Jell-os

My friend and coworker Lauren was getting married in early October, so Our Mutual Workplace threw her a wedding shower!  Party Planner Stephanie declared that, due to Lauren's appreciation for and skillful appropriate of its fashions, the theme would be Mad Men.  Excellent - as I had long-ago (right after she got engaged) promised Lauren to make some epic jell-o molds for her wedding shower.

To aid in this endeavor, I had my trusty Jell-O cookbook, procured from the Jell-O Museum!

Even though it would have been period-accurate, I decided to avoid the more sinister savory, mysteriously opaque Jell-os.  I wanted to make things that people would willingly eat, without fear or the necessity of a Triple Dog Dare.

All these Jell-O Molds have fancy names, but I can't remember them.  It's December now, I made these suckers in early December, my head is full of other random things now.

Black cherry jell-o, maraschino cherries, pineapple.  

Interesting fact: you have to use canned pineapple in jell-o.  The fresh stuff has an enzyme or something present that prevents the gelatin from setting.

Orange jell-o, orange juice, melted vanilla ice cream.  

This one was declared the best by all present.  It tasted like a creamsicle.

Raspberry jell-o, raspberries, champagne, chambord liqueur.  

It's a Mad Men party, you've got to have at least one boozy jell-o...

In the foreground, raspberry jell-o, raspberries, canned peaches, Greek yogurt.

This is the same lovely jell-o that I made for Marion's going away party.

Not pictured is a huge boozy jell-o that was actually so boozy that it didn't properly retain it's shape.  In the photograph above, it's the sad orange-ish mound in the upper right.  Peach and champagne.

Interesting fact: three cups of champagne in a six cup jell-o mold means that your jell-o will not set properly, no matter how much you try to convince it to...

Jello Molds

So I have a Jello cookbook and my grandma's lovely Jello molds.  I was also invited to a Labour Day picnic at Val's house.  And since "no holiday meal is complete without a shimmering Jell-O mold," I made the red, white, and blue fruit-in-suspension star.

 This was my first ever Jello mold, and I kind of screwed up the unmolding, letting things melt too much, but I popped it in the fridge and all was fine.  This is later in the evening.

 Americana.  These last photos are all creepy because I had to use the flash (which I normally avoid like the plague).

Decimated: everyone loved it.

The Joy of Jell-O Molds

If you thought I could walk away from the Jell-O Museum without some sort of trophy, you were sadly mistaken.  I came back to Canada with a true gem: The Joy of Jell-O Molds.  Just using the word 'mold' makes them sound unappealing.  Excerpts below for your enjoyment.

Festive Fall and Winter Molds: No holiday meal is complete without a shimmering Jell-O mold.  Easy to make, yet impressive to behold, these dishes are essential for special gatherings of family and friends.

Impressive to behold.  Indeed.

Behold.  The Holiday Fruit and Nut Mold.

This one, the Raspberry Gift Box, is especially repulsive to me for two reasons: 1) it is oddly opaque and 2) it is a loaf of Jell-O.  The recipe specifies the Jell-O curing to take place in a loaf pan.  Looking just like a package, this beautifully garnished mold makes an eye-catching centerpiece for any birthday party or shower.

Refreshing Molds for Spring and Summer: Whether it's Mother's Day, a graduation, the Fourth of July, or just a family meal, the occasion will shine brighter with one of these dazzling molds as the star.

The Mimosa Sparkling Mold.  Minus what makes a mimosa a mimosa.

Savory Selections: When it's your turn to bring the appetizer or salad, turn to these refreshing ideas.  These tempting Jell-O Gelatin dishes will impress the crowd.  Observe below, the Savory Cheese Appetizer Mold.  I really don't know about that one.  Its just so opaque!

The creme-de-la-creme of Jell-O mold recipes are in the last pages of the book.  The Classic Molds: Remember your mother's delicious gelatin creations?  You can make Jell-O molds like hers with these traditional delights, revised or the way you cook today.

The Crown Jewel Dessert.  No foodstuff can possibly be more unattractive than this loaf of opaque Jell-O, in which small cubes of other translucent Jell-Os are captured.

While purchasing this at the Jell-O Museum, Hye-Sung and I were marveling over this, the ten-layer Rainbow Ribbon Mold.  The woman who assisted me in my purchase of The Joy of Jell-O Molds flipped through the book and pointed this one out especially to us, saying that it was very difficult to make but was very good.  Hye-Sung and I were all wonderment.  My hypothesis is that in LeRoy, New York, the birthplace of Jell-O, everyone makes Jell-O salads and that this woman had made every one of the dishes in The Joy of Jell-O Molds.

Jell-O Museum

The city of LeRoy, New York, located about 30 minutes to the southwest of Rochester, is the birthplace of Jell-O!  And there is a Jell-O Museum!

Hye-Sung is so excited(!!!) to visit the Jell-O Museum.  Which is quite understandable.

Strawberry is the most popular flavor of Jell-O.

Per capita, the US city with the greatest Jell-O consumption is San Francisco.

There is a Bill Cosby shrine.  Not pictured is the tv in the corner playing a constant loop of Jell-O commercials; a mixture of Cosby commercials and more vintage black-and-white commercials.

The rare North American coffee-flavored Jell-O.  This was sold in the 1930s and was soon discontinued due to its unpopularity.  However, coffee Jell-O is still sold and consumed in massive quantities in Japan.  Or so the Jell-O Museum docent informed us.

There was an admirable collection of molds.  Several of them were in the shape of sea-creatures, such as a lobster and a wide variety of fish.

This bovine monstrosity was in the basement, oddly situated with the exhibit of late 19th-century carriages, right next to the 1912 Cadillac Horseless Carriage.  (The Horseless Carriage, by the way, was absolutely terrifying in appearance.  I can completely sympathize with the frightened people of yesteryear.)