I'm still slogging away at the bathroom. Ran out of Comet partway through the job yesterday and decided to head on out and do my marketing, then finish the bathroom later. Sadly enough, now it's "later." The Comet has been replenished, I've had a good night's rest, my morning walk is finished. I'll patch off some breakfast and then get back to that miserable room.
My mantra while cleaning the bathroom this week: "It will never again be as hard to clean as it is today." "It will never again be as hard to clean as it is today." "It will never again be as hard to clean as it is today." That's true, I know. As grimy as it is right now, if I'm cleaning it every week - it will never again be anywhere near this bad. Each week, I'll get it even a little shinier. I'm holding on to that! More on bathroom cleaning in another post...
Alas, the coleus I adopted for a houseplant a couple months ago did not survive. It did okay as long as I was taking it outdoors to my landing on weekends. But once it started getting really hot, I worried about leaving it in the intense heat and kept it inside. The colors faded, it shed some leaves, and one day just crumpled up and died. *sigh* My grape ivy is doing well, although one side isn't very perky looking. (That's the side that doesn't even get much artificial light in the corner of the kitchen where I've kept it.) So out it goes! Maybe the fresh air and sunshine will do it some good. I don't want to lose the grape ivy, too!
A co-worker offered me some bell pepper plants last week. Determined to press on in my quest for some great plants about the house - inside and out - I brought home a tiny seedling and a more mature plant, both in pots. I think they might do okay on my landing, but I'll need to water them more often than the succulents. I also picked up a small sansevieria- commonly called a bowstring hemp in the 1940s - to fill the spot near my sink where the coleus used to sit.
Here's one of the things I'm really looking forward to after this interminable summer is over --- my parents will be in town for the winter! They've been doing the snowbird thing and spend a few months most winters at one of the resorts on the edge of the city. I can't claim to be the reason they're here - it's all about the grandbabies - but I love having them so close. And I can't wait to share these vintage dinners with them! (My mother, God bless her, oohs and aahs every time I tell her what I'm up to in the kitchen.) This was last weekend's 1945 dinner menu:
Boiled Rice
Buttered Beet Greens
Orange Salad
Cherry Batter Pudding
I think I've finally got this non-instant rice thing down pat --- now if I could just remember not to make so much. 1/2 cup dry rice is just enough for me + one serving of leftovers. I've always loved Beet Greens - fresh from Mom's garden with a splash of vinegar - yum! The instructions in my cookbook call for you to work with young beets and to chop the roots right up with the greens after they've been boiled. Unfortunately, my supermarket only carries a few raggedy ol' bunches of grown-up beets. So I chopped the tops off these beets - along with the greens - and used those in lieu of young beets. What's great is that the next dinner menu in my cookbook calls for beets, so I may be able to use what's left of 'em in my next homecooked meal.
The Orange Salad was very simple. Chopped orange segments on a bed of greens with a drizzle of viniagrette --- "French dressing" in '40s lingo. I made a substitution for the dessert course. The menu included a Bread Pudding made with Honey. After my last disastrous attempt at Bread Pudding, I just couldn't face it again this soon. So I picked out another recipe in the chapter on puddings and tried to find some way to use up the bottled cherries in my fridge. The Cherry Batter Pudding came out wonderfully - a light, fluffy cake over a layer of fruit - but, between the heat and my unexpected success on the scale Tuesday morning, I haven't had any desire to eat the rest! (Plus I read a horrifying bit of trivia in a magazine the other day. Did you know one cupcake can undo 115 minutes of walking?) I'm not thrilled about wasting food, but I think I should take this as a warning. If I'm going to continue making the desserts for my vintage dinners, I've got to cut the recipe down as small as I would the rice. And I need to invest in some containers for the freezer. There are some things you just can't wrap up in aluminum foil! Speaking of cutting recipes, do any of you know how to cut a one-egg recipe in half?
