Christmas cookie cutters

I saved this article from last year and have been waiting the entire time to post it now. Like many of you, I am an avid baker year-round. But at holiday time, I do tend to up the quota. I balance between going back to favorite recipes and then searching stacks for something new to create. Cookies are at the top of this quest. Last year I think it was some Mexican Anise cookies and an Apricot/ Oatmeal Bar which sounded better than they actually tasted.

But one staple are always the Cut-outs. I have an old family recipe that makes a LARGE quantity. I halve that and it is still enough for us. I was also gifted a smart Wilton recipe that does not require chilling and produces a softer sugar cookie. And also, a standby of gingerbread that makes some really sweet red fox cookies in addition to the gingerbread men. A few years back I was gifted a set of Nija cutters that were also fun for the darker dough.

Just like cufflinks, cookie cutters have been a collectible for me. Something small to bring home after. They are small and easy to store. I have a lobster and crab from a trip to Providence decades ago. A hibiscus flower from Florida. Roller skates from a winter trip to New Jersey years back. A whole collection of leaves and acorns which are great for fall colors in a batch. Many snowflakes and Christmas trees. I have been thinking about a simple batch of various trees this season in different shades of green. How about a holiday sweater cookie cutter for silly decorating. I even have a series of bones and a fire hydrant for doggie treat bakes. I have a plastic sock cabinet in the basement with three drawers to keep them all sorted. And then I have a small cabinet for all the baubles, glitter and sugars on hand for decorating.

The article I am featuring is not about the cookies themselves, but the Cutter. Yes, there are the plastic and silicon "variants." But there is nothing that can take the place of the flimsy thin tin-plated steel cutters. This is a feature highlighting the Clark family from Rutland, Vermont. Ann & John Clark, along with their son Ben estimate they have a market on a very small pool of cookie cutter manufacturers in the US. They make around 65% of everything that is made and sold here. 

The article talks about how they pivot to spot trends and what new original shapes they can add to the classics that come back year to year. I am hoping you are able to see the short video loop at the top of the story that shows the mechanical process of bending that thin steel ribbon easily and perfectly into a little tree. The Clarks can make 600-1000 "prints" an hour which makes it economical. They also speak to the advances in 3-D printing which will likely put a permanent crimp into their market. It also refers to the National Cookie Cutter Museum in Joplin MO. And explains the art of a design; they need to have minimal edges with no places of narrowness where the cutter can easily bend or burn the dough while baking. For me it was a moment of wonder where 'I never thought about where these came from." Buy a new and unusual shape this season and mix up a batch of bright colored frosting for a day of diversion in your kitchen!

NYT Times cookie cutter feature 12/23

Ann Clark cookie cutter website.

American Horror Story Villains

We have been streaming some Halloween/ scary films and series over the last few weeks. One regular for me is the collection of American Horror Stories - which are the short single episodes in addition to the longer series. Ryan Murphy really has the genre pegged in terms of twisting up the storylines. But what I continue to find amazing, is how he constantly resets the specifics of it over and over. Each series has a different look and cinematography. The writing styles adapt to the concept whether it is Slasher, Gothic, Vampire - whatever.

I was just reflecting on what it means to be a Villain in one of the Seasons. And the way they are written. There is almost always more than a single killer with plot twists and layered characters. These are some that really still frighten me:

Freak Show (Season 4) was just bizarre from the get-go, set in a traveling carnival in 1952. It was a splash of color and blood at every turn. Jessica Lange is the eerie owner Elsa Mars, but we have bearded ladies, demented ringleaders, of course mad clowns. But for me it was the introduction of Finn Wintrock as Dandy Mott, a dangerously disturbed rich boy who took cruelty to a new extreme.

Hotel (Season 5) was set in a fictional setting of the Hotel Cortez in LA which took inspiration from a real place, the Cecil Hotel which was constructed by an architect as a maze where murders and crime took place before discovering them all. The series was of course opulent and involved time travel which featured real serial killers from history. At the center was Lady Gaga as the Countess with her carnal vampire instincts. Hordes of beautiful men and lusty sex. But for me it was Sarah Paulson's portrayal of Sally McKenna, also called hypodermic Sally as an addict of drugs, sex and men who was brutal and surprising by the saga's end.

1984 (Season 9) opened a whole door of vintage slasher horror with young teens being crucified en masse at a summer camp called Camp Redwood. Of course, Jingles the clown is back in all his cringing gore. It is hard to keep up with all the multiple killers and body count amidst the 80's soundtrack. But for me it was Leslie Grossman getting her full star turn as the insane owner Margaret Booth who owned the camp seeking revenge from her own childhood trauma. 

Roanoke (Season 6) sprawled over centuries and lacked focus to hold my attention. But going back to witchcraft trials in early Colonial Days gave it a unique Appalachian backdrop for something new. Kathy Bates has been a fixture on this series and played many outstanding roles. But I think her Agnes Mary Winstead was absolutely her most memorable. Seeing her wield both a rifle and hatchet in peasant outfits was a sublime meeting of Sweeney Todd and Hocus Pocus.

Cult (Season 7) to me was the most devastating of all the iterations. It was set in real time after the 2016 election and bought into the massive political fears that continue to this day. It was rooted in fear and violence which to me were so much more real than gore. And it showed the mental issue of wanting to conform and fit in with such a complexity. Evan Peters has been in almost every season, but here he was just diabolical. As he took on a handful of serial killers over the years and then melded them all into his own role of Kai Anderson and infected the soul of our entire culture. His blank stare was soulless. Absolutely haunting.

If you have favorites of you own, please let me know. There are so many great actors in compelling roles it is impossible to sort through them all.

Beaches are Open

Because I grew up on Lake Erie, summers were all about endless shores, sand in your toes and the pulse of steady waves. Beach #10 was our favorite out on the very end of the channel. Teen years would mean bike rides out from the water taxi over to Waterworks. Always music; someone in the gang had a major boom box and plenty of size D batteries tuned to WJET. Sunshine and long days!

Even later in MN, there were hours spent at Calhoun on an aluminum mat getting as tan as possible, lemon juice in the hair for highlights. It seemed like we were the cast of Friends who never worked, but spent days a week just meeting up and drinking pop or eating watermelon. I still live for summer days on the water. But now it is kayaking, Bandshell concerts or just watching a sunset on Lake of the Isles. It is a fixture I cannot imagine not having. It IS summer.

The heroes were always the lifeguards! I remember having crushes on the pool guards at summer camp long before I knew what a crush even was. I can swim to save my life, but a water athlete - I am not. To me, they were always the Summer gods with bronze skin, red trunks, a whistle around their neck and cool shades.

I have been saving this New Yorker article for over 5 years now waiting to post a story around it. The article features the photography of Joseph Szabo and the Milieu of his inspiration was the 6 mile stretch on Long Island known as Jones Beach. He started documenting the annual tide of summer back in the late 1960s. This would have been the same time capsule of my youth. His photo album has continued into recent years. The focus always on those lifeguards. I have only seen the photos highlighted in the noted article and not the full table book of his 30+ years of black and whites. They are certainly hard-bodied hunks reigning over throngs of crowds in the hot heat of July and August. Plenty of waves. Various degrees of tight red trunks. Some lounging and others active in rescue. I find they trigger me back to the lore of my youth at the beach. Timeless and a bit glossy in black & white.