No Pattern Required

By RetroRuth

Wow, I am actually kind of proud of myself!  I have something to show off this week for Vintage Crafty. Woo!

A finished set of Housewife Cupcake Toppers! 

I think this set is the prettiest one yet.

I especially like that I got to use some of my new paper that I bought with my mom.  I LOVE the colors on this set.

Ohh…pretty!

If you just gotta have some of these toppers for your very own, they are available here and here!  I must confess, they are perfect for a retro-themed bridal shower or birthday party. 

By RetroRuth

Welllll….it’s Monday again.  What the heck happened to the weekend??  I feel like Tom and I worked and worked and didn’t get a single thing done.  But I won’t prattle on about house repairs. Instead, I’ll give you guys some eye candy.

Behold!  Our “new” vintage vinyl sofa that Tom and I picked up recently while thrifting.  We were out originally trolling for some Tiki-themed furniture for our three season porch, but we found this bad boy for our basement instead.  Pretty sweet, isn’t it?  I love the shape of it.  It is very swank and is going to be great for the “50′s Martini” theme in the basement. 

It is also a futon, can you believe it?  It need some oil before it will fold all the way down, but it is supposed to actually fold flat.  This is good, because it is actually sprung like a mattress rather than having foam cushions.  I am pleased because then it will never get that smashed look some vintage sofas have.

The only down side is that it has that old, musty vinyl smell.  I am not sure we are going to be able to get rid of it, so I have put all my resources into figuring out a way to contain it or cover it up.

As you can see, it is already being thoroughly enjoyed by the cats.

We also picked up this excellent set of vintage vinyl rockers at the same sale.  I have to say, these are incredibly comfy and fun to watch TV in.  Not exactly the same style as the sofa, but I love ‘em just the same.

Pretty sweet, huh?

Did anyone else have some good finds over the weekend?  Let us know in the comments!

By RetroRuth

Welcome to the Mid-Century Menu, Ladies and Gentlemen!  Prepare to be amazed as I waive the wand of Mid-Century Magic over humble, (mostly) nutritional ingredients and turn them into something never before seen by man! What will the magic produce this time? A piece of veal shaped like a duck? A cake made from tomato soup? A jellied mass filled with eggs? Let’s find out!

*Bing*

Looks like the magic led us to this adorable pink cookbook pamphlet, SOUR CREAM The Gourmet Touch to Everyday Cooking. Waaaaaoowwwww. Oooooo. Ahhhh.  Bask in it’s glory.  Bask!

Seriously, though, I picked up this cutie at a local church rummage for about 10 cents.  It was a steal, especially with the cute graphics.  It doesn’t have the year on it, but I am guessing late 1950′s, early 1960′s and it is from the American Dairy Association Test Kitchen.  Now, I am going to agree with them that sour cream is an excellent ingredient. Is it magical?  Well…maybe.  But sometimes it’s powers are used for evil as well as good. Shall we see what is on the menu today?

*Bing*

How about…wait for it…Stroganoff Pizza! How’s that for something a little crazy?

Wait…adding yeast to…biscuit mix???  What the?  And chili sauce?  Well, I hope the gourmet magic of sour cream gets us through this one!

And we are off!

*Bing*

All the little ingredients.  Notice the giant tub of sour cream in the back.  Here’s hoping for magic!

The yeast, “softening” in the water.

All the biscuit/crust ingredients. Go, yeast, go!!

A nice ball of biscuit dough. Except for all the pokey parmesan.

Onions swimming in a half stick of butter.

The ground beef and mushrooms, frying away in the butter.

Meanwhile, I started rolling out the dough. It was pretty easy to roll out, but I couldn’t get it into a circle!  So, I just decided on lousy circles in the interest of time.

The beef, onions and mushrooms, all cooked.

And now the moment you all have been waiting for.  Here is where we add the magic of sour cream and get…

 *Bing*

CAT VOMIT!  Ahhh!!!

I think it was the chili sauce.  It gave it an unappealing pink/gray color. 

Okay, maybe it will look better on the crusts.

Or not.  Okay, let’s add some more magic sour cream and see if that makes it better.

*Bing*

Wellllll…that’s  a little better. Into the oven, I guess.

Straight from the oven. And curdled. Yum.

Tom, game for the first bite as always.  Even though I was kind of scared.

“So, how is it? Filled with gourment magic?”

“No. It kind of tastes funny.”

I took a bite.  It did taste a little funny. The stroganoff topping was actually sweet, which I didn’t care for at all.  Probably from the chili sauce.  But the crust was good. 

The Verdict:  Okay, not great.  The stroganoff topping was too sweet, and there was too much of it. And the heat from the oven made the sour cream curdle. But the crust was good, so it wasn’t a complete waste.

