Lucy's Salad Recipe

Ok gals so I found this gorgeous rare article of Lucille Ball's salad recipe. It sounds very yummy and I think I am going to try making it myself. Make sure to click on the picture for a larger view so you can be able to read the recipe. ENJOY!

Inspire Your Inner Housewife.

1. Change Your Thinking

This is most important. Think of your duties in the home as something that is pleasant, creative, and fulfilling a great purpose. Not as drudgery, which is how I usually viewed it. But, with an attitude adjustment, I began to look at taking top notch care of my home in a totally different way. So, stop thinking that it's beneath you to get on your knees and scrub your floor. There is actually a lot of satisfaction from cleaning and maintaining your home. There is a sense of accomplishment with tackling projects in your home, and having a tidy orderly home for your husband to enjoy coming home to after a hard day's work.



2. Wake Up Early And Get Ready

If you're a housewife or have children at home, you need to try to wake up before they do to tackle your chores. But, first, take a shower, and get dressed down to your feet. It's amazing what I can get accomplished and the renewed sense of purpose that I have when I have showered and dressed. I look presentable, and I am ready to do what I need to do for the day.

While the kids are asleep make a list of your to-do's that you want to accomplish for the day. Try to read from the Bible and pray to help center you and keep you in a wonderful mood.



3. Create weekly menus.

It's such a lifesaver to have menus planned in advance. You can grocery shop around your menu and already know what you will be cooking. If possible, try to do most of the prep work for your dinner by lunchtime. Then you won't be as frazzled as the day progresses.



4. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals.

Set your cleaning goals, project goals like sewing, knitting, and other hobbies, and child rearing goals. Maybe you want to be sure to teach your toddler how to count to ten by the end of the month, and you have
incremental goals in place to help you
achieve it. Maybe you want to have the garage cleaned out by the end of the month, and you set weekly goals to get it done.

5. Read websites and books for inspiration. The books that are great and inspire you to enjoy your duties in the home are : The Happy Housewife by Darla Shine, Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacey McDonald, Fascinating Womanhood by Helen Andelin and A Woman's High Calling by Elizabeth George. My favorite website for homemaking inspiration is Ladies Against Feminism.

Becoming a domestic goddess takes time, hard work and dedication. But, it brings so many rewards and great satisfaction. Choose today to create a home that your family will love coming home to.

The Vintage Tea Drinker

As many of you know, I love tea. I am a tea drinker myself and run a site called The Victorian Tea Parlor because I am simply fascinated by tea and having tea parties. Tea is among the world’s oldest and most revered beverages. It is today’s most popular beverage in the world, next to water. Tea drinking has long been an important aspect of Chinese culture. A Chinese saying identifies the seven basic daily necessities as fuel, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea.



Tea was introduced to Europe in the 1600s; it was introduced to England in 1669. At that time, the drink was enjoyed only by the aristocracy because a pound of tea cost an average British laborer the equivalent of nine months in wages. The British began to import tea in larger qualities to satisfy the rapidly expanding market. Tea became Britain’s most important item of trade from China. All classes were able to drink tea as the tea trade increased and became less of a luxury. Now, tea is low in price and readily available.



I think the victorian era was one of the most delightful eras where people enjoyed tea parties all the time. A Victorian Tea Party would be the most elegant of all. Everything in Victorian times was done lavishly. So break out the china, silver, crystal & serving pieces. The fancier the better. Before you get your house ready & prepare your food, you have to send out invitations. There are so many options here. With today’s computer programs you can make some beautiful ones at home. Tuck an actual tea bag in the invitation. Perhaps make some using paper doilies & scrapbooking supplies.



DECORATING & SERVING

You will want to make the house as pretty as possible. Fresh flowers are a must, use them everywhere. Use traditional vases, or teapots that no longer have lids. Sometimes you can find then for a bargain since they no longer have a lid! Use candles both tapers & scattered votives or tea lights. Play soft music in the background. There are even tea party music CD’s you can purchase. For tablecloths try lace or damask. Scatter silk rose petals on your table. Use real linen or fancy paper napkins.



