This episode focuses mostly on the Bubonic Plague during the Medieval European era, as Stefan shares his research from the past two weeks after reading about the man in Bend, Oregon who contracted the Bubonic Plague from his cat. That story can be read here. 
     In the beginning of the show, Ryan and Stefan talk about Eavesdropping Toys for kids and for adults that were commercialized during their childhood. They also talk briefly about the Kress Live article that was recently posted in the Sun Herald. 
    In his talk on the Bubonic Plague, Stefan discusses how the disease arrived at the end of a "Golden Age" for Europe, how the Mongols spread the disease in its early phases by catapolting the bodies of their dead, infected soldiers over the walls of their enemies to contaminate others, the mutation of the disease into the pneumonic plague, what happens to a person with the Black Death, what new genetic research tells us about the plague, what the fatality rates were like and how it changed the lives of Europeans for decades, the mob mentalities of flagellant fanatics (groups of men who wiped them selves and reenacted the sufferings of Jesus Christ as a form of penance), how the Pope played a role in suggestive treatments, religious hysteria and scientific ignorance, how disinformation and lack of knowledge spread the disease, and the genocide acts that occuried to the Jewish people. 

    It's the happy accidents that make for great discoveries. And no happier am I than when that accident involves delicious food. I'm strollin' along through the grocery store and I spot some Larabar Cookie Dough snacks in one of the isles. Did I spell that word right? I don't care. Anyway, it looks super good and, after reading the ingredients, I see it is also super easy to make. So I go home with the intention of recreating this simple snack. 

    Flash forward to me as I flashback getting home. I look up a few suggestions for similar bars and get to work. As I start the process, I add my own ingredients here and there to make it my own, and hope for the best. Before long, I've got a paste of some sort that needs to be pressed and molded before being frozen in the freezer. I do just that with about four bars, but realize I have a little bit left of the crumpled mixture that wouldn't be worth putting in foil to harden. Instead, I take out a bowl, pour some almond milk, and drop the mixture in. As I eat the concoction, I realize I haven't created a delicious nut bar, I've made a delicious cereal. 

    I pull out all the foils containing the granola mixture and dump it in a zip lock bag. Then I add more cashews and flaxseed, an ingredient that had previously been absent. I've been missing cereal for a long time since I omitted wheat from my diet (and almost all oats as well) and this cashew nut mixture hits the spot and was a breeze to put together with a food processor. 
    Here's the break down:


    INGREDIENTS:

-1 cup of dates


-1/2 cup of cashews or almonds (or mixed)


-1/2 cup sunflower seeds 


-1/3 cup of flaxseed 


-Spoonful of raw honey


-1 Tbsp of vanilla extract


-1 Tbsp of coconut oil


-Dash of salt 


-Dash of brown sugar




    DIRECTIONS:


1). Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend.


2). Transfer to a zip lock bag.


3). Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Enjoy. 


    This will produce about six servings. Experiment with a variety of nuts and fruits to make the recipe your own work of art. 

        Last nights stand-up event marked the first outdoor event of the season for Mezo's Juke Joint. With the crowd in attendance hovering just over a dozen people, it made for a very intimate (if a little funky) night, which was full of experimental material and practice runs. 
       With great weather, performers and first timers took to the stage outside accompanied only by the overhead lights and a microphone in hand. To warm things up, me and Ryan did a brief two man riff off, in which we generated random material to get things rolling. It was at this point that one of the audience members decided to give it a try, followed by a second shortly after. 
       Daniel Kavanagh, one of the three hosts, took to the stage to deliver a mix of brand new material. It was his stage time that marked the true beginning of the show, as he demonstrated his ability as a fluid story teller capable of sharp punches. Ryan Vanskiver followed up with a solid line-up that kept the crowd intrigued throughout. As usual, his crowd work was entertaining and his asides made for fun avenues to explore. 
       Closing out, I took to the stage halfheartedly. At the beginning of the night, I was feeling like I would take the night off, but encouragement from friends got me up to perform fresh material from the week gone by. What I had expected to be a bit or two on Survivorman and Krokodil, turned into a slew of one-liners and whatever else came to mind. 
       At the end of the night, we decided the next show would be indoors. Though the weather is beginning to shape up and the stage is nice, we would like to keep the proximity to our audiences a little closer until people start venturing out more for the warmer climate. In the mean time, thanks to all who came out and supported. We will see you next week.

     I came up with this funky looking "Jamacian Juice" a few weeks ago. It makes for an excellent morning starter or a mid day energy booster. With its crazy colors of red, yellow, and green, you'll want to put it in a glass cup everytime to admire the bizarre concoction you've made, which takes less than 5 minutes to whip up.         

