CONSUME, MAKE ART, & WATCH "THEY LIVE" (#93)

 

This month's movie is a personal favorite of mine. They Live is an iconic action sci-fi film from 1988, which stars wrestler Roddy Piper as the macho protagonist who discovers a pair of sunglasses that when worn reveal secrets of the world around him, such as subliminal messaging in television, ads, and magazines that is meant to manipulate and control the masses.

For this movie night, I really went all out. For dinner, I decided that I wanted to feature lamb. I chose this because of the common metaphor that compares people to sheep when they do as they're told and are easily manipulated and controlled. Even though I don't think this metaphor was ever said in the movie, it certainly fits the message of the film. With that in mind, our main course was shepherd's pie made in the traditional way with lamb instead of beef.

For dessert, we had cake that was strawberry bubblegum flavored and designed to look like a trashcan. That was inspired by a few quotable lines in the movie: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum," and "Either put on these glasses, or start eating that trash can."

In addition to the food, I created a themed activity to do before dinner. This was a sort of arts and crafts where guests made their own secret, hidden images like the subliminal messages in the film. This activity was really fun and creative and guests really seemed to enjoy the magic of it. While working we listened to a playlist on Spotify called "Anti-Capitalist Anthems" as it seemed to fit the mood of the film we would soon be watching.

Invisible Subliminal Art

The pictures above demonstrate the magic of this activity. Both pictures were taken of the same object. The image on the left is what it looks like with the naked eye. The second image is the same object as viewed through polarized sunglasses. Polarization is the secret science that makes this work.

To do this activity, you need polarized sunglasses, polarized sheets (approx 8x11 in size), clear sheet protectors, and clear packaging tape in various thicknesses and brands.

Steps:

1. Put a polarized filter in the clear protective sheeting.
2. Layer packaging tape on the clear plastic in fun and creative ways. The best colors will appear if you lay the tape diagonally, at about a 45° angle. Different brands and thicknesses of packaging tape will bend light differently and create different colors, so I suggest using a few different varieties of tape. Also, layering tape over other tape will change the color where they overlap.
3. Hold your invisible art piece up in front of light (natural sunlight works best) with the tape side facing you, and put on your polarized sunglasses. Your artwork should be visible.
4. While looking at it, rotate the sheet side to side like you turn a steering wheel. The colors that show through will probably change when held at a different angle. For example in the one pictured above, the blues, blacks, and purples turned to red, yellow, and oranges when rotated 90°.

Seen below are my guests with their invisible art pieces as they appear with and without the sunglasses. By the way, if you do this activity, you should note that you absolutely can take pictures of your work, but the work will only be visible if you hold your polarized sunglasses up to your camera lens. That is how the pictures here were taken.

Real Shepherd's Pie (With Lamb)

 

For this dish, I followed this recipe pretty closely with a few subtle changes. The recipe uses a lot of spice and seasoning. It seems like too much, but when cooking lamb, you really want to have a lot of seasoning. Trust the recipe. The end result will slap you in the face with flavor, but won't be too much. One of my regular guests told me that this was his favorite dish that I had ever made.

This recipe will make two pans, as shown in the above photo.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp olive oil
2 lb ground lamb
4 tbsp onion powder
4 tsp dried parsley flakes
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups beef broth (or stout beer)
2 cups frozen peas & carrots (mixed)
1 cup frozen sweet corn kernels
4-5 lbs of cheesy mashed potatoes

    1 box Idahoan dried potato flakes (13.75 oz)

    6 cups water

    2 1/2 tsp salt

    9 tbsp butter

    3 milk

    1 tsp garlic powder

    1/2 tsp ground pepper

    1/2 cup finely shredded parmesian cheese

Directions:

1. Add oil, lamb, onion powder, parsley, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper to a large skillet or wok. I used the wok because it's larger and good at holding large amounts of food. 
   
   
   
2. Bring to a medium heat and mix ingredients thoroughly until meat is cooked. Cooking lamb is a little different than browning beef. Lamb turns brown quickly, but that doesn't mean that it's cooked. Cooked lamb meat is more of a dark grey color. If you have a difficult time telling if it's cooked, look for the fat. If you still see white fat in the mixture, then it isn't cooked yet.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder. Stir until completely combined into mixture.
4. Add flour and tomato paste. Stir until thoroughly mixed. You will see the color of the meat change to an orangish tint. Stir until color is even throughout.
5. Add broth (or beer) and mix in frozen vegetables. 
   
   
   
6. Let simmer, stirring occasionally. If it's boiling, turn the temperature down.
7. Now is a great time to make the mashed potatoes. I personally find that using dried potato flakes tastes just as good as fresh potatoes but takes a lot less work, so I decided to go that route.
1. Add water, salt, and butter to a large pot.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the potato flakes and milk until well combined.
4. Stir in garlic, pepper, and cheese until completely mixed in.
8. Pour half of the meat mixture in each of two casserole dishes and spread until even and level.
9. Gently spread mashed potatoes around the top of each dish. You do not need to spread all of the way the edge.
10. Bake at 400°F 40 to 50 minute until mashed potatoes start to golden. You can leave the dish prepped on even put it in the fridge and wait until closer to dinner time to cook it. Optional: Sprinkle some additional parmesan cheese over dish after removing from oven.

Roasted Broccoli Side Dish

Ingredients:

3 lb frozen broccoli

6 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

finely shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Toss broccoli in a large bowl with oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. You can cook immediately, or let set in fridge to cook later.
2. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
3. Separate broccoli between the two sheets and bake at 400°F until crispy. This could take 30 minutes or more.
4. When you remove the broccoli from the oven, sprinkle with parmesan.

The broccoli was a great choice of sides for this dish because it adds some lightness and freshness to an otherwise heavy dish. The great thing about using this dish for movie night is that I was able to do all the work hours before dinner and not have to rush last minute. I just threw it in the oven when the guests starting showing up. The food cooked while they made their invisible art.

Chew Bubblegum & Cake Ass

 

I don't consider myself much of a baker, so I used shortcuts where I could for this. The cake was Pillsbury strawberry cake mix and the icing was pre-made Pillsbury Butter Cream frosting. I bought Bubble Gum flavoring at Hobby Lobby, which came in a two pack of .125 fl oz bottles.

To make this cake, I used two boxes of strawberry cake mix and followed the instructions on the box. The only difference is that I added an entire bottle of bubblegum flavoring to the batter. I poured the batter evenly into three six inch cake pans and baked following the box instructions. These cakes were thick so they took longer to cook than the box said they would. I used a meat thermometer and cooked them to an internal temperature of 210°F. 

 

As the cake cools, I prepped the icing. I had two 16 oz tubs. I emptied both into a larger container, stirred in the entire second bottle of Bubble Gum flavoring, and then added blue and black food coloring to try and get the cake to a silverish color. Black food coloring is very powerful, so use carefully or you could end up with an ugly dark grey instead of silver.

When the cakes have cooled, remove from pans. Use a bread knife to cut the "muffin top" off of each cake to make each layer level. Stack the three cakes in a cylinder, putting icing in between like a glue. Ice the rest of the cake as best as you can. To finish the trash can look, I used some decorative icing to draw the lid, handle, and trash can edges.

The cake was not particularly large, but was tall. When cutting, most of us ate only one or two layers rather than slicing a full three layer slice. The cake was really good. The bubble gum flavor was definitely there, but I don't think it was over powering.

Overall, the entire night was a success. There were a lot of happy guests with full bellies. If you decide to host your own They Live party, I would encourage you to do something similar.