The Evening After

Well, I wouldn't call it the social event of the decade, but my parents cleaned their plates - my dad even asked for seconds - and we had some good laughs afterward as I showed them the cookbook I'd used and shared some of the recipes I spared them! Though I'd planned on serving a 1940s Easter menu, I decided at the last minute to serve up a medley of some of the surprisingly wonderful vintage recipes I've discovered in cooking dinner for myself over the past year. I guess you could say it was kind of like my annual report on vintage cookery.

Lima-Bean Casserole
Mashed Potato Balls
Beet Pickle Salad
Popovers
Honey Rice

Mashed Potato Balls are patties formed from cold mashed potatoes and a beaten egg yolk. Brown them in the oven with a dab of margarine on top. I added some seasoned salt to mine to give them a little kick. The Beet Pickle I used for the salad was a canned version purchased at the supermarket. (Aunt Nellie's is the brand. I like to think of her as my dear old Aunt Nellie who pickled the beets straight out of her Victory Garden last summer.) I sliced the beets and served them on a bed of lettuce with a tiny dollop of mayonnaise. Popovers are an old family favorite and the recipe in The American Woman's Home Cook Book (1945) doesn't disappoint. (Note: If you're using a modern popover pan, the batter only makes about six.)

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POPOVERS

1 cup sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon melted shortening

Sift flour and salt together. Beat eggs and add milk, shortening and sifted dry ingredients. Beat until smooth with rotary beater. Fill greased muffin pans 1/2 full and bake in very hot oven (450 degrees F.) 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to moderate (350 degrees F.) and bake 15 minutes longer. Makes 8.

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Whew! It's been a long time since I had such a heavy meal so late in the day. My eating habits have changed so much over the last twelve months that it felt positively strange to wake up still feeling so not-hungry this morning. I guess I've gotten used to waking up with an empty tummy! I felt so full I couldn't face anything more than Toast for breakfast this morning. My sink is full, too. Full of dirty pans that needed a good soaking. My mission tonight is to finish cleaning up after the party.

Lessons learned? 1) I truly would have appreciated one of those vintage ranges with three or four different oven chambers. You can set each chamber at a different temperature, right? None of last night's recipes wanted to play together when it came to temperature. 2) My apartment is way too small to entertain more than one person at a time. And it's awful tough to serve dinner at the kitchen table when you have to ask one of your guest to stand up for a minute while you open the oven to check on your Honey Rice. (I'm thinking Dorothy Dix would not have approved.) Let's face it. Nobody should be seated right in front of the oven! Talk about a hot seat.

Party Time

Inviting my parents over for a vintage dinner party has been a blessing in disguise. As hard as it's been to drag myself out of this slump, knowing they are going to be here - tonight! - has forced me to open the windows, let the sunshine in, and set my house to rights. It's 6:30 on Sunday morning as I sit down to write this post --- which means I've got less than 12 hours before my guests arrive. In just one more week, my parents will be heading back East for the year. I do so want them to leave knowing I'm back on my feet.

I'm still planning some sort of blend of the Easter menus in my last post, but haven't made any final decisions yet. The women's pages of 1940s newspapers were packed with suggestions for Easter table decor. Putting aside some of the bunnies and candy eggs and calla lilies made from thin slices of turnip and carrot strips(!), some of these suggestions will still work quite nicely for a bit of vintage springtime flair.

The Pittsburgh Press (April 22, 1943)
"A daffodil centerpiece on the Easter table will bring Spring indoors."

The Spokesman-Review (March 27, 1947)
"...huge bowls of gladiola, carnations, and spring flowers..."

The [St. Petersburg, Florida] Evening Independent (April 1, 1947)
"For the table - centerpiece low and modern of pink and white carnations, dawn pink roses with blue lace flowers to accent. Arrange in a crystal bowl. Place on Irish linen cloth in new postwar design. Use the lovely new crystal dessert plates and goblets."