   INGREDIANTS:
 
-1 handful (about 8-10) frozen blueberries.
     Being frozen lets the berries "bleed" in the juice, which is what produces some of the coloration. Their tempature also keeps your drink chilled.
 
-A bottle of Green Goodness. This is sold in most big chain stores, and is a fruit/vegetable mixture. I've never met anyone who doesn't dig this stuff.
 
-Orange Juice

 IINGREDIENTS:


1 cup almonds
1 cup cashews
1 cup sunflower seeds


1-2 cups dried froot
2 cups coconut flakes
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/3 cup sunflower or olive oil (I used olive)
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract 
1 tablespoon of brown sugar or some cinamon 
1 dash of sea salt


     DIRECTIONS:


Prepare your cooling dish. Get a 9x13 glass baking dish and layer it with parchment paper. 


Combine nuts in a large mixing bowl. Mix. 


Take 1 cup of mixed nuts and add to a food processor. Pulse very briefly. This one coup will give the bar a chunckier texture with near whole pieces. The other two cups of nuts will be pulsed well. Transfer the 1 cup to another dish when done. 


Finely pulse the remaining two cups of assorted nuts in the food processor. 


Mix all the nuts back together. 


Now add your coconut flakes and dried fruits of your choosing, along with your chocolate chips (if you want them). Go eaasy on the chocolate. This is already a sweet snack with the honey and fruit.  Mix the ingrediants together. 


Now for the sauce. Add the coconut oil, sunflower/olive oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan. Turn on the stove to low-medium heat. Stir occasionally until the mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat. 


Pour the honey mixture into your dish containing the nut mixture. Stir together until well blended. 


Scoop the completed mixture into your 9x13 baking dish which should be layered with parchment . Use a spoon or a damp hand to evenly press the mixture into the dish. Let settle for two hours. I'm not sure why you have to do this for so long, but trust me, it makes the bars taste so much better, if only for psychological reasons. 


Place in the freezer for one hour to complete the hardening process. 


Take the dish out and use the bottom parchment paper to easily transfer the nut mixture onto a cutting board. Cut into whatever size you desire. I did palm sized squares and it resulted in 15 even bars. 

Store in freezer in a container. I layer mine with left over parchment paper. 


         I cannot overstate how incredible these things are. The cavemen didn't rock it like this back in the day, but us paleolithic eaters of the modern era can make this on a regular basis and still kick it like it's 2 million B.C. 

     We had a great 2nd show at Mezo's Juke Join last night for the Comedy Open Mic. After Daniel's set, me and Ryan decided to try an improv set riffing off each other which turned into an hour long affair. Several other people got up and tried material. We hope you all keep coming back and try for some stage time in the future!  On the 24th episode of the Coastal Noise Podcast (recorded @ Mezo's before the comedy show) we had an enriching conversation and were joined by Greg Slade toward the last quarter. Be sure to check out the last few minutes of the episode to hear about the guy who caught the Bubonic Plague from his pet cat! At first, discussed music and comedy, along with new ideas for crafting material at future shows. In the world of music, The Grammys happened recently, where Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl, and Queens Of The Stone Age closed out the show only to be cut short by commercials. Reznor and was not happy to say the least. 
     Farmers Fridge is now selling salads in vending machines in Chicago and has a 5 star Yelp rating. 
     A chunk of the show drifted to video game business models of the future with hard drive space and online distribution in mind, spurred on by the announcement of Vietnamese game creator Dong Ngyen who is pulling his popular app, "Flappy Bird", which was designed with old school Mario themes. From that, we mention Payday 2, which is a first-person, 4 player co-op shooter where team mates break into banks and stores for million dollar pay offs. Check it out if your looking for a good game to get into. Me and my brother are trying to assemble a sold team to break bread with, feel me? We also talk Boarderlands 2, GTA V, The new UFC with the EA takeover. Before closing in the segment, we talk more about the business model big game developers are taking to make the most profits. We also talk game ratings for kids and trending TV shows. 
     Greg Slade joins us, and we reference G. Love and Special Sauce's song "Lay Down The Law". Click the song title to give it a listen, highly recommended. We start up on social communications: Aggressive facebook Interactions. We talk about how the brain registers information when browsing the web versus reading physical material such as books and magazines. Wired Magazine did an article a few years back that showed more scattered brain recognition patterns when heavily depending on strictly internet based sources. We explore why physical materials may be better for cognitive enhancement and in what ways. We then discuss taking positive action in our personal lives: Right speech, self motivation (cleaning, doing the laundry), cutting negative people out your life, establishing successful routines for organization. 
     The last and most intense story  is at the closing, about a man from Bend, Oregon who caught the Bubonic Plague from his pet cat, ended up in a coma, and lost several limbs as a result. Doctors say he is lucky to be alive. Your not going to want to miss this story.