Small Talk: Out of Genoa

[boes]

37 minutes ago, Petunia13 said:

@boes yep ! I wonder if it was an Iowa thing. My mom still has the cookbook my grandma got when she married, which was written and complied by old church ladies in the mid fifties. They made everything back then even candy bars. There's a note in it about "a new invention from California called a Caeser's Salad that seemed weird but try it your husband will like it." Also some of the recipes were breathtakingly stupid like a piece of white bread, cream cheese, Marachino cherries stabbed on top w toothpick or lime jello w canned veggies floating inside. I have to get it out there was some strange pies and drink recipes too. 

I know those cookbooks!   My favorite recipe in one of my Dubuque cookbooks is titled "Sloppy Joes for 10 or a 100".  I do NOT have frying pan that big.....

[valleycliffe]

i have never had sloppy joes, how do you make them?

[pearlite]

1 hour ago, Petunia13 said:

@boes yep ! I wonder if it was an Iowa thing. My mom still has the cookbook my grandma got when she married, which was written and complied by old church ladies in the mid fifties. They made everything back then even candy bars. There's a note in it about "a new invention from California called a Caeser's Salad that seemed weird but try it your husband will like it." Also some of the recipes were breathtakingly stupid like a piece of white bread, cream cheese, Marachino cherries stabbed on top w toothpick or lime jello w canned veggies floating inside. I have to get it out there was some strange pies and drink recipes too. 

I love those ring-bound church-lady cookbooks! They're like time-capsules, and I end up wanting to eat some of the stuff.

Although, because I remember those rolled-up cream cheese and cherry party sandwiches, there are places where I draw the line. And jellied salads, nononono...

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Petunia13 said:

@boes yep ! I wonder if it was an Iowa thing. My mom still has the cookbook my grandma got when she married, which was written and complied by old church ladies in the mid fifties. They made everything back then even candy bars. There's a note in it about "a new invention from California called a Caeser's Salad that seemed weird but try it your husband will like it." Also some of the recipes were breathtakingly stupid like a piece of white bread, cream cheese, Marachino cherries stabbed on top w toothpick or lime jello w canned veggies floating inside. I have to get it out there was some strange pies and drink recipes too. 

If you want to see some really great mid century weirdness, check out James Lileks Gallery of Regrettable Food. The Jello section alone is worth spending an hour on.

[klopek]

LoL. A time-suck warning should accompany this link.  I ashamedly confess to many lost hours spent tripping backward down (bad) memory lane. 

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html

[pearlite]

1 minute ago, klopek said:

LoL. A time-suck warning should accompany this link.  I ashamedly confess to many lost hours spent tripping backward down (bad) memory lane. 

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html

Me too!

[PatsyandEddie]

Mr. Patsy's grandmother was the wife of a minister. She had a small wooden box full of recipes for feeding huge crowds of people for church meals. This box is over 100 years ago and I am proudly in possession. Some of the dishes were strange to say the least. 

I also have my mother's collection of recipe books. The photos and drawings alone make me laugh out loud. My mother loved to cook and bake but I don't remember her doing it in a June Cleaver dress with a frill apron on.

[peacheslatour]

My grandma used to make this Jello concoction out of, I think, lime Jello, carrots, celery and green pepper. I liked it.

Edited November 13, 2016 by peacheslatour

[valleycliffe]

my mom always wore "housedresses" and an apron...i don't think i ever saw her in "trousers"..

when i attended school, most especially in elementary, we weren't allowed to wear pants to class, so when it was cold/snowy/wet we wore them underneath our skirts then removed the before classes started.  don't think i wore pants to school until about grade 10, but then i quit after my mom died.

LOL  i remember being hauled in to the principal's office for wearing cossack boots during school classes..principal said it was against school rules to be wearing boots..i told him they weren't really "boots" as they had a shoe type sole and heel.  plus, they were black patent..i wore them anyway.

[peacheslatour]

We staged a sit-in in the principal's office when I was in 6th grade, protesting the no pants rule. We got to wear them from 7th grade on. It's barbaric to make little girls freeze their asses off, while the boys are comfortable and warm. And it really limits what they can do on the playground. Letting girls wear pants (and let's face it, jeans) basically leveled the playing field

Edited November 13, 2016 by peacheslatour

[klopek]

1 hour ago, pearlite said:

Me too!

