Little Grey Bungalow

Patterns of the Past - Needlecraft, September 1914

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:24:00 +0000

Some designs are timeless classics. This is not one of them.

Vintage Valentines from TipNut

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:51:00 +0000

Tatting - a 1949 Doily

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:24:00 +0000

At the request of Here-Be-Tatters' Diane, a doily from the Star Book #66, published in 1949. Instructions for four sizes are on my Flickr account.

An Inconvenient Truth

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:46:00 +0000

People who own German Shepherds should know better than to buy microfiber bedspreads.

Vintage Images - Bookplates

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:23:00 +0000

Cat-erpillar

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:53:00 +0000

A Tale Of Two Sundays - February

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:55:00 +0000

From 52 Sunday Dinners, on the first Sunday in February, 1928, the following menu was suggested: Cream of Pea Soup with Toasted Crackers, Cold Roast Leg of Lamb with Heated Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Mashed Yellow Turnips, Tomato Sauce, Celery, Cucumber Pickles and Apple Tapioca Pudding with Whipped Cream.

Cream of Pea Soup

“Rinse a can of peas with cold water and keep out ¼ cup. Simmer the remainder of the can with a slice of onion, small bay leaf, a little parsley, teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon white pepper, 2 cups boiling water for 20 minutes, then put through strainer, mashing through as much of the pulp as possible. Bring a pint of milk to scald in double boiler, thicken with tablespoon butter blended with 1 ½ tablespoons flour, and when the milk is creamy add the peas, etc. Stir well, and just before serving add the whole peas.”

Apple Tapioca Pudding with Whipped Cream

“Pare, core and quarter 3 or 4 tart apples and put in a deep dish to bake. To a pint of milk allow 2 tablespoons tapioca that does not need soaking, and cook in double boiler until tapioca looks clear. Break 2 eggs into a bowl, add ½ cup sugar, a pinch of salt, and beat until foamy, then add a teaspoon of lemon extract, and stir into the cooked tapioca. When the apples are tender turn over them the tapioca mixture, and return to the oven for 20 minutes. Serve cold with the whipped cream, which may be slightly sweetened and flavored with ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.”

Mrs Berolzheimer's recommended menu for Sunday the 1st of February 1953 offers a Lincoln’s Birthday Dinner consisting of a Grapefruit, Pomegranate and Blueberry Appetizer Salad, Fried Chicken, Buttered Steamed Barley, Harvard Beets, Pumpkin Pie, Coffee and Milk. I think the appetizer was the closest thing to a red-white-and-blue salad she and her myrmidons could devise. They offer no recipe with that title in the accompanying 500 Salads book; perhaps the hostess was supposed to sprinkle this grapefruit salad with blueberries and pomegranate seeds?

Grapefruit Appetizer Salad

“Remove seeds from halves of grapefruit. Cut around inside edge as close to shell as possible. Separate grapefruit segments from membrane, cut out remaining membrane and arrange romaine, escarole or chicory around inside of shell. Cut grapefruit segments into pieces and heap up in shell. Serve with French dressing.”

Note: French dressing, at this time in American culinary history, referred not to the red ketchup-like stuff we know today, but rather a plain oil and vinegar dressing.

Of the two menus, I think I’d go with 1928 again, although my leg of lamb would be served hot and without the tomato sauce.

Caturday!

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:51:00 +0000

Quote of the Day

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:12:00 +0000

Liberty doesn't work as well in practice as it does in speeches. ~Will Rogers

The Online Bookshelf - The Cock and the Mouse and the Little Red Hen

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:13:00 +0000

Evil is punished, virtue triumphs, and some poor baby foxes face a bleak and hungry future, at Project Gutenberg.

I'm Shocked

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:33:00 +0000

At the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) expressed his concern that repealing the rule would pave the way for allowing "alcohol use, adultery, fraternization, and body art" in the military.

Because as we all know, never, at any time in American history, has there ever been any alcohol use, adultery, fraternization and body art in the military.

Patterns of the Past - Flowers to Embroider and Cross-stitch

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:02:00 +0000

A McCall's pattern from 1963. The envelope includes half a dozen cutwork designs, as well.

Crochet - Vintage Toys From Purple Kitty

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:48:00 +0000

Real life is interfering with blogging this week (and next week, and probably the week after).

