Hello! I've said it before, and I'll say it again now: vintage magazines can be inexpensive history lessons - and they can also be a source of cheap entertainment as well, in the form of head-scratching, "what were they thinking back then?" when read today. (btw, when I say "inexpensive", I mean anywhere from a dime to fifty cents).
When the vintage magazine is the fall-winter 1965-66 McCall's Needlework & Crafts, the ads and projects shown range from the ridiculous to the sublime. I'll show off some of the "sublime" ads and projects today, beginning with:
This quartet of sweaters, made with imported Danish wool yarn, would still look great today. And see that rectangle in the upper right-hand corner? Its purpose was to inform the would-be purchaser of this:
Not sure why a French airline was used to fly a Danish product over, but still quite the jet-setting yarn!
From another yarn ad, this outfit:
According to the ad, Shan-Isle was "an exciting fleck tweed wool yarn in nine highland-fashion colors". Although it's hot and humid as I write this, I must admit that this sweater set is very nice.
The Scottish look continues with:
The above outfits are "Scotch Miss" sweater/skirt kits, which included yarn to make one of the sweater styles shown above, plus a skirt that only needed one seam sewn to complete the project. I remember having plaid skirts like these when I was a little girl (I was almost six when this magazine came out in the fall of 1965), so that must have been the thing then.
I like the "shaded diamonds" pattern in these sweaters and sweater vest; that is the pattern name according to the ad. Again, I think these would look pretty sharp today!
Of course, it wasn't all ads in this magazine; there were plenty of projects included as well, like this:
These "Swinging Separates", we are told, "go where the fun is!" And as for how the outfit is constructed: "Close-fitting knit top from Paris (they're referring to the designer here) has a shoulder zipper; flaring skirt is crocheted in wide bands of lace stitch, worn in the short, short style loved by the very young."
Upon reading that last statement, I looked closely at the magazine photo to see exactly where the skirt's bottom edge fell on the model - and it appeared to be just a few inches above the knee. "Short, short style", eh? In the near future, the fashion world would see mini skirts, micro-mini skirts and short shorts. Those garments had what I'd call "short, short style"!
But the writers of this magazine didn't know this yet - nor did they know that decades later, I would alternately be amused or appalled at the some of the crafts they had created for the issue.
And the ridiculousness of such projects will be the subject of my next post!
Dazzled by all the great produce showing up at your local farmer's market? Tempted by the offerings at a roadside stand? Did you decide to go to a U-Pick place and came home with more fruit than you had planned on?
Awhile back I stumbled upon PickYourOwn.org, which is a huge, comprehensive site devoted to just about everything produce-related you can think of: where to find farm markets and U-Pick fields, how to know when to pick produce, how to can, freeze or dry produce, recipes, and a lot more!
I first came across this site last fall when I wanted a refresher on how to cook a fresh pumpkin, and consulted it again recently when looking up info on how to freeze eggplant.
I haven't looked over the whole site, but I've enjoyed what I've read thus far. If you want to check out PickYourOwn.org for yourself, go HERE.
Enjoy those fresh fruits and vegetables in season - and beyond!
Hello! I enjoy looking at vintage cookbooks, but they are not without negatives at times. In the case of recipes, what passed for a suitable entree or dessert decades ago may not be my cup of tea today. I've seen enough recipes for prune-based desserts and bland pork chops to make me glad I wasn't around back then.
And although I always get a kick out of vintage cookbook illustrations, older cookbooks that used photographs are another story - often they're either blah black-and-white or blurry color pics. This is not the fault of the publishers, of course - it was just how the technology was - but it can make for a less-than-appealing presentation of the very foods I'm supposed to want to make.
