20 October 1956 “The Typical American Family 1951, Home-Made Cornbread, and Bathrooms”

UPDATE: I cannot for the life of me get Dreamweaver to allow me to let the images increase on the website, so I will post the blogs in their entirety here and then leave a link at the end to the website to also enjoy. Thanks, this seems my only solution at present.
I hope, with this first post done in my new manner, that my readers will bear with me. I have never claimed to enjoy nor truly understand technology. Don’t think I don’t find it ironic that in my ‘trip to the past’ I have had, in these past two years, to really wrap my head around technology.
As I wished to improve the way I present things to you and for my own needs to want to make it become more organizes, I have had to really study the computer. The amount of time I do spend on the computer, however, is always work. I enjoy it, most times, but if I ever gave into ‘just searching and playing’ on the beast, I’d get little done. And believe you me, this sad little skeleton of a new site is more work than it might appear.
Now, concerning the site, I know some links are connecting. I had an issue with the header or top image and the one I had spent time on designing would not load, so last night I had to go through and manually change every page to the Apron Revolution image you now see. Luckily I had that as a back up. It shall have to do for now.
So, a few explanations for the site.
1. I wanted to make the site one Frame. The multi-frame system is horribly out of date, much like me. So that needed doing.
2. With the old site I was presented with the problem of making new content IN ADDITION to all the work and research I already do for my BLOG. That was when I realized MY BLOG is the SITE and therefore the past two years of work needs to be cataloged into the site. I have quite a bit of information, but it is almost lost in that I have never categorized my posts, as I didn’t know you were suppose to (again, no technology experience).
3.So, now my daily posts will BE the site. I will post it in part on Blogger with a link back here. Then the entire post will be here. Now, when I have posted that, I will add the relevant parts of the post to the various pages, cooking to cooking and so on. I hope this isn’t confusing.
4. I will now have a dedicated no post but website maintenance day so that I can slowly but surely take 1 January 1955 up to today and begin to place it in the site. This will mean, when I finally catch up that finding things here should be easy and to new comers, posts about food will be easy to find.
5.I cannot get a proper search bar to work, so that is still in the making. If anyone knows how to do so, let me know, as I have tried and obviously failed. I do apologize for that.
6.You will notice some things like Apron TV, which is my own Youtube channel. When a friend pointed out to me that you can make your own channel, I realized all the time I had been finding and adding relevant video to posts, I could have also been adding it to my own channel under various headings. When you visit that page you will see I have started with things like full old movies I love, old tv shows (I love Lucy) and so on. Check it out, I am excited to be able to collect together the things relevant in video for the site.
7.Facebook and Twitter. Now, these are things that I have almost no idea what they are actually for. I know people talk about Facebook all the time, and quite honestly I can’t see exactly what it does. It’s like email that you have to do even less work for and needn’t mail to individuals. But, as I wanted this site to feel connected to the modern world as a bridge to the past, one must do one’s best. My Facebook and Twitter will mainly be about this site and updates on blog posts, I believe. But, there it is, I am ‘plugged in there’ as it were.
8.I made an Etsy page, which now has only 4 items mostly to just set it up. Another follower mentioned another site that might work better for vintage items. I am not sure this is something that will stay, as running a full time tag sale and my home and this site may be a bit much, but I will try to list a few things and see if anyone is interested or not. Again, bear with me in these new endeavors. I am learning as I go, as much of the past two years have been.
So, I hope that is not too boring or overwhelming and I shall endeavor to make it easier and more fun for us to be on the site, I hope.
So, now back to some normal posting. Oh, and as a clearer explanation of how I intend to now use my post as my site, today I will be discussing an article on the ‘Typical American Family’ so that will also live in part in the 1950’s history section. And my recipe for cornbread will, of course, go in cooking. And the fun images of Bathrooms will, you guessed it, also be in that section of the Decorating page. So, later on if someone wished to just access images of 50’s bathrooms, they may do so. I know, clear as mud, right?
In my July 1951 issue of American Magazine I have a great article on the “Typical American Family”. I can’t recall if I have shared any of this article with you before, but it is worth a re-visit.
Based on a series of questions, they found the ‘Typical’ Middle class family who happen to live in Terre Haute Indiana. It is a rather long article and so I will just be touching on some of it here. If you enjoy it I will be glad to share it in it’s entirety with you, just let me know.
As always, merely click on image to see it larger. I think this such a sweet picture, the family in their yard enjoying a picnic.
To determine the average American family, people across the nation were asked a series of questions including these here in this image. You can click on image, but I will also relist these questions here. I think it would be fun to answer these ourselves and see how we compare to the worries of 1951, don’t you?

• What’s your main worry?
• What would you do with a sudden windfall?
• Do you believe your children should go to college?
• What’s your favorite recreation?
• Are you able to save money?
• Do you think life is simpler today than it was for your parents?
• What’s your idea of success?
• Do you believe your town is the best to live in?
• Do you operate on a budget?
• Do you feel a sense of achievement in your job?
• What’ your favorite food?
• Do you send your children to Sunday school?

Very interesting, indeed.
Here are some of the answers to the above questions given by the Simmon’s Family. Their candid responses about not having a savings plan, being not too ‘leaning’ on one party, they are Republican but would vote Democrat if the person was better suited (I like the idea of voting with your head and not your party). Their take on college is interesting as well as their idea of freedom of religion. That sad bit about their child being in uniform was most likely true, though it was nothing to do with Russia, but our odd involvement in Vietnam. Even their feelings about impeachment are rather open-minded.
Here are some great photo’s of the Simmon’s family daily life.
Now, though I was busy with my site I still found time to make some cornbread for dinner last night. I love homemade cornbread when made with good coarse ground corn meal. We are lucky in our town that we have a very old and working water-wheel driven stone grinding Mill. The Dexter Grist Mill. This is a shot of the pond downtown in my town, you can see in the background the little grey shingled mill and behind that our Town Hall. The large Home across the way is a lovely example of our towns Colonial architecture. Here are the inner workings of the mill
The touring of the mill closed for the season last Sunday, but our local farm, Crow farm, where I do some of my weekly marketing, sells the corn flour/meal there as well.
See what darling bags it comes in. Here is the recipe I use, it is from my 1950’s Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School book. It is a very easy recipe and you can see some variations. It is also quite easy to make your own versions from this recipe adding what you like. I always drizzle a little maple syrup along the top before I pop it in the oven to bake.
You can see how wonderfully grainy the texture is when you use a coarse ground meal such as this. This recipe will now, as well, be placed in the COOKING section.
Now, just for fun and also as an exercise for me to post and then immediately place information into my new site: 1950’s Bathrooms!
This Red and Yellow bath is almost like living in a comic book. If you can notice, the red and yellow theme has even been carried to the sink faucet handles, which have  a red color. The paper in the room with the toilet is so bold!
 
