Getting to Know You on Smule!!

It seems that every time I go to Alabama or write about Mitch, someone sends me an email or a note privately to ask me "what is Mitch really like?"  Mitch finds these comments amusing, but I can understand the curiosity.  After all, here on Smule Sing! we get to "know" other singers, call them our friends, sing with them often or even cultivate personal relationships with other singers.  Courtship and even marriage has been a part of life on Smule, so it's understandable that when someone "meets" or gets to know a singer personally, there is the obvious curiosity from other singers about that person. 

For the record, Mitch is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet in your life.  He's soft spoken, quick with a smile or a laugh, can be sarcastic (with me), and is extremely empathetic.  He has weathered many hard times in his very young 24 years, but he's one of the strongest, most resilient people I know, and I always look "up" to him...and not just because he's hecka taller than I am--7 inches taller to be exact at 5 foot 10 inches tall.  He loves to cook, is picky about what he eats, and how things are prepared, but that's because he actually knows HOW to cook.  He's an extremely hard worker when he's involved in a project, and music, along with baseball, are his personal passions.  When we're together, Mitch and I spend a lot of time singing but always in separate rooms because he says he cannot sing with me in the same room (I do admit to making funny faces at him or just staring--he HATES that--when he sings and also "photo bombing" his videos when he tried to do those...yep, I am mean).  But best of all, if you are ever as fortunate as I am to call Mitch your best friend, he is the most loyal, wonderful, steadfast person to have at your side.  And yes, for those of you who really want to know, Mitch is really this good looking (okay, he's even BETTER looking) in person, and that crooked little smile of his (the one he calls his "sideways" smile) will just melt you especially when its accompanied by, what I affectionately call, the "Brewer Giggle" because both he and his dad laugh/giggle in the same way. On the rare occasion when we disagree, it's that smile and giggle that makes me laugh and breaks any friction...his secret weapon when I'm trying to be stern.

I don't think I've written too much, so Mitch should not be embarrassed, but this, everyone, in a nutshell, is my pal and bestie, Mitch, and I'm one of his biggest "sing" fans! When I joined Smule's Sing! a year ago, I never expected to meet--let alone cultivate an actual friendship--with someone on an "app" nor be in a business with someone who lives 2,991 miles away from me..but I did.  I'm sure Mitch never had such expectations either, but here we are...

Which leads me to another subject, unlike other applications where you play games with other people or meet/chat (such as Snapchat, Facebook, Line, or Twitter), there is a unique forum on Sing that often lets you learn more about a person than you would on any other venue--and the connection can be both heart warming and heart wrenching. 

I know a lot about the lives of my "regular" singers on Smule--my pals Snoweepumpkin (Kay), AnnaK0512 (Anna), Jazdionne (Jasmin), rocket_scientist (Glenny), Happyness_O2 (Vanessa), _elms_ (Elma), FernandoRiley and Keithhill550 because they've either told me about themselves or I've learned it from them in the course of our songs or interviews.  Having them share their lives and "back stories" is a rare privilege that comes from singing with them and commenting so often.  Sharing videos goes a long way too to adding even more information about your friends, and it's a lot of fun to get to know them even if you never personally meet them.  So when they celebrate events in their lives (birthdays, weddings, births, and even college degrees or job promotions), we are there to celebrate those moments too in uniquely "active" ways such as songs and vocal greeting cards!  My pal and singing vocal "chameleon", Fernando Riley, for example is always the most thoughtful person in the world setting up vocal "birthday cards" for all of our birthdays!!

But sometimes, we learn things--brave things--about the people we sing with and these are those "human moments" that make bring you closer to your friends.  Take, for example, my friend, Christine, who goes by the tag @christinlove.  Christine--like several other friends I have on Smule--is currently engaged in the brave fight against cancer.  She can't always sing because of the medical treatments, but she when she does sing, it's a fantastic moment to hear her voice.  During her last operation, we all kept a vigil in our homes, and received updates from several Smule members. Christine like others on Smule find solace and healing in singing, and support in their struggles and treatments from a very empathetic singing community here!

