1. SILVER & GOLD: Spray Paint Your Food! “Silver pretzels anyone? Or perhaps a golden apple? There’s a new paint spray in town (well in Germany) and it’s totally edible! Called Food Finish, this apparently harmless (and tasteless) edible food varnish spray can make sparkling silver muffins to gold-coated steaks in seconds!”

2. MYSTERIOUS CIRCLES: Up first, Devour by Christopher Jonassen. Can you guess what these are? Look first and of you can’t figure it out the answer is at the bottom of this post.

3. INFLUENCE PEDDLING: How Whole Foods “Primes” You To Shop:

Have you ever been primed? I mean has anyone ever deliberately influenced your subconscious mind and altered your perception of reality without your knowing it? Whole Foods Market, and others, are doing it to you right now.

4. BAR CODING: A History of the Supermarket Barcode:

Thirty-seven years ago… a strange new computer technology entered the supermarket. On June 26, 1974, a white male by the name of Clyde Dawson entered Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. He loaded up his cart with groceries and approached the checkout line. The cashier that day was Sharon Buchanan. At 8:01 a.m., she picked a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum out of his cart and scanned it. The gum has now been immortalized at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. That first scan signified a radical transformation of the supermarket, ushering in the era of the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.)—the nondescript, monochrome rectangle that adorns nearly every retail item we purchase. Today, it’s become a standard for consumer products in the electronic age.

5. UMBRELLAS!! “My new hobby is making creepy shopping lists and dropping them in random peoples’ baskets at Costco.” (Not me, btw.)

6. FOOD SUBSIDIES: A couple informative articles about food subsidies: A. The Inconvenient Truth About Cheap Food and Obesity (It’s Not Farm Subsidies) And B. Surprise! Subsidizing Healthy Food Helps Kids Lose Weight.

7. FEATS OF DARING: Returning Shopping Carts Like a Boss

8. QUITE OLD FOOD: Best Before: A man documents his 90-year-old grandmother’s pantry.

9. MAGNETIC LISTS: Shopping list magnets:

…magnets by Harrington and Squires allow a refrigerator to become one big grocery list while adding pops of colour to your kitchen. A fantastic London letterpress workshop, Harrington and Squires have recently added a set of Spice Magnets to their collection.

9. SELF-CHECKOUTS: Many groceries are rethinking self-checkout lanes:

Ten years after self-checkout lanes debuted in many American supermarkets, some chains are beginning to rethink the option. Beginning this month, Albertsons LLC is removing the self-checkout lanes in all of its 217 stores in seven states. As it remodels stores, Kroger has decided to consider the metro or Euro style of checkout lanes, with one customer line for multiple staffed express lanes vs. self-checkouts.

10. YUMMY DISHES: This recipe aggregator site is great: Check out Punchfork.

11. TASTY INFOVIZ: Finally… taste buds and complementary flavors (a visualization).

Couldn’t figure out what those moonlike circles were in #2? They’re frying pans.

Each of these songs was written and performed by a complete stranger via fiverr.com, a web site where people offer to do things for $5. I took a bunch of them up on it.

I sent each of these fine folks a found grocery list (the list songs) or a link to the story I wrote at milkeggsvodka.com (the MEV songs) and asked them to interpret in their own way. It worked out pretty good — thanks to everyone who played along.

FWIW, I made about 20 requests and a little more than half delivered (you get your money credited back to your account when a transaction is cancelled). The ones who didn’t deliver came up with all kinds of serious excuses: I got the flu, I just moved, my camcorder died, my computer died, my friend died, etc. One person was good/blunt enough to simply say, “I don’t have time to do this.”

