Good morning, Wisconsin. Good morning, world. It's a new day. Thanks for kicking it off
with us right here at WFHR, locally grown radio. Got your host, James J. I am joined
by Melissa K. Good morning, Seth Habagger. Good morning, and all of you. Thanks for being
here, everybody. Best listeners and radio. We appreciate you. We're going to have some
fun this hour. We're going to get into a little bit of entertainment. Got some good stuff
on the way about tips if you're hosting Thanksgiving this week. You know, maybe we can help you
out with that. Good things to know. Yes. All of these things coming up, but it's a Monday
in the nine o'clock hour. You know what that means. Tell me something good. Hello and
welcome to the Kitchen's Open on WFHR, the show within a show that's about all things
kitchen and food and sometimes other extemporaneous tangents we go off on. Wow, those are some
big words for a Monday. I'm just glad she didn't make me say them this time. It's Thanksgiving
week. Hallelujah. I'm excited for all good stuff. Rolls and stuffing and green beans
and bacon. I did promise my mom I'd eat mashed potatoes this year. Maybe she won't notice
if I slip a bowl of rigatoni on the table just in case. Don't forget the turkey and
sweet potatoes and of course pie. Pie, glorious pie. Oh, but the one thing you both forgot
to mention that is or should be on every Thanksgiving table, cranberries. I included
cranberries. I said pie, didn't I? Cranberry pie is just a given. Yes, cranberries. You
know, Wisconsin produces more cranberries than any other state. We grow more than half
of the nation's total output of these berries. Now, before we get too deep in the marsh,
we should probably mention our sponsor. Yes, before we get too bogged down in the details.
Grown. I'm not going to actually, I'm just going to say grown. We want to thank the
South Wakati YMCA for sponsoring the Kitchen's Open. You can take charge of your health with
our new nutrition 101 classes. Register for the next class on December 18th at 5.30. You'll
learn about low sodium eating with registered dietitian, Tiana Ham. You don't want to miss
their lunch and learn classes. The next two are scheduled at 11.15 on November 29th and
December 20th. You'll learn and get to eat turkey grain bowls on November 29th and hearty
beef and kale chili with cornbread on December 20th. Oh, chili. Get me a chili. And be sure
to sign your kids up for Kids in the Kitchen on December 9th. They'll learn to make mini
chicken pot pies in the class on Saturday morning at 10.15. And that's also the day you can
have breakfast with the Grinch. Cindy Luhu and the Grinch are serving a pancake breakfast
from 8 to 11. They'll also have activities and you can get pictures taken. So you'll need to
register by December 2nd as space is limited. Call the YMCA to register for any of these classes
at 715-818-9622. That's 715-818-9622. Or you can visit SWCYMCA.org, SWCYMCA.org to see all their
nutrition and fitness programs available to you. Now, cranberries. They are grown on 21,000
acres across 20 counties in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Rapids being one of the hubs and one end of the
Wisconsin Cranberry Highway. Wait, we have a cranberry highway? Cranberry highway? Cranberry
highway? Yeah, I did the same thing. I'm sorry. It should be a song. Yes, it's a 50 mile highway
that stretches from Wisconsin Rapids to Warrens. You know, I didn't know that and I've lived in
both places. Well, practically. In high school, I performed at the Warrens Cranberry Festival
in Wishillcoyer, but technically I lived in Tomah. And now here in Wisconsin Rapids, we talk
about the Cranberry Blossom Fest every year. Now, I was a reluctant attendee in Warrens as a
teenager, but I would gladly go to the Cranberry Fest here. I really need to make that happen
next year. Did you know that the early colonists thought cranberry stem and blossoms looked like
the neck, head, and beak of a crane? They started calling them crane berries. Over time, they were
shortened to cranberries. Cranberries are indigenous to the North American continent.
Blew my mind. Didn't know that. Blew my mind. And the American Indians gathered the berries
and used them for food, medicine, and fashion. Fashion? Fashion. Yes. It's all about, wow,
nothing but songs today. Yes, the juice was used as a dye to brighten the colors of their
blankets and rugs. Oh, of course, as a dye, not wearables. I was picturing like skirts.
Yes, yes, yes. Cranberries, necklaces, maybe, I don't know. It'd be hard to wash.
Yeah, a little bit. Native Americans didn't cultivate the berry, but they grew in the wild
in abundance. Cranberries were an important source for many things, as Seth said. The
Narangansett tribe called them, and I might butcher this, sassaminesh. Ooh, no. I think you
got that for many years. Yeah, something like that. Sassaminesh. They used the berries in what was
probably one of the first energy or health bars called pemmican, a mixture of dried meat or fish
and berries, which they pounded into a pulp, shaped into a cake and dried in the sun. Very good for
hiking. I don't know. Yeah, would you guys eat that? I've eaten something very similar to that. I
don't know if I didn't have fish in it, though. Yeah, yeah. I think the protein they had in the
stuff I had was nuts, not actual meat, but there was a protein in there, yeah. Yeah, that I would
eat. The one with the fish in it, I don't know. But what you're talking about, I would definitely
try. Yeah, I think if you were hungry enough, you'd eat it. Probably. I know. So if I'm hearing
this right, if I'm getting this right in my head, it feels like we've been, you know, the whole
going for a hike and having snacks or having, you know, a trail mix or whatever, that's been a thing
forever. It has. Oh, yes. Yeah, absolutely. That's interesting. I thought that was interesting.
