The Online Bookshelf - Sandman Time

Bed-time poems by Ilsien Gaylord, published 1915 and available on Project Gutenberg.

Patterns of the Past - Ruffles and Flourishes

Dresses for some little and not-so-little girls, as advertised in McCall's Needlework and Crafts, Summer, 1940.

It's Going To Be An Interesting Year

The gods of Federal funding have smiled on me this year and I have not one but two (count 'em, two) Americorps volunteers working for me until next August. They've been here three weeks and so far we are all very impressed; sharp lads, both of them (although one is a bit long in the tooth to be referred to as a lad).

They seem to share a similarly warped sense of humor and have informed me that they want to be referred to as Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Millenials

Fifty-four young women (and one young man) from the Mennonite College of Nursing volunteered to spend their Saturday morning covered in moulage and lying on cold concrete or wet grass, so that four local fire departments and our two county hospitals could get some realistic mass casualty training. In return, they received pizza and the promise of one day of clinicals cancelled the week before finals, but you know, they didn't have to be there. I have hope for this generation.

Knitting - A Man's Pullover From 1951

From Bernat's Handicrafter magazine, #26, dated 1951. Nice and sporty. Instructions and chart on my Flickr account.

More Health Department Humor

One of the nurses down in the Communicable Diseases division is being recognized by the Illinois Department of Public Health for the innovative program she set up to streamline STD testing, reducing the amount of time clients have to spend in the clinic.

It's called (wait for it)...."Pee and Flee."

Vintage Images - Shirley Temple

From Dover Publications free clip-art samples.


Left-click to enlarge.

First, Make Your Marshmallow

Marsh-mallow Paste

Dissolve 1 pound of clean white gum-arabic in one quart of water; strain, add 1 pound of refined sugar, and place over the fire. Stir continually until the syrup is dissolved and the mixture has become the consistency of honey. Next add gradually the beaten whites of 8 eggs; stir the mixture all the time until it loses its thickness and does not adhere to the finger. Flavor with vanilla or rose. Pour into a tin slightly dusted with powdered starch, and when cool divide into squares with a sharp knife.

Toasted Marsh-mallows

Tie a string on the end of a cane or stick, fasten a bent pin on the end of the string, and stick the pin into a marsh-mallow drop. Hold the marsh-mallow suspended over an open fire and let it gradually toast. When it begins to melt and run down it is done.

For a small party toasting marsh-mallows will be found quite a merry pastime, and a great many persons consider the candy much better for being thus cooked the second time.

The American Girls’ Handy Book, by Lina and Adelia Beard, 1893.

Caturday

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Because my plans today include getting up at 6am so I can help pour fake blood all over fifty-four student nurses as part of our local airport crash response drill.

Quote of the Day

An utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward. ~ Herman Melville.

The Online Bookshelf - The Grey Fairy Book

I remember reading some of these when I was in my early teens -- I came to them late, for some reason. From Project Gutenberg.

This Is What I Wore

...all day, every day, seven days a week, for the first three months we knew each other. Love is blind.

(Happy Anniversary, babe).

Patterns of the Past - McCall's 838

The theme music for this is obviously Stanley Holloway's classic "Where Did You Get That 'At?"

As advertised in McCall's Needlework and Crafts, Winter 1941-42. I have no idea why the lady on the left has such a red nose.

Knitting - A Fall Jacket from 1943

From Handicrafter (a Bernat house publication), a jacket to knit for your wartime wardrobe. Instructions on my Flickr account.

Images Anciennes - Parfums Weil

One of Patricia's lovely vintage advertisements from Agence Eureka.

The Kitchen Encyclopedia

Published in 1911 (and available on Project Gutenberg) as an advertising cookbook for Swift’s Premium Oleomargarine (“The Italian uses olive oil; the Swiss, butter from goat’s milk; and the thrifty American housewife, Swift’s Premium Oleomargarine”). The manufacturers assure us that if you substitute ¾ Swift’s Oleomargarine for butter, no one will be able to taste the difference.

This is an interesting recipe for sugar cookies, with 3 eggs -- my tried and true Joy of Cooking recipe calls for one egg and one egg yolk, so I wonder if these would be a bit more cake-like. Note the use of sour milk. Nowadays we can’t use sour milk because it goes bad immediately. Un-homogenized milk will stay tangy for a day or so before it goes bad. A modern substitute would be buttermilk, or regular whole milk soured with a teaspoon of lemon juice.

Sugar Cookies

1 cupful Swift's Premium Oleomargarine
1 cupful sour milk
1 teaspoonful soda
2 cupfuls sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
Flavoring to taste
Flour enough to roll out thin

Cream the oleomargarine and sugar. Add the eggs, whites and yolks beaten together. Dissolve the soda in the sour milk. Add this and then the flour. Roll out thin. Just before cutting out the cookies sift granulated sugar on top and roll it in slightly, then cut out cookies with cookie-cutter and bake in a moderate oven.

Ginger Bread

½ cupful Swift's Premium Oleomargarine
1 cupful molasses
1 teaspoonful ginger
1 teaspoonful cloves
1 teaspoonful cinnamon
⅛ teaspoonful nutmeg
1 egg, beaten light
½ cupful sugar
1 cupful sour milk
1 teaspoonful baking soda
2 cupfuls flour

Mix into a light dough and bake in a flat pan. Quick oven.

On Baking-Day

When you wish a fine-grained cake, beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff foam with a Dover egg-beater. If something spongy, such as an angel cake, is desired, use a wire egg-beater, which makes a more air-inflated foam.

Recipes in the older, much-prized cook-books often call for a teacupful of yeast. A teacupful liquid yeast is equal to one cake of compressed yeast.

To remove pecan meats whole, pour boiling water over nuts and let them stand until cold. Then stand the nut on end and crack with a hammer, striking the small end of the nut.

If beef or mutton drippings are used in making a pie-crust, beat them to a cream with a teaspoonful of baking-powder and the juice of half a lemon. This effectually removes all taste.

When a cake sticks to a pan, set it for a few minutes on a cloth wrung out of cold water. It will then come out in good shape.

Heat the blade of the bread-knife before cutting a loaf of fresh bread. This prevents the usual breaking and crumbling of the slices. For cutting hot fudge, first dip the blade of the knife in boiling water.

Nothing is better for pudding molds than jelly tumblers with light tin covers. One can readily tell when the puddings are done without removing the covers.

The juice will not boil out of apple or berry pies if you dot bits of Swift's Premium Oleomargarine near the outer edge.

A little salt in the oven under the baking-tins will prevent burning on the bottom.
There is nothing more effective for removing the burned crust from cake or bread than a flat grater. It works evenly and leaves a smooth surface.

Use a wooden potato masher for stirring butter and sugar together for a cake. It is much quicker than a spoon.*

(*I have often wondered how women creamed butter and sugar in the days before electric mixers because trust me, eggbeaters don’t work. Now I know!)

Found Objects

Silver chain, one dollar at the thrift store plus orphan earring, fifty cents at the thrift store plus five minutes with the jewelry pliers. I like it.

Caturday!

(I'm thinking of printing this out and hanging it on the door of my office. Since the county won't let me use claymores or concertina).

Quote of the Day

What will happen to us when our children have no connection with what is wild in the land, its depth, danger, generosity? ~ Susan Hand Shetterly

The Online Bookshelf - Bill The Minder

An odd and charming little story book. Published in 1912 and available at Project Gutenberg.