Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Retro Recipe: Party Sandwich Loaf

Wow your yuletide guests this year with a wonderful "Party Sandwich Loaf"!

Party Sandwich Loaf

Prepare fillings (below). Trim crusts from 1 loaf unsliced sandwich bread. Cut loaf horizontally into 4 equal slices. Spread one side of 3 slices with softened butter. Place 1 bread slice, buttered side up, on serving plate. Spread evenly with Shrimp Salad Filling. Top with second bread slice and spread evenly with Cheese-Pecan Filling. Top with third slice and spread evenly with Chicken-Bacon Filling. Top with remaining bread slice. Frost top and sides with Cream Cheese Frosting (below). Chill until frosting has set, about 30 minutes. Wrap loaf with a damp cloth and continue to chill 2-1/2 hours, or overnight. 12 to 14 servings.

Shrimp Salad Filling
• 1 hard-cooked egg, finely chopped
• 1 can (4-1/2 oz.) broken shrimp, rinsed and drained
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped celery
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• Dash pepper
• 3 tbsp. mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients.

Cheese-Pecan Filling
• 1 pkg. (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
• 1 can (8-3/4 oz.) crushed pineapple, well drained

Mix all ingredients.

Chicken-Bacon Filling
• 8 slices bacon, crisply fried and crumbled
• 1 cup finely chopped cooked chicken
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. finely chopped pimiento
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper

Mix all ingredients.

Cream Cheese Frosting
• 2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup light cream
• Green food coloring

Mix cheese and cream thoroughly. Add a few drops food coloring to tint frosting a delicate green.

image and recipe source: flickr.com

A Very Special Gift

For the 40th anniversary of Expo 67, Montreal-based artist, designer (and good friend of mine) DC Hillier decided to commemorate the world's fair by crafting a unique light sculpture. Called "The Anniversary Light" / "Lumière d'anniversaire", DC used recovered materials from an actual Expo 67 sculpture for one of his own works.

In 1967, a piece by renowned Quebec artist Jean Cartier called "La Giboulée" / "Sudden Shower" was on display in the Cité du Havre sector of Expo. Essentially a fountain, large glass disks graced the top of its spires.

Unfortunately, the original Cartier sculpture has since been left abandoned.

In 2007, DC Hillier was asked by one of the city's municipal committees to do an evaluation of the sculpture's condition. He was given permission to recuperate broken pieces of the once beautiful disks. Cleaned and polished, these thick glass pieces would become the main components of his anniversary sculpture, together with pre-ban Brazilian rosewood (dating from the same era) used for the base.

Together with the prototype, there are only 2 anniversary sculptures in existence. DC gave me one of them as a Christmas gift this year...

It is a gift I will cherish forever, one of the highlights of my Expo collection!

images: (1-3) DC Hillier
(4) Bill Dutfield

Expo 67 Mannequins

My latest Expo 67 acquisition, properly displayed in the real Expo Lounge...

images: author's own

Sesame Street's Funky Chimes

This is possibly my favorite song, ever.

Created sometime in the early 70's, this musical interlude was featured at the end of Sesame Street episodes. Nicknamed "Funky Chimes", the tune was placed between the show's final credits and the PBS identification.

When Funky Chimes was retired in the early 1990's, I thought I'd never hear my beloved wah-wah electric guitar and tubular bells ever again. With the advent of the Internet (where you can truly find anything), I've stumbled upon a high quality extended version, created by Youtube user roboshuffle...

Needless to say, I love it!

I've extracted the audio and converted it to mp3 format, so I can enjoy Funky Chimes on my iPod whenever I want...

Vintage Ad: 7-Up in Milk

I can't believe this 1950's ad encouraged mothers to add soda to kids' milk.

And I quote: "Mothers know that this is a wholesome combination"... Yikes!

image source unknown