June 2019 – The Big Lebowski Cookbook

The DUDE Makes a “CAUCASIAN”

White Russian Cocktail

The Dude Abides! Yes he most certainly does. I first saw the seminal movie The Big Lebowski, (Crime Comedy)I think it was somewhere around the year 2000. I know this because the movie was released in 1998, and I was working as a manager at Da Silvano restaurant at the time, and my co-worker Alessandro and I used to quote lines from the movie. We booth loved, as we also loved Boogie Nights, and I remember Alessandro quoting lines, like “Don’t bother me. My wife is in the driveway with an Ass up her Dick, and you’re giving me shit about the lighting.”

Anyway, I can’t remember the exact time watching it, but I do remember there was a video store that sold new VHS Movies pretty cheap. Like $5.99 and $6.99 for a lot of good movies, and I really built up my movie library frm that place, whatever its name was, I can’t remember. Anyway, along with Casablanca, The Godfather, several 007 Bond films, Fargo (Coen Brothers), and other movies, I bought a VHS copy of the Coen Brothers “Big Lebowski,” at that video store on 6th Avenue that day. I took the movie home and watched it that night, “I Loved it,” it was brilliant, and since that first viewing, I’ve probably watched The Big Lebowski starring Jeff Bridges as The Dude, at least 80 times in the past 19 years or so. I can never get enough of the Dude, Walter (John Goodman), Donny (Steve Buscemi), and Maude (Julianne Moore). and the greatest cult movie of all-time The Big Lebowski. The movie is fun, lighthearted and entertaining, and Jeff Bridges in the lead roll turns in a brilliant performance. I recently came across a video clip of Julianne Moore stating in an interview, saying something like, “I’m stunned as to why Jeff Bridges was nominated for an Oscar. His performance was amazing.”

Anyway, I just love the film and the characters, and all the little happenings in it, and great music too. Not an ounce of Shitty Ass Rap Hip Hop so-called music. To me, its just awful noise, and ever chance I get, I’ve just got to knock it and put it down for the Shitty Ass Crap that it is. Basta!

Anyway, back to the good music of the Big Lebowski. The movie begins with a mystic figure of the Cowboy Stranger, played brilliantly by Sam Elliot narrating (not seen) and stating he’s going to tell a story about a guy named The Dude who lives in Los Angelas as the song “Tumbling Tumbleweed” plays in the background, and we see a panormic shot of the city of Los Angelos, then a closer shot of a actual Tumbleweed rolling in the wind down the streets of LA.

Yes there’s music by the obscure Sons of Pioneers (Tumbling Tumbleweed), Bob Dylans “The Man in Me,” the Eagles who we find out that The Dude hates, and most of all the Dude favorite band Creedence Clearwater Revival, who the Dude just loves and listens to constantly. We hear Creedence music throughout the movie. One of the most memorable scenes is when Dude is happy driving in his car (favorite pastime), smoking a joint and listening to Creedence’s “Out My Back Door.” The Dude ends up dropping his joint into his pants, which starts burning his crotch, the Dude bangs on his crotch to put the little fire out, and proceeds to crash his car into a telephone pole.

The Dude ends up in all other kind of mishaps and hi-jinx. H to is favorite pastimes as the Dude states Maude one day that he likes; Bowling, smoking weed, driving around, and “A Little of This & a Little of That.” Doesn’t everyone?

Yes, I’ve watched the Big Lebowski many times, it makes me happy, I just laugh and laugh. I love the characters, the things the say (like Fuck 225 times), and their outlook on life. Walter likes Beer, bowling, and being a Hard Ass, and his all-time # 1 favorite thing is to tell Donny to “Shut The Fuck Up!” Donny, what does Donny do? Well, Donny likes Bowling too, and is more or less along for the ride and have Walter (John Goodman) yell at him, “Shut The FUCK Up Donny!!!”

Maude, she’s into art, hanging with her Gay Friend Knox Harrington, “the Video Artist,” and going to the Biennale (Art Festival) in Venice. That’s Venice, Italy, not California where the Dude lives.

The there’s “The Jesus” played by John Tarturro. Jesus is a rival bowl of Mexican ancestry who Walter claims is a pedophile., but he “Can Fucking Roll,” as Dude says, meaning that he’s a really good bowler.

The actual Big Lebowski is played by actor David Huddleston. He’s a rich guy living in Pasadena and is married to a much younger “Trophy Wife” named Bunny, who just so happens to be a Porn Star actress, starring in a Pron Film Logjammin, that Maude screens for the Dude one day.

The whole them of the movie is that Bunny owes money to her Pornographer Producer boss Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) who wants his money back. Treehorn sends a couple of dumb goons to Bunny’s husband Jeff Lebowski to get his money back. Only problem is the dummies go to the wrong Lebowski House, they go the Dudes house in Venice Beach. The Dude’s real name is Jeff Lebowski as well, and this turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. This is how the Dude ends up mixed into a lot of stuff, like the faked Kidnapping of Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid) being held for ransome, which in the end turns out that Bunny’s Husband Jeff Lebowski who is Maude’s father is trying to extrot 1 Million Dollars from a fund that his family has set up for under-Privileged children in the city of Los Angelos.

Well, what about the food you want to know? Well food comes up in the famous scene when the Dude, Donny, & Walter end up at an In-N-Out Burger ( recipe ) one night after thinking that a high school kid named Larry has their briefcase full of money (supposed).

The movie the Big Lebowski has an enormous cult following of millions, many of whom like to call themselves achievers, named after the children who receive funding for their education from the Big Lebowski’s “Urban Achievers Foundation.” Many have wondered if the Dude is a vegetarian or not and what he likes to eat, which we never see him eating any food on the movie. In the scene where they go to In-N-Out Burger on Camrose, and we see Donny and Walter eating In-N-Out Burgers in The Dudes car, but we never see Dude eating one. Why? Some have speculated the Dude is a vegetarian. He’s not. Dude loves burgers too. He loves Guacamole, Burritos, Tacos and Maude’s Meatloaf, as well as Walter’s “Jewish Penicillin.” And it’s all in the cookbook “Got Any Kahlua?” The Collected Recipes of The Dude, aka The Big Lebowski Cookbook written by me.

Got Any Kahlua is a satirical look at the movie the Big Lebowski, and it’s an actual cookbook with lots of great recipes that we (I, “The Royal We”) think the Dude would like to eat, like; Eggs for Breakfast, Tunafish, Cowboy Chili, Steak, Burgers, Guacamole, Tacos, Burritos, and of course Maude’s Meatloaf. And yes, there’s a recipe and instructions for The Dude’s favorite beverage, a “Caucasian,” aka White Russian Cocktail which has become a trademark of the Dude and that movie called The Big Lebowski. And no Big Lebowski Themed Cocktail or Bowling Party would be complete without them.

So, loving the Big Lebowski, and food, and being a writer of cookbooks, and a chef, I one day got thee idea to put them all together, and so GOT ANY KAHLUA aka The Big Lebowski Cookbook was conceive, written, and executed by little ol me, Daniel Zwicke.

GET YOUR COPY of GOT ANY KAHLUA ?

aka

The BIG LEBOWSKI COOKBOOK

ABIDE in IT !

The BIG LEBOWSKI is a CRIME / COMEDY Movie written, produced and Directed by the COEN BROTHERS in 1998

Starring ; JEFF BRIDGES as The DUDE

John Goodman as Walter

Steve Buscemi as Donny

John Tarturro as “The Jesus”

Julianne Moore as Maude Lebowski

Davide Huddleson as The Big Lebowski

Philip Seymour Hoffman as “Brandt”