I have not had time to dig something out of my stash, so I am going to link to some vintage patterns for crocheted toys from the wonderful ladies at Purple Kitty. Enjoy!

(Scroll about half-way down the page).

Vintage Images - Bird Prints

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:42:00 +0000

(By John James Audubon, and copyright-free from Dover).

Calvin Lives

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:06:00 +0000

A few days after the blizzard earlier this month, every house on the next block woke to find a snowman on the front lawn…so placed as to be staring accusingly through the living room window when the homeowners opened the drapes in the morning.

I suspect the teenagers who live on the corner and some of their friends. Darn kids.

(Wish I’d thought of it first).

A Noon-Day Breakfast for the Swagger Set

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:41:00 +0000

From Breakfasts and Teas; Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions.

"The following is an excellent bill of fare for a noonday breakfast:

Little Neck Clams
Cold Wine Soup
Angels on Horseback
Chicken Patties
Newberg Lobster
Green Peas with New Turnips
Grape Fruit Sherbet
Broiled Birds with Orange Salad
White Custards
Cannelons with Jelly
Strawberries in Cream
Black Coffee

For a simple repast for a few persons, two relishes may be omitted, only one entree being served; then the sherbet, the birds, and one desert, with coffee; this combination would make a most acceptable small breakfast."

A Man's Work Is Never Done

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:02:00 +0000

He (on hands and knees, scrubbing bathroom floor): HEY! That was real nice!

Me: What happened?

(The Drama Queen is perched on the side of the bathtub, looking maliciously innocent).

He: She just walked across where I cleaned the sink and left dirty footprints all over it!

Me: Welcome to my world.

Caturday!

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:17:00 +0000

Xin Nian Kuai Lo!

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:16:00 +0000

Happy Year of the (Sleepy) Tiger!

Quote of the Day

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:51:00 +0000

Where words fail, music speaks. ~ Hans Christian Andersen

The Online Bookshelf - If Your Baby Must Travel in Wartime

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:05:00 +0000

Published by the Children's Bureau of the Department of Labor in 1944, and wittily illustrated by Gluyas Williams. From Project Gutenberg.

Patterns of the Past - Butterick 6618

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:02:00 +0000

A classic. What was it about the Fifties and redheads, anyway?

Crochet - Some Vintage Edgings

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:31:00 +0000

While looking for something else, I can across a major stash of vintage thread company booklets. How on earth did I accumulate all of these? This one was issued by the Lily Mills Company of Shelby, North Carolina. I can't find a publication date and I think there may be some pages missing.

Two pages of these and other edgings can be downloaded from my Flickr account.

Vintage Advertising - Swift's Ham

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:58:00 +0000

From Woman's Home Companion, October 1921. Left-click to enlarge -- don't you love those Fauvist curtains?

The Stuff Of Life

blueprairie@yahoo.com (Shay) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:19:00 +0000

(Four of these fat rascals are helping themselves to the bird feeders, after stripping the squirrel corn back to the cob. There is a fifth, just off-camera. Photograph taken at a rather awkward angle from the kitchen window this morning).

Mrs Fisher's recipe last Sunday for a cornbread made with cornmeal and boiled rice was an interesting variation. Cornbread used to be a staple on every American table, North and South. In the little grey bungalow, corn and pork are a vous et nul autre team; if I serve ham, I make sure there are corn muffins to go along with it, and pork chops are always….always…accompanied by a side dish of the corn that we “put up” the summer before.

I found this recipe on an age-speckled clipping tucked between the pages of a Depression-era baking book I brought back from Michigan this fall. The last step before baking -- pouring a cup of sweet milk over the batter in the skillet -- is interesting.

CORN BREAD. "1 1/2 cups corn meal, 1/3 cup flour, 1 cup sour milk, 1 teaspoon soda (scant), 2 eggs, well beaten; 2 cups sweet milk, 1/4 cups sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 tablespoons butter. Mix and sift corn meal and flour. Add sour milk mixed with soda, eggs, 1 cup sweet milk, sugar and salt. Melt butter in iron frying pan and turn in mixture. Pour over remaining milk and bake 50 minutes in moderate oven (350° F.). Serves about six."

The eggs and sugar make it a Yankee recipe; I am told a true Southern cook never puts sugar in her cornbread and the purists frown on eggs and butter (my mother, a Texan, used bacon grease). For Southern-style cornbread, check out Christy's recipe at Southern Plate.