8 February 1957 “Eggless Cupcakes, Those Pesky Weeds or Easy Food and Cheap Medicine?”

I thought I would share two eggless cake recipes I enjoy. Now, I have a generous supply of eggs from my lovely hens, but sometimes I might be low.

The other day was a baking day and I had used up many eggs for breakfast and other things and had only enough eggs for next day’s breakfast (as my hens fresh eggs wouldn’t be laid until later the next day)

This chocolate cupcake recipe is SO moist and wonderful. I often use this even when I have eggs available. You can see I made a very rough and natural frosting and it was very delicious. These may have to be sold this summer at the farm fair for pin money.

Eggs Chocolate Cupcakes

2 1/4 C.  unbleached flour

2 C.  sugar

1 C.  unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 TBS vanilla extract

2/3 cup oil

1 1/2 Tsp. white vinegar

2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift the dry ingredients (if you don’t have a sifter, put dry ingredients together in bowl and then whisk until blended).

In a large bowl, sift the dry ingredients together.  Set aside.

I mix the oil, water, vanilla extract and vinegar in my Pyrex 2 cup measure, as there is room enough. Give it a good stir.

Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Don’t mix too much, it is okay to be lumpy.

Pour in Cupcake cups and bake about 20-25 minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness.

Now, I used an almond-butter frosting. This works with peanut butter as well, but Gussie (who works on a local farm) had some expired almond butter when their farm store closed for the season. I happily took it. Waste not, want not, as they say.

Almond Butter Frosting

1 C.  butter softened

1 C. chunky almond butter

3 C. confectioners sugar. (You could use more up to 5 cups depending on how sweet you wanted it, but the cupcakes are nice and sweet so I prefer a less sweet icing)

1 TBS milk or Cream

Simply whip butter and almond butter until nice and fluffy (think of how you want your frosting to look) then mix in sugar and milk.

This makes more than enough for the cupcakes, so I put the rest in a mason jar in the ice box and use it as a spread on toast or scones. It also goes wonderfully on a jam sandwich!

Now, here in the late 1950’s we are prone to excess. We seem to be living in a world of plenty. Many things are becoming more affordable and there seems to be a vast endlessness to what we can have at our fingertips. Such bounty, therefore, often leads to a feeling of security.

Such a feeling I found when perusing this little article in one of my magazines about those ‘pesky weeds’ and how they stand in the way of our desire for that ‘perfect lawn’.

As I have said many times, being an older homemaker I cannot but help to think I would sometimes question these motives. There was a time, not long ago (12 years or so prior) that I would  have recalled being hungry and knowing of the want and need of food especially in the war ravaged homes of Europe and Britain. My own lawn, as many other’s had done, may well have given way to veg and other edibles. Today, here in 1957 however, my plantings would seem to be more focused on appearance to actual usage.Fast forward to 21st century and we are well aware of the affects of these ‘weed killers’ to pets, children, the soil and so on.

Here, however, I find it interesting how this article points out these various ‘bad weeds’ and the appropriate chemical to do away with them. Let’s take a look, however, at what these plants actually provided for our ancestors when times were tough. Also, before medicine as we know it some of these weeds were also used, by our Victorian and earlier ancestors, to treat ailments.

First, we have our old friend the dandelion. Probably the most belligerent and determined plant that has fought with the lover of lawns for years. Yet, by its very hardy nature and ability to grow in affect without any aid from us, should tell us that we might want to consider it as part of our food supply.

First let’s look at the suggested aid in destroying this plant 2 4 D. Here is an interesting bit of info on this pesticide, which is STILL used widely today in our country (though I believe it is banned in Europe).

2,4-D was originally developed in 1941 to increase plant growth. Soon, it was discovered to have an even more useful role in agriculture as an herbicide to control weed growth. A mixture of 2,4-D and a related chemical called 2,4,5-T was found to be a more effective herbicide than 2,4-D alone. This mixture was called Agent Orange and was used by the U.S. during the Vietnam War to increase the visibility for war planes by destroying plant undergrowth and crops. The usage of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T increased through the next 15 years. In response to its potential to cause cancer, and other health concerns, use of 2,4,5-T was banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1983. Although 2,4-D use has been allowed to continue by the EPA, its health effects are under review.

Now, the dandelion itself has so many uses and edible bits. The leaves are quite good in any salad or in place of lettuce. The roots can also be toasted, ground and used as a coffee substitute. There are endless uses of the plant. And, surprisingly, a natural plant food for other plants can be drived from it.

Here are the medicinal uses of the plant:

Dandelion is also used for the treatment of the gall bladder, kidney and urinary disorders, gallstones, jaundice, cirrhosis, hypoglycemia, dyspepsia with constipation, edema associated with high blood pressure and heart weakness, chronic joint and skin complaints, gout, eczema and acne. As a tonic, Dandelion strengthens the kidneys. An infusion of the root encourages the steady elimination of toxins from the body. Dandelion is a powerful diuretic but does not deplete the body of potassium.

Research is revealing that the many constituents of Dandelion including Taraxacin, Taraxacoside, Inulin, Phenolic acids, Sesquiterpene lactones, Triterpenes, Coumarins, Catortenoids and Minerals, mainly Potassium and calcium, are very valuable in curing a number of disorders and illnesses. Dandelion is traditionally used as a tonic and blood purifier, for constipation, inflammatory skin conditions, joint pain, eczema and liver dysfunction, including liver conditions such as hepatitis and jaundice.

