episode 17 - 11:11 24.1 MB    [ h.264 ]

that's right... after a summer of travels from california to jamaica... we're back with this episode taped while on a wild camping adventure. this recipe is from dawn's grandmother (aka meemaw) and it is a midwestern staple. who knew you could make it on a hammock while camping? well, rin will try anything once.

there's an announcement of sorts in this episode... one that will forever change the face of the invincibles foodie adventures. and no, we're not expecting, although we would like to welcome some glorious new babies into the world. in april, we got our first foodie fan baby! congrats to paul and liz on the birth of anna. she's adorable and she's our very first subliminally influenced baby. we hear she eats very well.

then, if you can believe it, we actually had a baby in utero on one of our movies, though we didn't know it at the time. "midwife" melanie and christopher (who steals the show as a special guest in this episode) had a bun in the oven when we recorded our liebkuchen festivities [ 1 ][ 2 ] over winter solstice. congrats to them on their august birth as we welcome wolf aeddon to the many hands house.

and last but not least we welcome rin's first niece (on her side). dawn had a dream that rin's brother was expecting a baby girl and it turned out to be true. the only thing she got wrong was the name... she said they told her they were going to name the baby "pineapple". hey - pineapples are a sign of welcome and this baby girl is more than welcome. she came the day after we celebrated james' dad's first birthday since his passing on in january (we miss you bubbleDad™!). if you haven't already seen it, please check out our tribute to him here, or just download his song about life, "Jug of Wine", and share it with someone you love.

congrats to everyone else we know giving birth or having birthed... geez there's a LOT of that going around. 

if you'll be at the podcast and portable media expo, we hope to see you there.

in 1994, james and rin hooked up. take that how you will, but we really got together...from the first night we stayed up talking until the sun came up, we were connected. it sounds cheesey, but if you go back and read our journals and letters at the time...it's true! so there you go. two star-crossed lovers. and at the time, james designed an awesome thing that rin immediately said "we've got to get that tattoo." it was three dragons, chasing each other. her dad said "but what if it doesn't work out with this guy. you'll have that tattoo forever!" and tho she still values her dad's advice (good advice, all you 19 year-olds out there), she is happy to report that he was wrong.

strangely, opposed to marriage as a legitimate form of social commitment, rin proposed to james sometime in early 1996. she figured, what the heck, they'd be together forever (obviously), may as well make it formal. and they did! june 1996, officiated by rin's great aunt. it was a fantastic ceremony, by a river, somewhere in illinois, and afterwards many made merry by mead, made by rin and james in their minneapolis apartment. ah...life. and all along they had grim. and grim was the fiesty cat, who bit whenever he felt like it (rin has a terrific scar on her elbow from such biting) and enjoyed life to the fullest. he fought and...well...you know...did whatever he wanted. over 15 years of that, and most critically, during the entirety of our relationship. so when we went to commemorate our 10th wedding anniversary together...well...grim's 10 fingered paws came to mind. grim had thumbs, like some kind of lost hemingway cat...and that was good enough for us.

so laugh if you will and enjoy our silliness if you must, but we started this relationship out with a tattoo (dragonsthree) and apparently we are doomed to remember it by the same means.

grandma rosaleen january 10, 1915 - june 26, 2006

rin's paternal grandmother moved on this morning. she was the source for much of rin's oddities and her love of irish lore and rhyming poetry. one of these days we'll get the whole poem "galumping along in galoshes" up here for your entertainment.

grandma rosaleen had a way with rhythm. even in the hospital, up to just last week, she played the piano for about three hours to the amusement of her (adult) grandchildren. in fact, she made us all play "chopsticks" with her, there in the hospice dining area, one at a time. 

grandma rosaleen was born in january of 1915, but she was due to be born in april. the doctor made her mother go to a hospital in cleveland, ohio (though she lived in pennsylvania) three months early, as it was the only place within hundreds of miles that had an incubator. that certainly was an interesting time for incubators. they seem to be all the rage during that era. grandma weighed only 3 1/2 lbs when she was born, and she remained in the incubator for three months, but she suffered no ill effects on her health or brain. in fact, she went 88 years (her "piano" birthday) without breaking a single bone.

there are too many grandma rosaleen stories to tell here, but suffice it to say, 91 and a half years hardly seems like long enough, and she will be missed.

check out grandma's stew (with seitan) for our favorite food memory of grandma. down an old-fashioned first, and you'll have a sense of what we'll be missing.

sláinte.