I've been listening to lots of vintage radio this week, including the second season of The Great Gildersleeve. The second season (1942-1943) is when the program really came into its own. Gildy got a job as Summerfield water commissioner. Leila Ransom, a flirtatious Southern widow, moved into the house next door and stole Gildy's heart. They became engaged and planned a wedding in June - just in time for the season finale and a wild turn of events on the wedding day! Richard LeGrand joined the cast during the second season as Mr. Peavey, the local druggist ("Well, now, I wouldn't say that.") and Floyd Munson, the local barber, pops up every time Gildy heads downtown for a shave. Marjorie got a war job over the winter and began dating a coworker, Ben. At season's end, Ben joined the Navy. Will Marge see other young men while Ben's away?
Kraft spent much of the second season promoting Pabst-Ett, a product that sounds a heck of a lot like Velveeta. Ads often combined a spot for the product with a public service announcement promoting things that might make marketing on the home front a little easier: menu planning, shopping early in the week, and shopping early in the day. Are you a menu maker? Do you find that planning your meals, say, a week in advance, makes feeding your family easier on the pocketbook - or easier on your waistline? Or do you prefer to stock up on the things you like and wait until mealtime to see what you're in the mood for eating?
8 comments:
I love your blog! I harbor things from the 40's and 50's: kitchen stuff, cookbooks, etc. I think it is great that you are doing this. FUN!!
Season 2 of Guildy sounds good! I'm halfway through Season 1, having listened to Arrested for Auto Theft (11 January 1942) on my walk this afternoon.
If the recipe you are dividing calls for a beaten egg, you can weigh or measure the egg and divide the weight or volume. I think it is easier to divide the weight from a digital scale if you need to be exact, but if you just need to divide a beaten egg in half it is easy to just eye-ball it. If you are dividing the yolk and the egg white separately, it is easiest if you are dividing by weight from a digital scale.
I love the bathroom, but do you think there would be a mold problem with all that curtain material? I know most bathrooms did not have vents in the 40's.
I like beet greens too but the family turns up their nose. Funny they ate this stuff when they were kids. Listen about house plants a friend sent me an article about a woman, pitures and all, that she found baby snakes in a house plant between the plastic liner and the decoative pot. Must have got in there when at the nursery. So all I am saying is check the pots or have the store owner check them before you bring them home. Another woman found scorpions in a cactis. not trying to scare anyone but I will sure be looking before I bring plants in the house!
Kim, I'm so glad you stopped by! Your collections sound like lots of fun. I'm just itching now to add some "new" cookbooks to my own.
Teru, don't you love the way the writers and cast fleshed out that relationship between Leroy and his Uncle Mort? And listen to you - just sliding in that "on my walk" --- good for you!!!
prairieknitter01, I never thought of being able to divide a beaten egg, but you're totally right. Like the batter pudding I made last week, I would definitely have been able to use half an egg there and cut the recipe. (I'd sure rather throw out half an egg than half a pudding.)
Jeanne, yikes!~! Okay, out with my new plant until I can fully inspect it. And, yes, that bathroom can only have been appealing to a decorator. Imagine trying to clean the soap scum from those curtains! Actually, I think the illustration came from an ad for some new kind of plastic shower curtain so the manufacturer was definitely trying to show 'em off.
I've been so bad with my walks lately too! But the semester is over so I don't have the extra to days of teaching section/listening to lecture, plus grading (all after my regular day job) so I have no excuse! I feel like even more of a slack after hearing about all your walking!
Hi. Just found your blog about 2 weeks ago and I am loving it. I'm even trying the no TV thing, or at least severely limiting it. So far it's great -- of course I just started this morning!!
As for eggs, I buy a small container of Egg Beaters or like product when I need to half an egg when downsizing a recipe. It tells you what amount equals one egg, so I just measure out half of that. I also use it when recipes call for a lot of eggs. I use half Egg Beaters and half regular eggs to cut down on amount of yolk.
Teru, it's great when your schedule eases up like that, isn't it? Enjoy that wonderful spring air! I do miss it!!!
Carol, you're such a sweetheart. Let us know how the TV thing is going. For me, the second weekend was much easier than the first - and there have been some interesting developments in other ways. I'll be posting more on that tomorrow.
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