This Yellow and Blue number I rather like. And the little boy’s pajama’s would be a lovely fabric to have the shower curtain in, don’t you think?
So, now how I will update daily the site with the content of my posts would be that the above images would be available to view in the Decorating Page under the BATHROOMS section. And these are both full ads so those could be viewed in the VINTAGE ADVERTISING section. I hope this is all making sense. It will now allow me to approach each post as content to build upon.
I hope all have a lovely day and Happy Homemaking.
Sorry to those who commented on this post while it was on the site. I am not sure how to fix the problem, so now it is imbedded into the site.
Please still check out THE NEW SITE HERE --->

19 October 1956 “The New Site”

These past months I have been trying to redesign our website. As you may have noticed there has been no new content or updates, except my blog, for quite some time. My hope is to redesign it to be a single page, rather than frames as it is currently. I also began to realize that the amount of information IN my blog posts should BE the website. Thus, I have been trying to rethink how the site would work.

It is difficult trying to learn web design and layout. I have been teaching myself all along this year. I must say tackling sewing and cooking, even learning more about gardening can be easier as it deals with the physical world. When one gets frustrated with the digital world, you cannot merely, ‘lift the hood and tinker about a bit’. There is no ‘re-cutting the dress or bringing in a seam’ with websites!  I still get rather stuck and frustrated and my current predicament is just getting a reliable way to search the site. So that anyone of you could simply type in ‘Recipes’ or ‘two egg cake’ and immediately find the information. I have found a Google version, but when I test it, it seems to only search our forum. I am not sure why this is. My hope is that if I lay out each page in a thorough fashion, if the search does not work, finding things should still be easy enough.

I have finally decided that perfection it shall not be. Many people hire outside companies with offices full of people whose full time paid career is site building a maintenance. I am but a simple little homemaker with a very strict schedule, so though I may now try to give daily attention to it, it will not be as amazing as a professional site.  So, with that in mind, later today I hope to simply launch it in its very naked state. It will have the new layout and design and the pages should hopefully load. My plan is, though they are now rather blank, to be enlivened each week by my going tediously through all my old posts starting 1 January 1955 and placing their relevance into the site. This way all the research and info I have done will be available as an entire system, rather than merely lost after a week of posting.

So, I ask you bear with me while this is happening. In a way I am hoping its evolution will be, in part, a growing aspect of my next coming project year. I will hopefully, with the new layout, be able to post my blog and then immediately plug it in to the relevant pages of the site. Previously I had tried to make all new content for pages forgetting that all my old posts were, in fact, riddled with content that I had worked hard to research and write and then all but ignored.

You will also notice that I have Google ads as well as some of my Amazon store ads. I hope, with the new apps, to actually make the items I am always placing in the store, more relevant and available per specific page. And, if it seems viable for any small businesses that do a vintage business, to want to advertise on my site, I shall make it very affordable, as I want to help support and get the word out for individuals trying to make it in a vary meek small business climate.

I am also toying with an Etsy site, but not sure if that should become to much more work. I will include it as an idea now, with a few vintage items, and see if it is of interest. It will really be like a tag or estate sale of things available to you. It will mostly be vintage items, such as old patterns, or items I have bought and no longer need or perhaps bought with you in mind. If it is of interest, I might choose one day, say Saturday, to put up new items and ship items purchased. One must try and be organized, that is the main thing I have constantly learned and re-learned these past two years.

My reasoning for all of this is to hopefully make a bit of pin money. My days now, along with the schedule of being a homemaker, includes a good allotment of time seven days a week to work on my blog. With that comes the subsequent research, scanning and editing of photos and content, reading, and even testing recipes, so in a way it is a job within my career of homemaking. I hope these ads will not be seen as grabbing or offensive. One makes pennies on them anyway, but I feel if I am to move forward with the site, that a few pennies here and there from them and Amazon will surely help a bit. In a way I see it as my making pin money as I would knitting antimacassars for a jumble sale or selling cakes to the local bakery to make extra money. I hope you too shall see it that way.

I hope the site to become even more a place for we vintage minded people to meet (on the growing forum for example). And also a repository for all the items and knowledge and history that I have thus far found and hope to continue to research about the vintage world. I think in some ways the vintage community now is, though not a bad thing, mainly based on fashion and interior. I love both of these and think there are some wonderful sites out there doing a great job. In some ways, were I more specialized, I might even find this task easier, but this site/blog is much like myself with varied interest.

I cannot, it seems, ever just zoom into one aspect of a subject. So, when I began my 1955 year I wanted to know it ALL. The fashion and Interiors of course and the food, but also :what we were thinking, what politics were happening, what we were listening to, watching on tv and at the pictures? What art we were looking at and why fiction was as it was and so on. I still want to find more of the puzzle pieces that are really beginning, for me, to take shape into the picture of my American Past. In this, and the coming new year, I will also try and bring the 1950’s into context by letting the 1930’s and 1940’s color the experience as well. I think the more the thing is fleshed out, the better we shall enjoy it. And, as I have found, make our own modern world make more sense. We might begin to understand why we do what we do or even consider changing our current ways for the better.

So, again, bear with me today and this week. I shall be uploading pages today and try to get the new ‘look’ up. And hopefully explain how the layout will work. My blogging schedule, as well, will be trying to blog daily, as I have been trying to do. On Fridays I will dedicate that computer time to updating and adding to the site for the upcoming week. And Sunday’s I might now dedicate to answering some of the many email questions I receive, which might be a fun exercise.

Thank you for your patience with this and I hope you will like the new layout and plan for the future. Have a great day and I might be posting again or adding an addendum to this in the comments on today’s progress.