For Serving Pieces You Will Need At Least Some of the Following

Teapot Silver Or China
Sugar & Creamer
Salt & Pepper Shakers

Water Pitcher

Various Serving Trays
Tole Tray
China Serving Platters
Silver Serving Pieces
Crystal Serving Pieces
Crystal Plates
Crystal Bowls
Silverware
Pedestal Cake Plates
Porcelain or China Teacups
Pretty Plates(mix & match is OK)
Jam or Jelly Serving Jar

Demitasse or Fancy spoons

You don’t need to spend a lot of money. You can find some great bargains at your local thrift stores, flea markets & antique malls. Mix & Match is Definitely OK for teacups & saucers. Even mismatched sets are OK.


YUMMY FOOD TO SERVE

Offer your guests a variety of tea flavors. You could leave them out in a lined basket. It is fun to use decorated sugar cubes & sugar tongs too!


TEA SANDWICHES

There are many varieties of tea sandwiches you can serve. Try to find a firmer style bread, cut the crust off & cut sandwiches either diagonally so you have 2 triangle sandwiches or in 4’s for a bit smaller sandwiches. Cucumber sandwiches have long been a tea party tradition. This is an easy one that everyone likes. Just spread softened cream cheese on bread & top with thinly sliced cucumbers. Simple. For a fall or Christmas time tea try turkey & cranberry sauce sandwiches. Use your favorite egg salad or chicken salad recipe. try adding sliced almonds to your chicken salad recipe, yum! For other fillings you can use, watercress, tomatoes, cheese, deli meats, smoked salmon or ham salad. For Children spread softened cream cheese on bread & top with jelly, cut with cookie cutter. On top of the sandwich spread just a bit of softened cream cheese & dust with sprinkles!




SCONES BISCUITS COOKIES & CAKES

You cannot have a Victorian Tea Party without scones. You can find a variety of scone recipes on the internet. I have used scone mixes before as well. If you have a Panera Bread Store in your area, they have wonderful orange scones. You might like to have traditional devonshire cream, lemon curd or jelly or jams for your scones & biscuits.

Lemon Curd Recipe:
3 eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup sugar

Mix together melted butter & sugar. Add well beaten eggs & lemon juice. Place in double boiler or over simmering water. Stir continuously for 15 minutes or until thick. Allow to cool & refrigerate. Will keep for about 2 weeks.



Traditional Tea Cakes Recipe:
4 cups flour
1 cup butter
2 egg yolks, beaten
milk
1 egg white, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
Caraway seeds

Mix all ingredients together, mix to paste with a little warm milk, cover with a cloth and let stand for about an hour in a warm place. Roll out cut with round or shaped cutter & bake on lightly greased or sprayed sheet at 350 degrees until they are golden brown.

For other treats serve a variety of breads, cakes & cookies. Serve sliced banana bread, shortbread cookies, your favorite holiday cookies, lady fingers, lemon cookies or biscuits, orange cake, peach or strawberry tarts or tartlets, petit fors, applesauce cake, brownies or fudge, carrot cake, gingerbread, or tiny cupcakes.



TEA PARTY THEMES

Do you need an excuse to have a Victorian Tea Party?? Next time you host a baby or bridal shower, make it a tea party, a birthday party for a friend, a Christmas tea is always beautiful. Host one for your ladies group at church or ladies Bible study. Celebrate an anniversary, invite over your grandma, or granddaughters, let your little girl invite her friends for a fancy dress up day! Combine a tea party with an etiquette class, have a garden tea party in the summer, and of course there is always Valentine’s Day.

Last year I went to the cutest little tea room while I was on my annual trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and while I was there I decided to take a picture inside their tea room.



So whatever the reason or occasion is, if you are a tea lover as myself, then you must always find an excuse to have a lovely tea party with your friends and family. I have stumbled upon such delightful pictures of beautiful tea rooms, tea pots and tea sets that I just had to share them on my blog!


