Happy Haul-idays! from Curly Wurly and Chronicle Books!

Chronicle Books, one of my favorite publishers of pop culture books (as well as beautiful children's books, cookbooks, and stationery products), announced recently that they would be doing a Happy Haul-idays contest. Here's the scoop right from the horse's mouth: 'Post a list of Chronicle Books valued at up to $500 that you'd like to haul in, and you'll be automatically entered into a drawing to WIN your list of books! And, one of your readers who comments on the post will win the list too!' May as well, am I right? (I am.) So, following is my Haul-idays entry (which will, if I've done the coding correctly, appear after the jump). If you would like to win this list, too, comment away (all comments will be approved, guaranteed)! [Note: Your winning is contingent upon my winning, just in case that's not clear.]

If you're a blogger, come join the fun. Post your Haul-idays list on your blog, and enter your post on the Haul-idays website. The deadline to enter is December 10th. (As a side-note, Chronicle has a weekend sale: 35% off + Free Shipping with code: FRIENDS)

Read on for my list plus two extra recommendations from their catalogue.

Finally, have a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers (and a great Thursday to my non-American readers)!

Fascinatin' Rhythm of Cranberries

The bogs are alive with the sound of berries! Cranberries, to be exact. I'll bet you thought the cranberry was a Broadway flop with only one good song: 'All That Juice.' Not so! The cranberry is the holiday showstopper that steals the spotlight from dry turkeys and lumpy gravy. But when you think of these little starlets, are you reminded of the bright lights of Broadway? Probably not. You probably picture humble New England wetlands teeming with these tart hopefuls. You'll be surprised to learn that the cranberry has more Broadway connections that the caricature wall at Sardi's! Eatmor Cranberries (distributed by the American Cranberry Exchange) was headquartered at 90 West Broadway, New York City in the 1930s. In honor of the season, kick off the holiday chorus line with this tart little number: Fascinating Cranberries and How to Serve Them (copyright 1937, American Cranberry Exchange). I know they're ruby red and all, but don't get any of them confused with Ruby Keeler! [Click pictures for large images and full-page views]

Curtain call!


Perhaps Xanadu would have done better if it had a side of Xana-Stewed Cranberry Sauce


Thoroughly Modern Roly-Poly and Victor/Victoria's Criss-Cross Cranberry Pie


Did you have Tapioca for pudding? If so, let's do the Cranberry Tap-tap-tap Tapioca!


Kiss Me Up-Side-Down Cake and, when it's Too Darn Hot, cool off with a Cranberry Juice Cocktail


Meringue is difficult to make, but if you have the Mighty Midas Touch, see if your Bells Are Meringuing. And, from Show Boat (next picture), here's the gelatinous show-stopper, Old Man Quiver.


Oh, What A Beautiful Puddin'! and presenting.. Show Boat (or Peach Boat)!


Someday he'll come along, The Ham I Love. The other dish just reminds me of The Surrey With The Fringe On Top (I'll bet Po' Jud Fry would be looking much better to Laurey if Curly would show up in one of these). Do you see those snow-white salt and pepper shakers overlooking the Surrey? Well, they're not snow-white.. one's like snow, the other's more like milk.


If you're a regular Man of La Muncha, here's a full cranberry meal. If that don't make you Put On A Happy Face, I don't know what will!


Newer Broadway hits include Monty Python's Cranberry Spamelet and The Lion King (known for its song, Circle Of Ice-Box Cake)


Now Broadway is home to some less musical fare, including STOMP. Although if you STOMP too much, you might have to join the Red Man Group.

Happy Thanksgiving from Curly Wurly!

Crafts For Poor People

Fans of the googly eye and breakaway glass take note: best-selling author and wacky craftress, Amy Sedaris, has a new book, Simple Times: Crafts For Poor People, available in stores today. If it's half as good as I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence, it will easily be the best book you buy this year! Lessons include: 'reckless crafting causes eight times the number of accidents caused by faulty glue guns and snakes combined'!

[Amy was also profiled by Vanity Fair. Not surprisingly, we learn that she likes bunnies and googly eyes, and she has a mouse pin with 'shakable eyes'!]

Some Enchanted Evening

In the Wonder Years episode where Kevin asks Winnie if she likes him or if she like likes him, she offsets the awkward moment by offering up a corny knock knock joke: 'Knock knock' 'Who's there?' 'Sam and Janet' 'Sam and Janet who?' (sung to the tune of 'Some Enchanted Evening' from South Pacific) 'Sam and Janet evening..' It was corny.. just like this Halloween party idea from a 1959 book called Party Perfect by Gay Head and the editors of Co-Ed Magazine. Illustrations are by Hertha Depper.

