First Local StoryCorps story on KAXE

Tune in this Monday morning at 6:50 for the first locally produced StoryCorps segment. You'll hear an excerpt of the conversation that Rick and Kathleen Blake of Grand Rapids had in the StoryCorps airstream trailer. They took their 40 minutes to remember their son Michael, who passed away when he was 8 from leukemia.

Kathleen tells the wonderful story of how telling her "Micahel the Elephant" story helped Michael get through his treatments.

It's the Fall Fundraiser at KAXE - the Northern Observer. What better way to support local media like KAXE that gives you real stories that matter. If you pledge your support at $10/month - $120/year - you can get "Listening is An Act of Love" - the first StoryCorps book as an EXTRA thank-you gift. Pledge online or call 218-326-1234/800-662-5799 to pledge your support.

And stay tuned to 91.7KAXE for more local StoryCorps stories. You'll hear the people in your community telling the stories that mean the most to them.
-Heidi

Final Day of the Fundraiser

It's the final day of our spring fundraiser and it feels like a snow day. The kind of day where you can breathe a sigh of relief and just enjoy the day in your pajamas. (after you've dealt with all that snow on your driveway of course!)

We've reached our monetary goal (our total as I type is $51,259) and are working hard to meet our goal of 400 members by 10 tonight. Currently we have 336! Thanks so much to all of you who pledged! Thanks for believing not just in community radio, but in your community.

As Margaret Mead said:

"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Here's a scene from KAXE volunteer Gail Otteson's yard where the Wabana creek flows in the springy-snowy weather of April 11th.

How much snow have you gotten? Send us a photo!

Dr. Michael Fox on tomorrow's Morning Show

It's the final day of the spring "Greatest Moments" fundraiser tomorrow and we're excited to have our friend Dr. Michael Fox join us at 8:15am. He's our monthly guest and a veterinarian, animal behaviorist, syndicated columnist and author who takes your pet questions.

Psst, here's a secret: we've got copies of Dr. Michael Fox's books available for pledgers at the $10/month - $120/year level along with the brand new totebag and subscription to Lake Country Journal Magazine. We've only got a few - 1 copy of "Dog Body, Dog Mind - Exploring Your Dog's Consciousness and Total Well-Being" and 2 copies of "Cat Body, Cat Mind - Exploring Your Cat's Consciousness and Total Well-Being". If you call (218-326-1234/800-662-5799) or pledge online first, you can get his books. BEFORE we even talk to him! A bonus for our blog readers!!!!

Dr. Fox is one of the many voices you hear on KAXE - we like him because he's real and he speaks his mind and he knows what he's talking about. Who is your favorite KAXE voice?

Holtan Wrecks KAXE Kitchen in Soup Face-Off

Yes, it's true! Producer Heidi Holtan made a colossal mess in the kitchen in a vain attempt to win KAXE's first-ever soup throwdown.
She omitted that fact in her blog post below. Here's what happened:
On Thursday the staff realized there was no food scheduled for lunch on Friday of KAXE's Great Moments pledge drive.
Fresh from a weekend watching the Food Network during down time at the NFCB conference, Heidi and I agreed to create soups from ingredients found around the station. We could each bring an ingredient from home. Don Boese (a founding member of the local gourmet club) would judge the soups!
I brought a jar of home-canned tomatoes.
Heidi brought boullion cubes. She also claimed the entire contents of the KAXE freezer for her own.
I scrounged some garlic and part of an onion (left over from Chef Charlie's visit the previous day) from the fridge and asked Scott Hall if I could use some of his peanut butter. He said yes.
Heidi stole a frozen White Castle hamburger from Rev Dave. Rev Dave had written clear instructions on his burger box (something about death to transgressors) indicating that he did not want to share.
I browned the onions and garlic, seasoned them with curry powder and red pepper flakes (liberated from a puddle of honey in the lazy susan in the cupboard), added the tomatoes, a little water, peanut butter and a can of coconut milk (from the back of another cupboard--it had been there for a year, maybe more).
Heidi thawed the stolen hamburger in the microwave, whizzed it in the blender, added water and boullion, heated it up, and whizzed it again.
During the second whizzing, the burger water WHOOSHED out the top of the blender, across the counter, and splattered the walls! The entire kitchen was a disaster!
As you probably read in Heidi's blog post below, judge Don Boese liked the burger soup and declared the contest a tie.
He faulted the crunchy peanut butter in my soup and, although I thought the curry powder might curry favor, it did not. The soup was a bit spicy for Don. "They should be eaten together," he asserted. "The mild, all-American flavor [of a pulverized and watered down White Castle hamburger] is complemented by the spicy flavor of the peanut butter soup."
Was the curry powder too overwhelming? Will the kitchen ever recover? Should we find another judge?
We'll find out during the next KAXE food throwdown!