Cool. Now, cranberries were also used as medicine. They were used as a poultice for
wounds and mixed with cornmeal as a cure for blood poisoning. Notably, for this time of year,
historians generally agree that cranberries were on the table for the very first Thanksgiving feast.
Although we are the largest producer now, the first cultivization of cranberries didn't happen
in Wisconsin. Massachusetts was the birthplace of commercial cranberry production and was the
largest producer of the fruit in the US until the mid 1990s. According to appsnett.org, Henry
Hall, a revolutionary war veteran, was the first person to transplant cranberries into beds in
1816. Captain Hall noticed the cranberry vines that produced the best were in an area that often
had sand blowing into it. The sand was driven in by the Northeast winds on Cape Cod Bay. The method
of adding sand to cranberry beds is a regular practice for cranberry growers now. The addition
of sand promotes new root and upright growth for the plants. By 1820, Captain Hall's cranberry
bogs were so successful he was shipping his cranberries to Boston and New York City.
Cultivation of cranberries in Wisconsin began around the 1950s. Wild cranberries grew abundantly
in marshy areas, especially in Washera and Wood counties. According to whistfarmer.com,
Edward Sackett of New York is credited with starting the first commercial cranberry operation
in Wisconsin. Around 1860, he purchased 700 acres of bogland in Washera County. By 1865,
he was producing more than 900 barrels a year that sold for, get this, $15 a barrel.
By the year 1895, the center of commercial cranberry growing had shifted to Wood County.
Later, cranberry farms developed in the Black River Falls,
Lawrence, and Toma areas. By 1994, Wisconsin became the number one producer of cranberries
in the United States. Another important date is 2004 when the cranberry was named Wisconsin's
official state fruit. Now let's look at the history of eating cranberries. We've already
mentioned indigenous Americans use cranberries as an ingredient in energy or power bars.
Cranberries.org states that they also used cranberries in sauces, puddings, and breads.
English colonists were introduced to the cranberries usefulness and took to it with alacrity.
If you've ever take alacrity, that's such a good word. Gotta love that word. If you've ever tasted
a fresh cranberry, you know that they are both sour and bitter. Cranberries have less than 4%
sugar. About 95% of harvested cranberries are processed into mixed juices and canned fruit.
Only about 5% is sold as fresh fruit. Unlike other fruits, cranberries didn't need to develop
sweetness to entice animals to spread their seeds. Cranberries have little air pockets
at their core. These air pockets allow them to float on water and away from where they're grown.
They simply propagate themselves. Cranberries are a rich source of antioxidants, including vitamin C,
vitamin E, and vitamin K. Their best known health benefits include treating or prevention of urinary
tract infections and maintaining the digestive system. According to the National Library of Medicine,
they can also prevent tooth decay and gum disease and reduce inflammation in the body.
What can't they do? They're amazing. Right? Push-ups. They can't do push-ups. Cranberries were
first canned in the early 1900s. According to thesmsonianmag.com, Marcus L. Urin got the idea
to buy a cranberry bog and canned cranberries in 1912. He eventually formed a cranberry cooperative
that renamed itself Ocean Spray. By 1940, cranberry sauce, as we know it, was born.
Ah, yes. The canned cranberry log I know and love. Oh, yeah. It's probably my favorite
accompaniment to turkey besides gravy. Now, my grandma Ruth always made fresh cranberry relish
at Thanksgiving, but she also served the canned sauce because she knew it was my favorite.
The best way to use cranberries is arguably cranberry pie. Of course it is. Now, don't get
your dander up. I'm not going to go into a pie tirade, but you cannot deny the fact that this is
the perfect time of year for cranberry pie, not only Thanksgiving this week, but also the best
season for fresh cranberries. That's true. We just had that delicious pie that Sharon brought us
at the station, the cranberry custard pie. It was so good. Oh, yes. Big shout out to her.
Thank you so much to her for doing that. That was really cool. I know quite a bit about cranberries
living in Central Wisconsin. That's where I've learned much. What I didn't know was that it's
only been in relatively recent history that Wisconsin has been the number one cranberry
grower. I just kind of assumed that that's something that's been a thing for 30, 40 years.
I'm just being honest with that. I just assumed that that was something that's always,
but this has happened in the time that I've lived in this state. Isn't that crazy? It's
weird. Yeah, that's so cool. That we move probably from the number two to the number one spot. Yeah,
it's interesting. It's quite interesting. Very cool. Well, an easy recipe calls for fresh or
frozen cranberries, sugar, orange juice, ginger, salt, orange zest, vanilla, a little corn starch,
and flour. Of course, you'll also need a pie crust. You will simply rough chop the cranberries,
toss them with sugar, and let them sit for at least an hour. Add the other ingredients and
cook them on the stovetop for a few minutes until it thickens. Dump the jammy mixture into the
unbaked pie crust and bake in the oven for 400 at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, followed by an
additional 20 minutes at 350. The hard part is you have to cool it completely before serving.