There's enough time for you to cobble together.. One Enchanted Evening. Just don't invite any real (or former real) witches! (all following text written by Gay Head)

"What is there about October that turns the moon into a big orange pumpkin and changes every shadow into a creeping black cat? There's Halloween magic in the air! Just the time for you to plan 'one enchanted evening.'

INVITATIONS

Try this bit of verse written in white ink on black paper cats or witches' hats.

Sunday night's the night that you
Shall be enchanted on witches' brew;
Come all 'cats' and share our treat--
Food and games that can't be beat!
If you can come, reply: Enchanted!
If you can't come, reply: Disenchanted!

DECORATIONS

Turn yourself loose in a variety store full of Halloween fixings. Decorate your party room with black cat figures, skeletons, pumpkin heads, and autumn leaves. Make moonlight magic by hanging an orange crepe-paper moon in front of a light. Dangle witches from the ceiling. Make a cauldron of a big black kettle, filled with witches' brew (apple juice or cider). For your table centerpiece, use a jack-o'-lantern which can be bought at the dime store. Fashion the hair out of strips of crepe paper and pull each strip just a little to give it a curly effect. Set a small wooden dish of nuts on the 'head.' Stick a corncob pipe in the mouth and put glasses on the 'nose.' Place your centerpiece on autumn leaves or on paper cut-outs the shape of leaves."



GAMES

"APPLE-SNAPPING is a switch on the old ducking-for-apples game and it's much dryer! Suspend a strong cord from the ceiling. Tie the end to the middle of a yardstick. On one end of the stick hang an apple on a string; on the other hang a thin cloth bag of flour. Twirl the stick. Together the boys, hands behind them, try to bite the apple. Those you do will 'make money' in the future. Those whose faces get snapped with flour will have fun. For the girls, the apple means 'a husband,' the flour means none.
MURDER. Before the party, make a pile of as many playing cards as you have guests, and be sure that the ace of spades and the jack of hearts are among them. Ask each guest to draw a card without letting anyone else see it. Tell them that the person who draws the ace of spades will be the 'murderer' and that the one who draws the jack of hearts will be the 'detective.' After everyone has drawn a card, explain that you will turn out the lights, and that after a moment the murderer will choose a victim and 'kill' him by pretending to choke him. Then the murderer will move away from the scene of the crime, and the victim will scream before dropping down 'dead.' The detective will rush to turn on the lights and try to discover the murderer by asking questions of everybody. All except the murderer must answer truthfully, and the questions continue until the detective spots the man."

MENU - Baked Ham, Jamboree Baked Beans, Assorted Relishes, Corn Muffins, Pumpkin Tarts, Apple Juice or Cider

Ladies, let me know how your apple-snapping turns out for you! Happy Halloween from Curly Wurly!!!

Crafts from the Crypt and Beyond!

There's still time! There's still time to scare the bejeezus out of the entire neighborhood, to put the last touches on your costume, and to start laying out the rest of your pre-Christmas holiday decor! Highlights for Children suggests a few ideas on how to add that last ooky touch to your holiday in their JUMBO Holiday Handbook (1963).

Actually, this is the Pumpkin King. The Jointed Pumpkin Man is credited as Tim Burton's major inspiration for both the utilitarian Edward Scissorhands and Jack Skellington.


This headpiece (Rabbit With the Whirlabout Smile -- doesn't that sound like a Decemberists song or the title of some twee indie rock album?) is meant to be an Easter craft, but the possibilities are endless. If you're struggling to come up with some sort of creepy headpiece for Halloween night, you might want to give this concept a whirl! The first picture looks more like some disturbing headgear with a large moustache. The second illustration shows the back of the mask as modeled by Michael Stipe.


Oscar, the Owl looks much like Peppy, the Wise Owl. While this would make a good Halloween decoration, it's also perfectly appropriate decoration for the rest of the season.


Never too early to get started on disturbing Thanksgiving crafts! We live in a country that likes to glitzify everything from jewelry to denim to teeth, so why not bestud your turkey wishbones with rhinestones or the like? It's not hideous, it's ingenious. I would like to submit this craft idea to Amy Sedaris. (These last two crafts are taken from another book, Don't Throw It Away! ('a treasury of unusual craft projects ... turn household throwaways into objects of lasting value') by Vivian Abell, copyright 1973)


To the right is the "Nutty" Centerpiece and a Coffee Mug Recipe Holder. We can tell that these are especially nice because they have attracted a flocked woodland creature figurine. If you look closely, you can see that there is a googly-eyed mouse peeking out of the mug.

