Now that Easter is over many of us find ourselves with leftover Peeps.  It seems like a great idea to buy Peeps when you see them at the store with their bright day-glow colors and fun spring time packaging.  But really, eating one Peep is already eating one too many Peeps, and now you are stuck with a dozen or possibly dozens (depending on how many your purchased) post-holiday left over Peeps.  No one wants to throw away Peeps.  Have no fear, here is a list of things to do with leftover Peeps that will spare you having to toss them out.

5.  Lord of the Peeps – The Fellowship of the Peep

Obviously, making “Lord of the Peeps” is only for someone who is really into Peeps.  Oh, and also really into Lord of the Rings.  Plus, you should be into crafts and stuff like that because you have to make felt wizard hats and hobbit outfits for your Peeps.  Once you get all that stuff down though, the battle scenes with rows of Peeps and toothpicks look really fun.

4.  Peeps brûlée!

Peeps brûlée is like toasted marshmallows, but awesomer. If you like to be fancy and like Peeps but were afraid to eat Peeps because you didn’t think they were fancy enough – this is the recipe for you.  Here is a chance to eat Peeps and be sophisticated all at once.  I got this recipe from an article on Salon.com:

Peeps brûlée

Peeps (I have a slight preference for the bunnies, but the chicks work too.)

Special equipment: fire; skewers or thin, wood chopsticks; nonstick pan

• Skewer a Peep. The thing is, flat surfaces give you the best results, because they can heat and caramelize relatively evenly, which is why I like the bunnies. But a chick Peep’s head, for instance, is just going to burst into flames before the rest of the body gets hot enough. Which, granted, is kind of awesome to look at, but not so much to eat. So I prefer the flatter bunnies, and I go in with the skewer between the ears — so it looks like a Peep lollipop — to toast their wide bellies, and because this way I kill the Peep instantly. Er, ignore that. And the chicks do have great, flat bottoms, so I skewer them lengthwise, like so:

• Turn your flame on high.

• Start waving your Peep over the fire, letting the flames touch the surface of the sugar. After a couple of seconds, take a look: What you want, as much as possible, is an even, light brown caramel. Now, realistically, that’s not going to happen. The edges are probably going to get darker, the middle might not brown at all, and, if it’s taking too long and you’re starting to cook the Peep, it will start to puff up and deform. It’s all OK, just know that your bunnies are going to start looking like spacemen with oversize helmets and the chicks are going to start looking like puffy sneakers from the ’80s. Just keep waving the Peep over the flame, check on it every two seconds or so, and make sure a few things happen: you get some caramelized browning, the sugar on the parts that don’t brown at least turns glassy-looking, and you DON’T BURN IT. Blow out any flames right away, and if it’s starting to get dark brown, stop, unless you really like the bitter taste of char. If you’re working with bunnies, flip and caramelize the other side. If you’re using chicks, just kind of give the sides a perfunctory go at it, but pretty much the best stuff happens on the bottom.

• When the Peeps get as caramelized as you’re willing to risk, set them down, with the skewers still in them, on a nonstick pan so they can cool down and the shell can solidify. When you’re finished with the next Peep, the resting one should be cool enough to handle without ripping; now pull out the skewer.

• Arrange your charred, mutilated — I mean, toasty, crispy! — Peeps in a fun, carefree tableaux, and charm some young, impressionable children!

3. Peepmopolitan

Yet another way to be fancy and sophisticated while still enjoying your peeps.  The ladies of “Sex and the City” don’t have anything on this sexy cocktail!  Imagine sipping this with all your lady friends one evening.  Your only problem would be deciding when to eat the Peep!

Peepmopolitan

Ingredients:

* 1 oz. Cointreau

* 2 oz. Vodka

* Splash White cranberry juice

* Splash Fresh lime juice

Mixing Instructions:

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the Peep of your choice.

