Tom Petty

5. “Swingin’”

4. “Rebels”

3. “You Wreck Me”

2. “American Girl” (Bonus: punked-up Everclear cover)

1. “The Waiting” (Bonus: featuring Eddie Vedder + story behind the song)

“Oh baby, don’t it fell like heaven right now … ” — It doesn’t get much better than that.

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The grill was on, the chicken was ready and resting on its half full throne, a can of beer.  Using the indirect cooking method the seasoned chicken took a little more than an hour to roast to a lovely deep brown texture.  The meat just falls off the bone and the taste will match any you could purchase cooked at your favorite store.  Prep time is probably 15 to 30 minutes, depending on your experience with this warm weather favorite.

I like to punch additional holes into the top of the beer can so that the fresh flavor of the brew vaporizes and gives the chicken a more complete flavor and moistness.  Now, I must say, I am not particularly a lover of beer but chicken has never met a more kind and adoring partner.  The beer on sale is my choice, as the flavoring is not from the alcohol, which burns out quickly, but rather from the essence of the beer itself.  The bottom of the chicken fits on the can nicely; thus the throne characterization.  You should add your favorite spices, etc. to the half filled can of beer before putting the bird in place.

 You may use your favorite homemade rub or one that you buy at the store.  I like to squeeze the juice from one lemon into the cavity after the bird is in place and prior to that that add salt (freshly ground sea salt) and pepper (freshly ground pepper) to the cavity.  After squeezing out the juice, I drop the two halves of the lemon inside the cavity.  You might also want to add your favorite fresh herbs to the cavity as well.

Rub the spices into the cavity and I like to place bacon strips from the cavity opening over the sides of the bird.  That takes 4 to 6 strips to accomplish.  Again, don’t be afraid to experiment with your favorites.  Remember, indirect cooking, the grill should be turned on high heat for the direct side.  Cooking time can be approximately an hour, depending on weather conditions.  When the juices run clear, you have cooked your bird.  The color should be a deep golden brown, it should not be burned but the skin should be quite crisp.

I like to buy my chickens, two to a pack, at COSTCO for about $9.00 total.  I rinse the bird in cold fresh water for a few hours prior and then am ready to go with prep and grilling.  Let me know, on this blog, how things went if you try it for the first time.  Thanks and bon appetit!  The rub recipe is below along with a few last minute instructions.

Below is a recipe for a sample rub that should be applied initially prior to placing the chicken on its throne.  Here is Garfield’s Spice Rub (a KCTS cookbook)….. the amount will easily season two chickens so you could cut the recipe in half, if its the one you choose to use.  Don’t forget to baste the bird every 15 minutes or so as needed and please, place the beer can, with bird on top, in a pie tin (lined with aluminum foil) or some other container as the juices will otherwise create an interesting burned on mess.  Besides, that is where the great basting juices can be found.  Let sit for 30 to 45 minutes after you remove turn off the heat and be careful because at first it will be very hot!  Improperly attached the bird become unstable so before you start check its stability.

1/8  cup paprika

1 tspn brown sugar

2 tspn sea salt, kosher or regular table salt

2 tbsp Accent or Johnny’s seasoning salt

1 tspn each of celery salt, dry mustard powder, poultry seasoning and oregano

1 tbsp each of garlic powder and lemon pepper

mix well and place and place in an airtight jar until ready to use.  Store remaining rub in same jar.

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Mama Nature and about 10 days of varying weather have transformed Dick and Vivien Baysinger’s 25-year-old Winesap apple tree, 500 King St., into a bloomin’ metropolis. Up and down the branches, real estate has become scarce as the late bloomers fill in just about every spare slot.  Bees — taxis of the insect world — race from one floral axis (flower interior) to the next, hardly taking time to signal lane changes and swerving heedlessly into every microsporangium in their paths. Birds — the original Twitterers — flit through, too, still sending tweets. All in all, a bustling place.

We reckon this Winesap to be the closest apple tree to Memorial Park, the epicenter of the Apple Blossom Festival. When you get sick of slurping ShishkaBerries,  you might wander up the street to see what all the celebrating is really about.

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Well, now here’s something that’s super cool, you guys! We here at Go! Magazine just received a press release from the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee announcing a new event, “Hits of the Harvest: Battle of the Bands,” taking place on Sept. 19 as part of the Taste of the Harvest Festival.

“Bands, singers, songwriters, and musicians from the NCW region are now invited to submit music for consideration,” says the e-mail from PAC executive director Sara Cornell. “From submitted music, a panel will select the top 10 to perform, live, on the Fountain Courtyard Stage.”

