Monday, December 25, 2017

pop up cards from Rockefeller Center

Apparently pop ups are very popular...



6 comments:

Chip Ahoy said...

If this is bait it totally worked.

Do you notice how many of them are based on the wine bottle case insert idea? Like this.

And of the remainder, how many are based on a box? Set on a diagonal. The two side of the box are attached to the card as a V glued to the base, the other two sides are free. So when the card is opened the arrangement spreads and plunks down into place. In fact, the wine case insert does the same thing. It too is a box.

The baby carriage is a box. The play pen, the sled, the garden, the purple castle are all boxes.

And the rest of the rest are hexagons. The ring of angels around a Christmas tree is very similar to this

The hexagon is also the shape for flowers. Again, two sides are attached to the base with the remaining 4 sides free.

Can you see how all these are made from basic types?

MamaM said...

O'Henry style, not one but two electric pressure cookers popped up at the Mhouse today. It turns out MrM and I each bought one for the other to open. ChipA's post started a search for the 6 qt size which was followed by discussion about how hard they were to find and how useful one might actually be. That night I located an 8 qt. Instant Pot online and ordered it, and he found a Power Cooker Plus ("the last one on the shelf") while at Sam's that he decided to pick up and bring out as a surprise to share. Now we have to decide which to keep and which to return.

Chip Ahoy said...

I just now used mine to cook dry beans without soaking them first. And boy, are they good.

I fried bacon bits first, using its sauté feature. As it finished I added shaved garlic. It was done before time was up so I doused it with water instead of shutting it off.

Then added water, brown sugar, salt, tarragon, diced onion, bay leaves, salt, pepper, white beans.

Pressure cooked for 25 minutes.

It takes five minutes to reach pressure. Then begins counting down.

Fast release. (Turn the release valve) That takes some two or three minutes. It's not so fast.

Then added balsamic vinegar.

They are tremendously good. Better than anything Mum made from a tin. And better than anything I've ever had at pot luck or picnic or any of those things where there's a bunch of food like clam bakes and catfish fries and holiday meals.

My new thing is cooking rice in its own bowl. I don't even rinse it anymore. I like it sticky so it's easier to eat with chopsticks.

In a bowl with its measured water. On a trivet in the pressure pot with its separate water. The pot stays clean and the rice cooks in its bowl.

I cooked a whole chicken in it. And I cooked 2 kielbasas in it.

And the great thing is, I can set it and forget it. I can actually fall asleep and all will be well. I still have the ordinary pressure cooker, and it's still useful, but it must be tended to monitor the pressure. The delay with the instantpot in starting and cooling down is totally worth it. I haven't even begun to experiment.

Maybe you can give one away. And whomever gets it will be very well pleased. You made two wise purchases. That makes you and your husband doubly smart. You're going to love that thing.

Two days ago I walked past a table with a pot of chili. It was not plugged in. And I thought, tsk tsk. I have a pot that could keep that chili at safe temperature.

You can buy a glass lid for it if you like. And all kind of extra things like silicone steam baskets, and egg baskets and such. In Denver, hard boiled eggs do not peel very nicely. The water doesn't get hot enough to break down the membrane beneath the shell so the shell sticks. They peel like cratered moons. But cooked with pressure they fly out of their shells.

So right there, beans, rice, eggs, kielbasa, whole chicken.

And that kielbasa is so amazing I'm going to keep some around always. I'll buy 2, maybe 3 cut them up and cook them with water. They're gone within a few days. The spices flavor the water to exceedingly delicious broth. I drink it like soup. With no extra salt and pepper.

ricpic said...

Chip's the pop-up king! No ones work can compare to Chip's in the pop-up game!!

The Dude said...

O'Henry was popular around here too - I made a folk art portrait of some friends of mine, they showed up to exchange gifts - and what do you know - they made a dancing folk art figure of me - we laughed and laughed - a good time was had by all. Funniest thing of all - we had not coordinated those presents - we all came to the same idea independently. Great minds and all...

MamaM said...

Great minds and all...

I like when the planned and the unexpected come together to deliver a double treat along with a sense of goodness and laughter as part of the gift.

For me, those kinds of experiences reflect are the essence of Christmas. On two rails running side by side, the Christmas train arrives at the station to deliver something more or delightfully different than anticipated.

The pressure cooker delivered the goods! After reading him Chip A's comment above, MrM got it out of the box and decided to start trying it out, and I came home tonight to a warm house and the smell of soup cooking. Call it the Blogger Effect or the Power of Steam, or the Joy of What Pops Up when a delivery to a door in Denver causes chicken soup to steam in MI! Today's end result only took 45 minutes and the flavor and texture was wonderful. Plus it stayed hot in the pot afterwards and didn't need to be reheated when we went back for a second bowl. A second soup is already being planned for tomorrow.