2. Peep Pop Art

When Peeps are left out of the package for a while they become hard or “ripe” as Peep snobs like to refer to them as.  When they are in this hardened state it make them perfect for assembling into works of art.  Peeps are particularly good for recreating Pop Art, such are Andy Warhol’s Marylin seen here.  The bright colors and blocks of color lends itself well to be captured by the bright pastels of bunnies and chicks.  If you want to enjoy your Peeps year round this might be the way to go.

1.  Peepshi

Peepshi is sushi made from marshmallow Peeps! Yeah, it looks like sushi, but the ingredients are Peeps, Rice Krispies, and Fruit by the Foot, so you know it’s super sweet.  Full instructions on how to make Peepshi along with more information on Peepshi traditions can be found on SeriousEats.com:

A Primer on Peepshi Traditions

The Peepshi tradition calls for certain deviations from the standard sushi-eating customs you’re used to seeing at, say, a sushi bar. Since Serious Eats has come to embody the contemporary Peeps revolution, I feel comfortable in providing a beginner’s guide to enjoying Peepshi. It can be a roller coaster ride of sugar, and let me just say that you never want to be the first person booting at a Peeps party.

1. There is no wasabi. Same goes for ginger. Peeps are sassy enough on their own. (We tried smashing up a green Peep for a wasabi-esque condiment, but decided against this.)

2. Do not eat an entire Peeps roll. Unless it’s a challenge. (Honor must be kept at all costs.)

3. Use the extra Peeps bodies (there will be many) to create your own Peeps diorama!

4. Room temperature water is the ideal companion to Peepshi. Too cold and the sugar feels gritty in a bad way. Too hot and then, you’re just drinking hot water.

5. Don’t let silent Peeps screams deter you from your task. You’re a professional.

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Take note people, I am not writing this list because I hate Valentines Day.  I actually really like Valentines Day, a lot, and it is always a really great day for me.  Plus I am lucky and always get really great gifts on Valentines Day.  My son was even born on Valentines Day which actually makes it extra special and seem like more than a just a Hallmark creaked holiday.  I am writing this to save countless other women from the hell of cliche items and at other times just plain awful valentines gifts.

5. Stuffed Animals

There are only two occasions when stuffed animals should be purchased.  One is when a baby is born.  The other is when some kind of tragic death happens and a teddy bear needs to be placed next to a chain link fence.  Neither of these events is Valentines Day or involves buying a red teddy bear for a grown woman who then has to find a way fit this inappropriate item in with her home decor.  Guess what?  A red teddy bear doesn’t go with anything in any woman’s house. Ever.  Also, don’t even think of sending a stuffed animal to her at work.  It’s really just a signal to all the other women who work in her office that you’re just not that into her.

4. Taxidermy

I know that most men would never give the gift of taxidermy for Valentines Day.  I am only bringing this up because this actually happened to a woman I know.  I think her boyfriend actually gave her the taxidermy turkey as a Christmas gift, not on Valentines Day, but it was a gift given to a woman by a man all the same.  I believe he thought it was really romantic because he hunted it himself and killed it and all that so it was some type of, “Look at me, I’m a real man” type of thing.  Note to men: killing things and stuffing them for your beloved is not manly, it is totally gross.  Also, this poor woman really liked dating this guy so she had to find a place to put this monstrosity in her really hip Minneapolis warehouse loft.  She ended up putting it up high on a beam where it scared the crap out of anyone who came over, looked up and happened to see the thing.  Here’s to hoping they break up so she can get rid of it.

3. Workout Gear

Has that special lady in your life been talking about signing up for yoga classes?  Hinting that maybe getting a Nintedo Wii Fit would be a great idea for getting in shape?  Complaining that none of her workout pants look good anymore?  You may think that this is the perfect idea for a Valentines gift.  A home run even.  I am here to tell you, don’t do it.  I don’t even want to explain this to you.  Just don’t.

2. Lotion Sets

Alright, how much lotion do you think women need exactly?  Women are already trying to rotate the twelve lotion sets we have from the past four Christmas, birthdays, Valentines Days, Flag days, and that bout with pneumonia  – none of which we even like the smell of to begin with.  Unfortunately, women won’t allow themselves to throw away perfectly good lotion, so we are forced to hoard them in misery.