Ottawa Citizen (April 2, 1947)
"By all means use your green tablecloth, a perfect natural background for all colors used in your setting or foods. If possible, have a flower centerpiece, all-white flowers are often used for an Easter table-setting, or an artistically-grouped bouquet of vari-colored spring flowers or make a pert old-fashioned bouquet, small flowers tightly circled about a center rosebud. Or use one large shallow bowl, or two matching smaller ones, holding floating flowers: for example, white and yellow freesias, pansies, hyacinths, daffodils. At each side of the center piece have a dish of brightly colored candies, mints perhaps... Of course use your most colorful china and glass, gleaming silver."

The Miami News (March 24, 1948)
"That means bringing out your delicate china, pastel china... For your table centerpiece you might use a low bowl of yellow gladioli..."

A big trend I noticed in looking for ideas for table decor is the color of the menu. Article after article extols the goodness in having a springtime menu that covers every shade of the rainbow. Not only did the '40s housewife have to plan her menu around ration points and local food shortages, but she also had to make sure the menu included dishes in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, violet, and pink. A colorful menu was just as important as a colorful new outfit on Easter Sunday.

Here's my post-breakfast plan of attack for the day:

1. Clean the kitchen garbage can with boiling water. Leave outdoors to air dry.
2. Finalize the dinner menu (don't forget the color!) and prepare a shopping list.
3. Walk six laps at the park.
4. Marketing
5. Light lunch
6. Wash the kitchen floor.
7. Dust and polish furniture in living room.
8. Vacuum living room and bedroom.

Yipes --- it's already 7:45! I'd better run. Lots to do!!!

Baby Steps

Well, this last week has been a mixed bag.

It's been successful in some ways --- I was able to get all my weekday walks in and made it through five laps at the park yesterday. Today's goal: six! I filed my federal tax return on Thursday and mailed off my state return yesterday, so $638 should be winging its way to me within the next few weeks.

It's been unsuccessful in others --- I'm really struggling to find the motivation to do anything at home. I'm not having any trouble shopping, however, so I have been enjoying buying some new spring clothes to fit my new body and some new bedding to fit my new mattress. I find myself resisting the thought of having to start from scratch, but I guess there's no other way out of this hole. So I'm making a pledge right now - whatever else I do or don't do this week - to put the routine back in my morning. Remember these? These nine simple steps I adopted one at a time beginning in November 2007. They became the core of my housekeeping routine:

Open window in bedroom on arising, for free circulation of air.

Throw back bed covers, including top sheet.

Carry soiled clothing to the hamper. Hang up other clothing. Put away any personal possessions out of place in the bedroom.

Prepare and serve breakfast.

Clear away dishes and misplaced articles from dining room, after breakfast.

Operate ventilating range hood while scraping, rinsing, and stacking dishes in the dishwasher. Leave pots and pans to soak in sink.

Put away food.

Make bed.

Close bedroom window if air conditioning will be used during day.

There's no excuse in the world that feels as good to me now as I used to feel having accomplished these nine simple steps every morning of the week. Whether I'd like the extra sleep or not, my body is used to getting up at a certain time and getting things done, so I can't even truly enjoy re-setting my alarm and spending another hour in bed! I just lie there, tossing and turning, feeling stupendously unaccomplished for not getting up and doing my chores. I'm resolving, in fact, to do every one of these chores before I press "Publish Post" on these very words this morning. By the time you read this post, I'll have finished each and every one of them...

There, I've finished the first three steps. Now for a little fun. I've asked my parents over for a vintage dinner party on April 11 before they head back East for the year. It's the Sunday after Easter, but I'm planning a 1940s springtime menu complete with vintage table decorations. I've been doing a little research into Easter menus from that time period. Leaving out the meat, of course, I'm sure to be able to mix and match from these dishes to come up with a menu appropriate for my dinner party. Which one is your favorite?