episode 16 - 11:02 24.9 MB[ quicktime 7 ] 24.5 MB[ quicktime 6 ] 25.2 MB[ windows media ] 5.1 MB ( audio only ) [ mp3 ]

hey! we're back with another episode from our gypsy-esque meanderings around the country. we went on the road to the midwest to hang out with frunkle paul as he whips up some super-simple and simply delicious guacamole in about five minutes with just five ingredients. awhile back when we lived in minnesota, we played match-maker between our friend, paul, and rin's auntie, and they'll soon be celebrating their 7th anniversary! wooohoooo! paul has introduced us to more recipes that we love than anyone else. he's our inspiration towards experimentation.

the guac recipe is allowed on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), which is a diet frunkle paul is using to treat his crohn's disease with great results. if you have crohn's or any other type of bowel disorder or imbalance of your intestinal tract, you may want to check out this special diet. we might not want to think about that end of things, but hey, that's where the food ends up, right? for more information on this diet see the official website. by the way, while the guac is allowed on the diet, the chips are not. so whip up some guac and get yourself a spoon if you're on the SCD diet.

shoutouts to paul and liz (and the whole brood) over the pond for contributing to our bandwidth fund and congrats on the new baby girl! we were tickled to hear that at least one pregnant woman got to watch the shows featuring our favorite midwife, melanie (14 & 15). another big thank you goes out to kathy for her continued support. and last, but certainly not least, our sincere thanks to nathan for the surprise package from amazon. you are all so encouraging, that we plan to keep making movies about once a month for as long as we possibly can. thanks!!!

if anyone else would like to donate or promote the show, check out the links on your right...no, your other right...and leave us some feedback at podcastalley or itunes. also, we'd be happy to send you the invincibles t-shirt logo if you want a DIY shirt. otherwise, consider picking one up at our store. and as always, don't forget to show us the whites of your eyes on our frappr map.

episode 15 - 19:02 43.0 MB[ quicktime 7 ] 42.7 MB[ quicktime 6 ] 47.9 MB[ windows media ] 8.8 MB ( audio only ) [ mp3 ]

it's time! the wait is finally over. prepare yourselves, gentle viewers, for the chilling conclusion of our annual winter solstice midwestern culinary romp. melanie and chris are back with their baking brood, and you may even spot a few surprise guests. wait no more for the divine secrets of the mysterious citron - it's all right here in the second chapter of our Many Hands House adventure.

big bunches of invincible thanks to jeff and sharyl for their most recent gift to our bandwidth fund, and to dawn and drew for being themselves and occupying the younglings.

it's hard not to be super excited about our growing frappr family - show your face and add yourself to the map. by the way, if you're feeling neighborly, feel free to leave positive feedback at podcastalley or at the itunes music store.

it's ritualized food prep at it's finest - we love you Many Hands House! send comments to the invincibles

episode 14 - 18:12 41.1 MB[ quicktime 7 ] 40.8 MB[ quicktime 6 ] 47.2 MB[ windows media ] 8.1 MB ( audio only ) [ mp3 ]

every winter solstice we chill with our old friends in the midwest (and we do mean chill-brrrr!). they have five kids, two dogs, numerous cats (of the farm persuasion) fish, rats, a frog - and now bunnies, which more than makes up for a lack of cat-boxing in this next two-part feature.

we had a lot of fun making lebkuchen with melanie "the midwife" and her clan (stars of the Devil Duck movies featured in our halloween two-parter last year). she makes this traditional german recipe every winter to please her grandma betty, and coincidentally, it is an old betty crocker recipe. and even though they are difficult to make (there aren't many cookies that you can break a wooden spoon while stirring, are there?), they are well worth it. thanks for another fantastic yule, Many Hands House. next year we'll do another Devil Duck movie for sure!

the invincibles wish to thank one tryck pony, paul over the big pond, and nikko down south for their generous donations. thanks to you all there will be more shows coming! for those of you that have donated to our bandwidth fund we are still planning to put magnets in the mail. sorry for the delay-life got in the way.

we'd love to see your faces and places on our frappr map, and if you like the show, please feel free to leave us some positive feedback at podcastalley or at itunes. or hey, give us a call!

