Behind the Curtain

Lunn & Luna

Deb over at Smitten Kitchen wrote a piece about Sally Lunn bread that had me checking my egg supply before I was done reading the post. A bread recipe with "light brioche" taste and drama over its origins to boot? Sign me up!

I heartily appreciate the alterations and streamlining Deb did to the recipe, which made mixing and baking this loaf a breeze. It is quite a wet batter, so I was expecting a moist loaf, but I fear I over-baked it. I checked on it at 15 and then 30 mins. At the 30 min mark, I realized it was ready to come out 5 mins ago, so its a good thing I didn't let it go unattended to the 40 min mark!

It still is a lovely loaf to eat, even with my over-baking. It tastes great with some jam or just plain ol'buttter. I will definitely be making this recipe again and suggest you do too.

Shooting the Chutes postcard

I must confess that I kept wanting to read this bread's name as "Sally Luna," which makes me think of Luna Park in Coney Island and somewhat like this bread more. This thought process made me want to watch some Luna Park footage. I found this silent film from the Library of Congress of the Shooting the Chutes ride in action.

"Shooting the chutes, Luna Park, Coney Island" from The Library of Congress

That ride looks like a super fun time. Funny though, I never go on water rides when I am at an amusement park because walking around sopping wet for the rest of the day isn't my idea of a good time. Ah, this is when old-timey romanticism butts heads with everyday-reality. Oh, can we just stay in dreamland for just a wee bit longer?

Dreamily yours,

Roll'em Girls

I am a woman obsessed! Flapper frocks have always run over my mind, but lately I am trying to get as much information and images of 20s ladies wearing rolled stockings or garters. Due to my craze, I will dedicate three posts to images & illustrations depicting these styles. Today's post is silent screen stars with this look. The next two Mondays will have posts focusing on garters, embellished stockings, and other accessories. I hope you enjoy!

Wynne Gibson with feather accent garters - Image from k5psb

The images below, except the last two, were found on Mothic Flights & Flutterings, who keeps an amazingly well-credited and accurate Tumblr. I highly suggest you add her to your RSS feed.

Dorthy Sebastian

Bebe Daniels

Virginia Bruce

Alice White

Unknown flapper, from the Wiki page about rolled stockings.

Scan from Século Ilustrado, No. 489, May 17 1947 - 27a by Gatochy.

On Wednesday the garter and rolled stocking parade continues with illustrations from John Held Jr. and Nell Brinkley!

Vintage Tomboys, Part 2

To carry over from last week, here are more beautiful ladies dressed in some fine gentlemanly clothing.

Celia and Peter Lorre. I love the suits women wore as cruise wear back in the day.

Lady Clara. I need to get some suspenders!

Marlene looking amazing.

That's all for now! If you have any images of vintage ladies strutin' the tomboy style, comment below.

 

Henrietta Sees it Through

I finally read the sequel to Joyce Dennys Henrietta's War, which sees Henrietta to the end of WWII. While Dennys was reserved in the first book, she opens up a bit more to the reality of homefront hardships in Henrietta Sees it Through. The same "letter to a solider abroad" format is used for this second book, with the major theme being the stresses and extreme guilt placed upon the women left behind from the British government.

Due to the changing circumstances of the war, those on the homefront were often told contradictory information and directions within weeks of each other. They encouraged women to have babies, yet would call out those who were "idle" for too long, not putting themselves to duty. Here is a segment from the October 7, 1942 letter where Henrietta explains the predicament of the changing roles of women, recalling a conversation that was held between the villagers.

"Poor Women!" I said.
"They ought to be proud to come at their Country's Need," said Colonel Simpkins, looking at me very sternly.
"They are," I said. "Only they must get rather sick of being mucked about."
"What a disgusting expression," said Mrs. Savernack.
"What Henrietta means," said Lady B, "is that one day women are being told their place is the Home, and the next minute they have to man the guns."
"And if they get their legs blown off, it's supposed to matter less to them than it does to a man," I said.
"And as soon as they've got used to manning guns, the war will end, and they'll be told their place is the Home again," said Lady B.
   - Henrietta Sees it Through, pg 57.

Throughout the war, the homefront was told to eat more of one thing, and the next week told to eat less of it next week. Oh, and by the way, all your travel is unnecessary - so while you are home make sure to salvage metal and patch clothes and make-up for the fact that you never do enough. I can't imagine taking on as much as these WWII women did yet still constantly feel guilt for feeling that more could be done.

All this constant making and doing, of course, causes exhaustion. This is something often referenced in WWII writings, but rarely shown through example, as is in this book. Dennys gets across the war weariness well, especially in the March 8, 1944 letter where "Henrietta" explains how everyone in the village is at the end of their ropes, with the closest of friends snapping at each other. In the end, it is an air raid that brings everyone back onto speaking terms; the mutual hatred of Hitler and the experience of going into the shelters reinvigorates the village's relationships. The oddness of this change is expressed by Lady B: "Isn't it awful that we have to have a German plane over us to stop us being disagreeable and make us realize that we have a Great Deal to Be Thankful For?" (p. 117)

If you want to get a better idea of what country women endured in Britain during the second war, you should pick-up this sequel. The letter format makes this collection extremely readable and allows the day-to-day tribulations to be conveyed in digestible segments.

Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

There are some recipes in my cookbook collection that become good ol'standbys. The cookbooks I use the most tend to rotate seasonally, though the two that I have been cooking from the most over the past two seasons is Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food and the The American Woman's Cook Book. I have the 1942 edition of American Woman's with the "War Cooking" addition at the end, but there are many editions available. Out of all the vintage cookbooks I own, this is the only one that I find both useful and dependable. If you ever see a copy, pick it up, you'll thank me later.

One of the standby recipes from this 1942 cookbook is a muffin recipe that is not only hearty, but perfect for using up old or spoiled milk. I used to be afraid of using spoiled milk, but the way I figure is that if it being cooked/baked anyway, any bad stuff would be killed off. I'm happy to report that this reasoning has treated me well; I have yet to get sick from using spoiled milk in baking recipes and have a great snack at the end of it!

This recipe is a variation of a variation in the book. The main recipe is for Graham Muffins, and offers an alternate for making a rolled oat version. I like something hearty in the mornings, so I added the dried cranberries and cinnamon to the mix. Whenever I have some around, I also add some orange extract or even sometimes a wee bit of orange juice.

The one warning I must give with this recipe is that the mix turns out differently every time. It all depends on how much milk to oats absorb. Sometimes when I take out the bowl of soaking oats they are still sitting about in a puddle of milk, others times they've drank everything up. Depending on how much milk the oats soak up, you may have to add more milk to the mixture the next day. I have to add extra milk about 50% of the time when I make this recipe, but I never have to add more than 1/2 a cup.

Oatmeal + Dried Cranberry Muffins
Adapted from The American Woman's Cookbook, 1942 edition.
1 cup flour
2 cups rolled oats
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1 egg
1 1/2 cups sour milk or buttermilk + extra milk in case needed
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon orange extract (optional)
1/2 cup dried cranberries 

1) Soak the rolled oats in sour milk overnight.
2) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together. Beat egg; add oatmeal mixture, butter, and extract (if using). Add dry ingredients to wet mix. Mix only enough to dampen flour. If not damp enough, add extra milk in 1/4 cup increments until mixing together. (The most I've ever needed to add is 1/2 a cup.) Fold in dried cranberries.
3) Fill greased or lined muffin pans and bake for 20 to 25 mins until toothpick comes out clean. Let sit in muffin tin for 3 to 5 mins and place on rack to cool. 

I hope you enjoy making and eating these lovely muffins, perfect for breakfast with a hard boiled egg or for a snack with some tea!

Vintage Tomboys, Part 1

After my post about how I love twisting men's styles into my own look, I started searching for some 30s inspiration in that vein. Marlene Dietrich, is of course, the first stop in looking for women wearing suits. I also found some other images of both known and unknown ladies sporting masculine clothes. Here is the first installment, with the second post next Friday. Hope you enjoy these!

Marguerite Clark. Elsie Lawson, and Helen G.

Greta

Myrna Loy for a publicity photo for 'The Thin Man.' April 1934.

Marlene

More to come next week!

Downton Abbey

While visiting my grandparents a few months ago, my grandmother and I were sitting on the couch reading and knitting when she exclaimed, "Oh, its time for Downton Abbey!" I asked her what the heck she was talking about, to which she exclaimed she was surprised I haven't been watching the new Masterpiece series.

So, I sat and watched an episode with her and was instantly hooked. Unfortunately, it was the very last episode of the season. Luck for me, Netflix has the entire first season on instant watch, so I hunkered down to watch the entire season as soon as I returned to Chicago.

In terms of the time period concerned: the story opens-up with the sinking of the Titanic and closes with the start of WWI. While the 1910s are not "my" era, I definitely have a soft spot for them in my wee historian heart. The costuming is done very well and the stories are really engaging. My favorite character is the grandmother by far.

I found a clip of the scene depicted in the photo above, of Grandmother Crawley in the cousin's law office. Perhaps my sense of humor is conditioned to old-timey sensibilities, but this scene made me laugh my ass off. I know I'm suppose to hate the grandmother, but she has the best lines and Maggie Smith is magical at delivering them.

I also enjoy the relationship between Lady Sybil (the youngest sister) and Gwen (the housemaid). Not to mention that Lady Sybil tends to have the best outfits and I'm quite envious of this Gwen's red red hair. Lady Mary (the oldest sister), I am sorry to say, I completely despise. I know you are suppose to hate/feel sorry for Lady Edith (the middle sister) because she is an evil plotter, but at least she knows she is doing something wrong. Mary, on the other hand, is just a downright bitch and is completely unaware of it. (Oh dear, excuse my French!) Am I the only one who feels this way? I hope not.

