The Music City Minute ...
Photo: Sony BMG Nashville
Kenny Chesney’s new album will be called Life On A Rock. He recorded it in Los Angeles, Hawaii, Jamaica, Key West, London and Nashville. One thing is for sure though…no matter where Kenny takes his music, you always know he puts his heart and soul into every song. Kenny says his music got better when he started putting as much of his personal life as possible into his songs.
Photo: MCA Nashville
Kip Moore will be watching the Super Bowl this weekend…and he’s pulling for the Ravens…and one of their teammates in particular – Ray Lewis.
Photo: Big Machine Records
Tim McGraw is in New Orleans this weekend and he’s excited to be back in his homestate of Louisiana to kick off the release of his new album. Tim’s new album, Two Lanes of Freedom lands in stores on Tuesday.
Photo: PseudoImage/Shooting Star
American Idol’s first-ever winner, Kelly Clarkson claimed the top spot on Forbe’s new list of top-earning contestants. Kelly brought in $8 million between May of 2011 and May of 2012. Carrie Underwood tied for the #2 spot with Chris Daughtry at about $5 million. Scotty McCreery came in at #3 with $4 million. Kellie Pickler earned about $1.1 million.
Photos: Getty Images
Brantley Gilbert and Kip Moore launched their Hell on Wheels Tour this week. The two are no strangers to the road. Kip was out last year with Eric Church and admits he learned a lot. Kip wants to take what he learned from Eric to keep his audiences entertained and engaged.
Photo: Capitol Records
Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott is excited to find out if she’s having a boy or a girl! She says as soon as she knows, she's going to tell everyone. Hillary and her husband Chris are expecting their new bundle of joy in July!
Photo: Jason Merritt / Getty Images North America
Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Keith Urban have been added to the list of presenters at the upcoming 55th Annual Grammy Awards. The Grammy Awards will air live February 10th on CBS.
CELEBRITY SCOOP ...
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY CONFIRMS MAGIC MIKE SEQUEL
(Photo: Warner Brothers Pictures)
Matthew McConaughey has revealed to MTV that a sequel to Magic Mike is "legitimately brewing." He also told the network that he would be willing to come back if the story was done in the right way.
BEYONCE: Her Lips Won't Synch This Time
(Photo: WireImage)
Beyonce has given the world her word that she'll "absolutely" be singing live when she takes the stage Sunday at halftime of Super Bowl 47 -- and sang the national anthem live at a press conference called to make that announcement
Bey admitted she did, in fact lip-synch the song at President Obama's inauguration two weeks ago. She defended the action, calling herself "a perfectionist" and saying "I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra. It was a live television show... Due to the weather, due to the delay, due to no proper sound check... I did not feel comfortable singing live."
Then she asked the assembled press to stand and proved she could indeed sing the anthem without any accompaniment. At the end, she asked if there were any questions, and had a good laugh about it.
(Video: youtube)
X-GAMES: Snowmobiler Dies
(Photo:Eric Lars Bakke/AP)
It was only a matter of time before something like this happened -- snowmobiler Caleb Moore has died after a horrific X-Games accident last week.
Moore was competing in the snowmobile freestyle event when his vehicle flipped over and pinned him. He suffered a severe concussion and bleeding of the heart, and the family says complications from those injuries caused his death this morning in Colorado.
ESPN hasn't given any indication that it plans to cancel any snowmobile events. A statement says, "We've worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts for each of the 18 years of X Games. Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain."
Source: TMZ
WEIRD NEWS...
MEN & WOMEN HAVE DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS OF CHEATING
If someone asked you the definition of cheating, what would you say? Well, according to a recent survey, your answer will vary greatly depending on if you are a man or a woman. Men and women are not on the same page when it comes to what is and isn't infidelity in a relationship!
- 100% of women surveyed agreed that kissing is cheating, whereas only 86% of men thought kissing qualified as cheating.
- 82% of women believe texting and online flirting counts as infidelity; only 56% of men feel the same.