Oh boy. Yeah, thanks for the experience. That's like four hours. Yeah, exactly.
This recipe can be found at bakedbyanintrovert.com. Nice. Great website too, by the way.
I know, right? It's a great day. It's too good. Oh, that's so good. Oh, I gotta check that one.
That sounds like a really easy pie though. Yes. And this is why in all the, okay, all the comedy
cartoons, you know, you have the pie sitting on the window sill to cool off. This is why. Make
sure it's cool before you take it in. Right, right. Because those are going to be some hot cranberries.
Oh yeah. Oh yes. Now, I couldn't find the raw cranberry salad recipe that my grandma used to
make, but my mom had one in the cookbook she made for us kids. It calls for two cups of cranberries,
four apples, like our cord, one orange, one quarter of the orange peel, and one cup of sugar.
She said to put everything but the sugar in the food processor and chop it until
fine, then add the sugar and mixed well. Chill in the fridge before serving. Now, if memory
serves correct, grandma's recipe was similar ingredients, but just chopped by hand instead
of the food processor because I remember there was a lot, but like I could see the apple pieces
and the, and the orange pieces in there. Okay. Less of a, less of a puree and more of a,
right. And more of a relish. Yeah, exactly. That sounds good though. It's really good.
I know tart. My Nana and my mom both always like different, doing different things with
cranberries in their Thanksgiving meals, but incorporating and mixing it with different
things. And by the way, having both kinds of cranberries at the meal is totally cool.
Oh yes. Yes. You can have, you can have the homemade, you can have the can, they should,
yes, everyone should have both. I highly recommend both. Yes. And, and, you know, maybe not right
in the calling up right now, but anytime they're in the rest of the show here and everything,
four to four, 2600, did you know where cranberries got their name? Because that blew my mind. Nope,
I did not know that. I loved finding that out. Did not know that. God, I love finding stuff
like that out. That made my morning. I was just looking over that and like, oh, this is really
cool. This is pretty interesting to me. They also called them bear berries because the bears
liked them too. Bears like to eat them. Yeah. Bear berries. Bear berries. I would have been okay
with that. I'd have been okay with that one too. Well, that may sound like something else that
bears. Yeah, that could be. Anyway, we mentioned earlier that cranberries are both tart and bitter,
but did you know that there could be sweet cranberries in the future? Really? Really?
I do not know this. That sounds good. Yeah, I like that idea. It's true. Cranberry breeders
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been developing ways to help growers produce
better berries since the 1990s. According to an article at npr.org by Agnes Chen,
they stumbled on a sweet variety they call sweetie. It's not produced commercially yet,
but it could be the ancestor of later sweet varieties in the future that we can eat like
cherries. That would be so cool. I'd eat those. Oh, me too. Oh, me too. Those sound good, man.
I'm already a fan of cranberries. I'd try this. I'd try this. Yeah. Because if you bite into a
fresh cranberry, they're so like they're crunchy on the outside and just imagining them then being
sweet like a cherry. Sweet on the inside. You know, they're supposed to mouth puckeringly tart.
Right. They kind of remind me of currants, which you can actually eat off the vine because they're
a little bit sweeter and they're a lot smaller, of course, than cranberries. But to have a cranberry
like a currant, oh man, sign me up. These all sound good. Yeah, they do. And they've already got quite
a few different flavors and varieties of ways they serve cranberries or just even like snack form.
Yeah, exactly. But they have so many health benefits to them as well that being able to
eat them fresh, I think would just be phenomenal. And pie. Yes, pie. Well, boys, I think we better
wrap up the segment before Seth gets going off on pie day. Thank you for joining us today on
The Kitchen's Open. We want to thank the Southwood County YMCA, our current sponsor for supporting
this segment. If you're interested in becoming a sponsor, contact Ashley by calling 715-424-1300.
That's 715-424-1300. You can call the YMCA to find out information about their classes,
memberships, nutrition programs, personal training, or anything else they have going on.
That number is 715-818-9622. That's 715-818-9622. Or visit their website, SWCYMCA.org.
And with that, we'll close the kitchen. Yeah, right. There's another great one.
Run, Barry. That's really good. That's really good. And be sure to be joining us this week,
everybody, during a Thursday and Friday. We'll have a best of The Kitchen's Open for you lined
up. All kinds of Kitchen Open stuff. It's going to be a really good one. Really fun. And one more
shout out to our friends at the Southwood County YMCA. Thanks so much to them for doing that.
And great work, Melissa. Nice work on that one. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take a
break. We'll come back and have some more fun right here on WFHR. Tell me something good.
Welcome back, everybody. Morning show here at WFHR. Not doing the night shift.
It's the morning shift. We're the morning shift, man. Boy, what a good song, though. Oh, yeah,
it is. This is one of my early favorite songs of the 80s. The Coppador's Night Shift. Oh,
man, I love this song. Seth, Melissa, and James here with you. We're going to dive into a little
entertainment, but just one more time. Shout out to Mel with the Great Kitchen's Open segment.
