The One with the Deeply Uncomfortable Phobic Journeys and Squtter-nut-bosh
Welcome to Friends with Food Episode #8! Listen here. Our friend Miss Andrea Mars joins us and we cover Friends Season 5, Episode 8, “The One with All the Thanksgivings.” (or perhaps “The One with the Thanksgiving Flashbacks,” the internet can’t seem to make up it’s mind!)
Miss Andrea Mars is a burlesque dancer, electrologist, and openly transgender Filipina based in Seattle, WA. Andrea and Zoe made their burlesque debut together back in the summer of 2017 (of course in the burlesque world our cohost Zoe is known as Champagne Splitz!) Find Miss Andrea Mars on Facebook!
“The One with All the Thanksgivings” originally aired on Thursday, November 19th, 1998. “Doo Wop (That Thing)” by Lauryn Hill was still number one on the charts that week, and if you don’t know this song you better get on it! If you do know it, go listen again anyway! You know you want to. By the way, did you know we have a playlist of all the number one songs discussed on the podcast? Get it! The Rugrats Movie was number one at the box office, though of course we had to mention Adam Sandler as well since we are still recovering from the run of The Waterboy.
This special Thanksgiving episode of Friends proved to be HIGHLY problematic, with issues that centered around deep fatphobia, homophobia, problematic representation of gay men as homewreckers and pedophiles, anti Filipino sentiment, and demasculinization of Asian men. Not to mention the harrowing salmonella that is rampantly spread when folks decide to put a raw turkey on their head!! We struggled with this episode, and though we can put these issues into the cultural context of the show’s time, it’s still important to talk it through and hold our Friends accountable! We’ve mentioned before that Friends can be problematic, well this episode really goes for it and so we got into it!
Nevertheless, there were moments that we found quite enjoyable, such as this moment between Phoebe and Joey.
Everything Phoebe did in this episode was lovely and delightful. She wins this episode hands down!
Heather got to learn about the beautiful hair style known as Flock of Seagulls this episode! Also Judy’s outfit is magnificent!
Monica employing classic clown logic in her attempt to seduce 80s Chandler.
Squtter-nut-bosh
Joey tries to deflect from an embarrassing story by calling out Ross with this little anecdote:
This is the joke that inspired this week’s recipe! A nice autumnal side dish perfect for a Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, or just a nice fall dinner! Zoe likes a spicy and tangy preparation with a sweeter vegetable such as squash, so she pulled inspiration from her favorite cuisine: Indian! (Tip: check out Zoe’s favorite cookbook!)
squtter-nut-bosh
⅓ cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
Small butternut squash, about 2lbs
Juice from half a lime
Optional: flakey salt
Preheat the oven to 375F.
In a jar or small bowl, combine the olive oil with the spices, salt and pepper. Give it a good stir.
Peel the butternut squash and carefully cut in half lengthwise. Squash can be quite hard and your knife can easily slip so watch your fingers! Scoop out the squash guts with a spoon and discard. Place half of the squash cut-side down on a cutting board. Trim the ends and discard, then slice the rest crosswise into ¼ inch slices. Repeat with the other half.
Ok, for the next part you have a few options. You’re going to coat the slices in the spiced oil and then line them up in a pan. You can either dump all the slices into a large bowl, pour in the oil, toss to mix, and then shove your slices into a pan in rows. Alternately, you can carefully coat a handful of slices in the spiced oil at a time, keeping them in order, and wind up with neater rows in the shape of your squash. Either way works great so just do what feels easiest for you! If you have a bread pan, this should be the perfect size to snuggle all your squash slices into in little rows, cut side up (see photo). If you don’t have a bread pan, a square pan or pie pan can work as well. If there is extra space you can stuff some foil in it to keep the squash rows from falling over. You can also use a sheet pan: in this case lay down a double layer of aluminum foil, nestle your rows of squash slices in the middle, and fold the foil up around the sides to keep everything all bundled up.
Once you have your squash situated, put it in the preheated oven. Bake for 1hr to 1½ hrs, or until squash is completely tender when tested with a fork. When squash is done, remove the pan from the oven. Squeeze half a lime over the squash, and top with flakey salt and a few fresh grinds of pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.