But lo and behold, I recently purchased the 1953 A Picture Treasury of Good Cooking, by Demetria M. Taylor and Lillian C. Ziegfeld, photographed by Albert Gommi. It was produced by the Tested Recipe Institute, Inc. Yes, the cookbook is 60 years old, but the recipes sound - and look - quite good, and I enjoyed the food styling. (this was a thrift store purchase, by the way)
Not surprisingly, it was all carefully planned:
I'd say that Annette Rhys (food stylist) and Ernestine Stowell (accessories and table settings) did a "grand job" indeed! To show you why I say that, I'll present some photos from the cookbook.
Hamburger Grill with broiled tomatoes and banana scallops (the things that look like Tator Tots). I like the dinnerware set used here.
French Fried Shrimp flanked by tartar sauce, a basket of potato chips and a tossed salad. Still would make for a nice dinner!
Baked Macaroni And Cheese, garnished with bacon, with a tossed salad and hot tea with lemon slices. Not sure that I'd want hot tea with my mac and cheese, but I like the vinegar and oil cruet set to the left of the salad.
Caesar Salad - made the (now) old-fashioned way, with anchovy fillets and a raw egg. Shown with a loaf of crusty bread.
Golden Potato Salad with a basket of kaiser rolls and a platter of cold cuts. Picnic, anyone?
Fruit Salad With Cottage Cheese. The cottage cheese has been lightly sweetened with honey, and the small bowl to the left holds a dressing of mayonnaise and sour cream mixed together. A small platter of tea sandwiches and glasses of iced tea are behind the salad. I think I'd prefer a dressing of a fruit-flavored or vanilla yogurt instead of that mayo/sour cream blend, but other than that, this looks like a pleasant summertime luncheon.
At Eastertime - Hot Cross Buns, accompanied by butter, jams, hot tea - and an adorable grouping of a stuffed bunny and some baby chicks. I also like the pretty design of the tableware, and the glass butter dish is quite nice too.
Rise and shine! Who wouldn't want to get up with this breakfast: Buttermilk Griddlecakes, sausage links, maple syrup, hot coffee and milk. The cheery yellow placemat and blue-and-white plaid napkins would wake up a sleepyhead as well.
Another eye-opener: a fancy dessert; this is Silver Cake. Undoubtedly Rhys and Stowell were going for a special occasion look, what with the bowls of mixed nuts and mint patties, as well as the delicate-looking tableware. The cake is on a footed serving plate; very nice - and the cake itself looks great!
And last but not least, that classic dessert, Old-Fashioned Apple Pie. It's shown with a fat wedge of Cheddar cheese, cups of hot coffee - and a nifty candle holder adorned with red apples. Quite a-peel-ing! A good apple pie is worth the work of peeling the apples, though.
These are just a few examples of the good recipes and even better food styling found within the pages of this cookbook. It made me hungry just going through it to photograph these pages. Time to make dinner!
Hello! When I spy an estate sale listing in our paper, advertisting fabrics, craft supplies and patterns, I'm anything but blue at the prospect of finding such things on the cheap. But it can be a bit heart-wrenching attending these sales when they're being run by family members sad at the prospect of selling off a relative's belongings.
Went to one such sale over the weekend, where it was evident that a talented painter/quilter had once been very busy creating all sorts of decorative items. The woman taking my money looked as if she had been blinking back a few tears, so I commented that the sale represented the output of a very creative person - her mother, the woman replied. I told her I could relate some to what she is going through, as my childhood home is currently on the market, with an estate sale in the future there.
But in an effort to cheer her up, I added that because of the estate sale, her mother's efforts would now be enjoyed by people all over the county. That seemed to cheer the woman up a bit; she said she hadn't thought of it that way.
My purchases:
Fabric pieces
Buttons and a small "acorn" (acorn cap and fabric) ornament
A few quilt squares that had been mixed in with the fabric pieces
Heart with pieced front. It's only 4 1/2" high, so the fabric pieces are tiny. None of them are bigger than 3/4"! I have a bedroom in pink and green, so this heart will be hung up there.
Sweet bird painted on a small wooden plaque.