Happy Homemaking.

17 October 1956 “I revisit an Old Friend”

Now, readers, that old friend isn’t a person nor even a place, but a cake. That’s right, ladies and gentleman, a cake.
Back in my early days of 1955, it seems so far as to almost have been in 1955, yet is under two years ago, the kitchen was a new frontier. I was having a 1950’s dinner party and with all the newness of the kitchen and the cookery book, I felt overwhelmed. Then, out of the blue, my friend saved me: The Best Two-Egg Cake. You can read about that first encounter in my old post HERE.  Re-reading that post, I had forgot how in those early days  things, such as the microwave, lurked around every corner to taunt me with the convenience of modern cookery.
The reason for my friends recent return yesterday, was convenience and a slimming pantry. I have learned, over the past two years, that to have a stocked and prepared pantry is important. Yet, I have also learned that to over-stock can often be a mistake both financially as well as for your baking results. Things, such as baking powder, even baking chocolate, loose thier flavor and cooking chemistry with time. So, with my weekly shopping schedlue, pantry basics take their turn in my weekly budget. One week may be flour and sugar, so cream of tartar or baking powder takes a back seat.
In the beginning I thought little of simply going out and filling up my cart just to see all those items waiting for me, as if I OWNED my own grocery store. For me that is no longer my situation. I have found, then buying less, having the essentials on hand but in smaller quantity, has allowed me to be both more frugal and more inventive. I often think of our 40’s wartime sisters faced with empty larders and having to invent sweets from ground up beetroot or egg-less cakes. So, for me, I often can find myself at the end of a shopping week with less things. Do I think, “drat, I forgot to buy this”, no for you see it is planned, in a way. I allow myself to fill the needs of the week within the allotted shopping budget and make do with what needs to be done.
I noticed, as time when on, how many advertising in the 1950’s ladies' magazines will show a new freezer packed to the rim with food. I think this must have felt a safe or happy thought, coming out of the war and also living in the threat of the nuclear bomb, as the Atomic Age was. Yet, as we can see, it was truly a false sense of safety, as their never was a need for hoarding and it merely worked its way into our American way of shopping. We wanted to ‘save up for a rainy day’.
I remember when I lived in Paris as a young girl. There were many aspects of that city that showed how different other parts of the world were to my own USA. Even the way one was treated as a customer was foreign to one who was used to the ‘the customer is always right’ mantra here in America. But, what I really noticed was the French housewife’s shopping.
Being young and rather poor I, out of necessity, would shop daily for my sustenance. I was no cook then, but found my ‘budget’ best used to grab some bread and cheese here, pate’ there, today an afternoon on a sidewalk cafe’ and a cigarette. My empty shopping basket was out of necessity, but I noticed, as I frequented the daily stalls and local Super Marché’, that I would see the same faces again and again. I came to learn that the French housewife does shop daily or almost daily, prefers fresh ingredients and to hand pick them herself every day. Even when fresh wasn’t available, daily shopping seemed to be the norm.
I must tell you readers, for those of you who have not been to Paris, the quality of fresh food available at every turn is wonderful. There one finds stalls of veg/fruit a fish monger, a butcher, and on and on. Wonderful fresh food at one’s fingertips.
In our country we began to want to have shelf-life, longevity, and ease in our food. This began to be more important than flavor, or nutrients of the food. Now, when one really considers the quality of prepared food in taste and nutrients, I am sure most would be appalled. But, when one doesn’t know, there is no comparison.
For me, store bought and easy here in the USA had become the norm. Yet, now, after two years of increasingly more home-made, I sometimes find prepared or store-bought foods to be almost inedible. After you have become accustomed to a home-made cake, try a box cake and you will know the difference. Even a pastry I once enjoyed at a chain cafe now tastes like chemicals and I wonder how I ever enjoyed it. Knowing the chemistry and ease of baking has made me appreciate ingredients. Therefore, when marketing day comes, the pantry does not get restocked full every week.
This week, my baking chocolate was almost gone from last weeks chocolate cake and a few nights of homemade hot chocolate (another thing that is far easier and tastier than premade mix you had hot water to). I also checked my egg supply (my hens have not yet started laying) and counted out the remaining breakfasts of the week. So, I knew a white cake (using so many precious egg whites) was out as well. Then, of course, I recalled my good friend: The Best Two Egg Cake.
For those of you who have not yet wanted to tempt fate with making your own cake, I really can suggest this as a good starter. It really is quite simple. And when making this cake, really when doing any baking where one is creaming butter and sugar, really give that some time. The longer you cream your butter and sugar (to a point) the lighter your baked good will come out. This is a secret to light home-made cakes. What I have noticed is the super high moistness of a box cake tastes bland and rather cardboard like to the lightness combined with rich density of a homemade cake. And quite honestly it is not harder to make a homemade cake. You are still adding dry to wet ingredients and mixing it. Yet,  you can control what you are putting in and will learn to tweak recipes as you go. A pinch here, a dash of this there. And even a base recipe like this can become an easy chocolate cake with added baking chocolate or a touch of peppermint for the holidays.
So, from that simple recipe you get a lovely dense and moist yellow cake. It has such a rich almost pound cake flavor, but really minor ingredients.
It serves up a treat!
And, when you are also low on confectioners sugar, as I was, you turn to your other old friend, 7 minute frosting. Many frostings require powdered or confectioners sugar to thicken them and are often just a ‘mix it up’ frosting. When you use regular sugar, which is coarser, you must make a boiled frosting, sometimes using egg whites as is the case here, to get a stiff frosting. The wonderful result of this type of frosting is the sheen! It is a marvel to look at.
I think this close up of yesterday’s cake shows the joyous sheen and movement if this easy frosting. It colors a treat, taking food color and making it a true shade. Wonderful at holidays, looks splendid coated it coconut, toasted coconut, dusted in powdered chocolate, a great canvas for shaved bits of rich dark eating chocolate. It is an all round good staple to have in the homemakers baking arsenal. So, do try it if you have not yet done so. Here is the recipe from my cookbook with variations on it.
So, I hope you enjoy trying this cake. It is a good penny pincher and yet always elicits happy smiles at the dinner table. Even my friend who often says, “Oh, I don’t like frosting, too sweet” raved about this cake yesterday. And it is a sweeter frosting, but it doesn’t have that over-sweet waxy taste of a bakery or grocery store frosting taste. Give it a try.
Until tomorrow Happy Homemaking!

