are you throwing a religiously inclusive holiday party? Here are eight songs you can play for Christmas that technically don’t mention Christmas. I can imagine there are many lists like these, so I’ve given myself some rules: 1. I must write at least 100 words about each entry. Super meta, but if there’s nothing to say I won’t try to say it. This prevents me from throwing up a bunch of links and calling it a day, and means I have to get creative in both my descriptions and song choices. 2. If they’re non-lyrical, they shouldn’t be covers of lyrical Christmas songs or belong in a Christmas-themed setting. For example, Brian Setzer Orchestra’s Carol of The Bells is instrumental, but a cover of a song with Christmas lyrics. Cocoa from

Turns out acorns aren't just for squirrels. They're for humans, too- and they tase pretty darn good in biscotti. Weird, natural AND obscure! (Click here to jump to the recommended song, Brains by Aurelio Voltaire!) Howdy, rebels! Sorry for the embarrassingly short post on Thursday . I must take full responsibility for the crappy way I handled it. I didn't think the subject matter would be an absolute nothing sandwich, and I'd already "promised" to write something about maple syrup being out-of-season . So yes, apologies. Can't say it'll never happen again because I'm in the Early Installment Weirdness phase. I'm sure one day I'll regret 11 out of 10 of these posts. Anyway! Every fall I used to make acorn bread. My family hated it, but they were too nice to say so and ignored it instead, making me (read: our chickens) eat the rest. My dad said it "tasted honest", which I take as a compliment, but

(Click here to jump to the recommended song, Bone Wagon by Peter McConnell!) Dandelions! You may hate them, but add spices and you've got yourself a nice cup of tea that's perfect for fall. Read this to find out how! Howdy, rebels! We're well into October. The leaves are changing into beautiful, warm colors, the air is crisp and my white girl instinct has been activated. I'm not a fan of pumpkin spice lattes, or any lattes for that matter, but this is the time when my cravings for chai-analogous spices kick in. It just so happens that I make a dandelion root tea using such spices! Let me show you how. First, a word of warning: Dandelion sap is a natural form of latex, so use dandelions at your own risk. I advise against using it if you're allergic to latex. If you're not sure, you may want to rub a broken stem on an inconspicuous area of your skin. You really should ask your doctor, though. I don't want to be responsible if you break out into a rash or g

I've been confused about this for four years: WHY is maple syrup a fall flavor?! It's harvested in early spring! Well, I SORT of get an answer. (Click here to jump to the recommended song, Minnie The Moocher by Cab Calloway!) Howdy, rebels! Today I set out to answer a question nobody asked. In 2017, I noticed sudden mentions of maple syrup as a fall flavor. This confused the crap outta me. "But maple syrup is for early spring! Why is it a fall thing all of a sudden?" I asked. Now that this blog exists, I set out to find the answer, which turned out to be a lot of answers. Mostly guesses. We'll get to that. Prior to any research, I assumed it was something to do with location and availability. Since maple syrup is high in sugar, it keeps well and is available year-round. Perhaps leaf peepers come up here and buy maple syrup in fall, then associate the flavor with the season. I'm not satisfied with that answer

It's October, and you know what that means: time to celebrate all things wacky, wild, and WEIRD! No tricks- this is gonna be a treat! (Click here to jump to the recommended song, the Moville Mysteries Theme Song by Jonathan Evans and George Tevlin!)    Howdy, Rebels!   It's October, and you know what that means: Spooky time! It's time to kick off The Month Of The Weird!  WHAT IS "THE WEIRD"?    "The Weird" is the name I've given to all things B-horror. Think Boris Karloff movies, horror pulp novels, weird monster art- anything campy, occult-themed and just plain WEIRD!   Though not a subculture in itself, The Weird often runs alongside rebellious subcultures like rockabilly, psychobilly and goth. And during October, I'm all about that. Here are some visual examples to give you the general vibe:   Photo credit: 3btheaterposterarchive.wordpress.com Photo credit: wwcomics.com   Photo credit: Mike Nelson via

A Decent Cup of Tea   A tea-related post from me? Way overdue. Here I review a book where some Irish guy teaches us how not to suck at brewing tea. (Click here to jump to the recommended song, A Decent Cup of Tea by Frank Turner!) Howdy, rebels! In my last post , I mentioned that tea is the "food-related item I know most about". A friend suggested that I talk about tea, but I didn't know what to say about it until now.   This is because I don't like repeating readily available information. I could drop some tea knowledge on the Rebel Palate, but I would feel dishonest knowing there are already so many better sources . This doesn't mean I can't talk about tea at all, though- I can talk about a book about tea.   I've noticed a lack of "proper" reviews for A Decent Cup of Tea by Malachi McCormick. It's popular among tea lovers, but not in the wider scope, so I thought I would post about it here. The book contains history, advice

Geeking out is fun, but everyone must start somewhere. It can be intimidating to get into the culture of food. Here are five tips to get you started. (Click here to jump to the recommended song, Savoy Brownie by Joe McDermott!) You may have met at least one nerd over your lifetime. This nerd is super knowledgeable about a specific food or beverage. Though they seem crazy, you're secretly jealous of how much they know about this specific thing. You wonder, "how does anyone get into that thing?" You start doing research, but everything you find assumes you know about it to begin with, or there's all this jargon you don't understand. Maybe there's so much variety you don't know where to start. I've been both the nerd and the non-nerd many times, and I'm here to tell you from experience how I've overcome that beginner's terror. #1. KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO LEARN. You want to learn about a food, but what specifically about it? The histo

Happy Labor Day, rebels. In the first part, I found out not only are Biggy Iggy and Chewy Louie still around, they’re at Richmond Market of Richmond, Vermont. (Click here to jump to the recommended song, "The Swag" by Link Wray and his Ray Men!) Happy Labor Day, rebels. In the first part, I found out not only are Biggy Iggy and Chewy Louie still around, they’re at Richmond Market of Richmond, Vermont. And that using Google instead of DuckDuckGo and just letting the store’s website load would have gotten me that information much faster. The Biggy Iggy is a whopping seven ounce, 530 calorie ice cream sandwich that brags about its “premium vanilla ice cream” between two chocolate-chip cookies that stay chewy right out of the freezer. They also get a lot of hype by the people who have had them before. According to the Flash Microsite, one convenience store cashier said “Biggy Iggies sell like flapjacks on a cold morning in Wisconsin.” The people of Massachusetts