disco

under
w o rld
issue #9
july 2009
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 www.discounderworld.com. issue #9 contents. page 5

issue #9 features
6 direct address

18 reader submission:
my town

33 things the world

should know more about

46 mike’s space:

39 8
americamas

68 last issue’s favourite

20 54

direct address
disco underworld, july 2009
Well the time has finally come
when I can launch The Gold
Edition, disco underworld’s very
first print issue, to you all!
It is very exciting and very
scary at the same time,
because it is going to be a true
test of whether people value
the concepts of life, creativity
and sharing behind disco
underworld!
If you do, please buy a copy to
show your support. There will
only be 1000 printed, and they
are all a bit special, numbered
by hand and personalised to the
lucky person receiving the copy.
It will also be free of
advertising, ensuring that you
will get uninterrupted photo
spreads and articles about all
the best people I have
interviewed over this last year!
Also with giving back in mind, I
have chosen to establish a KIVA
www.discounderworld.com. direct address. page 7
Next issue’s theme, is “Rhythm
and Noise.”
Drop me a line if you have
anything to contribute:
stacey@discounderworld.com
disco
under
fund with 10% of the profits, Cover w o rld
once the 1000 copies have image issue #9
july 2009
sold. KIVA seemed like the by
perfect choice for disco Brigitte
underworld, as their values are Bouquet.
what disco also stands for: life, Read her
creativity, sharing and making story on
the world a more positive place! page 8.
You can read more about KIVA
on page 37.
This issue’s theme is “Things disco underworld is published by
the world should know more Online INsight Limited © copyright
about.” Thank you to all of you 2009. By reading and interacting
with our magazine and website, you
who shared your ideas, I hope agree to the terms laid out
you all learn something new and under the “terms of use” on the
exciting. Next issue we will be site www.discounderworld.com
Editor: Stacey Childs
looking at “Rhythm and Noise,” stacey@discounderworld.com
and how music is incorporated Contributors: Dillie Baria, Mike
into our lives. Woodruff, Kristina.
Remember to join our facebook Coming up in the next
group for sneak peeks of each few pages:
issue too,
Brigitte Bouquet
Have a good one!
Reader Submission: My
Town
Stacey
 www.discounderworld.com. brigitte bouquet. page 9

Brigitte B


rigitte Bouquet was
born in Amsterdam,
and currently lives in Brooklyn,

Bouquet New York. About 17 years ago

she began playing with ceramics
in a friend’s studio, painting the
plates and platters she made.
 www.discounderworld.com. brigitte bouquet. page 11

Before she knew it, friends and

friends of friends were ordering
her work. Only two years
later, she had shops and
galleries selling her creations,
which she fired in two
different kilns in a big studio
in Amsterdam. In 2008 she
brought out a new range of
handcrafted, mismatched, but
charming ceramic plates, she
calls “wobbly plates”. Wobbly
Plates were an instant hit.

Brigitte now works roughly half

a week on her wobbly plates
and half a week on her huge
ceramic sculptures, which she
began creating about eight
years ago.
 www.discounderworld.com. brigitte bouquet. page 13

She says of the years leading

up to the creation of her first
sculpture: “I was doing
something I liked and was
happy every day... but I kept
having all these dreams in my
head about big ceramic
sculptures...”

Brigitte says she is fascinated

by patterns in nature, on a leaf,
in sand, on a stonewall. The
texture of a tree, the ripples of
water; most of her works start
in nature. She always carries
a small camera with her, and
“from that point on I let my
imagination go... blow
Grassy Patch in something up or give it a weird
Zichen-Zussen-Bolder twist...” Her goal is to make
beautiful things, and she loves
This Page: Detail of the making sculptures that are hard
sculpture. to believe are made of clay.