Milwaukee Journal (April 18, 1943)
Broiled Ham Slice
Parsley Buttered Potatoes
Steamed Peas in Orange Cups
Fresh Fruit Salad
Baking Powder Biscuits with Honey
Cake [made with coconut and candy eggs] and Fresh Pineapple
Coffee

Better Homes and Gardens (April 1945)
Baked Ham Slice
Easter Eggs
New Potatoes and Peas in Cream
Little Green Onions
Carrot Curls
Rosy Radishes
One-a-Penny Buns
Mile-High Lemon Chiffon Pie

St. Petersburg Times (March 18, 1945)
Cream of Fresh Vegetable Soup
Celery Crisps
Chicken Loaf
Frizzled Ham Slices
Glazed Sweet Potatoes
String Beans Hollandaise
Fruit Fan Salad [segments of chilled citrus fruit, strawberries, apple slices, and raisins for garnish]
Toasted Crackers
Cheese Spread

Toledo Blade (April 16, 1946)
Orange and Grapefruit Cup
Fried Chicken
New Potatoes with Watercress
Butter
Fresh Asparagus
Endive and Hard Cooked Egg
Salad
Corn Meal Muffins
Rhubarb Cream Pie

Pittsburgh Press (April 1, 1947)
Three Fruit Cocktail [frosted peaches, grapefruit, strawberries]
The Easter Ham [garnish of peach halves]
Sweet Potato Puffs
New Asparagus
Mock Hollandaise Sauce
Molded Spring Salad
Hot Biscuit or Rolls
Preserves or Jelly
Meringue Shells with Ice Cream and Strawberries
Coffee
Candy
Sliced Nuts

Tomato Consomme
Crisp Wafers
Olives
Radish Rose
Celery
Roast Chicken with Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans with Celery
Mixed Fresh Fruit Salad
Frozen Strawberry Dessert
Coconut Frosted Cup Cakes
Coffee
Candies

Fresh Fruit Cup
Crown Roast of Lamb with Mint Apples
New Potatoes in Cream
Buttered New Potatoes or Cauliflower
Spring Vegetable Salad
Daffodil Cake a la Mode
Coffee
Salted Nuts
Candies

[Spokane] Spokesman-Review (March 18, 1948)
Fruit Cup
Baked Ham
Creamed New Potatoes and Peas
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Jellied Gingerale and Pear Salad
Relishes
Hot Cross Buns
Orange Chiffon Cake
Coffee

Southeast Missourian (April 14, 1949)
Consomme with Cut-up Vegetables
Roast Leg of Spring Lamb
Mint Sauce
Brown Gravy
Surprise Baked Potatoes
Green Peas
Buttered Asparagus
Parkerhouse Rolls
Butter or Fortified Margarine
Watercress Salad
Angel Pie with Crushed Strawberries and Pineapple
Coffee
Milk

You can definitely see some trends as to what kinds of foods were considered springlike in the 1940s, even if there was no way on God's green earth most Americans could put fresh peas, asparagus, strawberries, or pineapple on the dinner table in April! Unless you lived out West, you probably wouldn't be able to pull that kind of thing off 'til June. Most housewives would have had to rely on canned (or frozen) fruits or vegetables for an Easter menu like these. Maybe that's what these Easter dinner menus are really all about --- a taste of what's to come in a couple more months. A hint of your first harvest from the garden, even if it's weeks away and those seedlings aren't even yet in the ground!

Back to work. Let's face it, my kitchen's a mess. And the last thing I feel like doing is any kind of baking or cooking in a mess. I've been stalled up on this last week's breakfast menus ever since Tuesday's called for some baking. I need to address that, but I can't do it before eating my breakfast this morning - so I'm going to shoot for something simple, but filling. How 'bout Thursday's menu:

Grapefruit Half
Poached Free-range Eggs
Toast

I've just finished steps four, five, six, and seven. It's literally the first time in weeks I've eaten a meal sitting at my kitchen table. I've still got two more steps to take, then I can publish this post and go forward with my day...

Check, and check! I'll have to share some of the decorating I've started in my bedroom in another post. For now, my bed is made. The room has been aired, but it's warm enough these days that I should be able to open the window again in a couple hours and leave it open 'til sunset. Thanks for holding my hand while I worked my way thru these chores. Clearly - even after all this time - keeping things clean and organized does not come naturally to me. Will it ever?

Vernal Equinox

Today is the first day of spring. (How did it get to be late March?) A day for new beginnings and fresh starts --- boy, do I need one! I've been working hard to get my walking routine back on track, but just about everything else in my life is still in chaos. It's monumentally tough to want to work hard when you feel so uncomfortable. My lower back aches and I'm always crampy - it's like PMS every day of the week around here - but my doctor assures me this is normal for someone recovering from a ruptured cyst. This, too, is supposed to pass.

