Monday, November 17, 2008

My Nut Cup


A friend from the past, David Mruz, sent me a wondrous book of Halloween punch out party decorations and instructions. It's a treat.

It has nut cup instructions, which got me thinking about nut cups.

When I was little they were my favorite part of birthday parties. Now they seem so minimal. Just a little crepe paper cup with a couple of nuts and hard candies in it. Was I so underfed that I was living for nut cups? Such a goofy term too.

So I started picturing the nut cup I'd want in a perfect world. It's still going to be that small size, but in it I'll find:

  • A scratch off lottery card where everyone's a winner
  • A tiny vial of Tigress perfume, popular in the 60's. A month ago I thought I smelled it and it's been on my mind since.
  • Small chocolate penguins filled with tastes sweet and wonderful and unidentifiable
  • Those chewy red coins that have dollar signs on them. I'm fond of gummy candy, anything except gummy bears or nasty sour things.
  • A tiny wallet size flexible picture frame that's electronic, storing many pictures.
  • A roll of Rowntree's Pastilles candies from England.
  • Some very nice nuts, after all it is a nut cup.
This nut cup would be iridescent and aquarium blue, with tiny alligator heads holding the cup to the handle, and when you took out all your treasures you'd see a vivid animating hologram of strange swimming creatures in the base of it, something which figures often in my dreams.

What's in your nut cup?

(I know, I should have drawn it, but I just didn't feel like it!)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recall as a kid enjoying little craftsy how-to instructions for making nut cups for decorating a holiday table. I know I made some but can't remember what they looked like.

Anonymous said...

We were so poor when I was a kid that party food was truly foreign to me and I thought it food for the gods. Nut cups, buttery after dinner mints...baby shower food. Ahhh.

Linda Davick said...

Chex party mix, baby Heath bar, secret decoder ring, a gold doubloon, a tiny pair of wireless earbuds that really work. The cup itself: (David Byrne's design):

http://www.coffeekid.com/other/illycups/illyforsaleortrade

Well, you did say the nut cup I'd want in a perfect world.

Can't compete with your alligator heads/hologram cup, though.

Anonymous said...

Stray, remember Debbie telling about when she first moved to Knoxville and her phone number was one digit off from Morrow's House of Nuts at the mall? It seemed like every other call would be someone ringing and asking: "Hello? Is this the House of Nuts?" But they wouldn't be joking.

Sally said...

Mean Jean, I started thinking about those little candies. Before there were supermarkets candy wasn't packaged in plastic bags and by quantity. You could buy a candy bar at the soda shop or the news agent in my town, but I don't know where the fancy candies came from.

Linda, "Hello is this the House of Nuts"? TOO FUNNY! Your link fell off the comments page-- I'll see if I can pull it from the notifying email.

Sally said...

Here's a link
to Linda's nifty David byrne cups.

Anonymous said...

Funny, Linda! I forgot that story, but it's perfect. I love it when you're loquacious. (Now, was this the first or second or third time they moved to Knoxville?)

Anonymous said...

David B. is clever, isn't he?

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

My nut cup would include stuff I don't keep around the house because I couldn't stop snacking:

*Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds
*Trader Joe's Habenero 'n' Lime Pistachios
*Cheez-its (Why oh why are these not good for you?)
*mini pretzel sticks

Anonymous said...

I probably don't have the patience to wait to put my favorite ingredients into nut cups. I snack on almonds and dark chocolate chips already. What more does one need?

Anonymous said...

My Nut cup has lots o' that fancypants dog food. And it's a BIG cup. And it's an OUTSIDE cup 'cause I'm not allowed inside.

Sally said...

I see a trip to Trader Joe's in my future.

John "Jackson" McCain, we noticed you'd been grounded, locked on your side porch, when we walked by your trashy house yesterday. And what's with that white quonset hut set up next to the other ugly storage units?
what are you guys storing anyway?