The sculptures are created on
a frame of thin wood. They
each take about three to four
months to create and Brigitte
works on several pieces at the
same time. She makes a rough
sketch of her ideas and then
starts working. She says that
more often than not during the
process, things change.
The works each weigh between
80 and 90 kilograms or 175
and 200 pounds, and Brigitte
says that moving them is
www.discounderworld.com. brigitte bouquet. page 15
always nerve-racking. “They are
ridiculously heavy! To get them
from my home to the gallery,
the problem is more how to
carry them... The frame is made
of thin wood and with the green
one the grass is ‘growing’
everywhere… all over the
frame... tarahhh!”
The effort is worth it though.
The pieces are wonderful “They are ridiculously heavy! To get them
examples of creativity and
dedication, and a testament to
from my home to the gallery, the problem is
Brigitte’s vision and personality. more how to carry them...”
 www.discounderworld.com. brigitte bouquet. page 17

“What do I think the world

should know more about? The
incredibly diverse nature of clay
with its limitless possibilities.
When I tell people that I am a
ceramist, most people always
think right away ‘ahhhhhhh a
potter!’ but clay and
ceramics can mean
so much more...”

Find Brigitte on the net:

http://web.me.com/bbceramics
www.atelierbb.etsy.com

If you would like to vote for

Brigitte, enter your email here
and hit vote. Your vote will
count once your email has been
verified. Only one vote will
count per email and person.

Detail of Watching
Waves.
 www.discounderworld.com. reader submission. page 19

y T o w n
i o n : M
u b m is s “We went to see my husband’s
S
Reader
brother and his girlfriend, who
bought a house just before
Christmas. When I was there
last time they hadn’t moved in,
but now the house is a home.
They’ve done a lot of work -
painting, sanding, gardening
and more - and there’s still lots
to do. But the house is
beautiful, and very welcoming.”

Kristina, Sweden.
www.greenwiggle.com/blog

Coming up in the next

few pages:

Jessica Stewart

things the world should

know more about Send pictures or movies of your town to stacey@discounderworld.com
 www.discounderworld.com. jessica stewart. page 21

jessica stewart
 www.discounderworld.com. jessica stewart. page 23

J

essica is an art
historian originally from
Massachusetts, who moved to
Rome in 2005. During the day
she works for an organization
that promotes cultural walking
tours around Rome, and during
her spare time she writes,
photographs and blogs about
her life in Rome.

Reading through Jessica’s blog

turned me a very deep shade of
green. I was convinced that she
had stolen my life, but rather
than turn away in disgust at
stolen identities, I decided to
delve deeper.

“I started the blog in

September 2008 as a way to
photograph more and to my
surprise its also made me
become more engaged with the
city. I really wanted to portray
Rome in a different way, one
that is more true to my sense
of being here and living here.”
 www.discounderworld.com. jessica stewart. page 25

Jessica regards moving to Rome

as one of the best decisions
she’s ever made. “I think if I
hadn’t I would have
always wondered ‘what if’ and
to be honest I can't even
imagine how different my life
would be if I was still in the US.”

Her blog records her visits to

local events like gallery
openings and fashion shows,
and shows her rubbing
shoulders with talented creative
people. She says she finds out
about these events on
Facebook. “In the past six
months its increasingly become
a way that people are
promoting events here. So if
you are coming to town and
want to know interesting things
going on that locals would go
to, try searching their events’
calendar.”
 www.discounderworld.com. jessica stewart. page 27
 www.discounderworld.com. jessica stewart. page 29

Jessica thinks one of the things

the world should know more
about is other places. “I think
everyone in the world should
spend at least a few months
living in a different place, as I
think it really makes you more
empathetic as a person.”

She explains: “To be able to

understand what it feels like
to be in a language and culture
that isn't your own makes you
more tolerant as a person. It
also makes you realize that the
common threads of humanity
carry through no matter where
you are. No matter how
different a person or a place
might seem, you'll be surprised
at the little things that are still
the same. If everyone had more
of this understanding, the world
might be a better place.”

