This Week in Brenda's Kitchen: B. Kliban Cat Cookie Jar

This week in Brenda's kitchen we find another cookie jar, this time featuring B. Kliban’s cat or, to be exact a trio of B. Kliban’s cats on a cookie jar.

These posts about some of the more unique kitchen items I discover are not only about cookie jars though it might appear that way at the moment and I do love them.  It just happened that this great cookie jar was the next interesting item to find its way onto my counter after my last “this week in Brenda’s kitchen” post.

The artist B. Kliban created the cartoon cat known as Kliban in the 1970s and this black and white cat achieved huge celebrity. Continued popularity and a certain amount of nostalgia mean that people are still looking to find Kliban items including vintage calendars, t-shirts, coffee mugs and cookie jars to add to their collections.

In our humble opinion this item is a bit small for a cookie jar. We like (okay, we love) cookies and this jar, because of the unusal pants shape, would not hold many but I think we could make it work. It would also work for storing candy or even for holding cotton balls or something of that nature in the bathroom. Of course, it doesn't have to have a practical use at all and could simply be a decorative accessory for a Kliban fan.

This cookie jar measures 8-inches tall with the lid on or 5.25 inches without the lid and about 6 inches from the front to back on the bottom or 4 inches from the front to the back at the opening.

Whether you have a whole Kliban collection or you are looking for a single cat-themed decorative accessory, this B. Kliban cookie jar will serve you well.  We think he would look fine in just about any kitchen.

You will find a few more interesting vintage 1970s Kliban items by Trendsetters and Sigma in this scrolling gallery from eBay.  I tried to pick a favorite but I love them all!

Kliban loved to “eat them mousies." We love to eat cookies! How about you?

You can find this Kliban the Cat cookie jar here, on eBay.

See you

in the kitchen!

Brenda

Easy Cranberry Sauce Recipe

I'm in the midst of advance preparations for Thanksgiving. Part of our meal includes homemade cranberry sauce, which I make a day or two in advance and refrigerate or I make well in advance and freeze. 

The recipe I use is easy and very basic. Some cranberry sauce recipes add items like cinnamon and grated orange rind but we like ours simple because that is the way we have always had it and that is the way it is "supposed" to taste for us. Personally, I like it because it tastes good and because it is so easy to put together.

It is, of course, a perfectly acceptable choice to buy a can of cranberry sauce but making it yourself really is very simple and afterwards you can feel good about having done so rather than having opened a can.


The ingredients are simple. All you need is:

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1.5 cups or 12 ounces of fresh or frozen cranberries

Put these three ingredients in a pot and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If at this point your sauce seems very runny, you can choose to boil it for a couple of minutes longer. Doing so won't hurt the end product and will just make your sauce a bit thicker.

The cranberries release pectin, which helps the sauce to gel so you do not have to add anything else as a thickener.

This morning I used 2 cups of frozen cranberries and boiled them for five minutes longer.

I choose to serve mine in a pretty little glass bowl.  It is nice that the bowl is clear, which allows the beautiful red color of the cranberry sauce to be a decorative element on our table.

If you are feeding only one or two people, it is an easy enough matter to freeze half of the cranberry sauce for next time.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Brenda

 

Martha Stewart's Halloween Magazine (2013)

Fans of Martha Stewart look forward to every episode of Martha Stewart Living but many of us who are big Halloween fans particularly enjoy her Halloween special editions.

Martha's Halloween Special for 2013 features Martha dressed as a fairy godmother and, appropriately it seems to me, named Fairy GrandMartha.

The 2013 issue was on my local newsstand at the end of August or maybe the beginning of September. I’m not sure exactly when I picked it up or if it is still available. However, if you missed it and cannot find it on your local newsstand, it is still available through sellers on Amazon.com.

This year's magazine promises Good Things that are illuminated, inspired, indispensable, infested, insatiable, incroyable and intense. What more could you ask for in a Halloween magazine?

Find your copy of Martha Stewart's Halloween Special Issue 2013 here, on eBay.

Happy Hauntings!
Boo-Brenda

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A Comical Chicken Cookie Jar

This week's in Brenda's kitchen we find a unique chicken cookie jar. She (the chicken, not Brenda) has been making us smile and the only issue we have had with this chicken hanging around is her insistent demand for homemade cookies and the resultant cravings for the same by the members of our family. The chicken has a point though, every great cookie jar should have cookies in it, don't you think? 

This cookie jar is labelled Giggles and she surely makes you smile. She was manufactured by an Australian company called Stoneage Ceramics in 2002. I have been unable to find another like her on eBay or online at all so, if a chicken-themed cookie jar with a sense of humour is on your wish list, why not lose your head as she did in the following picture and snap her up right away before some other chicken collecting fan does?

Although we like this cookie jar, we realize that she might not be exactly what you are looking for in a cookie container so we peered through the kitchen door to see what other interesting chicken-themed cookie jars we could find on eBay. You can scroll through ten of the jars we found right here. If it is a chicken cookie jar you are after, there is bound to be one here for you.

PLEASE NOTE: 

This Giggles cookie jar has been sold on eBay and I have been unable to find another one like it. However, you can visit eBay to check out all of the chicken-themed cookie jars by clicking right here. There is sure to be another one you will love.

Do you have a cookie jar and, more importantly, are there cookies in it right now? If so, we will be right over...

See you
in the kitchen!
Brenda

Pumpkin Spice M&M's

Pumpkin Spice M&M's. Hmmm. I've just discovered them online and I'm going to have to keep my eyes peeled for them or maybe even order some from Amazon...

Mars Inc. has decided to cash in on the pumpkin spice craze by creating spiced M&M candies in shades of orange, brown and green. The flavour and the color makes them perfect as a fall treat. 

Reportedly, they are slightly larger than regular M&Ms and shaped like the peanut version so it would seem you get a bit more chocolate for your money if you choose this version of the candy.

Huffpost Taste says that some preferred this flavour to the original flavour.

I'm wondering if I'll like them. I know I like the idea. If you have had the chance to sample Pumpkin Spice M&M's, be sure to share with the rest of us!  Share your opinion, that is, since I am pretty sure you won't want to share your M&Ms. Would you say yes or no if I passed a bag of these M and Ms to you?

And here's another thought. I wonder how they would be a cookie recipe..

Order some Pumpkin Spice M&Ms for yourself by clicking here to Amazon.

See you

in the kitchen!

Brenda