Wednesday Reads: Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book

Hello Dolls!

As Holiday Season is fast approaching, for this edition of Wednesday Reads I'm bringing you the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book from 1959! I was fortunate enough to pick up a copy in perfect condition for just $1.99. 

The book features the following chapters:

New Years Eve

February Days 

St. Patricks Day

Easter

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Foreign Fare

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Coffee, Tea and Punch Parties

Table Setting Tips

I think the Foreign Fare chapter is particularly delightful. I have another Better Homes & Gardens cookbook from the era called Meals with a Foreign Flair and I just love the retro take on Asian and Polynesian style cooking!

The book also features a lot of beautiful, full page photos of the lovely retro recipes featured. Check out this cute Halloween spread! It's decidedly non-spooky / icky compared with what we're accustomed to today!

Here's a section from the Foreign Fare chapter showcasing the beautiful layout of the book and the delightful drawings throughout.

If you have never tried Better Homes & Gardens vintage Cake Recipes before- you are missing out! I find that their cake recipes are often the best I will ever taste! I haven't tried those featured in this book yet however.

Your entertaining and Holiday needs from January to December are all covered in this charming book!

One thing that I do find a constant challenge, is converting retro recipes to being Vegetarian or Vegan friendly. Obviously, where there's a will there's a way but some books I find are too meat-centric. With this book however, I would say that at least 75% if not more of the stuff was easily converted. 

I've been on a half hearted mission the last couple of years to collect all of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbooks from the late 50s and early 60s and I'm already making quite a dent. This one however has quickly become one of my favorites. 

Look for it on Etsy or Amazon today!

Stay Glamorous!

Wednesday Reads: Betty Crocker's Guide to Easy Entertaining

Hello Glamour Dolls!

I've decided to start a Wednesday segment called Wednesday Reads. For my first entry- I'm focusing on Betty Crocker's Guide to Easy Entertaining- How To Have Guests and Enjoy Them (1959).

The edition I've actually got is a modern reprint, but it's exactly as it was in 1959. It is a delightful book, with both old fashioned and timeless wisdom. I don't know about you- but I read cook books and entertaining books cover to cover as if they were a novel!

The book is divided into the chapters of:

Planning Your Party

Invitations, Acceptances, and Regrets

When Guests Arrive

When Guests Leave

Dinners

Small Dinners

After Dinner Coffee

Buffet Dinners

Pot Luck Dinners

Come By for Dessert and Coffee

Midnight Suppers

Stag Parties

Lunches

Teas

Brunch

Barbecues

House Parties

Therefore, it pretty much covers everything a perfect 1950s hostess could expect to encounter. Proper etiquette and social grace is also something that is reminded and enforced heavily throughout the book. Some of the advice is rather sweet:

Worth remembering are the words of one of my friends to her daughter who was complaining about having to entertain one of her husband's friends she termed "a crashing bore". 

"Try to see him as he sees himself. Treat him as if he were fascinating- and maybe you'll find that he has something".

One of the other factors which sets this book apart from later Betty Crocker books, is that it's written in the first person rather than the impersonal, academic style of more modern Betty Crocker books.

No, Betty Crocker was never a real person- but in 1959 she had a face and a voice and was probably considered 'real' by women all over the country. 'Betty Crocker' although an actress playing a role created by executives at General Mills, had her own radio show and TV spots and was no doubt loved by home cooks everywhere. 

I like receiving the advice directly from Betty- it's as if she is a make believe, retro Martha Stewart politely but firmly guiding you through mid century social norms. 

The book is also littered with Recipes- from the delightful to the bizarre and sports a few full page color photographs (in addition to those cute drawings). 

Obviously some of the advice will fall by the wayside in your house (for instance, she suggests putting an ashtray on every surface, and discretely going through emptying them between Main Course and Dessert!) but by and large I find the advice useful, albeit antiquated by modern tastes.

I wish we still lived with such etiquette when it came to introducing people when they came to parties. I wish men still stood when a lady left the table. I wish we still wrote thank you notes to our host/hostess after being invited for dinner. 

I personally aspire to take Betty's wisdom to heart and host all of my future dinners in the way she suggests (sans the ashtrays!). 

So, if you're as into retro as I am or just love recipes and have a Penny to spare- pop over to Amazon where you can find it for as little as $0.01 + shipping! 

But remember, no matter what you do, Stay Glamorous!

Mini Barnes & Noble Haul!

Hey There!

In between everything I had going on today (getting the internet arranged at my new house, getting the gas lines repaired, etc etc) I couldn't help but stop off at Barnes & Noble since I literally have one 3 minutes (0.5 mile) from my new house!

Excuse the dodgy motel room carpet underneath the books! (I'll be shifting over to my house tomorrow since I'll have hot water there!). 