Nice work, Melissa. That was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. I loved doing that week in and week
out. One of the greats, Dick Van Dyke, turns 98 on December 13. Wow. Great to hear. And CBS
will mark the occasion with a special called Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic. It'll air on December
21. And this could be really cool. This could be great. Or it could be a horrible idea. Because
remember when Betty White, they were going to have the 100th anniversary special for her birthday?
Yes. And it was set. It was filmed. It was going to be released late in 2022. And then Betty passed
away on New Year's Eve on 2021, two weeks before her 100th birthday. What are they doing to Dick
Van Dyke? Leave him alone. We don't need to lose him now. We don't need to lose Dick. No. If something
happens to that man, I'm calling you out, CBS. Well, they're relying on the statistics that show,
especially famous people, usually make it to their next birthday. Yeah. That's true. That's
isn't an interesting stat. Yeah, it is. It is. Fascinating. And the fact that the more well
known they are, the higher the chances of it. Yeah. Interesting. It's weird. In all seriousness,
though, I love that they're doing this. And I hope that they continue to do this with more and more
of our TV stars, you know, and just kind of celebrating them. Yeah, the greats. And I had
honoring their lives and what they've given us. I had a student who was struggling with doing some
physical comedy. And I've run into this a lot with younger students. It's something that they
just the brains don't quite get. We got away from physical comedy, probably late 90s, early 90s,
I'd say we did. And we never really went back to it. For every Chris Farley fall or Amali Shannon,
or I think Melissa McCarthy is a good one that's done more recent physical comedy kind of gotten
away from that. So teaching kids physical comedy, the very first thing I do is tell them to watch
the Dick Van Dyke, the intro, the Dick Van Dyke show. Oh, yes. There has never been in comedic
history anybody who is better at the fake fall than Dick Van Dyke. He was the master of it.
You go back and you watch what he does and you actually physically like I've watched that show
since I was a little kid. And I hadn't watched it in a while. And I'm watching it in a meeting
with the students. And I immediately in my head, God, I hope it's okay. And I've watched this
opening since I was a kid. It's so convincing. If you watch it. But by the way, I got to do a
quick side note on this one, especially because people know it for the Simpsons, you know, the
change in the opening. They would always have that little tag that was different at the beginning.
That's from the Dick Van Dyke show. Because if you remember in later years, he didn't
trip over the ottoman, right? He stopped and then walked around it. No one had done that before.
Wait, oh, they changed it. Wow. What the heck? Yeah, movie production teams work tirelessly
to kill creativity. In a sense, in part of it is needed. Because some of it, like if you let a
bunch of creatives have it, the budget's going to go through the roof. Yes. But at the same time,
that there's there's this need of, well, okay, we can save money with the intro. We just use
the same intro for the next 10 seasons or whatever. I love shows that do that and shows that do that
actually have a better shelf life. Fascinating. Because not a lot of shows do it, so they've
been able to show the data and stuff. That's interesting. Any chance to honor one of the
greats like Dick Van Dyke? I love Dick Van Dyke. That's pretty cool. Again, that special will air
December 21st on CBS. Tim Allen says there's talks about a home improvement spinoff because
nobody can come up with anything new. The show originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from
91 to 99. Quote, one of the controversies we've had recently is how weird it would be if the show
would be about the kids, kids. I'm sorry, conversations, not controversies, one of the
conversations. Right. Like if all of them had children and I'm a grandparent, or something
like that, Tim says he never felt like the story was done. Okay. It's a sitcom, man.
What's the story? What is the story? I don't know. But we've seen recent shows being brought back
and having a decent shelf life and doing pretty well. There's almost no show you could tell me
right now like, hey, they're bringing it back and I'll be like, well, okay. While I begrudge this
with movies, I don't as much with TV because, for one, there's so many channels. There's so
much out there. There's so much content. There's so many channels. And I think we have proven with
the rise of reality TV that we can't come up with new ideas. We're either stealing shows from BBC
or taking their shows. Hey, the office looks really popular over there. Let's do it here.
That kind of thing. Or we're doing this. We're taking old shows and revamping them. Fuller House
instead of Full House. Real creative name, by the way. Real creative. We're going to push the
envelope creatively. I want to take to come up with that one. While I'd love to get on my high
horse and say how creatively we need to come up with more and push ourselves and all this stuff,
we ain't doing it. So, I mean, this is the next best thing. But the funny thing is,
is that when you do come up with something different, man, people really respond to it.
A good example right now is For All Mankind. Brand new idea, interesting, alternative history
kind of thing. It's been very popular. So, when you do come up with those new ideas,
people seem to like it a lot. I think one of the big problems is that the only people really pushing
the envelope are streaming platforms. Exactly. Taking chances and stuff like that. How many
cop shows are there on CBS? How many? Seriously? They're not even trying anymore with the NCIS,
NCIS Sydney. We're not even going to, we're not even staying in America anymore.
Those shows, while they have their popularity and everything, they also, they do have a shelf
life. They're not, they sign for any people that don't, I don't expect people to know about this
stuff. So, like this, I'll use that as an example, NCIS Sydney. They have signed those actors on
for one season. That's it. That's not how contracts usually work. You're signing on for a three to
four-year deal, and chances are if the show is successful, your contract will go to its extent.