Anyway, grocerylists.org is proud to present the new musical masterpiece CD “Let’s All Go to the Grocery Store!”:

1. Cheerdealer: “The Official Milk Eggs Vodka Jingle” (the book)
2. Brodafin” “Spaghetti (List #449)”
3. IdiosyncraticAl: “Candy & Gin (List #1096)”
4. Israel279: “At the Grocery Store (MEV #1)”
5. Michiel: “Cupcakes (List #701)”
6. MD2020: “Times Is Tight (MEV #2)”
7. sam_ovp: “My First Shopping at Grocery Shop (List #382)”
8. Jeiji: “No Treats for Bad Dog (List #1648)”
9. Pablo Woodruffe: “Make Our Lists Forever (MEV #3)”
10. Taryn Parker: “Underwear and a Lemon (List #126)”
11. Stocking: “Hatchet & Sheath (List #407)”
12. Casey Smalley: “Everything is Gonna be OK (List #270)”

And it’s free! Here are a couple samples…

• Jeiji: “No Treats for Bad Dog (List #1648)”
• Casey Smalley: “Everything is Gonna be OK (List #270)”

If you’re wondering about the lyrics to the bizarrely entrancing track #7, here they are: My_first_shopping_at_Grocery_Shop.doc. ESL extravaganza! I do appreciate his effort and hope he put that $5 to good use.

You can find the actual lists linked above, if you want to know the specific inspirations for each track.

You can download the MP3s here. Get the cover art here. Released under a Creative Commons license.

PS: Look for my book MILK EGGS VODKA (the jingle song) to be re-released in paperback in April 2011.

UPDATE: The paperback is now available and here’s a video to celebrate.

Here’s the deal… everyone who sends in a grocery list during the month of August (through this site only — sorry but snail mail won’t count for this) will be entered into a random drawing to win a promo code for the app. So you’ll get it for free. The app is Awesome Shopping List and truthfully, it’s already a bargain but hey, everyone likes free things, right?

Upload lists here.

Out-of-print!
What else is going on? Hmmm. The Jimmy Kimmel experience was fun. It caused a run on MEV books at Amazon which pretty much immediately sent Milk Eggs Vodka into “out-of-print” status. Here’s hoping there’ll be another edition one day. Thanks to everyone who bought it. You can still get it in lots of places — including Amazon — but the original printing is now officially out.

In honor of this historic occurrence maybe we will make these White Russian Cupcakes, which feature milk, eggs and vodka as ingredients!

Sandwiches!
August is National Sandwich Month and every year I challenge myself to each a sandwich a day for the entire month. So far, so good.

#8: Greek tuna sandwich | NSM2010, originally uploaded by ★keaggy.com.

Good links!

• Element Bars: Custom energy bars
• The 3-minute interview: Bill Keaggy
• Jim’s Pancakes: This guy is a pancake artist
• ‘Dirty dozen’ produce carries more pesticide residue, group says

That’s all for now. Bye.

Big, big thanks to the JKL staff and crew who were nothing but nice, helpful, reassuring, complimentary and kind. You guys, Josh and Jordan especially, are awesome! Jimmy Kimmel you are cool too. Thanks for having me on the how (and thanks for actually laughing for real at the lists!).

Check me out! Anyway, here’s part one of the interview on YouTube — and here’s part two. It’s on ABC.com too. Also, at least for now you can watch the clips or the entire episode on Hulu.

[Update: The videos are private now, but you can see the clips on this questionable YouTube clone site.]

Other thoughts and tidbits before I get on the plane back to St. Louis…

Hollywood stuff:

• I like the weather in L.A. The weather is really freakin’ nice. What a cliché.
• The Roosevelt Hotel is killer.
• Hollywood Boulevard has a lot of payphones on it — way more than I’ve seen in at least 20 years.
• Loved the vintage aura of the Musso & Frank Grill. Ate a massive porterhouse steak there.
• Didn’t love the touristy hoo-haw stuff and really wanted to hit Venice Beach but just didn’t have time.

JKL stuff:

• I guess Dakota Fanning didn’t want to stay and sit next to me for my segment. Maybe she has a curfew.
• Wardrobe put a little makeup on me but said my hair look great. Ha!
• Korn’s not my thing (and I bet found grocery lists aren’t their thing) but I saw them anyway with a great sidestage view. Their crowd was way into it.
• A show like this is obviously really complicated to make work but they are super-organized and professional.

I’ll update more on the trip elsewhere in the next few days! Thanks everyone!

