‘Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!’ (KFC's Christmas in Japan!)
‘Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!’: Japan's tradition of KFC for Christmas Dinner.
I love Christmas. A lot.
Basically, from the moment the Thanksgiving turkey is divided up into meat for hot browns and bones for stock, I'm all about twinkly lights and cheering on Dreamy Prime Minster Hugh Grant as he tells off the creepiest of American Presidents, Billy Bob Thornton. The entire month of December, I'm high on bourbon balls and tinsel. Today, I learned a factoid that takes my Christmas obsession to the next level.
Did y'all know that EATING KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN IS A CHRISTMAS TRADITION IN JAPAN?
Let's say that again: EATING KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN IS A CHRISTMAS TRADITION IN JAPAN. Sorry to shout, but this makes me unbelievably happy.
It seems that, in 1974, Kentucky Fried Chicken's Japanese Operations (the chain is known simply as "Kentucky" in Japan) was struggling, one million yen in debt, when they unveiled a simple advertising strategy: ‘Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!’ ("Kentucky for Christmas!"). Now, forty years later, many Japanese people pre-order a catered KFC meal to celebrate the holiday.
In a country where less that 1% of the population is Christian, and poultry dishes aren't all that common, Kentucky Fried Chicken has established a kitschy American Christmas tradition. I love the Kentucky connection to the Japanese holiday. I mean, my granny always made fried chicken for Christmas Eve; why not celebrate with the Colonel's famous version of the same dish?
Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii, y'all!
Finding the Right Thanksgiving Outfit
Finding the right Thanksgiving outfit is always tricky.
Thanksgiving and I have a bit of a history.
I love the idea of a holiday centered around giving thanks and feasting with loved ones. But, I always feel that Thanksgiving suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a fancy day of feasting or a casual day of food and football? Do you pull out a nice outfit for the family photos or, like Joey Tribbiani, do you look for stretchy pants to accommodate the day's indulgences? Do you make a quick trip to visit family for a day or two or do you celebrate with friends in your chosen town? Seriously, pull yourself together and figure out what you stand for, Thanksgiving.
Of course, I'm joking. Thanksgiving is about celebrating all the ways in which we've been blessed; we give thanks for the bounty with which we've been blessed. We visit with our loved ones and we reflect on the year.
But that still doesn't mean I know what to wear. In fact, I never feel like I'm going to get it right.
I always feel like I should wear a basic sweater dress and tall boots. A classic, elegant autumn outfit, right?
If I dress up that much, though, I find myself among folks who are wearing yoga gear and sneakers. It's comfortable, for sure, but it never feels right for a holiday to me.
I always decide on an outfit that's pulled-together, but casual. Jeans, a scarf, a nice sweater, and boots. Something that says "I'm here for a holiday, but I can still walk the dogs or help with the dishes."
Besides, isn't it more important to focus on the feast and fellowship than the ensemble?
Cocoa Brownies with Maker's Mark and Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
Bourbon whiskey and Himalayan pink sea salt add intense richness to a simple brownie recipe.
Adding bourbon to chocolate creates one of my very favorite flavor profiles. I combine my whiskey with chocolate quite often in the kitchen, as you can tell from my recipes for bourbon balls, double chocolate cookies, and chocolate chip brownies. I find that the addition of bourbon to chocolate recipes works best one of two ways -- either go for a slightly bitter, high rye mash bill like Old Forester, or a sweeter, wheated bourbon like Maker's Mark.
I wanted to create a brownie recipe that relies on the contrast between the rich sweetness and an intense salty note. I took Alton Brown's basic recipe for cocoa powder brownies and added Maker's Mark for a touch of sweetness and a dusting of Himalayan pink sea salt for contrast. The result was pretty delicious.
Cocoa Brownies with Maker's Mark and Himalayan Pink Sea Salt, adapted from Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies Recipe.
Ingredients:
- Soft butter, for greasing the pan
- Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar, sifted
- 1 cup brown sugar, sifted
- 8 ounces melted butter
- 1 1/4 cups cocoa, sifted
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons Maker's Mark
- 1/2 cup flour, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Himalayan pink sea salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. Add a light sprinkling of coarsely cracked Himalayan pink sea salt and remove to a rack to cool.
The Beaumont Inn's Famous Corn Pudding
Everyone has “their” holiday and mine is Thanksgiving. Each year, I spend weeks planning the perfect menu. I evaluate what worked last year and what recipes I should change/remove from the grand feast (homemade cranberry sauce… I’m looking at you) but the one dish that always has a spot on my menu is The Beaumont Inn’s Famous Corn Pudding. It is divine! The storied Inn has been whipping up this elegant dish for years and it is one of their most often requested recipes by their guests.
If that doesn’t convince you that this delicious dish should be on your Thanksgiving table…it also freezes beautifully and you probably have these ingredients in your arsenal already! Please consider making this immediately, if not sooner!
Beaumont Inn's Famous Corn Pudding
2 cups white whole kernel corn, or fresh corn cut off the cob
4 eggs
8 level tablespoons flour
1 quart milk
4 rounded teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
Stir into the corn, the flour, salt, sugar, and butter. Beat the eggs well; put them into the milk, then stir into the corn and put into a pan or Pyrex dish. Bake in oven at 450 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.
