In For a Fin
Five fun things for under five dollars – Hooking you up with what’s hot, odd, and otherwise for limited lettuce.
by Susanne Kammlott
MUSTARD SAUCE
You’ve seen the movie, now try the sauce: CAPE FEAR sweet ‘n’ sour style mustard, adorned by a diabolical red pepper pirate whose demonic grin lures the unsuspecting mouth to delve into a flaming experience. Try it. This rich amber blend will sing hellishly delicious on your palette and the cinder-like hints of jalapeno peppers, tamarinds, anchovies and garlic will pleasantly torment your tongue. CAPE FEAR will perk up even the most slack jawed ex-con’s sandwich. And the dynamite graphics make the bottle as appealing as it tastes, whether in your kitchen or next to a circa 1939 hot plate you bought at the thrift store. Hey, no cooking in the dorms! But if you must dabble in forbidden condiments, sail over to Berman Liquors, Massachusetts Ave, Lexington where you’ll find sinfully spicy Cape Fear mustard sauce for only $2.95.
FRUIT CARDS
You want to say it with produce and personality; who doesn’t? Thank Tamotsu Yagi Designs for harvesting an inspired and organic looking answer. “Fruit Faces” are a grocery-fresh series of greeting cards that express various traditional sentiments such as “Happy Birthday”, “Get Well” (and the all-too-familiar “I’m Sorry”) with little more than a well-placed assortment of cherries, melon slices, bananas, etc. Dole, eat your heart out. This high gloss array of common expressions capture not only the imagination, but the taste buds. They’re the tangiest cards in town! Fruit has a lot to say. We should listen. Take a ripe bite of fanciful communication at Urban Outfitters, 350 Newbury Street, Boston. $1.95 each.
ANTACID
Sick and tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired? And your little tummy hurts too? Remember Buzz when your insides feel as if they’re being picked at by a pack of vicious rats. He and his cronies at “Herbs of China” in Boulder, CO have found the cure for your depressed and dyspeptic condition. A total digestive aid, “Buzz’s Antacid Plus” boasts that the oatmeal colored pills from the Far East (New Jersey?) have done the trick “more than once.” Not a lot of “plop plop fizz fizz” here, but these 100% natural neutralizer proclaim fast, powerful relief using peppermint, ginger root, magnolia bark and even mother of pearl powder. So they look a little like ecstasy, so what?! It beats barfing up your Starbucks coffee every morning at the bus stop. Find intestinal peace and quiet at Walgreens and area convenience stores. 25 cents will make it all better.
MUCHO GUSTO
Come for the rice and beans, stay for the ceramic insanity. Mucho Gusto is more than just very good, it’s AMAZING! A feast for all the senses. Better than a day at Miami Beach, MG is a frenetically friendly, warm and fabulously outfitted eatery to grab a snack, sit’n’tune into Latin beats, or just sip their killer coffee served in nifty glass thimbles. ZOOM! Everything there is a buzz. From the bewildering array of 40s and 50s kitch-o-rama to a festive menu that offers a selection of traditional Cuban and American influenced dishes; all comic book kooky, hyper retro-ness right in the Fenway. Plus it’s reasonably priced, with a supreme-o attentive wait staff. Spicy, silly, worthy of Lucy and Ricky, Mucho Gusto is located at 1124 Boylston St, Boston. Small sized and tasty, rice and beans, $3.50. Yes, they have Sunday brunch!
POTTERY WORKSHOP
They have everything, from everywhere. It’s never too early to panic about your ever narrowing holiday gift-giving options. So stop biting your nails and head for Pottery Works, where help is putty in your hands. For as little as $2.50 (plus kiln charge), you can custom-design a clay meisterwerk, provided it’s shaped like a soap dish, small cup or tile. Then the friendly staff will fire the piece for a gleaming final touch. It’s a fun, funky relaxed alternative to last minute mall trolling. Pottery Workshop is a clean, well-lit studio with a rainbow of paints and assorted stencils to serve your creative whims. Remind Mom and Dad of a simpler time when just your pudgy hand print on a misshapen slab of clay was enough to say “I love you.” Tell ’em “Wedgewood this” at Pottery Workshop, 93 Massachusetts Ave, Boston. (617) 262-9392. Unglazed pieces to paint start at $2.50.
Susanne Kammlott is a freelance writer who is perfectly qualified to write this piece because she is known, by friends and curious on-lockers alike, for entering convenience stores with $5.00 and emerging with a dusty roll of Necco wafers (because who can resist those vintage candy thins?) a packet containing 5 small pills that promise love and longevity, a can of Yoo-hoo, and play money. She has no plans of stopping. Her life-long dream is to one day be Mrs. Archie McPhee.