P.S.: The book, if you want to buy it: “Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found.”

Please do.

[Update: Here's the recap post.]

Yes, on Thursday, July 1, 2010, I am going to be on the freakin’ Jimmy Kimmel Live show. Here’s the episode summary from TV.com: “Actress Dakota Fanning; grocery list collector Bill Keaggy; Korn performs.” That’s the ABC network. Check listings for the time in your area.

So. Yeah. Weird. We’ll be talking about other people’s grocery lists — as seen here at grocerylists.org and in the “Milk Eggs Vodka” book. What else is there to say? Watch it! Let me know if I look nervous!

• Here’s the proof on TV.com
• More info on STLtoday.com
• The web site that started it all (you’re there right now)
• The book on Amazon

It came about because of my spot in “The Curators,” a documentary film project by the always awesome Coudal Parters out of Chicago.

Watch Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday, July 1!

The economic downturn has taken its toll on traditional museums with cutbacks and closings, but one corner of the collecting world is flourishing.

Virtual museums, just a few years ago seen as a curiosity, are gaining legitimacy as collectors open online galleries to share their passions.

Cereal box covers. Matchbook designs. Grocery lists. Record album covers. Motel signs. Prison escape tools. Toothpaste. Stewardess uniforms.

Whatever the obsession, the Internet has provided a limitless digital curio cabinet for sophisticated and novice collectors alike…

The Museum of Online Museums, a Web site created by Chicago design firm Coudal Partners, does its best to track online museums and serve as a gateway. The firm has collected about 1,200 links and puts up about 150 to 200 links at a time on its Web site, rotating the galleries quarterly. The firm has produced a video about online museums called “The Curators” due out this spring.

Last summer I was interviewed by Coudal Partners for that upcoming Museum of Online Museums documentary. Check out this preview clip. Awesome! I love how the YouTube video ID starts with “aSS.” Perfect.

Update: The film has been posted! Embedded below is the Part 1 with me. Watch Parts 2 and 3 to learn about Brian Collier’s Very Small Objects and Jennifer Sharpe’s The Kriegsmann Files. Fascinating stuff. Big thanks to the Coudal crew.

The Museum of Online Museums’ “The Curators” (Part One) from Coudal Partners on Vimeo.

About this MoOMumentary: For all these years we’ve been curating the Museum of Online Museums, one persistent question has been with us from the beginning: “Why?” It’s one thing to collect stamps or coins and have some association with a like-minded community. It’s something else entirely when you’re likely the only person on the planet scouring thrift shops for Fanta bottle caps. And it takes an extra special breed to then take their one-of-a-kind collection and building a dedicated online museum to share their odd passion with the world. We’ve been enjoying and collecting these collectors’ work for so many years, but it was high time we learned some origin stories. So we hit the road, camera in hand, landing in three cities and three states, seeing three collections up-close, interviewing each curator, and asking, well, “Why?”

Oh, and here’s a bonus grocery joke.

And this highly refined individual with impeccable taste is looking for a special someone.

That is all.

Specimen #1: A completely insane apple dumpling recipe
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/02/apple_dumplings/
I made these New Year’s Eve. Even though I had some champagne that night, I ended up having a butter hangover instead. Awesome. Photo above ©Ree Drummond (Via Fluid Pudding)

Specimen #2: Match & Munch Sandwich Cutters (Set of 4 Puzzle Shapes)
http://www.spoonsisters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=100&Product_Code=67401
Even though I hate to encourage the cutting off of crusts, these sandwich slicers are pretty cool.

Specimen #3: 7 Foods That Should Never Cross Your Lips
http://www.prevention.com/7foodsthatshouldnever/
Is your food loaded with toxins and chemicals? Prevention magazine has some simple swaps to protect yourself.

Specimen #4: Salinger Grocery Lists to be Published
http://glossynews.com/entertainment/books-newspapers-misc/201001291226/salinger-grocery-lists-to-be-published/
Well, not everyone can be The Onion, but this might give you a chuckle.

Specimen #5: Tacos Exploding In Slow Motion
http://www.youtube.com/v/uyKFKdAREcE
You’re welcome.