Another interesting use of the plant is when the flowers and leaves are placed in a closed brown bag with unripe fruit, the  flowers and leaves of Dandelion release ethylene gas which ripen the fruit. You can also make a dark red dye from the roots and a cosmetic skin lotion made by distilling the leaves at the base of the plant in water are suppose to help with freckles.

This is knowledge that our ancestors would have known by course and certainly would have preferred all that from an easy to grow plant over lush green lawns.

Next, we have the plantian. Now, I don’t know about you, but my yard often produces these, even is spots where little else will grow. They are actually a pretty plant and I have used the leaves in arrangements for my kitchen and dining room table. However, they have many uses.

The herb has a long history of use as an alternative medicine dating back to ancient times. Being used as a panacea (medicinal for everything) in some cultures, one American Indian name for the plant translates to "life medicine."

The young leaves of the plant are great in salads and also lightly cooked with other foods. They are very rich in vitamin B1 and riboflavin. It is interesting to note that things such as riboflavin are now, here in the 1950’s, being added to our wonderful white pre sliced bread, while out in the yard we are killing a natural source of it with military grade poison. We, however, are unaware of this here in 1950. We believe that our government would never let a product be sold that could hurt us. Of course, we also are constantly bombarded by ads for cigarettes, but that is another story altogether.

I have rather found this an interesting idea, these weeds, and will continue talking about these next post. But, imagine, if it were war time or any crisis and we were left to look about us for food and food production. Here we see many plants that, despite our chemicals which in fact hurt us more than the plant, continue to survive. That is an easy source of vitamins, nutrients and ways to fill our belly. Many of these, as well, make wonderful teas or coffee substitutes. Though I am over a decade away from the War, my natural ‘make do and mend’ instinct of the WWII bride would often shake my head at the ‘young people today’ and wonder ‘what a waste, what a shameful waste’ as I save my slivers of soap in old stockings. Garbage and waste would be as sinful to me as anything.

5 February 1957 “Sleekness in Design for ‘57 and the Need For The Latest Thing”

I thought this cartoon spoke to me on two levels. The first was a great portrayal of the ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ becoming more and more prevalent here in the 1950’s.

Secondly, we see the sleek look of design that is starting to appear here in America by 1957. The ‘old’ car of the main couple sticks out like a sore thumb, while the latest more popular couple in the front are squished down in their seats, yet the height of fashion.

Let’s see just how much the overall look of cars from 1955 to 1957 has changed.

This 1955 Dodge ad still has a very ‘tall and rounded’ look. You can notice the major change in the overall design of a car from just 1955 to the modern lower sleeker, though rather larger, 1957 American car, as this ‘57 Mercury displays.

Over the pond, however, the rapidity of change is not as great. The level of production in Britain and Europe is very slow and really the rationing had only stopped a few years prior for England.

Here we see the 1955 Morris.This 1955 car already looks rather ‘dated’ by American standards. It still retains a very 1940’s car look. And by 1957 there is not much change to it. Cetainly keeping up with the Joneses here must be a bit easier.

This ‘sleekness’ of design is not limited to cars. In fact the need to ‘update’ our homes is beginning to really appear. We must remember that in the 1920’s-30’s to even have the luxury of a refrigerator would have been just that, a luxury. Even by the 1940’s war time, the concern over how ‘up to date’ ones’ ice box or range was hardly a concern.

Now, however, here at the end of the 1950’s, we begin to see a drastic change in styles. These ads from this year, 1957, for Frigidaire for their ‘sheer look’ in refrigerator as well as stove looks rather modern.

 

  Gone is the lumpy image with which we today often associate the 1950’s fridge. This ad is only two years old   yet look how dated it appears with the sleek sharp angles of the new ‘57 model.

Some other ‘latest’ designs from this year may begin to look rather familiar to us.This ‘state of the art’ Moen single handle faucet probably looks like many that modern people have loathed and had ripped out. Or it recalls the cheap college flat or rental house. Yet, here, it is the ‘cat’s pajamas’ (though that saying is rather outdated here in 1957 as well!)

 These type of ceiling tiles are always advertised in my magazines from the early 1950’s and by now are available in many decorator colors and styles. Though to modern people it appears that thing to ‘get rid of’ in a home, I wonder if they should be reconsidered. We are so quick to change, to jump on the continual ‘up date’ band wagon, spurred on by the Home Design shows that have been popular since the early 2000’s. What makes something the ‘living end’ one year only to end up ‘ugly’ and on the dust heap the next?       Images such as this, which I would call a very middle of the road Early American look also probably has a familiar ring to it. Perhaps in high school days in the 1980’s this type of furniture was relegated to unused rumpus and ‘computer rooms’ in the basement. Or Grandmother had ‘those old sofa’s’ around. Dirty college rental houses often had this type of item on front porches or in back rooms. Yet, here in 1957 they are on the other end of the scale that is Modern on one side and ‘Colonial’ on the other. But they are very highly desired.

What is amazing, is we often see this type of furniture still around and it was very well built AND built IN AMERICA. Yet the inexpensive furniture of today is not and often falls to pieces in a year or two, but who cares, they will but ‘out of style’ by then, right?