She also would like the world to

know that it is ok to take risks.
She says that there were some
people that thought she was
crazy for packing up and
leaving the States for Rome. “I
followed my heart and did it, so
that even if it didn't work out,
I would always know that I had
tried.”
 www.discounderworld.com. jessica stewart. page 31

She says it is difficult to

pinpoint the biggest differences
between life in the States and
life in Rome without
sounding like she is complaining
or preaching. “I’ll just say that
the biggest differences are the
cultural attitudes that you are
born with. These are things that
are hard to change and can be
hard to understand for others
not from your culture. There
are a lot of things I’ve found
out about myself and my Visit
world view that were directly romephotoblog.blogspot.com
shaped by growing up in the US. to see more of Jessica’s photos.
A lot of these are things that I
treasure, while some are things If you would like to vote for
I’m glad I got to see another Jessica, enter your email here
perspective on.” and hit vote. Your vote will
count once your email has been
Jessica says that the slight verified. Only one vote will
language barriers and a count per email and person.
thousand other tiny things
constantly remind her that she
is not home, but that just
being in Rome makes up for it.
The culture, beauty, people and
lifestyle all play their part in her
ongoing obsession,
and in onlookers envy,
of her life in Rome.
 www.discounderworld.com. things the world should know more about. page 33

Agneiszka Parr thought the The landlords soon found the

world should know more about other half of Darger’s life work,
Henry Darger. Here’s what she perhaps the longest novel ever

Things sent in: written. The more than 15,000

page single-spaced, In the

P
“In 1973, at a Catholic poor Realms of the Unreal, is an epic

the lain and simple.

house in Chicago, an 81-year-
old retired janitor quietly died.
His name was Henry Darger.
story of the virtuous
Vivian girls and their religious
war against the evil Glandelinian

World We live in a world where we are

overcome by media, and
Just months earlier, he had
moved from the rented room
where he had lived for over 40
army. For most of his life, Henry
Darger, a recluse whom
others called “Crazy,” had lived

Should
generally only the most years. When his landlords in this rich fantasy world. It was
shocking examples of human cleaned out the cluttered room, a world he had kept to himself.
life are reported on. they discovered paintings:

Know
hundreds of brilliant www.henrydarger.info
Well. I thought. watercolours, some over 10
feet long. The images were There is a movie out on DVD,

More
How about if I asked my disturbing and mysteriously google image search spits out
audience what things in their beautiful: little girls frolicking loads of his art, and Wikipedia
lives/towns/worlds they think under stormy skies, little girls has an entry too. Enjoy!”

About
the world should know more fighting soldiers, little girls
about? Here are what some of being rescued by fantastic Ag mouseonaleash.blogspot.com
them shared: winged creatures.

Neil Buddle thought the world
should know more about
religion, history and the
economy. He explains:
“What the world should know
more about?
1. Religion - Whether you
are spiritual or not, you should
know about the world’s
religions, their similarities and
their differences (e.g. Islam,
Christianity and Judaism have
around 34 prophets in
common between all three
religions - Mmm, so why do
they fight so?) Religion has
shaped our national boundaries,
our social structures, our moral
beliefs and our grasp of science.
Greater understanding will
really help with religious
tolerance and understanding in
the future.
2. History - No-one seems to
know anything about history
anymore so we are reinventing
the wheel and the world, in the
image of our own ignorance.
www.discounderworld.com. things
www.discounderworld.com.
the world should know more
twitt
about.
twitt.
page 359
page
get to know
3. Economy - Our economic
model is set up to ‘boom and
bust’ so there should be no
ways we can
surprise when it does just that.
That is the secret to making a
lot of money in business (one
each other a little better
man’s ruin is another’s profit),
Join us on
not the secret to maintaining a
stable and consistent
economy. Human beings have
been around for two million
years and the first unit of
currency was not developed
until approx 5000 years ago in
@discounderworld
what is now modern
Iran/Turkey/Iraq. The first
metal coins did not arrive
until approx 650 BC in China
a
become
and bank notes were not
printed in Europe until the 17th
century. How did we survive
before that?
fan
cool
eep you
It’ll k
Ultimately, these things all tie
in to history. History is not just
the study of ‘what happened’ in
the past, it is the study of ‘why
is it happening’ in the present
and the ‘what will happen’ in
the future.
Neil.”
Join our newsletter to get each issue of
Coming up in the next
few pages:
disco underworld delivered to your inbox.
Mark Horvath
Email stacey@discounderworld.com, and she
Mike’s Space: Americamas
will add you to the list. Thanks!

