What's In Your Fridge?
Pittsburgh City Paper, February 20 - February 27, 2002, p. 50
Writer: Cara Gillotti
Photographer: Heather Mull

SHARON "MAMA" SPELL On a cold February evening, Sharon "Mama" Spell, painter/cabaret star, opened her shiny steel Euro-frigerator door to the paparazzi.

1. HEINZ SALAD CREAM, imported, like Sharon's husband Rich, from Great Britain. This is a tangy, "sort of mustardy" dressing unavailable in Pittsburgh, even in the football stadium.

2. Half-eaten CHOCOLATE ORANGE, rewrapped in original foil box. The orange was part of a Christmas stocking from Sharon to Rich, and Rich is taking his sweet time eating it. "It maddens me," Sharon says. "All of my stocking is gone. It's taunting me. I can't eat his chocolate ... can't ... be eatin' ... his chocolate."

3. GOYA BRAND GUAVA NECTAR AND PAPAYA NECTARS. These are used to concoct vintage tiki cocktails from Beachbum Berry's Grog Log, another Christmas present for Rich. This book is 96 spiral-bound pages of recipes for drinks like "Hell in the Pacific," made from 151-proof Demerara rum, lime juice, maraschino liqueur and grenadine. Sharon, vastly interested in intriguing beverages, is a member of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails). Find out more at www.lupec.org.

4. PINK PLASTIC SCORPION, from a gin and tonic at Bar 11. "They fill the glasses with choking hazards. Can you imagine? Choking hazards in their beverages." Did the scorpion choke Sharon? It did not. She was wise to their ways, Bar 11 with their choking hazards.

5. SOCK MONKEY, made by Sharon's mother. "My half-brother," Sharon explains, as it lounges on a bottle of Diet Pepsi. What's he doing there? Sharon shrugs, "Just chilling." CP