No Pattern Required

By RetroRuth

Ohhhhhh, baby.  Check this out! This week we have excitement, mayhem, craziness and canned salmon! In gelatin! Seriously!

The finalist for this week’s menu is really something else.  I got this horrifying recipe from Adriane L., who wrote:

I’m submitting the most disgusting mid-century recipe I have ever come across…  I LOVE the cook book it came from, which is literally crammed full of disgusting dishes involving gelatin and canned meat.  But this one is by far the worst.  This cookbook dates from the late 50′s and was re-printed in the early 60′s.  I included a scan of the cover.

I hope you find it as disgusting as I do!

Cheers to a fun blog contest!

Best,

Adriane

www.atomiclilly.blogspot.com

Well, Cheers to you too, Adriane.  Also….dang.  And gag.  And some other disgusting reactions. You know, I hate two things quite a bit. Fish and gelatin.  And this dish some how magically brings them both together to be totally disgusting.

And for some reason, those cucumber slices look like eyes.  Does anyone else see that?

The innocent ingredients.

Holy bloomin’ gelatin, Batman!

Does anyone else think this looks like tinkle in a bowl?  Anyone?

“No, no, no, don’t worry. It’s lemon.”

Maaaaybe I shouldn’t have used my gel coloring on this. Whew.

The second round.

See??? Tinkle.

Also, I didn’t have an impressive enormous mold like they do, so we are going to have to settle for a shorter one.

The second layer.  Very….scummy.

Unmolded.  Oh dear God!

The unspeakable cross-section.

Ummm…yum??

Down the hatch!!

“This tastes like a whole lot of nothing.”

I closed my eyes, and took a bite.  For a gut-wrenching moment, I waited for the terrible taste to register. And then I waited another moment. And another moment.  I cracked my eye open, and started to chew. Nothing.  It tasted like nothing, just like the brave man said it would.

Well, not nothing.  I mean, I could taste a canned pea, a bit of salmon, and some green pepper, but they just tasted like themselves. Another cautious bite yielded the same result. Whew!

The Verdict: Surprisingly tasteless.  For all the scary trappings of this thing, it wasn’t bad at all.  I mean, it wasn’t great, but we have totally eaten worse. Disaster averted!

Thanks, Adriane!  I am glad to report that this did not kill us!

Come back next week to see the next finalist in our Worst Recipe Contest.  It is going to be truly a terrible experience!

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*

While out shopping for Tom’s Valentine’s present the other day, I came across an amazing find at my local Salvation Army.  Now, I am not sure how many of you know this, but Tom is a chemist, which is why we live in Michigan (thanks, Dow!). So, when I came across a 1958 chemistry textbook called Chemistry, Man’s Servant, I was pretty excited.  Especially because said textbook had some awesome illustrations in it.  I gave Tom the book for Valentine’s Day, but then promptly stole it back to start scanning said awesome illustrations. Illustrations that I am planning on making into some fun t-shirt designs. But more on that later.

What does all this have to do with a Mid-Century Lesson?  Well, this cute book has tons of “practical” photos in it showing chemistry applied to everday life in 1958.  Want to see how they made soap flakes?  Ever want to see a mayonaise machine?  I know I do!

What kid sits that still when you pour iodine on them??? I have only had it done once, (thanks Grandma), but that stuff hurts. Buuuut it was still  an important part of a 1950′s home.

See??  And you didn’t think vintage science would be fun!

Linde Air still exsists today as Praxair.

Ewww….soap scum.

Is that a metal edge around that cutting board? Cute!

I mean…carbon dioxide is important stuff, people!

Sing it with me: Hot dogs! Armour hot dogs! What kinds of kids eat Armour hot dogs?

Sweet. I want to go to The Lobster!

I love this picture.

More soap!

Yes, drinking water is very important….

…but so is bleached cloth.

Hi cloth machine!  I would like 6 yards of tiki fabric and 4 yards of something kinda atomic to go, please.

Go homogenizer!

Wow.  That is…strangely fascinating. Look at it.  Reminds me of a soft serve machine.

Also known as soda pop.

Okay. Stop the jokes, hold everything. Stop, stop, stop.

Why don’t I have this Corning Blue Flameware? Why? I want them! Why did I just discover their existence now? 

Does anyone have some of these?  If you do I am dying of jealousy.

Ok, the jokes can continue now.

Is that corn in that coffee pot??

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!

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!

Even though I am not a big fan of the outdoors, (or “nature”) I must admit that I have found myself a little crazy for deer and bird figurines lately.  Here is just a sample of the great dear images of deer for sale right now!

Happy Wednesday, All!  So, for this Christmas I decided I was going to give Tom a break from the Mid-Century Menu for dinner for a month.

I decided it would be a nice change to do something GOOD for a while.  Besides, with Thanksgiving past and done my mind has switched gears over to Christmas cookies.  And since I was digging through all my vintage cookbooks looking for cookie recipes, I thought it would be a great time to showcase some vintage Christmas Cookies.  So, for the month of December, I am devoting the Mid-Century Menu to cookies.  Sounds good, huh?  I know Tom is excited.

This week I am starting with cookie I picked out from the Duncan Hines Dessert Book, which was published in 1955.  Now, for those of you who don’t know (like me before I picked up this book) Duncan Hines is not just a company that makes cake mix.  I know, shocking, isn’t it?  Anyway, Duncan Hines was actually a man who wrote travel guides and then happened to start a cake mix business on the side.  Hmm…I wonder which became more popular?  In any case, Mr. Hines would often ask people for recipes if he really liked what he was served, and those recipes became the basis for this cookbook.  There are a lot of interesting cookies in this book, but I decided to start with something simple right off the bat to get the ball rolling.

A brown sugar cookie with nuts?  Sounds good to me.  Easy yet tasty.

Simple ingredients. 

Ah…so nice not to have anything creepy staring  up at me from the prep board.  Like sardines.  Yuck.

The shortening, butter and brown sugar.  I thought this was an interesting because these cookies use both shortening AND butter.  I am not sure if that was common back then, but it is the only cookie recipe in this book that does that.

The sugar, butter and shortening, all creamed together.

Adding the egg.

Adding the flour, vanilla and baking powder after the egg was in.

If you haven’t noticed already, there is no salt in this recipe.  I was a little thrown off by that, but I kept going.

The finished batter with the nuts mixed in.  Looks good!

The cookies, all neatly portioned thanks to the Pampered Chef disher my mom brought me over Thanksgiving.  Thanks, Mom!

Finished and ready for the oven, complete with a little nut pushed on the top.  It is supposed to be a pecan half, but I figured since it was a test run I could get away with a third.  Or quarter.  It was pretty small.

Here is a finished cookie, fresh from the oven.  Unfortunately, Tom is at work and not able to do his regular first bite shot.  I will have to take a picture when he comes home from work.  In the meantime, I didn’t mind being the first one to take a bite this time.

It was pretty  good, but not great.  I could tell right away that the cookies were missing salt, and they were also a little too greasy for me.  And a little plain.

The Verdict:  A little plain, not good Christmas cookie material.

If I was going to make this for a Christmas cookie, I would a a 1/4 tsp salt, decrease the shortening by half and add a cup of toffee chips.  Or broken up toffee. And maybe drizzle some chocolate on the top, just to make it look fancy.