Both Neil and Ag’s ideas tie into
Steve’s email below, and
embody the spirit behind disco
underworld:
“Stacey,
Plain and simple, the world
would be a better place for us
all if we ALL knew more about
each other. On a local level as
well as a
national/religious/cultural level.
Knowledge is not just power, it
is understanding.
Steve.”
And me? Despite the
obvious that I think that the
world should know more about
each other on a positive
human level, I think that the
world should know more about
croissant aux amandes
(croissants with an almond
butter cream on and in them),
red wine (particularly red
desert wine) and chocolate
fudge brownies (together, use
the wine to wash down the
brownie).
www.discounderworld.com. things
www.discounderworld.com.
the world should know more
twitt
about.
twitt.
page
page 379
But on a serious and a make-
the-world-a-more-positive-place
note, I think the world should
know more about KIVA.
KIVA is the world’s first
person-to-person micro-lending
website, which connects
individuals like you and me to
entrepreneurs in the
developing world, allowing us to
provide a loan from as little as
Once all 1000 editions
$25 US for them to use to start
their own small business. of The Gold Edition are
sold, we will be
The loan is eventually paid back pledging 10% of the
in full, and the entrepreneur
profits to KIVA.
blogs about their progress as
they establish their business.
The loan money is basically
“recycled”, and can be taken We will also track our pledge Please buy a copy of The Gold
out again, or put back into the every issue, filling you in on Edition to show your
wash for another how the small businesses we support for disco underworld
entrepreneur from another have helped are going. Once and KIVA. If The Gold Edition
country, to use to start a the loans are re-payed we will isn’t your bag, please consider
business of their own. re-donate the money back pledging some money to Kiva,
into the Kiva community. in your own name:
Kiva really is helping the world www.kiva.org.
become a better place for
thousands of people and their
families and communities
in developing countries
like Afghanistan, Peru,
Tajikistan and Ghana.
 www.discounderworld.com. mark horvath. page 39

Need help
NAME YOUR PRICE

NAME
with:
YOUR Writing?
Mark Horvath
PRICE Designing?
we can help you with
Creating?
digital
anything from a
simple website for

publishing?
your business, to
writing advice,

marketing?
professional
marketing collateral
or digital publishing
solutions.

You tell us what you

would like us to do for
you, and how much Mark Horvath thinks
you’d like to pay for it. the world should
www.online-insight.com
know more about the
bringing back the Contact us to find out homeless people in
barter in business more, obligation free! America.

“Being homeless in
Hollywood. That was
never my dream”
M
ark moved to LA shirts, a pair of jeans and a
in 1987 to seek
fame and fortune as a musician.
He found a little success
playing his drums, but decided
to shift his focus onto the
television industry. By 1994 he
had a promising career in TV
and a Mercedes Benz.
www.discounderworld.com. mark horvath. page
“Being homeless in Hollywood.
That was never my dream.” But
it became a reality after Mark
ended up living in a park in
Hollywood, able to fit
everything he owned (two
kitchen knife), into a
backpack. A severe addiction
to drugs landed him in the park,
where he remembers sitting all
day, watching people walking
their dogs, playing with their
kids and “longing to have a life
again.”
41
“I lost my family, I lost
everything that was dear to
me. I lost my possessions.” He
hit rock bottom, and dreamed
of turning the knife he had with
him for survival, on himself.
And he was not alone. Every
night in LA, over 90,000 people
live on the streets, over 3.5
million nation-wide. The average
age of the homeless in the USA
is just nine years of age.
 www.discounderworld.com. mark horvath. page 43

“Homelessness can
happen to anyone.”