Then there is the young woman who joined me in my "Try" song by Colbie Caillat.  Her voice cracking, she apologized for her performance and explained that she was having a hard time singing due to seeing her dad leave today for a 6 month military deployment out of the country.  I sent her a note assuring her that all would be well, but that he would also be in my thoughts, and believe me, he will absolutely be in my thoughts.

And finally, there is my pal Melissa from Hawaii.  A fellow "jazz cat," Melissa is a talented business woman, and a tremendous jazz singer and pianist.  After listening to her "noodle" around on the piano during one song, I coined the phrase "doodles" for her particularly lovely brand of jazz piano improv and "runs."   I teased Melissa that she "stole" the phrase from me when she posted it on her banner, but Melissa is a unique talent and the "doodle" phrase suits her!  Recently, Melissa posted a beautiful video she made singing "All of Me" while cozying up to her youngest son!  I didn't even know Melissa had a child, let alone "children", since she looks young enough to have most recently graduated from college in Hawaii.  This incredibly touching video features Melissa and her youngest child, her son, who soldiers through medical problems including cerebral palsy.  It's one of most beautiful tributes not only because of the love she exhibits for her child, but the closeness they share together.  Trust me, I was as far from dry-eyed here in California, and my admiration--not to mention, sheer love for my pal Mel--went up through the roof!  She's always been an amazing singer, but she's a STELLAR mom too!

I'm forever amazed at the talented singers who share the "mic" with me here on Smule and who, if I'm lucky enough, share a little bit of themselves with me too!  Smule is a unique community of singers who share music and song and often become friends.  It's a special place inhabited by very special people!   Why not join us!?

Singers Featured Here:

@_Mitch22_ is my bestie and biz partner Mitch B.  Mitch sports a crazy fantastic high "head voice" and an equally stunning "low voice" that I love to hear him trot out from time to time.  He's a rapping god and his duets with my son are fantastic!  Join Mitch for great songs--no videos yet!

@Fernandoriley, @keithhill550, @snoweepumpkin, @annak0512, @rocket_scientist, @jazdionne @Happyness_O2, @_elms_ are all members of Mitch and my crew of "zanies" who graciously give of their time and talents in being a part of our nutty events here on Smule.

@PRMelissa is my pal, Melissa, who is a crazy wonderful jazz singer and pianist and all around fantastic musician.  She is a brave mom and a truly remarkable person...I loves ya, Mel!!

Me?  I'm Grace and go by the Smule tag @Pokeypal.  Join me for great OCs and a good time here on Smule.  For more information and to be featured in future blogs, contact me at gracepokeypal@gmail.com.



Mitch's Guide to How Meat is Cooked in the South

(Author's Note:  Okay, Mitch has had a chance to look at this blog and there are now MAJOR edits to the cooking information.  Please note changes to recipe and to marinating/seasoning process.  All I can say is that the man takes his meat and cooking very seriously.)

It's hard to believe, but I'm back in California and just spent an entire week in Alabama with my bestie, Smule duet partner, and biz partner Mitch B.!! Can you imagine? And that week went by so quickly.  I will have PLENTY more to write about in the next few days, but for now, I would like to concentrate--not on singing, which is the object of this blog--but on cooking.  More specifically, how to properly cook meat in the south.

Now anyone who knows me or Mitch through our Facebook pages, knows that we have both had some pretty interesting conversations about how to properly prepare and cook meat products.

It all started about 5 months ago, when Mitch was preparing steaks to be "grilled" (aka, "barbequed" here in the West).  As we always do, we were talking on the phone and Mitch told me that he was lighting the charcoals and would soon be used to make steaks.  I mentioned something to him about being the "Q-master" in my family too, and that I loved to put steaks on the grill, but it takes so long for the charcoals to heat up that I didn't do it often.

