The Juneau choral ensemble QUEENS performs Marian’s new choral work “Know-So” for the KTOO Red Carpet Concert Series.
Tag Archives: Marian Call
Glitter, Dammit
A very different kind of carol for Christmas: Put some glitter on it, dammit.
Honest, intense, funny, a little dark, and most of all — sparkly.
A Recipe in Song for Worldbuilders
In support of the Worldbuilders campaign for Heifer International, Marian presents the perfect recipe for a winter feast that feeds a household of one or two: Cornish game hens and roasted roots.
So make a donation to the Worldbuilders campaign, and cook along (or sing along) with Marian! What’s that? You want a written recipe? It’s right here.
Midwinter Feasting: a Recipe for Staying Home
Roast Cornish Game Hens à la Marian
A turkey’s a lot of pressure in the kitchen, and it won’t fit in my fridge or freezer — so a few years ago, I started making Cornish game hens on holidays instead! Larger than quail and smaller than chickens, game hens are usually found in the frozen section of a US grocery store for about $5 each (this whole meal can price out at under $15 if you have the oil, butter, and seasonings). Game hens taste AMAZING, and they’re harder to mess up than a larger bird.
(Besides, nothing makes you feel like royalty so much as ripping off an entire bird thigh with your bare hands and tearing into it.)
It’s easy to make this recipe gluten-free, dairy-free, onion-free, or whatever your diners demand. And you can use any stuffing and seasonings and root vegetables you like; this guide includes the ones I chose (and includes dairy and onions).
Ingredients:
- 2 Cornish game hens (thawed)
- 1/2 Sweet onion (or more)
- 2 cups Mini Potatoes
- 1 cup Yams, sweet potatoes, carrots, and/or parsnips (chopped into chunks)
- 6 cloves Garlic (or more)
- 1 Tbsp Brown sugar
- Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
- Seasonings (listed below)
Stuffing:
- 1.5 cups Wild rice (cooked)
- .25 cups Onion (minced, can be taken from onion listed above)
- .25 cups Dried cranberries or cherries
- .5 cups Pecans, almonds, or cashews (chopped or slivered)
- 3 Tbsp Honey
- 2 Lemon wedges (seeds removed) or a splash of lemon juice
- 2 pats Cold butter
- Seasonings (listed below)
Recommended Seasonings:
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Curry powder
- Cumin
- Lemon zest
- Parsley
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Paprika
Process:
- Preheat oven to 425F. Set out two large bowls, one for root veggies, one for stuffing, and a Dutch oven or cast iron casserole dish (or a deep roasting pan). Cook wild rice.
- Wash and chop the potatoes, yams, and carrots (or other roots) into large hearty chunks and combine in a bowl. Peel garlic and add all but 1 large clove to the roots.
- Chop two thick round slices from the center of your onion and set aside — these will become onion platters for your game hens to nest upon, helping to keep them level. The remaining onion can be minced for stuffing and added in large chunks to the root veggies.
- Coat the vegetables thoroughly in olive oil and seasoning mix, plus a little squeeze of lemon juice and/or lemon zest. Transfer them to the roasting dish — it’s fine if they pile up on top of one another. (If you prefer a fried-skin crispness to your veggies, put them around the edges rather than under the birds; if you like your veggies soaked through with bird juice and effectively pre-gravied, you’ll want to put the birds on top.)
- Press or mince your remaining garlic clove. In the oiled bowl that used to hold the veggies, prepare the oil you’ll use to rub down the birds. Include a few tablespoons of olive oil, the brown sugar, the pressed garlic, and the spices from among your seasonings (probably not the herbs), leaning heavily on the salt, pepper, curry, and paprika. Set aside.
- In your stuffing bowl, stir together all stuffing ingredients, holding back the lemon wedges and butter. Season well with all the listed seasonings, with an emphasis on the herbs, salt, and (more moderately) curry.
- Prepare your workspace and sink to have raw meat present, including all over your hands — so set your utensils and lengths of twine out in advance, clear the sink of dishes, cover certain surfaces in saran if you want. Then unwrap and thoroughly rinse the game hens, checking the skin for feather pips or other blemishes.
- Transfer birds to the bowl with oil and spices. Rub the skin of each bird thoroughly with the oil and sugar and spice mixture.
- With a spoon, stuff both birds full and insert a lemon wedge and butter pat foward the top (the breast side). Tie the drumsticks together, crossed, with twine to hold the stuffing in.
- Seat each bird in the roasting pan, breast side up on top of your onion rings. Add any leftover stuffing to the pan, it’s great, and pour any leftover oil and sugar mixture over the breasts of the birds. Clean all your meat-contacted surfaces.
- Bake uncovered for 55-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the thickest part of the thigh shows it is cooked through. If you want to be sure of extra moisture, you can add a little white wine or beer to the bottom of the pan (although I never do, and they still come out terrific). Baste the birds with juices from the bottom of the pan 1-3 times during baking, however much you enjoy doing it.
- Plate up and enjoy! I recommend serving with sour cream and green onions or chives.
- Save the oils from the bottom of the pan for a very small gravy, or for cooking another dish another day (I made a rice-and-veggie sautée in it with my remaining wild rice, and OMG). The carcasses will be very small, but they can still be used to make a portion of stock.
Bon appetit, friends!
Swears!
