Roadside Anthro-America

Boiled peanuts are sometimes called “country caviar”, and I love them. Unfortunately this roadside stand at the end of Maggie Valley in North Carolina was out of business, but the sign remained behind. Catch it now if you are in the area as it is showing signs of disintegration.

You will find these coffee beans in front of the coffee shop “Legal Grounds” in Marion, North Carolina. The coffee shop is situated next to the court house, a very clever name. The bean sculpture features two beans actively working a sack of fresh beans. It is well sculpted perhaps commercially available. Probably not one of a kind.

Anthropomorphic Noah

Unlike Noah’s original ark, this ark becomes a floating salad bowl. But, with feet and eyes would a vegetarian be able to make a meal from this ark? A fabulous zoo of anthropomorphia for sure. Thank you cousin Paul in the Netherlands for this wonderful find.

Flour Sack Apron

If you are a serious home bread baker, I heartily suggest that you visit “Heartland Mill” for some quality baking ingredients. I have had wonderful results with all the varieties of flours they offer from finely milled durum wheat to whole rye, and a product they call “golden buffalo” bread flour. All these are organic certified flours.

Heartland Mill ships their flour in traditional muslin flour sacks. On the back of the bag they suggest to reuse the bags for something else. I literally took them to heart and saved all my bags with the idea of doing a crazy shirt. But, as it ended up, we were a few bags short of a shirt. All bakers need aprons, and with the aide of my multi-talented mother, we came up with a dandy of an apron design. “Now a days” this is called repurposing, in my mother's era, it was a necessity.

Beef Villa

I think hot dogs make some of the best character translations. Villas sound like nice places to stay while on vacation. Q. Where is “Beef Villa”? A. On the“Beef Riviera” of course. Beef seems less vulgar than meeting at the “Meat Riviera”. Thank you to Chris for sending this one to us.

Fruit Face

Our neighbors have a garage sale on a regular basis. It is always fun to go looking because "Jo" combs sales throughout the year and collects the best finds for her own garage sale. Here are a couple of chalk ware fruits for the anthropomorphic food and kitchen gallery. The gum parker and poodle plate were not to be missed

Springlerles are Not Just For Christmas anymore

The years end has bought with it a bit more steam to our blog. Could this be an indication that we will post more often in 2008? Just before Christmas, Dieter remembered the Springerle cookie mold his mother had. It is a mold dating back to the 1800's and came from Germany with the German side of his family. Dieter's mom Elsie, told us her mother made the cookies and laid them out on a sheet covered ironing board to dry overnight before baking. We pulled out the antique ironing board and set out to duplicate the family tradition that until now had been set aside for more than half a century.

According to Wikipedia, Springerle is a type of cookie from Baden-Württemberg, Germany with an embossed design made by pressing a mold onto rolled dough and allowing the impression to dry before cooking. The cookies are traditionally white and anise-flavored. Molds are traditionally carved from wood, although plastic molds are also available. The name springerle means "little knights," and their origin can be traced back to the 14th century.

Above is a close up of the antique metal mold and the resulting cookie. We baked two versions of the cookie, one with anise oil and seed the other with only the seed. We sprinkled the mold with powdered sugar before pressing it into the dough as you can see in the image. The first recipe came from "Modern Baking" a trade magazine. Klaus Tenbergen, a master baker in Germany, South African and the United states gives this recipe:

Springerle
2 Lbs baking flour
0.125 crushed aniseed (about two rounded tea spoons, up to one tablespoon if you want
a stronger aniseed flavor)
14 whole eggs
2 Lbs granulated sugar

We halved the recipe above. The combination of the two recipes yielded over 100 cookies.

Method: Sift flour three times, add the aniseed. Beat the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the flour to the egg mixture, a small amount at a time, blending after each addition. Mix until smooth after the lst addition. Roll the dough on a lightly floured board, press into the moulds, remove, and place the cookies on pans to dry overnight. Bake in a slow oven at 250 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

The second recipe came from a blog called "A Geezer's Corner". It sounds like Springerles are a passion for this man. He adds butter, baking powder and lemon oil extract. We didn't have the lemon extract, but added i heaping tablespoon lemon zest instead. He has very strict directions "add the flavoring oils, and cream together for 10 to 15 minutes. yeah, that's what i said. if you don't, the cookies won't have the right consistency." We being law abiding citizens did just what he said.

