7 November 1956 “Q & A Sunday: The Coffee Cake”

I actually received a few questions about my coffee cake. Two people, overseas readers, asked how I made the recipe without yeast and letting it rise. So, I thought this lovely breakfast or tea-time cake deserved some good answers.
First lets address the old fashioned recipe which does include yeast and a rise time. This recipe also makes lovely buns, very like cinnamon buns. This is the recipe I use from my Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School book from 1955. (note for this recipe, when it refers to yeast cake on pg 67, it is merely telling you to dissolve your yeast in 1/4 warm water.)

This is really a rather easy recipe, but the wait time and messing about with yeast can be an issue for some or for any new bakers. I know I first approached yeast with some trepidation and fear, wondering if mad scientists or movie-type explosions would result.
There are ‘easier’ or no yeast versions of both Coffee Cakes and Kuchen in my other cookbooks. In fact Kaffee Kuchen shows up most times on the same page as Coffee Cake in most of my vintage cookbooks as well as various magazines of the time. They all are about the same. The difference with a Kuchen versus the Cake, is in the kuchen the yolks are added separately and then the whites are beaten stiff and folded in. My recipe in my Better Homes also includes a ‘Topper’ which is the usual brown sugar, flour, butter made into a crumble. However I have also seen Kuchen recipes that simply have you add a well beaten egg, not separating the whites. But, by and large, the Kuchen tends to use the beaten egg whites.
The basic Coffee Cake recipe I use is basically either of these two. One is from Better Homes and Gardens the other from Betty Crocker. They are basically identical. I, however, use melted better rather than oil or shortening or margarine.
You can see they are basically the same recipe. I usually make the Streusel filled coffee cake found on the Quick Breads page. This mixes the streusel in the middle and on top, quite yummy.
This is very easy to mix up and does not require your mixer. Just some bowls and a wooden spoon is all I use.
Here is the sugar, melted butter ( I use stove but you could easily pop butter in the microwave to melt it, even in the same bowl-less clean up), and egg. See what a lovely color it is.
Here it is after the dry ingredients have been added. I don’t even sift my drys for this, I merely measure it straight in and stir away. A coffee cake is very forgiving. You can see the crumble made up in the bowl next it. Those are my fresh chicken’s eggs, they started laying on my birthday!
Here you see I have put in half the batter (you can spread this batter with a spoon, it is not runny like a traditional cake, making it rather easy to manipulate). And here it is before baking with remainder of the batter and the rest of the crumble.
And, finally, fresh from the oven: And straight to the breakfast or tea-time table. Look at those delicious bits of crumble and warm golden cake, mmm…
So you can see, it is rather easy and sets up nicely. It is a nice cake to have about for a quick snack and it packs wonderfully.
Coffee cake is also a good tea cake. It has the firmness that allows one to eat it with their fingers while holding cups of tea, much like an English Sponge. In fact, I find that an English Sponge, a Victoria sponge and so on, are rather similar to our Coffee cake.
Now a coffee cake can also mean, quite literally, a cake which contains coffee. Today that usually means instant coffee, but I am sure using fresh brewed could work but you would need to adjust it to your liquid ingredients.
The sponge (sponge cake) served with English tea can be a Coffee Sponge. Thus, a Coffee Cake, in that it contains coffee.  Every recipe I have seen for a Victoria sponge seems rather similar to a basic no yeast coffee cake, with varying degrees of complications, such as having to stir in each ingredient in a certain order, to serving the cake layered with jam and cream and dusted with confectioners sugar. Any UK readers out there, please give more information. When you eat ‘coffee cake’ ,if you do, is it a coffee sponge? Or do you eat the ‘coffee cake’ that is the yeast risen similar to our coffee rolls? Do let us know.
Here is a very easy Victoria Sponge recipe. It’s base, much like the coffee cake, seems a great vehicle to make any various forms of cake by simply mixing in. This cake, as well, is usually cut in half frosted with jam and dusted with confectioners sugar, yummy!
Victoria Sponge (if you click the image you will get the recipe in metric measurements, we Americans refuse to let go of our Imperial)
Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch pan. Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time mixing thoroughly with each addition. Slowly stir the flour mixture in with the butter, sugar, and eggs. Beat in the milk and vanilla until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan
3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. This cake is traditionally served unfrosted, just cut in two horizontally and filled with jam or custard and dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Here, then, is a recipe for a ‘coffee cake’ that is a sponge with coffee in. It comes from HERE.
1 Cup Caster Sugar
1 Cup Self raising flour
3 Eggs
2 Tbsp Camp Coffee
For filling:
Butter 3oz
Icing Sugar 3oz
Coffee (to taste)

• Beat together sugar and eggs until light and fluffy

• Add coffee then fold in flour

• Pour into two 8 inch sandwich tins and bake at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes

• For the filling: beat together equal quantities of butter and icing sugar, till well mixed

• Add coffee to taste

• Sprinkle a little icing sugar on top when put together and finished

So, here is to a wonderful Sunday morning and a nice hot piece of Coffee Cake, Kaffee Kuchen, Sponge, or whatever you like to call it. Happy Homemaking!

