12 March 1955 "TV, Steak and Kidney Pie, and My Rant"

Tonight on NBC would premier :A Connecticut Yankee with the Cast: Eddie Albert, Janet Blair, Boris Karloff, Gale Sherwood



It is coming next year! planned obsolescence is beginning. Why stand up to change the channel? Why have such a small screen? Why have such a bulky screen? and it goes on.


Last night I made Steak and Kidney pie. I was excited the last time I visited my grocery store to see that they offered for the day, both liver and kidneys. I snatched them up. As mentioned before, my husband did not like the liver as a large piece, as I had cooked it (though I thought it was quite beautiful tasting) but said today, that he would eat liver again, but wanted to try it cooked the other way I had mentioned it, that is in strips, pan fried.

He did like the Steak and Kidney pid and I loved it as well. Here it is before it went into the oven, the crust construction was not my best piece of artwork, but I actually wanted to keep it rather 'rustic' looking. Next time (and believe me there will be a next time!) I may add some decorative pastry leaves etc. The crust looks odd in the photo, but it turned out golden brown and flaky.



Here is it served Hot for dinner.


And here it is today for lunch. I think it was actually better the next day. The flavors really had a chance to marry and it solidified nicely. Hubby had today off, which is unsual for him, so we partook of this today and it was really wonderful. I would highly reccomend it. Even if you think it sounds odd, it is worth a try. The steak is merely inexpensive stewing beef and Kidney is not dear, I think my one pound package was around $2.00.


Here is a more american version of a meat pie. This is a great recipe advert from one of my magazines. Though I would probably not buy premade beef stew ( I would just make my homemade and put in the pastry), I am sure it is good. And I could not find in my store a package of this boxed pastry dough, but I have a wonderful recipe in one of my new favorite cook books : the 1951 edition of the Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School Cook Book. It is my new bible. It is my endeavour to eventually try many of the recipes, as they are definitely of the 'gourmet' variety and what would have been considered so in the 1950s. There is a great recipe in there for a Pastry Mix which you can make ahead and store. It is as follows:


Pastry Mix

6 cups pasty flour or 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp salt
2 cups vegetable shortening ( I would use Lard or you could use butter as well)
Sift flour with salt. Cut in shortening as for Plain Pastry. Store in covered jar in the icebox or cool cupboard.

For 2-crust pie use 2 1/2 cups of the mix and sprinkle 1/4 cup ice water overmix by tablespoonfuls, stirring it in with fork until just enough has been added so that you can pat the dough lightly together to form a ball. Handle as little as possible and do not knead! wrap in wax paper and chill. Then roll out as needed.

ENGLISH STEAK WITH KIDNEY PIE

1 lb. beef round steak
1 beef kidney
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
3 tbsp. lard or drippings
1 med. sized onion, chopped
1/4 c. chopped pimento
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. thyme
1 1/2 c. water
Pastry for 1 crust pie

Cut round steak in 3/4 to 1 inch cubes. Remove tubes and fat from kidney and cut in 3/4 to 1 inch cubes. Combine flour, salt and pepper. Dredge steak and kidney cubes in seasoned flour (reserving any extra flour) and brown in lard or drippings. Remove meat from frying pan. Add onion to drippings and cook over low heat until transparent. Pour off drippings, add pimento, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and water to onion in frying pan and bring to boil. Stir in browned meat cubes and any remaining seasoned flour. Invert 9 inch pie plate over pastry rolled to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut a circle about an inch from rim of plate for top crust. Cut a design in crust to allow steam to escape.

Cut a second circle about 3/4 to 1 inch from edge of top crust to provide pastry to circle edge of pie plate. Moisten edge of plate and top with outer circle of pastry, adjusting to fit. Turn meat mixture into pie plate and cover with top crust. Seal top pastry to edge and flute. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. Makes 6 servings.


I was thinking today about my project. It was originally as a challange to myself, for the novelty, and to hopefully trick myself into some of the routine I felt was commonplace to a homemaker at the time. (Oh, and to have an excuse to wear a petticoat and hat and gloves!)

Obviously, I cannot live strictly to 1955. The fact that you are reading this typed on my computer is a blaring example. But, in 'giving up' some of the modern things, what I have come to realize is this is not about time-traveling but more about changing the future. The things I have forced myself to give up due to it being 1955 have come to show me the power those things weilded.

I never watched alot of tv, but I certainly watched my share of design shows. I loved BBC America, and shows like Project Runway. Yet, by not allowing myself to have these anymore( I mean they are not possible as there is no more tv per se in my home.) I can only watch 'tv' that is 1950s. I do occasionaly watch these shows, but there are days that go by where I have not even thought of entertainment on that level. And when I do watch a show I find myself very antsy. Where I once could happily sit with some tea and muchies through a Sunday afternoon of Changing Rooms and Project Runway marathons, now to get through an half hour episode of Father Knows Best is almost like work. And, on some level, I do consider it part of my 'job'. The watching of such shows is a sort of research.

If I can digress a little more here concerning such shows. I used to, along with my modern compatriots, make fun of such shows of the 1950s. I am, however, finding them to have a certain element of endearing truth. Such as family is important. Be honest. Think of others. Be considerate of your neighbors, friends, relations. Your actions have consequences.

I LOVE Father Knows Best, and before this project I had never seen an episode . So, for me, it is honestly a new show. It is funny, because I find their clothes more normal now, than when I look around me in public. I now notice, when I go shopping for example, how slovenly people dress. What would have been considered just casual clothes to me, now really have that 'work clothes' look to them. Now, not that you should judge a book by the cover, but then again somtimes you can. You certainly could be a serial killer and dress up clean and neat, or be a saint in rags. However, I think for the average masses, who are neither killer nor saint, really represent themselves in their clothing choices. AND I have found, surprisingly enough, by changing your outfit, you actually change your own self-image and emotional state. I know, because it has happened to me.

I have always felt I had a good amount of self-esteem. I thought I felt good about myself and confident in my place in the world, but when I slip on that girdle and hose, a simple skirt and cardigan, reach into my scarf drawer and tie some silk around my neck, I feel a sense of myself and place that is quite unique. Even my work clothes have a sense of style and grace that I enjoy that is merely taking a few more minutes to prepare myself. My highwaisted jeans with one of hubby's flannel shirts tied at the waist, a neck scarf and head scarf. Nice comfortable flats and I really looked pulled together and yet completely comfortable to work.

I think somewhere along the line (most likely the 70s) we began to think that 'nice clothes' were for 'special occasions'. Well, don't you want to feel special more often than weddings, funerals and holidays? Are your friends and family not worth your looking nice? What we now view as post-war propaganda to 'make over' a person into a mold, or make everyone conform, is in actuality just dressing to express your place in the world. You are worthy enough to be dressed nicely to go shopping. It is as if you are telling yourself, "Darn it, I am worth wearing that nice dress today. Why do I have to keep it for 'special occasions'?"

Even nice dishes and cutlery end up being relegated to 'special times'. My vintage friend used to use paper plates because it was 'easier'. She now finds herself glad to take out those dishes gathering dust in her closet to use everyday. It is better for the environment and saves money and certainly makes your day feel more structured and it is nice to look forward to dinner at a table with nice plates and conversation. It is as if we care more for the coporate sponsers we advertise to us, that we allow them to have our dinner and conversation time! I would much rather talk to my friends and family over dinner, than hear about some new soap product or rather or not Paris Hilton did or didn't do this or that!