If the show is canceled, your contract is. It's as simple as that. But they don't,
but it's cheaper for them to expect that this is going to be a hit, and we're going to sign you
up for three years. Nowadays, most shows, it's a one-year deal that you're getting. Because,
I mean, it's more of like, how can we defray the costs if it fails? And they seem to like being
ready for it to fail, which is like, well, that's great going into it. Yeah. Yeah, that's very
optimistic. Planning for this to fail. Exactly. It's like, what the, well, okay. Yeah.
ABC announced new post-strike premiere dates. They're bringing back Grey's Anatomy on Thursday,
March 14th, followed by the return of Station 19. The bachelor makes its return on Monday,
January 22nd. The Connors not dead yet, and Abbott Elementary will be back on Tuesday,
February 7th. American Idol and the Hidden Camera series, What Would You Do, return on February 18th.
Will Trent, The Rookie and The Good Doctor will be back on February 20th.
My birthday's on a Tuesday, but you're interested.
Very good. That's weird. Yeah, so this is, and the other NBC, CBS, they will be announcing their
schedules relatively soon. In fact, I would imagine it will be next week, probably not this
week with the holiday and everything. Right, right. But this is going to be, one of those things
is going to be interesting, very similar to the, what happened with the, during the pandemic and
a lot of sports, where the basketball was probably the most affected by it. They had their seasons
almost on top of each other. Yep. You're going to be seeing a lot of studios doing a lot of this
work. Right. Because it's not just the rep doing this season, they got a plan for next season as
well. On top of it, right. With an abbreviated schedule to have off. Yeah. So yeah, gonna be
interesting. Gonna be interesting. And it is a Monday. You know what that means. I am going
to ramble about the podcast I do with my oldest daughter, Bria. What the Muppet, everybody?
What the Muppet? We encourage you to go ahead and check out the podcast, What the Muppet,
a new episode premiered today. And it is our 17th episode. Wow. Found Family Fever Dream is this
one title. It's a good one. She's a good title. She's so good at this. She's good at it. My oldest
daughter, Bria, is the main brains and creativity behind this one. I just sit there and talk and
respond. But she does a really good job on this one. So for those that don't know, what we do is
we focus on Muppets and we have a bunch of different hats in front of us. And we'll grab, we start
off with grabbing a quote or a fact about Muppets out of the first hat. And out of the second hat,
we will grab a particular Muppet or a Muppet movie. And whatever one we grab out of that hat,
we go ahead and we put them in different situations and we talk about the Muppet and
celebrate Muppets. That's the thing that makes it different is that you randomly get put in,
put that Muppet into a sit like a real life situation, which to me, that's the most interesting
thing about the show is that little twist on it that you guys put on it that makes it more
interesting and different. The whole show is improv. We don't know what's going to happen from
hat to hat. And we have a lot of fun with it. We encourage you to check it out. It's one of those
things. I encourage people to check it out, mainly for the palette cleanser it can be.
This is not a serious podcast. This is not something where we're trying to solve the world's
problems. No, he means it. It's not a serious podcast. He's actually just enjoying himself,
for once. If you've ever wondered what it's like to hear me relaxed or enjoying myself,
yes, this is the podcast for it. This is it. You got me. I'm like red faced. He got me so good
on that. He's so right. Wherever you check out podcasts, if you listen to them audio-wise or
if you'd like to check out the video, we record a video of this as well with Bre and I sitting there
usually at her house or we're actually in the attic now. We found out the acoustics in the
attic are really good. So it's pretty fun. Check it out. You can subscribe to the YouTube page. Just
type into your search bar on YouTube, what the muppet and follow along. Otherwise, wherever
else you get your podcasts and a gigantic thank you to this audience that has really made this show
really popular. We appreciate that so much. Good stuff. It's a fun show. We appreciate you guys
being a part of it. We'll take a break. We'll get to our state and local news. We'll come back and
we'll help out anybody hosting Thanksgiving. That's what we're here for. Nothing but good advice.
Just in the nick of time, five tips if you're hosting Thanksgiving dinner. Coming up on the
morning show here at WFHR, locally grown radio. Welcome back everyone. Morning show here at WFHR,
locally grown radio. Melissa, Seth and James here with you. We hope you're having a good one out
there and we hope you're not stressing too much, especially if you are hosting Thanksgiving this
week. Because it's this week, by the way. Yeah. Boy, I feel bad if we're the ones to inform you
I like being able to get news to you all out there, but we really hope that ain't breaking news for
you. I don't know, but it came up fast to me. It did. No, you're not alone, Melissa. Charging
ahead, man. Yeah, I had to double check that I even had plans. If you're hosting Thanksgiving this
week, here are five tips to help make things go a little bit smoother possibly. Let's get into this.
Don't mess with success. On Thanksgiving, stick with the classic dishes that works.
Unless you come from a family of foodies, it's not the best time to get inventive and start
trying out new recipes. Your turkey burger dog combination thing is not a good idea.
