I don't have much money to spend this year, so I'm lucky that the gifts I have in mind are crafts, which is a field where bargains abound. Like the shadowbox diarama above...I love Mexican sculptures and the prices aren't too bad. That's because the box is actually pretty small, it just looks big here. The figures are made out of potato starch and gypsum.
This (above), believe it or not, is a pad of paper from a stationary store.
Here's (above) another diorama. It only costs a few bucks.
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Well, that's all on that subject. Later on this afternoon comes Thanksgiving dinner with friends. I love that holiday. When you think about it, we have lots to be thankful for, even in these times.
BTW: If you're making pumpkin pie be sure you use small mashed baking pumpkins and not the big jack-o-lantern pumpkins that you see at Halloween. The now defunct Horn and Hardart's restaurant made the best pumpkin pie but they were an East Coast outfit and I don't know if anyone on this side of the country ever tasted it. Too bad. That's like never having had pizza.
On the West Coast everyone thinks pumpkin pie is supposed to be brown, the way it comes out of a can. Not true. A real pumpkin pie is orange like in the picture above, not brown, and it's made with condensed milk. Condensed milk tastes horrible when drunk, but it works great in baked goods. And did I mention orange zest? It'll need some of that too, but not too much.
4 comments:
Hi Eddie!
I LOVE that draw/bereau you want to get for your daughter. I actually found a similar dresser drawer and a second hand store when I wasn't too flush with cash. I took it home, bought some brown varnish and voila! I use it like I'd use anything I bought retail. Matter of fact, I got my very first writer's desk at a 'flea' market (minus the fleas. Narf!) Same deal.
When it comes to gifts, what someone needs and wants are sometimes the same thing. If you can save them the bother, they'll love you for it.
Lovely things - the box with the skeleton dog reminds me of the picture book Funnybones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Do you know it?
Oh my God. When I saw this video show up on my YouTube, I immediately thought that you were in the video at first. I'm seeing things. I think it was the eyebrows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz-rpnwtfX8
In reality, it's John Abbott, a photographer who worked with jazz greats like Sonny Rollins in the past. It's really fascinating nonetheless.
I was born and raised in Philadelphia. Horn & Hardart's, in addition to the automats (another story) had retail bakery outlets around the city. H&H sponsored TV shows in the 50s. One of them was the "Children's Hour" on Sunday mornings. Kid performers. Singers, dancers, musicians. H&H's tagline on the Children's Hour commercials was "Horn and Hardart ... less work for mother dear." They had great baked goods.
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