So I forced myself to sit down at the computer this morning and plan my breakfast menus for the week ahead. That's something I used to do every Sunday and it feels good to do it again. I'll make a stop at the supermarket later today and make sure that my pantry and refrigerator are ready to go. Since I'm not yet doing any morning exercises, I've got some extra time and I'm even planning to do a little baking on Tuesday morning. There's a recipe for Pineapple Muffins in The American Woman's Cook Book (1945) I've been wanting to try. (I'll share if they turn out yummy.)

You know, it turns out I've become a bit of a snob since I started baking for myself. When I let myself indulge in whatever the heck I felt like eating over the past month, the things I indulged in rarely tasted as good as I'd expected them to. Isn't that funny? Things I remembered from before my diet as having been to die for didn't really pan out when I "treated" myself to them again. And it's not that I've become some fantastic cook, so maybe it's the ingredients. Those looooooooooooong lists of additives and preservatives just don't taste very good to me any more. Has my palate changed? I guess I've become accustomed to eating things that are simpler and fresher. That's probably a good thing in the long run, but it does make "indulging" a little harder...

Thank you all so very much for your kind comments and warm thoughts. I'm sure I'll feel more like blogging as I start to feel more and more like myself. Wishing you all a happy first day of spring!

Hello There...

Hello there, dear readers... It's Jitterbug - crawling out of the cave where she's been licking her wounds to check in with the world.

It's been a long few weeks since I last posted. The virus never resulted in dehydration, but shortly after my last post the symptoms morphed into something I thought was a bacterial infection. It actually turned out to have been an ovarian cyst which has since ruptured. Several doctors' visits + 1 CT scan + 2 courses of antibiotics + 1 ultrasound + lots of Vicodin later, I'm finally starting to feel like a human being again.

If there's anything good that's come out this, it's that I've realized how much my life before The Experiment resembled a sick person's. I had been physically healthy for years. My ulcerative colitis had been in remission for five years, yet I was still living the existence of somebody mired in illness. Buying supplies as they occurred to me. Eating catch as catch can. Opening my mail once a month or so. Clueless about how much money I had or where it was going. Moving in a fog from bed to work and back to bed again. I was forced to live like this for the past few weeks --- and it appalls me that I lost half a decade of my life to that lifestyle by choice. It was one thing during the years that I was actually dealing with illness and surgeries. Another thing entirely when the surgeries were over and my body was physically in good order. That's the toll that depression can take on somebody.

Oh, yes --- here's one more good thing. I was stuck at home so much during the last few weeks I got to watch season two of The Tudors. Drama-licious! Especially the finale. I'd never have thought I'd be weeping for the woman who got beheaded when I cheering for it one episode earlier. (Okay, the Vicodin may have been partially responsible for my mood swings.) I'm waiting for season one now so I can see what happened first. If you're on the lookout for a guilty pleasure, The Tudors might just fit the bill. And, hey, it's history. Educational, right?

So, I'm picking up the pieces. I'm not entirely comfortable yet and have two more tests to look forward to, but I want my life back. My biggest goal today is to get outdoors and walk. Slowly. 30 minutes at the park. It will have been the first time in three weeks that I've done a lick of exercise. And I'd like to slowly pick some things up around the house and start a shopping list for things I'll need from the grocery store this weekend. No heavy-duty cleaning, no stretching/toning --- just a little something normal. I promise I'll check in again soon...

All Quiet on the Home Front

I'm sorry I've been so quiet this week... I picked up some kind of a nasty stomach virus early this week and have been a mess ever since. I've lost 6 lbs. in water weight since Tuesday - 2 of those lbs. were just the standard PMS bloat, but 4 lbs. are healthy water weight. I would gladly trade them back if these symptoms would just disappear. I'm doing everything in my toolbox to re-hydrate, but may have to go into the hospital for a day or two to get some IV fluids. The large intestine is where most of the fluid we ingest is absorbed into the body, so - without a large intestine - dehydration is something I have to guard against constantly. In ten years, it's never once been a problem bad enough that I had to go the IV route. Rats! Breakin' my record!!! Thank goodness for that comfy new mattress. It's gotten quite a lot of use this week. I'll keep you posted, but don't be worried if I'm a bit quiet for a few more days. This virus has got to work its way through me eventually, right?