Haha, thanks - that makes me feel strangley validated, like when you taste something a bit off-ish and can't resist the temptation to offer your dining companion to have just a wee taste also - just to confirm.

54 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

It's barbaric to make little girls freeze their asses off, while the boys are comfortable and warm.

peaches, my school years were spent in a rather unfortunate uniform consisting of a mid-thigh pleated tunic, too tight knee socks shoehorned into uncomfortably stiff polished black oxfords and heavy cotton bloomers (as they were referred to then) worn over one's underpants. Comfort was not a remote consideration back then - nor was the remnant effects of those physical unpleasantries.  My legs were frozen solid throughout our lengthy subzero winters and I vowed, through alternating clenched and chattering teeth, once freed from that school to never expose my bare lower limbs to the elements ever again.

Fuck knows what the nuns were hypocritically hiding under their habits back then, but I suspect a jolly warm pair of fuzzy flannel thermals while we were experiencing entry level hypothermia daily.  Quite literally freezing our arses off.

[pearlite]

Oh crap, bloomers! Lord, I hated them so much! And I could make a mess out of the navy-blue tunic in about five minutes flat.

But until mothers discovered snowsuit pants [mmm, flattering] worn under anything ending in a skirt, I had to wear hideous thick stockings held up by what was called, borrowing the British parlance, a "suspender belt." Discomfort? Absolute misery--thick elastic straps that went over the shoulders and travelled south, ending in garters. And chapped thighs.

[peacheslatour]

8 minutes ago, pearlite said:

Oh crap, bloomers! Lord, I hated them so much! And I could make a mess out of the navy-blue tunic in about five minutes flat.

But until mothers discovered snowsuit pants [mmm, flattering] worn under anything ending in a skirt, I had to wear hideous thick stockings held up by what was called, borrowing the British parlance, a "suspender belt." Discomfort? Absolute misery--thick elastic straps that went over the shoulders and travelled south, ending in garters. And chapped thighs.

My god, that is bordering on child abuse. Funnily enough, back in the sixties and early seventies my mom and her partner owned two apparel boutiques called Dilly's. They sold women's clothes. They prided themselves on the fact that they sold only seperates. Skirts, dresses and pumps were not sold there EVER. They sold pants, tops and boots exclusively.

[pearlite]

Because actually, not just church-lady cookbooks, but vintage cooking pamphlets of all kinds are a mild obsession, I offer, for your delectation, ladeez and gents, the Crown Wiener Roast!

https://kitschycooking.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/stuffed-crown-roast-of-frankfurters/

And I especially like the tagline above the image..."nothing captures one's attention, or a man's appetite, like twenty glistening frankfurters standing at attention..."

They don't write 'em like that any more.

[valleycliffe]

15 minutes ago, pearlite said:

Because actually, not just church-lady cookbooks, but vintage cooking pamphlets of all kinds are a mild obsession, I offer, for your delectation, ladeez and gents, the Crown Wiener Roast!

https://kitschycooking.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/stuffed-crown-roast-of-frankfurters/

And I especially like the tagline above the image..."nothing captures one's attention, or a man's appetite, like twenty glistening frankfurters standing at attention..."

They don't write 'em like that any more.

good dog i have a dirty mind...

[peacheslatour]

Lol, they want you to sew the frankfurters together. TFA says these cook books were sold to Home Ec. departments at schools. Can't you just see thirty teenaged girls sitting in a circle sewing 20 hot dogs together? You'd never be able to stop the giggling and ribald jokes. There would be a riot.

[valleycliffe]

47 minutes ago, pearlite said:

Oh crap, bloomers! Lord, I hated them so much! And I could make a mess out of the navy-blue tunic in about five minutes flat.

But until mothers discovered snowsuit pants [mmm, flattering] worn under anything ending in a skirt, I had to wear hideous thick stockings held up by what was called, borrowing the British parlance, a "suspender belt." Discomfort? Absolute misery--thick elastic straps that went over the shoulders and travelled south, ending in garters. And chapped thighs.

good gracious me, my mother made me wear those too..hideous colour...kinda fleshy/orangey ...did you suspender belt go over your shoulders too?  mine did.. also hated the "tunics" i had to wear when i went to parochial school for 2 yrs so i could have my first communion...had to wear white long sleeved shirts (hmmm, still wear them) with a tie.  learned how to tie a windsor knot at age 7 but i just couldn't do up the top button of the shirt.  it made me gag..  blech, and big ole clunky oxfords.