- - -

Speaking of googly eyes, yesterday's Martha Stewart Show taught us how to make googly-eyed bangle bracelets, a 'clever accessory for Halloween.' The promo for the googly-eyed bangles also showed googly-eyed bowties (because googly eyes shouldn't just be a girl thing) and, as you can see in the photo above (copyright Martha Stewart Omnimedia), googly-eyed platform shoes for the fashionista. She also decorated gourds with googly eyes in lieu of traditional facial carving! I had no idea Martha was such a proponent of googly eyes, but I approve wholeheartedly! You can watch the clip (from the October 25 episode) online. Thank you, Martha, for your ghoulgly-eyed ideas!

Fortnight Of A Thousand Faces

Feeling lonely? It's easy to make friends! Let Curly Wurly and Highlights Magazine show you how! Whether you want to make friends out of organic materials like walnuts; dehydrated apples; and eggs (or egg shells) or trash including old paper cups; burnt-out lightbulbs; kitchen utensils; and balloons, you can be the center of attention in your home in no time! Get started now, and you can have your house completely covered in staring eyes by Halloween! Click on images for craft directions.

Little Pecan-head Dolls | Paper Cup People


Apple-head Dolls | Light-bulb Creatures


Easter Eggs (make one that looks just like Spring Byington!) | Puppet


Crazy Faces (Karl Malden and Dr. Phil or Harpo and Groucho?) | Papier-mâché Wall Masks (didn't this guy fall off the wall in the Brady Bunch Goes To Hawaii episodes?)


A Mask (a perfect Lady Elaine Fairchild!) | Mr. Egghead With a Crewcut

Mary Alden's Hall Of Oats

Oats. They're one of the most stable and wholesome breakfast and dessert ingredients to have on hand, but, even so, Mary Alden's My 40 Favorite Recipes (Quaker Oats Co., 1959) offers some surprising suggestions to spice up one of the most mundane of the pantry mainstays.

Tradition and ingenuity meet on the front cover. An inviting bowl of be-peached oatmeal holds its own between a post-modern hors d'oeuvre platter and holiday field hockey cookies.


The 'it' meat: Baby meat loaves were the food of the late 1950s!


Don your grass skirt and light up the tiki torches! Your luau isn't complete without island-inspired Tropicana Kabobs made with ham balls!


I wonder how Chicken Timbales compare to the greatest of diner dishes, Chicken Croquettes.


Frosted Meat Loaves: They're Grrrrr-eat! Can you spot the face in the tomato?


A good looking Stuffed Acorn Squash


Mmm, Baked Tuna Ring heaped with buttery lima beans! If you clean your plate, you can have dessert!


... Hmm, apparently no-bake cookies were Mary Alden's specialty.


Twenty-four hour Party Cookies and the Happy (Squirrel) Sundaes. (Those squirrel cookies are extremely cute; much cuter than the children-of-the-damned lollipop cookies)


Delicious Desserts Squared


Paradise Meringues: It sounds like the name of an MTV reality show.


A sight for sore eyes: The best looking dish of the book just might be the most simple, Peach Oatmeal.


They call it "Breakfast in -a- glass ...!". I'm not so intrigued about this being in -a- glass so much as that fact that this is a non-yogurt, all-oatmeal smoothie made using a rotary beater.

Young Moderns

If Curly Wurly was pressed to name its favorite writer, Mary Lee Taylor would be a contender for top prize. I've covered so many Taylor pamphlets here that she actually has her own tag. The most recent acquisition to the CW/Taylor archive is 1957's Cookbook For Young Moderns. What sets this cookbook apart from her earlier publications is her befuddling attempt at appealing to a younger generation. The result is a confused amalgamation of the old (stark wartime black and white photos of unappetizing mystery dishes) and the new (sumptuous colors and playful illustrations).

(Note: I'm trying out a different photo upload site. Let me know if you encounter problems viewing these images or the larger versions to which I've linked! This is only a test. BEEEEEEEEP!)

The front cover has some whimsical illustrations of kitchenware that looks like it's ready to dance right off the page! Also, have you tried the upside down cake?


PET Milk is, as always, a 'favorite "sparkle and vitality" drink for young moderns.' I can't help thinking this duo has to be more excited about something than the fact that the milk is Instant, though.


The drinks of the day at the Korova Milk Bar.


I'm sure any Frenchman would be offended by the notion of the 'Meaty French Cheese-Bake.' Especially since its main ingredients are the very American gummy white Wonder bread, processed American cheese, and canned luncheon meat!


PET Milk makes a Whipped Topping that is practically parfait in every way


FANCY FRANKS! This is the dance-that-could-have-been from the 'Tapioca' scene in Thoroughly Modern Millie.


There can't be too much of a demand for tutu-wearing potatoes! Not even among Fluffy Mashed Potato fanatics!


The Littlest Meat Loaves