Mark’s own story shows that

“homelessness can happen to
anyone.” More jobs have been
lost in America in the last 12
months than any other period
in record keeping history,
according to data from the
Labor Department. Experts only
predict that unemployment will
get worse.

On the other hand, Mark’s story

also shows that there is hope
for each and every person living
on the streets. For Mark, God
played a big part in his survival.
15 years ago The Dream Centre,
the church he credits with his
survival and revival helped him
clean up and find employment.
He used his television producing
skills from his previous life to
produce a weekly show about
the events and news from the
centre.

That job finished up eight years

ago, and since Mark has once
again found himself unemployed
with no income. But he is doing
something...

Mark has launched a website
www.invisiblepeople.tv, where
he goes onto the streets and
meets homeless people.
His goal is to make homeless
people visible to everyone else.
“It’s not that people are bad,
but if we make eye contact,
or engage in conversation, we
have to admit they exist.”
The interviews are uncut and
unedited and therefore provide
direct insights into the
characters and day-to-day lives
of the people who live on the
streets.
Click to watch Steve’s interview. The link will take you to an
outside page (www.vimeo.com) where you can watch all Mark’s videos.
Like Janine who works as a
gardener, but doesn’t earn
enough to be able to hold down
an apartment. She lives in one
of the temporary tent cities
around Sacramento. Or Steve,
who is a 58-year-old man who
moved to Hollywood to sell a
screenplay. He now sells cans
and bottles, pushes a shopping
cart, eats entirely out of
dumpsters, and sleeps in
alleyways. He says “I sleep
across the street in that
hideous-looking alley. But it’s
not so bad because the people
there are so nice.”
www.discounderworld.com. mark horvath. page 45
“I have the worst
disease in the world:
I am a romantic.”
Steve claims he ended up on
the streets because “I have the
worst disease in the world: I am
a romantic.”
The stories and the lives
Visit
portrayed on invisiblepeople.tv
are intriguing and eye-opening. http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog
It is so easy to pass over and to learn more about Mark and
pass off the homeless, so much the people he interviews.
easier than hearing their stories.
Through this website Mark gives
them a voice, and us an If you would like to vote for
opportunity to learn and Mark, enter your email here and
connect with those most of us hit vote. Your vote will count
would otherwise prefer to once your email has been
ignore and forget. verified. Only one vote will
count per email and person.
“Everyone on the streets has
their own story, some made
bad decisions, others were
victims, but none of them
deserve what they have been
left with, and it is a
reflection of our own
society that we just
leave them there.”
 www.discounderworld.com. mike’s space. page
Mike Woodruff lives in Los
Angeles. When not writing,
he enjoys playing basketball
and eating Flamin’ Hot
Cheetos. You can find him on
the internet at
www.mutinouswombats.blogspot.com
Read last month’s Mike’s
Space here.
I
t’s happening this month. and cherry bombs. If they’re
We Americans are
celebrating our Independence
Day. The 4th of July.
Americamas. Whatever you
want to call it. If you’re not
American, the only time this
day probably resonated with
you was when President Bill
Pullman declared it World
Americamas
Independence Day from aliens.
That was right before he
jumped in a jet fighter
alongside Randy Quaid, Jeff
Goldblum, and Will Smith and
words and images by proceeded to blow hostile
Mike Woodruff extraterrestrials out of the sky.
47
Because we Americans like to
celebrate our freedom from
tyranny in the loudest way
possible, we buy fireworks. All
around the country, people are
crossing state lines and
browsing barns full of
firecrackers and bottle rockets
lucky and they ask the right
questions to the right
people, they might even be led
around to the parking lot in the
back, where an unmarked van
awaits with all the “premium”
items available for sale. This
is our holiday; the apex of the
American summer, a day full of
swimming pools,
hamburgers, macaroni and
cheese, and the celebration of
the birth of our nation with
fireworks that explode so
violently the shock waves
thump off your chest.
 www.discounderworld.com. mike’s space. page 49