From there, three winning bands are selected for a showdown at the PAC that evening. The evening event is … oh, well, let me just show you the paragraph from the press release:

“The entire ‘Hits of the Harvest’ evening concert will be recorded, in multi-track, with an opportunity for participating bands to receive a recording.  At the end of the concert, the audience will vote, via text-messaging, for the winners, eligible for $1,000’s in cash and prize packages from M-Audio, PAC, Caffe Mela, Avalon Music, Resonant Audio, NW Lighting FX,  Mills Bros. and others.”

Musicians can drop off CDs of original music (designating two songs to be sampled by the panel) with contact info at the PAC box office, 123 N. Wenatchee Ave., from noon to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, or mail to PAC of Wenatchee, Attn: Hits of the Harvest, P.O. Box 3601, Wenatchee, WA 98807.

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I just can’t wait for this weather to warm up. So, I offered up something to the sun gods last night. I made cucumbers with lime, salt and chili powder (actually, I used Valentina hot sauce because I ran out of chili powder.)

Quite a few years ago, my mom came home from teaching and made a bowl of these lime and chili cucumbers, seemingly out of the blue. It turned out that one of her students was eating the snack in class that day and offered a taste to my mom. Mom was hooked. Now the snack has become a summertime staple in my family. We make it when we have extra cucumbers lying around or simply when the mood strikes.

Adding salt, lime and chili powder to fruits is a very common Mexican preparation method. Street carts in Mexico offer fresh fruits served that way and my cousin, Pamela, eats peaches (among other things) with salt and chili. I’ll admit that they’re quite good that way.

Lime and chili cucumbers are one of my favorite hot-weather snacks. The lime and cucumber taste crisp and cool while the chili powder adds zing and flavor. It only takes a couple of minutes to make and is quite healthy. How could a snack be better?

Lime and Chili Cucumbers

1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced

Juice of 2 to 3 limes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of chili powder or to taste (use more or less depending on how spicy you want it)

Toss all ingredients together and eat. You can make this day or so ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to serve. It’s best served cold.

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(For Thursday through Thursday, April 30 to May 7)

Our ol’ buddy Wolverine would roll over in his … no, wait a minute. If Wolverine were real, then he’d roll over in his … no, wait again. If Wolverine were real and dead, then he’d roll over in his grave at the thought of his hairy mug on the scary mug sold by 7-Eleven for their new Mutant Berry Slurpee, a promo gimmick for Friday’s opening of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

Geez Louise. Can there be a more embarrassing way to kick off the summer movie season that to name Slurpee slop after one of comic-dom’s most venerable heroes? Not to mention, you might need an adamantium (indestructible alloy) palate to really enjoy the stuff, which has been described online as tangy and chemical-ly with an aftertaste of stale Doritos.

But this won’t stop you from buying one, will it?  While nursing your mutant brain freeze, consider other affordable fun coming up this week:

√ GimmeYourResumeAndMakeItQuick (Thursday, April 30) —  Don’t even waste time reading this. The Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce hosts an evening of speed networking —swoosh! was that my boss? — at The Vogue Lounge, 117 E. Woodin Ave., Chelan. They say it’s the same as speed dating but without the heavy cologne and awkward pauses. Starts at 6 p.m. Costs $5 per person. Bring business cards. It might also be smart to sum yourself up in one quick sentence, such as: “Loves corndogs on the beach.” Info: 682-3503.

√ Sure, You Can Stuff Yourself at the Food Fair, Or … (Friday, May 1) — Before you tank up on the Apple Blossom Festival’s cotton candy and waffle cones, consider nibbling the free refreshments at downtown Wenatchee galleries. Both the Two Rivers Gallery, 102 N. Columbia St., and Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 127 N. Mission St., serve up eats with their art. On this First Friday, Two Rivers presents works by gallery members (5 to 8 p.m.), while WVMCC features a reception (5 to 7 p.m.) for their show on Apple Blossom history. Free.

√ We’re Not Horsing Around — OK, Maybe We Are (Friday-Saturday-Sunday, May 1-3)  — Slip on your Tony Lamas (those are cowboy boots, not actual llamas) and trot your hindquarters out to Appleatchee Riders, 1130 Circle St., Wenatchee, for one of this area’s great sport spectacles. The Washington High School Equestrian Teams (WAHSET) district meet puts some of our best young horsefolk through three days of tough trials. Competitions are usually underway by 9 a.m. each day. Free for spectators.

√ Check It Out: These Library Books Don’t Need Checking Out  (Saturday, May 2) — The North Central Regional Library hauls out a zillion books for their annual Apple Blossom Book Sale at the Wenatchee branch, 310 Douglas St. Cheap hardbacks, paperbacks, DVDs and (do these things still exist?) videotapes will entice you greedy-gut bookhounds, so bring a wheelbarrow. Sponsored by Friends of the Library, the sale runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Info: 662-5021.

