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Natalie Litofsky

@positivelynatalie.bsky.social

140 followers 160 following 680 posts

Writer | Editor | Pop Culture Nonfiction Publisher | Horror Podcaster Mainly comprised of coffee, cheese, and zombie movie hot takes. 📚 atbpublishing.com

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 12d

To celebrate my favorite season, every day in October I'll post a random autumnal recipe from my collection of vintage and branded cookbooks.

🍎 October 1: More Joys of JELL-O (1993) brings us Harvest Pie. It's a throw-it-all-in sweet stuff extravaganza + apples and nuts in a graham cracker crust.

Recipe for Harvest Pie. Ingredients include milk, pudding mix, Cool Whip, graham cracker crust, chopped apple, nuts, mini marshmallows, and caramel sauce.

Front cover of the recipe book More Joys of JELL-O.

Photo of Harvest Pie, which is a graham cracker crust absolutely overflowing with chopped apples, nuts, and mini marshmallows, covered in caramel sauce. Also pictured at the bottom is Maple Walnut Cheesecake.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 54m

I canceled my digital subscription a long time ago and suddenly earlier this year I started getting emails from them to come back. It was so relentless I had to mark spam + block sender and eventually they STILL managed to find a way to bypass that back into my inbox.

The desperation was palpable.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1h

Had a dream last night where I was trying on sweaters in a discount store and a girl casually walked by eating noodle kugel off a giant silver platter. She just breezed through and the dream carried on like nothing weird had just happened, and I was outside of it like, "Brain, you seeing this?"

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1h

*Puts on professional copywriter hat* Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but about ten years ago Walmart used this as part of a big hiring campaign... www.ispot.tv/ad/7B76/walm...

Walmart TV Spot, 'Working Man' Song by Rush

Walmart aims to pledge $250 billion to products purchased from American factories throughout the next 10 years.

www.ispot.tv

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1h

At least it's a universal experience? bsky.app/profile/posi...

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · Jul 8

I keep getting served a commercial on streaming services that uses a Le Tigre song to advertise generic bedding sets, and I think this might be my villain origin story.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 22h

COUNTING DRACULAS is such a great companion for the spooky season. Plus, you know anything that pluralizes "Draculas" is going to be a fun ride.

There's still time to get your copy before Halloween! www.atbpublishing.com/product/coun...

Photo of a stack of green books, with one copy of the book placed upright on top facing forward. The title is Counting Draculas: Binge-Watching the Vampire King, and it features rows of small, simplified illustrations of dozens of different film Draculas. In the background there are bat and vampire Halloween decorations hanging on a door.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 23h

🍎🍺 October 13: Basic Microwaving (1978) wants you to hover your face by the glass to watch things cook.

Don't know why you'd make Spiced Cider in the microwave, but if you wanted to you can follow these instructions. Cook up spiced syrup goop, add cider, heat forever in a casserole, then strain.

Front cover of Basic Microwaving, which is part of the Microwave Cooking Library. It has a close-up photo of a piece of chocolate cake, a cheeseburger on a sesame bun, and corn on the cob with a melty pat of butter against a very brown background.

Page is titled Beverages and has an intro plus step-by-step instructions with photos for microwaving liquids. Intro reads, "Start microwaving by boiling water. Simple experiments with liquids demonstrate several microwave techniques. You can heat beverages in their serving cups, even paper or plastic hot drink cups. If you like brewed tea, you can boil water in the teapot, unless it has metal trim or a wicker-wrapped handle over a metal base. Heating liquids will illustrate the effects of quantity, starting temperature and food characteristics. First photo is a bunch of instant cocoa packets with text, "Instant beverages are prepared by heating water right in the cup. It takes less than 2 minutes to boil water for a single serving." How to Microwave Liquids has three steps with photos. Step 1 has a photo of mugs with coffee or cocoa in them and says, "Arrange cups in a ring with space between them when heating more than two. Leave the center empty." Step 2 has a photo of water boiling in a glass mug and says, "Boiling time depends on the amount of water heated and whether it came from the tap hot or cold." Step 3 has a photo of a smiling woman staring into a running microwave with her face right next to the glass and says, "Watch through the oven door when heating milk-based liquids. They boil over rapidly. As boiling starts, open the oven door."

