The Charge is Electric...

Once you become a parent, you will soon find yourself watching childrens television shows. Some of them will be hard to get through, but you will suffer through it for the enjoyment of your children. Some of them will be so good that you will catch yourself actually watching them even when your kids aren't around. Good or bad, one thing that almost all kids tv shows have in common is music. It is nearly impossible to watch a kid show without there being some sort of song incorporated into the storyline.

As a musician myself, the music is often my favorite part of these shows and often times, I find myself inspired by some of these songs. The most recent of these shows is, The Electric Company, which airs weekdays at around 4 on PBS. My kids, who are ages 6 and 7, absolutely love it. The show is filled with songs by the cast and they also feature musical guests.

Here is one of my favorite songs from the show. It's pretty funky. Kinda makes me wanna dance.

One member of the cast is a dude named Shockwave, who is an incredible beat boxer. Here is one video of him teaching kids about punctuation.

My daughter, who is 7, beatboxes everyday and I have to attribute that, in part, to this show.

Here he is with a beatboxing guest.

My most favorite of Shock's beatboxing videos is when he teams up with Lin-Manuel Miranda, a Tony award winning writer for the Broadway sensation, "In the Heights".

I sing this song all the time!

... and this next one...

They also work together outside of The Electric Company. I found this little vid of them announcing an open mic mc battle.

Now, I'm going to get off subject a little to talk a little more about Lin-Manuel Miranda. I found out about him, hilariously enough, through this show. However, his talents far exceed what you see in this show. As I said before, he won a Tony Award for his work on the broadway play, "In The Heights". Now, I'm not a big fan of broadway, but this guy gave the best acceptance speech of any award anyone has ever won anywhere, ever! You have to check this out.

As if that wasn't amazing enough, he also performed at the White House and performed this little number.

So many MC's can write about how great they are at rapping. It seems like that's the only topic of most mc's raps these days. But, how many mc's can write an amazing rap about a historical figure? I doubt very many can.. at least not like Lin-Manuel.

So, now that I've gone far off topic to show you the outstanding talents of Lin-Manuel Miranda, let me get back to the Electric Company and show you one more outstanding musician that has been featured on the show. I'm talkin now about the "Music Man" or better known in the real world as, Reggie Watts.

Here he is performing live in Chicago. While he is mainly considered a comedic musician, his songs are still super bad ass! Just look him up on youtube and find a million incredible videos of him.

So, I will wrap this up now, but what is the point of this post besides showing you a bunch of videos of music? I guess the goal here is to show you that inspiration can come from anywhere... even the television shows your young children watch. So, pay close attention to the world around you. You never know where you might see a spark of genius.

Fish and Chips, yo!

The Catfish Mustache family definitely enjoy good food.

Can't you tell?

Not only do we like good food, but I (Tania- singer/bassist) most definitely like to cook it. My creations don't always come out delicious, but I really have a good time experimenting in the kitchen. I've learned so much just from trial and error that I have come quite a long way since the days that I burnt fried chicken on the outside and left it raw in the middle.

I don't serve my fried chicken raw anymore, but I am still working on perfecting that recipe. One recipe I have seemed to master is beer batter. The first year that Catfish Mustache was a band, it became a ritual to go to our house after every show and I would make beer battered onion rings. Normally, I like to eat pretty healthy, but sometimes there is nothing better than fattening, fried food... especially after a night of drinking and rocking out on stage. So, after dozens of shows and dozens of batches of onion rings, I think I've finally got this beer batter thing down.

In this post, I used the beer batter for fish, but it is a recipe that can work for just about anything you can imagine.

Don't have a good imagination? That's ok, let me give you some ideas of what you can use this for:

onion rings- duh

fish- double duh

zucchini

eggplant

okra

fresh broccoli or cauliflower (trust me, it's freakin delicious)

chicken strips or breasts (haven't tried it on bone-in chicken yet)

i hear you can fry a twinkie this way, but i haven't tried that one yet, either.

Keep in mind that the measurements in this are all relative, the most important thing is that you get the right consistency, which is close to a thick pancake batter.

Basic ingredients:

• about a cup and a half of white flour
• seasoning- whatever you like! In this recipe I used salt, pepper, cumin, cayene pepper, curry, and garlic powder-to TASTE!
• about 12 oz. of beer - give or take- and whatever kind you like! I prefer an amber beer
• 2 egg whites

 First, season your flour in a large bowl. Depending upon what you like and what you are making, you may want to season this differently at different times. So, start mixing in flavors you like about a 1/2 tbsp at a time, then taste the flour! Yea, that's what I said, taste the flour. It's going to taste floury, but on the back of that you should get the flavor of the seasonings coming through. If you don't, then you need more seasoning.

Once you are happy with the flavor of that, it's time to add the beer. Add a little bit at a time and mix in between until you get the right consistency, which will be like a very thick pancake batter. Taste it again. You should be able to get the beer flavor now and the flavor of your seasonings coming out. If you only taste beer and flour, then add more seasoning. Start with salt and pepper, because most of the time, that is the first thing you need. Also, if you still only taste beer and flour, you might just have a shitty pallette and there is not much anyone could do to help you with that.... proceed to the next step.

In a separate bowl whip two egg whites to soft peak stage. This means that you beat them until they turn white and frothy and sort of look like bath bubbles that you use to make crazy hair doos or beards and such with. Or until they look sorta like this

Now, fold that egg mix into the beer batter. That doesn't mean to stir it in like a crazy person using all your arm strength or all you mixer's strength. Just gently scoop it around the bowl a couple times until it is just mixed in. Over mixing will take away all the bubbles in the eggs that you worked so tirelessly to get, which you don't want. The air in the bubbles is what helps to make such a crispy, delicious batter.

At this point, check again for consistency. The goal here is thick pancake batter. If it is too thick, add a little more beer. If it is really thin, add a little more flour.

It is important to note, that different climates and different elevations, always affect your cooking. You really have to play with your food to find out what will work best where you are cooking.

Heat your oil at a medium high heat. Use oil with a high smoking point. I usually use vegetable oil. If you are making something small, like onion rings, okra, zucchini, etc.. heat your oil in a deep pot. For something larger, like, fish, chicken, etc.. use a skillet, but be sure to fill the pan up about half way with oil.

Test your oil to see if it is ready before you begin. Throw a pinch of flour into your oil and if it bubbles up, you are ready to fry your food. If the oil in the pan is smoking, it is too hot. Turn the temp down a little and maybe move the pan from the heat for a moment.

Before battering wet items like, fish or chicken, be sure to pat dry with a towel and season well with salt and pepper.

Now, dip your food into the batter allowing excess to drip off and gently place it in the oil. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a plate with a towel to pat the excess oil off. Season with a little salt.

I served my fish with a garlic horseradish mayo and a side of french fries(chips) and coleslaw.

In a later post I will give recipes for this full meal, but until then, I hope you experiment with this one and fry up something delicious.