15 October 1956 “1930’s Decorating Class”

I thought it might be fun today to look at some 1930’s interior design images. As I have mentioned before, my 1956 homemaker would have been a young lady or teen in the 1930’s. And in my study of home economics, I would probably have seen many of these types of styles and interiors and furniture.
I have a few wonderful 1930’s interior design books as well as cookery books. I am hoping to increase this collection as I begin to look further into what would have made me, a 1950’s homemaker, esthetically and from early teen age training.(all images can be enlarged by clicking on them and those I borrowed from other sites have links by clicking the image, thank you.)
I think this illustration from one of my books shows the fashion for painted furniture. As one can tell, many of these pieces are actually older late Victorian or even Colonial inspired pieces (these colonial pieces began being reproduced in the 1930’s as well) and are enlivened and made modern with paint. I rather like the color tones of this era of reds, greens, yellows, soft blues and all grounded with some form of black. I think these pieces, as well, work very well in a 1950’s kitchen.
I most likely would have some pieces from my mothers own 1930’s kitchen that I would still use in my modern 1956 kitchen. Certainly the colors could and would harmonize.
Even the lines of the modern chairs of the 1930’s show that the similar angles and lower position to the floor had begun in the 1930’s. These drawings by the 30’s furniture maker Ernst Kauffman demonstrate that. And the Eames work, as this famous chair and these Herman Miller Eames chairs exhibit similar lines.
The color palette, especially in baths, were much softer and more muted in the 1930’s.This lovely frieze of wallpaper above the tiles from a 1930’s wallpaper book I have, are really beautiful. The design is more more enchanted almost fairy book in its organic movement. While a 1950’s paper would be more stylized and patterned as this 50’s bath shows.
The 1950’s has the ‘new’ plastic tile. It was an easy application a Do-it-yourselfer could manage for less effort and money than actual tile. In the 1930’s linoleum was still very popular. Here we see a bath with what looks like a papered top and a tiled lower wall.
Yet, the lower wall was actually a product called lin-o-wall, also found in my 30’s wallpaper design book. Here are more examples of the 3-d style it came in.I have to say, I am rather enamored of these looks. The stone and the brick, but especially the lower left images would look so good painted in a turn of the century home. And, what is lovely for today is linoleum is a very ‘green’ product in that it is made literally from wood/cork pulp mixed with linseed all and is very renewable. I wonder if any such things are being made currently?
Here are some fun wallpaper examples from the 1930’s.I think some of these would be great in a traditional home, but some of the more modern patterns would be fun in a kitchen or bath. The sample on the right with the kitchen breakfast room is geometric and organic combined. I think the top paper on the right ad which looks like blue and white delft tiles would be so lovely in an all blue and white breakfast nook. White painted furniture and woodwork. Soft white sheer drapes with blue and white seat cushions. And little punches of yellow in some framed prints of daffodils or ladies in yellow dresses. It would be such a bright way to start your morning.
How adorable is this little bedroom? I love the mixture of both the very glamorous skirted dressing table and the stoic ladder back colonial chair. The wall paper is very traditional and yet look at the whimsy of the rug under the chair? The mixture of both old and ‘new’ is done white great affect here, I think. I can’t imagine even needing to change the dressing table for the 1950’s although you might use that wonderful little side chair as your dressing table chair and cover that and the table skirt in the same fabric. A room I certainly would enjoy greeting the day with, how about you?
I think I shall close with this video of a 1930’s fashion show (of course fashion and interiors always played off one another). It is quite fun and taken from the 1930’s movie “The Life of the Party”.

Well, that was just some fun interiors from the 1930’s. As my project begins to come upon the beginning of its third year, I am left wondering where to go next. And, I really think in understanding myself in 1950’s, as the decade wanes, is to understand myself in the 30’s and 40’s both politically, and through the design and food. So, I may do more ‘between the war’ posts, if that would be of interest to any of you.
Have a lovely day and Happy Homemaking.

13 October 1956 “It’s an election year here in 1956”

This year, 1956, was an election year. This year saw a repeat of 1952 in that both Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson would be opponents in the Presidential race. This time around, however, Eisenhower had been running the country for the past four years. His victory was fairly plain to see. He had ended the Korean war and the country was booming in prosperity. Though issues such as the high cost of food remained concerns of American’s.
Dwight D.Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson.
Eisenhower’s running mate would again be Richard Nixon (our current vice-president here in 1956) though privately Eisenhower did not want him. He felt Nixon was too partisan and controversial. Nixon had, since 1952, greatly changed the power and position of the office of the vice-president. He began to use the office as a platform to run and help elect Republican’s at state and local elections, a power never held nor demonstrated by the office before.
Eisenhower would have preferred Massachusetts Governor Christian Herter. I find this a very interesting choice, as Herter, today, would be seen as a liberal elite, though in fact he was a Republican from Massachusetts. But, he had been born in Paris to Artist parents, educated in NYC and Harvard. He was well versed in foreign affairs and honestly, as we were to find out, much more honest than Nixon.
So, in the Republican National Convention this year held in San Francisco, CA, there was no discussion, Eisenhower was elected to run for the Republican Party.

Adlai Stevenson, whose unique name was used in this tv ad

did not so easily get elected to run on the Democratic ticket. He was up against Tennessee Democrat Estes Kefauver. Their neck and neck campaign for the bid to run as Democratic Presidential hopeful resulted in another TV first this year: the first televised presidential debate. It occurred, of course, between these two democrats. The final result being that Stevenson was again to run for president and this time Kefauver would be his running mate.
Adlai Heralded from the Midwest, Illinois. What is interesting in the political world of 1956, is the south supported him and was mainly Democratic. What I did find interesting about Stevenson was that, though he was wealthy, as any Presidential candidate now had to be, he lived very modestly. He did not have a lavish home nor spend as a rich man. This thrift actually became a laughing point and was used against him (if you can believe it) in a campaign button for the Ike (Eisenhower) party.There had been circulated a photograph of Stevenson being interviewed and when he crossed his leg, he had a hole in his shoe. This was somehow seen and used against him, in these buttons. I find it interesting that the ‘spin’ in this case was that you might end up with holes in your shoes if you vote for him. But not that he might be frugal and therefore care more about country and saving money than how he looks our sounds on tv. In fact, he did not like the idea of tv ads and was rather wooden in the tv spots he was required to perform during the election year.
In response to this, the Democratic Women used the image with pride in this button Of course, leave it to we homemakers to notice thrift for its good attributes. Even if you were an Ike supporter, and most of the country was, you had to acknowledge the silliness in seeing thrift as bad.