I think what is really missing from our modern world, at least from my little bit of it, is structure. We, as a modern generation, feel so much freedom and so 'above' routine or necessity to 'look nice' or eat at a certain time with nice things, that we often find ourselves floundering around feeling as if we don't have any control. We have no time to do this or that or any time to spend with our friends and family. When really we just need more structure.

One of my best revelations so far (and don't laugh as I am sure many of you were already so organized) was this simple concept. MAKE A DAILY LIST.

Such a simple thing. Some words on paper. A matter of minutes with a pen and a pad, but my, how it has changed my life! The vast array of what I need to do and would like to do would loom before me, taunting my like some old halloween skeletons, jangling before me. All I needed to scare away those Bogies were a pen and a pad.

Each morning I think about what I need to do, with a schedul I have made for my week already, and what I would like to do (depending on the weather for example as Spring is upon us.) I make that list at my little desk with my cup of coffee and I feel like the 'homemaking executive'. There it is. In black and white. Sometimes seeing things written affect us on some level, maybe all those handouts we had to do at grammer school. And, by the end of the day, if most of that list is checked off, I feel so good. It is a challange and a guide. If they could bottle that feeling you get when you walk up to your list and slide your pen through that item done and put it in an energy drink, they'd sell gallons of it!

This idea of lists and organizing has really got me thinking how the modern world does not really, on a personal level, reward such behavior. It is expected at work. You do your work and get it done or you don't get paid. Then when you are off work you relax. Somehow it feels as if your work is more important to you than your own free time. Aren't YOU worth a list of things to get done and check them off? Even if the list is:

see a movie,

talk to my husband for one hour about global warming,

have coffee with my friend

and read three chapters in my book.

Obviously don't be a time nazi about it, but if you really did want to have time to read today, then your worth it. Visit with your friend for awhile and watch tv for awhile but don't just waste your time. It is YOUR time and you deserve to use it not WASTE it.

I know it sounds almost anal, and I am far from anal believe me, but somehow along the way we seem to have lost our own improtance. We seem a generation of ME ME ME, but with that me time we waste it fulfilling the needs of the consumer society in which we live. We need the tv to tell us what is entertaining. We have to buy things at the store to feel good for that hard day at work. We don't have enough time to get to cleaning and cooking (cuz of our tv time) so we will just throw some prepared food on our laps later and toss that pile of clean laundry in the corner; we will get to it later. But, don't you deserve to live in a nice house? Aren't you worth a dinner at home with napkins on laps and nice wine? We don't mind going out and spenging 12.00 on a hamburger at a restaurant, but we could spend less on a nicer home cooked meal in your own home where there are no tips, rude waiters and your dogs can be with you (I love my dogs)

So, I know I am rambling on again, but it just really hit me today how much of our modern world, the simple actions we take, are so affected by things like tv and 'modern concepts'. I think by my giving up these things that I felt were not 1955, I have begun to realize how we don't really need alot of them. And by taking on actions that I felt were important to people in 1955, I am finding that they are as important today!

Why don't we live like this today? I find myself asking. Certainly we think things cost more, but is that it, or do we just need to buy more things. I know it is not the same for everyone across the board, but I am just finding, maybe we are just mindless consumers who don't want to really think about how we spend. If it is important to get more of our time and life back then maybe you don't need a car for every member of your family. Maybe you don't need multiple cell phones or any at all. Or maybe one cell phone and no home phone. Do you need to buy a new car and pay it off, when you can buy one five years old and buy it outright? How many new clothes and shoes do you REALLY need? It is just a matter of choice, but it is YOUR choice. You can change your daily actions and life.

For me, even the making of my bed is really a 1955 concept. I didn't do it everyday before 1955. Now, I don't even think about it, I just do it. After hubby is off to work and the kitchen is all clean and dishes put away, I make the bed and straighten up the room. Now, I find myself sometimes going in there to relax. An organized clean room really makes you feel like a special guest in your own home. Think of it- a life long vacation in a hotel that caters specifically to your needs. It's true you are often the bell hop and the chef, but you can't beat the price and you can stay as long as you want.

I think one reason we have such celebrity and star worship in this country, is we view these people as the lucky ones who get to wear nice clothes and go to nice places, well, whats stopping you? So, you cant' afford a $10,000 gown, but one you make yourself or get on sale for 50.00, if it makes you feel good, isn't it the same thing. And so you can't afford some high-end restaurant, set your table with your 'nice dishes' get some good wine and make a great gourment meal for yourself. Why live your life vicariously through some media ideal, when the real thing is much more fun AND rewarding. You don't have to be rich and famous to be happy. You can wear nice clothes whenever you want and eat at your own table set with nice things and good food made by your hand and actually save money in the process. It is more work personally, but if it results in your having to do less actual labor/job work to pay for all the things that somehow make your not having to cook your own meals, make your own clothes, entertain at home necessary, isn't it worth it? Wouldn't you like to spend half the amount of money on igredients and take the time to cook and eat at home. If you did it enough you might find you don't need to work as much. It is a strange consumer cycle we are all stuck in. Just really evaluate what and where you spend. That seems to be the key to homemaking in the old days and this key should be used by all of us nowadays for our life. You don't have to be a homemaker to make these good decisions.

Maybe I am just spewing nonsense and most of you think I am crazy, or perhpas you already do these things and are thinking, "well, I know that already". But, you see, I did not. I just didn't know it. Know one ever taught me to sew or cook. I had to learn to do laundry on my own and only recently saw how wrong I was doing it. No one simply said, look at what you are spending and evaluate if you need this or that. Just because it is easier to buy prepared foods, have two cars and buy your own clothes doesn't mean it is the only option. But, in trying to limit myself to things in 1955, I am realizing how these limits can really make a happy life for us. Why save up all year to rush through two weeks of a holiday when you can make more of your daily life a great vacation?

I was talking with vintage friend the other day and she is not a homemaker. She has a full time job. She was telling me how she really would like to be a homemaker. Now, she doesn't have a husband, but she lives with her fiance'. When I started talking with her about if it could be feasible to stay home, you realize it is BUT, there is always a but, it might involve getting rid of things we think we NEED: such as, two cellphones, two cars etc. IF you stay home and your husband works relatively close by, why have two cars? If you have things to get done that day, drop him off and you have the car. If not, let him have the car and you will need to stay home and get your work done, because it is a job. You cannot say, "Oh, never mind I will go off and get some starbux instead". Because, again, I really think many people believe being a homemaker means you have a lifelong day off. Not true. In fact, I never leave my place of work. It is always there and ALWAYS needs my attention, but it is my responsiblity as the boss of this outfit, to make sure I budget my time so I can have an official 'punch out time' at the end of the day. And in treating it like a job, I make sure I meet deadlines, don't overspend, make sure my work area is clean. I mean, when you are at work you follow all the rules set by your boss and your job. Why not have those same rules for your home and yourself even if you are not a homemaker. It is still your home.

So, back to my friend. At first she balked, as many of us would, "live without my cell phone? only one car?" But we have to realize people used to do such things. In fact in our own living history we all lived without cell phones. Our consumer socitey is SO good at what it does, that we have no memory when it comes to consumption. We have short term memory when it comes to purchasing. Who can remember not having cell phones, well it wasn't that long ago! "Oh, I need my cell phone, I can't live without it," even though ten years ago you would never have even thought of it.