Recipe for Spiced Cider. Ingredients include brown sugar, water, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, salt, and cider. You basically cook the water, sugar, and spices into a syrup, combine with cider in a giant casserole dish, and microwave forever until hot. Strain before serving. Probably grimace while drinking.

Photo of a glass mug of steaming apple cider with a cinnamon stick poking out of the top.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1d

Sure, I've been unemployed all year after decades as a professional writer, but gosh all the personal pain is worth it if after several prompts back and forth, the planet-destroying chatbot that took my job can come up with poetry as beautiful as... "Hey Sarah, it was lovely to meet you." 🙄

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1d

For years I've regretted not buying these when I saw them at an overstock store. 😂

Two knockoff board games next to each other on a retail shelf. One is titled "OOOPS!" and is supposed to be like Sorry!, with similarly-shaped game pieces on the cover that have cartoon eyes and mean expressions. The other is titled "Who's There?" and is supposed to be like Guess Who, with the same style of board illustrated on the cover that has images of people on stand-up tabs.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1d

The restorative power of ordering cheesy garlic bread and eating it while listening to the rain cannot be overstated.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1d

Automated AI article generator.

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 4d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1d

🌽 October 12: In The Kitchen With Miss Piggy (1996) is written by her with recipes from celebrity* guests.

Harry Belafonte's Corn Pudding, in the words of Miss Piggy, "will leave you weak in the knees."

*actual celebrity level varies greatly from Elizabeth Taylor to Tipper Gore to Gene Shalit.

Front cover of In The Kitchen With Miss Piggy: Fabulous Recipes from My Famous Celebrity Friends. It features a photo of Miss Piggy dressed in a ball gown and diamonds, holding a wooden spoon and standing at a counter covered in fruit and vegetables.

Photo of Harry Belafonte hugging Miss Piggy from inside the cookbook. He's wearing a red chef's apron and matching oven mitts. She's wearing a polka dot green dress and holding a wooden spoon.

Recipe for Harry Belafonte's Corn Pudding. Ingredients include eggs, cornstarch, sugar, salt, canned creamed corn, milk, butter, chopped onion, and ground nutmeg.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 1d

I find TV show screenshot accounts fun to follow, but it's frustrating that almost none use alt text. Most just put the episode number and/or title in the alt text and some don't use it at all.

It's not that much work to describe a scene and quote text, and I promise it matters for your audience.

Scene from the show Parks and Recreation facing characters at a conference table. Andy is sitting with head back and eyes closed, April is next to him with her hands up, and Ron is sitting next to her with his arms crossed looking annoyed. The caption is April saying, "Time is money, money is power, power is pizza, and pizza is knowledge."

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 2d

We just watched this one recently for our next podcast episode! Our original plan was to cover all of them, but this year being what it is we sort of focused in on the most recent. 😅

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 2d

Forgot to mention when I posted this the other day, but I actually have a TON of copies of this Baltimore Orioles recipe book.

If there's any interest from baseball fans and/or weird cookbook collectors like myself, we could toss a listing up on our publishing website. Let me know!

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 4d

🍎🍞 October 9: Bird Feed (1999) is one of several charity cookbook editions created by the Baltimore Orioles in the 90s.

Apple French Toast recipe is pretty basic, but I do like the idea of using tart apples. Plus, you can tell everyone you learned it from professional baseball guy Terry Crowley.

Front cover of a charity cookbook called Bird Feed: Favorite Family Recipes of the Baltimore Orioles. It features an illustration of the Oriole Bird mascot with a bib on, holding a fork and spoon, with hands coming in from all sides offering different dishes of food.

Photo of a two-page spread open in a spiral-bound book with orange paper and black text. On the left page is a caricature illustration of Terry Crowley making apple french toast. On the right is the recipes for Apple French Toast and Lemon Trifle.

