the mehallo blog. beta.

‘What did you buy today?’

Posted on March 13th, 2011 by steve

‘Beginning on February 5, 2006, Kate has drawn an item that she purchased every day’

The work of Kate Bingaman Burt.

Tumblr blog here, original blog here. Website here. Book here.

Found via Lindsay’s Blog-o-Design

Tags: culinary, design, illustration // Comments Off on ‘What did you buy today?’

Dr Pepper’s (original) secret formula (maybe)

Posted on March 13th, 2011 by steve

‘Poking through antiques stores while traveling through the Texas Panhandle, Bill Waters stumbled across a tattered old ledger book filled with formulas.’

The Dr Pepper company says this ain’t it. Others think otherwise.

The formula in the ‘Castles’ ledger purchased by Bill Waters contains (among legible ingredients) ‘gentian root, sweet flag root, mandrake root, wahoo bark, cinnamon bark, cardamom, coriander, cloves, diluted alcohol, syrup, glycerin’ and is labeled, ‘D Peppers Pepsin Bitters.’

Like another pharmacy invention, Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper’s secret flavoring formula is the subject of much conjecture.

Time frame and location are all right. More info here and here.

The ‘D Peppers Pepsin Bitters’ page from ‘Castles Formulas’

The birthplace of Dr Pepper: Morrison’s Old Corner Drugstore, Waco, TX

1960 advertisement (top) found via Jon Williamson

Tags: cool finds, culinary, design history // 2 comments . . .

Pepper time

Posted on March 13th, 2011 by steve

Right now I have no idea what time it is.

So I don’t know if it’s the right time to drink my Dr Pepper.

Photo found via Marc Gutierrez

Tags: culinary, design, photography // Comments Off on Pepper time

Californio Cuisine: Beef Jerky Soup

Posted on March 11th, 2011 by steve

‘Mark Preston discovered early California recipes while cataloging rare books for the UCLA library’

I picked up Mark Preston’s California Mission Cookery at one of the missions lining El Camino Real, somewhere between Santa Clara and San Luis Obispo. Or Santa Barbara. One of them.

The cookbook is all about Californio Cuisine, a long lost Spanish-influenced cooking style using local ingredients. The food of the original missions.

I’ve made the Beef Jerky soup a few times. [Read more →]

Tags: culinary, education, photography, recipe // 1 comment . . .

Italian beef stew

Posted on March 10th, 2011 by steve

Hattie Carter’s Great Cooking Ideas is this phone book sized thing that came from a garage sale.

Published in 1978 – on really cheap newsprint (just like real phone books) – this thing is quite a gem. Nothing I’ve ever made from its pages has ever let me down.

Cuisines covered are surprisingly global (for the time) – curries and sukiyaki mixed in with a homespun collection of casseroles and bakes. Not a design masterpiece tho; cute clip art-like illustrations punctuate large Helvetica type – with heds set in Souvenir, odd floral borders abound.

The Italian Beef Stew is a fantastic mix of flavors. Here’s the recipe. [Read more →]

Tags: cool finds, culinary, design, photography, recipe // 1 comment . . .