       

yo! we're back with a shoutout to ranger craig for an awesome backstage tour at alcatraz (query: will you be letting rin and dawn out anytime soon?). we had quite a time when dawn and drew were in town. many thanks to dave and essa of madmaps for the delicious chinatown meal and oodles of appreciation to scott for the sweet deal on the suite. the fidi hilton is a beautiful place to be!

dawn and drew even did an audio tour of their sanny franny adventure. you can check it out here.

and then, if you want to see our kitchen put to a slightly more bloody use than usual - check out this video created by dawn, featuring james ( aka "the professor" ) piercing and stretching drew's ears:

we'll be back later this week with an all new episode of "So... you want to be a foodie?" - in typical invincibles style; with creatures contaminating sampling the ingredients and plenty of background noise ambiance to give you that low-low production quality you've come to expect from us. heh heh. chow.

so much fun, it's almost criminal! send comments to the invincibles

episode 13 - 27:04 61.2 MB[ quicktime 7 ] 79.3 MB[ quicktime 6 ] 62.2 MB[ windows media ] 12.6 MB ( audio only ) [ mp3 ]

greetings gentle viewers, our unintentional hiatus is over and we've been working hard at producing more video of the caliber which you've come to expect from the Invincibles, and we're sending it straight to you, our pals.

this video features super special guest chef: my Mom, presenting an old family recipe specifically requested by my pops: bubbleDad™
(we affectionately refer to him as such because of his multple stints in john-travolta-like isolation during transplant recovery)
zucchini and tomato casserole is an all time favorite with my family, and the preparations for it are captured on tape for the first time here. we shot it while we were visiting over the holidays, and managed to edit it while we were visiting again this past week.

unfortunately, the fates have been doing their best to kick out the rest of the Invincibles teeth lately, and we're doing our best to choke them down gracefully... since this footage was obtained, bubbleDad™ has spent five times as much time in the hospital as he has at home, due to myriad complications. you can get hip to all the gorey details, if you are so inclined.

anyway, for those of you who may not be aware, visiting your sick father in the hospital is not exactly condusive to an expedient post-production schedule; as a result, this video is just about one day too late, and is now presented in dedication to the ever loving memory of bubbleDad™ - he died, peacefully and quietly at home, in my Mom's arms, with his children and grandchildren nearby. He will be missed.

in memorium bubbleDad™ James Marshall Retterer 1945 - 2006 Rock on through to the other side, pops!

james and dad (jim), pre-bubble, illinois, c. 1976

so once again, many many huge thanks to all of you who have taken the time to write to express your sympathies and condolances for all of our recent difficult times... we feel lucky to have such a wonderful extended internet family. you can download "jug of wine", written and performed by bubbleDad™ here. if you wish there was something more you could do, you can always donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in memory of bubbleDad™.

we'd like to take a new york minute (one tryck pony style) to thank ward and diane and the rest of the Sojos crew for the completely awesome kitty care package - food, catnip and treats has really helped to snap the kits out of their missin' grim blues. we also wanted to mention that you can now visit our new cafe press store for all your Invincibles needs.

i almost forgot - if it weren't for the pesky prerequisite of being dead, I would be trying to nominate my sister Jori for sainthood. she put the rest of her life on hold to be here and serve as our father's hospice nurse. she is generous and wonderful and posesses a quiet strength, the likes of which i very rarely see. i love her dearly and our whole family is lucky to have her.

it's ridiculously sad - we love our bubbleDad™! send comments to the invincibles

aunt cindy and james, dallas lake, indiana, c. 1974

in memorium cynthia schemenaur née ruschke 1954 - 2005

sometimes the universe is loving and giving, sometimes the universe is absurd and playful, sometimes it can teach you many wonderful things, and sometimes it just sucker punches you right in the gut.

this is beginning to feel a little like an obit page, but i got the call wednesday that my aunt cindy had passed away that morning. she had won the battle against breast cancer several years ago, only to lose the war when some of the surlier elements of the cancer gang, brain and lung, came-a-callin' with the biological equivalent of jack knives and bicycle chains.

we're currently in chicago for the memorial service, having braved both flying and driving through the very same blizzard that sent a jet sprawling out in into traffic at midway airport. however, fortune seemed to be smiling upon the invincibles, as fate and circumstance conspired not only to get us to milwaukee safely (both chicago airports were shut down by the time we landed) but also to get us a complimentary upgrade to a 4 x 4 truck when the rental company was all out of compact cars. (mad love to dawn and drew for rescuing us in the new "showbiz element"!) i guess it really does pay to have good contacts on the other side.

honestly, though, i would have hijacked a dog sled team to get us here, to be with my mom and my uncle and my cousins. apparently i was not alone in that opinion: the line for the viewing stretched beyond the capacity of the room from the time they opened the memorial chapel until they closed. and speaking of my uncle, steve stood at head of the line for close to 6 hours, talking to each and every person who came to pay their respects. my cousins lindsey and matthew stood by him, a true testament to how amazing their mother was.