1. Pajamagrams

Do you really think women want something from a company that says “this is the only gift guaranteed to get her clothes off”?  This is the worst thing you could EVER think of getting a woman.  Not only are these pajamas guaranteed to be butt ugly and itchy, but they come with additional accessories like “do not disturb” signs and flowered sachets.  I think men are hoping the response to this gift will be, “Because you won my heart with this tacky underwear I will wash your socks and raise your kids for another year.” Gag.

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5.  Harem Pants

One trend that shouldn’t be worn on men or women is harem pants. Call them what you want, they’re MC Hammer pants. A horrible fashion statement at the time and now just a sad look that even makes the stick proportions of a runway model seem a bit too curvy in all the wrong places.  There is only one thing to say about this trend, “Can’t touch this.”

4.  Skinny Jeans On Men

On a certain kind of woman skinny jean are one thing, on a man skinny jeans are something that should be avoided.  Unless you are Sid Vicious, and it’s the late 1970′s.  Above the Jonas brothers show us how this trend has been totally played out and gone in a totally terrifying direction.

3.  Shoulder Pads

A lot of trends from the 1980′s came back to us in 2009.  Some were good like color block dressing, belted waists, and tights.  Some were bad, like shoulder pads.  Now that 2009 is over it looks like the shoulder pad trend is over too and the only people left wearing shoulder pads again will be grandmas. (Note to grandmas everywhere: shoulder pads do not make you look thinner.)

2. Ed Hardy / Affliction T-Shirts

Every time someone mentions Ed Hardy or Affliction, an image of Jon Gosselin enters my mind … or of some over-tanned douchebag in the club getting drunk off Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi Breezers.  Please everyone, stop wearing all of this stuff now.  It is not cool, or trendy, or hip, or anything that you think it is.  It is one word: douchey.

1.  No Pants

We have Lady GaGa to blame for this.  She was seen so many times so many different ways without so many pairs of pants.  This started a chain reaction of no pants wearing among the masses.  Women began wearing leggings as pants (leggings are not pants).  Women began wearing tights as pants (tights are not pants).  I can only hope that with the end of 2009 our long national nightmare of not wearing pants is coming to a close.

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5.  Christmas Laser Beam Cats

BuzzFeed predicts that this is how the world is going to end, I concur.  This video gets points for production value and the creativity.

4.  Do You Hear What I Hear? By The Bowen Beer Bottle Band.

And amazing feat of group participation and concentration, not to mention musicality.  Let’s hear it for alcoholism!

3.  “Your A Mean One Mr. Grinch” Sung By Tay Zonday

Tay Zonday became “internet famous” with his original song “Chocolate Rain“.  Now he’s back just in time of the holiday’s with a cover of Dr. Suess.

2.  On A Sleigh

This is totally awesome parody of The Lonely Island’s “I’m On A Boat” features all of the original’s bravado plus a hip-hop Santa and sexy elves.

1.  Gap Holiday Parody

Remember that kinda gross Gap Holiday ad feature little girls this year called talk to the moose?  Leave to a bunch of gay guys to come up with a parody of this ad and along the way the funniest video of the 2009 holiday season.

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5. Pilots Miss Minneapolis On Northwest Flight 188

On October 21, 2009, Northwest Airline flight 188 overshot the destination by over 150 miles. Just as fighter aircraft were being prepared to be scrambled out of fear of foul play, the plane, flying from San Diego to Minneapolis–St. Paul, re-established contact. Its pilots, Timothy Cheney and Richard Cole, had been so absorbed in what they were doing on their laptops, apparently they were looking into the new monthly flight-crew-scheduling procedures, that they simply lost track of time.  The aviators agreed that in the midst of their discussion, they were caught by surprise when a flight attendant contacted them on the intercom to ask when the plane was scheduled to land. At that point, the jet was some 100 miles past the Minneapolis airport.

This is an old clip from Monty Python’s Flying Circus that some people think explains what really happened on Northwest Flight 188.

