TheSnackHound

(Above: Homer Laughlin Company Blue Fish, Boardwalk and Aquamate. All pieces are made in the USA.)

When I go out to dinner or I am traveling, I often admire the substantial dining plates and glasses on my table. I am seldom surprised to see the “Homer Laughlin” name stamped on the bottom. (Yes, you have to be creative and have a good sense of balance to raise your clams linguini up and level to check it out, or look like a fool peering in reverse from under the glass patio table.) It is not hard to find classic non-Fiesta ware HLC designs from the 50s and such in the form of odd and orphaned plates and estate and yard sales, but the local Bed Bath and Beyond doesn’t stock pieces produced for institutions.

When you want an honest, solid, plain ivory set with rolled edges (Exhibit A at left) or even that cute design you saw in Miami, the best place to look is a Hotel Amenities Supplier. They not only carry linens and fixtures for hotels, but for restaurants as well. I found a few patterns on the PeachSuite Hotel Supply, shown above, as well as an honest ivory set free of decals or decoration. I have not seen the ivory set in person to tell you if it is similar to Fiesta Ivory, bit am guessing its more of a true off-white.

HLC develops various patterns for the industry and they are not sold at any traditional retailer. The public is definitely not barred from purchasing items from Hotel Supplies websites, for the most part.

There are two caveats:

1) Not all of the items on the website, china excepted, are available for private purcase. Items, such as kitchen work ranges, and other items not graded for home use are not sold to customers procuring them for home use.

2) You must buy in quantity, but its not bad. The minimum purchase on some places is 12 pieces. If you are buying with the intent of replacing a set, 12 would be a fair sized dining set for a home.

As far as Fiesta Ware, colors are limited. You might prefer purchasing by the piece at a department store or online. If “your” color is among the limited color choices available, compare the prices. If you want 12, it just might be a good deal.

Remember when the sitting President of the United States (a.k.a. POTUS which looks okay in print but is weird to say) would be on every channel you flipped to when he had something important to say, or was relaying The State of the Union?

Somewhere around 1983, I realized that you could flip to MTV and still watch someone shaking their rear or jumping up and down when mom and dad left the room. That’s not quite accurate. Not to many folks were shaking their rear at that time. They were mostly standing around with spaghetti strainers on their head and moving from the shoulders up only. Sadly, today you can flip on the telly box and not even realize the President is on, since station programming is so splintered.

Commonfolk can relive, I have found, the feeling on being on three different networks at once if one only had a Chocolate shop. Here’s what you do: You somehow get the Food Network to come do a segment of unwrapped featuring your chocolate covered ants, scorpion lolipops or chocolate dipped tipsy cakes. Once that’s in the can, you can flip on the Discovery Channel at a later date to see footage from the same visit on “How It’s Made.” Well, you might get more shots of machines cranking than face time for employees, but heck, it’s publicity. After that, you might trickle on to “Modern Marvels,” lumped in with several other establishments. I forgot. There has got to be a travel segment in there when the Travel Channel discusses your town or city. You could be perpetually the same age on television for the next ten years.

My mouth was watered by Modern Marvels this weekend when they reran a segment at See’s Candy. I saw myself in the background when I was there six years ago. No. I really didn’t. The segment featuring their small curios of boxed chocolate was packed amid other candy making establishments that worked on the small scale or operated the old-fashioned way in some way. I made a mental note to visit them all. I grabbed some See’s at a pop up mall store during Christmas time and was enticed by free samples. The milk chocolate varieties are a bit sweet for my tastes, as I think my taste buds have been complete spoiled lately on $7 organic dark chocolate bars, but the dark chocolate was better suited. My grandfather enjoys the bridge mix, with a variety of nuts, caramels and other goodies thrown in for good measure. He likes to try to guess and decipher each one before he takes a bite. Try it. But don’t lose your dental work!

So, the moral of the story? There really isn’t one. Oh, I guess it is that you don’t have to travel to the factory to try See’s, and you most definitely must find an insider to try to appear as “background shopper person” so that you can laugh at what you wore “back then” ten years from now when your segment is repackaged on all the stations the folks that own the Discovery Channel have their mitts on.

Paprika, the latest addition to Homer Laughlin’s Fiesta Ware line is now available in stores. HLC officially released the color Sunday, June 20, 2010. The color replaces Evergreen in the Fiesta line up, which was discontinued in March. Of course, the colors are not remotely similar, but the deletion of Evergreen makes space on store shelves for the new arrival.

So far, I have confirmed that the Homer Laughlin Factory Store, Macy’s, Dillard’s, Mega China carry it.  Kohl’s still carries limited Evergreen pieces on their website, but does not have Paprika available.  In most cases, limited pieces are available at this time, rather than the full range of items.  The Homer Laughlin Factory Store website seems to have the largest array of pieces, which goes without saying. There are certainly to be more retailers stocking up on additional pieces as they become available.

The Folger’s plant in Downtown Kansas City will be closing in 2011. Operations will be relocated to the Smuckers headquarters in Ohio to consolidate operations. While it of course will mean job loss for Kansas City, the locale will also loose an iconic building. The troops are rallying to save the historic structure.  I first heard it from @ShellyKramer on Twitter who is local to the area, and there is hope that it wouldn’t be turned into condos.

