Regular readers of dailyKos are familiar with
Plutonium Page,
mcjoan,
Dood Abides, and
Maryscott OConnor, but what do they have in common with good people like
original practice,
elkboy,
Myrkury, or
patience?
Trolls!
It has been a long-standing tradition here at dKos to sling recipes at the trolls, those rude creatures who have absolutely no interest in civil discourse of the issues at hand and who (dis)grace our pages with their vitriolic diaries and comments. The named dailyKos members above have all thrown troll recipes which are included in the long-awaited, The dKos Trollhouse Cookbook! Too many cooks may spoil the broth, but too many trolls on dKos sure make for delicious dining!
Want to have trollish fun with your children making Troll Faces (joe,joe,joe)? Have a barbeque utilizing a little Troll Dust (pacific city)? Or, do you just need handy advice on what to do with the Undead... and Trolls (Carnacki) that are lurking about ?
[THE COMPLETE BEHIND THE SCENES STORY and my first diary AFTER THE FOLD]
Putting the snark aside, there are some seriously wonderful recipes that have been shared over the past year. Whether you are tasting some down home country cooking,
Country Ham (
Kitsap River); ethnic cuisine,
Pad Thai (
BrodyV); or if you are desiring something more elaborate for your next Blue meet-up,
Liberal Elite Cranberry Glazed Brie (
hyperbolic pants explosion), you need
look no further. Some recipes are even literary classics, such as
Spoooky's Halloween response to a Badnarik troll, his
Genuine Wild-Yeast Sourdough Starter.
At the end of July 2004 the long time web tradition of talking about food when being trolled morphed into throwing recipes back at the trolls to diffuse their arguing. Who actually deserves credit for starting this tradition on dKos is open to debate; gong, in his well researched diary, credits kid oakland as being the catalyst for this development. Or, as kid oakland later reflected, he was simply "the bridge between two traditions".
42's STORY
It was during that summer of `04 that I ("42") started to become a regular reader of dailyKos. The onslaught of recipes, appearing virtually overnight, quickly caught my attention. By August, I was bookmarking diaries and mining open thread comments for their recipes. As early as October '04, rina suggested creating a cookbook and even proposed naming it The Daily Kos Trollhouse Cookbook. Nevertheless, despite food diaries by slinkerwink, Davinci, Meteor Blades, Sargent Pepper, and Saint Fnordius and with holiday recipes even making their way into the comments of Bill in Portland Maine's CHEERS AND JEERS, 2004 ended with a lot of wishful thinking, but still no cookbook was forthcoming.
As with all who frequent this site, I was deeply disheartened and frustrated by the `04 presidential election results. I wanted to do something that would help to effect the changes needed. With eyes towards the need to take back Congress in the `06 elections, I felt compelled to do something; but what could one introvert, much less one who lives in a very blue town, in very blue district in the bluest of blue states, do?
Researching and writing diaries is not this lurker's modus operandi - I even think twice before hitting the "send" button to comment. This cookbook idea, however, kept coming back to me. This was something I could research further and figure out how to produce. When I ran this idea by fellow C & J 'irregulars' in Baldwiny's virtual Café, their feedback and ideas were quite encouraging; their enthusiastic response in helping to organize over 300 recipes I had gathered helped to propel this project forward.
However, not all of the early days ran smoothly. Primarily due to glitchy software, coupled with a not-so-healthy dose of feeling way over my head with this project, the thoughts of scrapping it entirely seemed increasingly appealing. Then an e-mail I received from grndrush, a complete stranger, turned everything around.
'COMPLETE STRANGER'S' STORY:
I, grndrush, arrived at dKos sometime in the Spring of 2004 when I realized there was a good chance Bush was going to win a 2nd term. Being an ex-pat who intends to stay that way until this administration is gone (or the revolution starts, whichever comes first), I felt somewhat useless as a 'progressive activist'.