6 November 1956 “1950’s TV Drawing School & Site Day”

As some of you may know, my new schedule has Saturday’s as my site day. I am working on making it more functional and so on. In the future this can be the day I simply continue to sort blog post content into a more usable stored reference materials.
And for any of you who have signed up for my monthly newsletter, I will try and get that out tomorrow. For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, if you go to the main page of the WEBSITE on the right hand side under my bio is a ‘sign up for newsletter’ button. Simply click that and do whatever it says, I think it just asks for your email, and you will receive it. I want to give some info and scanned vintage images that won’t necessarily be on the website. Sort of a fun, ‘let’s check the mail and see what we have’. I would love to do an actual newsletter, but that I know would be too expensive and far too much trouble with stamps and all.
In the future it will come to your email first of the month, but again, I am but one person. I know based upon my continuing experience of adding more to my schedule, that in time it will become normal and simply be ‘part of my day’. That is what I increasingly love about my two year project, that I can keep pushing myself, setting the bar high, and then achieving that aim. Almost making up for all the lost time of my modern youth of aimless rote and mindless entertainment. Though I do still enjoy a good movie or show now and again, and of course reading and vintage fun times with my friends. But, I digress…
So, for Saturdays, rather than just leave you with boring info on what I am working on the site, I will share some fun video with you.
Today we are going to see a video of a 1950’s TV program with Jon Gnagy, a self taught artist. His show was the not only the first of its kind on early television, but  On May 16, 1946, Jon Gnagy was the first "act" on the first program broadcast from the antenna atop the Empire State Building. HERE is a quick biography of his interesting life.
You can also watch more of his fun and helpful videos on my APRON TV simply go on the right under playlists and scroll down until you see Vintage Educational Tv and click on that. It will open many videos of his 50’s art show, enjoy and Happy Homemaking.
Here is the intro to his show followed by an episode.

5 November 1956 “1950’s: America’s Moral Crisis”

Today we are going to look at the beginning of an article in one of my 1957 issues of Better Homes & Gardens. I know it is not 57 yet, but I found it an interesting article. Simply click to enlarge. It is about the continuing discussion of sexuality and moral decline in happening as the post WWII years wane.