4. Tiger Wood Cheats On His Wife – A Lot

Tiger Woods’ squeaky-clean image changed when a small car crash became a train wreck of infidelity allegations from several women, backed up by a damning voice-mail message and finally an “I have let my family down” statement. As the story continues to evolve and escalate, more and more and more (and more) women who aren’t named Mrs. Woods have come into the fray claiming they’ve had affairs with the golf great. The Tiger Wood scandal actually might be the most important single event in sports to happen in maybe this decade.  Sure, in sports a lot of great things, and bad things have happened this past decade, but the Tiger Woods scandal may transcend all of those things.  Why?  Because unlike the steroid scandal in baseball, unlike Michael Jordan’s issues in the 1990’s, Tiger is a single player, a single entity that controlled, and still in a way controls, a lot of money and therefore a lot of jobs.

A ton of parodies have been done on this subject but my favorite is “Billy Dee Williams Tiger Woods Collectible Plates”.

3. White House Party Crashers

Tareq and Michaele Salahi, aspiring members of the cast of a reality show called “The Real Houswives of DC, crashed the first state dinner at the White House. Facebook photos of the couple posing with Vice President Joe Biden and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel indicate that the couple had up-close access to some of Washington’s elite, without actually being on the guest list. President Obama and his wife Michelle also had had a face-to-face encounter with the couple, White House officials acknowledged. The revelation underscored the seriousness of the security breach and prompted an abject apology from the Secret Service.

Here is the Saturday Night Live take on the Salahi scandal.

2. It Turns Out The Governor Wasn’t On The Appalachian Trail

After telling his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail for four days in June, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford turned up instead at the international airport terminal in Atlanta. In a long, rambling press conference on June 24, Sanford confessed to having an affair with an Argentine woman and resigned his position as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. A series of detailed and emotional love letters between the two was leaked to the press. It was later discovered that Sanford had used taxpayer-funded planes to fly to Argentina. The governor escaped impeachment by state legislators, but the storm isn’t over.  Sanford’s wife, Jenny, moved out of the South Carolina governor’s mansion this summer. On Dec. 11, she announced she is filing for divorce, calling the ordeal a “sad and painful process.” Sanford has not resigned and says he will finish out his term.

Recently Saturday Night Live opened the show with a skit on Sanford called “Adulterers Press Conference”.

1.  Balloon Boy

On October 15, 2009 I spent my day watching a silver balloon floating around Colorado. I first heard the term “Ballon Boy” on Twitter where it seemed like everyone was watching the drama unfold while Tweeting about it at the same time.  The story then was that a little boy was trapped inside a flimsy Mylar balloon. Turns out that Falcon Heene wasn’t in the balloon and it was all a media stunt for the Heene family to get publicity in hopes of getting their own reality show. They appeared twice on Wife Swap, the second time as “fan favorites.” The irony of it all was that Lifetime was going to air one of their episodes later in October and decided to pull it. Falcon, the boy who innocently gave the game away when  asked on Larry King why he hid (“You guys said we did this for the show,” he told his dad), then proceeded to accompany his family on a full round of media interviews. In a way, the Heenes got their wish of making a splash on TV: Falcon threw up on the Today show.

This is the actual clip where Falcon Hene admitts, “We did this for the show.”

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5.  Leather Leggings

Daring and a bit naughty, leather leggings exposed the inner femme fatale, making you look undeniably feminine yet unbelievably edgy. Ensuring stuck-to-you leggings were never confused with your spandex workout gear, leather leggings were essential for the colder seasons to highlight your figure at a time when you tend to hide your body under all your warm weather apparel.  The one problem with this trend was that many people needed to be reminded that leggings are not pants.  I repeat, leggings are not pants.  Your top should always be of appropriate length when wearing leggings in order to not look as though you have forgotten your bottoms (for an example of looking like you have no pants please see Lady GaGa).

