Merry Christmas!

Cane D. Stripe

Trudy Tree-t

Curl E. Que

Sweet Starlet

Peppy Peppermint

Hallmark "Goodie Greetings" ornaments, 1986

Happy Valentine's Day!

Now if you want to see some really great Valentines, then head over to Curly Wurly for some Valentines any sweetheart would be lucky to receive!

Happy National Watermelon Day!

Yes indeed, it's National Watermelon Day! There's still time to celebrate with the National Watermelon Promotion Board's cool mascot J. Slice:

It's worth a visit to the Board's Games and Activities page to see the fantastic coloring books available for download:

J. Slice Saves Princess Cupcake from the Downhill Sugar Slide I wish those guests came to my birthday party!

J. Slice Rescues his Friends from the Clutches of Layzee I love their TV-mesmerised eyes!

J. Slice Saves the Planet from Professor Junk Food I'm offended by the stereotypical presentation of scientists as evil in this one. I, for one, have  never tried to take over the word or even held fruits and vegetables captive over a vat of boiling chocolate (well, maybe fruits, but not vegetables).

You can also download instructions for how to grow your own watermelon. However, they are quick to point out that you'll probably only get a vine, not an actual watermelon, and if you somehow do manage to get a watermelon, it probably won't taste as good as one you would buy in a store!

So enjoy National Watermelon Day with your store bought watermelon!

Happy Birthday, Curly Wurly!

Please join me in wishing a very special Happy Birthday to Maria of Curly Wurly!

Head on over to Maria's blogs, Flickr, Twitter, or Tumblr and say hello!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Merry Christmas from Food with Eyes!

Image from a Hallmark card

Merry Christmas!

Pick a Pak of Pickle Pilgrims

If the menu for your Thanksgiving feast isn't finalized yet, you might want to consider adding some pickles. That's "Picklicious!" according to Mt. Olive Pickle's spokespickle Ollie Q. Cumber:

Ollie is taking his new role as spokespickle quite seriously, and he even has his own on-line space with a variety of activities including coloring pages and postcards.

Can't get enough of Ollie? You can get your very own Ollie t-shirt by sending in some proofs of purchase (and shipping and handling). Or better yet, submit a recipe to the Picklicious Showcase. If it's chosen as a Showcase Recipe, you'll win your very own Ollie t-shirt! So be sure to send in your recipes for pickle stuffing, sweet potato and pickle casserole, and pumpkin and pickle pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bean My Valentine

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day when people's thoughts naturally turn to romance. And beans. After all, what could be more romantic than beans? Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart!

In previous posts, I’ve lamented the fact that premiums – items you could get by sending in labels, box tops, UPC codes, etc. – seem to be much less common now than in the past. So I was especially surprised and delighted to receive a special Valentine’s Day treat from my sister Maria of Curly-Wurly: a plush anthropomorphic Chick Pea (aka Garbanzo Bean):

Chi Chi Chick Pea, as her tag says, is a mail-away premium from Hanover, a Pennsylvania-based food company. One merely has to send in the UPC codes from eight 15.5 ounce (or larger) cans of beans. Or for just 16 UPCs you can also get Chick's friend, Kid Bean:

I have to admit I noticed this offer in the grocery store, and I almost bought eight cans of beans, but I just couldn't do it. I'm just not a big fan of garbanzo beans and that's almost eight pounds of beans. But my sister, who claims to actually like chick peas, valiantly consumed the required amount and sent in the UPCs for me. Now if that's not sisterly love, then I don't know what is!

Continuing with the romantic bean theme, here is a T-shirt from Del Monte featuring a can of green beans down on bended knee as if to propose and exclaiming "Where You Bean All My Life!":

While technically he just has arms and legs, but no eyes, I think he still counts as anthropomorphic food. This is a children's T-shirt I've had since the 70s. I remember that my grandfather, who owned a small grocery store, got it and another one with a "Human Bean" image from Del Monte. I clearly wore this a lot, as the many stains can attest...

For those of you not enjoying the Valentine’s Day bean theme and prefer something more traditional, here are some adorable scratch-n-sniff cards (also a gift from my sister) featuring cute chocolates and chocolate-covered strawberries and cherries with eyes:

The cards themselves:

These cards do have a wonderfully potent chocolate-strawberry smell!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Merry Christmas from Food With Eyes!

When I think of my favorite things, food with eyes and diners immediately come to mind (followed closely by schnitzel with noodles). So what could be better than a diner with anthropomorphic food? How about a Christmas diner with anthropomorphic food? That's just what M&M's was thinking when they released their Official M&M's Brand Christmas Village Diner in 1996.

Here are the M&M's listening to the jukebox and ordering their burgers and fries:

Spinning some platters and playing music:

Sipping an ice cream soda:

Looking cool and hula hooping:

Open 24 hours!