Turkey burger dog. Yeah, yeah. Given this, given us the old originals, the old traditionals,
not a bad idea. Make a game plan for fridge and oven space. So many dishes need to squeeze in
the oven alongside the turkey, all for different amounts of time and temperatures. Come up with
a game plan ahead of time to get through it. That's important. Always got to have a game
plan. Utilize your crock pots. Oh, yes. Crock pots are handy. I used to sit there and watch my
Nana in this tiny kitchen feed 20 to 30 people and just marvel at how she would do this, get
all these things out. Everything seemed to be in time. The schedule in the oven, everything had its
spot. I was about 17, 18. I was an adult when I finally thought of it. I asked her, I'm like,
Nana, how did you figure this out? Like the perfect routine, the way to do this and everything? And
she just looked at me like dumbfounded, like, huh, you think I do it good? She was really like
shocked that I noticed this and everything. I was like, no, you've got this down woman.
Yeah. Nobody was ever waiting for anything. Like, I never remember that kind of stuff.
She didn't God help you if you tried to get in that kitchen. Like, just get out of here.
Go sit down. Go sit down. Anytime. No, I don't need help. Me, my mother, anybody tried to talk to
that woman or tried to get in there and help. Yeah. You were, all of a sudden that all,
you're just in the way. All four foot nine of her was coming at you. I'm telling you, especially,
well, like you said, it's a small kitchen. There's just no room to move. And I'm totally
with her on that. It's like, no, it's easier if I just do it all here myself. I know where I need,
everything needs to be and all that. So yeah. Next step, number three on here, start with an empty
dishwasher. Oh, yes. Yes. Before your guests arrive, make sure the dishwasher is unloaded and ready to
be in an audited, ready for the day. Inundated. Inundated with the dirty dishes. Yes. Yes. Thank
you, dyslexia. Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, start with a clean kitchen because that's only
going to help you. Yep. It's also a really nice idea for this moment to have a dishwasher.
That's also helpful if you have one. I never grew up with one of those. I don't know if I've
ever lived in a house that had one. That's true. That's always been me. You're the dishwasher.
Yeah. Set up a buffet. If you're hosting more than 10 or so people, a buffet set up is the
way to go. It's better than putting a bunch of hot dishes on the table and trying to pass them
around. That's not a bad idea. Kind of like that. If you've got the space for it. And that's the big
one though. You're right. If you don't have the space for it, it makes it hard. I mean, it's going
to be hard either way. If you have 20 people, most houses are not set up to house 20 people at one
time. So there's going to be some challenges, but I like that idea. That's a good one. I feel
like my family got better at this as we got older, but for a while there, it felt like we only had
holidays at houses that were too small to hold them. It did feel like we did that quite a bit
in our family for a while. It also different people. Sometimes as crazy as it can sound once
you're actually doing it, lots of people like the idea of, hey, we never get to host this holiday.
Let us host it this year. And then you do and you're like, okay, we're done. This is why we don't
do this. But setting up a buffet on the counters in the kitchen, even if you've got a separate
dining room or even just a living room. I've been to family gatherings where everybody just
filters through the kitchen to get their food and then we adjourn to the living room and find a spot
on the floor. Absolutely love this idea. Love, love, love this idea. Not many probably have
the space for it, but if you do, that's a cool idea. I like that. And remember what really matters.
Exactly. Thanks. I'm sorry. Thanksgiving is all about family and togetherness, right? Well,
if you're all under one roof, you've accomplished that. Don't worry if dinner isn't served on time
or some dish didn't turn out right. Or like my mother, you always forget to get the rolls out
of the oven. Oh, no. I mean, it's just on warm. We always forgot to pull them out and serve them
with the meal. And if I could say as a side note, put your stuff aside. Put your personal stuff aside.
That's not worth it. No, no matter what, no matter what it is, especially when it comes to
politics. You think these politicians are sitting there at their Thanksgiving dinner arguing about
you? No, no, no. They don't care. They're not even thinking about you, man. Like, it's why are you
wasting your personal time bickering about them? Right. They're not doing that about you. It's like,
yeah, let, let go of this stuff. Families have enough other things to talk about. There's internal
stuff. Exactly. And you should try to probably, if you can, push that aside too, I would say. Yeah,
Focus on the positives. Talk about the grandbabies. And I hate to be tripe or do the thing that
everybody does when they lose somebody close to them and everything and a holiday is right around
the corner. But appreciate the people you got. While you got them. Yeah, appreciate them. Yeah.
You know, my, my, my, sorry, my family lost our last grandparent this week, this past week and
everything. And our grandparents, we don't, there's so many things that they do that we don't think
about. And one of the important things is how they keep our families together. Oh, yes. Yes. And
when we lose them, who's going to keep the family together? And that's where the, the task falls
on us. And don't wait for that to happen to get to build those bonds to build that strength. Yeah,
there's only so many people in the world that know what it's like to grow up in your family,
to be in your family, like, you know, that you can identify and relate to and everything.
Appreciate this stuff and think about this stuff when you're sitting there. And Uncle
So-and-So says something that you don't agree with. Just swallow it, move on. Yep. And Uncle So-and-So,
maybe keep, maybe keep your stuff to your thoughts in your own head. Because guess what? Your family
doesn't care. Your family doesn't need them. We don't need them. Let's talk about, hey, let's talk
about memories of the past and let's, let's, you know, anytime this stuff comes up, shift the gear,
shift it. We were talking earlier about earworms. One of the ways if they talk about getting rid
of earworms is getting another song in your head or, or, or changing, you know, trying to get the
subject of those of us that deal with HDAD or attention deficit disorder, we get obsessive thinking.