It took me a bit to figure out what the following artwork had been painted on:
I eventually realized this sailboat scene had been painted on a Leggs pantyhose container, but it did not look plastic-y at all - nice job!
The other side of this "egg" has this scene:
Ye Olde Dutch Windmill. Thus, I can use this piece as a decoration next May as well during the local tulip festival.
After paying for my purchases, I wished the woman good luck with the rest of the sale - not much more I could really say under the circumstances, but I will remember her mother when I look at the painted egg and the pretty heart.
Hello! I have a small family, so there's no sense in making a dessert unless all three of us will eat it - unless I can find a small-scale recipe, that is.
Case in point: cheesecake. My husband doesn't like it, but our daughter and I do. I suppose I could have just scaled down a cheesecake recipe for the two of us, but never bothered to do so.
Then awhile back I came across a recipe for Cheesecake In A Jar from the King Arthur Flour website. Their recipes are usually pretty good so I took notice of this one, in which seven 1/2 pint canning jars are filled with a cheesecake mixture, then baked in a slow cooker.
I didn't have any canning jars around at the time, but before I could find them in thrift stores (they often show up there), a friend asked me if I wanted some old canning jars that had been her mother's. Problem solved!
The King Arthur recipe states that it makes 14 rich servings (two per jar), so I cut the recipe in half and used four jars. The instructions are written for using an electric mixer, but since I was making a half recipe, I beat the mixture by hand, making sure that the cream cheese was well-softened before I began.
The cooking time is between one-two hours in the slow cooker, and the instructions caution that cooking times may vary. I cooked our cheesecakes for around two hours (they definitely weren't done at the one-hour mark), but I think I could have shortened the time a bit.
I found it convenient to make these after dinner last night, then I refrigerated them to have for dessert tonight.
Here's how a jar looked before it was opened:
And here's about a quarter of the cheesecake scooped out for my serving:
Result? Tastes good, like a cheesecake should!
You may have noticed that there are two layers of graham cracker crumbs in the jar - I should mention that the recipe instructions say to add the crumbs as one bottom layer, but one commenter complained that it was too hard to get to the crumbs when spooning the cheesecake out. She said she was going to try layering the crumbs next time. That made sense to me, so that's what I did.
Would I make these again? Well, even with a half recipe, these are still pretty rich for two cheesecake eaters, but this dessert would be fun to serve at a party or to give as small gifts (they keep up to a week).
If you'd like the recipe, you can find it HERE.
Hello! Yesterday I talked about the "town" part of our recent vacation, so today I'll conclude by talking about the "country" places we visited.
We left Pittsburgh on a Monday morning, taking State Route 28 up to I-80 in the Brookville area. Route 28 starts as a limited-access highway but eventually becomes a two-lane road. Plenty of nice scenery and a few old villages along the way, and I saw a number of small white churches that would have made for nice photo ops. I love the scenery in Pennsylvania!
Our destination was Williamsport, PA, but shortly before we got there we made our usual stop at Purity Chocolates near Allenwood. I've written about this business before. Sure, there are many chocolate shops around, but not all of them have their factory connected to the retail shop, visible to customers.
Looks like a sports theme was going on the day we visited:
Appears to be footballs on the top rack and baseballs below them (plus there's some flat molded chocolates underneath the baseballs, but I couldn't tell what they were meant to represent). Football season will begin soon (high school football is huge in these parts), and as for the baseballs - well, the Little League World Series will also begin soon - several miles away on literally the same road. I think a chocolate baseball would be a great souvenir of a visit to the Little League World Series!
Speaking of that sporting event and of souvenirs, I did manage to combine the two during a visit to the American Rescue Workers thrift store in Williamsport: I purchased a t-shirt celebrating a local team that made it quite far in the tournament in 2011. It was a big deal at the time in the region, of course, and we were cheering for that team to go all the way, but they didn't. The t-shirt was in fine shape; looked practically brand new. I paid $3.50 for it, but I bet it had cost at least three times that much new.