Specimen #6: A Collection a Day, 2010
http://collectionaday2010.blogspot.com/
This is just fantastic.

Specimen #7: Hunt for shop nut who smelled staff member’s bum
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2779253/Hunt-for-shop-nut-who-smelled-staff-members-bum.html
I’m about as opposed to The Sun newspaper as I am cutting the crusts off sandwiches, but how can you pass on this story?

That is all.

There is nothing more satisfying than creating a grocery list.

It’s not only fulfilling your needs (what you’ve run out of, saving money by buying what’s on sale), it also allows you to compose meals based on mood, time, energy, availability and choice.

Perhaps it starts with beef tenderloins and then you think that shiitake mushrooms, wild rice and red wine would be nice accompaniments.

Better add those to the list.

Then you realize you’d better get some fresh garlic too. The last time you bought some was during the Johnson administration.

Or maybe you’ve always wanted to make Penne a la Vodka and now that you’ve finished that great big report, you’re going to treat yourself to a night of cooking at the stove, maybe eat it on the couch while watching a movie you’d be embarrassed to tell someone about. Something with Kate Hudson or Matthew Perry, perhaps.

Then there’s the addition of the items that you can’t resist. If you’re my mom, it’ll be chocolate on sale or maybe even fudge. For some people it’s ice cream or potato chips, for others its carbs and microwaveable dinners, a pricier bottle of wine or a new book or CD.

Adding these otherwise verboten items to your list is like giving yourself a little reward for a tough week at work or finally finishing cleaning out the garage.

My list of indulgences includes pickles, fancy salad dressing, a new cleaning product (so sad, isn’t it?), or a pack of pens, notebook or stickers. Apparently I’m 12.

Obviously, as the book Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found attests to, your list says a lot about you. Do you put everything on one list — tires, grapefruit juice, nail polish, boating license — or do you compartmentalize it like so?

• Groceries
• Errands
• Hardware
• Drugstore

I always have to categorize mine. I walk almost everywhere so I need to know what I’m picking up where. No way do I want to have to walk back to get something. I love the exercise, but not that much. Plus, I take my time with my list, making it out, checking it over, dreaming of new looks for our living room, meals for my fella and sometimes even fantasizing about getting a new look from head to toe, with the addition of a few, carefully selected products.

And it’s not just the contents on the list, but how you go through them. I am fascinated by those who cross off items while going through the grocery store. I want to be that fastidious. I mean, I’ve put in all of that time and effort into one list, so why should I keep going over items again and again?

But alas, despite having at least two or three pens on me at all times (a writer’s habit), I feel like crossing things off would take all the fun out of grocery shopping. It would make it into more of a task than an adventure.

And for me, heading out to get groceries is always an adventure. It’s the possibility of getting something I can’t usually afford on sale, the chance of seeing something new, and the journey of making some very ordinary ingredients into an extraordinary meal for the ones I hold dear.

Of course, should I leave my list at home, it’s closer to a disaster…

©Stephanie Dickison, 2009

We’ve recovered from some egregious spelling errors, silly categorizations, a simplistic design and other embarrassments to produce a solid update — based almost completely on your suggestions. You complained, we listened. I mean, you sent me some really great ideas for improving the Ultimatest List and I took them to heart.

First, the Deluxe list is now at version 3.0. It’s about as perfect as it’s gonna get. Enjoy.

Second, we finally created — from scratch — a Vegetarian list. Considering it’s version 1.0, we figure it’ll need a few revisions to get right. Let me know how we did (we’re not actually vegetarians here at GLC HQ!).

So. There you go. Download and put to good use.

Something about standing in the cereal aisle makes me think I’m out of it — even though I have six boxes in the pantry. No more! The Ultimatest Grocery Lists, a free one-page shopping checklist, is organized by aisle so you can speed through the store. Print it out at www.grocerylists.org/ultimatest.

You don’t have to take their word for it, or even mine. Try it for yourself. Our free downloadable PDF is the most compact yet comprehensive grocery list available.