Now, many of us are concerned about the environment and such, what better way to reduce our carbon footprint then to get rid of one car! We started adding up the cost of insurance, excise tax, inspection each year (at least here in MA), gas and the hidden cost: When you can just drive where you want when you want, you spend more! If you cannot take off for starbux, you won't have spent five dollars on a cup of coffee. When I think of what I used to spend on one coffee! I can buy coffee beans for the week! AND I don't give myself atitude when I order my own coffee at home and if I want to leave a tip, it goes in a jar for me!

Another moment of revelation for me happened the other day. I had bought the closest thing to a sponge mop I could, as I saw these existed in 1955. I had seen an ad in my vintage magazine for a sponge mop and so went out to get one. So, I thought, good this is better than my old swiffers, I just use this sponge over and over agian and then only need to buy the refill. Not everytime I mop.

Then I thought about it. The consumer socitey is beginning in the 1950s. Here I am merely buying the 1950's version of the swiffer. I checked and the refill sponge was 8.99. Certainly, I do not need to buy it as often as swiffer refills, but I do need to buy it. Then I saw a 100% cotton mop was the same price as one sponge refill. The mop head detaches and I can wash it and use it probably indefinitely! Then I went back even one step further, before mops, you got on your hands and knees took a brush and some soapy water and did that. No product required but the buket and the brush that was probably your mother's old one. This sort of backwards analyzing has really opened my eyes. The levels at which we spend is amazing. No wonder so many people think they cannot afford to have one spouse work and one stay home. But, if you do want to think and treat it like a real job ( which means take it seriously and realize sometimes it is a messy hard job) you could do it.

There is another level of spending that is part of our consumer society that I am become to laothe. It is a type of spending that seems on the surface to be saving you money, but in fact is still part of the whole ploy to pull you in and spend. For example, I found myself buying a shirt at old Navy the other day. It was very vintage inspired and was marked down to $4.00, I HAD to buy it. And, true I could NOT make this shirt for this price. But, then I had to stop and think, what does this shirt really cost? Such stores exist on the suffering of other human beings. I know that sounds crazy, but how do you think such places can sell you a shirt for four dollars? It certainly is not because the local neighborhood tailor is making it for them. But, China (to whom we are increasingly becoming indebted to) has tons of people and they do not care how they treat them. They literally have children sewing shoes for pennies while we buy them for hundreds of dollars, or we buy somthing really cheap because, we could never make it that cheap. But, do we need that many clothes? Wouldn't we rather pay a little more, have less, but buy it from our neighbor who runs a dress shop?

We are apalled when we think of the Holacaust and wonder, "How did people let it happen?" And yet, we buy without thinking! We just wonder around like mindless zombies with our pocketbooks open, mindlessly buying because it is so cheap I HAD to buy it!

I have mentioned Walmart before, because I am always baffled at how good they are at the game they play. Their whole concept is 'good ole america'. Yet, they undersell small business until they are forced to shut down. They buy from China. There is a price for everything and if we don't pay it for the product we are paying for it in our destorying of a way of life we may still want. I am amazed at how easy it is to fall prey to them, for example, I found a blog the other day that was about being green and getting back to the earth. It showed how to make your own jam. It went on about nature and picking your berries locally etc and then in the list of things needed, it said, 'All of these things are really cheap and available at Walmart'. It just really hit home for me.

Really? Pick berries from your local farm, but buy the supplies from the beast himself? Or why not just buy on ebay or from your local store. Then you are helping out your local economy, or buying something used, so it doesn't have to be manufactured again, thus being even more green and thinking local!

Many people pine for the old days and wish we could return to the local downtown where little johnny can go to the five and ten and get a soda at the counter. You know all your neighbors, there is the local butcher and bakery. But, we act as if some magic Genie came and took it all away. We don't want to have the accountability to accept that is is OUR fault it is gone. But, in accepting that we can see that we can also bring it back, HOW? Stop shopping chain stores. DON'T go to walmart and Home Depot. I know, "It's cheaper there, " you will say. But, is it? Is it okay to help purpetuate the continuing harm to others so we can save $1.00 on some cleaning product we could proably just make with vinegar and water anyway!

It makes me sad, because we as a collective in this country could make a difference, but we won't want to because, oh, it'll be too expensive. But, we don't think, well, maybe we could buy LESS things support locally and still only spend the same amount. And what about when all stores are only chains and corporations and China calls in its debts, then what? Then they can charge whatever they like! No wonder we pine for the good ole days, but we need to be like those people and work harder locally, and think before we spend.

I know I might sound like a fanatic, but this trip to 1955 has really shown me self-worth and self empowerment. I can say, "No, I won't go to walmart or Old Navy I will shop locally and make it myself if I can". I needed the guise of a time-travel project to do it, but then I realize, I could have just done it anyway. Any of us can just make the decision to buy less, buy local, make what we can and barter for what we can't. We don't need a cell phone for each of us and everyone their own car. What saddens me, is I think it will only take such a huge financial crisis of epic proportions to get us to HAVE to return to these ways. When, really, we can do it right now. We can change in our own backyards and it would ripple out like a stone dropped into a pond.

A good lesson in consumerism is your local dump. If you have a local one, go to it. Just go there and look at it all. I am surprised by the decreased number of my own garbage bags by the simple act of using cloth napkins, rags for cleaning instead of paper towels, mop instead of throw away swiffer, toilet brush instead of toss away scrubber, not stopping for coffee and bringing home that throw away cup. Even my vintage Kirby vacuum uses no paper bags. It goes into a cloth bag inside another cloth bag and emptys out of the bottom. Both of those bags are washable. These few changes have already decreased the amount of garbage bags (bin liners) I have at my curb as well as what I spend on products.

It somehow has seemed that the very act of being a grown up, which means thinking things through and being responsible for your actions, is just disapearing from our community landscape. Why?

It is fun to scorn or scoff the homemaker, at home cooking for her family, keeping her house. "She is a slave" you might think, and yet happily go through life working hard to pay for all the things the tv and society tells you you need. Now, honestly, who is the slave? The woman who gets to be her own boss, design her own surroundings and use her own imgainations to make do with what she has? Yes, indeed, poor slave. What a sucker, now I need to go work more hours at my loathsome job so I can pay for the gas to get there and then shop to buy things to make myself feel better and not have to go home to that messy house.

Even single people can be their own homemakers. Because really, being a homemaker simply means being in control of your own life, thinking before you buy, and making your surroundings the best they can be for yourself.

That is the type of slavehood I like.

11 March 1955 "Penicillin, Painting, Workday Blahs, and Gardening for Victory"

11 March 1955- Sir Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered penicillin, dies. Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. Fleming's accidental discovery and isolation of penicillin in September 1928 marks the start of modern antibiotics.

I just like this painting by the Australian artist John Brack, and this piece is from 1955. Although it depicts a busy street in Melbourne, I feel it could be New York or Boston or any of the American cities in post war times. The march of corporate worker is beginning. It is interesting that we lead ourselves into a sort of mindless hive mentality in the work environment but in personal or community life, we became obsessed with the me. Which, I guess, really makes sense. Slowly becoming part of a corporate world where all things begin being watered down and there are Walmart Starbux etc and endless cold grey office buildins, you will want to retreat to just yourself in your free time. I hope a move towards smaller business and community really is on the rise, because with that I am certain we will see the Me generations change to the We generations. (I know this is a modern hope, but I almost wonder if we wouldn't all be better if the government did let all the large corporations and banks fail. Why should we save GM? Why not let them go and let our country rebuild based on small local productivity?)