I think one thing I find interesting is that with the number of generations behind us since sexual liberation, wouldn’t things become less sexually centered? It seems if one has taken off the veil of taboo and stripped the shock and awe of it all, why on earth has it become almost the be all end all?
I don’t find myself a prude. I know sexuality is important to the human mind and body, but it is hardly the entire package. I wonder why, since we have lost such restricted codes of morality, that we still seemed to be So focused on it. In a way that one has little to think of BUT it. One would think, ‘hey sexuality, no big deal. Let’s spend more time on art, literature, talking, other subjects”. This, however, seems to be the opposite of what has happened since WWII to today and really since WWI.
I think the main cause of this is not our own ‘animal attitudes’ but in fact: Advertising. We live in a world today, even more so than 1950’s, where advertising is literally in every aspect of our life. Our clothes are walking billboards. Our phones send images and texts with little logo’s “Sent by PalmPre” or “Sent to you by Apple I-Pad”. The very post-it-note society we have made in which we glibly tell one another the shopping list of our lives, “At the doctors, had a baby, in the hospital, bought new shoes” are lumped together and had delivered with the bow of marketing stamped right on.
Even the shows we watch on TV/internet are basically now advertisements disguised as entertainment. Shows, due to the ability to ‘shut off’ the commercial, have literally written into them the ads for the product. Also, what a star wears, talks on, drives, listens to, it is all for sale. Christmas music at stores at the holidays, happy background music? Nope, that’s for sale too, there is the compilation cd 9.95 please pay at the register with your purchases.
So, sometime in the mid 1960’s Madison avenue began to realize that the intense hippy/sexual revolution was a wonderful gift of a selling point. Though the original hippys were actually counter-culture in that they were not wanting to BUY and be PLUGGED IN, this was quickly replaced by the sleek quick way sex was sold to a generation. Want to be hip and cool and counter culture? Well, buy these products, this lifestyle.
And lifestyle branding began and with that the underlying power of sexuality has remained. And why has it? Because, despite ‘Revolution’ having happened decades ago, it is still a hot-point. And anything that draws attention, rather good or bad, is the perfect tool to sell. Why do you think salesmen used to wear the loud sports coat and the slick hair? They became a joke of a style but it caught your attention, rather good or bad, you were talking about it, responding to it.
I think the only way that ‘sexuality’ as an “in your face” atitude will go away, is if we literally thought about and acted differently in our day to day life. The very concept of how we buy, shop, entertain, talk, converse, live,  is so imbedded with it all, how could it end? And now with the internet, it has fanned the fuel of the fire. Even if we believe one thing and tell our children, “no” they are still getting a text or a sext the next second, bombarded with it all online and tv and then we, the parents, are just as much plugged in. “Do as we say not as we Do”: we know how well that philosophy works.
Now for me, I have no children, so I don’t have to worry about their distorted view of sexuality. This is honestly how I see much of what is feed to kids, tweens, teens, and youth today. And again, it isn’t that I am a prude. But, I also think things such as Art, Books, Innocence, Imagination, Science, learning, and just general fun (hiking, fishing, horses what have you) are just as important as sexuality. Yet what is the percentage of those things compared with the percentage of sexuality shown and bombarding young people today?
Is there some evil agenda that is out to want to ‘take over our kids’? Some bad guy in a black hat rubbing his hands together and twisting his handlebar moustache, waiting to tie our children to the rail road tracks? No, and the real ‘evil villain’ is sadly , the very consumer society we all buy into and don’t want to let go of, because quite frankly it is easy.
People may want to blame various groups, or aspects of society, but we all contribute to the over all society of marketing and consumerism and that is where the devil really lies. The big stores, the oil companies (all of which petroleum is needed for everything including the computer screen you are now reading this one, the plastics that make up the computer and most of your home and cars, and of course all the electricity to power the whole kit and caboodle). We can rant and rave about various issues but honestly, the only way we could really be more in control of what our children do and experience is to have more to do with our own world. We would have to unplug some, pay more attention, turn away from that and to each other. But will that happen, most likely not. It is much easier to just stay plugged in and go forward.
To really address the  issue and face it head on we would have to allow ourselves to become not only a little uncomfortable, but to really look at ourselves in the mirror. It is much easier, I know, to want to blame others. We always want a scape-goat, its easier. It’s that political parties fault. Its the president, its the schools, its' tv. But, in my own opinion, all of that  is part of the make up our current society and this  goes hand in had with the ‘moral decline’ in sexuality.  The very way in which we live is part of the many problems in which we always complain. The very twisted view of constant overtly sexualized imagery (often quite negative towards women) is part and parcel with a plugged in, consuming life. We may be on this side or that on taxes, republicans, democrats, and so on, but that is all encompassed in the very overly commercialized world in which we live. Even the 1966 Charlie Brown Christmas special shows the writing on the wall of our commercialization. It is funny that this simple message now only stands as a way to sell more items. “Yeah, I get it, poor Charlie Brown…Oh, a plastic Charlie Brown Tree, oh decorations with the characters on it, gimme gimmme”. The irony, when we look round, is every where to see.
Even the lessening in people’s general attitude towards religion, rather Christian or what have you, has really been replaced by advertising. The TV, the Media and Shopping IS the new religion.  It is the focal point of community, what we talk about, where we meet, what we do. Even if some were very religious you can bet that they are still very much a part of that system which, in a sense, has been replacing the church/synagogue/religious meeting house for generations. If they shop, text, and support the system that uses overseas labor/materials at the expense of our own, it still is adding to what they may not like about the society in which they live. And it still supports the increased sexualized behavior, as that will continue to be the main selling point in advertising.
Every person has his or her own view of what sexual morality may be. Even un-religious parents still have a standard of what they feel is appropriate for what their child sees, hears and then reacts to. I think the sad point is that all that separates all the ‘groups’ on issues such as these are merely there and reinforced by the very society that needs these separations. Having more ‘groups’ = a larger customer base. And groups anger and hatred towards one another = free advertising. Because advertising is merely talking about it, noticing it, bringing it up. Even our ‘news programs’ and I use that term VERY loosely, are simply platforms for shouted opinions all the while creating a marketing stream to the various sites to buy things to support whatever side of the fence you are on. While we are wearing the labels of the companies we are supporting on our clothing, shoes, our children, and fighting with one another, we are also paying into and supporting that very system. It is making money off our passionate feelings either for or against various topics, including sexuality.
I think what makes me sad about most issues such as this, is the hypocrisy of the system which both supports and then pretends to be appalled by it. This allows the fanning of the flames of both sides and collecting up our money from the subsequent reactions. It makes me feel as if most of us really, rather we have different religious or ethnic bases, really do want the same thing. Yet we can’t ever meet on realistic ground to do so. And because of that will continue to be separated only to make it easier to be sold to.
As many of my readers know I often get a rant going and can’t help but get on my soapbox. But I am finding, as this second year of  1950’s living ends, my passion for it wane. It isn’t that I don’t care, but I am beginning to see again how even my outrage and discussion of it is merely a part of a larger problem. It has made me sort of step back AGAIN (I continue down this rabbit hole of self-discovery) and view my outrage with a sad smile. I believe in my desire for a changed world, but I also now see some of the futility of it. That in a way, our outrage and heated discussions are merely all fed into that same system that has us simply buying away our  values, pride, and ideals of a human community. Charlie Brown can be discouraged by the plastic shining commercialized world around him, but are we all prepared to do, as the other children did at the end, and come to realize it ourselves? I don’t know, maybe not. And if so, what does that mean for me? Feeling even more disconnect with the world around me, greater fear and sadness for my own country, which I love but feel slipping away; I’m not sure.
Well, I hope you enjoy the first part of this article from 1957 and I will include the rest in my next post (Monday, as tomorrow is site-day and Sunday is Q & A day).
And as always, Happy Homemaking.

