Ampelmanner

It's supposed to get up to 90 degrees today, so of course it's a perfect day for baking cookies. Especially Ampelmann cookies!

A professor from Berlin, Helgard Kramer, is visiting Purdue tonight. So I made the cookies to make her feel at home.

Ready for the part that makes sense? The Ampelmann was the Walk/Don't Walk signal used in East Germany. In the '80s, he was animated for cartoons about traffic safety. After reunification, attempts to replace the Ampelmann with the more standard (and more generic) signal led to protests, and a Society for the Preservation of Ampelmen.

So now the Ampelmann once again walks - or doesn't walk - proudly on the streets of the former East Berlin. And he's something of a cult figure - with three gift shops. This is the part where we may have gotten a little silly. Aaron and I are now the proud owners of Ampelmann earrings, an Ampelmann bottle opener, Ampelmann cookie cutters, and a bunch of other Ampelcrap. Presented so quickly with such a perfect opportunity to use the Ampelmann cookie cutters, I couldn't resist.

Just to keep the day amusing, I'll throw in these pictures of Max and Oscar: