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What are you up after midnight and before sunrise? What are you thinking about? Doing? Eating? Tune in to KC Currents this week Sunday, August 26 at 5 p.m. and Monday, August 27 at 8 p.m. for a special Up All Night edition. Explore the region between the hours of midnight and 5 am.Up All Night With A New Baby KCUR listeners may know that our producer and regular co-host Sylvia Maria Gross is on maternity leave. But this Up all Night show theme was her idea, so we felt we had to include her somehow. Sylvia and her husband, Bill Elder, had baby Rosa Mina just a month ago. We thought their overnight experience would take us to a scene all new parents will recognize.A Late Night Frog GigIn Missouri, the bullfrog and green frog harvest seasons start on the night of June 30th and last through the end of October.Waiting until complete darkness falls, a spotlight is used to scope the edges of water banks to find the frogs by the glare of their eyes. The frogs are blinded by the shining light and freeze in place. This makes it easier to get close enough to use a gig, a fork like hook on a pole, to stab them. Late Night Town Topic Town Topic Diner at Broadway and Southwest Blvd. is open 24/7. Since 1937 this tiny white shack with its red neon sign has acted as a late night hub for all night workers, drunken partiers, and anyone looking for atmosphere and cheap food. Ripe For The Night At perhaps one of the busiest and time sensitive workplaces in town Donna Vestal, editor of Harvest Public Media, takes us to Liberty Fruit Co., in Kansas City, Kansas. Here she found a business constantly on the move. So much so, that spent most of her time trying not to get run over. Mutual Musicians Foundation’s Spirit Won’t Stop For more than eighty years, the small two-story building at 1823 Highland Avenue has been the heart of Kansas City jazz. Today it’s the Mutual Musician’s Foundation, but in 1917, the building became the headquarters for the Local 627 Colored Musician’s Union. Over the decades, nearly every jazz great in the country has jammed here, and the all-night weekend jam sessions have also served as training grounds for jazz students. KCUR’s Susan Wilson spent a late night there to find out what draws audiences and keeps them until the 6 a.m. closing time.

A Late Night Frog Gig

KCUR | By Suzanne Hogan

Published August 26, 2012 at 5:01 PM CDT

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Suzanne Hogan / KCUR

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Jeremy Soucy / KCUR

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Suzanne Hogan / KCUR

In Missouri, the bullfrog and green frog harvest season starts on the night of June 30^th and last through the end of October.

Waiting until complete darkness falls, a spotlight is used to scope the edges of water banks to find the frogs by the glare of their eyes. The frogs are blinded by the shining light and freeze in place. This makes it easier to get close enough to use a gig, a fork like hook on a pole, to stab them.

Jeremy Soucy of the Missouri Department of Conservation and KCUR’s Suzanne Hogan ended up waist-deep in muddy waters in the Amarugia Highlands Conservation Area, about an hour south on 71 highway past Harrisonville.

Missouri Department Of Conservation Frog Regulations

Fried Froglegs:
Soak for one hour in a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and water, salt and pepper. Wipe with cold, damp cloth. Roll in flour. Dip in well beaten egg diluted with water. Roll in cracker crumbs. Fry in deep, hot fat until a golden brown. Serve with tartar sauce.

Pan Fried Froglegs:
2 lbs froglegs                                    ¼ cup flour or cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt                                 ¼ cup butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon pepper                     About 1 teaspoon grated onion

Combine salt, pepper and flour, dip froglegs into flour mixture to coat well, fry in hot butter or margarine and onion until browned, cover and cook over low heat until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Conservation Areas By County:

Cass-
Amarugia Highlands Conservation Area
Bittern Bottoms Conservation Area
Settle's Ford Conservation Area

Jackson-
Lone Jack Lake Conservation Area
James A Reed Conservation Area

Platte-
Platte Falls Conservation Area

Clay-
Cooley Lake Conservation Area

This story was produced for KC Currents, which airs Sundays at 5pm with a repeat Mondays at 8pm. To listen on your own schedule, subscribe to the KC Currents podcast.