It is interesting that concern for the small farmer and the increasing growing corporate business (which really has signalled the end to the small business in our country) was topical then.
Here is a map of the results of this year’s election. You can see that the south farming states were strongly Democratic.
A very interesting thing happened at the Democratic Convention when Adlai Stevenson was chosen, he let the convention choose his running mate. This was never done before and the two leading contenders were Kefauver and a new young Senator, John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts. Adlai Stevenson privately wanted Kennedy, but in the end it was to be Kefauver. Of course we now that we would hear from Kennedy again come next election, when he became our president in 1960. Many changes are to occur from now to 1960.
I have often been shocked, in the modern world, by both political parties use of advertising to get elected. Their ‘subterfuge’ is really quite modern and savvy. Yet, I was surprised to see, this was happening here in 1950’s. In fact, the political arena has always been a platform of finding what the country cares about and play it up during the election year. What is different about this year, 1956, is we are really comfortably in the TV/Media age.
In 1952, when this pair ran against one another, there were less tv sets. And prior to that fewer still. In 1946 there were 6000 tv sets in America, by 1950 there were 12 million. That is a large increase. Yet, by 1956 more than half of Americans owned a TV set. It was not only here to stay, but it was a talking platform in our homes. Commercials and ads had become a normal part of the American evening. So, that platform was finally really utilized.
This was an ad against the current president Eisenhower. It is interesting how they use his words against him, much as is done in today’s political climate.

This cartoon ad also has similar rings to today, with mention of getting in or out of a war we may or may not have needed (in this case it was Korea, which we had been out of at this point). What is really interesting in the second ad is the mention of a possible invasion of Communist China. Imagine had we really a time machine and could go to 1956 and tell the people that Communist China is stronger than ever and that almost all the things in our homes and business are produced there. Frightening to think of for them, yet to we modern people, hardly ever mentioned.

Of course, on the Republican sides, such ads were also prevalent as this one here

The idea of running a campaign based on fear rather than simple facts was already becoming the norm. And in this ad we see, already, that one party wants to use simple buzz words such as family and religion, as if only one party truly cares about one’s families.
I have been accused of being political before on this blog, though I have never intended to be. In fact I hate politics in that it seems just another game to play and all it does is separate the majority of people and turn us against one another. When, really, we would be greatly helped if we put these things aside and just tried to actually make a world we could be proud of that was fair for all.
I might be considered political in saying things against the large corporation of today, but honestly, all that we love about the 1950’s and earlier are very counter-big corporation. The very demise of the small business and the American dream is due to their monopoly on our towns and wallets. Even the immigration problem that seems to worry so many is in fact due to the corporation, as they are working on large corporate run farms and not at the local privately owned drug store or mom and pop restaurant.
It is a sad side affect that my project has, along with creating my love of this time and respect for the people of that era, it has made me see, more clearly, our own current world. I have to say I am not happy with our current or even recently prior conditions of this country. I can see the writing on the wall, as they say, and as the digital world increases I think we will see more than just our manufacturing leaving our country for overseas. I believe what is left to the majority of us, our towns and small business the ability to care for ourselves and children and our land, is slowly vanishing. The sad this is the smoke screen of worry over the government controlling us hides that we are really very controlled now by the corporations and in fact the government is largely run by those involved in the big corporations. The idea of ‘two sides fighting it out’ is almost some great ruse to keep us separate, when really they all seem to be fighting for the same master, the Almighty Dollar over us. I wonder, then, when we are so quickly sold out to the large corporations for a fast buck, what shall we have left. And those who are left, what shall we care about? I am sorry if that seems political, but it is, quite honestly, how I now feel after two years of very detailed study of all facets of our country.
Who would have thought when I began looking through old magazines for recipes or dress styles, that I would find myself falling down the rabbit hole of discovery of our current American condition. I am sorry if this seems offensive to anyone, but it is in fact my LOVE of America and what it once meant that I feel saddened. You can call a duck what you like, slick it up, throw smoke screens or put it in an expensive three piece suit on TV, but if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, you can bet it IS a duck. And it seems rather Republican or Democrat, we have many fancy ducks these days.
I hope we gals and gents can make a little difference.

11 October 1956 “Why Do Fools Fall in Love, A Moveable House, and The Power of Vinegar”

Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers were a new boy group here in 1956. Here is one of their first tv appearances on the Frankie Laine Show. Little Frankie Lyman is only 13 here, so young.
An interesting and surprising fact about Lyman: He appeared on a new show, “The Big Beat” which predated American Bandstand and used that format of bands and teens dancing. Frankie Lyman, who was black, was seen dancing with a white teenager. The show had to be cancelled because NBC affiliates in the Southern States took offense. Sad, really, when just a few people who care about something so silly and really quite innocent can ruin it for so many. And I am sure there were also people in the South who would not be offended, so in a way that was also unfair to those people as well. I guess it does seem that one bad apple does ruin the whole barrel.

During the 1950’s the RV or Caravan was having a boom. The mobile home is really born out of this era as well, with trailer parks becoming a new option for young families, though not with the ‘poverty cache’’ they have now. The ability to have a home with wheels, rather it was a ‘vacation home’ as in the case of the RV/Caravan or the longer term mobility of a mobile home was becoming attractive to the growing country and its increasing highways. 
What is so interesting about this story from my 50’s magazine is the James G. Mitchell’s solution to this mobility problem: A custom built home that is neither mobile manufactured home nor store-bought RV.
Mr. Mitchell, who works in the construction trade, often has to be moved about for his job. Rather than leave his family or leave the mobility of his job, their family decided to make their home portable.(all images are larger when clicked upon)
Mr. Mitchell designed his home to be built on Oak skids and to have easy hook ups for utilities. He completely designed the structure and his wife the interior. Read their little article here and enjoy the pictures of the inside of their home.