For one night, you can drive

unhindered down the Los
Angeles freeways, rockets
glaring red all around the hills.
The harsh smell of spent
gunpowder rests in your
nostrils. Smoke fills the air. It’s
a night full of celebration and
revelry, temporarily
pausing the realities of living
in a semi-arid climate where a
single spark from a match can
start a thousand-acre wildfire in
favour of practicing something
we do very well: Blowing shit up.

And Americans are good at this.

The second amendment (the
right to bear arms, i.e. own
guns) ensures our solemn duty
to never forget how to properly
use gunpowder. Even if that
little law were not in place,
we’d find a way to get it done.
Or “Git’r’dun!”, if we’re in the
South.
 www.discounderworld.com. mike’s space. page
You’d think over a century
without a war on our soil might
weed that lock, stock and two
smoking barrel impulse out of
us, but you’d be wrong in that
regard, too. For example, here
in Southern California,
enthusiasts gather every year
to commemorate the
American Civil War Battle of
Gettysburg. Just think about
that for a second. People living
in Los Angeles dress up in grey
costumes made from itchy wool
and shoot pop caps at other
Angelenos wearing itchy blue
costumes, re-enacting a battle
that took place in Pennsylvania,
over 3,000 miles away, nearly
150 years ago.
Does anyone else in the world
do anything remotely like this?
Probably not.
51
“Politics deflated the
American cool
balloon.”
Beyond the bombs bursting in
air, the 4th of July is still one of
our most memorable
holidays. Just a few years ago,
being an American in a foreign
country was not enjoyable.
Politics deflated the American
cool balloon. Everyone
temporarily forgot all our unique
cultural contributions to the
world because it was suddenly
cool to draw President Bush
with a chimpanzee face.
Now we have Obama though,
and once again, America is cool.
They forget that Americans
were always cool.

Our music is cool.
We boast more famous dead
musicians than any other
country. Elvis Presley, Kurt
Cobain, Tupac Shakur, and now,
Michael Jackson. It’s true that
the King of Pop was a global
icon, but he was uniquely
American. His phenomenon
and rising star could not have
originated anywhere else.
Our food is cool.
Yes, hamburgers and hot dogs
are the stereotypical American
cuisine, but we bring more to
the table than just those
inventions. Orange Chicken
wasn’t made in China. It was
first made here. Hawaiians took
the most patriotic meat of
them all, SPAM, and combined
it with seaweed, rice and brown
sugar to make musubi. If you’ve
never tasted it, SPAM musubi is
quite possibly the tastiest
iteration of canned meat known
to man. Fish tacos? Not
Mexican. That’s us, too.
While the standard argument
against the uniqueness of
American food is that all our
meals are just jerry-rigged from
other cultures might hold some
water, it misses the point.
www.discounderworld.com. mike’s space. page 53
America as a melting pot makes
perfect sense here, because
that IS our unique contribution
to the world. We are a potluck
society, a crazy mishmash of
ideas and backgrounds that
adds flavour to previously
separate tastes.
And at the risk of losing some
of the lustre of that coolness,
I’ll stop there. I’m intensely
proud of my country, but I can
only do so much gushing
before it turns to gloating. I
don’t have any intention of
making America seem
cooler than anywhere else. New
Zealand is cool, too. Without
you New Zealand, the world
wouldn’t have Middle Earth.
One last note though, while
fantasy lands are topical:
America also gave the world
Disneyland, which I’ve been to
twice in the past month. Where
would the world be without the
Happiest Place on Earth? More
importantly, where would it be
without the nightly fireworks
show over Snow White’s castle?
Yes, there are fireworks every
single night in Anaheim.
Is this really any
surprise? It shouldn’t be.
 www.discounderworld.com. lisa toboz. page 55

lisa toboz
article by Dillie Baria
 www.discounderworld.com. lisa toboz. page 57

L


isa’s parents instilled
in her two distinctive
characteristics:

1) To be an adventurous
traveller.
2) To be an adventurous
eater.