One of the ways to get over that is that, okay, whatever in front of you, start thinking about
that. Oh, music board, phone, laptop, you know, changing it up. It's no different in these conversations.
Somebody brings up something you don't like, you don't want to talk about, instead of giving
your opinion, which all of us cannot wait to do, take a second and just move on and just change
the subject. Just change into subject. We don't get a lot of time with our family. We only get to
do this once or twice a year. Appreciate each other. None of that stuff is worth it. Right. Again,
these politicians are not bickering about you at their family dinners. Boy, can you believe Ted
voted for me? Can you believe that? I didn't see that comment. Ted is such an idiot. They don't do
that. They don't care. They don't care about them. Right. If you're going to get into an argument,
do it about something that really matters, football, you know, or sports. Exactly. Exactly.
Let's focus on what really matters. Actual sports tease. Yeah, right. Something we can really do,
something about. Yeah, exactly. Well, I have one little thing to add on there, as I have,
I think the most I've ever, Beth and I've ever had at our homes, like 11, 12 or something like that,
still, which is a decent amount. Clean while you go. As soon as you get done with the pot,
with the potatoes and it clean it up, get it done as soon as you can. Because if it sits there and
dries out, then it's going to be even hundred percent clean. And it takes up space that you need
for something else. Trust me. Clean it, dry it, stick it in the cupboard. Exactly. It's good stuff.
Clean as you go. That's the best way to do it. That's a good one. We'll take a quick commercial
break. We'll come back and have some more fun on the morning show here at WFHR.
Welcome back, everyone. Morning show here at WFHR. Locally grown radio. Melissa, Seth, James here with
you. And we're going to get into a, uh, then a right story. It is a doozy. Oh boy. It isn't often
that people are arrested for breaking into jail. Okay. There's a place in St. Louis called
medium security institution, which used to be a city jail, but it was shut down last year and
it's set empty ever since. And last Thursday, three men broke into the place. Did they forget
something? Where did I put my wallet? I like that. That's hilarious. I seem to have lost my
marbles. It sounds like they were messing around until they accidentally locked themselves in a
jail cell. Oh, come on. They couldn't get out. So they called 911. Oh my goodness. The police
showed up and quote, rescued them from the cell and then promptly arrested them for trespassing.
It's hilarious. Who wrote this script? Come on. 20 minutes later, they were in an actual jail cell.
Were you testing this one out? Let me show you a real one.
But the cops are still investigating what the men did and there could be additional charges for
property damage, burglary and stealing. Oh, man. Good grief. I mean, seriously. Just desserts.
I want so badly, like the be a fly on the wall and this great idea that definitely happened at
two in the morning. First off, what are the odds that they were silver doing this? Like, okay,
zero to none. So that's the bed on that. Hey, you know, it would be fun. But yeah,
but I love the idea of, because you know, one of the guys was joking, boy, wouldn't it be funny
if we got stuck in here? Wait, what? Well, no, I can't open the door. I can't open the door.
And then the 911 operator, excuse me, you're where?
Look, sir, you know, it's against the law to prank 911 and then she hangs up and like, no.
No, really, we're stuck. Just going to keep calling back. Like, sir. Stop calling this number.
I wonder how long to they waited to call 911 because there's got to be a moment there where
you're like, I can't know. No, no. No, we have to, we have to be able to get out of this. Like,
seriously, we're never, we're never going to live this down if we don't get out. Okay, we're going
to have to call back. We need a palette cleanser. Let's get to some good stories of the day. And
we've got playmakers coming up for you a little bit later today. Yeah, we do. Be sure to join us
every Monday from three to four. Playmakers brought to you proudly by Quality Plus Printing,
getting your words out here in Wisconsin Rapids by local support local, get the Quality Plus
Printing for all your printing needs. Join Seth and I today as we tag team sports. We are going
to be taking your phone calls talking everything under the sports umbrella today. And you picked
the direction to show everybody. You call up and hey, if Seth and I are talking baseball,
you want to talk football, that is what we'll do. Call up and join the conversation.
Tiddlywinks. We will talk. Tiddlywinks. We'll do it. Water polo. We will do it. Yes, we may not
know a lot about it, but we'll talk about it. We've got a busy week of high school sports. We've
got a very classic coming up. I want to talk a little bit about the MVP awards and a shout out
to Bob Brickhauser as we get into our good stories of the day. Bob, a local legend around here
with assumption high school athletics. And Bob was recently awarded the MVP award
from Wisconsin Rapids Athletics around here. And that's pretty darn cool. Congratulations to him.
Very, very happy about that. I actually watched encourage people to go to Wisconsin Rapids
Community Media, go to their YouTube page. You can see the whole event right there on there.
And I went and watched it. I encourage people that at the very least,
watched the last five minutes of Bob getting his award. Bob himself goes up there. He's like,
not often I'm speechless. It's very well done and a very deserving thing to a very deserving man.