4 November 1956 “Party Pics and Home-made Christmas Gifts: Never Too Early To Start”

I had a fine birthday yesterday. Here is a real snapshot of we gals on a vintage late 50’s instamatic camera. I believe it is the Polaroid land camera. My friend’s boyfriend (the girl on the far right in vintage hat) collects these old cameras, fixes them and even resurfaces the outside with new naugahyde and leather. The one he brought has my favorite 50’s blue where you see the green on this version below.
I had meant to take a picture of his camera, but forgot. I shall do so again to show all of you. He has quite a collection.
I am not sure where he gets the black and white instant film, but it is wonderful. He points, clicks, pulls it out and in a minute or so we have these wonderful pictures. This shot, though not on the old Polaroid, is our posed ‘bunny-hop’, let’s just say there was silliness had by all. I am lucky that my friends often dress very vintage for my get togethers. It makes a gal feel happy and rather ‘in the moment’. I have become so spoiled with 1950’s life that I often get a sad shock when I venture out to the ‘real world’ and wonder why everyone is dressed so ‘odd’.
Here is the lovely cake my friend made me.
You can see it is shining in all its 1950’s glory and it is home-made to boot. When asked what type of cake I would like I suggested banana walnut with cream cheese frosting. I got it and it was wonderful and completely made from scratch.
My friend said, “For anyone else it would have been a box cake, for for you I know I couldn’t do that”. She said she had never made a banana walnut cake before and at first was intimidated, but then was glad she did it.
“I even smashed the bananas by hand,” she beamed with pride. It was so wonderful and three layers! I send you all a virtual piece to enjoy. She then confided, “I had no idea how easy it was to make cream cheese frosting, I won’t ever buy it pre-made again”. So true, so true, we always found out the joy of home-made, the ease and the better taste.
Among my various gifts, I received a darling vintage silk scarf ( a gal can never have too many), my friends went in and got two new white-wall tires for my vintage bike (I shall ride on!).
I also received this record album, which I played while we played cards. When the can-can came on, we all wanted to dance and toss our petticoats, I can tell you.
I also was so happy when I opened a box to find this vintage chip-n-dip. It is styled very much the way I like. It has the “Early American” sensibility in the pattern, but the modern flair of the teak handles in little rocket-like lozenge shapes and all done up in brass. Here is a close up of the pattern and the pretty green (much prettier in person) It will look lovely at Thanksgiving, as the gold will match my good china (also trimmed in gold).
Such a wonderful day and I want to thank all of you for your warm and happy birthday regards on the blog, emails, and letters. So kind of all of you and I really appreciate it so much, I am very lucky indeed.
Now, I thought I might share with you some ‘home-made’ Christmas gift ideas. I have quite a few 50’s Christmas magazines. It is not too early to begin thinking about it if you are going to make any hand made items. So, for that perfect true vintage gift, I will share with you, over the next month, some fun ideas. 
Now with these gift ideas and the subsequent ‘instructions’ we must remember that vintage magazines for the homemaker assumed a certain level of skill. Or, I think, they gave the homemaker the benefit of the doubt that they were intelligent and able to follow written directions and take an abstraction and make it tangible. These items shown give you an array of ideas and tell you what they used to make the pattern. They DO NOT have pictorial step by steps to show how to literally do it.
What is interesting to me about this is that one assumes they are talking to adults. Now, I don’t mean that to sound patronizing or rude, but in fact, simple written directions paired with a finished product was deemed enough information for an adult to ‘figure it out’. I think today we modern people are so ‘led’ by our passive life styles that we really expect a long drawn out series of steps, with video, pictures and etc. In fact, we want an hour long show to demonstrate to us what one page of this magazine expects you to understand.
I think the step by step guides,though helpful, would seem almost babyish or elementary to the 1950’s homemaker or even home DIY’er. And, really, when you think about it, if you want to make some of these items, how hard should it be? If you want to make the blouse, for example, you can surely use a pattern for a blouse you already have, buy a pattern for a blouse to use again or use a ready made plain blouse. The instructions in using the flattened tea strainer and thimble are simple but one can figure out the placement by the photo or, better yet, make your own design.
The clothespin bag, for example, shows no pattern. Yet, we can see that it is made over a wire coat hanger. Therefore, take a wire coat hanger (or whatever hanger you prefer) lay it down on some paper and draw around it the shape you like. Remember to leave at least 1/2 an inch allowance (that is to say draw 1/2 inch bigger around than you want it to be when done) so it fits after being sewn. I think this a darling item and I want one! I love the vintage 50’s orange pink with the black old fashioned clothespin motif.  An apron in this color and pattern along the hem and maybe two clothes pins ‘crossed’ on the pocket with black ric rac on the edge would be adorable.
I have to say I LOVE the affect of the potato masher pattern on the draperies. These would make a great pattern on simple pillows to sew up for Christmas or hostess gifts, don’t you think?
Who will be trying any hand-made gifts this year? Do you like to receive such gifts?
Happy Homemaking.

2 November 1956 “Happy Birthday to Me”

Today is my birthday. Though I will be celebrating tomorrow with friends and family, as that was the day my hubby could organize everyone. It is my second birthday in the 1950’s. It has, of course, made me appreciate the simplicity and rustic character of the cakes of old.
Today, with so many cooking/baking/reality shows, cakes are meant to be over the top and perfect to a fault. Fondant icing (not very tasty) for all its smooth qualities gives us cold and unfeeling perfection. I, however, want to relish in the quaint almost Folk Art quality of the cakes of yore.
I enjoy cakes that first off taste wonderful and take their ingredients and taste more into priority than how fanciful they look. With that said, some simple tricks can do wonders. And what may been seen today as gaudy or amateurish shows more live than over the top fondant cakes or quickly made grocery store cakes.
Why not match the punch, balloons and cake to the wallpaper? In fact, the rough texture often used in 50’s cakes makes it easy on the baker and yet has a wonderful look to it. Those fresh strawberries in and around that cake look scrumptious. The fun of some simple candies, swirls of the knife and a homemade ‘party favor’ out of an old toilet roll and crepe paper says someone cares and vintage fun!
As I shall be celebrating tomorrow, I won’t be posting. But, do think of me, I shall be thinking of you.
For now, enjoy this birthday themed episode of the Abbot and Costello TV show “Lou’s Birthday Party”.