I happened to learn somewhat late in life that I'm a natural-born editor/copyeditor. Having a good bit of time on my hands, I thought giving 42 some copy-editing assistance with a fund-raising cookbook seemed like a way to make my contribution. I didn't know exactly how the cookbook was going be used; I did know that the proceeds would be going to a good cause. I also didn't fully realize what I was getting into! I must say, however, that it has most definitely been a fun, rewarding project.
As things turned out, a bit more than just copy-editing was required. When I saw something that looked out of place, I'd say something, but, for the most part, 42 did the layout design. I must say that we worked very well together! This entire volume was created solely via email; 42 and I have never even met. It was at least three months into the project before we even spoke on the phone. And yet, there is a very strong 'community' bond between us that preceded that 1st phone call. The phone call was rather anti-climatic.
The Internet(s) is the future of grass-roots politics, IMO. Two geographically separated people, neither with any real publishing experience, working in their spare time with off-the-shelf tools, put this together in a few months. We still can make a difference as individuals.
Initially, the proceeds from the cookbook were designed to support Democrat candidates in the `06 elections. In June, Markos suggested that the cookbook could be used as a fundraiser for YearlyKos instead. At first I (42) had some reservations about this change in plans, but soon realized, after talking to grndrush and BiPM, that the networking potential and empowerment of the various blogs and bloggers are essential for our success in the `06 elections. Embracing this change of plan wholeheartedly, we proceeded to complete our project.
The bulk of the recipes in the cookbook appeared in 2004 and were originally posted for a variety of reasons. kid oakland's initial spinach recipe and the discussion it generated quickly took over a troll's diary concerning a lackluster Edward's speech. However, this recipe from ko is not the earliest posted recipe in the book. A discussion of traveling through the South in April `04 prompted daria g to post Root Vegetable Hash - her response to what growing up in the Reagan `80's tasted like. While many Kossacks showed their support for Kerry or Dean by tossing internet recipes at those they disagreed with, some posted family favorites and still others added to the proffered recipes by suggesting their additions and changes.
We tried hard to standardize the format of the recipes without compromising the unique style, and that unique dKos flavor of the many posters - not an easy task by itself, considering the numerous and diverse sources of the recipes. Posters' names, sig lines and as much of the posters' voices as possible were left intact.
As with any undertaking, there are many people behind the scenes who also deserve credit. We would like to extend our thank you to Our Man In Redmond/Omir the Storyteller for his PDF format idea, and who, along with pitbullEmily and hono lulu, provided early technical assistance. Special thanks goes to PoliSigh, cosmic debris, San Diego Dem, and Lilithvf1998 for their help in organizing and formatting the first recipes. PerfectStormer, athenachrome, jsmdlawyer, Carnacki, fabooj, Jonathan94002, Stand Strong, Besieged By Bush, Bill in Portland Maine, Thestral, and Danno11 gratefully provided advice and assistance.
Appreciation is also extended to Common Sense Mainer, NeutralObserver, mrsdbrown1, Mrs Pastor, pastordan, its simple If you ignore the complexity, jdog269, SallyCat, mad ramblings of a sane woman, shermanesq, inclusive, Sasha Bear as well as to santoriello, gina and ksh01 of YearlyKos for their encouragement and support.
Last, but certainly not least, our thanks to kos, not only for his support in our endeavors, but especially for taking an idea, running with it, and enabling this unique community to grow.
All proceeds from this fundraising Cookbook, available as a PDF file, goes towards strengthening the progressive netroots at the upcoming YearlyKos convention in June.
Preview sample pages of the cookbook: Table of Contents, sample recipes,, here, and here, snarkolicious and recipe index are available. Thank you for your support.
Update: Several posters are awaiting confirmation of their orders and downloading instructions from YearlyKos. However, Yearlykos needs to receive word from PayPal first notifying them that an order has been received. Then YearlyKos can send out their email confirmation with instructions. Thank you for your patience; your response has been wonderful!
-42- and grndrush