Tavern horn

Pewter tavern horn - this comes from a mixed tradition of imagery. First, it echoes the typical "hunting horn" of European fox hunting fame. Second, it continues a long European penchant for "drinking horns". This one has a Lyman crown hallmark on the bottom. I doubt it's that old, although I remember by dad drinking beer out of it when I was a tyke. He used to put it in the freezer so his Lowenbrau would have a nice frosty mug. If I recall correctly, my first sip of beer was out of this mug when I was probably 4 or 5. I recall liking beer, although I recall it having a strange metallic taste. Now that I'm older and wiser, I recognize that the metallic taste probably came either from this mug or from the Lowenbrau itself.

Noodles for all!

This is my homemade noodle bowl and chopsticks on bamboo stand, as featured on the famous Skull-a-day blog by Noah Scalin. It has been one of my favorite blogs since early in his project.

This piece has an unusual story regarding it's origin. Whilst on summer vacation at a rented beach house a few years ago, my (then) fiancee and I, and my parents, were big fans of that show Survivor. At the time, it was the first season, so we were kinda caught up in the hype. Anyway, we had these coconuts for whatever reason, and fueled by tropical adult beverages, we vowed to each make a drinking vessel from a coconut half to unveil at the final Survivor episode some weeks later. We made it a contest (albeit friendly), and each cup/vessel was to be judged after the final episode. The only rules were that the cup had to incorporate the coconut half, and it had to be functional.

I stayed with the tropical/voodoo theme seen above, with the added feature of skull-topped chopsticks in two of the three bamboo supports. Thus, when not used for drinking, one could use it for noodles.

The missus (IIRC) went with a fish theme, with tropical fish applique's on her coconut. Dad stuck his nut on top of a silver candelabra with cars and boats and such glued all over it (evidently, each addition represented a Survivor character). And I totally forget what Mom did...