I have my own proposal for the structure. Actually there are two.  This would be the most awesome bed and breakfast. You know, it would be “The Best Part of Waking Up.” While most coffee operations would be moved to Ohio, maybe a small amount in small batches would be made here.  It would be like going to one of those winery tours where you learn to brew your own wine.  No secrets would be given out, but they could mix the different coffees to your preferences. There could be bins and they would mix you a bag or can of half caff/half decaf.  Or maybe you want to mix Chocolate Silk and Cinnamon Swirl.  Maybe you like them, but not a lot so you add half regular and have Chocolate.  You take that home, and then you could order one there with whipped cream on the top.  Some of the bedrooms would be industrial decor themed and some would be antiquey and cozy – whatever you chose.

Each room would have a theme.  What about the “Scott Bakula Room?” If he is between tv and movie roles, he and his wife (not the actress pictured) perhaps stay there? Or would he sneak into your room and start brewing the coffee to wake you up and sneak out? (Commercial dates to 1985).

Of course, the upper floors would be the rooms, but they all wouldn’t be next to eachother.  There may be rooms with glass cases and historic memorabilia in between. You wouldn’t want your romantic weekend spoiled by the people in the next room, would you?  Or maybe a room would be really big so the whole scout troop would sleep over.   Then, there would be the “business end” down below and a trendy coffee shop for people on the street who are not staying there.  Of course you could order pastries made with Smucker’s Jelly in the middle of them and coffee.   I haven’t decided if I would go with ubertrendy or would hang my hat on the industrial theme again.

Of course, they should leave some of the factory “as-is” for the museum element of it or truck in historical collectible memorabilia about Folger’s and Kansas City history and people would tour it.  You just never know – It could be a really happening Bed and Breakfast/Coffee Shop/Museum and maybe even a funky place to have your wedding reception.  Of course, there would be free coffee with the room rental but it would be BYOB or BYOF – Bring your own Beef or Bring Your Own Fish. Smuckers, the parent company is just not big on main courses.

See…lives are changed with Folger’s.

Follow me on Twitter @TheSnackHound “just because” and for updated news (Oh, and I need a few more followers before Twitter will let me follow more of you!), and follow @SaveFolgersKC too.  I don’t drink coffee…but I brew it for the smell! (Oh, and I love historical buildings).

I was very excited to open up my mail, or should I say, read my blog comments waiting for approval. None other than the REAL Fudgie the Whale came by and commented on my post about Carvel ice cream and the similarities between the Twitter “opps” whale and Fudgie the Whale Cake.  They are like negative reverse images of eachother.  You can read more here.  Yes, THE Fudgie the Whale. I know you are all infinitely jealous of me now.  He writes:

Thanks for the mention! Yes, I too, think the Twitter folks may have had me in mind when they built their fail whale. What can I say? I’m flattered! And, yes, Fudgie is still alive & well…helping to spread the word of Carvel’s delicious ice cream to all who will listen. You can follow me on Twitter at @FudgieWhale.

Stay cool!

Fudgie the Whale

Did you READ that? Fudgie told me to Stay Cool. I don’t know if I can wash my right eyeball again (I was looking at the note with my right eyeball. Yes, I can use my eyes separately and the left eye didn’t have any inkling of it. It was zoned out.

See, Uncle Ben and Frito Bandito and Mrs. Buttersworth, the guantlet has been thrown down. I have mentioned you many times and :sniff: you have never written me back.  But then again, Uncle Ben is so retro he doesn’t have a twitter account, and Mrs. Buttersworth…well, being a Glass-American, her molded arms make it impossible for her to get out and about like she used to.  I suppose culinary icons who are a bit more regionally based have more time to tend to their fans than when someone gets as internationally reknowned as Mrs. B.  Of course, with the way the internet is, folks way beyond New England are probably craving a whale cake in the mail.

At any rate, I am going to try to come down from my celebrity encounter, maybe throw some water on my face and smack myself around. I need to get back to making lunch.

I am related to one of the world’s authorities on Saltine Crackers. Did you know that only authentic Saltine crackers have 13 holes? Sunshine brand and generic versions do not have this special feature. Grandpa has made it one of his life’s missions to educate the world, much like appraisers that alert folks to fakes on The Antiques Roadshow. Does it matter to your stomach if the cracker is an authentic Saltine or not? I doubt it, unless we are talking about the low sodium variety, and then your liver and kidneys will thank you and so will your heart.

The alert was send around from our friends at UnBeige that there is indeed a Saltine cracker made out of pewter.  Yes, you too can commemorate your favorite cracker with a lovingly crafted collectible by artist Herbert Hoover.  No, this is a different Herbert Hoover, not the President that you are used to.  Mr. Hoover (I assume Herbert is a Mister and not a Mrs or Miss but you never know with the creative child naming that goes on these days) also lovingly crafts other snack foods, such as Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches, and Cheese Crackers. (Check out the line up HERE to prove I am not making this up). They sure would be a show stopper, or at least a denture stopper at your next bridge party.  The ice cream is quite convincing.  The cookie portion is merely pewter with a black patina.  I wonder how it would hold up “in person” ( or more properly “in ice cream bar”) to the real thing.

The individual crackers will set you back $15.00 a piece and the ice cream sandwiches are being sold in traditional pewter and colorful patina for $50.00 a pop.  Grandma would probably want to give me a pop if I got these for Grandpa.  I may not be able to buy any if Chuck Norris finds out. He’ll probably buy them as snack food. I can imagine him whipping them out of his pocket and being the talk of McDonald’s.  Free senior coffee and he sometimes gets extra perks for wearing his veteran’s hat.