Cool. That is going to be pretty cool. So let's get, we continue our good stories at the day.
Got a great lineup this week of co-hosts. Tomorrow Melissa and I will be hanging out with you.
We're going to have a lot of fun with that. And then we wrap up our week of original content,
Wednesday Katrina Hittner from Family Natural Foods is going to be our co-host. Very nice.
Looking forward to that. That's going to be a lot of fun. As we mentioned earlier, our lineup,
Thursday, Friday, going to be some recorded stuff, but some fun stuff for you. We got into that a
little bit earlier. We'll talk more about that tomorrow and throughout the week. Yes, indeed.
We've got good things going on there. So do you think we should go over it now? You want to go
over it again? We can do it real quick. Let's do that. Let's do that. So on Thursday everyone,
of course, over at WIRI, we're going to be having music. Music, music, music. Music like it was
before we started barging in in your mornings. But then over here, from eight to 10, we've got
special programming on Thursday from eight to nine. We've got a best of, the kitchen's open, TKO,
as we like to call it. From Melissa, yes, she's got them all getting ready, getting those ready
to go. Then from nine to 10, we've got an hour of set face to the music songs about Autumn.
Put you in the Thanksgiving mood for the day while you're getting your stuff ready in the kitchen.
And then on Friday, of course, it's Black Friday, but tune in for from eight to nine because we've
got more kitchen's open segments, new, a different one from Thursday. So you'll want to tune in both
days from eight to nine. And then from nine to 10, a best of director's cut. We're going to be talking
about our favorite holidays. We're going to be talking about holiday movies coming up because
we got to get ready, got to get those movies ready for the holiday season. And then another
broadcast of our drama art net that we did earlier this year. So stay tuned for all that.
And I'm pretty sure we'll be including our radio drama that we did on The Kitchen's Open
on Friday as well because it's an episode about leftovers. Oh, that's right. Oh my gosh. So two
radio dramas to the court on Friday. That's what we want, man. Well, and being a lookout for more
radio dramas, Seth's got one. He's working on right now. We'll get over that lineup for you again
tomorrow for everybody. And if you're looking for a way to help others, but maybe don't have much
time or money to spare, blood donation costs nothing, takes less than an hour and saves lives.
Blood Center of North Central Wisconsin will hold blood drives in Wisconsin Rapids tomorrow from 10
to three and on Monday, November 27th from two to seven, the drives will take place in the in
room 111 of the former Eastern High School Music Room at 311 Lincoln Street. Appointments
are encouraged and to promote social distancing, but walk-ins are also welcome. If you'd like to
make an appointment, you can call 866-566-5900-866-566-5900. Also, we want to let everyone know coming
up on Wednesday, it is that time of year again, rekindle the spirits happening with the light,
the tree lighting, we've got the parade and everything coming up here. So come on down and
check that out. The parade starts at the YMCA ends at the Hotel Mead for a Santa visit as they're
in the library area. Of course, libraries can be doing activities as well and photo ops for all
that. It's starting on Wednesday at 5.45 p.m. Get into the holiday spirit with the rekindle
the spirit parade and other activities. It's going to be a good one. It's going to be a good one.
And I wanted to also put this out there. Our good friend Tom Heiser joins us at the beginning
of every month with the monthly Veterans Update. And Tom sent this over. I want to remind the
greatest listeners and radio that when they are at the Thanksgiving table and they talk about why
they are thankful, please remember the men and women that are away from their families, some for
the first time, defending our freedom. Yep, it's a tough situation. Encourage people to remember
that and there's never a bad moment to be thankful of our enlisted soldiers and certainly our veterans
that have made it so that we can enjoy a Thanksgiving meal and so many of these freedoms that we
enjoy. And appreciate all of you out there. The best listeners and radio for that as well.
Wanted to also get to our, remind everybody that we've got great stuff on the radio dial
all week long, including tonight men's basketball four o'clock right here. WFHR Wisconsin Badgers
men's basketball team continues on in this early season. Looking forward to that tomorrow. High
school basketball, Lincoln High School on WIRI 645. Our pregame starts off 715 opening tip.
Michael going to be doing that one. Yes, he is. It'll be fun. Wednesday, Wisconsin Badgers basketball
we'll have right here on the radio dial. That's going to be a lot of fun. Looking forward to that.
When you get on Thursday, the Luke Fickles show. Join us on Thanksgiving at 7 0 5 for the Luke
Fickles show. That is going to be fun Friday. Wisconsin hockey right here at 6 30. And then
also on Friday on WIRI. We kick off the cranberry classic. That's going to be fun. 740. Our pregame
kicks off for assumption. High school boys basketball versus Port Edwards. I believe it's
the boys team. I believe so. And both Randy and Michael be on both of those games on Friday and
Saturday. So tune in for that. That's going to be fun. Fun show you two. Thank you both so much
for the time. You too, my man. Have a great day. We'll talk. Be good to each other. We'll talk to
you soon and later right here at. Oh, well, you take it. W F H R Wisconsin Rapids 13 20 AM and
W 2 4 8 DE broadcasting at 97.5 FM.