My Mum's Old Cookbook, Farmhouse Fare, 1963 Edition.

Hi Dear Folk,

Another wet and windy day, although yesterday was sunny but chilly.  Mr. B. did get out to do some more painting.  It was in the fifties and you can still outdoor paint at that temperature, so we're pushing on.  It seems we're going to have a hard job matching the colour.  As I bought the paint a year ago from Sears when they were closing up their hardware store, and although it's a good outdoor paint the color is much more of a yellow cream than I wanted, but I'm not going to waste it.  I honestly think it has yellowed over time, the colour of my shed which I painted last year with this paint looks just the right colour cream.  Of course he may not have mixed the second two cans the same as the first, as he did have to play around with them a bit.  I just think all the upper floor will be a slightly different colour, but you know I'm not going to worry.  

I wanted to share with you my mum's old Farmhouse Fare Cookbook.  You can still buy an updated version of this on Ebay or other platforms.  Of course it has a different cover.  My mum basically had two go to cookbooks.  One was a cookbook that I think came with an old gas stove and this one from 1963.  My sister BB gave it to me when I was there two years ago.  So I got this book and BB kept the other one.

This book was first published before Christmas in 1935, they are a collection of recipes collected by the Farmer's Weekly and these must have been gathered all throughout the Commonwealth.  It was very popular and grew in size as later editions were published.

I've been looking through at her marked recipes and thought I'd share her tried and true recipes with you.  Starting at her first ticked recipe.
 

 Which is:-

Onion Quiche

Line a sandwich tin with short-crust pastry.  Make a filling as follows:-

Make 3/4 pint thick white sauce, add a cupful of chopped boiled onions, 2 tablespoons of grated cheese, 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley.  Season well.

Garnish with slices of tomato and a little grated cheese.

Bake 1/2 hour in a moderate oven.  It can be made beforehand and warmed up when required.

From Mrs. Willis, Salop

I make a quiche with milk and eggs, so it's interesting that the base of this is a white sauce.

Old recipes assume that you have a certain amount of cooking knowledge, such as how to make a white sauce.  I just was reading a blogger from France who is American and he said French recipes are not set out like American recipes, many can be just one long continuous paragraph.  As many of these are.

I love it that it tells you the name of the person who contributed and where they lived.  I didn't recognize Salop but it seems that Salop is an old name for Shropshire.

Salop is an old name for Shropshire, historically used as an abbreviated form for post or telegrams, it is thought to derive from the Anglo-French "Salopesberia". It is normally replaced by the more contemporary "Shrops" although Shropshire residents are still referred to as "Salopians".

I think I'll have fun in visiting all the recipes mum made and many of which I remember eating.  I'll have to have a go at some of them and try some new ones in the book.

I hope you enjoy them too, and travel on this little journey with me.  A journey though Mum's Cookbook.  We can't do much else travel wise.

Keep safe,

Christine

I'm Working on the Irresistible

Hi Dear Folk,

I'm going to keep this in mind.

Little black dress is the go to number.

Classic Channel tweed suit for any season

Summertime And The Living Is Easy

Hi Dear Folk,

Summertime and the living is easy, at least it is today, because it is cool, blue skies and sun, a perfect summer day.  Enjoying the moment.  This morning I got up early, and threaded elastic in my green Indian skirt.  Let me go back a bit, in the spring I bought two check Indian skirts at the thrift, one in orange and one in green, both of which although new,  still needed a good wash and must have been old stock, because the elastic waist had gone.  It was not just a matter of replacing the elastic, because the elastic had been sown into the waistband, so I had to unpick the old elastic out, stitched back the waistband and then threaded in new elastic.  I however only got to thread the orange one and have worn that all summer, but never got to threading the green one, now that is done I wore it today.  They are all cotton very full skirts and lined in cotton so just right for hot summer days.

When you wash these in cold water, you are meant to dry them in a rung out position and they are to be worn creased, which is fine with me because I am not into ironing.

This month I've watched two movies which are both true stories A United Kingdom, and The Zookeeper's Wife.  I read The Zookeepers Wife a while ago, here is the review I wrote at the time.  If you get a chance to watch these films you might enjoy them.