This shall be added to Apron TV under Classic Tv if you want to watch it again.
Have a great day and Happy Homemaking.

1 November 1956 “Green Stamps, Where Did You Go?”

Glancing through a magazine the other day, this double page ad caught my eye.I slightly recall talk of green stamps, but personally have had no real recognition of them. They were available well into the 1980’s so there is not reason I should not recall them. Perhaps I have simply forgot. Yet, here in 1956, I would be familiar with them. Their having been in circulation since the 1930’s and really having started as early as 1896.
You would collect them up from your various retailers, grocery, gas station that sort of thing, and then place them in these booklets. There was then a place to redeem them for various items from small kitchen dishes to bikes and furniture.
It seems the original rewards were given to those who spent cash, as my advertisement says. I am not sure if this remained the incentive as the 60’s and 70’s came on or not.
S & H still exits HERE, but I don’t really understand the benefit. You may check it out and let me know, but the original use of stamps was promoting the use of cash for the small business, at least in the 1950’s. Obviously the company that owned and operated S & H made money, but it was sort of a fun system. I like the idea of collecting up the stamps and saving. It really helps to reinforce that aspect of savings that is almost completely gone in our digital/plastic money society.
If that promotion of spending cash could be brought back in some way for small business, what a boon it would be. There is much talk of ‘hurting small business’ today, but I can tell you, as a former owner of a small business, one of the most frustrating aspects was credit/debit. You have to pay a percentage of everything you sell to a customer when they use either of those cards. So, you sell something and you have to pay the company for the privilege of having their service. It is the bane and part of the destruction of the small business. Yet one rarely hears of it. We are simply told how ‘easy’ it is to use plastic. It is easy and easier to put money into already big pockets, but I digress.
The 1962 Pat Boone hit, “Speedy Gonzales” Mentions green stamps. If you listen to the song at the very end, when Speedy is talking, he mentions that they are ‘giving away green stamps with the purchase of Tequila’. Green stamps, it seems, was a part of the popular culture of the time.

In some states, however, they were seen as gambling. In these states stores who wanted to give them away would need to file for specific licensing and it was pricey. Therefore, some states simply had few places that offered them and so they would not have been a part of that states popular culture and vernacular. I wonder if many who lived in such a state but on the border of another more permissive state crossed the border to fill their Green Stamp books?
I heard that here in Massachusetts we had a plaid stamp, but not sure about that. As I said, I have no recollection of them. I don’t recall my mother having them, though she was a young wife in the 1950’s, but alas I cannot ask her what with her Alzheimer's.
So, who remembers them? What do you recall about them? Do any of you use the modern online version? I am curious to know.