That's when Mitch advocated that steaks should always be grilled and that it was all about time management when cooking.  He advised me to start up the grill (okay, barbeque), and then tend to the marinades and seasoned rubs for your meat while the coals got hot.  This prompted me to ask...

"So how do YOU prepare your steaks, Mitch."

"Oh, you poke holes in the meat with a steak knife or fork five to six times on each side, marinate each side for about 20-30 minutes, then add rubs to the outside, and then you grill it slowly in the center of grill until it's pink in the center and tender."  He added that the he would even use a squirt bottle of water to "douse" any flames that might flare up to burn his steaks.

"Wow!  And how long does this entire operation take?"

"Oh, 2 hours, I guess..."

There was a long, noticeable silence from me (okay, truth be told, it was like 30 nanoseconds of no sound, but as Mitch will tell you, I'm the veritable "wall of sound" when it comes to conversations so ANY silence from me is "noticeable"), followed by the exclamation "TWO HOURS!! Are you kidding me??????"

"No..." said Mitch calmly.  Mitch always says everything calmly, in fact, if Mitch were a car, he'd have only three gears..."calm," "giggle/laugh" and "asleep." By contrast, he will admit that I have about 60+ different gears ranging from deliriously happy to volcanically pissed off and he's seen ALL of them and lived to tell the tale...but again, I digress.

"SERIOUSLY? You take TWO HOURS to make a steak??"

"Yes, if you want it done right, it takes time," Mitch replied even more calmly to counter me.  Then he asked me, "Why? How long does it take you to make a steak."

"Truthfully, it takes me maybe 8 minutes...you salt and pepper both sides, then throw it in the broiler for about 4 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the steak."                                          

"Broiled?" Pregnant pause of disbelief from Mitch, "Oh...my...god!  Why would you do that to the steak?"

In the following minutes, I learned that NO ONE, in his/her right mind should EVER broil a steak and ruin the meat in such an undignified manner.  In Mitch's world of culinary skills (and he is, in fact, a cook with experience in this field), the only acceptable "second best" method to cooking the steak would be to pan fry the meat in a skillet. 

So when my husband's birthday came around in August and I announced I would be making him a steak for dinner, Mitch firmly advocated that I--just that one time--please do the steak "properly" on a grill.  I told him "no" to the grill (due to high fire danger in drought stricken California), but I would at least agree to pan fry the steak with seasonings.  Much to my surprise, my son and husband BOTH declared the steaks "super tasty", which prompted Mitch to exclaim "I TOLD YOU SO" so loudly over the phone that even my husband could hear it.

As a result, when I went for my SECOND visit to Alabama last week, my husband made me PROMISE that I would get at least one recipe on how to cook meat with Mitch.  So on Thursday evening, last week, after we went grocery shopping, Mitch and I decided to make a hamburger, and Mitch showed me how HE makes a hamburger. Let me say that it was one of the BEST burgers I've ever had.

For all of our friends, here is Mitch's Southern Styled Hamburger Meat Recipe as I observed it.  Do keep in mind that I'm going to ask Mitch for some additional information, so this may change slightly in the next few days.

Ingredients:

2 lbs or about 70 Kg of Ground Beef (this will make 5 very large and very juicy hamburgers)
Dash of Salt
Dash of Pepper
Dash of Lowry's Season Salt
Dash Garlic salt (optional)
Bread Crumbs made from 2 Pieces of White Bread (optional)
2 Eggs (optional)
5-7 Drops of Barbeque Sauce Per Burger (Mitch suggests Sweet Baby Ray's Original Flavor)
Dale's Steak Sauce (this is optional, it was good without it, but Mitch said it just adds "zing" that is super important).  Dale's is NOT available everywhere, so you might only be able to get it in Alabama.  If you can't find it, then purchase Moore's.
                 
Directions:

(Optional) Mitch says the meat sticks together better if you mix the bread crumbs and eggs into the hamburger before seasoning or marinating. This step is more important if  you will be grilling/barbequing the hamburgers.