Now, I know this is not specifically 1950s, but this robot made by an MIT student is based upon the movements of 2-D Disney Cartoons of the 1950s. I felt it was worth a look as it is another odd way in which the 1950s has touched the 'modern world'.

Although in 1955 I would not be considered a new nor a young homemaker, because I am only two and half months into this experiment, I do think I have some of that new homemaker emotion. At least I feel the excitement and rush of all that lay before me. I sometimes feel a bit like I get to play house on a large scale. So, with that, I believe I feel those "new homemaker" ups and downs. Sometimes I move about with the determination of a seasoned homemaking vet, lists checked off, Kirby attachements thrown over my back as I rush up and down the stairs, dust bunnies recoiling at the sight of me. Then there are those other days...

With any job, especially one started with such anticipation and hope, there has to be some slump. Yesterday I felt a sort of slump. It was not sadness nor disillusion, just that sort blah. I had that "Oh well, I guess I better get to work", sort of mentality. Those are the days when I know this IS a job. When the alarm rang at 7:00 I wanted to hit snooze, only my vintage electric alram clock (in lovely early american styling with light up dial!) has no snooze. I had that type of day I am sure many office people have when they are just going through the motions. I got my work done by the end of the day, but only just what needed to be done. Just...

The ironing got moved to today. The floors got a quick sweep, but the Kirby sat idle and waiting in the cleaning closet. Dinner was made, nice fried chicken and even home-made cut french fries and greenbeans. But, no new cake, as planned. Luckily a 1955 Homemaker always has a backup, so it was a repeat of the previous nights dessert, Brownies with coconut and icecream.

I even forget to run out and do some quick marketing, which left my poor hubby (and me!) without a fresh pot of coffee. We had to have tea. I am sure to any non-U.S. readers this would seem no problem, but you must understand the importance of the American and his morning pot of coffee. It is almost a patriotic duty to have that smell, the aroma and the thick black heavenly brew before you can start your day. I adore tea, don't get me wrong. It is, in fact, what I drink for the remainder of the day. I look forward to that pot and some cookies (biscuits) in the afternoon when I get a few moments to peruse my magazines and research materials, but in the morning, it has GOT to be coffee. And, today, it wasn't. Even my hubby's thermos contains tea today, again almost a sacriliedge to we americans. Maybe even more so for we Bostonians, as there was that incident in the past when we sort misplaced all those cartons of English Tea in Boston Harbor. Ooops!

Anyway, it was one of those days.

But, it was a sunny day. S,o I made my 'schedule' in my Homemakers Housekeeping journal for the coming spring for the gardens. However, after talking to a friend on the phone and hearing she had already put in her peas and lettuce I felt my balloon again deflate. "Behind, before I even started!" It really was one of those days.

So, I stood there: dunagarees, hubbys old plaid wool shirt tied jauntily at my waist, work gloves and wellies, and stared at my vegetable garden. I have two 8 x 8 raised beds for veg. They need to be turned over and some mulch added for the season. Around these are the weeds and things that didn't get taken care of last season (Remember, I wasn't a 1955 conscientious homemaker then! Just a lazy modern girl whose ideas of liberation somehow involved slovenly behavior, apparently). I began to think, "Here I am in 1955, am I going to get lazy?"

Then, it hit me. Yes ,today I am lazy in my attempts to keep going with what I want to do each day for this project as well as my life.

This lead me to ponder, did a 1955 woman my age wonder this as well? She would have lived through the war. I would have been old enough to have to play a big part on the homefront. Our Victory Garden, rather it was city or country, would have been important to us. There was no time for laziness or self-pity during the war. Yet, in my quiet easy suburban existence, would I have moments like this? Moments where I was tired and thought, 'Oh, well, I will just leave those clothes in the dryer and iron tomorrow" and then be struck by the memory of only 10 years earlier when I had no dryer and working a garden meant having extra food to aid the rations?

During the 1950's when we all wanted to 'get back to life', the victory garden certainly began to ebb. The cabbage patches where grandmother's roses once grew, could become roses once again. All the spare ground that had been given over to any kind of food production, slowly became lush green lawns and annual flower patches. Pansies and roses replaced peas and carrots. I am sure if there were a timelapse movie from the end of the war to the 21st century it would be interesting to see the slow decline in anything practical being grown to purely ornamental to acres of grass. It is a sad side affect that in the desire to forget about the war and to make a lovely little safe home, free from outside harm, gradually turned into another form of consumerism.

Even the farmers changed from small family farms to large production. The new era of big business and corporations has begun.

"In 1950 the farm population of 23 million stood at slightly more than 15 percent of the total population. Ten years later only 15.6 million farmers remained, constituting 8.7 percent of the total population. The American farmers of the 1950s did not necessarily resemble the gentleman farmers of Thomas Jefferson's day: they had become specialized and mechanized "agri-businessmen."

The need for large perfectly weed free green lawns gave us pessticides, more gas to run the mowing machines, more machines to cut the lawn, more things to buy to keep the lawn unnaturally green etc etc. It is really telling how every part of our modern day homefront has been permeated by the change in our socitey from an agricultural/urban socitey to a suburban/comsumerist society.

Now, I want pretty flowers and I also want to supply my table and larder as much as I can with my plot of land. I honestly feel, for my age in 1955, the war would be vivid enough in my brain to encourage me to keep "some of those cabbage amonst the roses", sort of speak.

In fact, the idea of Victory Gardens are having a come back in 2009. With the constant threat of global warming, concern about our carbon footprint, and the increasing costs down the road, many are looking at the big green lawn and invisioning some small crops there.

"Today our food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. The process of planting, fertilizing, processing, packaging, and transporting our food uses a great deal of energy and contributes to the cause of global warming.
Planting a Victory Garden to fight global warming would reduce the amount of pollution your food contibutes to global warming. Instead of traveling many miles from farm to table, your food would travel from your own garden to your table.
Our current economic situation is other good reason to start a Victory Garden. Every time that food is shipped from the farm to the store and your table, gasoline is used. As gasoline prices rise, food costs rise. "

The site I found that information offers this advice:

I have no backyard, what can I do?
You can combine vegetable plants with flowers in your frontyard.
You can plant containers on your porch, patio, or balcony and can grow sprouts indoors.
Check to see if you have a community garden available.
Perhaps a neighbor or friend without time or ability would let you garden their yard, in exchange for some produce.
If these options are not available, you can also choose to purchase foods which are grown close to home by visiting your local farmer’s market or joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). If local foods are not available to you, choose foods which use fewer chemical pesticides - such as organics, are in season, or have minimal packaging.

What is nice about these examples is they definitely all have a very 'vintage feel'. The idea of community garden (I joined our local community garden last year, so I can buy what I cannot grow in my own yard there, support the community, meet my neighbors and support the reduction in the use of pesticides.) It might not be exactly purely 1955, but I really do belive people my age and older in 1955 would keep the memory of food shortage and the Victory Garden to heart.

This really does demonstrate a movement towards the past. It is another example of people looking towards a vintage lifestyle not only as a way to wear darling outfits, but as a way to get back the idea of family, community, AND the earth! It is these types of ideas and concepts that really encourage me to not only go ahead with my project but to really think that the vintage ideal can really be a life movement.