It's all very official:

Apparently, M&M's released a whole series of tins from 1995-2005. You can find them here. Photo booth and recording studio? They were really grasping at straws toward the end. At least they didn't get to nursing home and funeral parlor!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Easter!

National Peanut Month

March is National Peanut Month. I’d planned this post for March 1st, but somehow two weeks have disappeared, and now it’s the 15th. But that still leaves two more weeks to enjoy peanuts this month. In fact, National Peanut Month actually began as National Peanut Week in 1941 and expanded to a month-long celebration in 1974 (13 years before March also became Women’s History Month, incidentally).

You might think that Mr. Peanut would be the spokesnut for National Peanut Month, but in fact that job goes to Buddy McNutty:

Buddy no doubt appeals to kids more than stodgy old Mr. Peanut. Instead of a top hat and spats, this peanut is decked out in an informal baseball cap and sneakers. Buddy McNutty is also the star of a comic book detailing his many adventures. It turns out that a variety of Buddy McNutty merchandise is available from The National Peanut Board's Peanut Store, including this poster:This poster shows a dark time in the history of peanut production when many were forced to work under hazardous conditions for low wages in the peanut mines.

The National Peanut Board is just one peanut group of many including the Georgia Peanut Commission. This Georgian peanut definitely has a hillbilly look about him. I doubt he and Mr Peanut socialize much.

And here we have peanut oil marching along with a package of peanuts:

The Virginia Carolina Peanut Association even provides some clip art shown below:

Baseball Peanut

Sweet Valentine's Day Peanut

So for the next two weeks, remember to eat your peanuts and think of Buddy McNutty.

Mr. Peanut for President

Today is Presidents' Day here in the U.S.A., a day when we think back on the great leaders that shaped our country's history. One name inevitably comes to mind on this day: Mr. Peanut. While he was never actually president (the closest we've come was peanut farmer Jimmy Carter, although we do have a different sort of nut in the White House now), Mr. Peanut holds an important place in U.S. history as the following coloring book demonstrates.

Presidents of the United States to Color - A History from Washington to Johnson was a 1965 premium from Planters Peanuts, then part of Standard Brands.



Click on each picture for a full size image to print out and color. Be sure to have your "peanut tan" crayon handy. A word of caution: the following images may be disturbing to those with a phobia of life-sized, top hat-wearing peanuts.

Let's skip to the third president, Thomas Jefferson, because nothing involving Mr. Peanut happened during the terms of Washington and John Adams. Here Mr. Peanut comes on the scene in a big way, obliterating much of the original 13 colonies, which hold little interest after the Louisiana Purchase:

Also during Jefferson's presidency, Robert Fulton built the first steamboat. This feat isn't nearly as interesting as the eleven-foot-tall peanut at the helm:

Our fifth president, James Monroe, purchased Florida from Spain. He hoped it could contain the huge peanut creature which had now grown to the size of Rhode Island. Here Mr. Peanut dangles his feet in the Gulf of Mexico:

The presidency of John Quincy Adams saw the opening of the Erie Canal. Here's Mr. Peanut standing near Lock 9 in Rotterdam:

Very little of interest happened for 20 years, then Zachary Taylor became the 12th president. While you may remember him as "Old Rough and Ready," his greatest achievent was being born in Virgina, whose warm, sandy soil is excellent for growing peanuts:

Also during the term of Zachary Taylor, gold was discovered in California. The "Gold Rush" sent thousands of men and peanut men to seek their fortunes:

Nothing of importance happened for another 20 years, but then, in 1869 Mr. Peanut single-handedly built the Union Pacific Railroad:

Next, in a complete non sequitur, farmers dig up the peanut vines for shells to harden and nuts to firm:

A bunch more presidents did some stuff, culminating in the 1906 introduction of Planters Peanuts:

Suddenly going back in time, Mr. Peanut was on hand for the 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk. Although the Wright Brothers made the first "man-carrying airplane flight," Mr. Peanut was an accomplished aviator by this point:

Then a few world wars happened, a depression, some things were shot into space, and president #35 was assassinated, all of which pale in comparison to our last page - nutritious peanut products and the places Mr. Peanut grows best (everything really is bigger in Texas):

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was hoping to get some cool vintage valentines on eBay like the ones Curly-Wurly posted last year, but I was too cheap. Instead we'll have to settle for two valentines I actually received plus two I made back in 1983.

From about 1980:

From 1987:

The Kool Aid Man Sings the Cole Porter Song Book

Two homemade valentines with the obligatory bad fruit and vegetable puns:

My heart 'beets' for you

We'd make a great 'pear'

Merry Christmas!

From a Lifesighs card by Chris Shea.