Using approximately 1/4 lb of ground beef (about 20 kg), pat the meat first into a ball and then flatten evenly so that it's a good sized patty of meat.  Mitch's hamburgers were about 5 to 5.5 inches in diameter.  If you have the Dale's Steak Sauce, you can marinate the hamburgers for about 20-30 minutes.

(Optional) Mitch prefers grilling his burgers rather than pan frying.  If you use the grill, let the charcoals get hot and the flames to die down, and then place the hamburger patties on the grill. Use a squirt bottle of water to douse any flames. 

Heat fry pan to medium high.  Mitch used a non-stick pan from his new Farber cookware set (a thoughtful house warming gift from his best friend--me).

Put the meat patty into the pan and sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, Lowry's salt and 6-9 small drops of barbeque sauce to the top of the burger. 

A few minutes later, he flipped the burger and added the barbeque sauce to the cooked side.

The burgers were flipped a couple more times until "done" to your taste.
 
We topped our burgers with slices of American cheese and condiments, which, with Mitch means "ketchup" only and serve it on your favorite burger bun or roll. 

YUMMY and delicious! Give it a try!  I know you'll love it!

Singers Mentioned Here:
@_Mitch22_ is my duet partner, best friend and biz partner Mitch B., who is serious about singing and cooking.  He has edited this blog so that everyone can duplicate his version of the "Mitch Burger."  By the way, my family ate the burger this evening and declared it "delicious."

Me, I'm Grace @Pokeypal and live here in San Jose, California. I've just returned from a trip to Alabama where I spent a week with my friend, Mitch.  Join me and Mitch for great songs on Smule Sing!

The Deep South from a Curious Westerner's Perspective

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog, in fact, almost two months...wow!  I know this because the last time I wrote on my blog, I had just returned from Alabama, and here I find myself again in...Alabama, of all places.

I'm happy to report that the second time I flew to Alabama, I was not "nearly" as freaked about flying.  Okay, I was still a nervous flyer, but the arm rests on my plane flight remain unbroken and I was so much more at ease at the Hartfield Jackson airport in Atlanta.  In fact, thanks to my previous flying companion's, Joe's, excellent directions, I had no trouble finding and remaining upright in the plane train, retrieving my luggage and navigating my way to the proper car rental location. I even amazed myself at how easily I took to traveling to Alabama this time.  To quote my duet partner, Mitch, I traveled "like a boss."

Okay, I'm probably using that last phrase incorrectly, which will trigger from Mitch the "you are a 'goob'" comment he enjoys hurtling at me from time to time when I do ridiculous things in front of him--like NOT knowing how to open the car door lock of my rental car--yep, that happened last night.

But I digress...

Today's topic is one of my favorites, and it involves the differences between Alabama and the South and California and the West.

The last time I came to Alabama, I stayed only 3.5 days--long enough to visit with Mitch, but not nearly long enough to learn anything about Alabama.  This time, I'm staying in my condo in Alabama and have been travelling ALL over Birmingham getting supplies, eating out, and frankly, just talking to folks I meet along the way. 

So here are some of the cool things I've learned about the South that I'd like to share!

McDonald's Serves Biscuits Here! 
On my first day in Alabama, because I had travelled here on the red-eye from San Jose, I decided to purchase breakfast at McDonalds for me and Mitch.  I ordered my favorite "Big Breakfast With Pancakes" and drove to the condo to meet up with Mitch.  As we sat and ate, I picked up the large, round, brown-ish colored bread product on my plate and said, "what the hell is this?"

Mitch stared at me holding the bun, and said, "It's a biscuit!  Haven't you seen a biscuit before?"

"Um...of course I have, but what is it doing in my big breakfast meal?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean...where is my English muffin?"  I was now closely scrutinizing the "biscuit" between my fingers.

