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Flickr Photo: by Penny
Life + Culture
Celebrity Chefs: USPS Forever Stamps
Like most people, I buy stamps a lot less than I used to. Most bills are paid online — and even though I love to write letters and send cards, I don’t do it as much as I used to. Since stamps tend to hang around for a bit, it makes sense to buy Forever Stamps.
For me at least, buying stamps now is like buying costume jewelry. It’s a fun accessory and an inexpensive way to show a bit of personality and individual style.
Looking at the website, I see that there are Farmers Market Stamps. I love these! Maybe I need to start ordering all my stamps online, because my local post office usually never has fun stamps like these. At least when I go to get them.
In case you will soon be buying some stamps, I just learned that next week, there will be a new set of Forever Stamps making their debut on September 26th. More stamps for those of us who love all things food and cooking!
Next Friday, Celebrity Chefs Forever Stamps will be issued! They’ve picked a nice group and I appreciate the diversity as well.
The five chefs honored on these stamps—James Beard, Julia Child, Joyce Chen, Edna Lewis, and Felipe Rojas-Lombardi—revolutionized our understanding of food. Seeing cooking as a source of delight, they invited us to feast on regional and international flavors and were early but ardent champions of trends that many foodies now take for granted. As they shared their know-how, they encouraged us to undertake our own culinary adventures.
Looks like the the United States Postal Service has very good taste!
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Photo Credit: USPS
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Have you been watching the latest Ken Burns production The Roosevelts? I am absolutely enthralled.
It’s a seven-part, 14 hour film that has been on PBS for two hours every night since last Sunday night. Tonight is the last episode, but it’s also available to watch online. Probably for a limited period of time.
If you haven’t been watching, I really recommend it. This film pulls you back into the past in such a big and complete way that I haven’t felt in a very long time. Maybe since Roots.
What’s interesting is that the more I understand and learn about the past, the more I feel like current events are so similar. That cliche the more things change the more they stay the same is so true!
I’m looking forward to the last episode of The Roosevelts tonight. Will you be watching?
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Photo Credit: PBS
Pumpkin Spice: Do You or Don’t You?
If you’re into Twitter, you may have seen Pumpkin Spice Oreo trending about a week ago. My first thought was, “This better not be a joke, because that would just be cruel.”
When I was in CVS a few days ago, I sort of casually looked for them. I didn’t see any, so I asked. I was told that they didn’t have them and wouldn’t be carrying them. *Gulp*
Yesterday in Stop & Shop, I sauntered over to the cookie aisle to catch a glimpse. Nothing. When I got home, I did a quick search and didn’t see anything on the Oreo website. Then I searched on Twitter and found the Tweet pictured above.
September 24th is the official day! I had read some articles about how good the cookies were and mistakenly believed they were available for the general public. I guess only a special few were given the cookies in advance.
Needless to say, I am now mildly obsessed with trying them and will be looking forward to their arrival on store shelves. After writing about my search for them on Facebook, someone commented that I might need an intervention. Ha! Not quite yet.
I love all things pumpkin and pumpkin spice. Since I prefer summer, the annual arrival of these flavors infused into just about every food product almost makes me happy for the cold weather. Yeah, I said it!
This pumpkin spice latte recipe is one that I plan to try. This pumpkin crumb coffee cake would go nicely with it too!
Now one more thing that I’ve noticed with the pumpkin spice phenomenon is the racial tinge to it. When and why did that happen? Pumpkin spice is being associated with white girls.
I posted this photo to my personal Facebook wall recently. In case you don’t click over, the quote says, “if you say ‘pumpkin spice latte’ in the mirror 3 times a white girl in yoga pants will appear & tell you all her favorite things about fall.”
I re-posted it because I think it’s hilarious, but I added that it could be “any” girl. Similarly, BuzzFeed has an article called “25 Things All Basic White Girls Do During The Fall.”
Of course, first on the list is “Get on that Pumpkin Spice Latte grind.” The top comment on this post is by Nicky Watson.
Buzzfeed, girls of color could enjoy these things too you know >_> I mean what does Buzzfeed think all black girls like to do during the fall? Twerk? Sheesh.
Agreed. What about pumpkin spice makes American culture want to associate it with “girls” first of all. Not women. Or men. Or boys. It’s a flavor people! Shouldn’t it be gender and age neutral!? Then all people of color are uniformly dismissed from the conversation.
Granted, this is just a fall flavor. But in general, when we eliminate certain people from the greater conversation, it’s never a good thing. So the next time you eat something pumpkin spice flavored, think about who else you picture consuming it and why.
*Updated 10/10/2014* I spied the cookies! I’ve had way too many cookies recently, but when I saw these Pumpkin Spice Oreos in the store today, I decided to get them. Just to follow-up this post…. So I could report back to you! They’re good! I hope you appreciate my sacrifice.
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Photo Credit: Oreo Tweet