It isn’t a new realization to me here, now on my third year in the 1950’s, that the education to waste and spend is well on its way. Though there is much more conservation and much less garbage here in 1957 then in 2011, it is a mad house of spending and waste as opposed to only 10 years earlier in the immediate post WWII years.

I just hope that our love of vintage can allow us to see that we can take and love that which is already made and made well. If we do not do that we will simply wait for more of the modern production to pump out ‘1950’s vintage inspired’ furniture, dishes, etc and allow us to go and buy it with ease. We care little if it is well made or where it is made. I ask, however, to consider the hunt. To find and save and love and repair an old piece, that is to be ‘modern vintage’ in my book. Not only does the authenticity of the piece have more value it also helps out the environment a bit. And, why not give some much needed cash into the pockets of a local seller than wait for that ‘vintage inspired’ flat pack Chinese made sofa from the giant Box store?

Styles change and desires with them, but we must remember that deep down, it is all manufactured. Not only the product but the desire. Before we know it, after our homes are just ‘done’ in 1950’s we will be told it is ugly and 1980’s is the things. That is where we need to separate our true feelings toward a piece or a look and stick with it.

Who knows, maybe your children or grandchildren will be writing a blog, or whatever odd magical form of mass communication exists in 50 years from now, about how lucky they were to have had ancestors who collected up a home full of 1950’s furniture and kept it ‘all these years’.

3 February 1957 “An Airplane Crash”

On January 31, 1957, a Douglas DC-7 operated by Douglas Aircraft Company was involved in a mid-air collision and crashed into the schoolyard of Pacoima Junior High School in Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. By February 1, 7 people had died and about 74 had been injured due to the incident. A 12-year old boy died from multiple injuries from the incident on February 2.

Following the collision (of the planes), Curtiss Adams, the radarman aboard the eastbound twin-engine F-89J Scorpion, was able to bail out of the stricken fighter jet and, despite incurring serious burns, parachuted to a landing onto a garage roof in Burbank, breaking his leg when he fell to the ground. The fighter jet’s pilot, Roland E. Owen, died when the aircraft plummeted in flames into La Tuna Canyon in the Verdugo Mountains.

The DC-7B, with a portion of its left wing sheared off, raining debris onto the neighborhoods below, remained airborne for a few minutes, then rolled to the left and began an uncontrolled high-velocity dive earthward over Pacoima. The aircraft broke up at about 500 to 1,000 feet above the ground. Seconds later, the hurtling wreckage slammed onto the grounds of the Pacoima Congregational Church and the adjacent playground of Pacoima Junior High School, killing all four Douglas crewmen aboard. On the school playground, where some 220 boys were just ending their outdoor athletics activities, two students, Ronnie Brann, 13, and Robert Zallan, 12, were struck and killed by wreckage and debris from the crashing airliner. A third gravely injured student, Evan Elsner, 12, died two days later in a local hospital. An estimated 74 more students on the school playground suffered injuries ranging from minor to critical.

This PAGE HERE has the actual clippings and article from the story that might be of interest to anyone.

An odd twist of fate concerning this accident concerns a student of this school who was absent as he was attending his Grandfather’s funeral. He was 15-year-old Richard Steven Valenzuela, who soon became known as singing star Ritchie Valens. Due to this incident he developed an intense fear of flying. After becoming famous he had to overcome this. Of course, the sad bit of irony is that he then, two years later, Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) died in an Iowa plane crash. The event became known as "the day the music died" in Don McLean's 1971 hit "American Pie."

Prior to this crash there we no laws over such military test flights, but after this new laws were to be enacted. The incident resulted in over $10 million in lawsuits (that is $70 million it 21st century money)

31 January 1956 “ Desk Set and Floating Island”

This year I am excited to re-watch (well for 1957 me it will be the ‘first viewing’) of the Tracy and Hepburn movie “The Desk Set”.
I adore this movie for many reasons. The first being the simple pairing of two of my favorite actors, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. The duo were a real life pair and I can truly see them together. The grounded ‘average man’ quality of Tracy just fits the New England Blue-blood eccentricities of Hepburn.
Secondly, this movie really touches a major issue, the computer. Though done in a very Hollywood comedy way, Amorak (the computer) is threatening to take over the lives of the research department of which Hepburn is the head. Throw in a fun love triangle and you have a wonderful movie.
The sad moment for me, when I watch this movie, is that the 21st century me always points out, “Well, it’s all fun and laughs, but honestly those jobs, that very department really won’t exist in a few decades. I can do as much research in 10 minutes on my computer as it would have taken those girls a week of reference material and phone calls”. But, what can one do, the computer certainly came and has not left us anytime soon.
This movie is definitely worth a watch and if you would like to watch it now, simply click on the “APRON TV” button on the side panel and it will take you to my YouTube channel. There click on classic movies, Desk set is there in its entirety. Enjoy.
Now, a very small inconsequential moment in this movie that I love is that in one scene Tracy and Hepburn eat a ‘Floating Island’. The first time I saw this movie I wondered, ‘what on earth is floating island’? Since then, of course, I have found countless versions of this recipe in my cookbooks and magazines.