[boes]

21 minutes ago, pearlite said:

Because actually, not just church-lady cookbooks, but vintage cooking pamphlets of all kinds are a mild obsession, I offer, for your delectation, ladeez and gents, the Crown Wiener Roast!

https://kitschycooking.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/stuffed-crown-roast-of-frankfurters/

And I especially like the tagline above the image..."nothing captures one's attention, or a man's appetite, like twenty glistening frankfurters standing at attention..."

They don't write 'em like that any more.

Ain't it the truth?  As Colbert would say, that's extreme truthiness.

3 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Lol, they want you to sew the frankfurters together. TFA says these cook books were sold to Home Ec. departments at schools. Can't you just see thirty teenaged girls sitting in a circle sewing 20 hot dogs together? You'd never be able to stop the giggling and ribald jokes. There would be a riot.

Hahahaha!!  I LOVE this forum!

[peacheslatour]

1 minute ago, valleycliffe said:

good gracious me, my mother made me wear those too..hideous colour...kinda fleshy/orangey ...did you suspender belt go over your shoulders too?  mine did.. also hated the "tunics" i had to wear when i went to parochial school for 2 yrs so i could have my first communion...had to wear white long sleeved shirts (hmmm, still wear them) with a tie.  learned how to tie a windsor knot at age 7 but i just couldn't do up the top button of the shirt.  it made me gag..  blech, and big ole clunky oxfords.

Holy shit, did you guys grow up in Victorian England?

[pearlite]

Just now, peacheslatour said:

Holy shit, did you guys grow up in Victorian England?

I don't think either of us did. But I think some Canadian cities were a bit more conservative than their US counterparts.

For me, and given my late mother's tendencies, the get-up was standard Toronto Anglo. She tried so hard, bless her, to make me seem, "well bred."

[valleycliffe]

Just now, peacheslatour said:

Holy shit, did you guys grow up in Victorian England?

no, burnaby. in the 50's. father was english tho..

ate lots of blood sausage (never knew it was made with blood), garlic sausage. fried potatoes, mashed potatoes etc.  fish on fridays, beans weiners and fried left over potatoes from the week and roast on sundays.  week after week after week.

[boes]

3 hours ago, valleycliffe said:

i have never had sloppy joes, how do you make them?

Here goes, from the "Holy Trinity Cookbook", published in 1952.....

In case you're chairman of the food committee and must produce 100 servings, assemble the following plus as many volunteers as possible and proceed:

20 pounds of ground beef,

3 pounds diced onions,

2/3 of a No. 10 can tomato puree,

1 and 1/3 (No.5) cans tomato juice,

3/4 cup vinegar,

1 and 1/2 teaspoons chili powder,

3 tablespoons salt,

1/2 pound brown sugar,

3/4 cup prepared mustard.

If you wish to serve on home made buns, turn to the index for the location of recipe for 90 Picnic Buns.

To serve at home, just cut the ingredients by 10 and you'll have a delicious dinner for family and friends!

[LeftPhalange]

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/12/the-case-against-cats/505838/

I feel vindicated. Cats are trash.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Cats are trash.

Though I would agree that there are probably more feral cats than can be reasonably managed. If only there were some kind of yummy cat food that had birth control it.

[peacheslatour]

20 minutes ago, LeftPhalange said:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/12/the-case-against-cats/505838/

I feel vindicated. Cats are trash.

You're dead to me now.

[NinjaPenguins]

I prefer dogs, but if someone offered me a cat, I'd be all over it. Not having a pet is the worst.

I'll tell you what's trash, suspending any food in jello. It is unnatural, unspeakable, and probably something Victor Newman does for fun. When I am crowned Queen of the Universe, sticking innocent comestibles inside a gelatinous mass will not stand.

[peacheslatour]

I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's out of style now. But you never know when some hipsters will decide to bring it back "ironically". 

