Happy Thanksgiving!!

My Thanksgiving table 2013.

Is everyone busy planning, shopping and cleaning!?!  Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday with some of my favorite foods but it sure takes a lot of work, doesn't it?  This year I'm not hosting and I have to say I'm both relieved and a little sad.

I was reading my November 1951 Women's Day and found an article about how to make Thanksgiving easier on the cook.  It details the expected tips like shopping early, but only if you have a freezer.  What a nice reminder of the commonplace conveniences we have and to be thankful for them. Sometimes in the rush of a Costco run it's easy to forget that a few generations ago the problem of where to put all the food would seem absurd.  (And those 36 rolls of toilet paper?  That would be a crazy luxury in 1933!  But here in 2014 it's a great deal.)

I thought my readers would get a kick out of this article too.  Click on the pics to enlarge.  The drawings are darling!

I must include the adorable magazine cover.  You know how I love puppies.  Just look at those eyes!!

Wishing for you and your family much to be thankful and a delicious holiday.

Sarah

Meal Planning!

Clearly I talk was too much because when I made my meal planning video I thought it was a quick one and it was over 5 minutes!  So off to You Tube I went with my little editor/technology consultant (aka Very Dear son!) in tow to help me post it.

Here you go!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeEladf7Q2Y

Let me know if and how you meal plan in the comments below or under the video.  I'm always looking for inspiration and love learning from friends, cyber and in real life.

Have a great weekend!

Sarah

My Weekend Estate Sale Finds

It was a bonanza weekend of estate sales!  Surprising with winter on its way and Thanksgiving around the corner.  I went to three sales.  One was a total bust, one was an interesting house despite a serious lack of anything vintage, and one was a goldmine of vintage kitchen items and furniture.  

The house itself was about 100 years old and tiny.  It had an enclosed front porch and the bathroom off the kitchen had a pink toilet.  (I want to live in a world where a pink toilet is an option, don't you?!?)  I loved all the hidden storage nooks and layers of shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets.  So sweet- like someone really thought of the function of the house and took care of it.  The owners had put hooks in the backsplash so all of the cooking utensils were easily accessible and didn't get damaged being shoved into drawers.  There is something to be said about a kitchen being functional and not just pretty.  

The owner of the estate sale company said the home had been sold to a developer who is going to tear it down and build new.  I know the home would cost a lot to get it up to modern standards but I can't help thinking about the family who lived there.  (Apparently the home had been in one family's possession for 100 years!)  When the home was built the whole area was different.  Most of the homes on the street weren't built until the '50s and the current park behind the house was farmland.  I can just imagine children cutting thru the farm on their dash home from school and coming into the kitchen thru the back door.  Everything has to change though.  The poor back door was in such bad shape someone had nailed pieces of wood to cover the wear.  

I found lots of goodies!  The two glass measuring cups caught my attention because they were in such great condition but were clearly an older style.  The smaller is marked to 3/4 a cup but fill it to the top and it's a full cup.  I suppose we're spoiled by having that extra room in our measuring cups.  Ha ha.  Perhaps it was for dry measurements because there isn't a pouring lip.  The larger is marked "Fire King" and "made in the USA", which I love to see.  It's a 2 quart and is taller than the short and squatty 2 quart Pyrex I got for my wedding so it fits in my cabinet better.  (I'm good at justifying my purchase, aren't I?)  I also got an enamel pitcher/measuring cup.  It measures in ounces and grams.  I thought a gram was a measurement of weight so this is a bit confusing.  I'll have to do some research.  There are metal marks on the inside like it was used for making pancake batter or whisking eggs.

I also bought some tiny loaf pans for the tiny loaves of bread I'm going to make for my not so tiny children.  Although two of them have toddler sized appetites so I guess they're a need, not a want.  ;)

See the egg slicer on the right?  That thing must be 60 years old and it's in better condition than the one I bought two years ago to replace the one I bought 18 months prior.  I promise my kids haven't used the new egg slicers to do anything out of the ordinary, like paint rocks.  Those cheap things just broke with normal use.  I think the new vintage find may last until my grandchildren's weddings.  Seriously.  I also bought this thing to cut french fries from potatoes.  I usually use a knife but the french fry cutter was only $1 and I wanted to give it a try.