Here is the section of the movie where they talk about the floating islands. It is at exactly 5:29 on the little counter if you want to forward ahead to the actual dessert. It has little to do with the plot, but I often find moments, such as the beginning of this clip when he is in the kitchen, fascinating. Because being a time traveler one wants to get things right, so to see a kitchen set up and used, it makes a Vintage Gal’s heart go pitter patter. I adore the copper saucepans on the wall and have my own small collection started back in 1955. They do not come cheap but are perfect for certain things. For example, a copper bowl is one of the best bowls to use to make stiff egg whites as one would need in a dessert like ‘floating island’. As to why a copper bowl is better and easier to use, I found this explanation helpful and scientific:

The bowl you use makes a difference when you are whipping egg whites. Copper bowls produce a yellowish, creamy foam that is harder to overbeat that the foam produced using glass or stainless steel bowls. When you whisk egg whites in a copper bowl, some copper ions migrate from the bowl into the egg whites. The copper ions form a yellow complex with one of the proteins in eggs, conalbumin. The conalbumin-copper complex is more stable than the conalbumin alone, so egg whites whipped in a copper bowl are less likely to denature (unfold).

A floating island is basically meringues made from egg whites floating on a custard made with those eggs yolks. There are many varieties out there. My 1950’s Better Home and Gardens has a recipe for a Strawberry Floating Island.As does the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. This also has the basic floating island recipe as well.
And just for fun, to share a vintage show you may not have heard of, “My Miss Brooks” that involves some cooking and kitchen antics. This show ran also as a radio program on CBS from 48 to 57. It was adapted for TV and in 1956 (last year) was made into a film of the same name.
Here is the first part of the episode. To watch the rest just go to the APRON TV under classic TV. Enjoy!

And here is the movie trailer for the 1956 Feature Film: 

Happy Homemaking.