How adorable is her little kitchen and there is even room for a little ‘homemaker office’ where Mrs. Mitchell sits on the phone.
They don’t even let their mobility stop them from music and the bulk of the piano.
What I love here is you can see how the children, they have three, even have a playroom. Though it is small, it uses every inch of space with lovely colored wall storage and gay little block handles. How is this done? Easy, when the three share one bedroom then the second bedroom is freed up for their play and easy clean up.
I think what great lesson we can take from the Mitchell’s is not only their ingenuity or their desire of family over convenience (the importance of their being together over the ease of a solid foundation home somewhere) is the use of space. Now, they had this home built for the equivalent of around $55,000 in current money. This is quite a bit of house for that price when one considers the extra effort made to allow easy utility hookup. 
The fact that good space and utility can be mingled with style and yet toys, clothes, and even musical instruments are still available. Though they may have much less in comparison to today’s child, they have enough to stimulate and educate and also the lesson of living in well designed economy. A lesson, really, any of us young or old should and could benefit from. I just thought you would like this little story.
I know that there is a movement today for small moveable ‘little houses’. They are even smaller than this house, but really I thought this showed a house with a bit more than just a 400 sq ft cabin. That might be good for some, but this also shows what could be moveable for the family that might like more ‘normal’ home conditions. It also shows how we can, even in a normal foundation build stationary home, really make do and make lovely with less space.
Now, on to cleaning: I know we have discussed homemade cleaning solutions before. And, although many readily available cleaners are at my fingertips in the markets here in 1956, I am an ‘old war wife’ and certainly recall having only water and elbow grease to clean with during the rationing years.
To clean a drain (and make it smell fresh) pour in one cup of dry baking soda and then one hot cup of vinegar (Watch it bubble!). After about 10 minutes run hot water down the drain. Fresh and clean.
If you have glasses that have become cloudy from the dishwasher, vinegar to the rescue! Take a cloth and soak in white vinegar full strength. Now wrap it all around the glass, in and out, and let sit an hour or so. Now when you rinse and wipe clean, they should sparkle like new.
Copper pots or copper bottom pots? Clean these bright and new with a paste made of white vinegar and salt. I wear a ‘cleaning cotton glove’ or use a rag and apply the solution. (mix the two until they are a pasty consistency) To make them shine or to shine copper use 4 Tbs catsup and 2 Tbs vinegar and then rub it on, let it dry and buff off.
To clean metals and metal sinks, make a paste with 1 tbs cream of tartar and enough vinegar to make a good paste. Rub onto the metal and let dry white. Then wash it off and rub dry. As good as Comet  but kinder, in my book.
If you have colored porcelain sinks, use full strength vinegar in a spray bottle to clean them. They sparkle and shine!
Fruit flies? Set out a small dish of straight vinegar and they shall be attracted and perish.
A great cough syrup/expectorant is 1 tsp apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp honey. Mix and swallow. It really works in lieu of cold or cough syrups (plus no drugs!)
The only bad thing about vinegar is don’t use it on white marble ( I have a small marble counter I use for my pastry) as it is too acidic for it and will ruin/mar it.
There are many uses for the stuff? What is your favorite way to use it? Let’s share, as I love finding new ways to use less things to keep my home clean and in order. And, best of all, any solutions we make and keep, we can decorate the bottles as we like and how lovely to see a cleaning pantry or closet filled with little bottles bearing our own cute vintage images or sayings! “The Smith Family Window Cleaner” “The Jones’ Incredible Carpet Cleaner” and so on. Have fun with it, then it’s not work.
Happy Homemaking.

9 & 10 October 1956 “Jam, Chocolate Cake, Left-Over Pie, and Bread: From Field to Slice”

  I realized I forgot to share my finished Jam and recipe with you the other day. While speaking of canning I must tell you about my first incident with canning. I sometimes forget, now well into my second year of life in the 1950’s, that it was not that long ago I could hardly boil water.
My vintage friend and I had decided to try some canning early on in my 1955 year. We both had never done it before and only had some basic books to use. We were so careful measuring and preparing the jars and I set my then ‘new’ vintage canning pot with rack to boil. We carefully lowered our first set of jam into the water, eager to make our first batch. Then, we waited…and waited. We heard no pops and could see the lids were not indented, so we simply went onto more prep work for more jam.
I forgot to mention, this was late in the evening that we had decided to do this. We were also working on some art projects for a craft fair we were going to go to the next day. So, time went by. When it reached midnight and no indenting lids, I told my friend to go home and I would stay up and baby-sit our first batch of jam.
At around 1 a.m. I simply gave up and took the jars out. Thinking we had made some horrible mistake. When I removed the jam you could see the liquid in the jars boiling inside. Oh, well and off to bed.
The next morning, when I came down to make breakfast, it was like Christmas morning when I noticed the jars had all popped in the night and were happily dented in! Needless to say, that batch of jam was VERY cooked, but it was then that I learned the ‘popping’ didn’t happen until a few minutes after you remove them from the boiling water. I feel I have come a long way. That is also why I feel like any of you out there who can barely boil water that why to try the adventure into cooking and doing more for yourself, don’t worry. It is possible and rather fun along the way.
Now, my jam. I had mentioned I was in the middle of using up the peaches I had received from my MIL from her little fruit orchard. I also had some leftover rhubarb I had picked at our local farm early Summer that I hadn’t used, so simply froze the full stalks. I decided to combine the two. Thus, Peach Rhubarb Jam.