In the end both cookies are delicious. You must be an anise lover or these cookies will be too strong for you.

According to ” Mr. Geezer"
House on the Hill is the best source for springerle moulds.

The High Art of Toasting/New Years Greetings

We like to wish all food enthusiasts a very happy new year and may your plate be filled with flavor. This painting came to my from my cousin Paul and his wife Else who live in Amsterdam. We thank them for adding a great year end image for our anthropomorphic gallery.

Rosemary Rising

Pictured above is an amazing "Orange + Chocolate" bread and a Pumpkin Seed Bread. Dieter baked these along with ”French Country White“, ”Caraway Molasses Rye”, “Caraway Anise Cumin Rye”, “Course Grain Mustard Rye” and “Chocolate Chip Cherry” loaves for the annual Rosemary Rising event in Sarasota. If you were one of the people who picked up a loaf of bread from the little salon, please let us know how you liked it.

Latest Additions to the Anthropormorphic Library

My darling cousin Carolien, from Holland, sent me this quintessentially Dutch image from the municipality of Tiel, known for it metal and fruit industry. Flipje is the mascot of Tiel, I quote from the information sent to me, “When you think of Tiel you immediately think of the yearly fruit festival and the cartoon character Flipje which has been an advertising icon for young and old for over 65 years.” As an anthropomorphic character, Flipje appears to me as a person dressed in a grape costume, a parade outfit perhaps. I am not sure if it is a true anthropomorphic character. I have included it as a marginal example in the same category as the green giant.

This iconic candy was invented in 1962, a movie theatre standard that was sold in a little box. Take a virtual tour of the Lemon head factory.

A hand painted sitting hamburger character. I believe this sign was the marque for a motel that occupied the location where the bar now stands. Highway 301 in Oneco Florida

Destination Beer: Bisbee Arizona

To quote from the ”Discover Bisbee“ web site, “Brewery Gulch, which in its heyday boasted upwards of 47 saloons and was considered the "liveliest spot between El Paso and San Francisco”. Apparently the brewery gulch street in Bisbee wet a lot of whistles and still does today as I discovered. Much to my delight I spied a beer unknown to me “Dave's Electric Lager”, went for it and then went for a few more. Clean and refreshing and beautifully hopped. I enjoyed it so much that I made excuses to drop in various establishments to enjoy as many as I could squeeze into our three days in and around Bisbee. On our last evening during a visit to St. Elmos (a colorful watering hole) I struck gold. I was introduced to Dave by a jolly fellow by the name of Hector (howdy Hector I shall not forget your kindness) anyway Dave is as cool as you might expect, a humble guy who casually mention that he welded up his own brewery, the man can do! I might also mention that Dave was the first person in Arizona to receive a brewer’s license since Prohibition. Dave's Electric, from what I understand can only be found in and around the Bisbee area, the only reason you need to visit historic Bisbee. Dave and his beer reflect what is great about America, believe in yourself, have a dream, live it.....that is how the west was won. Don’t miss quaffing a few of Dave's Electric beers, it is desert gold.

dave's electric brewpub

Destination Food: Bisbee Breakfast Club

The Bisbee Breakfast Club , in southern Arizona, is a place that will make you happy and full, glad that you're on the green side of the grass. This restaurant is a stand out, stylized much like a diner with a counter, no booths, plenty of tables and bustling atmosphere. The coffee is right and comes often. Your breakfast is in front of you before you have a chance to look the place over. Eyes bigger then your belly, some how that side of pancakes manages to disappear. I must also mention a professional and polite staff. If “Loren” should wait on you her smile will make you understand why the sky is blue, your day will be that much brighter.