I want to take all the aspects we love of the 1950's, the way they wanted to make the world new and wonderful, but learn from all the mistakes we made from the 60's until now. Now, we have the benefit and knowledge of all that time before us. I say, leave the future to science and human rights, those both need to always advance, but culture in the home and community, maybe we really do need to take a step backwards so that our future will be something we can be proud of. And there is a certain amount of responsibility when you try to 'live up to' the past, when the future has an almost no accountabiltiy to it.

How much, I wonder, did war time memory provide the guilt and then the impetus to continue on with the 1950s homemaking lifestyle. Certainly, knowing what one had to go through to get to the 1950s and all the loss and strife that lead up to it, helped the homemaker to keep going. So, if we chose to make the world many of us long for with a sort of non-present nostalgia, we can use that same impetus. We can look back at the world wars and use them for our guide to betterment.

This also demonstrates how subsequent generations, without having to lose so much, did not appreciate what they have and are becoming almost like Rome at its decline. Bloated, lazy slovenly spoiled nations with no hardships.

Of course, I do not want a war or hardships per se (though we do have a war and our on the brink of a great financial woe) but let's face it, it is not 1940s. Yet, if we can feel a collective longing for a time in which most of us did not live, then certainly we can look back to their struggles, compare them to our day and think, "I had better get up off the sofa and get to work. Be thankful for that full pantry and make some wonderful meals and desserts. Be glad I can, for pleasure and to help the budget, go out and plant and harvest and do some canning and preserving or support my local farm for the same reason. Of course I can go buy anything I want at the store, but what if it were gone?"

Maybe with a mixture of the guilt of global warming and keeping the memories of the wars in our minds, we can move into a new world designed after the elements we find endearing in the old world. What do you think?

Now, needless to say, these thoughts did get me going for the rest of the day, but I had still lost a good portion of the morning to mopey tired bored 'day at work' syndrome. The good thing about this job, however, is I am allowed the time to contemplate my situation, evlauate it and move on. Today, after all, is another day and I am determined to get back to the routine, although I now have ironing to catch up on!

Happy Homemaking!

9 March 1955 "Space, Beef Stew, McClosky's continued, and a Pheasant"

Tonight would air the Disney Feature "Man in Space" . It is worth a look. Below is the first part. All the episodes can be found on Youtube HERE.

I think I will definitely do a future post on science and concepts of space travel today (1955). It was becoming a much talked about topic and became the polar opposite of the other favorite childhood pastime, cowboys and indians.

It seems the new frontier of space held a certain level of hope and escapism much needed in post war 20th century. It was a possible new world untouched and unscathed by the horror of two world wars. It could hold promise of a clean slate; a brave new world where there were no wars and everything was shiny and new. The irony being, I think, that by the Reagan 1980s years of rising capitalism and greed, space was the place to consider war defense and spying. What had been a realm of hope and possiblity, merely reverted to the 'old ways' of the human animal. Protect your territory and try to increase it.

Today the space program gets little press. I am sure there are many activites going on now with NASA that would once have been feature news, but I feel with the increasing money worries and failures of the worlds banks and corporations, space is the last place we want to turn. It is not unthinkable to compare the past, our increasing view of nostalgia, as the 'New Space'. My hope for tomorrow seems to be in the past. Maybe they will begin making toys to allow your child to relive the glory days of the 1950s. Who can tell. I know I would rather travel back in time than out into space, and it is a more feasible 'everyman' position to try and relive or recapture a fond time period, than it would be to travel into space. I wonder what those who dreamed of space in 1955 think of our world now?

Now, into the kitchen:

I am sure my inexperienced petticoat is showing, when I say I have never made a beef stew before. I knew of beef stew and had certainly tasted them before, but have not ever attempted it. I know, I am sure there are some experienced homemakers out there shaking their head in disbelief. I had a very small range of dishes pre-1955. I do, however, think is says a little about the art of homemaking that one can really address the cookbook like some great learned tome. I have called this approach "The University of the Home" in previous blogs and I am sticking with that. It truly it. The fact that I can skim through a magazine or a cookbook, find, like some great wizard pouring over my book of enchantment, the ingredients needed to make my intoxicating concotion. It does bring to mind images of dry ice fog, long gnarled fingers and a cackle or two. Or, perhaps you enjoy the image of the intelligent lady-scientist. Prim and crisp in her white labcoat (ironed by her own little hand of course!) hair properly pinned up and bespectacled in horn-rimmed glasses. She moves about her laboratory (her kitchen) with determined movements adding a beaker of this a dram of that and ta-dah (Poof a cloud of smoke clears) a braised leg of lamb with homemade mint jelly! However you choose to view this person, she can be you. She is you, most likely.
Now, I know, stew...it doesn't sound exciting. But, for me, it was. There was the quite evening sat in front of the fire with hubby, he smoking his pipe, feet up and slippered, reading a book. I, next to him with my dogs around me, a cup of hot tea and a pile of vintage magazines. I tell you ladies, this is heaven. Then, as I casually flip the pages, there I see it. An ad for Hunt's Tomato Paste with a recipe for Beef stew. My finger slides down the recipe list in anticipation. Yes, I have that and Oh, I did buy a package of cut up beef that said "for stewing" on it. It is waiting patiently in the freezer. And, yes, I even have Tomato Paste (It happened to be Hunt's too, though not due to any faithful adherence to the brand, but it was probably on sale that day).
Now, for you who have made stew, you know it is fairly easy. I liked the process. The gathering of the ingredients. I think this is part of the allure of cooking for me. I check the pantry ( a growing collection I might add. Part of my hopeful kitchen enlargement will reslut in a larger area dedicated to this space)
"Yes, I have that. Oh, good, I bought a jar of bay leaves for that last recipe", and so on through the list of ingredients. This perusal through my recipe books and magazines also often preceeds any marketing I am about to do. It helps me to pick up future things I may need. Things I had never bought before, but now normally stock in my pantry. Things like condensed milk (which after an exhaustive search and finally asking I found at my grocery story it lives with the peanut butter, jelly and coffee. Why? I have no idea. I looked forever in the baking aisle!) Jar of pimentos. (have had them in olives, did not even know you could buy JUST the pimentos. You can and they used them ALOT in the 1950s) Cream of tartar. Shortening. Lard. Knox Gelatin (unflavored gelatin), Sure-Jel, and I am sure the list will expand as does my research. I find myself excited to find these items and to use them. As if I am a real time travelor allowed to test these ancient artifacts in their new state and to be amazed and the outcome of their combinations. Who knew a kitchen and pantry could be so much fun!

The above items will recieve in time my own personal labels or copies of vintage labels. I like they way they look and the effect they have on me. Speaking of which I was glad to get this image from one of my loyal readers/commentors/new friend. She was inspired by my post about making my own labels. Here she has followed suit with a label for her own 'homemade' cleaning solution of vinegar and water. Well done!

Now, back to stew. The recipe I used last night was a 'quick fix' recipe which would encourage you to use the Hunt's product. My hubby loved the result and he took the leftovers as well as the last two home-made biscuits with him for his lunch today. But, next time there is stew on my menu, I am going to attempt the more traditional recipe I found in my General Foods cookbook which includes dumplings. As I said, I had made hot biscuits, which were lovely with the stew, but the dumplings might be very nice and the presentation could be good.