[Anna Yolei]

All the stuff about about being forced to wear dresses makes me glad I was born in California when I was. Hell, I had to beg to wear skirt/dresses to school cuz even through I was a tomboy I liked looking like a girl sometimes. :p 

I've also seen a ton of stories about schoolgirls speaking up against dress codes that- let's face it--are aimed mostly as girls and even then I've seen some ridiculous applications such as a girl got sent home for wearing boys' basketball shorts. Those things are long as FUCK and show absolutely nothing. I'm proud of today's teens for standing up to the idea that pulling a girl outta school over her looks is the wrong fucking message to send.

[valleycliffe]

when  i  was in grade 10, mini skirts were coming into fashion..used to roll up the waistband of my skirt to make it shorter...loved mini skirts back then.  

also, no smoking on school grounds so we used to walk around the block at lunch and puff away.  bought cigarettes instead of lunch.  my purse would fit everything.  weighed a ton, but it contained a brush, comb, hairspray, some books, smokes...shared my locker with a boy and during locker checks, he would give his smokes to me to put in my purse..never minded sharing with a boy, at least he didn't want to steal my make up, which i wore a ton of.

[Anna Yolei]

Man, I wish my books could've fit in a purse! One year, I think I had over ten pounds' worth of textbooks.

Nowadays, the schools that can afford if issue two sets or (at the college level) you have digital books that are all accessible online. Not like you'll ever recoup the whole cost of a textbook at the end of the semester anyway.

[crowsworks]

17 hours ago, Petunia13 said:

@boes yep ! I wonder if it was an Iowa thing. My mom still has the cookbook my grandma got when she married, which was written and complied by old church ladies in the mid fifties. They made everything back then even candy bars. There's a note in it about "a new invention from California called a Caeser's Salad that seemed weird but try it your husband will like it." Also some of the recipes were breathtakingly stupid like a piece of white bread, cream cheese, Marachino cherries stabbed on top w toothpick or lime jello w canned veggies floating inside. I have to get it out there was some strange pies and drink recipes too. 

Tiny hotdogs sautéed with 1/2 grape jelly & 1/2 catsup...on tooth picks.

I make a cool candy with soda crackers - you boil brown sugar and butter, pour it on the crackers on a cookie sheet and bake 5 min then spread choco chips on it. Tastes like heath bars.

[crowsworks]

11 hours ago, LeftPhalange said:

 

I feel vindicated. Cats are trash.

They are always pimping these anti-cat stories. The lazy of farm cats always slept under one of my pine and it seemed like every bird in PA nested in that one tree. The cats could care less. I asked a wildlife expert and he said the birds nested there because the cats might get a baby if it fell out of a nest (But I've seen birds attack a cat and run it off)but one snake would kill every baby and the birds couldn't stop them.  But snakes will smell a cat and go elsewhere as they know cats hate them. Where I live in FL there used to be rats and snakes. Now we have 4 cats with clipped ears that I got fixed and shots. Half dozen people feed them well and unlike the people in near-by Tampa our kids and dogs don't get bitten by poisonous snakes and our car engines don't get eaten. (rats eat hoses and wire insulation - corn in gas?) Do these cats ever kill anything? probably not....But they keep a thousand away. Crow who lives between 2 retention ponds, a swamp and a fruit warehouse 

[LeftPhalange]

Most cats are terrorists who want to see the human population dead. I'm bringing you the shocking truths that the lamestream media doesn't want you to know. If I have to stand alone...so be it. But don't be surprised when a parasite infested cat bites you and you catch schizophrenia. Sad!

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

But don't be surprised when a parasite infested cat bites you and you catch schizophrenia. Sad!

[NinjaPenguins]

LeftPhalange has been exposed to Agent Orange! There's only one thing that can shock LP back to normal speech patterns:

Edited November 14, 2016 by NinjaPenguins

[LeftPhalange]

Disgusting. Kill it with fire.

[Cupid Stunt]

18 hours ago, LeftPhalange said:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/12/the-case-against-cats/505838/

I feel vindicated. Cats are trash.

Cat-to-LeftPhalange Translator:

"I shared your mother's maiden name and banking passwords with my Chinese masters ..."

 

"I just pooped in your kitchen ... Follow your nose ..."