The Bisbee Breakfast Club is located in the town of Lowell, well, about half of what's left of Lowell. Let me explain. At the western end of Bisbee is a mammoth size hole in the earth called the lavender pit, a defunct coper strip mine, operations shut down sometime in the seventies. Lowell is located a short drive around the pit, what you see is about half of main street, the rest has vanished into the lavender abyss. A goggle search of Lowell brought up two sights listing it as a ghost town.

http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/htme/lowell.htm

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/lowell.html

Now that we have established the location and credentials of this culinary oasis, let me say that Bisbee’s rich heritage is being carefully looked after by a citizenry that is as liberal minded as it is creative. This is a town not to be missed if the old west appeals to you and your western size appetite.

Friends with Hamburgers

In their own words:
FriendsWithYou is an art collective founded by the Miami-based artists, Sam Borkson and Arturo Sandoval. Since its conception in 2002, FriendsWithYou has continued to promote the two artists' common message of Magic • Luck • Friendship through its various means of creative expression and commercial activity.

I just read a rant on designobserver.com. The author of the post was disappointed with the representation of contemporary design works included in the show “Design Life Now”, an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City. He metioned some designers he thought were more worthy of inclusion in the show than some that were exhibited, so i decided to take a look at one of them called ”Friends With You“ and who did I see? MR. TTT hamburger and friends. It is refreshing to see designers who don't take themselves too seriously.

Chicago “Anthropomo”

At the Hot Doug‘s website I see
DUCK FAT FRIES ..... $3.50 (Friday & Saturday only). Chris ate them and said they were amazing. Down with medical science, up with duck fat.

See more visual representations of the shapeless gyro form than you though imaginable at the Gyros Project website.

Thanks to Chris and Joe we now have anthropomorphic signs from Chicago. Thank you!

Why Octodog?

Anna from Chile emailed us a link to the “Octodog” Frankfurter Converter site. Visit their site and ponder the very good question “why Octodog?”. Thank you again Anna. The device slips over the hot dog to create the blank expressioned “Octodog“ below. It might be good for a party. I'm not sure. Serve in a pool of ketchup?

A Hot Dog Drinking Coffee and a Corny Driver

Hi Polly and Dieter,
I'm glad you responded so quickly to my comment! I saw this sign in a window of a butcher shop over the weekend, and took a photo thinking of your blog.

It appears to be a car windshield shade. It's advertising for "AgroSuper", a conglomerate here that sells pork (Super Cerdo), chicken (Super Pollo) and other foods. Nearly all their advertising has one or more of these characters. The chicken is wearing traditional Chilean dress. I have no idea why the hot dog has legs!!!

Best,
Anna

Anna graciously sent this photo to us from Chile, her home. Having a submission from a distant land is exciting for us and we encourage anyone who enjoys the family of anthropomorphic food characters to join us by sending sightings from wherever you are. For more information on "AgroSuper Pollo" click here. See the entire anthropomorphic food and kitchen gallery!

Anthropomorphic Skin

We could not believe our eyes when we saw this. We just can't resist adding these images to the "anthropo" gallery. We found the hotdog image on LTHForum.The dish and spoon came from the New York Times article about chefs and tatoos. The chef who sports this tatoo, Rick Tramonto, partner and executive chef at Tru in Chicago, said "The spoon is running, the fork is stressed out, the knife is excited and they're all going after the plate. The plate is in the weeds; he's got the lobster but he dropped the lemon"

Year End Anthropomorphic Roundup

“The Runaway Dinner” is a wonderful anthropomorphic food adventure. For anyone who enjoys illustrated children's books this one is a keeper.

The grape king is one of my favorites. I suspect the artist is familiar with the great Italian fruit portrait painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

This is one of Arcimboldo's more famous works "Vertumnus" 1590-1591, to see more of these works visit Olga's Gallery.

The years strangest find came from an antique mall. Probably circa 1950's it is a potato chip server illustratated with an anthropomorphic potato head wearing a ruffled potato chip skirt. The sticker on the back of the bowl indicates it was made in Japan.