Paperback books are easy to carry in my messenger bag which I take to work, I was able to pick four more up at the library, which I buy for a quarter.  I'm looking forward to reading The Eighty Dollar Champion, another true story.  The documentary is on Netflix and such a feel good story, not unlike Sea Biscuit.  About Snowman who became a champion jumper, after being bought at the Amish Horse auctions in Lancaster County, PA.  He was loaded on the truck ready to be shipped to the knackers yard and was saved at the last minute, bought for eighty dollars.

This is the alpaca cardi that shrunk.  I have been able to cut four hat crown panels out of it, will do a contrasting band.  I have to keep everything that is pure wool in plastic bags, I've had too much anguish over moth holes, not to do so.

This is a shrug that I have almost finished crocheting, but I think will be a lot heavier than I thought.  I wanted to wear it with summer dresses, but our air conditioning in the USA is so frigid, in many public places, that maybe it will not be too heavy.  The yarn was on clearance, kind of a ribbon yarn with a satin and velvet type finish.

Are you familiar with Folkwear Patterns?  You might like to read their history and see the patterns they offer, they are such fun to look at and acquire.  I first ran across these patterns in the late seventies and have always liked them.  In fact I bought the Kimono pattern back in the eighties and made that as a wedding shower gift for a friend.  Making the kimono, then stitching, pulling the threads, indigo blue dying, pulling all the stitching out, which leaves a pattern.  A lot of work but very rewarding.

I ran across this an Afghani Nomad dress made up see here, and thought how nice it looked.  I actually bought my pattern off eBay after realizing I could have bought it straight from Folkwear Patterns, I thought they were out of business, but are not.  I like Posie Gets Cozy's version especially her fabric combination.

My August garden, must enjoy it as Autumn is in the air, leaves are turning and you can see the slight slide down towards Autumn.

Prairie Bonnet, what a lovely name.  I planted this several years ago and thought it had died off, but this year it came back and I am so happy.

This little garden under my kitchen window is so dry near the wall, that I decided to intersperse it with brickwork, and add pots, rather than just seeing dry dirt.

Rob will never be a potter, here is one of his pieces, the blue jug.  You can fill it with water up to the bottom of the spout, then it all leaks.  I love the blue, looks very Provence and country to me.

I could not get these calla lilies to stand up, so put tomato frames around them.  Now they're doing pretty well.

My beautiful hibiscus, almost looks on fire in the centre.  My bougainvillea is blooming at long last.

Christy

Valley Forge Park and French Pastries, Summer Weekends

Hi Dear Folk,

Summer weekends just fly by, but here is one Saturday a few weekends ago.  The Boy was away and and gave us permission to to use his Miata, so we decided on a picnic to Valley Forge Park and then onto a French Patisserie that we hadn't visited in a few years.

Time to rake out crocheted blankets and camping blankets, plus the picnic basket, flasks and my Haleakala water bottle/hot drink flask love that with the moon-scape picture on it.  Baskets, are a passion, I also brought along my Amish basket, with journaling papers, pens, etc.

We like this spot with a view across the valley.  Swifts were flying in and out of the doorway of the cabin, they had nests in there, nice and dry.

Nothing like a convertible on a summers day, I don't need to have one but access to one now and again is fun.

We somehow forgot where the French Patisserie named Aux Petits Delices was and wandered along the strip of shops we thought it was in, in fact we gave up and I said "Oh just let me look in that Moroccan shop" and there it was right beyond that, a happy find.

Our tuck.

With a nice cup of tea.

Christy

Woman With A Pearl Necklace in a Loge, Mary Cassatt

Woman with a Pearl Necklace, by Mary Cassatt. born in America 1844 - 1926.  She was actually born in Allegheny City, now part of Pittsburgh, PA.

In the late 1870's Mary Cassatt painted a series of theatre scenes depicting the night life of Paris.  This work showing a woman, said to be her sister Lydia, seated in front of a mirror, with the balconies of the Paris Opera House reflected behind her.

This paining was shown in Paris at the 4th Impressionist Exhibition of 1879, to much acclaim.

You may think of Mary Cassatt more for her paintings of children.

Christy

Bay of L'Estaque, by Paul Cezanne

Hi Dear Folk,

Bay of L'Estaque, by Paul Cezanne.

Christy

Young Girl With Basket by Berthe-Marie-Pauline Morisot

Hi Dear Folk,

Young Girl with Basket.