31 October 1956 “Question & Answer Sunday”

I get this question often and in many different forms, so I thought today we could address it: (don’t mind my paraphrasing of the question)
“How should I plan my meals, marketing, and budget?”
Let’s start with the budget for our meal planning. In America’s Housekeeping Book we are told that 25-30% of our income is what should be allotted for food. It also warns against a ‘cookie-cutter’ form of lists and points out, rather smartly, that budget’s and meal planning must certainly be catered to the specific needs of the family.
Now, if we did take that percentage as a starting point and you shop weekly, as I do, then simply break down your household income into the weekly amount. So, if you earn X amount of dollars in one week, 25% of that should go to your food. If you find you spend less than that, great. I find I spend around 12-15% on my food, but I do have two other aspects to my shopping budget. Now if you shop bi-weekly, than you would figure your income that way and go forward with that calculation.
Next, with that dollar amount in mind. We could use this budget aid to now break that down.  So, if you were spending $50 dollars on your weekly food budget, say, then you would spend $10 dollars each on the five listed items. This is a good starter list, as it allows you to break your food shopping into sections. I find, however, that I usually spend a higher percentage than 1/5 of my budget on our protein:meat/fish/beans. But, you could adjust yours accordingly.
Now, many people plan their meal for the week down to the day such as MON:Roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans and so on. For myself, I do not plant this specifically, because budget is first for me, then nutrition, then the selection. So, when I approach the market on a Friday morning, I have my list, but it is often a general list. It will include the reminder that I am shopping for 7 days (including the dinner for that Monday) On that list will first be any things that need resupplying such as flour/sugar/baking supplies. I call this my Pantry List.
There will be a separate part of my shopping list for household items such as light bulbs, toothpaste, Toilet Paper. This is called the Household List.  Incidentally, I have a separate monthly budget for non-edible shopping such as those things. I consider, if you I cannot eat it, it goes into that monthly category. The food (Including the baking supplies as I make many things from these) are included in my food budget though they are listed on the two lists Food and Pantry, if that makes sense. So, basically my shopping list is divided into those three sections on one piece of paper.
Now, for the nutrition aspect of meal planning.The Basic Seven in my earlier Betty Crocker book is much more nutrion based, I feel, than the 4 food groups in my later 50’s version of Better Homes and Gardens
  You will notice here that even on the ‘adequate’ meals Raw Vegetables are still included. I think there is a misconception today that 1950’s food was all Jell-O molds and fried and mayonnaise. I seem to find that all of my cookbooks, household manuals, and vintage magazines are filled with raw vegetables and including fruit with breakfast.
I know when I started my project I thought the same thing. Packaged food, mayonnaise covered items, and everything suspended in gelatin. The irony being, of course, that the main diets of the average person in 1950’s were much healthier than today’s average diet. We may know more about nutrition today, but most families are not following those guidelines, as prepared food now makes up the majority of what families eat, including what children get at public schools. Combine that with the higher demand on daily exercise in the 1950’s and you have, overall, a healthier way to eat. And, to me, I think it is a more approachable menu plan than what might be suggested for busy family today, who them just decide to fall back on the instant food. Therefore, if one wants to move away from pre-packaged, but the daunting tasks of modern food trends seem, well daunting, a 1950’s food cycle might be a good skeleton to build the meat of your family food and grocery budget upon.
I do not plan each day out with specific meals, as I said, as I like to buy sale items. So, if I know I need protein for 7 lunches, dinners, and breakfasts, I buy what looks good and is on sale that week. I also enjoy cooking, so not knowing my weeks meals before the store is not bad for me. Then, however, it is easy enough to plan that week’s meal after one gets home with the groceries. I can decide what veg with what meat prepared what way. I can try out new recipes, or use good ole’ standbys based on what I was able to fit into my budget.
If one does not care to cook and cares more about pre-planning, than the budget would come second and you could try to cut back on this or that once you get to the store to fill your pre-planned menu for the week.
Another helpful tool we modern shoppers have that our 1950’s counterpoints did not have, is the calculator. It was simply not there and yet today even our phones are equipped with these simple little devices. Tally your food as you put it in your cart. Keep a running tab, so you know you are staying in budget. You can also simply ‘round up’ in this matter. Chops 5.49, call it 6 as you put it in the cart, then you are sure to cover tax. It won’t be as exact but you will be more on budget than you think. I used to just fill it up and see what happened at the checkout. As if it was some game. That seems to be a sign of a very bad shopper and money manager. But, that was how I shopped. As if the total was a Christmas gift, “Oh, $150 this time, what d’ya know! Surprise!”
So, I hope these little tips are helpful. We can at least now share our own tips and ideas or more questions about shopping, meal planning and budgeting the food. Let’s hear it gals and gentleman, how do you shop and plan for those meals?
And if you would like to ask me a question to be answered on Sunday, simply Email me at www.apronrevolution.com and if you want your blog/site mentioned with a link, let me know that in the post and include it, of course, and I shall do so. Otherwise, I merely answer a question or combine similar questions into one post. Thanks.
Happy Homemaking

29 October 1956 “Halloween Treats, Recipes and Memories”

Halloween is in the air.
Here’s a great Louis Armstrong Halloween song.

I thought I would share some recipes from the Betty Crocker Cookbook for boys and girls. There is still time, I believe, to use them before this Halloween.
This is the original 1957 version and you can buy a nice reprint in the shop  HERE. They start at around $11.   This is the version I shared with you. It is also available in the store HERE and starts at $8, these are not reprints but originals, I believe. I don’t think I earn any pennies from this last one, but it is a good book, so I put it in there for you.
These books are great as they are meant to be used BY children to cook. It is amazing when you think of the level of cooking, including cakes, that they have for children. Such a wonderful gift to give to a child, the ability to cook and bake.
Here is the Halloween Party menu with recipes from that book. Don’t you love the jack-o-lantern cake? It is so clever and meant to be doable by a child. Though I think mother’s help might be needed for the very young. The candy corn teeth are wonderful. I may have to try this myself!
 
