By: Chuck Miller
Health, Uncategorized

The rooster potholders and corn on the cob

Last spring, I was on an early-morning photography trip through Schoharie County.  Got a few pictures here and there, and then my tummy started rumbling.  And when you’ve got a rumbly in your tummy, you know what that means.

No, it doesn’t mean I’m going to get stuck in a hunnytree…

I went instead to a restaurant right off of I-88.  Had a nice meal, relaxed in the sunshine…

And then I went back inside, and purchased something else.  See, in addition to hamburgers and ice cream, this restaurant also sold quilts.  They sold blankets and duvets and potholders.  After searching through their wares…

I purchased these.IMG_20140905_063137

Aren’t they cute?

There were plenty of handmade goods at the restaurant – quilts, table runners, placemats, you name it.  I didn’t need any of those.

What I did need, however, was a pair of potholders.  And I found them.  Two rooster-decorated potholders.  $5 later, they were mine.

Okay, I could have “made do” with using a towel-wrapped hand to extract hot trays from the oven, but why should I do that?   Look, it’s either use these or go to the hobby store and buy one of those rubber-band hook-and-weave kits, the kind I had back in the third grade, and weave a pair of potholders.

And I really like the poultry motif.  Sort of reminds me of the artworks of a great American painter, Ben Austrian.

Ben Austrian (Reading, Pa., 1870-1921), signed oil on canvas depicting mother hen with chicks, 33in x 25½ in, auctioned for $10,200 on Aug. 31, 2014 at Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pa. Although undeniably an accomplished fine artist, Austrian became more widely known as the result of a commercial commission – his illustration of a newly hatched chick that became the mascot for Bon Ami cleanser. Image courtesy of Morphy Auctions.
Ben Austrian (Reading, Pa., 1870-1921), signed oil on canvas depicting mother hen with chicks, 33in x 25½ in, auctioned for $10,200 on Aug. 31, 2014 at Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pa. Although undeniably an accomplished fine artist, Austrian became more widely known as the result of a commercial commission – his illustration of a newly hatched chick that became the mascot for Bon Ami cleanser. Image courtesy of Morphy Auctions.

And granted, I may not be able to afford one of Ben Austrian’s incredible paintings, but at least I have that same subject matter – in my potholders.

Oh, and one other thing – these potholders are great for microwaved corn on the cob.

Let me explain.

You know how corn on the cob needs to be shucked, and all the little hairs need to be removed, before you can cook or eat the corn itself?  Here’s a little trick.  Take the whole unshucked corn cob and put it in the microwave for 2 and a half minutes.  Make sure that the corn cob can rotate in your microwave, this procedure might not work well with smaller microwaves.

After you’ve finished nuking your corn cob, take it out of the microwave.  Take a sharp knife and cut off the bottom portion of the corn cob.  Then, wrapping your potholders around the upper part of the husk, squeeze the corn cob until it slides out of the husk and onto your plate.  And look.  Not a single hair on your cob.  Get the margarine and have at it!

See… in my blog you get recipes, art history, and a picture of a pair of cute little potholders.

And I would guess that in your kitchen, you also have a pair of favorite potholders or oven mitts that are your designated “not-gonna-burn-my-fingers” kitchen products.  Did you buy them in a store or at a craft fair, were they a gift from a friend or a “look what I made” from a child or grandchild?

Feel free to tell me in the comments section of this blog.

And if you happen to know where I can purchase an original Ben Austrian artwork for a “reasonable” price…

let me know that as well. 🙂