29 January 1957 “Chicks, Chicken livers, and Mayonnaise…Oh My!”

The other day my first chicks began to hatch. If you may recall, I had ordered a dozen French Maran Eggs to hatch. I want to have a small flock of these hens as their eggs are much sought after by chefs and can command a higher price at our local Farmer’s markets and stores.
One of my hens had gone broody, so I gave her 4 of the eggs and put 8 in the incubator. I am no regretting that decision. As she has hatched out all four while only one in the incubator made it to a full chick.
To keep my hen broody while the eggs arrived by the post, I let her sit on eggs from my own hens. They were, most likely fertilized, as I have a wonderful Rooster (named Roostie).
Therefore the first picture you see is one of our eggs from my hens and rooster hatching. It hatched earlier, as the hen hat sat on them for three days before my Maran eggs arrived. So, I took those eggs and put them in the incubator. This allowed me to hold back the chicks until the eggs under my hen hatched.
A hen will often sit on her nest for three days while the eggs hatch. All eggs will not hatch at the same time, presumably as they would not all have been laid at the same time. So Mother Nature has put it into the Hen’s mind to ‘stay put’ for about three days. So, on the day her eggs were to hatch, I simply slipped the two chicks I had in the house under her. She clucked, felt them move and then accepted they had hatched under her.
Before they went to their new mother, they had two days with my little dog in the house. He LOVES anything tinyand living. He is the most gentle dog I have ever had. I have seen him sit completely still and walk very slow and cautiously around chicks ,so as not to disturb or hurt them.
Here he is with the first little guy. I am hoping she is a SHE as then she will join the ranks of my egg laying hens and not have to end up in the roasting pan.
I have to say, since my voyage back to the 1950’s, my animal husbandry skills  have greatly improved. Though the 1950’s middle class homemaker was often the first to take on the modern plastic world of grocery at the big Super market and to leave the ‘farm’ back in the 1940’s, I don’t think I would have.
As I have said, being an older wife, and certainly a war bride, the thrift and make do of the war years would be such a part of me that I don’t think I would want to let it all go, as I rather enjoy it.
One advantage to having fresh eggs, literally still warm from the hen, is the ability to make my own mayonnaise. Now, really, if you buy your eggs fresh enough, this is still a safe procedure, I would just try to get them as fresh as possible.
The more I have learned to make my own not only do I see how cheaper it can be, but the taste and quality is amazing. I also think Mayonnaise today gets a rather bad rap. It is often portrayed as the ‘poor mans’ condiment, slathered on white Wonder bread and adorned with Spam. But, we must remember that egg mayonnaise is an old condiment/dressing. Well before the 1950’s saw it packaged and in the lunchbox of every working man and child, it was often a staple both in the farmers diet as well as on the tables of the well to do. Many think it is of Spanish origin and brought to France. Other’s also believe that wherever oil and eggs existed their mixture was inevitable.
The mass marketed mayo in the USA started in NYC at Richard Hellmann's delicatessen. It was bottled and sold in 1912 as “Hellmann’s Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise”.
Here is an interesting Mayonnaise recipe from 1916.
Yet, despite it being on grocery store shelves here in the 1950’s, many recipes existed as a normal part of cookbooks. Here is the page from Betty Crocker’s Picture cookbook. And it is of interest to note that mayo is being used in sweet as well as savory, as the ‘dainty pink dressing’ recipe shows us. Simply adding the juice of maraschino/glace’ cherries and whipping cream makes it suitable dressing for fruit.
   These are some of the recipes from my early 1950’s Cordon Bleu cook book by Dione Lucas, who was said to have influenced Julia child in her French Cookery.
The ingredients in any mayonnaise are easy enough: egg and oil with seasonings, usually mustard and an acid either or both lemon juice/vinegar. I have used combinations of all these and used various oils, as well.
The trick to mayonnaise is to emulsify. Emulsification is basically forcing two things that don’t want to blend, oil and water, to create a sort of bond. Certainly a mayonnaise can be made by hand with a whisk, but for me, I find it easy to use my blender. Many modern people would most likely use a food processor, but our version of ‘food processors’ here in 1957 are not the electrical versions of the modern kitchen. The blender, however, does a wonderful jobs at many things from dressings to soups.
This is my 1955 Osterizer. It is a beast. A heavy glass caraffe. Sturdy stainless steel base, this thing has lasted for years before I purchased it. To get a comparable version today would be hundreds of dollars, yet the vintage are easy enough to come by. As an aside, this little darling is wonderful to use at the bar and has seen many Grasshoppers blended in it!
For me the emulsification is easiest with the blender. Simply crack two eggs and put in one TBS lemon juice. I use fresh squeezed or sometimes in lieu of or in addition to I will also use vinegar. Turn it on low for about 3o seconds, just to blend.
Next take one cup of oil (Your choice, olive, sunflower, grape seed experiment with what you like) and this is the trick. While the blender is on low, very SLOWLY pour the liquid into the blender. I set the timer for 3 minutes and begin pouring the thinnest possible stream. If you do that and finish at about 3 minutes, you will have the PERFECT consistency. Then you can add the mustard, seasonings, garlic, what have you, and give a good mix.
Then I simply decant it in a canning jar and it is good for up to a week in the icebox. I usually make this once a week, so you can see we use it fairly often. It is great on salads, as the base for dressings, I even brush it with other seasonings on chicken when I bake them. This is NOT Miracle whip. AND it has no preservatives, dies or what have you. Look how wonderful that sheen and swirl is, you really need to try it. You will never buy mayonnaise again. Or, if you think you hate mayonnaise, make this and mix a bit with cold fish or last nights chicken and toss in salad greens, mmmmm wonderful!
Now, for me making my own dressings and condiments is both frugal and good for you. I think this frugality and ‘coin-purse wisdom’ can carry over to everything we eat.
For example, the chicken. We eat a lot of chicken in this country. It is, currently, very cheap mainly due to its horrid mass productions. But, I won’t get into that right now. My point will simply be that here in 1957 what we pay for a chicken, even at the Super Market, would be very similar to what a modern person would pay for a ‘free range’ bird, around 8-10 dollars. So, we do not simply have them in everything and waste as we do in the 21st century. That roast chicken for Sunday’s big meal is not simply tossed away. The bones are made into stock for soup. The leftover meat gets mixed with mayonnaise for father and children’s lunch.
But, there is another element of that bird that many modern people are often not aware of: The Offal. The guts of the bird, the heart, liver and gizzard and even the neck. These are simply seen as garbage and tossed either by the family, or else the big stores as they sell pre cut meat and all the ‘guts’ are garbage. This to me seems so wasteful. And, when we realize how we can use so much of the bird, then the choice to try and support a better bird, (better treated as well as not pumped full of hormones and antibiotics) will be more realistic. An 8 dollar chicken suddenly doesn’t seem so expensive when it becomes a dinner, a soup and lunches.
Now, ever so often I am able, when I don’t have a full chicken with the giblets/offal, to buy chicken hearts or livers. The other day, at my local grocery store, they had little containers of chicken livers VERY cheap. I snatched it up.
I adore chicken livers. They are much milder than a cow or pig liver. They have a wonderful mellow taste as well as being full of iron and vitamins. They are very high in protein and for a very low fat calorie count give you a lot of vitamins. In the below serving of 1 oz, you get the following: Vitamin A 96%,Vitamin C 1%, and Iron 8 %

Chicken Liver:
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 oz
Calories % Daily Values
33 *
Calories from Fat 12
Total Fat 1.37g 2%
Saturated Fat 0.443g 2%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.232g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.354g
Cholesterol 98mg 33%
Sodium 20mg 1%
Potassium 65mg
Total Carbohydrate 0g 0%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Sugars 0g
Protein 4.8g

My lunch the other day was chicken livers on toast, when of my favorite savories.To me, this looks lovely. But, even if you don’t like the look of it, they taste wonderful. Look at that wonderful texture.
I simply heated onions and garlic in oil and then lightly pan fried these with salt and pepper. Then tossed in salad greens and serve on toast. It is wonderful tasting. You can also add cream to a mixture such as this while it is in the pan, getting all the wonderful butter and onion drippings and it goes great on a large salad or as a Savory or appetizer before a larger meal.
You really should consider the ‘throwaway’ bits of the chicken and see how much good nutrition and good money value there is. My 1.50 container of livers gave me three lunches!
Happy Homemaking.