cindy was my god mother - which had very little to do with actual religion - it simply meant that she was my special aunt - and i owe so much of who i am to her. she took me to see star wars when it first opened, sparking my zeal for sci-fi. she taught me about coins, and was definitely the cause of my collectionistic tendencies. she was the first person i knew who owned a home video game system, an atari 2600; and in 1978 my six year old imagination dwelt in a realm where a 4 pixel by 4 pixel square could be a hero to slay duck-looking dragons with an arrow-shaped sword, then triumphantly return to his yellow castle with the magic chalice. i was so obsessed with adventure that i actually wrote poetry about it in grade school, but aunt cindy was the best damn space invaders player i have ever seen - i hold her directly responsible for my love of video games and, consequently, computers.

she was the epitome of calm, as laid back as they come, and ultimately unflappable. with a wicked sense of humor, innate comic timing and a dry wit, she wouldn't even think of saying anything bad about anyone. she was kind and sweet and giving, and never once complained about her illness. it actually hurts to think that she won't be here when we're back in two weeks for our holiday family visit. i could write volumes about how wonderful she was, but words just aren't enough.

lest you think the foodies are on sabbatical, you can look forward to some traditional family recipes - straight from the horses' mouths. and by "horses", we mean our moms, but only in a good way. not to worry, there are plenty of entertaining animals around here to temporarily fill in for the cats.

we tip our hats to ryan and nathan in appreciation of their recent donations to our bandwidth fund, and as a reminder: send us cash and we send you a magnet! we also extend our sincerest thanks to our loyal viewers for your well wishes during this difficult time.

ps - if you're as much in need of a laugh as i am, have a listen to the second part of my legendary one on one session with otp, find it at onetryckpony.com - cuz if we're not laughing, we're crying.

we love you aunt cindy! send comments to the invincibles.

blackbird singing in the dead of night. take these broken wings and learn to fly.

otp, james & grim earliest known photo chicago, c. 1994

grief can be a good thing - it helps us cope with loss and reminds us to cherish what we still have... but having said that, i realize that it can also be a wicked source for distraction.

i completely forgot to mention that while we were in nyc, i took some time to go one on one with one tryck pony. the first installment of this legendary session is currently online now, at onetryckpony.com - check it!

last night i was in the front room, dealing with the techno-crisis du jour, while rin was listening to this particular show in the other room. and, get this, i heard rin actually laugh out loud, more than once. granted, she's vaguely biased, but first and foremost she is a harsh critic and shrewd judge of comedy... i couldn't have wished for better praise.

i also wanted to apologize to all our video iPod toting fans, for a problem with the encoding on [ ep 12 ] that prevented playback on apple's frustratingly finicky device. i've managed to fix it, and owe a thousand thanks to drew for bringing it to my attention, and helping me sort it out.

one more thing before i go, it's almost time for the auspicious anniversary of one tryck pony's birth. happy birthday, otp! we love you long time! if you want, you can send us her presents, we're going to see her in a couple weeks - we'll give them to her, honest...

grim loved you otp, count on it! send comments to the invincibles.

in memorium grimoire grimaulkin 1990 - 2005

it is with a heavy heart that i must bring you the news that my best pal in the whole universe no longer resides within his corporeal shell. grim has left this life.

saturday afternoon he and i curled up for a little nap together, with both of us drifting off to sleep to his purr. later in the evening, he started showing signs of distress, so i settled him down on my chest, and we enjoyed a good snuggle with rin. he calmed then, with us all huddled together. as his breathing grew labored, rin held his paw as I stroked his head and held him. at 10:15, he let out a heavy sigh and a little purr... and he was gone.

it was, in my humble opinion, the best death ever - topping even bill shatner's oscar worthy performance in star trek: generations.

bell, thomas and mei joined us afterwards for a kitty wake... with each paying their respects in their own idiomatic style.

since being diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer on the first of november, grim has suffered as much pampering and spoiling as we could dish out, and he remained happy and comfortable up until the very end of his extraordinary life. fear not, grim-fans, we still have hours of footage in the archives: you have not seen the last of him yet.

thanks to all of you for your continued support. it's been an exceptionally difficult month here at the invincibles - but i wouldn't want to have missed one second of it.

we'll miss you grimoire! send comments to the invincibles.

and i'm crying for yesterday... and the tap drips, drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip...

episode 12 - 25:03 52.0 MB[ quicktime 7 ] 56.2 MB[ quicktime 6 ] 57.6 MB[ windows media ] 11.8 MB ( audio only ) [ mp3 ]

hey everybody. i had oodles of fun at the expo (sorry, james - you were missed!), hanging out with some terrific folks and i managed to distribute all 20 of my homemade "invincibles" magnets. if you make a donation to our bandwidth fund and include a mailing address, i'll send you a magnet. if you've already donated and would like one, let me know.

