Frank & Friends Show 0071

Frank Murphy’s friend Avi McCullah is today’s co-host. Avi worked on-air at Jewelry Television and ShopNBC, where she sold high-end men’s watches. She would fly from Knoxville to Minnesota to appear on ShopNBC. 

Frank’s figs are in season. He has been harvesting about 60 figs per day this week. He accidentally broke off a branch of a fig tree and is trying to ripen the figs from that branch by placing it in water. 

Avi has lied to her sons about figs. She told them that natural fig bars are called “pop tarts.” When they ask for a pop tart, they get a fig bar. 

Figs are inverted flowers. Frank says the taste and texture of his Brown Turkey figs remind him of oatmeal with brown sugar. 

Frank brought 24 figs to a meeting of a non-profit organization. As the chairperson was trying to start the meeting, another man started telling Frank about the laxative effects of figs, which is something Frank appreciates. 

Avi is dating someone who told her, “Let thy food be thy medicine.” Frank asks if she is dating a medieval barber. Avi asks if you can make fig jam or preserves without sugar. 

The fig jam recipe Frank and his wife Jere use calls for 3 cups of mashed figs, 3 cups of sugar, and two small boxes of lemon Jell-O. 

Avi asks if you can make fruit leather with figs. Fruit leather is like a natural fruit roll-up. The concept is similar to soft beef jerky. Frank watched an Adam Ragusea video about making beef jerky. 

Avi wants to learn old methods of food preservation. Frank says that canning fig preserves is easier than he feared. You can vacuum seal the mason jars by putting them in boiling water for a certain amount of time. 

The topic of canning reminds Frank of an episode of Visiting with Huell Howser in which Huell and cameraman Louie Fuerte visit a tuna cannery. Frank recalls Huell being amazed that they cook the tuna in the can. The episode is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cxuzj-k-XuU 

When Avi uses the word schniblet, Frank says it’s the secret word and that they should get an extra $100 between them. As a kid, he used to stay up late to watch Groucho Marx on reruns of You Bet Your Life. 

Avi says she gets self-conscious on camera. Frank once needed to find a co-host for a project called SMOMOTV and he asked Avi. They recorded a show in an extra room at a brochure printing plant between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Avi taught Frank to buy a cheap bronzer but an expensive makeup brush. 

Avi says the medieval barber doesn’t have prepared foods in his pantry. Frank mentions that there is a sales tax holiday in Tennessee during August on some food products that could be called staples or ingredients. Prepared food items and candy are not included. 

Avi says that snack foods in England have fewer ingredients than the same products in the United States. She is trying to be aware of the ingredients in her food now that she has turned 40. 

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