The blog updates might be a little more sporadic – but look for some new entries to pop up here and there!

See you soon.

Jeff Bridgman of Jeff Bridgman American Antiques put together 10 interesting facts about the history of the American Flag for the website 1st dibs…and its worth checking out. From the celebration (or non-celebration) of Flag Day on June 14th, the fact that Francis Hopkison of New Jersey designed the flag and not Betsy Ross, to the fact that the flag had no official shape until 1912 – it could be square, elongated, anything.

Francis Hopkinson

Jeff Bridgman is based in York, Pennsylvania and is considered one of the countries leading authorities on antique American Flags. His antique store specializes in early Americana, and they often bring their wares to Houston, the shop participated in the Theta Antiques Show last November.

Following are some examples of the American Flags currently available at Jeff Bridgman Antiques:

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION FLAG WITH 10-POINTED STARS THAT SPELL “1776 – 1876”, ONE OF THE MOST GRAPHIC OF ALL EARLY EXAMPLES

48 STARS IN A RARE AND INTERESTING STEP-DOWN ROW DESIGN, ENTIRELY MADE BY TATTING

13 STARS, 1876-98, A VERY RARE PRINTED EXAMPLE, UNUSUALLY LARGE, PROBABLY MADE IN CANADA

Admission to the park will be 8 bucks – or free for each person with a donation of some canned goods for the Houston Food Bank. Fireworks will be taking place around 9:30pm after a full afternoon of planned activities, including a concert by Texas singer-songwriter Pat Green. KBR Liberty Park will have all kinds of military artifacts from our armed forces like an Apache Helicopter flight simulator, and a 55 ton M-60 Battle Tank! A Bud Light Zone will have some designated hang out areas, including viewing stands for watching the finals of the sixth annual Bud Light Texas Volleyball Championships. They’ll also be many kid friendly play areas, charity booths, raffles for some free cars and trips, and general fourth of July type stuff. Sounds like fun – Happy Forth!

Caramel Popcorn

• 4 Quarts of Popped Corn
• 1 16 oz container of Peanuts (optional)
• 1 cup of light Brown Sugar
• 1 stick Butter
• 1/4 cup of white Corn Syrup
• 1/2 tsp of Vanilla
• 1/3 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Preheat your oven to 250ºF degrees.

Measure the one cup of light brown sugar into a tall sided medium saucepan and stir in the butter, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly for two minutes. Remove from heat and quickly add the baking soda and vanilla. Stir the mixture while it settles down.

Using a large bowl that can hold all the popcorn, combine the corn and the hot mixture – tossing all the ingredients with a large spoon that is greased or non-stick. Use caution with the hot sugar mixture..it gets super hot. Add peanuts if you’d like.

After the corn is covered and thoroughly mixed, spread the popcorn onto a greased baking sheet. Bake in batches for best results.

Bake for 15 minutes at 250º turn the popcorn over and bake for a second 15 minutes. Allow to cool!

So set your Spidey-Sense to high fashion alert and make your appointment to come in to get caught in our web of extreme style!

Oh..and by the way, April Fool!

If you’ve never seen any of Robb Walsh’s books..they’re awesome. Check out the definitive Texas Cowboy Cookbook, The Tex-Mex Cookbook, and The Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook. He knows what he is talking about!

Leibmans, 14529 Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas 77079 ph. 281.493.3663