Bertha Marie Pauline Morisot January 1841 - March 1895

Was a member of the circle of Paris impressionist painters.  She married Eugene Manet, Edouard Manet's brother, they had one daughter Julie, who she frequently used as a model.  She was know as one of the "les trois grandes dames" alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.

Christy

Two Girls by Pierre-August Renoir

Hi Dear Folk,

We had a sprinkling of snow last night but nothing much.

Mr. B. has these Magnepan speakers which are like panels at least six feet high. He bought them back in the eighties and they were not new then.  Since we bought them the price has gone up six fold.

The tweeters have needed to be replaced for at least the last fifteen years. So as an anniversary gift to him we decided to spend the money and send them back to Minnesota to be repaired.  And on shipping them back to us, guess what, yes they were dropped and damaged.  Now we have to sort all that out, and they were in pristine cosmetic condition and who knows whether they still work, so have to wire them all up and see what has happened to the inside.  Such is life in the Hi Fi world of my Boys.

I came home to find two early sixties speakers sequestered in my studio room, to make way for other speakers, which seem to come from the thrift and either get cleaned, repaired, used for a while and recycled on, or are kept for a later date.  These particular speakers with a hessian/linen type cloth screen at the front, very late fifties, early sixties, now sit on top the the book shelf between that and the ceiling.  I think they might be up to seven pairs of speakers and a giant sub woofer the size of a refrigerator.  It's nice they share a hobby together and speak the same lingo.

A Renoir from PMA.  Have to love those hats.

Hope your day is good.

Christy

The Dance at the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

The Dance at the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Christy

View of The Bay of Marseille with the Village of St. Henri, by Paul Cezanne

Hi Dear Folk,

Many museums do not allow photography but at the Philadelphia Museum of Art they do.

View of The Bay of Marseille with the Village of St. Henri by Paul Cezanne.

Christy

Avenue du L' Opera, Morning Sunshine, by Camille Pissarro

Hi Dear Folk,

Avenue du L'Opera, Morning Sunshine, by Camille Pissarro.  1830 - 1903 Danish/French Impressionist.

Camille Pissarro was born on the island of St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, it used to be the Dutch West Indies

For a while he lived in Norwood a village at that time on the edge of London.  This is a painting of the Bath Road, Chiswick 1897, which I rather like.  This is not at the PMA

Most of his life he lived in France.

Christy

The Japanese Footbridge and Water Lily Pool, Giverny, by Claude Monet

Hi Dear Folk,

This is just one of the Monet's at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The Japanese Footbridge and Water Lily Pool, which Monet painted numerous times.

Several years ago The Boy and I got to visit the house and gardens at Giverny and I have always been so happy that we were able to make that trip.

Christy

P.S.  The temperature today is 12 f and with a wind chill of -4 f.  Dropped from 62 f last week, that is a temperature roller coaster ride.

Departure of The Folkestone Boat, by Edouard Manet

Hi Dear Folk,

Departure of The Folkestone Boat, by Edouard Manet at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This painting by Manet of the steam ferry that carried passengers from Boulogne, France to Folkestone, on the Channel coast in England, is one of two paintings that Manet made of the subject. The painting conveys the bustle and excitement of international travel in the early days of the steamboat's operation. 

Christy

My Made In China Rebellion

Hi Dear Folk,

I figure there will come a day when nothing on this planet of ours is not made in China, therefore my way to counteract this is to buy up items from of old not made in China, especially on the cookware and china front, that is a pun isn't it, well you know what I mean.

Now this piece may not have been one of my better moments, but you can't say it is not interesting.  It is made in Italy out of a blend of five volcanic rocks, or so it says.  One uses it to cook fish or meat on top of the stove.  It works the same as the earthenware covered dishes that you use in the oven, it needs to be soaked in water before using it.

I think it must have been a late sixties early seventies fad and is called a La Bisquera, because I have seen old adds for it from both Australia and the USA.

Your food cooks slowly and La Cotta is meant to draw out acids and fat.  So I gave it a go, after reading up online.  It did cook ones food very well.  It seems you need to leave a crack while doing so and someone suggested using a cork which I did.

My food was cooked very nicely, but many people spoke of this residual odor, and even though I soaked it all day, it still had this oder.  So as to whether I will cook anything in there again, yes I would if I could get rid of the odor any suggestions?  Maybe a soak in vinegar.  Oh well! I can always use them for flower pots.

