1. strawberries and dots, 2. IMG_0591, 3. _MG_4047,
4. IMG_0557, 5. Today I have been mainly..., 6. Dead Head,
7. Bed, 8. Robin's egg, 9. Happy*Kitchen
Front Garden , 8am Saturday, heavy rain, gorgeous colours
Had the most wonderful sleep-in this morning.
The whole house slept in, even the cats.
So breakfast was late and then a slow coffee reading yesterday's paper.
And then another coffee, you know how it goes.
I have spent hours cutting out doll's clothes, choosing colours and combinations , I really really enjoy this part. love the pretty colours.
I never knew it was possible to have so many shades of red and that polka dots could look so different from one fabric to the next.
I am just about to cut out the pieces for my special project which, given that I have four thousand other things to do, I am expecting will take me quite some time. it will be my hobby project.
Than it will be time to get the fire alight and think about putting the roast on for dinner.
We are all enjoying our 1965 menu so far.
Two days down and five to go.
I am also reading Sharon Astyk's book "Depletion and Abundance".
Very readable and a well thought out book, much like the writing on her blog.
Hope you are having a happy weekend.
1965 menu
OK so here is the 1965 moderate cost menu.
In the notes comparing it with the low cost menu it seems that the main difference is meats at lunch time, sometimes bacon at breakfast, more eggs, fats and sugars plus the use of convenience and ready to eat products.
The Liberal cost menu adds in even more convenience foods ( frozen vegetables and fruit,canned vegetables,ready prepared cakes etc.) which is interesting plus more expensive cuts of meat.
The table below is a comparison of the three menus
Interesting to note what increases and decreases over the three menus.
The increased sugar in the liberal cost menu is actually just maple syrup for the pancakes and extra jam ( jelly) but as there are also more convenience foods there would no doubt be hidden sugars and fats in those.
I have included a copy of the Liberal Costs meal plan and the Low Cost so you can compare
I think I prefer the Low Cost menu of the three, it is closer to how my family normally eat.
What do you think?
Meal Management 1965
I have an American book called Meal Management by Faye Kinder that was written in 1965 updating an edition from 1956.
It goes into a lot of detail about planning nuritionally balanced meals, buying food within a budget and also how to plan and serve different styles of meals.
Honestly , it started to make my eyes roll back into my head
There is a chapter on 'Matching Meals to the Food Budget' and it details a meal plan and food list for a week of Low cost meals, Moderate cost meals and Liberal cost meals.
The low cost meal plan is the one I used some time ago to plan a 1950's week of meals based on this post.
What I have found interesting on my recent reading of this book are the tables showing the quantities of food allowed for 1 week for a family of 4
I'll share the list for the Moderate Cost Plan
Milk 4 gallons (about 19L)
Cheese 0.25lb ( 125g)
Ice cream 1 quart ( about 1.2L)
Powdered Milk the equivalent of 3 quarts ( 3.6L)
Cream 1 pint ( 600ml)
Meat, Fish and Poultry 15lbs (6.8kg)
1 lb bacon
3lb chicken pieces
1lb cold cuts
1lb frankfurters
1lb fish
1 lb mince
3.5lb pork roast
1.25lb round steak
6oz can of tuna
4 bought chicken pies
2 cans of spaghetti and meatballs
Eggs 26
Beans ( includes dried beans, canned baked beans and peanut butter)
about half a pound ( about 250g)
Bread and Cereals 10lbs (4.5kg)
includes 6 x 1 lb loaves = 4 lbs flour
1.5lbs bread rolls = 1 lb of flour
2 cakes = 1 lb flour
1.5 lbs cookies = 1 lb flour
0.75 lbs cereal
0.75 lbs crackers
1 lb flour.
Citrus fruits and tomatoes 9.5 lbs ( 4.3kg)
Includes frozen orange juice concentrate 20 oz can
Dark green and deep yellow vegetables ( including carrots) 2.25lbs ( 1 kg)
Potatoes 7lbs ( 3.2kg)
Other fruits and vegetables 20-21 lbs ( 9 - 9.5kg)
Total fruit and vegetables including potatoes 38.75 - 39.75lbs ( 17.5 - 18kg)
Fats and Oils 2.5lbs ( 1.1kg)
Sugar, Sweets 3 - 3.5lbs (1.4kg - 1.6kg)
brown sugar 0.5lb ( 225g)
white sugar 1 lb (450g)
icing sugar 1 lb (450g)
jam 0.5lb ( 225g)
I don't really know if this is anywhere near what we eat but I think I will try to use these quantities of food for a week and see how it goes.
Is it a little or a lot?
I will post a copy of the menu plan that goes with this list tomorrow.
Also the cookies are bought, not homemade as is one of the cakes, a coffee cake.
The other cake is a packet mix and the bread and rolls are shop bought too so if you were making them at home you would have to add extra butter and sugar to the list.
The flour is already taken into account you would just have to buy the amounts listed .