(YourTango)
Applebee’s fires waitress who posted receipt from pastor complaining about auto-tip
An Applebee's waitress who posted a receipt with a note from a pastor complaining about the automatic gratuity added to the bill on the Internet was fired on Wednesday after the pastor complained to her manager.
Chelsea Welch, the waitress, wrote in an email to Yahoo News that the pastor (who has since been identified as Alois Bell) told Welch's manager at the St. Louis-area Applebee's that the ensuing firestorm had "ruined" her reputation.
"I give God 10%," Bell wrote on the receipt, scratching out the automatic tip and scribbling in an emphatic "0" where the additional tip would be. "Why do you get 18?" (There were more than eight people in Bell's party, triggering the auto-tip.)
“[It was] a lapse in my character and judgment,” Bell told the Smoking Gun, adding she did not expect her easily recognizable signature would be, as her friend informed her, “all over Yahoo. You went viral!”
A spokesman for Applebee’s said it apologized to Bell for violating her "right to privacy" and confirmed that Welch “is no longer employed by the franchise."
Welch was surprised that Applebee's fired her, "especially because there was nothing specific in the employee handbook admonishing this behavior."
"I had no intention of starting a witch hunt or hurting anyone. I just wanted to share a picture I found interesting," she said. “I come home exhausted, sore, burnt, dirty and blistered on a good day. And after all that, I can be fired for ‘embarrassing’ someone who directly insults their server on religious grounds.”
Welch also isn't buying Bell's embarrassment. “If this person wrote the note, obviously they wanted it seen by someone," she said. “I’ve been stiffed on tips before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the Big Man used as reasoning."
Make this Super 47-Layer Dip!!!
What could possibly match the epic drama of the year's biggest Beyoncé show (or whatever) better than an appetizer that weighs more than a human baby? This dip weighs 17 lbs. This dip has 47 DIFFERENT layers of food. This is a gosh darn touchdown in a bowl.
So how do you make it?
A little advice, should you dare to attempt it:
DON'T DO THIS ALONE.
That is something only a maniac would do. Instead, make it potluck style: Ask your friends to each prep a few ingredients and bring them over on game day. Then you can assemble the beast together.
The chicken nuggets (aka nugs) and French fries are unquestionably the heart and soul of this operation. We highly recommend buying the authentic article at McDonald's.
Photo: Emily Fleischaker/Buzzfeed
Here's what you'll need:
GEAR:
Get a big-ass bowl/vessel to hold everything, about as wide as it is deep, preferably with a flat bottom, and definitely clear so that you can see the beauty of the layers. I used this... which is technically an ice bucket. You'll also need the following:
• a flexible spatula to smooth layers
• a very long serving spoon (or a couple)
• lots of small bowls, Tupperware containers or small Ziploc bags to hold prepped ingredients (47 of them!)
brown rice
white rice
1 box yellow "Mexican" rice (Goya)
1 box cornbread mix (Jiffy)
1 box mac n cheese (Kraft)
1 package taco seasoning mix (Ortega)
one 12-oz. can each:
pinto beans
black beans
beef chili (Hormel)
refried beans
one 12-oz. jar/bottle each:
red salsa
green salsa
salsa con queso
ketchup
hot sauce (Cholula)
1 small can or jar each:
pickled jalapeños
pickled okra (Rick's Picks Smokra)
dill pickles
black olives
1 large Nacho Cheese Doritos
1 large bag Cool Ranch Doritos
1 large bag Fritos
2 large bags sturdy tortilla chips (for dipping)
1 (approx. 12-oz.) container each:
sour cream
guacamole
fresh pico de gallo salsa
4 eggs
1 block or 1 package pre-grated/crumbled:
pepper jack cheese
cheddar cheese
feta or cotija cheese
1/2 lb. ground turkey
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. pulled pork(prepared from a store or restaurant)
1 package chorizo sausages
1 package bacon or bacon bits
1 cucumber
1 avocado
1 mango
1 head (or 1/2 head) red cabbage
1 head iceberg lettuce
1 bunch cilantro
1 bell pepper
3 jalapeño peppers
1 bunch scallions
1 red onion
2 yellow onions
2 large tomatoes or 1 box cherry tomatoes
2-3 limes
1 bag frozen tater tots (Ore Ida)
1 bag frozen corn
from McDonald's:
one 10-pc Chicken McNuggets
1 large french fries
PREP: 2 DAYS BEFORE
Crush enough Fritos, Cool Ranch Doritos, and Nacho Cheese Doritos to get 1 cup of each. To crush, put one type of chips in a Ziploc bag, press out as much air as you can, then whack at them with the back of a spoon until they're mostly small crumbs.