Chateau Blanc Recipe from the KAXE Throwdown

If you didn't hear the KAXE Cafeteria Soup Throwdown last Friday, Maggie and I were given the following instructions:

Make a soup from the ingredients currently in the Kitchen

Bring 1 ingredient from home

Wow the judge (Don Boese)

My ingredient from home was Beef Bouillon cubes. And I came up with what turned out to be a surprisingly good soup. Some call it the White Castle Soup, I like to call it the Chateau Blanc Soup. *

Here's the recipe:
1 frozen white castle burger (SORRY DAVE!)
1 beef bouillon cube
3 cups of water
day old French bread
butter
1/2 cup onions
2 tsp red pepper flakes
dash of salt

Cut crusty french bread into bite size pieces. Heat butter, onions and red pepper flakes in a sauce pan. As it gets hot and bubbles, add french bread and fry up until browned. Set aside.

Follow directions on the white castle box for thawing/cooking in the microwave. Plop burger in a blender. Puree for 1 minute. Add to pan you cooked the french bread in.....add water - continue to stir. As it begins to bubble, put back in the blender to further puree (it was a little tough getting the bun completely pureed).

Put back in sauce pan and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Serve with breadcrumbs sprinkled liberally on top. Pay no attention to the terrible color and tell no one what you put in it! you'll be surprised by the reaction! Don Boese reacted "It is very American! Surprising!"

The only negative thing to come out of the 1st ever KAXE Cafeteria Throwdown was that no winner was declared. Don said he thought the two soups complemented each other so well he couldn't choose!!! Maggie and I will have to go head to head once again to find out WHO the KAXE Cafeteria Head Chef will be! Stay tuned for more....

*I don't recommend trying this one at home.

Greatest Moments in the life of Cake

Hi, my name is Patty-Kake and this is my brother Johnny-Kake. We're cake.

You know, we've seen a lot of parties, because we're cakes. But tonight was different. This was by far, forks down, the greatest moment of our 7-layered lives. There was joy, laughter, whipped cream, music and camaraderie. Johnny-Kake and I really felt appreciated.

Maybe this is half baked, but it wasn't like we were "just" cakes. The fork-holders really included us in their celebration. It is so sweet when people come together to communicate, to laugh, to listen and of course, to eat.

KAXE is not that different from a big ol' slab of cake - it can bring people together in a really good way and lead to lots of Great Moments.

The Greatest Moments fundraiser on 91.7 KAXE starts Monday morning. The first pledge will be a really great moment, so don't be shy, fork it over!

LEFSE in the KAXE Kitchen!

Carol Bauer (John's mom) will be in the KAXE kitchen tomorrow to teach us about the tradition of making lefse...Maybe you aren't from around these parts, and didn't get to partake in the family tradition of lutefisk (yuck!) and lefse (yum!) at Christmastime. Remember when Grandma Holtan would have all those plates of bars? And how that one year Cousin Randy took all the cornflake wreaths? Wait, maybe that was just in my family...

We've been talking about CLOSE TO HOME during this fundraiser - what foods remind you of home? Are there Minnesota foods?

Tune in to tomorrow's morning show for the lefse extravaganza, and of course, Maggie's update on her local diet and Don Boese's European Reflections and Classical Corner.