There is no way I can close a post about Downton Abbey without mentioning the sexy vintage cars involved - my my. Anyway, for those of you who have missed the series or want to watch it again, get thee to the PBS store or to Netflix.

Small Splurges

Over the last few months I've been saving up pennies to buy myself a few small splurges. Frankly, some of these things are not expensive at all, but they are little things that turn the everyday into something quite nice. Things like the little Pastiglie digestives I keep in my purse or the afternoon tea I take at my desk cost pennies, but brighten my day.

But yes, there are also the "fancy" things I add to my home that also add to my joy, and I'd like to share them with you. Perhaps they will make you think of small "splurges" you can add to your everyday life. I hope it does!

New vintage lingerie from Dollhouse Bettie. I've been eyeing their awesome selection for a while and since I've been trying to add a bit of glamour to my at-home wear, I decided to snag some lovely deadstock slips.

Vintage stamps that make me smile and the letters that go along with them. (Any U.S. stamp that has not been canceled can be used at face value for postage. Just make sure it isn't a valuable stamp before using it!) Check out Arago for some great stamp eye-candy.

New garter set from Previously. They add a bit of fun to winter wear and help prevent the granny slouched-sock look. I'm pretty much addicted to these garters. So addicted she is making me a custom pair for my wedding and I'm super pleased at how they are turning out so far.

And finally, books, books, books. I recently re-subscribed to Persephone's book-a-month option for 6 months. I'm quite excited for the reading material that is in store for me over the next two seasons & will definitely keep you all updated on what I'm reading.

What little splurges have you allowed yourself recently?

Gilda + Going Ginger

Let me open this post by confessing that I am not a Rita Hayworth fan. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, I think it is obvious that I tend to like the underdogs in Old Hollywood. That being said, Gilda has been on my Netflix instant queue for months because everyone says it is a must see, blah blah blah. Scrolling through my instant watch list I saw that Gilda was going to be removed in the beginning of March (yes, its already gone from instant watch, sorry), so I decided to bite the bullet and watch the darn thing. (I am going to assume that most of my readers have already watched this movie; what do you think about it being a "to watch" film?)

 

It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, it was an enjoyable movie with some great cinematography. The frames involving shadows and blurred front focus was especially interesting and added to the drama of the story.

So, is it a "must watch" movie? I'm going to say yes, but I am confused as to why this is considered Rita's "it" role. I've seen her in other roles and I hardly feel that Gilda is the best she's ever done.

I tried to watch her in The Lady from Shanghai and I had to stop halfway through the movie. It wasn't due to her more than to an Orson Welles overload. Right before sitting down to the film I just got finished listening to two radio plays with him as the main character and I just couldn't handle the voice anymore. What can I say, sometimes he's a genius and other times he is just annoying.

Do I dislike Rita less due to this role? Sort of. In my mind she has gone up a notch to "tolerable because she is sexy as hell." More than anything, this movie made me want to dye my hair red again.

On that ginger note, I had to go back to brunette last year due to my discovery that I have all the sudden become allergic to hair dye. I'm not sure how it happened, but I have read that it can occur, even for someone who dyes their hair constantly. My grandmother keeps pushing me to use henna because her aunt did so in the 40s with great results. My concern is that I have dark brown hair and I am doubtful that I would be able to achieve any good red result with henna with such dark hair. Anyone with dark hair have experience with using henna to go red?

You Make Me

Image via Mothic Flights & Flutterings

For the last few months I've felt a bit run-down on creativity. I was in an inspirational slump. Last time this happened, I freaked out, like most people do. This time around I decided to wait it out and just read books.

I am finally getting my inspiration back and am starting to get the make-make energy flowing through my veins. I have to admit that our letter writing socials are helping this feeling, and I'm trying to keep it up with writing, reading, and keeping photos of lovely things people in blog-land have made.

I've been finding it easier to make stuff in the kitchen rather than to get back into my craft room. I'll take what I can get at this point, though the majority of craft projects that are catching my eye right now involve embroidery. Who would of thunk it?

In case you find yourself in a similar creative rut, above are some thumbnails of a few images that are surging my inspirational wheels. Below are some blog posts that have got me thinking, making, and plotting:

Hello Again from A Bloomsbury Life
Embroidery Week: Carousel Collar from Tuppence Ha'Penny
   (Also check out her adventures in millinery & Pillbox Tilt Hat tutorial.)
Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake from Joy the Baker
   (I made this last week sans the icing and it made for an awesome breakfast.)
The entirety of INtangible blog is just awesome
   (Full disclosure: It's written by the other half of 16 Sparrows, Miss Donovan)

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Source links for images:
1. Raspberry pudding II, 2. Doomsters, 3. 02.14.11 | 30s sweetheart
4. forminifera., 5. the prettiest loaf yet, 6. Suburb

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P.S.: Don't forget about the Mail Art Monthly happening tomorrow starting at 7pm over in the backroom of Greer (1657 North Wells). Drink and write some letters!