I am going to attempt my own steak and kidney pie this week. I have a great recipe in my Betty Crocker. I will let you know how it turns out.

If you read my previous blogs, you'll know I am continuing on with the feature articles on the McClosky family in my 1953 Ladies Home Journal. The article is showing various aspects of the McClosky family to illustrate the young middle class American family. Here are some more pictures from that article:

What a darling little house. I really like Mrs. McClosky's haircut. I think this might be the cut I want as I can curl it tight and still wear a little ponytail for housecleaning.
In the article, she mentions how she makes dress shorts for her son out of an old wool skirt. Very industrious. (I have not forgot about my own sewing, either. I just have not done enough worth showing yet. I have cut out and begun a muslin version of the blue dress I showed in an earlier post. I learned my lesson and will make a mock up of any pattern I use now in muslin. If the muslin dress looks good, I am going to dye it with my vintage dye and can still use it as an outfit for cleaning at least.)

Here she is cutting her sons hair ( I love the expression on his face!) It says she does her own facials, manicures and permanents. This does show a young couple homemaker needing to do these things for herself. I do think, however, being an older homemaker and not having children, I most likely would pay for these items. And, in fact, I am NOT going to attempt my own hair or permanent and am taking your advice and having it done professionaly.

Though hardly my cup of tea, the McClosky dinette is rather darling. The walls are wall papered in white brick pattern. They second hand chairs were purchased from an ice cream parlor for $12.50 each. (That seems a bit high to me, as that in todays money would put them around $98.00 each. Maybe I am just used to the bargains I find at my local tag sales!) They painted a 'carpet' on the linoleum with floor paint because, "The wall to wall carpeting in our living room stops at the entrance to the niette and so dod our budget," said ANita McClosky.

While on the subject of decorating, I did a "Color Story" photo to help me design and decorate my hubbys new den. By gathering together these various objects I like, I can really get into the manliness I want of my hubbys Den. The stuffed pheasant is not somthing my husband shot, in fact he is not a hunter (though is a crack shot at a caly pigeon). It is one of my past Christmas gifts, which might

seem odd, but I like antique stuffed birds. He actually found this in the back of a great little antique shop in Beacon Hill (in Boston) on Christmas Eve. I definitely like how it has a very distinct manly study/den feeling. It has the color family I have chosen for the house, browns and reds and even a touch of blue.
Sometimes a closer view of my 'story' will help reveal a color way for my design. The one red key on this typewriter of my hubbies mixed with the blue/grey of the typewriter and warm wood tones really speaks to me. I am even considering doing one wall of wood 'paneling' which in fact would be individual wood boards stained or painted. I am not going to put up wood paneling. Though available in the 1950s it has too many 1970s connotations for me. If it were really 1955, I would not yet now of the orange shag rugs, harvest gold and pea green and wood paneling of the 1970s, but in fact, I do, so it is out.

Well, until tomorrow then, happy homemaking!

7 March 1955 "Peter Pan on TV, The Executive Homemaker, Liver, and a Scavenger Hunt"

On March 7, 1955, NBC presented Peter Pan live as part of Producers' Showcase (with the show's original cast) as the first full-length Broadway production on color TV. The show attracted a then-record audience of 65-million viewers.Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard had already won Tony Awards for their stage performances, and Martin won an Emmy Award for the television production. It was so well received that the musical was restaged live for television on January 9, 1956. Both of these broadcasts were produced live and in color, but only black-and-white kinescope recordings survive.

Peter Pan opened in New York on October 20, 1954 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York for a planned limited run of 152 performances. The show had been sold to NBC, which ensured that it was a financial success despite the limited run. It played its final performance on February 26, 1955. The show closed so that it could be broadcast on television, although box office continued to be strong throughout the Broadway run.

FROZEN ORANGE-JUICE prices will go up because of the recent cold snap in Florida and pessimism about next year's crop. Two big producers, Birds Eye and Libby, McNeill & Libby, have just boosted wholesale prices 5¢ per dozen six-oz. cans, and the rest of the industry may follow suit. Retailers are expected to pass on the increase.

Now, I want to continue on with this large article in a 1953 magazine a friend had given me. I have really just started to look at it and it is really a great and thourough piece. I am going to continue to cover it over the next week, as it is long and deals with The homemaker (Mrs. McClosky) on many levels, from the breakdown of her day, to her decorating, her realtionship with her husband and family, and how they entertain including recipes as well as how she spends on clothes. The recipe for the hamburger casserole is from this feature.

Today I am going to show the breakdown they have done representing what a homemaker would be earning over the year. They show a total over $200.00 a week if they paid someone to do the work she does in the home. This in todays money is $2,074.01. this would mean she would earn $12636.00 a year in 1953, in todays money that is $99,552.35 a year!

One of the costs I found interesting. It states that it would cost $354.53 a week for maid, which is about $17,000.00 a year. Now, I only have Gussie twice a week so that would be around $100.00 a week in 1955 dollars. As it so happens, I may be losing Gussie as she has some new responsibilites with the local theatre, so I am suddenly faced with that 1955 homemaker dillema: "I have lost my housekeeper, what can a gal do with rising prices and help so hard to find?"

The article goes on with some wonderful photos and lays out the various roles that Mrs. McClosky plays.

Here she is in the role of the plumber.

Here she is as bargain shopper and decorator. So, In the coming week I am going to eventually have the entire article and photos and recipes from this feature. There is a lot of information to cover and I don't want to just cram it all into one post.

I love this shot of Mrs. McClosky, as it proves my own theory of what a homemaker wore while cleaning. No June Cleaver pearls and heels here. I was actually taken aback a little, when I first read the article, as I really saw myself in this shot. I wear cuffed jeans socks and loafers or flats and a man-style shirt and often have my hair in a scarf rather in is set in curlers or just held back while I am cleaning. I love her old electrolux, as well. I really like that vacuum and may need to add this cannister to my cleaning closet. I could have one vacuum per floor, how is that for decadence?

Speaking of cleaning, yesterday morning I had a nice little suprise. I was doing my normal morning routine of straightening up the bedroom and making the bed. Part of my bed making includes a nicely folded pair of pajamas under our pillows. As I was gathering up the bedclothes to make the bed, I lifted my husbands pillows to find a neatly folded pair of his pajamas. He had done it, by habit, on his own! I couldn't believe it. Now, my husband is a neat man by habit anyway and before 1955 I would say his closest and clothes were often more organized and hung up than mine. However, here I had simply made this small habit a part of my routine and suddenly, without his thinking about it, he folded and put his pajamas in place as that was how he has become accostomed to finding them.

Also today, after breakfast, before I realzied it, he had emptied the dishwasher for me and picked up the breakfast things. Again, it is not that he has not helped me in the past, but my new 1955 routine often involves me so rapidly clearing away and cleaning up, that he never even really had the chance. But today (he is off weekends) he just did it, naturally. It was nice. Normally I have Gussie on weekends, but, she is getting involved in a local theatre production and may now have no free time to be Gussie. Luckily todays 1950's meal is at Vintage friends house, so I won't feel her absence as the dishes won't be piled at my house, nor will I need to have the kitchen in high-prodcution for a large meal for a group of people. However, last Saturday the meal was at my house and I had no Gussie. I really found myself scrambling to catch up on Saturday evening dishes. Thank god I had the dishwasher. That is sort of a very 1955 moment, as well, out with the help in with the automatic aides!