Both traits intertwine

throughout her life, feeding
each other through experience
and discovery. Her
Italian/Hungarian background
and geographical location,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
further compound her
curiosities.

Pittsburgh is a town settled by

immigrants from Southern and
Eastern Europe. Lisa is excited
for the world to see a bit of
what Pittsburgh is about when
the G20 summit comes to town
in September. “Pittsburgh is
alive with history. A city that
has emerged from a dying
industrial past bruised, but
revitalized through a committed
‘green’ movement, and active
technical, health care, and
educational industries.”
 www.discounderworld.com. lisa toboz. page 59

The daughter of a Hungarian

“My friend Roya calls it ‘food pornography’ steelworker and an Italian
mother, Lisa currently works as
because it is fantasizing about and longing a freelance writer and
for the dish on the page, while eating photographer, and is also a
records evaluator at an arts
something comforting and familiar.” college. Having grown up a
budding feminist in a single
parent home, she decided she
would never cook, but all this
changed when she was in
college. “I needed an outlet
from my studies, and
reading about food comforted
me. Cooking allowed me to be
lost completely in a moment,
much like writing.”

She claims mussels made her a

more adventurous eater. Once
she would swallow them whole
in fear of having to bite into
them, and she now cannot
imagine eating them without
dipping them in plain garlic
butter first. One of Lisa’s
favourite food past-times is
eating comfort food while
reading cookbooks with
complex recipes, making her
tongue tingle with flavour. “My
friend Roya calls it ‘food
pornography’ because it is
fantasizing about and longing
for the dish on the page, while
eating something comforting
and familiar.”
 www.discounderworld.com. lisa toboz. page 61

“My parents divorced when I was

very young, so my food
memories don't involve sitting
around the dinner table with
the whole family. I do
remember visiting my
Hungarian grandmother and
eating her lightly breaded
chicken cutlets dusted with
paprika.” Her grandfather was
also a keen cook and would
roast chickens on a spit in the
courtyard of their Pittsburgh
home. The recipe for the
special sauce her grandfather
would serve the chicken with,
went with him to his grave.

She names egg noodles with

butter and black pepper as
“simply the best comfort food
ever. My mother would make
this often when we were kids,
when she was too tired to cook
after working all day.” These
noodles are what she, her
mother and her sister survived
on for weeks on end in difficult
times. Through these times
they were also supplied with
other staple foods from the
US Government, an experience
which meant that the
marking of time was recorded
in the foods they had in the
cupboard.
 www.discounderworld.com. lisa toboz. page 63

“Muddy-looking, like
something stuck to
the bottom of your “The beginning of the month
marked food stamp time, so
shoe. But we could get good lunch meat,
smothered over like cappicola, fresh mozzarella
cheese, or bratwurst for
yellow potato bread sauerkraut. As the month went
offsets the ugliness on, we were left with Kraft
slices and pickles between
of it.” regular white bread.”

Lisa wonders why there aren’t

cookbooks produced about
comfort food such as “city
chicken”, a blend of veal and
chicken, breaded lightly and
pan-fried, or “sloppy joes”
sautéed in a creamy sauce of
mushroom soup. She adds the
lack of coverage could
possibly be because of the
visual appeal of the food,
“muddy-looking, like something
stuck to the bottom of your
shoe. But smothered over
yellow potato bread offsets the
ugliness of it.”

