Commercial of the Week — Grant Wood Edition

Check out this very annoying commercial for Country Corn Flakes, whatever the hell they are. This is one of those songs where my mind truly did its job and suppressed all memory of it. Until now. I now recall this painful commercial, and now that this song is stuck in my head for all eternity, accompanied by horrible nightmares and night sweats, I thought it was my civic duty to share it with you, the fine readers of VarmintBites.

Interestingly, a little internet research led me to Harvard historian Steven Biel’s book on the cultural impact of Grant Wood’s American Gothic, the painting upon which this commercial was based. This apparently was one of the highest rated and longest running commercials of all time. The song was actually based on the chords from “You Are My Sunshine.” The most brilliant part of the commercial is toward the end when the woman looks directly at the camera for the first time, with these pleading eyes, singing, “Please buy our cornflakes.”

Click on the video at your own risk. And by the way, this is the ad for Country Corn Flakes made with rice!

Cocktail of the Week: Juniperotivo

My buddy Sam Kinsey turned me onto this gin-based cocktail with the funny name, the Juniperotivo. These were a huge hit at my dinner party a couple of weekends ago, and even if you don’t like gin, you should give this sweet and sour cocktail a try. It has two ingredients that may be somewhat hard to get in some locations, but you won’t have a problem in the Triangle. The name of the cocktail comes from its primary ingredient, Junipero gin, which is made by the same company that brings us Anchor Steam beer. As I’ve said before, I love this stuff, and it’s available in our ABC stores. Junipero is very herbaceous, with a particularly strong backbone of juniper (duh!). The other ingredient, which is even more essential than the Junipero, is pomegranate molasses. This thick, dark elixir can be found at Middle Eastern markets. Neomonde actually has several different varieties. I can’t recommend one over the other, but they’re quite inexpensive (and really tasty).

So give this drink a try. It’s sophisticated, but very accessible, and when you serve it to your guests, they’ll rightly think you’re a mixology guru.