Another item I ran across is this, made in France.

This is basically a French grilled sandwich maker, and the grilled sandwich of choice to cook in here is a Corque Monsieur Ham and Cheese.  You would need to adapt this following recipe to make them in the sandwich maker.  I think the shape is most interesting.

Croque Monsieur Ham and Cheese Sandwich Recipe

• Yield: Makes 4 sandwiches. 

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• A pinch each of salt, freshly ground pepper, nutmeg, or more to taste
• 6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups grated)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (packed)
• 8 slices of French or Italian loaf bread
• 12 ounces ham, sliced
• Dijon mustard
• 
  

Method

1 Preheat oven to 400°

2 Make the béchamel sauce. Melt butter in a small saucepan on medium/low heat until it just starts to bubble. Add the flour and cook, stirring until smooth, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking continuously, cooking until thick. Remove from heat. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in the Parmesan and 1/4 cup of the grated Gruyère. Set aside.

3 Lay out the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven, a few minutes each side, until lightly toasted. For extra flavor you can spread some butter on the bread slices before you toast them if you want.

(Alternatively, you can assemble the sandwiches as follows in step four and grill them on a skillet, finishing them in the broiler with the bechamel sauce.)

4 Lightly brush half of the toasted slices with mustard. Add the ham slices and about 1 cup of the remaining Gruyère cheese. Top with the other toasted bread slices.

5 Spoon on the béchamel sauce to the tops of the sandwiches. Sprinkle with the remaining Gruyère cheese. Place on a broiling pan. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, then turn on the broiler and broil for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, until the cheese topping is bubbly and lightly browned.

If you top this sandwich with a fried egg it becomes a Croque Madame.

Christy

Paisley and Patisserie

Hi Dear Folk,

Trying to catch up and keep on track, plus thinking positive that spring will be here soon.  More snow on Friday so they say one to three inches, so not much, but enough to make it slippery.  Last Saturday it rained but was warmer.  Since Mr. B. does not work on rainy days we headed out to repeat a little trip we had made last year only then Rob was with us, miss that Boy.

We decided to head out to the little French Patisserie and pick up chocolate goodies, which did make me think of my trip to Paris with The Boy, which is now becoming a distant memory and I would very much like to renew that memory.

I also popped into the stationery store along the High Street there.  That too reminds me of days gone by, as it is privately owned and there are not too many of them left.  I couldn't resist this carved wood Paisley design stamp.  I resisted last time I was there but twice was too much.  Just as a piece of decorative art I think it is lovely, and what is it about the Paisley shape that I love so much?  I think because it is such an old design it makes me think of India and Persia, or cashmere shawls that my grandmother wore, and I did actually live in Paisley for a short period of time.

I chose the pyramid, Mr B. the circle and we shared the lollipop.  We packed these up to take home to eat with a cup of Sumatra coffee, what could be nicer?

Before we left town we popped into Anthropolgy, which I like and don't like.  It's always set out most appealingly, but almost all the china comes from China, some lovely ideas and maybe I shouldn't knock that because why is china called china? I did see a lovely fish tureen from Italy that I did like.

The clothes and bags are so way overpriced, at least in my mind, but I guess it's all relative to income, so I head straight to the clearance section.  I would have bought a china bowl but Mr B. forbad me, well not quite, but I knew what he meant.  Still you know it's just fun to look.

Before home we stopped off at our local thrift and I found this hand knitted cardigan, a little large, the buttons needed changing out.  It needed a little work to make it fit how I wanted it to, but I could not pass up on all that hard work, which I think nobody ever wore.

First of all I found new buttons in my stash a purple colour that had been on a cardi from my mum, I put those on, so that made me feel good.  The bottom was just all too big and the front didn't hang correctly, so I took elastic and threaded it all through the bottom, which now pulled it in and made the front where the buttons are not gape out but hang correctly. 

The collar needed steam pressing, because it rolled, and after all that I was pretty happy with it.  It's a loose fit, but very warm and will go nice with jeans or my blue skirt, as I seem to have more in browns than blues, so this is a good addition.  It's a happy little flower design with those yellow centres.

Well that was our rainy Saturday, made a nice break.

Christy

P.S.  I have just added the Followers button.  I lost it several years ago and could never find it again and I've tried, but after yet another Google search someone knew where to look for it and Voila! I found it.