Here is the recipe:
50sgal Rhubarb & Peach Jam

• 1/2 cup rhubarb diced
• 4 cups mashed peaches
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• Lemon zest
• 4 Tbs liquid pectin

Get your big canning pot boiling. (any pot large enough to have boiling water that will cover the lids of whatever size jar you are using) I have an old large metal canning pot with the metal rack insert that you lift the jars in and out. I bought it at a local sale for a few dollars. They are not expensive and as usual, I always try for vintage, as I know it will last. But, they do have new variety that are nice. I have some books and Canning equipment in the Corner Store HERE if you would like to check that out.
I blanched my peaches first. This makes canning peaches much easier. Especially if you are doing a large patch. This recipe makes 6-7 8oz. jars.
Set water to rolling boil and then drop in peaches for about 5 minutes. I found with these peaches, as they were more ‘natural’ (that is not overgrown for the consumer market, just an old peach tree in my MIL yard that yields small little plum sized peaches) it took a little longer. Have an ice water bath ready and simply plunge the peaches in. The skin should slide off fairly easy. I also find this really prepares the peaches to be mashed. With a firmer store bought peach the mashing might need some cooking to achieve it. But with these, the were rather mushy when I was done and simply cut out the pit and sliced/smashed them into my measuring cup to get about 4 cups.
Cut rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces and cook with 1/4 cup lemon juice (I like fresh lemon juice, but you can use bottled in a pinch). Cook this until it is soft, about five minutes or so.
Now place the peaches and the sugar into the pan with the rhubarb and bring to a boil. Then, simply spoon into clean and dry canning jars, wipe mouths of jars clean and dry, put on the lid and place in your large pot of boiling water for canning. Make sure the lids are under the boiling water. I boil for 10 minutes then take out and wait for the fun little ‘pop’ sound. Always laughing, of course, recalling that first batch of ‘all-night’ jam with a friend.
I forgot to mention. I used liquid pectin in this recipe but you could also use powdered. The trick is:
4 tsp powdered pectin = 2 TBS of liquid pectin.
Also, remember that when you use DRY PECTIN you add it to the juice of fruit before heating. Then after you have brought it to a bowl add the sugar.
When using LIQUID PECTIN you add the sugar and juice/fruit together and THEN boil and add the liquid pectin AFTER. It took some research to find this out, as I had both liquid and powdered pectin depending on the recipes I had found and the other day had only liquid left. So, I hope this  helps you out.
I made a new chocolate cake recipe the other day that I really like. It was nice and dense and very old fashioned tasting, though the recipe was new. I made the frosting through an error and was, as usual, happy with it. I often find when I run up against a problem, in this case I had less confectioners sugar than I had thought (forgetting I had used some the previous day). So, without enough sugar to stiffen it into a good firm spreadable frosting, it basically became icing.
Though it was a simply mixer frosting, I then treated it like a 7 minute frosting, but added no eggs. I simply put it in a double boiler (for me that is a pot with boiling water with a smaller pot set in) and used my electric mixer for 7 minutes.
This was the Frosting recipe I used:

EASY CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1 stick butter
4 tbsp. cocoa
1/3 c. milk
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Combine butter, cocoa and milk in saucepan and heat until butter has melted. Beat in sugar, vanilla, and salt, beating until ready to spread.

But, then I found out I did not have 1 lb. of sugar and had already made the liquid ingredients. Shame on me, for I should have had all my ingredients out first. I am so used to baking and cooking and usually try to stick to my lists for pantry and shelf so I assume there will be ingredients there. I had forgot, however, that the previous day I had used up some confectioners/powdered sugar unexpectedly.
So, to that I added marshmallows broken up and then put it in the double boiler. It made a thicker liquid, which I poured onto my cake. When it set, it was a beautiful smooth as glass surface. A good trick with such liquid icing on a cage, is to pierce the cake with something, a knife or the small ends of your beaters, so the icing drips and sets into the cake, this is wonderful.
Dark Chocolate Cake

• 3/4  cup  butter, softened
• 3    eggs
• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 3/4  cup  unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 3/4  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 2  cups  sugar
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla
• 1-1/2  cups  milk
•     Chocolate-Sour Cream Frosting (see recipe below)

directions

1. Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease bottoms of three 8-inch round baking pans or two 8x8x2-inch square or 9x1-1/2-inch round cake pans. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Grease and lightly flour waxed paper and sides of pans. Or grease one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Set pan(s) aside.
2. In a mixing bowl stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder; and salt; set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until well combined (3 to 4 minutes). Scrape sides of bowl; continue beating on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition (about 1 minute total). Beat in vanilla.
4. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to beaten mixture, beating on low speed just until combined after each addition. Beat on medium to high speed for 20 seconds more. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan(s).
5. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 35 to 40 minutes for 8-inch square pans and the 13x9x2-inch pan, 30 to 35 minutes for 8- or 9-inch round pans, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Peel off waxed paper. Cool thoroughly on wire racks. Or place 13x9x2-inch cake in pan on a wire rack; cool thoroughly. Frost with desired frosting. Makes 12 to 16 servings.

As I am doing a recipe post, I figured I might as well share last night’s dinner with you. I had made a slow cooker meal of corned beef, potatoes, corn and onions the previous night. It was quite good. Then, as I usually do, Hubby gets another version of the previous night’s dinner for his lunch the next day. Now, I had quite a bit of the meal left and I did not want to simply serve that leftover again in the same form, so I made one of my good ole’ stand by’s. I call it ‘left over pie’.
Basically, I make a very simply in the pan pastry and then fill it with the leftovers. In this case I baked the crust for ten minutes and then shredded the corned beef along the bottom. Took all the corn and potatoes and mashed them. Then I put a layer of green beans over the meat and topped with the whipped potatoes and grated a bit of leftover cheese along the top.
  This is always a fun and easy way to use up leftovers. You can, of course, make a top layer crust as well, but in this case, it was more of a sheppards pie affair and the browned potatoes and cheese on top are so yummy.
This might actually look rather bad to anyone who doesn’t eat meat, but I assure it, it was quite good.
This is my old make in the pan pastry. This recipe is for a two layered pie, so for this pie I simply cut back the ingredients to:

1 1/2 C Flour
1 1/2 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 C  Salad Oil
2 Tbs milk

Both versions are so easy to make and you can whip it up rather fast. Company will always be impressed with homemade pie, rather savory or sweet, and this actually makes a very light and flaky crust.
Now, just for fun, this interesting video.This isn’t a vintage video, but it is an interesting watch. This gentleman in UK used his allotment to grow wheat and he takes you from seed to loaf. A great teaching tool for you homeschoolers just to show a very small version of wheat to bread production. Also very interesting how he uses some garden machines and modifies them to work in the wheat process. Obviously not practical for many of us, but very interesting none the less.

