My housekeeping routine fell prey to a comedy of errors this morning - all of them mine, of course. I could blame it on my cold. (I am feeling a little foggy and disoriented.) But that wouldn't be entirely accurate...
Before I begin, here's yesterday's vintage breakfast menu:
Apple Juice
Cracked-wheat Cereal
I should mention that I added some raisins and brown sugar to the Wheatena. Normally, I try to stick quite literally to the menus, but Wheatena needs something extra just to be edible - and that magazine article did suggest adding dried fruits to make cooked cereals more tempting!
I knew that Corn-bread was on the menu this morning, so set my alarm 30 minutes early so I'd have time to do a little baking. 2 cups corn-meal, 3 tablespoons baking powder... Wait a second. Baking powder? Maybe it was too early to do any baking, because there wasn't any baking powder in that recipe - or even in any of the recipes on that page of the cookbook! I'm left facing a mixing bowl full of corn-meal covered with baking powder. The recipe actually calls for baking soda which I don't have in the house right now. It's been on my grocery list, but I must have been thinking I wouldn't need it for another few days. So I whip out my 1990s Betty Crocker cookbook. Nope. No emergency substitutes for baking soda. Can I find another vintage recipe for Corn-bread that calls for baking powder instead? I didn't have to look very far, but all this casting about definitely ate up the extra time I'd planned. I ended up using a recipe from a little booklet published by Clabber Girl, probably in the mid- to late 1930s. Conveniently enough, there's baking powder in every recipe.
Tomato Juice
Hard-cooked Egg
Corn-bread, Honey
The icing on the cake? Not a drop of Honey in the house. Turns out I tossed the last jar shortly after using it on my Griddlecakes a few weeks ago and then realizing it was expired.
The Corn-bread was very tasty with margarine - or should I say oleo - so breakfast turned out okay. By the time I'd finished, however, it was high time to be leaving and my bed was still unmade. On any other day, I'd have taken the few extra minutes to make my bed. But I needed to stop by a mailbox on the way to work. Badly. You can guess how that debate won out.
What a morning! Just a sample of the chaos my household used to run on - and had for ages. My kitchen, my wardrobe, my pocketbook... There's no way I'm going back to that place. Ever. My new routine may be a bit more work everyday, but it also brings a kind of serenity along with it that I've become accustomed to in a very short time.
4 comments:
Honey doesn't expire! It might crystallize, but it can keep for years (hundreds, I believe).
See, now, a good '40s housewife would have known that already... Me, I have nothing to go on but the expiration dates printed on the packaging - that and my nose.
Well, I'd suck as a housewife (I hate cleaning, but find your project very inspiring), but I love to cook and read old cookbooks. Sugars being natural preservatives is just one of those things I've learned along the way.
I've always HATED cleaning, so it'll be interesting if this project can actually change my perspective on that - especially when it comes to the really tough jobs.
Old cookbooks are so much fun, aren't they? I think recreating and tasting some of these older recipes can give us an entree to the past that we couldn't get in any other way. I love the illustrations myself.
Thanks for the tip on honey! I think I'll buy a good quality honey next time and give some thought as to how I'm storing it. That way I'll feel a little easier ignoring any "expiration" dates.
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