But, I digress...back to my original point. In my articles and books it says that by my example of tidyness and thoughtfulness around the house, the other family members will follow suit. And, as I am living the experiment, I got to see first hand it is true. I am glad I am getting into these habits, as if we were ever to have a child (a BIG if) I feel I would be a little more prepared for what type of home life I would want for a child. The structure and routine. I am sure all of you mother's just rolled your eyes and thought, "You just wait honey, your routine goes out the window when that baby gets home" which I am sure is true, but I would feel that once I wanted to regain that routine, I would be able to doso from having been in the routine at one point. I could revisit it, as I had already learned and lived it. This project would either not exist or be much different had I a little child running about. Would I still try it? Well, considering how crazy I am and my desire to challenge myself, yes I probably would. To much more hilarous and frustrating results for all of you, of course!

Now, onto food and recipes:

I learned last night that hubby is not a fan of Liver. I have always loved liver, but rarely can find it in the store, and up until 1955, never really thought of preparing it. The last time we were at our favorite diner I say they had liver and onions on the menu. I believe this is a very 1950s meal. Although, not everyone loves liver. I happen to adore it and was so excited to see it while marketing. It is so cheap. SO, here are the ways my cookbook tells me to cook it.

I pan fried it. I started with bacon (of course!) and made enough to crumble the bacon on our salad and to leave a piece each to place on top of the liver when served. Next, I pan fried thinly sliced onions in the bacon fat until lovely and brownish yellow. Next, I dipped the liver in a mixture of cornmeal and flour mixed with seasonings. This went into the bacon fat. The result was wodnerful. Like I said, my hubby did not like it, but like a trooper he ate most of it. Though, the way I prepared it was lovely, as a liver eater I really enjoyed it and the onions in the bacon fat were heavenly. At least my hubby had room for dessert which was this:

The presentation was not quite what I had wanted with this, as my egg whites did not stiffen. I think there was water in the bowl I used and I learned water in eggwhites will keep it from stiffening. However, the taste was not affected and I really liked the result as did hubby.

It was a cross between a rich homemade pudding and a mousse. The changes I made to the recipes involved me dividing the milk quantity between milk and whipping cream (in its liquid form of course I would NEVER use prepared whip cream, although I know it was available then.) I think next time I will toast the coconut before I use it or toast some to sprinkle on the whipped cream on top. I love cooking with a double boiler and a whisk, as it makes me feel like a chef. I imagine a crew of helpers lined up about me as I make the important finishing touches on my grand meal! A homemaker has a rich imagination. I think it is one of the most important elements to homemaking, as it gives you all the ideas to make do with what you have.

So, one of the reasons I did not get to my blog yesterday was that I was out on one of my Homemaker Scavenger hunts. I am lucky in that we have many little antique shops and a local church has a year round 'rummage sale' where a gal can get a very good deal. So, here are some of yesterdays treasures:

I was excited when I saw this hamper, as I often see this ad in some of my vintage magazines. I love that Groucho Marx somehow seems to be the appropriate person to sell a hamper, I don't get the logic, but I love it anyway.

The ad says these hampers start at 8.95 and I bought my hamper at $8.00. Of course in 1955 money that would only be around .60 cents while really these cost close to $60.00 new (that is in 2009 money by the way) I love that it is still around. I also know it is vintage as I found some scraps of old newspaper with the date of 1953 and an old tinker toy inside. I wondered how long this had been sitting in an attic waiting to come home with me. One day little Johnny was playing around with his mothers hamper and lost his toy piece. Then, when grandmother was old and ready for the home, daughter put this horrid thing away in the attic, hoping to deal with it later. There it sat, its little tell-tale scrap of newspaper and tinker toy, aging and yellowing with the passing Cape Cod summers and winters heating and cooling it. Now, once again, it will hold clothes waiting for monday washdays.

I love the lid and the detailing as it is a heavy plastic that is marbelized. The detailing on the top are like two fins on an american car from the 1950's. I guess they really DON'T make them like they used to.

I have been hunting for some matching side tables for our bedroom. I found these yesterday for $10.00 for the pair. They are so 1950's 'Early American' and they fit the bill perfectly. I love the side detailing and the botton shelf is perfect for a collection of magazines or books to keep at the bedside table without cluttering up the top. Also, the built in lamps have a swing arm to may reading in bed easier, and though the shades are not wonderful, they are easily remedied with covering of new fabric or just purchasing a shade I do like and replacing them. They are nice solid wood, and I think maple. Very well made and I love the styling.

This is a large heavy maple hutch top. It was only the top and it is definitley 1950s "early american/colonial". It is SO heavey and well made. Even the back slats of wood are individual pieces of maple. This was a steal and will end up either in the new dinning room or the breakfast room. It will most likely recieve a coat of paint to go with the room and will set atop perhaps a nice dresser to serve as extra china storage. I have a collection of vintage milk glass dishes that might look lovely displayed in this in the breakfast room, in which case I might paint it a pretty butter yellow with the inside robins egg blue. I would try it first in its natural wood tone, as well, to see if I like it that way.
Now, you can never have enough trays, I think. I found this lovely vintage set of metal painted trays for .50 cents for all five! The colors are much nicer than this image is showing. They have a lovely faux bois (fake wood design) background. They are small enough to make for easy carrying, but large enought to bring out supplies for the barbeque or to serve the ladies iced teas on the verandah.

6 March 1955 "Housewife or Executive?"

I have been unexpectedly busy today and feel bad that I did not get to my blog. So, I am going to post this article that is part of a larger piece I want to discuss in my next blog. I think it is really fitting concerning the idea of the homemaker as a real career woman. It is interesting to see that it was even an issue in 1955. Perhaps those woman who did choose to go 'back to the home' were actually chastised even then by their fellow WWII Rosy the Rivetor compatriots that wondered why they would do it. Obviously, by what the article demonstrates, many men did not view it as a career either. I found it odd, actually, as I believe many people today would think that in the 1950s it would have been considered a real job, but it appears that was not always the view. So, here is the piece that is part of the larger article. Read it if you have a chance and comment on it and then tomorrow I will be adding more info from the piece.

5 March 1955 "Tupperware, Decorating, and Casseroles"

Tupperware debuted in 1946. I think it is one of those quintessential american 1950s icons. It is also very practical and much used to this day.

Tupperware was developed in 1946 by Earl Silas Tupper(1907-1983) in the USA. He developed plastic containers used in households to contain food and keep it airtight. The formerly patented "burping seal" is a famous aspect of Tupperware, which distinguished it from competitors.

"During the early 1950s, Tupperware's sales and popularity exploded, thanks in large part to influence among women who sold Tupperware, and some of the famous "jubilees" celebrating the success of Tupperware ladies at lavish and outlandishly themed parties. Tupperware was known -- at a time when women came back from working during World War II only to be told to "go back to the kitchen" -- as a method of empowering women, and giving them a toehold in the post-war business world. The tradition of Tupperware's "Jubilee" style events continues to this day, with rallies being held in major cities to recognize and reward top-selling demonstrators, managers and distributorships."

Tupperware spread to Europe in 1960 when Mila Pond hosted a Tupperware party in Weybridge, England, and subsequently around the world.

I have a few vintage pieces in my soft sky blue that I love. It is a hard color to come by. I am always on the lookout for it. If any of you ladies have any in that color that you aren't using, let's make a deal. A gal can never have enough tupperware.