"Grace, you are in the SOUTH...we serve biscuits and NOT English Muffins with our breakfasts.  In fact, biscuits and gravy here is a very popular breakfast food."  He then explained that he and his friend Hank always purchased a hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy at Jack's (not to be confused with Jack-in-the-Box, which is what "Jack's" means to me coming from California).  This Southern repast is a combination of the unleavened biscuits dipped into a white cream gravy laced with sausage or beef products.  He told me we "have" to eat at Jack's....it's Day 5 of my 7 day trip and I've been able to avoid it so far.

Police Cars are Wacko Here!  
I come from California where police officers, by and large, drive Crown Victorias, or "Crown Vics" as we call them, which have been outfitted with a single light bar with red and blue lights and one set of white "strobe" lights.  Because this model is so synonymous with "the police," no one purposely buys a Crown Vic when shopping for a car.  We leave these little vehicular "gems" for the police.

Here in Alabama, the police drive white Yukons--a car that many people actually LIKE to purchase and drive.  In fact, the South is littered with both trucks and BIG cars--BIG BIG CARS with "lifted" bodies.  "Lifted" refers to bringing the body of the truck "up" higher than the manufacturer originally designed the vehicle.  This is a term I learned from Mitch, who, like many Southern youth, loves the big truck with the lifted bodies and huge tires...oy!

From my observation, the typical police Yukon here in Birmingham has been outfitted with one standard issue police style light bar on top, a series of blue and white LED lights on the front grill, a series of lights in the back windows, blue blinking lights on the running board, and blue and white strobing LED lights on the side too.  In fact, there are SO MANY lights on the standard issue Police Yukon that when a police car is chasing you, the vehicle is ABLAZE with flashing, strobing, popping white and blue lights.  It's like the LED equivalent of a fireworks display is racing down the roadway when you see a police officer in pursuit.  I told Mitch I'm enthralled with the police cars in Birmingham and want to see them all lit up, and he corrected me with "No you do NOT want to see that behind you!" Okay, maybe not following me, but, dang, it's like a "light show" when you see one of those things on the road--it's kinda pretty, in an ominous sorta way.

Everything Here is Open 24 Hours!
Although California is densely populated--far more so than Alabama, our population is highly energy conscious so we don't have stores open all night because it doesn't make sense to waste money, personnel and energy in staying open for the one or two people who would patronize a store in the "wee hours" of the morning.

Here in Alabama, EVERYTHING seems to be open 24 hours.  From the smallest cities to the inner areas of Birmingham, stores are open 24 hours a day.  The Walmart, the CVS, the Walgreens are all open 24 hours here.  Many fast food establishments never close either.  If the store doesn't stay open 24 hours, it's has crazy long hours of operation.  For example, the Home Depot (which I have been a regular visitor of late) opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 10:30 at night ON SATURDAY. 

If you're a shopper, then Alabama is your place to hang out!  24 Hours of shopping can be found virtually anywhere.

Gas is Crazy Cheap Here!
Gas is a whopping $1.85 a gallon here in Birmingham.  Before I left California, I paid $2.85 per gallon for gas--that's a $1 per gallon difference!!  I just filled up the tank on the rental car I have (a Camaro...yes, I love a FAST CAR), and it barely cost me $30.  Can you imagine?  I paid under $2 per gallon for gas here in Alabama.  'Nuff said!


I'm sure there are more cool things to report about Alabama, but I'll save those for my next blog entry! 

In the meantime, join me and my duet and business partner Mitch whose sing tag is @_mitch22_ (yep he shortened it, thus taking away my favorite joke about him having the "longest Smule tag in history) for cool songs on Smule!!

More about the singers mentioned here:
@_Mitch22_ is my bestie, duet partner and biz partner Mitch B., who happens to live here in Alabama! Mitch recently celebrated his 24th birthday (yep, he's a young-un) and was thrilled and humbled by the wonderful birthday "card" we all did for him on Smule!  My thanks to everyone who joined us in making this special card for a special guy!

Me?  I'm @Pokeypal on Smule and my name is Grace. I am from San Jose, California, and I don't know why the heck I'm back here in Alabama except to work on my Southern "drawl."