Dorothy Dix Says...

I'm not sure that several decades' worth of statistics have borne out Ms. Dix's opinion, but here are her thoughts on whether divorce is "hereditary" or not. This column was first printed on February 17, 1949.

Dear Miss Dix: The boy I am engaged to is all that a girl could want in a husband, except his folks have been divorced and each has married again and so have mine. Divorce on both sides. Does that mean that divorce is hereditary in our families? People tell me that if one’s parents are divorced, there is no chance of having a happy marriage. Is this true?

MISS BETTYE.

Answer - No. There is not a scintilla of truth in the belief that divorce is hereditary, and that if your father and mother were unhappily married your marriage is bound to be a failure. Indeed, so far as family fights being catching, the opposite is generally the case, and the children who have grown up in discordant homes usually make the most peaceful and considerate husbands and wives.

Their parents are an awful warning to them. They have seen the cat and dog lives their mothers and fathers have led. They have seen their homes broken up and their families scattered. They have suffered from the disaster that a high-tempered woman and a selfish man can inflict upon helpless children, and they are determined not to bring such a misfortune upon their own households. The children of broken homes want no divorce in theirs.

Perfect Sleeper

I feel like such a grown-up.

My car and my computer are probably the only items - until yesterday - that I've ever made a substantial investment in purchasing. Now I can add a new mattress to that list. When I first moved out of my parents' home and into an apartment of my own, I trucked along the mattress they'd bought me several years before. When I moved out west, I inherited my sister's old mattress --- which has got to be about 15 years old now. Those hand-me-down mattresses have served me well, but it felt wonderful yesterday to choose something brand new. Something I chose because it met all of my own mattress needs. My own hard work translated into something tangible for once. Not just groceries (which disappear almost instantaneously) or clothes (which I shrink out of sooner or later), but something substantial that's going to be part of my home for quite some time.

Henry Humphrey, the editor of Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) asserts that there is no other furnishing in the household so important as a quality box spring and mattress. You know, even as I left the mattress showroom yesterday, I was feeling a little guilty about not having purchased the least expensive mattress I tried out. I ended up spending $700 for a mismatched queen-sized set by Serta, but I could've spent less. Reading this makes me feel easier about my investment:

From the standpoint of health and comfort, the bed is the most important single article of furniture in the house, and it deserves all the consideration that it can be given, both when you come to select it and when you start to care for it. By bed we mean box spring and mattress. The frame isn't at all important to your comfort; it serves only an esthetic purpose, but the best mattress and spring available will pay dividends in rest and health.

You can select a bed from any one of five different types and still have the utmost in comfort. A box spring is almost essential but there are good springs which are not boxed. The choice of a mattress depends upon you - whether you like a soft, downy bed or a hard, firm one. Up until a few years ago, the innerspring mattress was considered the best in comfort and durability but the development of the rubber foam type has been a serious challenge to the innerspring. Other health authorities recommend horsehair or cotton felt mattresses, but no matter which type is chosen it is always wise to buy one with a well-established name from a reputable dealer. There is no such thing as a bargain in a mattress.

With 60 years' hindsight, we know that innerspring mattresses were never completely eclipsed by rubber foam mattresses. Today's mattresses combine the best of both worlds - in most cases the innersprings are surrounded by various kinds of foam.

Did you know Serta's been around since the 1930s? Thirteen independent U.S. mattress factories banded together in 1931 under the name Sleeper, Inc. with plans to capture a share of the national market by manufacturing mattresses according to the same specifications and standards. They called their first mattress (the first tuftless mattress ever made) "Perfect Sleeper" and, though the company changed its own brand name to Serta during the early '40s, the Perfect Sleeper remained a hot commodity throughout the decade - and is still being sold today!

Well, my 21st-century Serta is supposed to be delivered today. You know how that goes. I'll probably be stuck at home most of the day waiting for the delivery people to arrive, but I'm going to make the most of that time by catching up on this weekend's housework. And I'm going to go to sleep tonight on my very own mattress. You know how they say you sleep better in your own bed... here's my chance to find out.