√ Celebrate the Defeat of Those Frou-Frou French (Tuesday, May 5) — Cinco de Mayo means nothing to most Americans, except those looking for any reason to party. So, go ahead … hoist a cold Corona to the defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla, Mexico, in 1862. Or, you can do this up right and attend festivities at Wenatchee Valley College. Aztec dancers, Mexican bingo, pinatas, dunk tank, arts, crafts and contests will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on campus in the fountain area. Free.

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Hey, look! More lists!

This week I’ll be concentrating on the top five songs I think best represent the songwriting power of what I consider four of the most iconic singer-songwriters in rock history, starting with …

“Uncle” Neil Young

5. “Harvest Moon”

4. “Mr. Soul” (bonus: way cool unplugged version)

3. “Tell Me Why” (bonus: Radiohead (!) cover)

2. “Sugar Mountain”

1. “Hey Hey, My My” (bonus: rockin’ Oasis cover)

Oh, and while I’m here, does anybody know why when you type “Neil” into the Google searchbar, the first name to pop up is “Doogie Howser” himself, Neil Patrick Harris? It should be Sir Young, or at the very least Neil Diamond in the top spot. Then again, NPH was responsible for this lovely piece of musical comedy.

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…or whatever you call your first meal of the day.

No matter what time you start your day, you should eat shortly after getting up. Why?

Skipping that first meal is a triple-whammy to your waistline.

1. When you go long periods of time without eating, your metabolism slows down. It’s your body’s way of attempting to prevent starvation and to conserve energy. When your metabolism slows down, your body tries to hold on tight to absolutely every calorie you ingest, converting as much as possible to fat and storing it.
2. When you skip meals, your body still needs calories to run the engine. If you’re not ingesting calories, it pulls it from your stored energy. You’re thinking, isn’t that exactly what I want? Not exactly. Unless you rev up your metabolism, the easiest place for your body to pull those calories from is protein. That’s right, your muscle tissue. The body is pre-programmed to use muscle first, fat last. And when you lose muscle tissue, guess what? Your metabolism goes down even further, meaning even more calories are going to be stored on your gluteus maximus.
3. Studies have shown that when a person skips meals, they are much more likely to overeat when they finally DO eat their next meal. How many times have you heard someone say (or said yourself), “I didn’t eat breakfast (or lunch). I’m STARVING!” So not only is your metabolism slower for having gone so long without food, but you eat more than you need…which ends up stored.

You don’t have to eat a major meal. You just need something to get your motor running and jumpstart your metabolism. Something as simple as fruit or a granola bar is all you need. Just make a smart choice, and eat something fairly low in sugar and higher in protein and fiber. Avoiding sugar means you are less likely to have a sugar crash halfway into your day, and the protein and fiber fill you up, help prevent cravings, and even out your blood sugar, preventing that sudden stab of hunger later. It will also keep your metabolism up.

You don’t need to avoid fats; on the contrary, your body needs fats to function. Avoiding all fats will just make your body try to hold onto it even more. What you need to avoid are the saturated and trans-fats, the nasty, artery-clogging, cholesterol-raising fats.

I’ve discovered a couple of great products that I found at Costco that are inexpensive and provide a good fuel to start the day. The first is the Fiber One chewy granola bars. They’re fairly low in sugar, have a high fiber content, and are yummy. The second are Clif Bars, which are even better for you. I keep both in my cupboard, and switch back and forth so I don’t get bored.

So eat some breakfast. And no, coffee does not count.

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Junior high school band performances can be hit or miss, but the Eastmont Junior High School band was solid Wednesday afternoon during its performance at Memorial Park on the Apple Blossom entertainment stage.

[iPhone] Eastmont High School band performs at Apple Blossom Entertainment Stage Wednesday on 12seconds.tv

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That chair stealing party? Yeah, didn’t happen. Every chair (save for one that probably hopped away on its own, or was needed indoors for some reason) was still there today as far as this chair counter could tell.

But, official chairs are now up along the parade route. Official? You ask. Yes, the Grand Parade seating is now installed. Those bleachers will provide a place to sit for fancy-pants parade goers. No sunburns for them, nope. And no sun burns for the rest of us if this rainy, cloudy, dreary weather sticks around for Saturday.

If you can’t tell from the photo, it was really rainy this morning, and thus, cold. Rainy and cold. Only a handful of new chairs sprouted up. What can you say? Who wants to schlep chairs to the parade route in this weather?

Chairs: 912
Benches: 39
Ropes: 37
Hot spot: Orondo Avenue between Mission Street and Wenatchee Avenue
Estimated number of spots reserved: 2,980

— Rochelle Feil, World staff

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