Week Thirty-six: The Mission

Eeesh! How did it already get to be Wednesday? I'm sorry for the delay in new posts. Kitten was suffering from a virus and I've been pulling some Auntie overtime. But I'm back in my own little nest this evening and looking forward to some quality time with my iron. So how about a new vintage beauty mission? It's been a few weeks and I'm itching to add something new to my routine...

Fitness
I'm going to add a few more "limbering and stretching exercises" to my pre-bed fitness routine. The first is from a July 1940 edition of the St. Petersburg [Florida] Times and is especially designed for reducing fatty tissue in the hip area:

10. If you are bothered by this special beauty sorrow stand erect, steady yourself by holding to the back of a chair, swing the leg in wide circles. Lift the foot as high as you can. You will be aware of a strong muscle pull from knees to hips…

Two more exercises are from a charming article in a February 1940 edition of The Evening Independent. The author, a syndicated woman's page columnist, suggests that women living in a cold climate go in for skiing or skating to attain the new "stretched look." Tennis and swimming were suggested for women living in a warm climate. If money is tight or time is short, not to fear! Here are some exercises designed to mimic these sports. Anybody up for a game of imaginary tennis?

11. Simply hold a pie pan or other round, shallow pan in your right hand high above your head and look toward the ceiling as if you were watching for a high ball to come across an imaginary net. As the imaginary ball comes closer, jump a foot off the floor and hit it with the pan, driving it back across the imaginary net to an imaginary opponent. Drop arm to side, count to four slowly, then raise arm, jump and strike at the ball again. Repeat 10 times.

Reverse, holding pan in left hand and make believe that you are a left-handed tennis player. Incidentally, since jumping up and down is a simple exercise which reduces the thighs and hips, an imaginary tennis game a day may serve a double purpose.

12. The breast stroke exercise is also recommended. Lie across a single bed so that arms and legs are not supported by the bed. Keeping head up with neck straight, stretch arms forward with palms facing each other. Now fling arms wide apart, turning palms in the opposite direction. Do this slowly and deliberately. Repeat 20 times.

Reducing
In an effort to rev up the protein content in my dinners - and eliminate those late night temptations! - I'm going to continue limiting the portion size of the prepared, pre-packaged foods and add a serving of a bean dish of one sort or another. My dinner plate (and lunch on the weekends) will now look something like this: 1/3 my once-typical serving of prepared foods + 1 serving of vegetables + 1 serving of beans. And since it's summer, I'm all about cold bean dishes. There's a Moroccan lentil salad I used to be nuts about and haven't made in forever. A restaurant here in the city makes a chickpea/tomato/parsley salad that I've been dying to replicate. I think I've found a recipe online that should be close. I'm going to give it a try tonight after my ironing is finished. The flavors should be perfectly meshed by suppertime tomorrow night. I ought to be able to whip up a big dish of one of these salads once a week and having a serving from it every day!

Grooming
Well, this reforming frump has finished the 1946 morning grooming routine and lived to tell the tale... so this week I'm tackling the evening grooming routine:

Out of your clothes and into the tub -

1. Coat yourself thoroughly with a susdy lather, and don't spare the elbow grease. Rinse well, doing face separately with water from the faucet.

It's a good thing I've been cleaning my bathroom on a weekly basis --- my tub is ready for a good, hot bath. Every night, no less! Can I survive the shift from Shower Land?

A Minute on the Lips...

Last night's vintage dinner was a super spicy one - from garlic to cloves, I worked that spice rack like never before! All in all, though, it was very good. I'm actually looking forward to the leftovers. Here's the menu, straight from 1945:

Lima-Bean Casserole

California Beets

Mixed Greens Salad (Iceberg, Romaine)

Honey Rice

The cookbook didn't include a recipe for the very casserole it was pushing in the menu section, but - quite by coincidence - I came across one in an article on reducing in the October 1945 issue of Good Housekeeping. A fortunate turn of events, because the casserole was really yummy. Filling and hearty and fairly easy to make --- though it took some planning.

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Lima-Bean Casserole

1 cup dried lima beans

3 1/2 cups cold water

1 cup chopped fresh or canned tomatoes

1/2 cup minced onion

1/2 cup diced celery

2 tablesp. brown sugar

2 1/2 teasp. salt

1/8 teasp. pepper

Pick over, then wash dried beans. Soak overnight in the cold water in a deep kettle. Then simmer in the same water, covered, over low heat, for 30 min.; drain; return 1 cup of this liquid to beans. Add remaining ingredients; pour into a greased 1 1/2-qt. casserole. Cover; then bake in a slow oven of 300 degrees F. for 2 hrs., or until beans are tender, removing the cover during the last 30 min. Serves 4.

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I substituted garlic here as I'm not a big onion person, but wanted something with equally big flavor. I put the beans on too high a heat during their initial simmer and wish I'd taken my time on this step and let them build to a simmer on a medium heat. The California Beets were a sort of sweet and spicy "pickled" side dish. Small, whole beets - I used canned beets in a nod to commercially-prepared foods - heated in sauce of margarine, lemon juice, cloves, sugar, and pepper. They actually went very nicely with the basic green salad.

The big surprise in last night's menu was the dessert. I had no idea what to expect as I read through the recipe for Honey Rice. Would it turn out like a rice pudding? Nope, no milk or eggs... You should've seen my face as I prepared this dish. I was absolutely sure by the time it was 2/3 done that I wouldn't be able to eat it! What do you know - it wasn't just edible, it was good. Tasted a little like a macaroon or the inside of some delicious chocolate candy. Both the California Beets and Honey Rice are recipes from the special wartime cookery chapter appended to the back of the cookbook. Note: The Honey Rice was very rich. You'll only need a small serving! I cut this recipe in half.

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Honey Rice

1 cup uncooked rice (I used brown basmati rice)

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup raisins

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup chopped nuts

Cinnamon

Wash rice thoroughly and cook in boiling salted water until tender. Drain. Heat honey in a heavy pan, add rice and raisins and cook about 5 minutes. Pour mixture into a well-buttered shallow baking dish and dot with butter. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) until golden brown [mine took about 20 minutes]. Remove from oven and stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and cinnamon. Serves 8.

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All this talk of food reminds me of a question that came to mind as I was powdering my face this morning. When and where was it proper for women in the '40s to touch up their makeup? I know my dusting of face powder doesn't last out the day, and we've all experienced the need to make a visit to the powder room to touch up our lipstick after a meal - or, in my case, Chapstick! I'd better see what Lily Haxworth Wallace has to say...

It seems useless, and I suppose it is, to tell the girls today that they should not make up in public. That is a duty which should be performed in the privacy of their boudoir or in the semi-privacy of dressing rooms. A girl would be outraged if her escort took out his pocket comb and nail file, smoothing his hair and manicuring his nails at table in a restaurant. However, she does much the same when she ostentatiously applies powder, lipstick, and rouge in the same place. However, some of the persons in the most fashionable sets are guilty of this rudeness - a fact which in no way makes it right. (The New American Etiquette, 1941)

Sounds like she's convinced she's fighting a losing battle. (Oh, dear, what would she have thought of today's women?) Mrs. Wallace also reminds the working girl that "make-up of any kind" should NEVER be applied at any time on the job except when she's in the rest room. Armed with the best vintage advice, I think I'll tuck my new face powder in my purse and take it to work during the week for a little mid-day touch-up in the rest room.