So what's with the Bisquick cookbook?  No I don't use Bisqucik but found a recipe on line for homemade Bisquick mix and thought I why not.  If I were a '40s/'50s housewife I'd probably love Bisquick.  The ingredients were much more wholesome back then.  I read somewhere it was just flour, salt, and baking soda.  Now it has too many chemicals I can't pronounce.  Of course if I were a housewife of that time I wouldn't have to worry about food killing me, unless it had spoiled.  Anyway, the red circus bowl was just so cute.  I've seen them on Ebay for a pretty penny but this one isn't marked so I don't really know what it's worth.  I'm not planning to sell it anyway.

This may be the last estate sale hurrah for the season.  Honestly I thought it was already over.  The sales are excellent in the summer and early fall and that's usually it around here.  I got so lucky!

Have a great week!

Sarah

No Recipe recipe: Throw A Chicken in the oven!

Real food shouldn't be that complicated, right?  But sometimes it just is.   Jobs, kids, housework, errands, and life in general can get in the way.  Not to mention our culture's elevated expectations of a home cooked dinner.  (Thanks, restaurants.)

When I read my vintage magazines and cookbooks I always notice how simple the meals sound.  Yes, there are some organ meats on occasion and Jello makes an appearance in both sweet and savory forms, but most recipes are for busy families who want a nutritious meal.  (Isn't that what we want today too?)  Real food was a given.  That's all there was until about the 50's.  I also note how little detail was given in the instructions.  The reader is assumed to have some basic cooking knowledge, even those written for the new bride.  Tracie McMillan elaborates on this point in her book, The American Way  of Eating.  See my review here.  Better yet pick up a copy and read it for yourself!  (I don't personally know Tracie- just really loved her book.)

So what does a quasi-foodie mom make for dinner on soccer/rehearsal night (Both my daughters are into theater.  Two different shows at two different locations with two different schedules.  My car is three years old and has almost 50K miles!) when there's also a Target run on the agenda?  She throws a chicken in the oven!

Check out the video on You Tube!

The details:

1 Whole chicken with the organ sack removed from the body cavity
3-4T Olive oil
A mixture of herbs:  Garlic, Savory, Rosemary, Thyme (Others that are good are Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Basil, or Paprika.  Any combination is good, assuming you like the herb.)
Salt and Pepper
An onion if you have it
A lemon if you have it
1/2C White wine if you have it

Preheat the oven to either 350 or 300.  See note below*.

Mix all of the herbs, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Coat chicken with olive oil.  Rub the entire bird with the herb mixture.  Pour the wine over the chicken.  Squeeze the lemon over the chicken.  Put a few onion and squeezed lemon quarters in the cavity.  Sprinkle the herb mixture in there too.

Add any veggies you want.  (Potatoes, carrots, beets, onions, Brussels spouts are good.  See my Vegetable post for more details.)    Coat with olive oil and sprinkle with the herb mixture if you have any left or just use salt and pepper.

Cover the chicken with tin foil.  Cook for 1 hour at 350.  Uncover and cook for another 20 minutes to brown the top.  You can speed up the browning by raising the temp to 425.

That's it!  YUMMMMMM.

That note* about the oven temp.  If you are making this ahead or aren't going to be home (and feel comfortable leaving the oven on a low temp) set the oven to 300.  You'll need to cook the chicken for at least 90 minutes.  If you are concerned use a meat thermometer to check for doneness when you get home.  If I remember correctly the temp in the thigh should be 165.  (I think my meat thermometer is buried in the backyard of my old house.  Long story.  There were lots of neighborhood kids over one snow day and it's been missing ever since.)  Your meat thermometer will have the correct temps for many kinds of meat marked on the dial.