My vintage friend and I would totally do a great job if we were to throw a tupperware party. Maybe I should make it one of my summer things as part of this project. How fun, all we ladies in the yard in sun dresses, hats and gloves, oohing and ahhing over the burp of the tupperware lid! Lemonade, finger sandwiches. Sounds like fun to me!

Now onto Decorating:
I am reading (over and over again I might add) Dorothy Drapers Book, "Decorating is fun". I am not sure who has this book or who has seen it. I luckily found it due to a comment by a very nice person early on in my blogs. I immediately ordered it and have not regretted it.

There are only a few photos (black and white) and some random drawings, done by Draper herself, I believe, which do help illustrate her point. This is not a coffee table book of casual perusing while you sip your tea. The images have to be drummed up in your mind and her almost militant approach to her ideals is rather refreshing. I thought I might give little snippets of advice here and then from the book every so often. I hope you will like it.

In chapter 3 COLOR, she tells us this:

"It is the rock on which your house is built. Without a keen sense of color, without the ability to get real enjoyment and exitement out of lovely colors, we might as well quite right now. I firmly believe that nothing contributes so much to the beauty of this world as color. And, happily enough, I bleieve with equal convition that every man, woman and child alove has within him a true instinct for color"

Well, that sounds promising anyway. I also believe color is so improtant not only in the world but in your home. It is funny how it honestly affects your moods. I love my vintage dishes as they have one of my favorite colors (robins egg blue) throughout them. Once this project started and I began our breakfasts all laid out on a pretty blue linen table cloth with my dishes and everything soothing, what a difference to the start of the day. Honestly, my husband now leaves often more rested and with more time to relax with me in the morning before he is off to work. Before 1955, it was just shamble out of bed when you could, throw some cereal in the first bowl you grapped, eat at the kitchen table amongst, perhaps, yesterdays mail or some random things that always seem to collect up on the kitchen table. There was always a scramble for a lost coat or keys, ets. I cannot tell you how nice it is to pull up to a nicely laid table with lovely dishes and a full hot breakfast and actually talk with my hubby before he leaves for work. Even though it means my getting up earlier and making it all possible, it would be a lie to say I do not enjoy it as much as he does.

This morning, the sun was streaming in the dinning room, the hot coffee tasted so nice and it was actually cheery and warm. I almost felt as if I had hopped, Mary Poppins style, into one of the old photos in my magazines I have often coveted. It isn't just a sham. It is real, or it can be. And it isn't pretense, but really living. It was like the joy you got as a child playing house, but with a feeling of maturity I have never really felt. I know that sounds silly, but I almost feel like an actual grown up now, with my homemaking duties.

It seems my generation, and those after mine, often have that feeling of never quite knowing when to grow up or what it means. Now, I am not saying I know what it means, but it does seem to come along with the responsibility of your dailiy living. Making chocies that affect the happiness and comfort of your home and your future seems very mature. And, surprise surprise, it isn't a bad thing!And, I don't feel I have lost any of my childlike joy of the world. I merely feel more a part of the world, as if I would like to contribute to it...as if I have SOMTHING to contribute to it, even if that is just making a happy home and becoming a memeber of my community. I just wonder how many people who flounder about trying for some vast unrealistic greatness, miss out on the joy of simply living. I feel I may have up until now. This playing house and being a grownup it is almost as if it is some secret to happiness. As if it was some guarded talisman of the older generations. Only, they probably wanted to pass it on, but the generations before us seemed to have mislaid it.

Well, I have gone a little off topic...

So, back to color:

I totally agree with this passage about the harmony of a color theme throughout your house:

"Just as the main theme appears and reappears throughout a symphony, so you can carry one note of color through your whole house to beautiful effect. I don't mean that the color scheme in each room should be just alike-anything but. You just bind the whole thing together by light touches of the same shade.

For instance, if you have red curtains in your living room, you might have white walls in the hall with a red design stenciled on them. Then in your dining room you mihgt place a rug of the same color. In your bedroom you would just strike the note lightly-put a red quilt, folded, on the end of the bed. Just for fun you could even paint the ceallar stairs of the inside of your kitchen closets that same red.

In this way you can create a sort of intelligent 'color continuity' that is very satisfying, and smart to boot."

I, myself, like to even go one step further and really make a 'color story' for the house. As I have been mentioning, I am planning as part of my project to slowly make over the whole of my house and garden. I have been gathering things together that I love, objects and things with the color I love, in my house and taking 'color shots'.

I think this 1950 painting by Edware Hopper "Cape Cod Morning" is in, itself, a great color story. It really tells my combination I am drawn too, the shots of red/pink and yellow and green with a base of soft blues and held in balance with crisp white and shots of black.

My love of red and blue and warm shades of yellow and brown with stark couterpoints of crisp summer sail white and black really are going to tell that story. Each room will have it's own interpretation of that story, but I think it really allows you to address the entire house (even if you are going to spread your decorating over years) as a single project and it really helps to curb any decorating fear you might have. I think just gathering together some things you love and really looking at them pretty much tells you what colors you love and what 'style' you feel comfortable with. I hate the idea of trying to copy a look out of a magazine, I mean be inspired, but make it your own house, right?

I love, too, that she goes on to give examples of color combinations for different rooms and then states, "These are just suggestions-not ironclad formulas." And she openly invites you to break her rules, but really she is giving you a good solid base in which to create your own rules.

I think I will post some 'color story' photos tomorrow to get your opinions.

On my own decorating front, my living/drawing room cum library, is now going to stay just a drawing/living room. I have rethought my houseplan and our large finished room in our basement is going to get the first facelift by being turned into our library and my husbands study. His current study on the first floor will become our dining room, making room for an eventual redo I am planning that will give me a bigger kitchen with a breakfast/morning room. I will include you in all the mayhem that I am certain will follow with all that, as well as the success.

I belive I post this recipe before, but I just made some lovely doughnuts yesterday morning and wanted to post about it. Obviously I do not have any Swifting's, but I think it is just basic shortening. That is what I used, though next time I am going to use lard and I think I am going to get a vintage deep fat fryer for my kitchen. There are many things that could be cooked properly in it, and I think if I don't overdo it we should be able to stay away from hard attacks! They were so yummy and even cold the next day, they were not heavy nor greasy at all! Next time I will make icing and top them with coconut and jimmies (sprinkles for you non New Englanders).

My husband actually prefers them plain. But, of course, I adore them dredged through the sugar until they are almost white!

Sometimes the most simple things recieve the most lauded reviews. I had wanted to try this simple little casserole for some time. I was drawn in by the article, detailing a couple and their social life. This image and recipe just looked very middle class american 1950s. Before this project I had never ever made a casserole in my life. Actually the word drummed up horrid images of marshmallow covered meat and veg or overcooked hamburger and overdone noodles. I am a convert.

As far as having time in your busy schedule, the casserole is a homemakers salvation on busy days. We had an impromptu plan yesterday to go with some friends to have a fun evening of cards at my vintage friends house. I had these ingredients in my house and thought, "I'll throw together that casserole and bring it along for our dinner there" It was so easy to make and it was so good.

My husband took the rest with him to work today and even said again this morning, "That was so good". My vintage friends fiance' even commented twice and I think would love to see it show up on their table. I do highly reccomend it, even if you are like me and think casserole is a four-letter word.

Until tomorrow, then, happy homemaking!