Plus you may need to add an egg or two for the coffee cake.
Do you think these amounts are close to what you use in a week based on a family of four?
Crochet pattern, sort of.
While my wrists were sore from too much scrolling on the computer I found they also felt very tired when I did any knitting so I turned to crochet.
You have seen my Grandma Twinkles effort, I ran out of yarn so they are still twinkling in the bowl on the table.
I decided to make a small scarf for my sister-in-law for her birthday.
But, apart from the fact that I kept losing my place when I put it down to attend to something else, I had a feeling it might be a bit two fussy for her.
So I made up my own 'design'.
I made a set-up row of 17 chain stitches and then 3 rows of 16 treble crochet, 3 rows of 16 double treble and one row of 3 x treble into every third gap in the preceding row of double treble and then then two rows of 3x treble into the space made by the previous row ( like when you are doing a Granny square).
Sorry I have no idea really of how to write down a crochet pattern but if you look at the scarf you can see what I did.
Also US people use different crochet terms and I don't know what they are.
I used an 8ply wool and bamboo mix so it a lovely drapey weight and has a nice sheen from the bamboo.
I used a 4.5mm hook and it took almost 100g of yarn. It's about 140cm long and 9cm wide and is surprisingly comfortable and warm to wear.
It's just the right size to keep a neck warm without getting in the way when you are doing things.
Kate now wants one and I would rather like one myself.
I took the photo below in my bedroom mirror, its at least 100 years old and and gives a pleasantly blurry image, a comfortable image for a face that's half as old as the mirror.
Robert Doisneau
A few years ago I had a Robert Doisneau calendar, just loved his pictures.
He wrote
"The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street."
"Doisneau has presented a charming vision of human frailty and life as a series of quiet, incongruous moments"
from 'The Encyclopedia of Photography' (1984) - Robert Doisneau
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I would have to agree with him
Oh it's been cold here today. sunny but cold.
A two fire day, one in the kitchen and one in the front of the house.
Went for a walk with Kate this afternoon around our suburb,over behind the big supermarket.
The red brick houses built just after WWII with their small mean looking windows, houses sitting on small blocks, perhaps it was housing for the returned servicemen, I'm not sure.
Houses built with the restrictions of all the building material shortages after the war.
I know by the mid to late 1950s glass for house windows was once again in good supply and houses began to be built with big picture windows.
There were one or two of these amongst the small window houses and one or two tarted up houses, the original windows replaced by aluminium framed windows though still small.
I can't help but wonder about the people who lived in these houses.
Were they happy houses filled with the optimism for that post war time?
Were they houses filled with the night time bad dreams of men who had seen so many horrors?
Were they houses where young children were born to parents who had lived through the Depression and the war and wanted nothing but happiness and safety for their children?
If these people are still there they must be in their 80s by now, what were these houses like to live in and what were their lives like.
My suburb is mainly a product of the 1940s through to the 1960s.
There are small pockets of older homes, such as our street and a few modern homes.
It is a suburb that is a testament to early suburban life, to the beginnings of home ownership and all that goes with it.
It's a suburb now with large modern supermarkets and lots of fast food restaurants.
It's a suburb filled beyond capacity with cars travelling to the new suburban lands further out.
For the most part the homes we walked past today looked largely unchanged, most did not have the ubiquitous wooden deck that seems to have spread throughout the suburbs, most had neat but uninspired gardens, a few had fruit trees and vegetable gardens.
Who keeps the history of an ordinary suburb?
The local high school was built in 1960, the first supermarkets in town were built here when I was a child, I even went to opening of Roelf Vos' supermarket when I was just a tot and was scared to death by the man dressed up as a bear handing out balloons.
I don't know if there is much written about the life and history of a mid century suburb but I would love to read it if there is.
Book Binding
Kate has been writing an anthology of poetry for school.
She wanted to present it in a hand made book, hand made by me!
One time and one time only have I ever made a book, following a tutorial given by Isis.
She wanted just one piece of each colour so that the book looked like a rainbow.
So I tried, I couldn't really remember what to do and binding through one sheet of paper was perilous with a couple of tears( and almost tears, sob, sob for me) in the paper but it turned out kind of OK.
Kate was thrilled so I guess that's all that matters.
Shop Updates
Just to let you know, I will be putting some new stock into the blog shop ,The Red Umbrella over the next few days.
You might like to pop in for a visit.
If it was a real shop I would make sure we had a comfy chair or two in a sunny corner for a cosy cuppa and some lovely magazines and books to read.
You could have a drink and some little yummy to eat and then have a wander around the shop and see what takes your fancy.
See you there, I'll be the one with the aqua gingham pinnie on.
" In the mornings, a mist rises and wreathes in and out between the tree trunks. On the damp grass lie windfall apples and pears, burrowed into by late wasps. By noon, the sun is high, and it is warm. The leaves are beginning to yellow and curl..."