26 January 1957 “Sex Sells”

Well, here in 1957 Madison Avenue is well on its way to the axiom: “Sex Sells”. This ad for shoe polish, of all things, has many suggestions including the obvious pictorial one.
It is also interesting to note that a similar ‘sex advertising’ is also aimed at ladies. Though, this is often in a different guise, that of husband/boyfriend choosing. The idea of the woman wanting to settle down and the man wanting to wander seems to be pretty now set in stone. Certainly not a new idea, by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly more so now.
  Another element we ladies are concerned with also is beginning to appear in advertising, our weight. Though the lady and girl of 1950 had much less emphasis on this as we do in the 21st century, we are also really beginning to see this phenomena arising, that of the ‘chubby kid’. Post war American has not only an abundance of food, but endless packaged and increasingly sugared products. As I always find, much of our modern world really has its seeds germinated in the 1950’s.
This 1940 Marie Claire cover illustrates the point of selling fashion and chic to women. There is concern here for what the woman is thinking of herself, her fashion sense. Her desire to emulate a well dressed woman. You will also notice the absence of ‘tag lines’. Today’s version has a desperation to it. The longing to look ‘sexy’. The promise to ‘really lose those last 5 pounds!”. The endless words and messages we, as modern people, are used to. The clutter and constant noise, our lives and homes are cluttered as are our minds, something will stick, thinks the advertising and then we have them.
I love this image of the mother and son in the kitchen. I am not sure what the modern version of “Mother”  Marie Claire is suppose to be telling us. I am not sure I am ready to really dissect that one just yet.
  I do know which of these Vogue covers I feel is the stronger woman and the one I would most like to emulate. Poise, structure and concern more for my personal strength. Even the model seems to be more into her own thoughts while the modern version, the model is begging the viewer, “Please, look at me, I am sexy and skinny! I am happy…right?”
And maybe I have just been here in the 1950’s too long, but I have to say, I prefer this idea of the homemaker and housework To this:

24 January 1957 “Jack Lalanne and Peyton Place”

On the Forum I was informed that Jack Lalanne has passed at the age of 96. He was a health guru before such a thing existed.
Here is how I would see him here in 1957. This is from an excerpt of a show from this year with Groucho Marx. He is 44, though refuses to say his name. He felt you were as old as your body type. He looks quite good for 44. I also like that the young lady, who is 20, looks much older by 21st century standards, but love that a woman wanting to look ‘grown up’ was more important than rather other’s thought she was perpetually a teenager.

Jack was also known for a food revolution. Living in California, he had access to more fruit and veg year round, but the Supermarkets all over our country by the late 1950’s were teeming with out of season foods. After the highways were literally created crossing the country in the mid 50’s, trucks began bringing produce quicker and cheaper to all corners of the USA.
Therefore, even a New Englander like me could take advantage of his recipe, here from his show, for Avocado Dip. Why don’t you try it:

The film adaption of Grace Metalious’ book, Peyton Place, is released this month. I read the book last year and am re-reading it now. By 21st century standards, this book is as racy as an episode of Sesame Street. But, at the time, Metalious’ portrayal of the small close-minded will knit New England community was so spot on as to cause affront and anger throughout the country.
I personally really love this book. I think the movie is wonderfully done and Lana Turner shines. I do notice, however, that here in the 1950’s, as we have such a strong sense of our own style in clothes and hair, that when we make a movie set in late 1930’s and into WWII, we have no qualm with the hair and fashion being more 1957 than 1942. That said, I love the way this movie is filmed. Though it is seen as a dark exposure of the small town, I actually find myself happily drawn into it.
The town in the book was actually based on three towns in NH where Metalious lived: Gilmanton, Gilford, Laconia and Manchester. It caused much excitement and the author was subject to many rumors about her. Some were purported to be true, her having an affair with a married man, and some completely unsubstantiated, her shopping at the local market in a fur coat and nothing else.
For me, as a New Englander, I would certainly have found much interest in this book. My own little town here, also a water front New England town, would have had many similar characters. Though one would never have talked about it openly, possibly only whispered gossips over fence rails and hushed tones in kitchens over cooling cups of coffee.
This was the type of book that housewives kept wrapped in brown paper and hid under the mattress, yet it sold  60,000 copies within the first ten days of its release and remained on the New York Times best seller list for 59 weeks. Shocked we all may have been, but intrigued we were.
I think this speaks a lot about American’s of the time and before. We are, particularly we New Englanders and our cousins in the Mid West, Puritans at heart. Our ancestors came here to get away from the ‘sinfulness’ of England. We banned Christmas, and singing and dancing, we were not a jovial lot. This sort of judgmental stern quality that hides a desire just boiling underneath, seems to be a recurring American theme. Even if one were to really see modern 21st century movies and TV we see more violence and sex, but always in a way that is about subliminal punishment. As if we need to go to the extreme and blow one another’s heads off, show the gore, and make ‘love-making’ about sin and intrigue. One has only to view movies of the time and now of other countries and see the glaring difference in the 21st century. Yet, in the day, America was still making a good movie, I feel.
I once thought, pre 1955, how ‘quaint’ old movies were. I watched them, surely, not as many as I have now I live here, but found them to be endearing. Yet, they always drew me in. They took me to a place I WANTED to believe in and if it didn’t exist, I wanted to make it. Our American films today seem not to have that. There are some good independent films which portray a more real quality of the average person, but sometimes that reality has a sadness that has settled on itself. It has said, “Well, things are bad, this way, and there is little to do about it, lets be ‘cool’ listen to cool music and just deal with it”.
I find in interesting that we will spend so many millions on CG and explosions and care little for the writing or the plot. Yet, to make an over the top Technicolor explosion of a movie with singing and dancing never occurs to the ‘corporate movie machine’ and I bet THEY WOULD be successful.
But, I digress. I am moving off point. The book, which came out last year, sold like hotcakes. The movie, just released this month here in 1957 will also be a major hit. It seemed, in our shock and anger towards the themes of the book ,we couldn’t help see a bit of our town in there and our need to spy, be the voyeur was too powerful. We were the Puritans, saying how bad it was in public and pointing fingers while at home the offending book was snug in brown paper hidden in the back of the airing cupboard where little Johnny couldn’t find it.
In many ways in the 21st century I am rather disparaged by the loss of community in our small towns that would lead to the intrigue and disgust by this movie. There seems to not be enough real ties to rally to any point, good or bad. Oh, we get together enough for Garden clubs, or 4th of July parades, but the shared communal spirit of the town seems lost. I wonder if this is the case in other countries? Is it due to the media we have available. We spend more time being the voyeur on the internet and then trolling secretly on blogs and other sites saying whatever we think without care of hurt feelings, decorum or language. It is easier, after all, being a judgmental Puritan, when one is not forced to show who they are. The stern ‘round hats’ of today can hide easily behind the computer screen.
Do you think your 1950’s counterpart in 1956 would have read the book? Would you have done it openly, discussing it with friend, or would you have secreted it away from children and possibly your spouse or neighbors? If none of you have as yet read it, do read it. It is quite good. The movie is worth watching as well.