This delightful pink victorian tea parlor is simply breath-taking!



Here are some more delightful and lovely tea rooms...








Now don't you think a place like this is great to just unwind?

Vintage New Year

I hope everyone enjoyed their New Years Eve! I had a wonderful time with friends and family. But since I am a vintage gal, I couldn't let this opportunity pass by without blogging about this special holiday with vintage pictures. So here are some lovely images I found on the net of new years from years past. ENJOY! :)

1940s 1950s Woman in Party Dress for New Year's

Vintage Soda Fountain

A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The device combines syrup (commonly dispensed from a Bag-In-Box), carbon dioxide, and water to make soft drinks. By extension, the term also may refer to a small eating establishment, common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often within a pharmacy or other business, serving soda beverages, ice cream, and sometimes light meals. Back in the 40s and 50s these were very famous and common for the teens to hang out at these places after school. The imaginable joy of being able to go back in time and relive those marvelous days where they still had soda fountains around. Such a delightful joy to think back on those times when everything seemed so wonderful, colorful and warm. The soda fountain began in Europe, but achieved its greatest success in the US. The soda fountain that has become part of the American imagination really began at the turn of the 20th century and continued until it completely collapsed in the 1970’s. While there were certain purveyors of sodas and ice cream previously it was the marriage of the drugstore and soda fountain of the early 1900’s that gave birth to the American soda fountain.



The soda fountain that has become part of the American imagination really began at the turn of the 20th century and continued until it completely collapsed in the 1970’s. While there were certain purveyors of sodas and ice cream previously it was the marriage of the drugstore and soda fountain of the early 1900’s that gave birth to the American soda fountain. By the early 1920’s just about every drugstore had a soda fountain. The reason for the explosion of soda fountains was most likely that prohibition began in 1919 and the soda fountain filled the social void caused by the closing of bars. While one may trace the patents, of certain aspects, of the soda fountain back to the early 1800’s it must be realized that it wasn’t until the 1880’s that “ice cream parlors” came into vogue. Ice cream parlors were part of the history of the soda fountain but it is worth noting that they were usually stand alone businesses that sold ice cream and phosphate sodas.



It wasn’t until Jacob Baur began to manufacture carbon dioxide in tanks that the real soda fountain was born. Baur was a pharmacist who started the Liquid Carbonic Co. in 1888 and eventually began to manufacture and market the Liquid Carbonic soda fountains in the early 1900’s. A potential soda jerk could purchase a Liquid Carbonic soda fountain, complete with operations and recipe manual, from Baur and set up shop. He could go into the soda fountain business.

The golden age of soda fountains began in the early 1900’s and continued until the 1950’s. It was during that period that pharmacists were the operators of their own drugstore and soda fountain. Just after prohibition began John Somerset wrote, in Drug Topics June 1920 issue that, “the soda fountain is the most valuable, most useful, most profitable, and altogether most beneficial business building feature assimilated by the drugstore in a generation… “ “In the face of present pyramiding taxes and overhead, like wise the increased demand for soft drinks resulting from prohibition, can (one) fail to see which way the wind is blowing… and become a soda fan quick!” Somerset went on to say, “The bar is dead, the fountain lives, and soda is king!”



The birth of the soda fountain began with the drug revolution of the 1850’s. People would go to the local drugstore and procure a fountain drink to cure or aid some physical malady. Many of the fountain drinks were concoctions or extracts of various drugs that were flavored and effervesced to make them palatable. Drugs like cocaine and caffeine are maybe the most famous but bromides and various plant extracts were also commonly dispensed.

Many of the fountain drinks made by those early druggists contained cocaine and caffeine. The combination of cocaine and caffeine was used to effectively cure headaches. The problem was that rebound headaches would ensue and the patient would be back frequently for another drink to get rid of the pain. The soda fountain was really a place to go to get lit up to get some “pep”. Doctors, druggists and the public at large believed that stimulants were very good. These new drugs were looked upon as completely safe and effective. Many druggists even made and marketed their own secret formulations… some even mass marketed these.