and oh memories... i met up with bunches of fellow podcasters, snuck into several podcasts, and managed to spank both nick starr and nlinus. all in all, an eventful event. here are some of the shows i found my way into either as myself or "moongirl", from the dawn and drew show:

• yeast radio
• dawn and drew show 186, 187, 189, 191
• cush rocks
• pizzababe goes global

i also want to thank jessica for kicking in some bandwidth cash and thanks to mark for including our butternut squash and pear soup recipe in the westside community market newsletter in madison, wisconsin. it's a perfect recipe for this time of year - just made it again for an early thanksgiving. oh - and i stored it in my new tupperware bowls courtesy of cat at creepycast. she's offering free shipping on her tupperware stuff to any of our fans who write her. thanks, cat!

in this video we answer the oft asked question: how do you make your own cat food? we have made food for our four cats since 1996, using a grain and vitamin mix from sojourner farms as a base. join us for the unpleasant realities of watching vegetarians handle raw meat, and stay for pure cat wackiness, as dawn miceli displays her special talent for winding us all up.

it's a feeding frenzy! send comments to the invincibles

episode 11 - 25:25 52.0 MB[ quicktime 7 ] 57.2 MB[ quicktime 6 ] 58.1 MB[ windows media ] 12.3 MB ( audio only ) [ mp3 ]

well, it's time for the podcast and portable media expo - and the invincibles are there, just not in stereo. last week grim, our old man cat, started acting quite ill... and the diagnosis is bad news: metastatic liver cancer. he's comfortable for the time being, but we didn't want to leave him with a sitter this weekend. the solution? james is staying home to play mamma cat, and rin is off to the expo to represent. EXPO UPDATE: listen for rin and dawn and drew on the next cush rocks - live from the expo.

accompany us on an anecdotally augmented adventure through grim's world; a chill episode in which we tour our back yard and serve up some kitty comfort food. it's grilled salmon, grimmy style!

we're beaming bunches of appreciation out to wendy for pitching in to our bandwidth fund. additional thank-rays are aimed everyone who has sent comments - we value the insight, please keep 'em coming.

long distance greetings and salutations to all my expo-bound compatriots.

we love you grimoire! send comments to the invincibles

episode 10 - 23:23 51.2 MB[ quicktime 7 ] 53.3 MB[ quicktime 6 ] 54.0 MB[ windows media ] 10.9 MB ( audio only ) [ mp3 ]

it's samhain, and the unseen world is so close you can almost taste it - try to contain yourselves for the second half of our spookiest show ever! MWA-HA-HA-HA!

join us, if you dare, for the terrifying conclusion of Vamp-Apple Pie, err... a recipe that will make your wounds ooze... and the inkernet™ debut of "Foie Gras' Revenge: The Devil Wears Yellow", the second in our two-part series of bone-chilling documentaries, on loan from the moore family and dawn mcsmelly archive, for your eerie edumatainment.

we also wish to heap hordes of horrific honors upon kathy for kicking in to our bandwidth fund. now, gentle guests, are you going to let these folks continue to make you look like chumps? (cough*cough*donate*cough)

come play with us in person, november 11 and 12th at the podcast expo - it will be a monstrously good time!

remember to honor your ancestors - or else they may come back as zombies and try to eat your brains, and by "brains" we mean pie, and by "pie" we mean brains.

it's spooky! send comments to the invincibles

episode 9 - 26:13 56.5 MB[ quicktime 7 ] 58.5 MB[ quicktime 6 ] 59.8 MB[ windows media ] 12.1 MB ( audio only ) [ mp3 ]

it's time for our extra special spooky show - so scary, in fact, that we had to break it in to two... two terrifying parts! MWA-HA-HA-HA!

so join us, if you dare, for Vamp-Apple Pie, err... a recipe that will make your flesh crawl... and the world premiere of "The Devil's Poultry: Foie Gras", a bone-chilling documentary, on loan from the moore family and dawn mcsmelly archive, for your edumatainment.

we also want to spatter gobs of gruesome gratitude on jeff and sharyl for being the very first donors to our bandwidth fund - they rock, monster-style!
are the rest of you going to let them show you up like that? (hint hint)

and play with us in person, november 11 and 12th at the podcast and portable media expo in ontario, california.

don't forget to catch the intensely terrifying conclusion of Vamp-Apple Pie, err... coming horrifyingly soon... same cat time, same cat channel.