Cook about 8 to 10 slices of bacon until crispy, and crumble it into ½-cup bits. The easiest way to do it is to spread the bacon out on a wire cooling rack set in a sheet pan. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until crispy. You could also just buy bacon bits.
Chop yellow onions and sauté with a little oil and salt until they're golden-brown.
Cook each type of rice — brown, white, and yellow (from a Goya box) — according to directions. Set aside 1 cup of each.
Sauté 1 cup frozen corn in a nonstick pan until water evaporates and it starts to brown.
Hard-boil 3 or 4 eggs.
Stash everything in small containers or Ziploc bags and refrigerate.
PREP: 1 DAY BEFORE
Finely chop enough of these veggies and other things to yield the amounts indicated:
Hard-boiled eggs (1 cup)
Red cabbage (1 cup)
Iceberg lettuce (1 cup)
Bell pepper (1 cup)
Fresh tomatoes (1 cup)
Mango (1 cup)
Dill pickles (½ cup)
Pickled okra (½ cup)
Black olives (½ cup)
Pickled jalapeños (¼ cup)
Fresh jalapeños (¼ cup)
Red onion (¼ cup)
Scallions (¼ cup)
Cucumber (¼ cup)
Grate cheddar cheese and Pepper Jack cheese and crumble feta/cotija cheese — 1 cup each.
Sauté ground beef with ½ packet taco seasoning (according to instructions). Cookground turkey with the remaining ½ packet.
Sauté ½ lb. chorizo (about 2 to 3 sausages) until it's browned and fully cooked, then chop finely.
Bake cornbread according to instructions. Once it cools, crumble enough for 1 cup.
Stash everything in small tupperware containers or Ziploc bags and refrigerate.
PREP: GAME DAY
Round up the jars or measure out 1½ cups of these saucier ingredients:
Pico de gallo
Red salsa
Green salsa
Salsa con queso
Guacamole
Sour cream
Ketchup (just 1 cup)
Thoroughly drain black beans and pinto beans.
Chop avocado and drizzle with lime juice to keep it from browning.
Finely chop chicken nuggets and French fries to yield 1 cup each. Or a little more. No such thing as too many nugs.
Heat up refried beans and beef chili in microwave or on the stove in small saucepans.
Cook mac 'n' cheese according to instructions and set aside 1 cup (you can eat the rest!).
Bake ½ bag frozen Tater Tots according to instructions (you can do this last-minute, while you're assembling the rest of the dip).
ASSEMBLAGE
Start with brown rice at the bottom of the bowl and work your way up in the order shown. Sprinkle each ingredient over the last and then use a spatula to smooth out into even layers. Remember that you want to make sure each layer reaches the edge of the bowl so you can see it from the outside.
Squeeze the juice from half a lime and sprinkle a pinch or two of salt every 10 layers or so.
At the very end, top with about 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and drizzle with your favorite hot sauce.
SERVE!
You'll have to develop your own signature approach to actually consuming this monster, but it works pretty well to excavate a vertical cross section like so:
Find the longest/largest serving spoon or spatula you have. Use it to carve out a section of the dip, going down from the top all the way to the bottom. Then, pressing against the side of the bowl to hold the layers together as you go, pull it up and out onto a plate.
YOU DID IT! YOU WIN THE SUPER BOWL!
Photo: Macey Foronda/Buzzfeed
You don't even have to care about football to enjoy this miracle!!!
Photo: Macey Foronda/Buzzfeed
Entire Article & Pictures : Buzzfeed