*Bing*

By RetroRuth

Hey guys, got a TON more pictures for you from thrifting.  Now, don’t droll too much on your keyboards.  I don’t want to be responsible for breaking anyone’s computer!

I loved this pattern!!

A Mink Poodle!

Ta-da!  Hope this eye candy made your day a bit better!

It is no exaggeration when I say there are HUNDREDS of gorgeous vintage dresses for sale on Ebay at any given moment.  And even though I am steadily adding to my own collection of dresses from my local thrift stores, I could probably go for a couple hundred of these pretty ladies off of Ebay right now.  Here are 10 of my current favorites, even though trying to just pick 10 about broke my heart!

Okay, so minimal progress on the new craft room this week, but I am hoping I can drag Tom to the local carpet shop and check out some carpet remnants today.  I had a really good suggestion from a reader last week to check out floating flooring (Thanks, Tim!)  but because of the room’s size it would take over $1000 to put new flooring in it, even if I got the cheap stuff.  Which, I didn’t want.  I wanted cork. Which was even more expensive.

Anyway, so I decided a nice carpet remnant held down by some heavy furniture would be the way to go.  They are reasonably cheap, and in a few years when we replace the whole basement floor, I won’t feel like I wasted any money.

Oh, I also took some pictures of the actual room, finally!

I hope you can get an idea of how big the room is from the shot.  It is really big. And mostly filled with Tom’s stuff.  And yes, that is a drawing looking up Tom’s nose in the background.  He was pretty crazy when he used to paint.  We need to get a bunch of his paintings framed so we can hang them up in our house.  But maybe not that one.

The other side of the room.  That big entertainment center was left over from the previous owner.  I am thinking about spraypainting it or something and using it as storage for the craft room.  I just have to figure out a way to get paint to stick to laminate.

And here are some more vintage rec rooms, for inspiration!

Love the floor!

I ADORE that sculpture.  I need it in my entryway!

Again, awesome flooring.

Love it! 

I just…wow.  Can I get this room? Please?  Anyone?  Look at those chairs!!!!

Welcome to 2010, everyone!  Hooray!  Or something!

Anyway, this year I am planning on moving my craft room down to our basement.  We need to inhabit our basement more, because it is really a great space.  And I am really excited to really make it my own room with LOADS of mid-century touches.

Here is my craft room now.  Well, kind of.  Here it is after it was painted but before it was organized.

And here is a picture of the basement.

Well, the fireplace, anyway.  To the right of the fireplace is a big room with double doors that the previous owners had a pool table in.  It is a massive room with lots of potiential, and the doors will be great to keep the cats out when I am working on something.

So, I have been making decorating plans for the room, but I haven’t gotten very far yet.  There is green carpet down there that is glued to the cement floor, and I don’t know if I am going to try and pull it up yet.  What I would really like to do is pull it up and put down some VCT tile like we did in the kitchen and then put an area rug or some carpet tiles over that to make it a little more cozy.  But we will see.

In the meantime, I have been getting some inspiration from a book I picked up at Goodwill about remodeling basements and attics to make hobby and rec rooms. Take a look at some of these great rooms!

I love this layout, except if I was that wife I would demand at least half of this room instead of being content to sit in the corner and watch.  Can you imagine what a jerk that guy is?

“Now you sit here and don’t touch anything.”

Right, buddy. Right.

Looooove the carpet in this room!

Wow. Zebra!  But I love the scallloped shelf on the right.  I wonder if I could make something like that…

So very, very pretty. 

That wallpaper is awesome.

See, this is more like it.  They are sharing the space.  Much better!

More scans of rec rooms to come, and if anyone has ideas for large expanses of cinder block walls, I would love to hear them!

Getting…so…close…to…Christmas!

So, I know this is supposed to be crafts rather than cooking, but since I am pretty sure most of America is baking Christmas cookies today, I thought I would make this a post about cookies.  I mean, decorating cookies can be kind of crafty, right?  Right? 

Anyway, a few weeks ago I asked readers to submit their favorite family Christmas cookie recipe.  Thanks to those who sent them in!  I love old tried and true family recipes.  So, here they are, in no particular order:

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Well, the countdown to Christmas is in full swing and everything around here is about as chaotic as it can get.   I like getting ready for Christmas, which is really good news because otherwise I might go completely insane.  Did I mention that I bought 9 lbs of butter the other day for my Christmas cookie craziness?  Yep. 9 lbs.

Anyway, this week for my Mid-Century Menu Holiday Marathon, I decided to do two different kinds of candy.  And, in true MC Menu fashion, one is a little wacky. The other is just something I have always wanted to try.

The first is Divinity Fudge, which a lot of you out there have probably made before, but I never have.  I always page through cookbooks, see the plates and platters of candy and think, “That would be fun to try.”  And now I have an excuse to try it!

