Andy Warhol and me

Aaaaiiiee, last night I could not fall asleep. I don't know what was wrong with me.

I got up! I lay down. I got up. I lay down.

I got up again and sat around for a while and read this old cookbook I have, "Food in Vogue." Here is one interesting idea anyway that came out of last night. There is this story about how Andy Warhol cooked chicken inside squash. To do what he did, you need two huge squashes -- Hubbard squashes, I am guessing, or a big orange squash or pumpkin like this one.

And you cut off the top third as kind of a lid, and you scoop out the seeds and stuff, and then you put the chickens inside and you roast them both.

The writer, Maxime de la Falaise, said that Warhol cut one lid with notches at either end to secure it to the bottom of the squash, and the other he cut in a zigzag pattern.

That sounds like fun!

I am going to invite friends over in the autumn of my year and cook chicken inside a squash the way Andy Warhol did it. It is all because I was up last night!

I kept waiting for the cookbook to mention Leonard Pennario. It mentioned all these friends of his. Like Skitch Henderson. I have had this cookbook forever and I used to make Skitch Henderson's chocolate cake when I was living in my first apartment. My roommates and I would make it whenever it was anyone's birthday. It was funny because eventually I got to the job I have now and I had to interview Skitch Henderson. And I told him how much I loved his Oklahoma Sheet Cake! That broke the ice, I will always remember that.

Skitch Henderson has, alas, passed on. Oh, no, so has Maxime de la Falaise! In 2009. That depresses me, learning that. This cookbook has been part of my life forever. I did not know she had died.

Wow, I am reading about her family. Her parents had the most wonderful names. Her father was Sir Oswald Birley and her mother was Rhoda Vava Mary Lecky Pike. Of County Carlow, Ireland.

It is no wonder she got to be a cooking writer for Vogue and I did not. I mean, my parents were George and Dorothy Kunz. There is a difference.

Where was I? Pennario. He never did put in an appearance in this cookbook. Well, Pennario could not cook his way out of a paper bag. We used to laugh about that.

When did I finally get to sleep last night? I think it was around 6. Then I got up at 8 because I had somewhere to be at 9. It was not pretty, is all I can say. But I did it!

Then the day ended up being pretty nice. I had a good day at work and I got stuff done and then I made a trip to Tops and doubled four $1 coupons. Just now rethinking my coupon strategy I may have been able to do a little bit better but what I did was not bad on two hours' sleep.

La la la la la la.

There is something funny about when I cannot sleep that I have had to learn to watch out for. When I have not slept the night before, a lot of the time all I want to do is talk. When I get to work I sit down and immediately my eyes go to the phone.

Then I think: Mary. No.

You will make no sense! I mean, just look at this post.

Tomorrow I will make more sense.

I promise.