 

"I used your new dress pants as a ladder and horked all over your favorite sweater ..."

 

Edited November 14, 2016 by Cupid Stunt

[Cupid Stunt]

On ‎11‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 9:47 AM, valleycliffe said:

i have never had sloppy joes, how do you make them?

No offence to Boes and the Holy Trinity Cookbook, this recipe is a little more manageable ...

 

Sloppy Joes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

Kosher salt and ground pepper

1 lb. ground beef

1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

4 hamburger buns split and toasted

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, celery; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.

Add the ground beef to the skillet. Cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until it is no longer pink, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not brown, or meat will get tough.

Stir tomato sauce, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce into beef mixture in skillet. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes.

Season the mixture with more salt and pepper, as desired. Spoon onto buns, and serve immediately.

 

This recipe came from a Ralph Emerson Elementary School fundraiser cookbook.

[Cupid Stunt]

Bad and Ugly Retro Food

http://www.badanduglyofretrofood.com/

 

Vintage Recipe Cards

https://vintagerecipecards.com/

Edited November 14, 2016 by Cupid Stunt

[Cupid Stunt]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 6:32 PM, Tippi said:

I guess you could call this a "hack" (I said hack, not Pratt.)  Get a box of Spice cake mix, stir it up with a can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie, just canned pumpkin.) Mix in some chocolate chips. Spoon it onto an ungreased cookie sheet (or can use muffin liners in the muffin baking pans.) Bake at 350 for approx. 15 minutes.  These easy peasy cookies taste like the ones I have bought in grocery store bakery/deli departments (Kroger in my area.)  Super simple, really tasty, and scatches that pumpkin itch.

I made these this weekend -- A-Mazing!

Tippi, you're a genius!

[NinjaPenguins]

I must apologize to LeftPhalange for that smelly dose of tough love. While I have a mild affection for cats, I admire you taking a bold, unpopular stand that is as close to internet blasphemy as it gets. I once declared my fiery hatred of The Lion King and was treated as if I'd peed on baby Jesus. I feel you. When you start sounding like the Orange Dookie, though, It's intervention time.

Cupid, thanks for those links. I love ugly, terrible food. I wouldn't eat it, but it's fun to look at.

[Capricasix]

You guys must check out the Twitter account @70sdinnerparty for awful food from that era (some of which I actually remember - fondues, aspic salads, etc ?). The author has recently published a book, which I am considering buying to give as a gag gift for Christmas!

[peacheslatour]

I used to love fondue. My mom had a fondue pot and she would put oil in it and we would cook chunks of steak in hot oil. Hello coronary.

[Capricasix]

I was always amazed by the little Sterno cans - they seemed magical! ?

[pearlite]

3 minutes ago, Capricasix said:

You guys must check out the Twitter account @70sdinnerparty for awful food from that era (some of which I actually remember - fondues, aspic salads, etc ?). The author has recently published a book, which I am considering buying to give as a gag gift for Christmas!

Oh, dear lawdamighty! I had to go and look [and of course hit "Follow"] Ham and Bananas Hollandaise? Whoah, this is gonna be a time-waster.

Right along with badanduglyfood--Manwich sauce on fish?

Thanks for brightening up noon at my desk, trying to clean up course outlines...

[valleycliffe]

13 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I used to love fondue. My mom had a fondue pot and she would put oil in it and we would cook chunks of steak in hot oil. Hello coronary.

my dearly departed mother in law used to love to have the family over and she would host fondue parties...beef in hot oil, then of course the melted cheese fondue with bread chunks, and chocolate with cake for dipping..

i sure miss her.

[pearlite]

And I just messaged those links along to the daughter, so she can avoid writing a paper on Luther.

Whosagoodmother?

[Capricasix]

Pearlite's a good mama, yes she is!

[boes]

1 hour ago, pearlite said:

And I just messaged those links along to the daughter, so she can avoid writing a paper on Luther.

Whosagoodmother?

Yousagoodmother!  Maybe Luther ate some of those recipes and that's what made him question things...

Edited November 14, 2016 by boes

[pearlite]

Just now, boes said:

Yousagoodmother!  Maybe Luther are some of those recipes and that's what made him question things...

Or contributed to his epic constipation and roids.