This recipe comes from the book pictured above, the American Woman’s Cookbook. You may remember this book from the noodle ring post, which was a lot of fun. (Cookie Alert – the noodle ring post also has a great recipe for Almond Cookies, a nice addition to the christmas cookie list!) There is a whole candy section in this great book, but the Divinity Fudge looked really good.  So I was off!

Too bad I was totally off my game when it came to prepping these ingredients.  I had to crack a total of 7 eggs to get the two egg whites you see in the red ramekin.  I don’t know what the deal was with the eggs, but the yolks kept wanted to swim around in the whites. Jeez.

The sugar, corn syrup and water in the saucepan.

While that was heating up to light crack stage, which is ironically the level of high I get from making Christmas cookies (just kidding, moms!), I got the rest of the ingredients ready.

The pans all buttered up.

The egg whites, stiffly beaten.

Here is the sugar mixture, right before it hit the right temp.  I am always terrified of this stuff, hot sugar scares the bejesus out of me.  So I was tiptoeing around the pan, trying my darndest not to get an extra drop anywhere.

So you can appreciate how much guts it took for me to pour the hot sugar with one hand while taking a picture of it.  I was sure I was going to spill it everywhere, but it went pretty well.

And yes, my mixer is filthy.   I made a lot of cookie dough yesterday, so that baby has been getting a workout.

Here is the fudge, poured into the pan.  Sorry I didn’t get pictures of the in between parts, but everything got really hot and crazy for a second, and then it was in the pan.  So, here it is in the pan.

And HERE is the totally sticky bowl that I had to wash!  Ewwwww!!

So, flushed with sucess, I decided to move on to the potato candy, which comes from this awesome book, the State of Maine Potato Cook Book.  There isn’t a publishing date on this cookbook (what is with that lately?), but I am assuming this is a 1960′s cookbook by the illustrations.  And I love the kitchen pictured on the front of the book!

Anyway, this book has a bunch of unique potato recipes I am looking forward to tackling in 2010, but I just couldn’t wait to try the recipe for Potato Candy.  It was just too intriging to wait.

Interesting, isn’t it?  I know I am ready to go!

Pretty simple, huh?  The potato is a bit out of place, but everything else looks good.  

The potato and the sugar in the bowl.  I have to admit this was a lot easier than the divinity fudge.

Now, some kind of weird magic happened at this point.  I started up the mixer, and the sugar just looked really dry.  I kept mixing, and still really dry.  About thirty seconds in I was getting a little doubtful.  Then, the sugar started to ball up, like struesel topping, and then it just turned into goo.  In about 2 seconds.

 Look at it!  I didn’t think that would happen.  I totally thought I would have to add more liquid. 

Ahh, the mystery of potatoes.

I mixed in the salt, vanilla and coconut and crammed it into the pan.  Nothing mysterious here.

Then I poured over the chocolate, which I melted in the microwave.  And that was it!  Pretty easy, huh?

So, then came the moment everyone has been waiting for.  Tom came home.

“Here,”  I said, barely even greeting him and shoving divinity in his hand, “try some of this.”

“Ok, but this is really sticky.”

“How is it?”

“Really sticky.”

“But it’s good,” he said, “Bring me the pan and a spoon.”

“Not yet, you have one more to try.” I brought him a piece of the potato candy.  “Eat this.”

“This is so good.  It tastes just like a Mounds bar.  Bring me that pan, too.”

So, he spent the next 20 minutes eating candy and watching Merry Christmas Charlie Brown.  I would call that a sucess!!

The Verdict:

Divinity Fudge:  Very Good, but I must have not boiled the sugar long enough because it never really set up.  Next time I will go a little longer on the sugar. 

Potato Candy:  Really Good, ended up tasting just like a Mounds Bar.  You could sprinkle chopped almonds on top if you want Almond Joy.  The great thing about this recipe was there was no flour or dairy, so it would be a good Christmas treat for people with special diets.  As long as they can have sugar. Lots of sugar.

The only thing I would do differently is NOT put them in a pan if I was giving them as gifts.  I would roll them in balls and then dip them in chocolate. Just to make them fancy.

Hooray for potatoes!

Well, it is snowing like crazy right now, but I must say we are doing better than most here in Michigan.  At least there isn’t a blizzard beating a path to our door like my poor parents in Wisconsin!  In any case, it is a good day to stay in and bake cookies, or eat them if you are like me and have a whole kitchen full of cookies!

This week for the menu I chose two cookies to test out for my upcoming Christmas cookie boxes, one that I knew probably wouldn’t make the list, and one I really hoped would!

The first is a cookie from the Campbell Cookbook Cooking With Soup, which doesn’t have a publishing date on it, but from the illustrations looks to be from the 1960′s.  Cookies?  From Campbell’s?  Oh yes. Someone over at the test kitchen got a little TOO creative, and they actually have a dessert section in this book, including a layer cake, all made with tomato soup. The cookies in this section are called Rosy Rocks, and I really don’t know why.  I never thought “rock” was a good name for a cookie.  It makes you think you are going to break your teeth on them.