Our friends Karma and Rob picked this up at the Superdawg consession at the Airport in Chicago. They paid one buck for the empty carton. Apparently a lot of empty boxes are sold as souveniers.

The Little Big Book of Comfort Food includes 200 recipes of home style cooking. It is a lovely book to own even if you don't cook as it contains an abundance of vintage images gleaned from turn of the century illustrations. Many of them from children's books. The following five images are from this book.


We could not resist buying this updated version of Mr. Potato Head. It is still fun to arrange the parts, although we miss sticking the accessories into a real spud. I suppose this new version will save many a little one from choking on the smaller parts that came with the original set. As you can see it is fun to create your own anthropomorphic character.


To view the complete anthropomorphic food and kitchen gallery click here.

The Flavor of Words: My name is Roger

If you have an incredibly rare condition called lexical-gustatory synaesthesia, you can actually taste words. These people involuntarily “taste” words when they hear them, or even try to recall them, said Julia Simner, a cognitive neuropsychologist and synaesthesia expert at the University of Edinburgh. Her study, “Words on the Tip of the Tongue,” was published in “Nature” last month, She has found only 10 such people in Europe and the United States. Magnetic-resonance imaging indicates that they are not faking. It can be surprisingly unpleasant. One subject hates driving, because the road signs flood his mouth with everything from pistachio ice cream to ear wax. And Simner has yet to figure out any logical pattern. For example, the word “mince” makes one subject taste mincemeat, but so do rhymes like” prince.” Words with a soft “g,” as in “roger” or “edge,” make him taste sausage. But another subject, hearing “castanets,” tastes tuna fish. Another can taste only proper names: John is his cornbread, William his potatoes. They cannot explain the links. The flavors are just there.
Article from the St. Petersburg Times, Sunday, December 3, 2006, “A Little Perspective”.

My immediate response
As a reader of many recipes I strive to bridge the gap between the words and the taste they describe. As my culinary skill grows my ability to sift out mediocre recipes improves. Upon reading the article“ Eating their words” I thought wow! this is cool, to pre-taste the meal by reading the recipe, a perfect meal every time. Then reconsidering, I thought no, beyond the visual, the pleasure of a well prepared meal is the gustatory surprise and the saver of each bite. Imagine enjoying a suptuous desert of Chocolate Bavarian Cream Pie while hearing a waiter introducing himself to a table of new dinners, “Good evening my name is Roger I will be your waiter tonight”.

A Wreath of Mussel Shells

Mussels are silent creatures, so it is up to us to speak for them. When speaking for mussels we should be as poetic as possible, after all mussels are in essence visual poetry inside and out. If I were to attempt verse for mussels it would begin by addressing their sleek black form, the feel and the music of the shell as I turn them in a colander. Moving on I would speak lovingly to them aquatinting them with the marriage arrangements that I have made for them, especially the wine they shall soon bath in. Many lines of joy pertaining to the grand feast, the ephemeral dance of taste. Then, the ending would begin something like this; Close to the shore in the dark twisting water your life began, I am your new shell, you live now with me and my voice is now yours. Together we shall make a wreath from the shell of so many days. A wreath to admire, a reminder of the the sweet life that is ours. Ok, so I may not be a poet but I hope you get the idea, this a project of love.

What you will need:

drill and 1/8 bit

6 inch length of wire, stove pipe or braided picture frame wire

ply wood wreath support (most craft stores stock them)

black spray paint

hot glue gun, or glue of choice (clear silicone may work)

cleaned shells

clear spray paint

The photo above doesn't include the black spray paint and hanging wire.

How to clean the shells:
Forget about the bucket with the bleach water, this does little to remove any fragments of mussel flesh sticking to the shell. What I found to be the best method is to spread the shells out in a sunny spot and let them dry out for about a week. When you retrieve them simply brush off the dried up fibre with thumb and finger nail. No smell either.

Assembly:
The ply wood support is your starting point. Often times craft stores sell blank wreath supports, the one in the set up picture is 12 inches, with a 2 inch band to glue shell to, good for using up your smallest shells. If you have an electric jig saw you can cut your support out of luan or similar 1/8 or 3/16 ply wood. The diameter I cut was 21 inches across, the center hole is 13 inches in diameter, leaving a 4 inch band for gluing on the shells.