Coming up in the next few

pages:

grandma’s recipe for

toltott kaposzta

last issue’s favourite

 www.discounderworld.com. lisa toboz. page 65

In the days before

discovering her love of cooking,
Muttar Paneer (an Indian meal
made of peas and cubes of
tofu-like cheese) was Lisa’s
favourite take-out meal from
the Indian restaurant she
worked at while a sophomore at
college. “I used to eat this dish
for many-a-dinner (sometimes
three or four days in a row). I
love the sweetness and slight
bite to the peas with the chewy
paneer following right after.”

Lisa uses her eclectic palate to

her advantage when travelling,
saying she’s always looking for
a dish that defines a country,
city, or even a person. After
college, she volunteered around
Eastern Europe for six months,
visiting Croatia, Hungary and
Slovenia. Slovenia is where she
tasted her favourite sandwich, a
simple delicacy called
Prekmurje ham sandwich. The
owner of the family farm Lisa
stayed at made her a lunch
of “freshly baked bread, ham
straight from the pigs on the
farm, and a poppy seed
gibanica, which is a seven-layer
strudel popular in that region.”
Lisa credits her husband Jeff’s
fried chicken with reminding her
why she married him in the first
place. “I don’t know the exact
recipe and if I did I wouldn’t tell
anyone, but it’s amazing.”
Together Lisa and Jeff love
nothing more than just getting
in the car and escaping down
the hidden highways of the US,
finding small towns,
unremarkable shops
and great food.

Grandma’s
Recipe for Toltott Kaposzta
“Toltott Kaposzta, or stuffed
cabbage, is typically a northern
Hungarian dish served at
Christmas, which also marks the
time of the first pig slaughter.
My family is from Southern
Hungary, but this dish must
have been one of comfort for
them when they immigrated to
the States. I was surprised to
see the curious addition of
tomato soup for the sauce
instead of tomato paste, a sign
of my grandmother's
adaptability to 1950s American
cooking.
The meat mixture can also be
used to make stuffed peppers.
Every time I eat this dish, in my
mind’s eye I am sitting in her
kitchen, so tiny that my father
and his siblings had to eat
dinner in shifts.
The kitchen hardly changed
decor in over 50 years, and
neither has this recipe.
Ingredients:
* 1 large head of cabbage
* 1 lb. and ¼ (600 grams) of
ground beef
* 1 egg
* ½ large onion, chopped
* 2 tsps. paprika
* 1 cup of rice
* 28 oz (800 gram) can of
tomato sauce
* 1 can tomato soup
* Butter
* Salt and pepper
www.discounderworld.com. lisa toboz. page 67
Cabbage:
Place the cabbage core-side
down in a pot of hot water. As
you boil the cabbage, peel the
leaves away when they reach
the desired tenderness. Set
them aside for rolling. When
you get to the very end of the
cabbage, save the small pieces
for the meat mixture.
Cabbage filling: Visit
lisatoboz.wordpress.com to
Cook the rice according to the read more about Lisa and her
directions on the pack. Sauté (food) adventures.
the onion in the butter. Add the
ground beef and brown with the
If you would like to vote for
onions. Once they have finished
Lisa, enter your email here and
cooking, mix the meat and
hit vote. Your vote will count
onions with the egg, salt,
once your email has been
pepper, and paprika. Add the
verified. Only one vote will
rice and extra cabbage
count per email and person.
pieces to the meat mixture.
Take the meat filling and roll in
the cabbage leaves. The smaller
the rolls, the better.
Cabbage rolls:
Layer the cabbage rolls, one on
top of another in a large dutch
oven or any large pot. Pour the
tomato sauce and soup over
the top and simmer for four to
five hours.”
Your favourite from last
issue, and the person to
be included in the Gold
Edition at the end of the
year is:

charlie
‘fab’
goubile
Check out Fab’s work here:
http://charlie-fab.deviantart.com

Get your copy of The Gold

Edition by clicking here.