Pop Porn

Just a little bit of love from the first day of pops -- strawberry mint champagne. That should keep you west coasters cool during our little heat wave.

Live to Pop Another Day

I didn't bring samples for forage... I was having serious doubts about the product and whether I was really ready to put my name behind them. I'm a lot closer to where I want to be for the next month's market, and I'll certainly be doing recon on Sept 11 at SomArts to better gauge where I need my packaging and presentation to be. Thanks so much to everyone for the support and encouragement, I just didn't feel ready. Now that I have some flavors I think are working really well, I can focus on packaging... let me know if you've got ideas that aren't going to cost me an arm and a leg and might actually be cool to look at.

So it's been a tough week in Popstand land -- I made these creamy dreamy cherry-yogurt-honey pops (thanks Kari!) and forgot to put the sticks in! D'oh. I also made some adorable cookies and cream pops with teddy grahams. They are tasty, but the teddies didn't get mushed completely, so you can still identify their little limbs and heads. Delicious AND menacing -- didn't think I could get those two words to describe a pop.

Linkage:

Obsessed with Rocket Pops Well who isn't?? Thanks to Kate for the link.

DIY molds and sticks I've been thinking about Dixie cups for awhile now, but I never thought they could look so gourmet! I also love the idea of plugging the cones with gumdrops.

Push pops Yes please. I also like how she calls one of her kids "Littleness."

Really exciting Friday night plans

I got an email from Forage SF -- the super cool underground farmer's market -- giving me details on when to bring them samples if I want to apply to be a part of the next market. Yikes! I feel I'm in no way ready for this, but I hope they at least give me some good feedback (other than: you suck).

WHICH MEANS I'm spending my Friday making new batches of pops and trying to figure out which two or three I'd bring in for samples. Finally going to attempt avocado pops... and maybe avocado mango as Jess suggested. With jalapeno?? So many varieties to blend...

THIS ALSO MEANS I need your help. If you live in SF, meet me at Dolores Park tomorrow -- maybe around 2?? -- and I'll have sample pops. I would love your feedback on what you find delicious.

Also, the root beer float pops were pretty fantastic. I would show you, but I ate them all. That good.

Confined to a very chilly prison

My poor root beer float pops. Zoku is not kidding when they say not to
use carbonated beverages. Or fill past the fill line. These I'll be
eating with a spoon (pictured). R&D fail. Good news: made some in the
old fashioned mold too.

My freezer is full. Let them eat pops (this weekend).

There is no vacation from pops

Sorry for no bloggy blog, but I was actually somewhere where you NEED to eat Pops to stay cool -- the very hot and sultry midwest. Mama bought me a ZOKU which should really speed the R&D efforts. And speed it did. But BEWARE -- they are not kidding when they tell you not to fill past the fill line. I spent quite some time on the front porch in 90 degree heat trying to coax my pops out of their frosty caverns.

Peaches and Cream --- Half and Half (turns out that makes for much creamier pops than Skim Milk, duh) and fresh-o-licious peaches. Blended some peaches in with the cream, left some out for chunks. Mama asked for more sweet, but I think they were lovely au naturel. K claims agave might help (what a hippie) and I'll try it next time.

Ginger and Strawberry -- the key here was muddling the strawberries into the ginger beer, which released more sweetness. And a dash of lime juice. Spicy and heavenly in front of the campfire.

Watermelon vodka -- epic pop fail, but made for very tasty slushies. Still trying to get that alcohol ratio right...

Links:
Wash Post Pops are Hot via Kelly
Wine on a Stick via Kelly AND Jen (these girls know my favorite things)