Total prep time can be five minutes, once you make this a few times.  Tonight I made it while my son got his snack and found his uniform.  (It was all ready for him!)  My oldest daughter came home 10 minutes before me and raised the oven temp and took off the foil so it was really ready to hit the table within minutes of walking in the door.  Nice!

Enjoy,
Sarah

A few pics of a new house on the market. It's SWANK-Y!!

Hi!  Some of you really liked the vintage kitchen post I did a few weeks ago so when I saw this local real estate listing I knew I had to share the pics!  The home was a custom built mid century modern home.  While this isn't my favorite vintage home style I loved this home's spacious rooms and abundance of natural light.  It was built in 1957.  

So let the swankiness begin!

This is the basement kitchen.  Yep these partiers had what appears to be a full kitchen.  And it's even  fuller than with a built in Rat Pack bar.

 A close up of the Rat Pack bar.

Here is the main kitchen.  Looks like it may have been painted white in the 80's.  Notice the sliding cabinet door on the bottom right.  Also the shuttered upper cabinets.  Really nice size kitchen for the age of the home.  I also love the back door.  Kitchens should always have a back door in my opinion.  Good for kids, dogs, and trash.

This home also had pretty cool bathrooms.  Love the toilet paper nook under the window.  (At least that's what I assume it's for.  Maybe feminine supplies in a cute box.  Any ideas?)  I love how there are closed shelves in front of the sinks in addition to the medicine cabinets.  My bathroom, while beautiful, has very little storage.  The family who did the remodel must have been minimalists.

Another bathroom.  The tile was replaced but the cabinet is similar to the other bathroom.  The sink, counter, and tub may be a very light blue.  Maybe the black tile isn't so bad in person…

Here's another picture of the basement.

I love this green sofa.  The peach walls not so much.

I hope you like!  :)

Sarah

Chesapeake Crabcakes, American Home September 1954

I'm back with a recipe post!  (Finally.)

I found this recipe for Chesapeake Crabcakes in the September 1954 issue of American Home.  It's mostly a decorating magazine but there's always a page or two of recipes formatted in an index card style so they can be cut to fit the reader's recipe box.  Luckily neither Mrs. Katz nor her daughter Mrs. Cohn were scissor happy.

I've always loved crab cakes but I've only eaten them in restaurants.  I've made salmon patties which are sort of similar.  But crab cakes bring to mind elegance and white tablecloths.  Salmon patties are all about a hungry daddy who can't find any leftovers in the fridge after mother has gone to bed.  

Here's the recipe.

Click to enlarge.

The only thing I added was a shake of garlic powder.  The serving size is small.  I made 6 crab cakes using a double recipe.

Here's what they looked like.

I really liked them as did hubby and son.  The girls considered them in the pan and passed, which I expected.  These had a nice homemade quality- not like a gourmet restaurant; like an upgraded version of my daddy's salmon patty recipe.  It was easy to prepare on a busy night and paired with a salad was a nice meal.  I plan on adding fresh garlic when I make them again.  

Let me know if you try it.   :)

Sarah

Bonus post! Classic cars

Hey there.  Our club had a classic car show today.  I missed it due to a soccer game but stopped by just before it was over.  I took some pictures but unfortunately don't have much info as to the makes/models.  Here you go!

My favorite, and one of the few from the '50s.  It was parked in front of the paddle courts and not with the others on the street.  Not sure why.  The club has been around since the 1890's so I bet in the '50s this car and similar models were actually in the parking lot as simple transportation- not part of a car show.  I can just imagine elegant housewives driving over to the club for bridge...

Not sure what this is.  Anyone know?

Wish I could have gotten a pic of this orange one from the front.  Very cool.

 I spoke with the owner of this '61 Mercedes.  He and his wife actually drive it every weekend during the summer.  He likes to enjoy his car, not just look at it.  I agree!

I hope everyone is having a happy Sunday.  As you can see it's beautiful weather here.  I wish I could go out and enjoy it more but I've got a lot of laundry.  Travel soccer will do that to a mom.  ;)

Sarah