Williamsport is actually a "big city" for its region; we stay there because it has the best choices of hotels and eateries. But like every other town in the area, hills and rivers are close by.
And we saw plenty of both during a walk along the Pine Creek Rail Trail. We first walked along this trail during a visit last summer. This year we parked at the Ross Run Access Area and walked to the village of Cammal area and back, a distance of around five miles round trip.
Saw nice scenery, of course:
View along Pine Creek.
Cottages along the way; Pine Creek is visible in the background of the first photo:
Houses in or near the village of Cammal:
The third photo is actually of the garage belonging to the house in the middle photo. I liked the numerous birdhouses decorating the little building attached to the garage on the side.
For years we have passed this stone house on the way to hiking trips on the nearby Black Forest Trail, and I've always liked it. It was for sale a couple of years ago and obviously someone had bought it, for a lot of work has been done recently. It appeared that new windows have been put in, and while we passed by I could see workmen fixing up the garage. I don't know the history of the house, but it must have one; this isn't a common building style in the area.
We encountered several people on bikes and one pedestrian couple. Should have taken a photo of an older couple we saw on bikes: they came pedaling up to stop at a bathroom facility along the trail and we chatted with them for a bit. Their bikes had matching baskets attached to the handles, which I learned the woman had woven herself. The design was Native American, she said. Very nice design at that - and the basket was just the right size to hold their neighbor's dog, who had happily come along for the ride.
The day after our stint along the Pine Creek Rail Trail, we headed up to Ithaca, NY. Ithaca is a college town and so doesn't exactly have a small-town feel, but it's a bit off the beaten track, so it seems like it's out in the country.
You can get quite a workout walking to the campus of Cornell University from downtown Ithaca - it's a steady climb up. We've all done that before, but this time just my husband did the climb while our daughter and I checked out the shops in the downtown area.
Of course I had to visit Sew Green, a thrift store devoted solely to fabrics, trims, yarns, patterns, craft books and a few other odds and ends related to sewing. (of these categories, they have more fabric than anything else). They also offer sewing classes for all age groups.
Sew Green had expanded since my first visit there two years ago; it'd now doubled in size. I was happy to see that; more room for browsing! I bought a couple of fabric pieces that were on sale plus a pattern for making a fabric wallet. I also rifled through the "free" box and selected three pattern leaflets.
There are a number of charming shops in downtown Ithaca but I made only one other purchase there, also at a secondhand store: Judith Fertig's Prairie Home Cooking cookbook, from the used book store Autumn Leaves. Lots of solid recipes here, including some that were new to me. For instance, did you know that you can make a flavored syrup from peach leaves? (unsprayed, of course). I had never heard of this, but Fertig says the syrup has a delicate almond flavor.
I loved this pottery at Handwork:
The same potter also had a shelf devoted to doggy-decorated wares. I saw a lot of things in this shop that I would love to have!
Creativity abounds in Ithaca:
I'm not sure what this is called, so I'll just call it a "utility box". We saw several of these around town, each painted in a different way.
The pedestrian mall, called Ithaca Commons, is currently undergoing some construction, so a typical wooden barrier was set up around the work zone. And probably typical of a town like Ithaca, sections of the barrier have been painted to represent various community groups and businesses. I took the picture of the artwork for Bandwagon Brew Pub because that's where we went for dinner. It's a microbrewery with a small menu; locally sourced food is a strength.
A more crude example of artwork:
This large painted wheel was residing at the Tompkins County Workers Center, found on the second floor above Autumn Leaves. We don't know much about this center, but we enjoy walking around in it to see what's going on with local social justice. This wheel is part of an anti-fracking organization housed at the center. I also saw a table of fundraising items, including bumper stickers and anti-Walmart buttons. Two men were seated at a long table nearby, one giving earnest advice or expertise to the other. Basically, this is a place for the "little guy" - nice to see people looking out for workers instead of just the bottom line!
