Submitted by Miss Kay

A great success! I baked the pies 2 days in advance. Bake the pies in the cakes the day before and refrigerated them. I made my own cream cheese frosting. Then I refrigerated the whole thing 2 hours before cutting. It withstood the test and my family loved it! We were amazed by how heavy it was. Our guestimate is at least 10-13 lbs! Thanks for the challenge CP!!

Submitted by Steve Veltman

After seeing pictures of other Astro Trees, we decided to add baby corn to ours. We felt it gave our tree unique and somewhat dangerous presentation. Looking forward to seeing you in Portland!

Submitted by Emily

I saw your Cherpumple video and had to take a crack at it! I created a Cherpumple Trifle! Spiced cake, whipped cream, pumpkin pie filling, cranberry pie filling, and chocolate mousse. It was amazing and I had a blast putting it together! Happy Holidays!

Submitted by Megan Paige Smith

I blogged about my successful Cherpumple experience! Photos are on my blog.

Thank you so much for the recipe. My wo-workers and I at the Haugh Performing Arts Center in Glendora, CA loved it. We can’t wait for more recipes…and we’d love to see you visit us again!

Megan Paige Smith

http://februarystar.tumblr.com/post/300377562/cherpumple

Master flocker Larry Deminter, proudly poses with one of his very special Christmas confections. Freshly flocked trees are his holiday specialty. This one is a tri-toned tabletop tree in lime, light pink and bright pink. Larry can flock a tree any color you want including black.

Frankly, I’ve always had a wondering eye for flocked Christmas trees, especially when flocked in color. So this year when I spotted lime green, periwinkle blue and peach flocked trees displayed at the local neighborhood tree lot I pulled the car right up and hopped without skipping a beat. Standing beneath the red and white striped tent and surrounded by a impressive, fragrant selection of fine cut pines a variety of shapes and sizes my imagination was inspired and my spirit soared. After several questions including how many flocking colors do you have? And how many colors can u do on a single tree? The answers were 15 and two or three, I ordered tall tree flocked in shocking pink. Curious about flocking, (isn’t everyone?), and how one becomes a flocker, I introduced myself to the flocker and I got more than I bargained for.

I began talking to Larry and was quite impressed by his family history in the tree business. Turns out he learned the seasonal tree trade when he was boy. His father began selling Christmas tress at the corner of Central and Vernon Avenues in South LA in 1950. His family maintains that lot to this day every holiday season in addition to three others in Culver City, Hollywood and the Los Feliz Costco parking lot, where I met him and this image was captured.

Over the next few days I returned to the lot several times and ordered two more flocked trees -the tri-tone u see in the pic and another in fire engine red knick-named the “Red Devil” Christmas tree. I gave it away at my retro holiday slide show in Hollywood.

The next morning the wind was howling at high speeds when I went back to tell Larry what a big hit the Christmas tree giveaway was and to thank him for flocking it special. When I got there it looked like the wind had attacked the place like a tornado. Trees were blown over in every direction. I looked over at Larry’s flocking booth and it was completely gone. Only a mashed, muddy mound of multicolored flocking remained. I asked what happen to the flocking tent? It blew away the wind. Where’s Larry? He’s gone and wasn’t coming back.

I stood there in the bluster among the windswept trees and red and white tent slapping in the breeze. For a moment I truly believed I was in some sort of crazy Christmas fairy tale where the flocking booth flew away with the flocker in it flocking a tree.

THANK YOU, LARRY, for the flocking!

Here’s to flock, flocking, flockers, flocked Christmas trees, Larry and YOU!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 25, 2009
Los Angeles

Submitted by Linda Maley

I fully intended to make the Cherpumple, got all my ingredients together and went to town…. unfortunately I ended up in a wasteland. What came out of the oven would be a perfect Halloween dessert….

Yes, it certainly is a monster cake at that… I could not get my cake to bake all the way through… so I never finished the project. This photo is too wonderful not to share…

Submitted by Andrew

It was SO GOOD! I didn’t let it properly cool because I was in a hurry to get to Tiki Mike’s Kitchmas party, and it sort of cracked open on the way there!

It was delicious though!! A BIG HIT!!

Submitted by Dori Boyer

My work has a birthday party once a month for all the birthdays in the month and December was my month only. I had seen a video of the Cherpumple (pie/cake) and since everyone always seems to want a little of every selection – I thought we should go out with a bang this year. My coworker Teresa took on the task and baked it for the occasion. At first everyone was a little skeptical but after the first taste the compliments flew. Needless to say, ours was an absolute hit and you guess it – we are stuffed.

The flash of a flashbulb reflects in the living room window through which we see a tinsel-trimmed tree and someone peeking at the backside of a bevy of backyard beauties.  This is the valley of the dolls! Which ones are real? Meet Patti Playpal! She is a “companion doll.”

The contrast between the big dolls and their little owners, or lack there of, is shocking and proves there’s quite a difference between a baby doll and a life-size plastic playmate. Seems Patti is less like a doll and more like a special friend. They can even share clothing. And they need to because the dolls are better dressed.

All but the young lady on the right looks into the camera.  Perhaps she looks away in shame for she is the only one with a Patti Playpal wannabe, a fake, a fraud. Size-wise the faux Patti is slightly more monstrous, and judging by her hair and eyes, looks like she stuck her finger in a light socket.

The first Patti Playpal was born in 1959 at the Ideal Toy Company in New York City, the same fine company that introduced teddy bears to the world in 1903!

What I wanna know is… where are all the Patti Playpals and their playmates now!?

Here’s to Patti, her pals, Teddy, the Ideal Toy Company and YOU!

December 15, 2009
Los Angeles

PS! Join me THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON, DEC 20th @ 2pm at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood… for my RETRO HOLIDAY SLIDE SHOW! Celebrate New Years, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas like you never have before. Your imagination will be inspired and your holiday spirit will soar! …also in Seattle, WA on Dec 27 and Portland, OR, Dec 29

CLICK HERE FOR TIX & INFO

Gleaming silver stars hang from frizzly-foiled canes fixed to stylish streetlamps towering above signs, signals, bus benches and painted curbs. Is this an obstacle course or an intersection? There is no traffic; no flag and the sidewalks are deserted. It’s Sunday and the store is closed.

Architecturally speaking, this is what happens when a streamline modern ocean liner of the ‘30s and the famous flying wing of the ‘40s have a baby. Less, of course, the potted vines sprouting over the trio of terraces. As if passing motorists don’t have enough to look at and out for already, MAY CO is clearly spelled out twice in golden metal-framed yellow neon readable at any speed.

Line-wise, little relieves this smooth slab-sided, curved cornered department store spectacular with the exception of its nearly hypnotic asymmetry. Don’t stare too long! Let’s lovingly call this style: late-streamline early mid-century mod minimalism.  And a very rare example of it at that.

Miraculously this streamlined suburban super store still stands at the corner of Martin Luther King and Crenshaw Blvds, in the Crenshaw District, one of my favorite LA neighborhoods to explore. The May name marked the building until 2005 when Macys, the granddaddy of all grand department stores, took control.

Macy’s started in NYC in 1878 one year after May Company began in Leadville, Colorado. By the end of the 1920’s Macy’s had morphed into the nations largest department store. Ultimately it would become a retail beast that would swallow its competition including the second and third largest stores ever, Hudson’s in Detroit and Marshall Field in Chicago.

Here’s to May Company, Marshall Field, Hudson’s Macy’s and YOU,

Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles, CA
Dec 8, 2009