Autumn from 'Through the Kitchen Window' by Susan Hill
You can see more of my autumn pictures here
two films
OK ,time to share a few movies with you, movies with lots of vintage loveliness, beautiful clothes and gorgeous homes.
One is from the early 60s and the other is set in the early 50s but was made in 2003.
The first is a Doris Day movie.
Now I know Doris Day movies can sometimes be a bit trying because although she is always gorgeous she does sometimes ham it up a bit too much.
I told you about "Please Don"t Eat the Daisies" last year and this movie was for me a revelation, her clothes were to die for, such classic lines and she has such a great figure, the comedy was understated and she played a mother so well.
Now I have discovered "The Thrill of it All" which co stars James Garner and was made in 1963, when I was four about the same age as the little girl in the film.
Once again there are so many beautiful outfits but with the bonus of little girl outfits as well.
I'm sure I recognise some Helen Lee inspired clothes for the gorgeous little girl in the movie.
The children in the film are an absolute joy, just adorable but not in a sickly sweet way.
Kate and I tried all through the movie to figure out where we had seen the girl before and finally realised she is the smallest of the Von Trapp children from The Sound of Music.
And then there is the house, the wonderful mid century home, the bathroom is perfect.
I really enjoyed the visual feast of this little time capsule movie.
The second film is 'Mona Lisa Smile" starring Julia Roberts as a progressive teacher at a very traditional women's college in the US in the early fifties.
Just loved this film once again for the costumes and sets.
So many lovely knitted cardigans and jumpers (sweaters).
Now I know I'm not the only one who watches movies for the knitwear so don't think me strange.
Really beautiful clothes, dresses, skirts, trousers.
It is a pleasure to watch and the story is understated and a good dramatisation of the various influences in the lives of these young post war women. Women around my Mum's age, choosing what they wanted to do with their lives, or at least a part of their lives.
There is also some footage of interviews with women of the time, the women who inspired the story.
Now you can watch all of this film on you tube so that's a treat.
The Doris Day movie isn't available there but I got my copy for Mother's Day in a four DVD Doris Day pack, so lucky me.
Now there is a whole lot more, thinking about these two films together.
One filmed before modern feminism really took hold and the other , filmed with the benefit of hindsight and celebrating or at least recognising the right to choose.
One a comedy with a wife testing the waters of perhaps combining work and motherhood, the other a drama investigating why women chose what they did.
So interesting really, thinking about the commercialisation of the housewife, the need to grow the post war economy by making people want to have picture perfect lives in picture perfect houses.
Women being forced into the workforce during the war, out again after the war and then back in again as big business got behind women's desire for choice and worked on convincing them that choice was about which new thing to buy rather than how to live their lives.
Well, that's for me to think about and if you get to see the movies you can have a ponder too.
The history of women over the past fifty years - interesting.
My Grandma Twinkles and New Dolls in the Shop
Have you seen the lovely article about Michelle in this month's Notebook magazine.
I have made it my magazine buy of the month in place of Country Living.
It is a gorgeous looking article and includes not one but three crochet patterns including the ever popular Grandma Twinkles you see above.
I'm not sure yet what to make my stars into, perhaps a scarf I'm thinking???
Michelle has lots of tutorials on her blog and there is a Flickr group too where you can show off the crocheted grannie goodness that you make from the tutorials.
Have fun.
THE BEST
The BEST cupcake recipe.
Yes, it is.
125g ( 4 oz) butter, softened
2/3cup ( 150g) caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup milk.
Preheat oven to 180°C
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition until well combined.
Fold in flour and milk, separately and in two batches until well combined.
Spoon into cupcake cases and bake for 15 minutes.
Allow to cool and then ice with butter icing.
Butter icing
Combine 125g butter, softened, 1 1/2 cups icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk.
Also add colouring if you want.
Mix until smooth.
Ice and decorate cupcakes as desired.
Cosy
Another shop update comes and goes and there is not a thing in the shop.
So sorry.
They are here waiting to be photographed but time and the light got away from me.
I have been busily finishing a couple of custom orders and an emergency doll , needed for a Tuesday birthday, posted off yesterday just before the post box was cleared and without having his photo taken.
Oh well.
I'm enjoyed a quiet cuppa in a quiet house.
Andy is at a breakfast at Cafe Blue with his Football team, a team building exercise for a team that is yet to win a match - depressing times.
Stephen and Kate are at Kate's hockey game , they will be back in half an hour or so and then we are having a hearty brunch.
So I have popped on to the computer for a quick chat and then as the sunshine is now on the couch in the corner and it has been a particularly chilly morning,
made worse by the fact that I got up early and left the back door open for the cats to come and go so that I could enjoy my cosy bed without having to jump in and out to let little catty people in and out for their morning ablutions and whatever else a cat must do,
as I said ,
the sun is so warm wand cosy so I'll do a little knitting or reading before kitchen duty calls me.
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