Ok, deep breath.  It just looks like an oatmeal cookie with…tomato soup in it. Can’t be that bad, right?  Oh god.

Everything fine here.  Is that a can of tomato soup?  Just ignore it. Everything is fine.

The dry ingredients, getting ready to get sifted together. There were A LOT of spices in this one, most likely to cover up the taste of the tomato soup.

I skipped over creaming the butter and sugar and adding the eggs so I could get to this picture.  You have all seen creaming before, but have you ever seen someone pouring soup into a cookie?  I hadn’t.  I am fascinated with this shot.

Look.  It’s soup!  In sugar!  Ah!

Adding the dry ingredients to the soup and sugar…soup.

Just look at this!!!! Ah!!!!

Not only did it look like puke, but it just smelled awful.  It reeked like tomato soup and cinnamon, which is NOT a good combo.  Ewww.

Here they are, on the sheet and ready for the oven.  And let me tell you something, they did not smell better when they were getting baked.  Whew.  The whole house stank of tomato soup.

Here are the finished cookies in a happy little pile.  What’s that?  Did I try one?  Ohhhhhh no.  I waited for Tom to come home then I made him try one. Those pictures are coming up.

Anyway, while I was waiting for Tom to come home I decided to get the stench of tomato soup out of my house by making another cookie.  A good one this time!

The cookie I chose came from this book, Best Loved Foods of Christmas, which is a best of book of all the Pillsbury Bake-Off books. I love those books, so I was super excited to find this book hiding in our recent library book sale. This is another book that doesn’t have a publishing date on it (what is with that?) but I am guessing this comes from the late 60′s, mostly because of the price of the book.

Anyway, there are LOADS of great cookies in this book, and I am going to make a bunch of them for my Christmas boxes, but I was especially excited about the Jim Dandies, because I have been looking for a good frosted chocolate cookie to round out my plates.

Looks pretty good, huh?  The only thing is that I didn’t have enough walnuts to put on the tops since I used up a bunch in the Rosy Rocks. Good job me.  So I decided to sub a half a cherry for the top.

Ah, nice normal cookie ingredients.  I like it.

The dough after beating the eggs into the creamed butter and brown sugar.

Putting in the cherry juice and milk.

It turned the dough a pretty shade of pink!  I tried to capture it here, but I think a need a better camera.

Adding the chocolate.  Yum!!

All ready for scooping!  It smelled so good, way better than the other cookies.

Here they are, all scooped and ready for the oven.

While the cookies were baking, I got started on the chocolate icing.  Although, when I make these again, I am going to make the icing first so it has time to cool while I make the cookies.  I don’t think it was cool enough when I started using it the first time.

Adding the powdered sugar to the chocolate mixture.

Ta-da!  Chocolate icing completed!

Meanwhile, I was pulling the cookies out of the oven and putting the marshmellows on the hot cookies.  The cookies turned out soft and puffy, which was what I was looking for.

Here they are, all cooled with the first one decorated.  I just spooned some icing over the top and plopped on a cherry.  Very cute!!!

Here they are, set and finished!  I love the way they looked!

While I was finishing up the Jim Dandies, Tom came home in the mood to try cookies.

First the Jim Dandies.

“Are they good?”

“These are great! But you could probably leave the marshmellow off.  It seems a little unnecessary.”

Then…the Rosy Rocks.  He sniffed them first.  “These smell a little funky.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, “Their smell isn’t the greatest.”

“So, what do you think?”

“What’s in these?”

“Tomato soup.”

“Ah.  I knew there was a…unique flavor I couldn’t put my finger on. Wow.”

I had a bite.  Not too bad.  They didn’t really taste like tomato soup, the spices had finally covered that up.  They weren’t hard either, but puffy and very soft.  The texture was nice, but the whole soup thing still kind of freaked me out. And the cookies ended up more orange than rosy, and pretty ugly.

The Verdict:

Rosy Rocks – These will NOT be on the cookie plate this year.  Even though they ended up tasting pretty good, they are still too ugly to be given away. The tomato soup flavor goes away after they cool, and they just end up tasting like a spice cookie. DO NOT EAT THEM WARM. I had a warm one after my cool one and it was awful.  Wait for them to cool.  I am not sure what the benefit is of adding soup to the cookie, other than just making you buy a can of soup.

Jim Dandies – Really good!  These are going to be on the cookie plate this year, but I may leave off the marshmellow.  Not too chocolatey, nice cherry flavor and really yummy.

If you have time, please email me your classic Christmas cookie recipes!!!  I am putting together a post of everyone’s best cookie recipe, and I would love to have your recipe be a part of it!  Email it to me at nopatternrequired at hotmail.com!!