Showing posts with label misc. Show all posts

New Acquisitions

I feel like I just won the lottery.
The cookbook lottery, that is.

My city's library is having a huge fundraising book sale this weekend, so yesterday I decided to go and check out their cookbook selection. I was surprised to see they had a ton of stuff there, and I came out with far more than I meant to get. The best part? I got 37 books FOR FREE. Completely free! Most of these are promotional pamphlets, but still! Awesome!

Here are all the books I got for free:


A few selections:


I picked up this plus one other Jell-O cookbook for free:


And here are the 10 books I actually paid for:

The top one is Cooking for Campers. There's also a small book of Newfoundland recipes. The thin green one at the bottom is a book of seasonal/holiday recipes. Can you believe I paid only $3 for those huge Gourmet cookbooks?! I'm tempted to go back again today...

Historic Recipe Bank

No recipe today guys, sorry!
However, I did want to highlight a website I just found, literally minutes ago, the Historic Recipe Bank by The Henry Ford!
There's some old favourites as well as some new books, across a wide range of dates. The best part is that the recipes are scans from the actual pages, so you can see them exactly as they appeared. I'm always wary about the authenticity of typed-out historical recipes.
Check it out! And if you don't have time now, I'll be adding the link to my resources page.


Christmas Collection

This Christmas I was lucky enough to get three new old cookbooks! My collection thus far is pretty small, but it is growing!
My lovely Mr. Man got me these two: The Woodlawn Cook Book (1898) and the Norfolk Street United Church Recipe Book (1968). The first is American, but the second is actually from the town I live in, which is pretty neat. It also has a unique format in that it is put together on rings rather than bound as a book. I found that the Norfolk Street United Church had been producing recipe collections for fundraising since at least the 1930s, so this later book is part of an established tradition.
The Woodlawn Cook Book is officially my oldest acquiry. Unfortunately I couldn't find any information on it. This book also came with a little something extra - a newspaper clipping titled "Hints for Home Life."


My third book was a gift from my mom. She picked up the Electric Refrigerator Recipes and Menus while on vacation in Hawaii! Although the book seems to be published in Cleveland? This one dates to 1927, although the edition I have was printed in 1928. This book was written for General Electric in order to advertise their new refrigerators. The author was Alice Bradley, the principal of Miss Farmer's School of Cookery - that is, the school established by the famous Fannie Farmer. Bradley took over the school after Farmer's death in 1915 and ran it until the mid-1940s. This book marks an important turning point in kitchen history. It advertises the new technological advances of the age, something which is taken entirely for granted in most parts of the world today. It also marked the beginning of an era, in which companies began to use cookbooks and recipes as agents of advertising. Other brands such as Kelvinator and Majestic were quick to follow the example set by GE in marketing new kitchen appliances.
I love the cover and color illustrations in this cookbook, they are really charming. The recipes are almost entirely desserts. Some look really delicious, especially the recipe for Vassar Devils, which I included a photo of. This book also had some hidden gems - a newspaper clipping with some recipes and a typed recipe for Ice Box Cake. You can read some of the book online here.



4 Weeks of Yuletide

A Christmas Dole by Joseph Clark, 19th century

Today is my last day of classes! Which means that December - and Christmas - is right around the corner. I have a lot of free time in December, so it's my plan to publish at least one holiday-themed historical recipe each week. Ideally, I'd like to do more than 5 posts, but I will also have my hands full with catching up on housework, freezer cooking to prep for next semester, and taking care of Little Y. Not to mention visiting family. So my promise to you is 5 posts, at least. I won't be focusing on any particular time period, so expect a wide range of recipes. Because December 1st is a Saturday, I will do my first post then. So scheduled posts will be December 1, 8, 15, 22, 29. I hope you come visit Kitchen Historic in December to learn a little bit about how the holiday season was celebrated in the past!


The Wimodausis Club Cook Book (1922)


On Friday I went on an adventure with Mr. Man and Little Y into the big city, a.k.a. Toronto. It was the last weekend of the Royal Winter Fair, which is a huge agricultural event here in Ontario. One of the main reasons I wanted to go was to check out an old bookstore, at which I bought my other old cookbook, The Blue Ribbon Cookbook. Canadian cookbooks can be hard to come by online, so it's nice to have some in hand.
There were three which caught my eye, but I ended up getting only this one, because it was the oldest. It's a community cookbook, printed in 1922 for the Wimodausis Club. The man who sold it to me asked if I knew what the club was, and I had to admit I had no clue what I was buying. It stands for Wives Mothers Daughters Sisters. Apparently they were a big deal in Toronto. Here's a more detailed history of them, taken from the Toronto Archives:


"The Wimodausis Club was founded in 1902 at the Sherbourne St. Methodist Church by Mrs. James Hale and four of her pupils: Miss Florence Bradshaw (Mrs. Norman Tavell), Miss Mina Flavelle (Mrs. Wallace Barrett), Miss Muriel Larkin, and Miss Florence Hurrington. The club was formed to stress the value of personal service and responsibility to the community. The name 'Wimodausis' was chosen as an abbreviation for wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters. Many prominent Toronto women were members of the Club, including Lady Eaton and Lady Flavelle.
In the 1920s, a branch called the Junior Wimodausis Club was formed. This group consisted of daughters and granddaughters of current Wimodausis Club members. In 1946 the Junior Wimodausis Club, with Mrs. Harry Graham as president, took over the duties of the Wimodausis Club. Those who had been members of the Wimodausis Club prior to this change became the Wimodausis Auxiliary, with Frieda Clark as president. The second Junior Wimodausis Club was formed in 1953 and was elevated to become the next Wimodausis Club in 1973, thus creating a second Wimodauses Auxiliary group. A third Junior Wimodausis Club was formed in 1986, but they disbanded before elevating in 1992. 
An early focus for the club was raising money through sewing and bazaars to help a young native girl named Helen Amos at the Elizabeth Long Memorial Home in Kitimat, B.C. They also raised money for equipment for kindergartens in Japan. Starting in 1914, the Club began to aid the Earlscourt Children's Home (also known as the Earlscourt Child and Family Centre). In 1918, the Club acquired a large house on St. Clair Gardens, and donated it to be used for the Children's Home. In 1949 the Wimodausis Club donated a camp at Pigeon Lake for the children of Earlscourt Home. The camp was used until the mid-1970s. After the closure of the Pigeon Lake camp, a new summer camp was created in 1982 and renamed Camp Wimodausis in 1989. The Club also raised money to build a new house for the Earlscourt Children Home, when the old one had fallen into disrepair in 1957. The Club also supported the Bond Street Nursery School and a dozen other Toronto institutions. 
During the Second World War, the Club participated in war effort and city relief activities, aiding the veteran hospitals, holding repatriation suppers for the armories, and sending overseas packages to soldiers. The Club also organized a number of regular fundraising activities, including cookbook sales, raffles, dance benefits, garden parties, and widely advertised annual antique shows. The Club opened a gift store called 'The Opportunity Shop' in 1941. The shop stayed open until 1952, selling what was referred to as 'hidden treasures', items donated by the friends of the Club. Sixty percent of the store's profits were given to the war fund and Earlscourt Children's Home. The shop was supported by both T. Eaton Company and Royal Ontario Museum. The shop also provided a meeting place for the Club. 
The final fundraising events held by the Wimodausis Club were held in 1997-1998 in the form of three theatre nights at St. Lawrence Centre. The Wimodausis Club was dissolved in 2002 due to decreasing enrollment and interest. When the Wimodausis club finally shut its doors in 2002, all the remaining funds of the corporation were given to the Bond Street Nursery School."


My copy of the cookbook is quite beaten up on the outside, but the inside is practically pristine. There are almost no food stains and almost no writing. I can only guess that the owner either didn't use it or was purposefully careful to keep her books tidy.
There are some neat recipes in here that I would like to try, so keep an eye out on this blog for recipes like Curly Peters, Banana Peanut Frosting, Marshmallow Dessert, Heavenly Hash, Spaghetti Loaf, Ginger Cordial, and Walnut Crisp.
Recipes I may not be so brave as to try include Combination Banana Sandwiches (bananas, bacon, eggs, and paprika), Spinach and Tongue Salad, and Sweetbread and Mushroom Pie.


Notice

I feel bad doing this every year, but now that school is started I will unfortunately have to stop posting as often. I may even stop posting all together. I have a full course load (5 courses) this semester, including a very reading-intensive 4th year honours course.
The good news is that I spent a lot of time this summer making recipes, so I have almost the entire month of September scheduled with posts. Other than that, my goal is to have one post a week in November and December. For about a month in December and January I will have a break from school, so hopefully at that time I can make a bunch more recipes to last until April, when school is out again. Mainly, I just don't want to stop posting all together like I have before, but in the end school does come before blog.
So please don't abandon me if my posts become sparse! I will come back, I promise!


A Recipe-less Post



Firstly, I received a lovely comment this morning from Abby at things for boys. She has nominated me for the Sunshine Award, which is very kind! Apparently this award is given by bloggers to bloggers "who positively and creatively inspires others in the blogosphere." I'm a blogger of little words (maybe you noticed?) and I don't really do the whole award thing, but it was sweet nonetheless. Also, I don't really read any blogs to nominate, as embarrassing as that is to admit.

Secondly, this morning I stumbled across What's on the Menu?, a website run by the New York Public Library. This is an awesome way to get involved and to experience a hands-on approach to food history! The NYPL has a great collection of historical menus, and needs help transcribing them so that they are searchable. This will also allow them to compile data about the foods that were consumed in the past.

Thirdly, I have some great upcoming recipes to post in the upcoming week, including cherry fritters, black butter, and another macaroni and cheese recipe - with a twist! I'm interested to see how it will compare to the popularity of my first macaroni and cheese recipe.

And to my readers - thank you for reading my humble little blog! If anyone has any suggestions or dishes they would like to see, feel free to leave a comment.