Prior to 1914 every drug was basically “over the counter” so no soda fountain broke any law by selling cocaine derived drinks. That all changed when the “Harrison Act” became law in 1914. The “Harrison Act” banned the use of cocaine and opiates in over-the-counter products.



Soda drinks began to be viewed as “habit forming” and eventually became looked down upon. The “soda fountain” developed a reputation for serving intoxicating beverages. Many pharmacies began to distance themselves from the bad reputation that developed as result of the “habit forming” products sold from the 1860’s through the early 1900’s. Jacob Baur, founder of the Liquid Carbonic Company, used the following in an advertisement for one of his soft drinks, “it isn’t medicinal, won’t cure anything… isn’t intoxicating or habit forming – it’s just flavory, fruity, snappy, sparkling, delicious.” It is interesting to note that a soda fountain would advertise as “isn’t habit forming of intoxicating. The soda fountain eventually lost the old reputation and became known for serving “soft drinks”.



Even today, the soda fountain is legendary, and the image of chrome-plated countertops and swivel stools conjures nostalgia in people who never saw the real thing. Why do we love the idea of the soda fountain? It seems there's an intrinsically human appeal in a place that lets you rock, roll, gossip, and feed your craving for sweets all at once. And if too many egg creams got you down, well, many soda fountains conveniently shared space with a pharmacy. (Say, maybe there's something to that ... Maybe we ought to combine candy stores with dentists' offices?).



The real deal on the 50's soda fountain is that it was an ideal place to be social. And who'd be able to keep their mouth shut when presented with a custom-made soda and creamy hand-made ice cream?



The popular memory of the soda fountain is an idyllic one, of a place where soda "jerks" mingled with starry-eyed teens on dates and kids seeking a snack and a song after school. But in the 1960s, the rising popularity of fast food, commercial ice cream, bottled soda, and restaurants marked the end of the age of the soda fountain.

Vintage Christmas

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. And with it approaching now it just fills me inside with a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside. Combining that with my love and passion for vintage nostalgia just makes the perfect excuse to share in my blog some of my favorite vintage christmas pictures. Here are a few I have saved from the internet and I hope you all will enjoy it.

Family portrait by Christmas tree
December 13, 1949


Family christmas photo father two daughters and son with presents and tree
Christmas 1931


1960s Family Father Mother Two Sons Sitting By Christmas Tree In Living Room Reading A Book


One year old baby boy gets a drink of Coca Cola in front of the Christmas tree, ca. 1946


Now don't these pictures make you want to wish it was Christmas all year long?

Vintage Thanksgiving

What can I say, I am an old fashioned girl. And I love all things retro, vintage, and cozy family gatherings. And what better cozy family gathering than to celebrate Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love with tons of comfort food. I always browse the net for vintage or retro pictures. And I have come across some delightful images of vintage thanksgiving and I would love to share some with you all. So here they are, I hope you all enjoy these images and I hope everyone has a wonderful and delightful Thanksgiving this year!

A very retro Thanksgiving






Stuffing the turkey


Cooking a turkey dinner


Hungry granddaughter


1970s 3 Generation Family Sitting Dining Room Table Grandmother Setting Down Turkey Platter


1960s 1970s Three Generation Family Saying Grace Prayer At Thanksgiving Dinner


1950s Family 5 Sitting At Dining Room Table Dad Carves Turkey At Head Of Table


1950s Family Of 5 Saying Grace Before Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner Mother Father 3 Children


1920s 1930s Mother Grandmother Boy Girl Cooking Turkey In Kitchen




1960s Portrait Of Family Looking At Thanksgiving Or Christmas Roast Turkey


1960s Woman Serving Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner


African-american family at Thanksgiving dining table with turkey saying grace praying