With that, I conclude the "country" portion of our vacation. I hope you enjoyed traveling along with me! We had a great time.
Hello! We were on vacation last week, hitting various points east ranging from large cities to small cities to villages. Thus, I'll divide my blog posts into two sections, town and country.
Today's entry will be the "town" portion of our trip. I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pictures due to time constraints on the days we were in urban areas, but I'll show off the photos I have and will discuss what we saw and did.
Pittsburgh: only had one full day there, a Sunday; we arrived Saturday evening and left Monday morning. The day's plans hadn't been firmed up, so we decided that morning to visit The Strip. Didn't quite know what to expect other than a number of eateries there have been touted by enthusiastic folks over at Roadfood.com.
The Strip turned out to be a commercial district with open-air markets, ethnic grocery stores, restaurants and retail establishments. It's an old part of town, so the main street of this area and the sidewalks are both quite narrow. This made it hard to navigate the area both by car and on foot, but we did our best (we parked a few blocks away in a parking lot).
Ate lunch here:
This is Peppi's, a small local chain. A decent sandwich in an old building; some of the seating looked to be old church pews. Perhaps these had been in the church-turned-bar across the street (the Altar Bar). The counter guy was busy, so I didn't ask him about the pews.
Due to the packed sidewalks I'd already mentioned, I didn't get a chance to take more pictures along The Strip, even though the scene was plenty colorful. We went in and out of a few shops, including - to me - the drool-worthy kitchenware store In The Kitchen. I saw a number of things I would love to have, but managed to keep my wallet shut. I did open my wallet at Penzey's Spices next door. Yes, I know we have a Penzey's in Grand Rapids, but we don't seem to get there.
Also saw a nice pottery shop, Penn Ave Pottery. Really pretty inside and not super expensive either.
If it hadn't been so crowded, I would have wanted to check out the Italian, Mideastern and Asian grocery stores in The Strip. I am a fan of ethnic grocery stores. Probably best that we stayed out of them - I might have gotten frustrated over not being able to buy things that wouldn't have held up well while traveling.
On the way back to our car, I took a photo of this:
The Senator John Heinz History Center. Although I'm sure that this is a fine museum, it was the Heinz catsup bottle sign that caught my eye!
We drove around some after that; bridges and hills abound in Pittsburgh and I would have gotten hopelessly lost. But my husband is truly gifted when it comes to navigating; in no time at all he'll be driving around in a city as if he'd lived there his whole life (he has been to Pittsburgh three times before, but hadn't previously driven around some of the sections we visited this day).
Tried to get my husband and our daughter interested in checking out the Duquesne Incline but that was a no-go. Oh well, I guess there can always be another time - after all, the incline has been around over 130 years by now. I guess it's not going anywhere!
Since we'd arrived in the area on a Saturday and left on Monday, that gave us two nights of viewing local TV news. It didn't take me long to discover that Pittsburgh is one of the sports-craziest towns I've ever been to, especially in regards to the Steelers. It just so happened that NFL training camps opened that Saturday, so we were treated to film footage of fans eagerly rushing into the Steelers training camp in Latrobe to watch their team. Then after the Saturday night news, the same TV station (KDKA) hosted a Steelers trivia show - now in its 10th season. We didn't watch all of it, but saw that the format consisted of three teams of three people each, answering questions about the Steelers. One of the teams wore matching shirts with wide stripes; that made them look like members of a chain gang! But the moderator introduced them as doctors from Johnstown.
We're used to the Sunday night sports shows that recap the week's sporting events, but on KDKA, this time slot was filled by a show in which three local sports media guys debated issues - you guessed it, talk of the Steelers dominated. You'd barely know that the local baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, had a very important series starting the next day. But such is the hold the Steelers have on the area!