SWEARS!
a new garage rock EP from Marian Call and the Guttersnipes
an angry loud little record
because certain times demand we make noise
and certain feelings are too big to sing pretty
CD’s and new T-shirts available now on Bandcamp
Read all about the new record Swears! — and its all-ages-friendly little sibling, Cuss! — on Marian Call’s Patreon. Buy the record today on Bandcamp along with new T-shirts!
New Merch for the New Record
The new albums Swears! and Cuss! have landed, and with them new autographed CD’s, T-shirts, and sticker packs. Patterned shirts, aprons, masks, bags and more are also available with the Magpie Designs ‘Cuss’ print created for the record by album art designer Sophie Lager.
And to celebrate the new record, pick up nearly every other Marian Call CD for $5!
Limited quantities available (the kazoos have sold out!), order now at Bandcamp.com or at Magpie Designs on Society 6.
A Special Concert in Petaluma, CA for ME/CFS
I’m playing a concert this fall that means a great deal to me, and I hope you’ll join me up in glorious Petaluma, CA. This theater will be simply magical and it’s a truly worthy cause – it’s worth the drive north! (Facebook Event / Tickets)
I have friends and loved ones who have suffered from ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome). If you know someone who experiences chronic pain or fatigue too, I hope you will share the word about this event. If you’re far from Petaluma, you’re invited to DONATE to one of the respected research and advocacy organizations linked below.
The song “Anchorage” is a theme for this concert. If you’ve never read into the subtext of that song, it’s about experiencing fear and disease, reconciling with the body, and choosing mindfulness, awareness, and song in the face of pain.
ME/CFS afflicts nearly 2 million people in the United States; it can severely limit people’s abilities with chronic pain and exhaustion, yet funds for research are scarce and public awareness of the condition remains very low. As a part of this concert, brief talks will be given by speakers from three highly-regarded national ME/CFS organizations: Bateman Horne Center, Solve ME/CFS Initiative and Open Medicine Foundation.
Join me in Petaluma, or tell a friend in the Bay Area to be there. We’ll sing together through the night.
“Reel me in to the places we knew our own faces / over wine, over coffee and beer – / and anchor me, anchor me, anchor me, anchor me here.”
DONATE to the Solve ME/CFS Initiative: https://solvecfs.org/donate/
DONATE to the Open Medicine Foundation: https://www.omf.ngo/2019/10/02/marian-call/
DONATE to the Bateman Horne Center: http://batemanhornecenter.org/donate/
Spenard Jazz Fest in Anchorage
Marian Call is a featured performer at this year’s Spenard Jazz Fest in Anchorage, AK. Tickets available now for all of her performances, including a full band feature show on June 2nd at the Church of Love! Facebook events here to share with friends.
On the Song “Standing Stones”
The long-awaited studio album Standing Stones has arrived, thanks to massive fan support from Kickstarter. Find it on Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify, Youtube, and wherever you enjoy music.
I wrote “Standing Stones” about the human need to scratch our symbols on the world.
When I was in school, I covered all my textbooks in brown paper bags and duct tape so I’d have a blank canvas for scribbling. Song lyrics in every corner, notes in every direction, doodles dividing and transecting every word.
The Great 2016 UK Mixtape
Hello, friends on the British Isles —
I am on a fantastic spring tour, currently enjoying green fields full of sheep on a bumpy train. I’ll be playing Bath, Birmingham, Manchester, London, and Cambridge this week.
I brought tons of CD’s from across the ocean for you, they were so very heavy getting on and off of trains, but they have nearly all been bought over on the continent!!! And I’d hate to have you miss out on a signed CD from far far away…
SO I MADE YOU A MIXTAPE
OF MY SONGS
FOR YOUUUU
I have been making mixtapes for my friends since I could illegally record songs off the radio as a kid. And this mixtape is not even illegal because it’s all songs I wrote & own and stuff! If you pick up the UK Mixtape at a show, here is the track list and links to credits:
- “Whistle While You Wait” from Something Fierce, guitars by Scott Barkan and Jordan Shindle, cello by Ellen Kilcup
- “Elementary” from Sketchbook, guitar by Seth Boyer
- “Dear Mister Darcy” from Something Fierce, lengthy credits at the album link
- “Paper and Pen” from Sketchbook, guitar by Seth Boyer
- “Good Morning Moon” from Something Fierce, lengthy credits at the album link
- “I’ll Still Be a Geek After Nobody Thinks It’s Chic (The Nerd Anthem)” from Live in Europe, Scott Barkan on guitar
- “The Liberal Arts Degree Waltz” from Fun Singles in Your Area, Paul Pew on piano
- “I Hope My Discipline Improves in Time” from Sketchbook, guitar by Scott Barkan
- “Dark Dark Eyes” from Live in Europe, Scott Barkan on guitar
- “The Avocado Song” from Something Fierce, guitar by Scott Barkan, harmonica by David George Gordon
- “Temporal Dominoes” from Something Fierce, lengthy credits at the album link
- “Hope” from Sketchbook, guitar by Seth Boyer
You can hear lots more music, including the albums that contain these songs, at the best little indie music website in the world Bandcamp.com. I’m at http://mariancall.bandcamp.com. You can find Scott Barkan’s original music at https://scottbarkan.bandcamp.com.
Enjoy this mixtape and feel free to rip it, burn it, spread it around — and if you like it, tip us, get on the mailing list, or buy another album!