23 January 1957 “Increasing Garbage and Increasing Awareness for a 1950’s Gal”

The other day while perusing through my February 1957 copy of Better Homes and Gardens, I noticed this little snippet on wastebaskets.

At first I was drawn in by their darling design and wanted to see what they had to say. When I read the lines: “Trend today is to larger wastebaskets-to take care of the increasing use of paper napkins, plates, towels, place mats, tissue, wrappings.” It got me thinking, as usual.

Here I am happily in 1957. Many new products are available to me and certainly I cannot but help consider my 5o’s homemaker’s life only 10 years prior. Even after the war years, the amount of what I used daily for cleaning and cooking would be seriously half of what I would have today, here in 1957.

I consider my dishwasher, that little gem happily chugging away in the corner of my kitchen. The roll of paper towels at the ready for any spill or cleaning. There is my bright shiny electric stove, heat ready and willing with a turn of a button, no lighting pilots. My icebox, big and roomy and perhaps I’d have a full size freezer as well, stocked to the brim with food. More food than I could have imagined during the lean war years or the prior Depression years.

I’d happily pour myself another cuppa from my electric percolator (no stove top needed here) and enjoy my lovely coffee, hard to come by during the war. I’d pat my up to the minute washing machine and dryer and consider the cold Fall mornings, my hair in pin curls and my goulashes frozen cold pinning clothes to the line. How far I have come, I’d most certainly think.

I’d have the time, now more so than ever before, to relax with my cup of coffee and my magazine. Peruse the items I’d like to add to my lovely rich beautiful life. My husband, as well, would work less hours than his future self in the 21st century, but much less than a chap back in my childhood of the 20’s. I’d have the freedom to enjoy my leisure time in a home paid off in a few years and perhaps a second car in the garage awaiting my every whim. Life, it seems, would be good.

Yet, here I’d sit, an older homemaker, closer to 40 (VERY CLOSE) than 20. I’d remember those war years. Maybe the early days of my marriage, before the war or when hubby was on furlough, sipping our coffee substitute over a single burner alcohol stove, our little apartment done over with the best I could do with make shift spare fabric and a lot of ingenuity. We’d have so much less and more stress from the war, but we also needed less. Perhaps we would talk and dream of those days when ‘this bloody war was over’ and think of a little place, a picket fence and simply happiness.

And, now, I’d think, here we are. I am happy for my dishwasher and that freezer full of food. Heck, there are so many products available, canned exotic fruits from our new state Hawaii (1951) and so much, just so much. Will it always be this way? I might wonder. Had I any children I would consider their futures, imagine their college years and their eventual move towards all I have now, the ease of the modern home, less working hours, a home paid for, good jobs a plenty.

Of course, the modern me, that little pain of the 21st century who always pokes her head into my eden and points out I am just a visitor here, in 1957, and that I cannot remain a permanent fixture forever always bursts my bubble. I need no crystal ball or soothsayer. I know what the world is in the 21st century. I have lived there. It has, in fact, made me increasingly want to close my eyes and turn my back to it and stay here in the 1950’s.

But, even here in my plastic luxury and convienant leisure, I cannot help but think of what we are doing. I see this ad and consider  “the increasing use of paper napkins, plates, towels, place mats, tissue, wrappings” and wonder…when should we stop? When is enough enough. Let’s put on the brakes and work on maintaining what we have for our children and grand children. Do we need more? Do I need a phone in every room in every color? Do I need a phone at all, remember as a child in the 30’s all those years of learning penmanship and letter writing? My trusty dishwasher, do I need it? Sure, electricity is so cheap today, here in 1957, but as I become more dependent upon it for my increasing ‘homemaker’s helpers’ will they ever up the price to make more money? Then, when my daughters can’t imagine a world without those appliances will they just deal with increasing costs?

I would have heard, last year in 1956, about the scientist M. King Hubbert who clearly described how we in the US, now one of the major oil producers, would run out of oil between 1965 and 1970. Sure, he was then considered a laughing stock. And why not, look at all that wonderful petroleum pumping out of the ground in Texas! Why worry. But, I might consider, what if we our US oil supply does go away? What then? What about all those towns and jobs and business in our country where our young G.I.’s are happy to have jobs? What then? What about the towns and all the people and what about our increasing roads and highways built to continue travel and production in our country. I already see our train travel and means of supplies changing over to trucks, cars, and planes. What if….?