Cincinnati: this was a quick visit on our way home. Checked into the Embassy Suites in suburban Blue Ash. We'd stayed there before, so we knew to expect these:
Some Embassy Suites have a lagoon-like feature in their atriums, with tropical plants, waterfalls and koi. This one, however, also has turtles; we counted six during this visit.
During our first stay, I asked one of the desk clerks if the turtles ever got loose; there isn't much to keep them in place. He replied that during their mating season, they do tend to roam more and sometimes will end up out in the hallways.
During this visit, I told the desk clerks that we'd thought of their hotel earlier in the year while watching The Tonight Show's Headlines segment. At one point, Jay Leno showed a classified ad someone had sent in to him. The ad read:
"Healthy one pound turtle needs ride to Cincinnati".
Jay Leno found this hilarious and we did too - the thought of a turtle needing a ride somewhere struck us as funny in a bizarre way, and I said the turtle must have been needing a ride to the Embassy Suites in Blue Ash!
The desk clerks I repeated this tidbit to found it funny as well - but then one of them went on to say that the hotel lobby was going to have a major renovation soon. The lagoon is going to come out - more seating and another restroom will go in its place. No more turtles! Bummer! The clerk said she was planning to take one of them home for her son to have as a pet.
We ate Cincinnati-style chili at nearby Blue Ash Chili, but judging from what I saw on others' plates, the double-decker sandwiches looked awesome. This appeared to be a very popular local hangout; a good meal choice if you're in that area.
I only ate half of my dinner; that way I could justify the turtle sundae I got at Graeter's after that. Grater's is an area chain known for its ice cream and baked goods. Very rich but worth the calories!
Cincinnati was just an overnight stay, but before heading north to return home we stopped here:
Jungle Jim's, Fairfield OH. To say that Jungle Jim's is a grocery store is like saying that the White House is where one family lives. According to its website, Jungle Jim's has over 200,000 square feet of shopping space. And although one can stop in to pick up just a gallon of milk or a dozen eggs - there is a regular grocery section - the full name of the establishment is Jungle Jim's International Market.
I first piqued my husband's interest in Jungle Jim's several years ago when I told him the store had a big wine selection. Now that he focuses more on microbrewed beers, on this visit he wheeled his shopping cart over to the large beer section to pick up some cartons.
Meanwhile, I took another shopping cart and headed over to the international market portion of the store. It's divided by countries, with Asian and Latin American groceries having the most shelf space. There is a decent-sized natural foods area too.
I grabbed soba noodles, a bottle of hot sauce and some extra-virgin olive oil that was on sale. But if I had wanted to, I could have purchased kangaroo meat, jams and honeys from around the country, cheeses and butters from all over the world, and more. I didn't even go into the small rooms along one wall that house foods from various European countries - just not enough time. But Jungle Jim's is definitely worth a stop, even for a short visit!
Indianapolis - we just stopped to eat lunch at BD's Mongolian Barbeque. This chain, which began in Michigan, is quite fun to eat at if it's not crowded (we had a late lunch, so it wasn't). If you've not eaten at one of these places, here's how it works: you get to choose from a buffet-like line-up of various meats, seafoods, vegetarian-type proteins, vegetables, sauces and seasonings. You put everything in a bowl and then your selections are cooked to order on a huge grill right in front of you. If you don't like how your meal ends up tasting, you only have yourself to blame!
There is plenty of nice shopping and of course other places to eat in this section of Indianapolis, but after our meal we were on our way home.
Heard a bit of "country in the city" advertising, though - the nearby Indiana State Fair had just begun and so there were several commercials for it on the radio station we were listening to in the car. In 2001, while still residents of the Hoosier State, we had gone to this state fair. Even my city-bred husband had enjoyed it.
Perhaps fittingly, other than driving through the bottleneck known as Kokomo, Indiana, the majority of the rest of our route was through peaceful countryside. And the countryside is what I'll be talking about in my next blog post!