I think this is such a great costume. It is almost surreal. I like that children used to go as random things, scary, fun so on. Though some may have coveted the new ‘store bought’ costumes, as did this girl here (Read her Blurb on the site where I found this photo), her actual home-made costume, which includes a hulu hooped bottom, is almost Mardi Gras quality.
Here is an example of the coveted 50’s store-bought costume. And these:
I have to say, many of  children that trick or treat in our downtown, here in Sandwich, actually have some really wonderful home-made costumes. Though, many cape children are subjected to the mall for Halloween, although they probably love it. I noticed more ‘store-bought’ costumes on those children, not sure why.
I also recall the decorations I had as a child were actually those left over from my parents 50’s start with children. As my older siblings were actually born in the early 1950’s, I grew up with many vintage items. It seemed my Halloween decorations were always a bit different than my friends.
I recall getting down the decorations box from the attic in early October labeled, “Halloween”. There was always a subsequent smell associated with these, a sort of musty-moth ball mingled with a scent, undescribable, that sent elation through me. Every year when I was young, I would go through all the old costumes (and I mean all the costumes that my brothers and sisters had had for many years) try them on, parading around. I would play this game every year, sorting through trying to see what I might want to be, only to decide something new that my mother would have to make. It was a sort of unspoken rule that we had with our Halloween.
And, of course, this was followed by decorating. All the old paper and crepe paper decorations would be carefully lifted out. I remember black cats with metal joints, so they moved.  A  full sized witch that did they same, pumpkins and there was  a happy little child dressed as a hobo. And there were the various vintage noise makers (of which I still have a few and see they sell for a mint on ebay) that were fun to clang and rattle and blow upon.
Part of the fun I recall from my own real Halloweens in the late 70’s was getting to run about in the dark. Of course you would have a parent with you, but you would be in a group of fellow costumed compatriots and you always outnumbered the adults. There you were, getting to run about the streets at night arrayed in your finery. Your vision would be partially skewered due to whatever contraption you were wearing that year. There always seemed to be the sound of your own breath pumping with the rhythm of your heartbeat. Running on the pavement, the crunch of leaves and the squeals of your companions was often muffled by papier mache’ or ill-placed sheets. We would rate the decorations on various houses, complain if we received pennies, apples or ‘pal’ gum (it wouldn’t last all day). And we would revel in homemade treats: Popcorn balls, candied apples, rice crispy treats died green or orange laden with candy corn or red hots, an occasional cupcake with a plastic pic you could secret away later. The night was crisp and cool and we were out after dark.   Allowed to wear whatever we wanted and let loose upon the world of grownups where they were required to give us treats or face the consequences. I don’t recall ever administering any tricks, other than the occasional grab and run you might try when some childless candy giver would offer up a bowl and a “Take what you like”. Of course, if mother saw you, you had to give some back, but parents were often busy gabbing away on Halloween, so it was a kid free for all.
I also remember the count, stash, and trade that followed a good haul. You would  be slumped on the floor, your booty dumped before you from your pillow case, plastic jack-o-lantern, or bag, ready to deal. Like a Moroccan trader on Market day, you were ready to deal : “Okay, I have two bit-o-honey’s for a mini snickers” “That popcorn ball is worth more than that”.
And, of course, there were your favorites that weren’t even on the trading table. And the requisite ‘bad candy’ that no one even wanted for free, the little orange and black taffy’s that always seemed to come out by the millions at Halloween. I don’t know if they make these any longer, but they seemed to be produced in the millions when I was a kid. No one knew where they came from, they just appeared at the end of October and were strewn everywhere. There always seemed to be some in the kitchen ‘candy drawer’ and you’d find them hidden in pockets of jackets or bottoms of school cubbies. They were the kind of candy a parent might try to placate you with and you would rather just give up on the candy hunt and go out and play.
Well, have a happy Halloween and Happy Homemaking.

28 October 1956 “Boots Mystery Solved, October Dress Challenge, and a ‘New’ Christmas Album”

I thought I would start with this mystery finally solved. It turns out these style boots WERE hollow-heeled and worn over your shoes. Rachel was kind enough to find this post on Living Vintage HERE where in she bought two pair of these style boots only to find vintage shoes INSIDE! What a wonderful find.
I bought some lovely grey wool suiting the other day for my October Challenge dress. I am going to use this pattern, which I believe I shared with you before, as well as my ‘new’ hat pattern.If the dress turns out well, I may use the top of the pattern (which has buttons) as a jacket pattern. Then I will make a sheath out of this fabric as well to go with the jacket.  This will really give me good fall/winter mix to my wardrobe.
Though the buttons I purchased are not ‘vintage’ they  do look it.They look quite lovely with the dark grey suiting. I will, of course, share the final result with you. I am going to start on it today.
I know it is a bit early to talk of Christmas (I do love it though, it is one of my favorite holidays) but I just received this album. It actually came out in 1956 so that is extra exciting for me. Here is one of the songs from the album (though sung in 1958 in the video).

Happy Homemaking.

27 October 1956 “Grey Skies are Gonna Clear Up”

First off, thank you for the lovely ‘cheer up’ comments. It was rather silly of me to post an ‘I’m blue’ post, but I am glad I did. Because it was an almost experiment within the day for me. You see, I was feeling rather blah and blue and not really for any one particular thing. However, the result by the end of the day certainly has shown me that I have made a positive change in my life.
Let me explain: Yesterday I felt rather down, and this made me focus on things, such as my ideas on how to move out of this year into the next, in an odd light. I sat down, and moped a bit. The old me, the pre-1955 me, would have moments like this fairly often and my answer was usually, “I need some shop thereapy, I deserve it”. This would be followed by a mad rush to get ready hop in the car or go out the door (when living in the city) and the adrenalin would kick in. There would be some wasteful shopping for things I didn’t need with money I really didn’t have, followed by the requisite stop at a coffee house for a 5 dollar coffee, a 3 dollar muffin and a moment of ‘rest’. Yet, once home, this was always followed by a new type of sadness and realization that I had just spent more money and wasted more time.
Another pre-1955 option for me was to pop on the Tele or pop in a video. This movie or show will make me feel better. And, off I would go into a dream world for two hours, only then finding myself not having done anything for the day and then feeling bad about that.
Now, one would think living in a ‘dream world’ of make-believe 1950’s could be bad on the psyche,  but quite honestly, all it has done has taught me to be a better person. I feel better in that I deal with my emotions on an entirely different level and often, at the end of my day, look back and feel proud of my accomplishments.
So, yesterday I felt a little blue and made my post. But, I still had to make an apple pie to take for dinner at my MIL. Normally I would have done that the day before or early that morning, but feeling blue. I therefore had to throw myself into it. I went into the kitchen and prepared to make my traditional crust. I sometimes use the easy make in the pan crust I have shared with you before, but for a good old fashioned pie, I make my traditional lard crust. It was an odd sensation. I really take most of my vintage life in stride now, but having been rather blue and than needing to push myself through it, I felt a change. I was happy and actually beaming when I was done. The act of getting my lard and butter from the freezer (keeping it cold is one of the tricks to a flaky crust), measuring, mixing, rolling out, paring apples and so on. I was lost in what I was doing, enjoying it and really forgetting about myself for a moment.
That little lesson learned was so priceless to me at that moment. That shinning pie (I forgot my camera at my MIL but I used her camera and will get a picture for you later)full of apples and ready for the oven, it made me feel good. Here I had made something to be enjoyed by others with my own hands. There  was an artistry to it and a great feeling of accomplishment. And it gave back to me again when we ate it after our dinner of Beef Borgenionne by MIL prepared for us. It was flaky and wonderful and I felt proud of that pie.
It really just drove home what I have been continually discovering here on my journey. That to not overly focus on ones ‘emotions of the moment’ but to get on with it really makes a difference. I am kept in mind of the UK WWII poster Keep calm and carry on, and really what sound advice. I don’t mean to ignore your emotional state, but when one begins to wallow in them, as I once did, really there is no solution to it, only a revisit of the sadness.
We modern people are given so many opportunities to really wallow in our sadness or blues. It is easy to feel bad for a moment, a normal human reaction and then to immediately go to that place where we say, “Oh, I will just play on the computer, pop on the TV, pop in that video, grab that magazine until I feel better” and sometimes it might help. But, for me at least, Action seems to be the best cure for melancholy. To go about and do things, things which we all know we must do, honestly does help to ‘clear those blues away’.
When I think of my state of mind pre 1955, I am sometimes amazed at how often I was depressed. And, I don't want it to sound phony or seem disingenuous when I say, since starting my project I am less depressed. Because it honestly is true. Sure, I feel blue or have blah days, but usually my dealing with them is to continue on through it and then I find the result of a simple task or chore is actually enjoyed MORE because it has both alleviated the blues AND made me feel all the more proud of having done it. As the song says, “We gotta accentuate the positive”