Close-up of the recipe for Apple French Toast. Ingredients include brown sugar, white bread, margarine, eggs, water, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and Granny Smith apples.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 2d

Want to support our small press but aren't in the market for a book? We have a bunch of pop culture homage designs on Tee Public, and right now they're all on sale!

Does this get me weird looks when I wear it? Yes. Does that make me love it even more? Also yes.

🧈👕 www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/4965...

Screen grab from the movie Chopping Mall, where the sloppy customer in the diner is shoving food into his mouth. Overlaid on the image is a light blue tee with yellow writing that says, "Waitress, More Butter" in a drippy, melty font.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 2d

You should tell them you're an *actual* Ned, not a prospective Ned.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks so much, that's a big help! I've been cutting my own hair since 2020 and while I do a decent job in a utilitarian sense, I've been searching for a solution that would help me feel comfortable going into a salon again for a bit more style.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 2d

🧛🐟 October 11: TBS Superstation Dinner & a Movie Cookbook (1999) is a time capsule from a themed hosted TV era.

Nosferatuna Melts were paired with DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT (and groan-worthy jokes). With 20 cloves of garlic, you'll definitely ward off vampires... and probably everyone else.

Recipe for Nosferatuna Melts, which was paired with the movie Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Ingredients include tuna steak, whole black peppercorns, salt, 20 cloves of garlic, chopped red onion, Sambal chili paste, lemon zest, mayo, olive oil, sourdough bread, crumbled feta, cilantro, and... 1 steel mesh turtleneck.

Second page of the Nosferatuna Melts recipe, which includes a large illustration of a fish and some allegedly "fun" facts about garlic.

Front cover of the TBS Superstation Dinner & a Movie Cookbook: The Best of Dinner & a Movie's Delectable Dishes. It has red, yellow, blue, and green color panels with line illustrations of cooking tools and ingredients.

Stylized margin text on the recipe page with a title in a bubble of "Food for Thought." It reads, "How do you ID a vampire? a) If their driver's license is more that 200 years old and b) If no one appears in the photo." It's both unfunny and includes a typo.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 2d

"I'm gonna hitchhike to a waterpark" is going to be my new go-to exit line lol.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 2d

I didn't see anything on the site about sizing. Are there any sort of general guidelines about which size to choose? For most masks I tend to default to large, so that would be my inclination.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 3d

All of this + I also block when you reshare AI slop to dunk on it. Whatever comedy gold you think you have, I guarantee you there's nothing funny about that Sora video and there's no reason to be shoveling it into my feed for any reason.

Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 3d

If I see you posting AI slop, it's an instant block. Even if you think it's cute or says a lot about society. If you are purporting that some AI slop is real news, I will report you for misinformation, and then block you. Sloppers should be marginalised.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 3d

Hope you feel better soon!

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 3d

Ugh, sorry to hear it. If you want to mix it up with your hot liquids, a go-to remedy I picked up when I lived in China (and still swear by to this day) is hot Coca-Cola. Boil in a pot for a bit with a big chunk of ginger until it's molten and it's like a magic elixir.

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Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 3d

🍎🍖 October 10: Cutco Cook Book (1961) wants to sell you knives by telling you what to make with them.

Looking to use up all that extra ham broth? Why not make Cider Sauce to serve with (you guessed it) ham. With both apple cider AND jelly in the mix, it feels more like ham dessert syrup to me.

Front cover of the Cutco Cook Book. The word "Cutco" is on top of an illustration of one of the company's knives, and around the edges are atomic-era style illustrations of food and knives together.

Two-page spread from the Cutco Cook Book. On the left page is several sauce recipes with yellow, atomic-age style illustrations of a woman washing dishes, and on the right page is an ad for "Distinctively Styled Meat Knives" with a photo of the set and description.

Recipe for Cider Sauce. There is a yellow and black illustration of a sauce dish in the top corner. Ingredients include butter, flour, ham broth or water, cider, and apple jelly.

Natalie Litofsky @positivelynatalie.bsky.social · 4d

These are all amazing! I love pumpkin carving conceptually, but I've found that I'm not very skilled at it myself. 😅

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