57 + 1 = 58

One more week - and one more pound. I weighed in at 136 this morning, for a total weight loss of 58 lbs. That mini-goal of 134 by Saturday, February 20 is just 2 lbs. away now. Can I do it? I'm certainly going to try!

This has been a lovely winter. My parents have been in town since late November and don't plan to head home to New England until early April --- which has been fantastic (it's such a treat to see them playing with Kitten and Poppet!), but it also makes my social calendar more full than it was during my first year of The Great Housekeeping Experiment. And when my social calendar is full, I feel like I'm always one step behind in my housework. I'm looking forward to making one of my vintage dinners for them one of these nights, though, and showing off some of my new cooking skills. Boy, won't they be surprised! I guess I ought to give some thought to the menu. Maybe I can plan a Washington's Birthday celebration or something...

One of the many things on my to-do list while my parents - and their truck! - are in town is to make my major furniture purchases for my nest: a sofa and a new mattress set. We're headed out this morning to do a little "market research." I haven't been furniture shopping in years, so it'll be good to see what's out there and get a feel for the prices. (It may take me a few trips like this just to get comfortable with the money I'm going to have to fork over. When you haven't spent a lot of money on any one thing in years, the idea can take some getting used to!)

Henry Humphrey's Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) offers some interesting advice on sofas:

To follow a good general rule, be sure that there are as many upholstered pieces as there are members of your family. Add to these a couch or sofa and there will be a comfortable seating arrangement for both family and guests. For large gatherings, provision will have to be made for extra chairs, probably taken from other parts of the house, so consider the upholstered pieces from the standpoint of comfort for your immediate family and the average number of people you entertain.

If there is no other accommodation for an overnight guest, the living room may occasionally have to substitute as a bedroom. For this purpose, a studio couch, or some type of couch which can be made into a bed, is a sensible investment.

If the guest bedroom problem does not concern you, the living room's upholstered furniture may be of any kind or type you like. There are all sizes and shapes of sofas; there are loveseats, couches, studio couches and chairs. Quality is important when buying. Flashy exteriors never make up for solid construction.

Okay, so if there's only one member in my family, then I only need one upholstered piece in my living room + a couch or sofa. Sweet! I'm halfway there. I already own an oversized club chair and ottoman covered in a burgundy velvet. I don't have any accommodations for overnight guests, but I rarely have overnight guests --- and now that my parents have a place out here which is going to be vacant half the year, you might say I have a guest room just across town. (Just kidding!) I would like to upgrade to a larger apartment at some point - one with a second bedroom for Kitten or Poppet to sleep in when they stay over at Auntie's - so while a sleep sofa might come in handy once in a great while, I probably wouldn't need it in my next place. I suspect sleep sofas are much more expensive than traditional sofas, but that's something I need to look into while I'm out shopping today. It's still on the table.

What do you suppose a "studio couch" is? As near as I can figure from the instructions in this book on slipcovering a studio couch, it's a flat piece you'd leave bolsters on during the day for seating and remove them at night to convert it into a bed of sorts. My great-aunt, who built and furnished a home in the 1940s with her husband, had two of these pieces on the sleeping porch. When my sisters and I were visiting, we'd take the bolsters off at night, pile them on the floor, then spread our sleeping bags on top. There were three of us and only two of the couches, so one unfortunate sister always ended up sleeping on the window seat. Luckily it was padded!

The living room in my apartment is not large, so size is key. I'm aiming at something about the size of a loveseat. And if I need a larger sofa in my next place one day, I'll still be able to get some use out of the smaller sofa in another room or as a second piece. I'm planning on something with a fairly neutral upholstery - maybe a medium tan or straw color - but who knows what'll strike my fancy. It probably won't be any of bright jewel tones popular in '40s upholstered furniture. Check out the blues and greens and violets in these vintage slipcover advertisements! You never know, though.



Here are the background colors I have to work around. My living room has wall-to-wall carpeting in a dingy apartment blue (think slate blue). The walls and woodwork are painted apartment beige. The window blinds I have to leave in place per my lease are apartment beige as well. My one upholstered chair is a deep burgundy.

I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks as always for making this blog a place where I can focus my thoughts and refine my plans. Y'all are the best!!!