8 October 1956 “Eartha Kitt”

This month here in 1956 Eartha Kitt will perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Eartha, she is a very unique talent. I adore her voice and her sing song/story telling way she approached songs. She doesn’t just sing a song or perform, she owns it and it becomes a little vignette; a mini movie or almost short story.
This clip of she and Nat King Cole from next year (1957) show that indeed people of color were on TV in the 1950’s. I love her rendition of this classic song. It seems they were going into a skit, but it cuts off before that happens.

 
This 1962 clip of her singing “Just an Old Fashioned Girl” is wonderful. You really get the complexities of her voice and what a glorious dress and set. I have to say, though I am biased, I would much rather watch such a set and lovely outfit and performance than an MTV video.

She would later go on to play Catwoman on the Batman show in the later 1960’s. Many people know her wonderful rendition of Santa baby first recorded by her in 1953. There was a horrid Madonna version made of the song once. I know it’s a bit early for Christmas, but we can’t talk of Eartha Kitt and not hear it.

I am sorry the website disappeared for a bit yesterday and today. I had some glitches that needed to be fixed. I hope all  are able to access again and I will be back with a longer post and more information on the site. Thanks for the patience with that.
Happy Homemaking.

7 October 1956 “A Little House”

This fun song by the Four Lads had me flipping through me various 1950’s vintage house plans. It is fun to sing along with. Here are the lyrics:

There’s a tiny house (There's a tiny house)
By a tiny stream (By a tiny stream)
Where a lovely lass (Where a lovely lass)
Had a lovely dream (Had a lovely dream)
And the dream came true (And the dream came true)
Quite unexpectedly
In Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen By The Sea
She was out one day (She was out one day)
Where the tulips grow (Where the tulips grow)
When a handsome lad (When a handsome lad)
Stopped to say hello (Stopped to say hello)
And before she knew (And before she knew)
He kissed her tenderly
In Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen By The Sea
The happy pair were married one Sunday afternoon
They left the church and ran away to spend their honeymoon
In a tiny house (In a tiny house)
By a tiny stream (By a tiny stream)
Where the lovely lass (Where the lovely lass)
Had a lovely dream (Had a lovely dream)
And the last I heard (And the last I heard)
They still live happily
In Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen By The Sea
In Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen By The Sea

I am not sure what it is exactly about this particular house, but I am drawn to it. It couldn’t be simpler. I currently live in a rather small home, but it couldn’t be more different than this little gem. (click images to see full size)
I think the combination of the stone, the clapboard siding, the little cupola on the garage, the swoop of the white fence attached to the garage. It just seems very homey. This house was probably built many times in a sub-division, but I could really see it on a little plot of land here in New England.
Here you can see the layout both with a basement or just a foundation. There is even included in this layout an outdoor fireplace. You can see there is a lot of living in this small space. And I could see it decorated either 50’s modern or Early American and both being quite lovely and appropriate.
Before 1955,  a home such as this would hardly have caught my eye in a book of plans. As I learn to make more of my own, live more simply and really find that I need less and less, the concept and idea of my living space seems to shrink as well. And, as a homemaker, the less space to clean the more time for other endeavors.
A family with two children would have happily lived in this space in the 1950’s. Today, I think separate bedrooms and baths as well as the requisite great room or media room would be required. It’s funny to think that today there are probably more computers in an average American home than there are bedrooms in this 1950’s home.
Just a simple post for me today, I hope that is fine with all of you. The crisp fall weather calls and there is dinner to be made. I hope all of you a fine day and as always, Happy Homemaking.

6 October 1956 “The Industrious Homemaker”

I wanted to share some images from my magazines and books showing the homemaker being very industrious. Even in adverts, as above, we see the clever homemaker in her work dungarees cutting and creating her home and then later dressed and pretty in it. I think sometimes we only see the second image, mostly due to Hollywood, I think.
I often find such tips and guides, as this. We see the homemaker happily wielding the hammer. No ‘honey-do’ list needed.
Even when she is having hubby’s help she is often in the thick of it with him. Even in advertising, this was often shown. And Do-it-yourself meant both partners.
What I have noticed is that the early 1950’s magazines seem to show this more often. As we move closer to 1959, we see more interest in the finished product without as much of the labor being shown. Many more images of the woman enjoying a space decked out, but without the view of her working hard by herself or with hubby to get the desired look. Why this is, I don’t know.
Even, as I said, Hollywood seemed to follow this pattern. Leave it to Beaver was from the early 1960’s and though still very 1950’s in feel we often see Mrs. Cleaver working in lovely outfits and doing some chores, sometimes gardening. But, if we see I love Lucy, she is often ‘doing it herself’ even though it often ended badly. Yet, that was the humor of it and I am sure many homemakers could associate with the mistakes because they, too, were trying to ‘do it themselves’ not merely relying on their hubby’s.
I think the homemaker’s role was very serious to her. It WAS a job and that job entailed the home in many ways. While hubby might mow the lawn, take out the garbage, and occasionally barbeque, really it was her province and she ran it even down to installing and repair. Some may disagree with me, but I would be willing to bet the average woman in 1950’s new more well-rounded aspects of living from cooking, to hair design, to even plumbing and basic home maintenance than many women today. It was part of your job and part of being a woman.
Even when the ladies tried to use their ‘feminine whiles’ to trick the man into helping out, it often meant they were stuck in the thick of it as well. This of course brings to mind this episode of I Love Lucy, where Lucy and Ethel try to trick the boys into building a Barbeque only to end up as helpers. I also like this episode as I liked the season they lived in CT.

The main glaring difference in Women’s magazines of the 1950’s to today, is that missing element of the woman actually doing the work. Of course, I have not done an exhaustive cross reference of all modern magazines, but I know all the home/decorating/homemaking type magazines I used to read pre  1955 were more about the end result. Often big expansive things that were either impossible to copy or simply ‘chabby chic’ with no real direction as to how to achieve success with it. That is understanding color and how it works together and in a room. Even the cooking is often ‘make this meal in 10 minutes from a mix’ but never understanding the basics to cooking in the first place. Making dough, making a sauce, how to bake and roast.
Well, there you are, a little bit of the industrious women of yesteryear. Let us, in this as well, emulate her as best we can. Because you know what? We CAN do it!