This is the lesson that I am now trying to apply to my over all lifestyle as I move out of 1956. I am certainly not going to give up the majority of my 1950’s life. I don’t think I nor my husband would want to. It has become such a part of who we really are now, that it would be like unplugging ourselves somehow. I find it interesting that the changes from the modern to the past, though sometimes trying or harder than expected, always seemed to somehow result in a happier symmetry for the pair of us.
Now, as the new year approaches part of my project will surely be, how will I bring in more ‘modern things’ into my life and then how they evolve into our vintage life. I think the aspect of still following along the year with the history of 1957 will be important, though, as I have begun to feel I want to really learn each year through a year. However, with that, I have been learning, as this year is ending, to do more modern things with a website and so on. I have even found that with a thing like Facebook, my approach to it now is much better than it would have been pre 1955. The old me would have spent hours on there updating things, searching about for others and so on. How I approach it now is simply log on, cut and paste my latest post, look who has joined up, maybe give a thumbs up to someone and I am off. Yet, I feel these things, these digital moments are very much a part of the modern world. But, I have learned to not be owned by them.
In fact, my computer use couldn’t be more like office work. I am never spending hours playing games on it, nor endlessly searching for clothes or things to buy, nor even chatting or ‘i-m-ing’ or what have you. In a way, my project has allowed me to face modern technology with a more detached and, I feel, healthier approach. For me at least, it is healthier.
This is the same with TV. I don’t think we will be re-installing modern tv into our lives. Hubby and I are too accustomed to the quiet of the house where one is more inclined to read books, listen to a radio program, write/type, play the piano or simply visit. When friends come to our house, we sit and play cards, laugh and visit. It can be very vintage in that. When we go to others house, if they have the TV on, then I simply adapt to it.
However, with the computer, one could easily use it as a TV. As I said, I recently watched part of a show a fellow Apronite was kind enough to share with us. It is a UK show about a food critic and a comic who spend a week in a time period through food. I thought I would enjoy it more, but found that I really could not. It wasn’t that the actors were necessarily bad, but the way modern TV is edited, so short choppy , I find it hard to follow. I realized this has changed about me in the past two years. Modern TV and media seems to be almost what one would use for a toddler with little attention: Bright colors, loud noise, funny sounds. For someone who, other than the computer and honestly it is a glorified typewriter and set of encyclopedias to me, it is almost annoying. So, TV, I am afraid, may need to stay in the modern out of reach world for me. I am curious about Mad Men, a show I watched before 1955, but now I understand they are even further into the 1960’s so not sure I want to watch it. It might make me sad and then I will have to bake TWO apple pies.
So, again, thank you all. I am glad to have said I was sad, only so I can share how I dealt with it now compared to the ‘old me’. My continual use of this blog and the site will always be vintage inspired. And in fact my forays into the modern world are almost primarily to make it better and more accessible to more people. Because, I honestly feel as if I have discovered the elixir vital, if you will, that drink of life that is secreted away from all. To really look back and then look forward from that vantage point honestly does help you to get a better perspective on your present.
As for next year, it might be fun to do a month of 1940’s say, with clothes and food and so on. As to the 1930’s as well, to better flesh out the life I would have lead in the 1950’s having come from those places. But, the technology and the ability to use it as a tool and not be used by it will also continue to become a process a lesson and part of my project. What better way to share one’s happiness with others than by using the technology available to one at the time.
Thank you for coming along with my on this odd journey. And I hope you continue to do so, as I feel we have so much to learn and share together. I think this will be as ‘modern’ as I get.
Happy Homemaking.