Now that you have a support board you will need to hang the finished wreath. To do that drill two holes about 1 1/2 inches in from any edge making the holes 1 inch apart , this will be the top of the wreath. Insert the wire from the side to be sprayed painted black so that both ends can be twisted together to form a loop on the back used to hang the wreath. Cut off any excess wire once you are satisfied that it will hang properly on your nail or hook.

Spray the face with back paint so that no raw wood shows, this may take more than one coat, be sure and give paint plenty of time to dry.

Organise and divide you shells into left and rights and by size. Make some trial arrangements and start gluing. You will see how nicely the left and right halves of the shells follow the curve of the wreath form. I applied the glue to the narrow end and tipped the shell up. The next shell is set the same way, allowing the wide end to cover the narrow end of the preceding shell. I expect you will find many more patterns then the one shown here.

Once all shells are glued in place, give them two or three coats of clear spray to bring out the colour, let the paint dry completely between coats. If a shell pops loose when hanging just dab some hot glue on the back and slip in place.

Now that your are admiring your handy work and have mussels on the mind try this variation when making your next pot of steamed mussels.
Mussels Steamed in Wine
Adapted from The Time Life Series,The Good Cook: Shellfish

1 onion coarsely chopped

6 dozen mussels or 3 two pound bags cleaned and de-bearded

2 shallots coarsely chopped

1 bunch parsley finely chopped ( that could be any where from 1 to 2 1/2 cups )

freshly ground pepper ( perhaps a teaspoon )

10 tbs. butter, reserve 3 tbs. cut into chunks for finishing sauce

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

3 tbs. fresh lemon juice

Rinse mussels in sink using a colander, inspecting to be sure all mussels are closed tightly. Run some cool water in open shells and if alive they will close. In a non reactive pot (stainless is good, aluminium is not) load in onions, mussels, shallots, parsley, pepper, butter and wine. Load ingredients in order listed. Cover and cook over high heat, once simmering cook for about 3 to 4 more minutes. Transfer cooked mussels to a serving dish and keep warm. Strain cooking liquid into a sauce pan, use a wire strainer lined with a double layer of dampened cheese cloth. Pour your liquid into strainer slowly and watch carefully, leaving any sand or grit behind. Reduce the liquid to 1/3 of original volume, then off the heat whisk in the remaining butter chunks until thick and foamy. Whisk in lemon juice and pour sauce over mussels. Serve with crusty bread and wine. ....poetry!

Hydroponic Strawberries in December

Only twenty two miles east of down town Bradenton, a lovely drive through the scrubby Florida countryside, you will find the hydroponic farm “Hydro-Taste”. Part show room, part working farm, this out door laboratory has our community talking. We were greeted by columns of colourful impatiens and the enthusiastic owner, Chester Bullock. Chester ushered us directly to the growing area where he graciously explained how the growing system works. We could not believe our eyes, we were surprised by the magnitude of operation lush with vegetation. With the “hydro-stackers”, Chester explains that he grows as many strawberries on one acre that would normally take seven acres to grow conventionally. We soon found ourselves armed with scissors and baskets picking large juicy perfectly red berries. There is no bending over to pick here, the “hydro-stackers” spin allowing access to picking on all sides, much like a post card rack. Our pictures show just a portion of what can be accomplished with “hydro-stackers”, why you can even grow corn with out it falling over. After seeing this affordable system, we believe even if you don’t have a “green thumb” you can have success following a few simple steps. If you want a garden that uses absolutely zero space this is it. Don’t believe us check out the photos on the “hydro-stacker” web site. By next year we will be posting our crop.

Rows of strawberries in December.
These planters survived a hurricane.
"Hydro-stackers" filled with cabbage,
White eggplant is one of Chester's many crops.
Stackers are emptied after the growing season. Ready to be replaced with new crops.
Columns of colorful impatients in hydro-stackers.