Anyway- I purchased:

Atomic Ranch Magazine

Modernism Magazine

Fire in the Ashes- Jonathan Kozol

Ordinary Resurrections- Jonathan Kozol

Marilyn Monroe, The Final Years- Keith Badman

I usually don't buy modern magazines, but Atomic Ranch (and sometimes Modernism) are the exceptions. I started purchasing Atomic Ranch when I could only dream of having my 1950s ranch house. Well, now I have one! *pinches self*. I can't wait to turn it from old- lady back to it's atomic self! 

I purchased the Marilyn book because I'd heard rave reviews about it. I love Marilyn. I think she's a beautiful, talented, tragic figure in Hollywood history. Do I think she killed herself? Do I think she was murdered? I'm undecided. Either way, I know I'll easily sink my teeth into yet another biography of her. 

As for the Jonathan Kozol books- I'm a huge fan of his stuff so was thrilled to see two of his books that I didn't yet have. I first became familiar with his work when I moved to St. Louis and read Savage Inequalities which detailed the heartbreaking, shocking conditions experienced by the residents of East St. Louis in the 1980s (and honestly, not a whole lot has changed). I found his writing to be impeccable and his content regarding poverty in the United States to be thought provoking and extraordinary. I already own a number of his books- so two more will definitely be great additions to my collection. 

Before moving to the U.S., I never even thought about poverty over here. I knew it existed-I just didn't know to what extent. Since breathing in the slums of St. Louis, Detroit and Rural Kentucky and Tennessee amongst other places, I've come to appreciate how truly lucky and totally spoiled I really am. The concept of poverty both scares and intrigues me. 

Right now, the U.S. is experiencing the highest levels of poverty in half a century. 

I can bitch and complain about the shoddy little house my husband and I have rented for the past few years with the leaky ceiling, mold and threadbare carpet. But we chose to stay there. We could have afforded better. We chose not to because we wanted to save up for a house. The sacrifice was made by choice, not by necessity. 

Too many people in the U.S. don't have a choice, and live in far worse conditions than what my husband and I endured the past few years. Some of it has to do with the individual, surely, but a lot has to do with the system which no longer supports the American Dream and the ability to break through the social ranks. 

Minimum wage is too low in a lot of states- far below a living wage by any means. Also, with the complex, technology driven world we're living in, people are taught that they need excess and instead of living within their means, they're driven to take out loans that they often can't pay back. Another huge issue is the fact that your zip code dictates your school district. The poorer the zip code, the poorer the school district, the poorer it performs. It's therefore a vicious cycle- poor kids get a poorer education which doesn't afford them the opportunities to excel to their full potential and therefore, more often than not, it will keep them poor. 

This isn't meant to be a political tirade or political website though so I'll shut up now. Just venting!

I have a big day tomorrow- numerous contractors are coming over for various quotes! 

Stay Glamorous!

I love LIFE

That's right folks... I love LIFE... magazine that is! I live vicariously through 1940s and 1950s LIFE magazines. I started collecting them last December during my trip to Florida to visit the inlaws. I bought the June 20, 1949 edition at a Flea Market / Antique Mall in Mt. Dora and you know I was hooked!

LIFE magazine premiered in 1883 as a general interest magazine and was reintroduced on 23 Nov, 1936 as a weekly news magazine. The archive from 1936 until 1972 is available online here. As great as it is to be able to read LIFE online, nothing can beat the feeling of turning the pages and having something tactile. This is part of the reason I refuse to have a Kindle or a Nook. There's no fun in reading a book that you can't touch. I love the smell of paper- the older the better. Digital book technology just doesn't interest me (says the girl writing a blog in a digital realm. Tsk tsk!.) 

Sadly, LIFE magazine as it was, ceased publication in the 2000s and now only appears on news stands as 'specials' from time to time. 

Right now, my LIFE collection is small- it grows only when I find a LIFE magazine from the 1940s or 1950s (got to limit it somewhere!) under $10, and in it's complete condition (no torn out pages or clipped out photos). 

The issues I currently have are:

July 15, 1946

November 1, 1948

June 20, 1949

January 2, 1950

October 22, 1956

August 26, 1957

December 28, 1959

I also have The Very Best of Life- 75 Years but haven't included it here as it's a modern 'special edition'. 

Anyway, I've been good about storing all of my LIFE magazines in plastic slips and keep all of them flat on my 1957 Drexel Counterpoint side table- except when I'm reading and re-reading them of course! (Excuse the glare from the plastic slips)

I haven't bought any 'new' magazines this year- with the exception of the LIFE 75 years special. I've been proud of myself! I figure if I focus solely on vintage magazines and nix the modern Good Housekeeping,  Better Homes & Gardens, Marie Claire and Glamour that I used to so desire, I'm not only going to save money but I'm going to get more enjoyment out of it. So far so good! 

I even enjoy the ads in old LIFE magazines- even though they are just 'dead' pages I skip over in modern magazines. Everything seemed better more than half a century ago! Vous ne pensez pas?

Stay Glamorous!