I don’t honestly know if we could have some how put the brakes on and made our ‘land of plenty’ last if we only slowed it down and tried to continue the jobs/production and use of our own oil if it would have made a difference. Many think the American way is to grow and grow and grow, but do we grow for the better or for the pockets of a few?

I know that wives today have to work as well as their husbands. They both work longer hours than one in the 1950’s. Their homes are not affordable enough to pay off quicker. And we have SO MANY MORE modern appliances to make our lives ‘easier’ and yet are our lives easier? And if so, are they more enjoyable? Are we getting our ‘bang for our buck’? I honestly don’t know.

When I started my project I had no idea the roads it would take me down. I have found so many things I am proud of and like to re learn from the past. But, along that same journey I have found out things, hidden evil that I wish I could forget and didn’t learn. Things which seem to show a very pointed path to where we are currently and I am not sure, sometimes, if even hiding in the 1950’s is far enough away.

I hope this post is not too bleak. There are so many things I love about my life and the 1950’s but I also know there is so much about the modern world that I feel could be better but I am not sure they can be undone. For, I find many of them, many of these things I don’t like, really began here in my favorite decade. It only we could say, ‘enough, we have it right. Let’s just work on equality for more people and continue to advance medical system, but don’t inundate us with more and more drugs. And please don’t turn farming into a corporate business.” But we have no real time machine and no magic wand.

I have to make my happiness the best way I can. I find the joy in the simple and the skills of the home and land. To bake and cook, to grow and raise my own, to try and make more myself. Yet, for the country as a whole, I find it almost impossible to want to support others in those endeavors as they are not legally allowed to do so. Our local farm was almost shut down, because of more legislature last year that made them have to add more ‘health and saftey’ items that are really in place to shut them down and make it easier for the big corporate farms. I just don’t know.

Perhaps you can add more to my little ran here to make me feel better about our modern times. I am happier for the freedoms enjoyed by women and minorities, but in that same vein it seems the freedoms of the general public seem to be less than before, despite your race, sex, or creed. Have we gone to far? Have we given up too easily to the convienance of the modern world without asking ‘WHY’ or wondering if we need it.

Perhaps, my little moment of wonder would fade as I see the time on the clock. Hubby will be home soon enough and I have to put more clothes in my dryer and then thaw something from my freezer for dinner. Perhaps just a few minutes of the daily Soap Opera…just a few minutes. Would and could this become my life if I were truly in 1957? Would I slowly accept all the ease and watch it wash over me, caring little what happens to the future generations? I don’t know? It is so hard to say. I do know that was at first the joy of petticoats and pin curls sometimes veers into the realm of social responsibility and wonder at my world at large. I wish I could say that I know the 21st century will be an improvement upon what I have here in 1957, buy I am not sure if more legal drugs (Or prescription drugs we call them advertised to us), new diseases possibly caused by our foods and their genetic alterations, and 3-D TV and Cell phones that play movies and books that appear, as if by magic out of thin air on our devices, is better. I don’t know. What if, and I don’t know the answer to this, neither the 1957 nor the 21st century me, what if all the things we come to rely on become too expensive too run because we may have less oil at higher prices? I honestly don’t know.

I do know that a simple trip back to the 1950’s has made me more aware of my modern world than ever watching modern tv and news ever did. And I have to say, it the road ahead for you, my 1957 self, better? I don’t know…

 

 

21 January 1957 “ President Eisenhower Sworn in Again and The Frisbee is Born”

Last night, here in 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower was sworn in, for his second term as President of the United States. I think listening to this speech and possibly having a discussion about it might be worth a post in its own right later on.

This month the Frisbee was released by the Wham-O toy company (who also released the hula-hoop as well). The gentleman pictured with the space helmet is the actual inventor of the toy. Fred Morrison was a pilot and carpenter.

The story goes he and his then girlfriend were having Thanksgiving at her mother’s home in California in 1937. They began tossing a popcorn maker lid around to entertain themselves. The lid bent, so they snatched a cake pan from the kitchen.

They then sold these at beaches and parks until Mr. Morrison went off to WWII as a bomber-pilot. After the war, he and his wife settled in Southern California and due to the various craze for UFO sightings and all things ‘space age’ he made a plastic version and the toy was officially born. This was called the ‘flyin-saucer’ and he and his business partner sold them around at fairs and such events.

By the mid 1950’s he had designed and made his section edition of the flyin-saucer dubbed: the Pluto Platter, stamped with the names of all the solar system’s planets around its rim. He would go to fairs dressed as you see him above and demonstrate and sell the item.

The famous Toy company WHAM-O got wind of it and In 1957 Mr. Morrison signed over the Pluto Platter rights to Wham-O in exchange for lifetime royalties.

The name “Frisbee” came a little later when some of the Toy company executives were on a trip out to the East coast they noticed college students playing the same game with pie tins from the famous Frisbie Pie Co. in Bridgeport, Conn. These  pie tins had long been popular for tossing on New England college campuses. With a change of spelling to avoid trademark trouble, Wham-O’s Frisbee was born.