Stir vigorously with long prong fork three times, approximately 10 minutes apart while baking, disturbing the top as little as possible.
Our Friend Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence is the Kentucky girl's dream BFF. As fans, do we owe her a measure of privacy?
Here in Louisville, we all feel like we know Jennifer Lawrence.
Sure, she’s a Hollywood It Girl and an Oscar-winning actress who moved to New York to pursue her craft when she was just 14. But we all know she’s still just a Louisville girl. Her parents and her brothers still live here. Now and again, you hear people work in references to where her various family members work, or who we might all have in common. It's all in good fun; we all know that she hasn't forgotten The 'Ville, which is evident in the way she visits Kosair Children's Hospital when she's in town and in the way she never fails to rep the Cards.
Besides, Louisville is, at heart, a small town of 750,000 or so people. We talk about Jennifer Lawrence like we know her because, here in Louisville, we talk about everybody that way. There's the "everybody in St. Matthews knows each other" game. There's the "where did you go to high school?" game. There's the "folks who are always at charity events/ new restaurants/ sporting events" game. It's a logical extension that if you went to Kammerer Middle School or Camp Hi Ho then you're practically best friends with Jennifer Lawrence.
A lot of Americans feel like they know Jennifer Lawrence, too. Part of her superstar charm is her ability to be disarmingly candid and down-to-earth in interviews. Her TV talk show antics like asking David Letterman for a blanket or joking with Seth Meyers about her childhood Harry Potter obsession present her as goofy, endearing, and relatable. She is, as professor and pop culture expert (Why didn't anybody tell me that was an option when it was time to apply to grad school?) Anne Helen Peterson posited in a brilliant essay earlier this year, the latest heiress to the Cool Girl Throne. She could be your best friend, your kid sister, your niece, or, quite literally, the girl next door.
I've thought a lot about Jennifer Lawrence and the nature of fame and fandom in the past few weeks. Earlier this year, some nude photos of Ms. Lawrence emerged on the internet, the result of a hacker accessing her private cell phone photos. In an insightful Vanity Fair Article, she stated that, although a public apology was the first line of PR/ damage control self-defense for the incident, "every single thing that I tried to write made me cry or get angry. I started to write an apology, but I don't have anything to say I'm sorry for." It was exactly the way we'd all hope to react to such a crushingly invasive act.
If Jennifer Lawrence is, in our collective minds, our best friend, or our kid sister, then it naturally follows that we shouldn't seek out those leaked naked photos. Would we do that with a real-life friend? I mean, we've all gone down the rabbit hole of googling old classmates or boyfriends. But, you know, there's a huge difference between publicly posted Instagram or Facebook photos and photos hacked from someone's cell phone. The former are posted online with the subject's knowledge that they could be viewed by anyone; the latter are stolen property. Ms. Lawrence wasn't trying to "Break the Internet", Kim Kardashian-style, with risqué publicity photos. Rather, she had snapped intimate photos for her then-partner, which were then stolen and publicly displayed. It was, as Ms. Lawrence characterized the situation, a sex crime.
Last weekend, Ms. Lawrence conducted an AP interview in conjunction with the release of the latest film in the Hunger Games franchise. When the conversation turned to paparazzi intrusions, she gave a vivid personal account of the stress and anxiety that stems from a constant stream of unwanted photographers documenting her private life. As she proclaimed that she hopes to work toward legislation that stops paparazzi --"And my belief, and it's something I am going to work very hard on changing and I hope it changes before I die, is to make it illegal to buy, post or shop a photo that's been obtained illegally." -- she sounded like that recent law school grad we all know, the one who's on fire for justice and reform. Her tone was hopeful, indignant, and all of the other attributes you'd expect from a bright and articulate 24 year-old.
Even if we take the construct of "friendship" away from being a Jennifer Lawrence fan, do we owe her a certain degree of respect? In saying, "I think that Jennifer Lawrence is a gorgeous actress whose talent was undeniable when she redeemed trite films like Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle", are we required to then say "I refuse to read articles that post candid paparazzi photos of this actress I admire?" If we, as pop culture junkies, loved the way Ms. Lawrence turned a skeevy Jack Nicholson Oscars moment into a charming old-school Hollywood flirtation, are we supposed to boycott TMZ or Perez Hilton (among the most notorious purveyors of paparazzi photos) in lieu of authorized interview outlets, even if it means that we can no longer fully and properly Keep Up with the Kardashians?
The truth is, if TMZ and Perez Hilton went out of business tomorrow, ten more aggressive gossip sites would pop up to replace them by the end of the week. Ms Lawrence's skill-set lies not only in her tremendous acting talent, but also in her beauty and public persona. The Safe Harbor clause of the DMCA exists for a very important reason, and the balance between free speech and public figures' right to privacy has been precarious for decades. The celebrity information industry is, indeed, out of control and there aren't any easy answers to how it can be reigned in. When Ms. Lawrence notes that she's simply trying to live her life free of the insane intrusions that her fame creates, she creates a starting point for an interesting and much-needed conversation. And isn't that one of your best friend's duties?