Tomato Juice
Waffles
Butterscotch Sauce
Adaptations:
I don't own a waffle iron, so the waffles were frozen. This certainly made the menu a whole lot easier to prepare and clean up after than it would have been for a 1940s housewife. Of course, my Homestyle Eggos weren't as tasty as they would have been fresh from a waffle iron either!
There were way too many strong flavors going on with this breakfast menu. The tomato juice would have been tastier with an omelet or scrambled eggs and toast. With a sticky, sweet mess like Waffles and Butterscotch Sauce - not so much. The Butterscotch Sauce was a recipe inside the cookbook, made in a saucepan from brown sugar, butter, lemon juice, and nutmeats. My biggest mistake was probably using margarine for something with the word "butter" actually in its name! And none of the ingredients tasted like they melded together. All I could taste as I ate the Waffles was brown sugar, lemon juice, and walnuts. And the fact that it may have been slightly overcooked certainly didn't do it any favors. Nevertheless, I forced myself to reheat the sauce and choke it down again this morning. It was just as gag-inducing as I remembered it. I'm not sure I'll try this one again. The only real good to come of this menu is that I found out my Air-O-Hood does a great job at whisking "cooking odors" away! Here's to better breakfasts tomorrow morning...
Pick up and replace small articles belonging in the room. Gather up to take out: articles belonging in other rooms, plants or flowers to be tended; place on tray or tea wagon.
So what kinds of things - besides dirty dishes - would my '40s counterpart have been picking up and restoring to their proper places when breakfast was finished? The morning newspaper, I suppose. Small electrical appliances like toasters were often used right on the breakfast table, so they would have to have been unplugged and returned to the cupboard where they belonged. Salt and pepper shakers, pots of jam, and the sugar bowl - all these items might have been returned to the refrigerator or a special shelf in the kitchen. Maybe a child left a small book or toy at the table by accident. These, too, would need to be removed. Cloth napkins would need to be laundered, though the tablecloth could probably just be brushed clean as long as there hadn't been any spills.
The authors of America's Housekeeping Book are so detailed, they even remember the plants or flowers that might serve as a centerpiece in the dining room or the breakfast nook. My impression from the vintage magazines I've looked through is that potted flowers, like small geraniums, and bowls of fruit were the most popular centerpieces for these informal table settings. And if a potted plant needs watering or pruning, it'd definitely be a lot neater to do that kind of thing in the kitchen sink than at the table. The only flowers at my kitchen table are in the design on the tablecloth, so they never need much in the way of tending!
Here's a salute to some tidy breakfast tables of the '40s - and their owners:
5 comments:
I'm fairly certain that all 40's housewives would look down on us for eating our breakfast in front of the telly...actually, I look down on us for that as well, but hubby insists it's the only way he gets to hear the news (in spite of the fact that he listens to it in bed on the radio before he gets up).
I definitely don't have anything as sweet as a cute breakfast table.
Well, I must say that I rise at the alarm (7) and get hubbys lunch prepared and put on breakfast (usually bacon eggs toast juice coffee) and we sit and eat our bfast together at our kitchen table with the radio (a repro 40's affair) tuned to WMVY(its the Martha's Vineyard station, one of the few homey towney stations that are still controlled locally). That is too bad weenie, I can barely stomache telly at all, let first thing in the a.m.
love ur blog, just found it!
i am intriqued by the live a 1940s life and also Marzipans live a 1950s life. I have wanted to attempt a 1900 life but, it would need a few months spared from normal duties as I would not be able to use my car nor phone.
speaking of 'brushing off the crumbs' if u don't already have u should get the little butlers brush (thats what we called them in our family not sure the real name) which is a little mini brush and dustpan the u scrap the crumbs into and dump into the trash. They were often ornate but in the forties I am sure they had cool bakelite versions in loverly green and creams!
Also, speaking of 1940's I am planning on planting a victory garden this summer and I even found a site that offers only seeds available in the 1940s in vintage packaging!
I just realized the stark contrast between those two kitchens and the wives. The top is obviously a more country or farm setting, as the hoosier cabinet she is standing in front of (which I love) were first popular in pre to post WWI while the wife below is part of the new post war wives looks like. Streamlined counters, plate glass windows, probably in a new suburban setting. Interesting. I believe the bottom would have probably represented the young wife and the top what her mother's kitchen at the time was most likely like. That's all.
Well, all the different kinds of media out there have their advantages. Internet news is lightning fast. TV news has powerful visuals. Newspapers allow you to take your time --- and give you a better look at local issues than any other kind of media. I get my own news fix from NPR while I'm driving to and from work - and, now, at the breakfast table!
Atomicliving, Marzipan's blog inspsired me to pick back up this experiment which I've failed at twice before. I'm thinking that this blog might give me a sense of accountability. Just to have to write it down at the end of the day helps me to stay the course. The routine right now is pretty easy, but it's going to get harder as I add a new mission every week!
Thanks for the tip on the butler's brush!!!
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