4.  Booties

While your mother may have once told you that cutting off your legs at the ankle is unflattering, many people ignored that advice this year. The bootie became a staple in of wardrobes to sport with skirts, flirty dresses, and even a more structural short or romper. Booties rough up an ensemble to give you just the right amount of edge, making them perfect with this years leather leggings or the best way take a smaller fashion risk if your style leans towards the feminine and conventional.

3.  Statement Jewelery

While Coco Chanel always encouraged removing one accessory from your ensemble before walking out the front door, this year gave you the right to disobey her. Last year size mattered, and bold, bulky accessories with an edge were worn and as well as multiple pieces being worn at once. Less is no longer more. The bottom line is that when it came to accessories in 2009, the bigger and more exotic, the better.

2. Gladiator Shoes

Looking as if they are ready to wage wore on the streets, fashionistas were falling for gladiator style shoes like crazy this year.  Given their popularity with the Hollywood set and supermodels such as Kate Moss or Ellie MacPherson, the traditional gladiator sandal of the last two years has been elevated to loftier heights as the “it” shoe of the year. From delicate, embellished metallics to warrior-woman, war-like boots, gladiator footware ranges from chunky, aggressive platforms to subtle, chic metallic flats.

1.  Studs & Grommets

The haute punk rocker came out this year with garments completely embellished with studs and grommets. This trend elevates the bedazzling of the 80’s and infuses it with a British punk flair, roughing up feminine frocks for an edgier sensibility. Grommets covered cocktail dresses and added an edge to evening wear. The trend seemed like it was over in the summer but studded and sequined clothing made a comeback right after the Michael Jackson tragedy when many designers paid tribute and recreated versions of his style.  The studs were seen on everything this year from shoes to belts to dresses and accessories.

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5.  Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

People love this Brooklyn band for many reasons, but above all because they’ve become masters at vocal harmony — and “Two Weeks” demonstrates that fully. The song is simple but doesn’t have simplistic psychedelia, with Ed Droste’s and Daniel Rossen’s voices creating this high/low effect that swirls around a basic piano riff and stuttering guitar line. It’s haunting — but not at all scary.

4.  Phoenix – 1901

This is the year this French act will be remembered for one thing: they finally broke into the big time, thanks in part to  “1901″, a song that makes getting up for last call a process to remember. And it should be: Phoenix tap into those last-minute, last-hour feelings of desperation in a way that’s chic instead of anxiety-ridden.

3.  The Yeah Yeahs – Zero

There’s no denying the catchiness of this single, a strutting, joyous thing that builds to a positively giddy crescendo. This is basically a smart and sexy disco song, complete with Karen O’s vocal coos and a pounding backbeat. With her gift for sod-off squawking and tear-streaked realness, Karen O was born to lead the frisky rock revolt that the emo movement never earned.

2. Kid Cudi featuring Kanye West & Common – Make Her Say

Flipping Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” on its kinky ear, these semiconscious MCs trans-muted the year’s guiltiest pleasure into four funky minutes of winking machismo.  This song takes another song that could have also easily made it onto the list of “Top 5 Songs of 2009” and makes “Poker Face” even better by transforming the hook and making it into a hip-hop beat.  As a bonus, we finally get to see Kanye at his best again, doing a feature rhyme on a great track.

1. Lily Allen – The Fear

Making it to #1 in the UK “The Fear” was a critical and commercial success for Lily Allen.  The lyrics of the song have a theme of materialism.  Here Allen herself discusses the inspiration for the song:

‘I’ll tell you where the inspiration for it came from. I was walking down this street, in this village in the middle of the countryside in the U.K., and there was this little girl who must have been eight or nine, walking down the street with her mom in, like, high-waisted hot pants and a little crop top. And I just thought, ‘That’s not really right.’ And I could tell she was the kind of girl that would be trying out for Pop Idol in five years time, and wants to be famous when she grows up. And there’s definitely the whole culture of that where I come from, and it’s not necessarily a culture that I think is particularly healthy. But at the same time, I’m very aware that I am a part of that culture — but it’s not something that I feel particularly comfortable with.’

The combination of Lily Allen’s razor sharp lyrics and the beat that gets you dancing makes this the song of 2009.

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