On "The Curious Cookbook": A Book Review

 

Title: The Curious Cookbook: Viper Soup, Badger Ham, Stewed Sparrow, & 100 More Historic Recipes
Author: Peter Ross
Genre: Non-Fiction, Food History

About the book...
Collected by Peter Ross and with a forward by Heston Blumenthal, The Curious Cookbook presents readers with some of the more unusual and, for then, historically standard recipes spanning from the 1300's through the 1940's.

What I think...
This was a great book! I am admittedly one of those people more than willing to dive into the less appealing side of culinary history along with the more standard fare, so when I came across this book recently it was instantly appealing to me (though I still can't figure out exactly how I ended up finding out about it). 

This book was very nicely laid out with each page, or for longer recipes pages, featuring just one recipe rather than being all crammed in. Following each recipe there was a paragraph giving some historical background and that highlighted the significance of the recipe. Given that food is such a window into past cultures providing both a look at what was available at the time, deemed safe, and offering a look at economic standards and I thought this book did a nice job in capturing all these elements in a more bite sized and casual way. 

It also did a nice job weaving common elements through the time periods, so that the reader could see how certain recipes evolved or how current events influenced what people were reliant on when it came to food, as well as exhibiting some of the recipes that had more to do with being trendy or someone with societal standing.

Additionally, looking at the book itself, the hardcover edition is really nicely bound and has lovely thick pages. The images included were nicely integrated and included kitchen scenes, pages from early cookery texts, sketches of dishes, and advertisements of implements that would have been used in the making of the dishes.

To sum it all up...
A great book for anyone interested in historical cooking and the more unusual recipes of the past! ♥

On Some Christmas Elves!

Last year I went on a reindeer making spree using the pattern from the November 1961 issue of Woman's Day; this year I managed to get a hold of an actual copy of the magazine (someone else had shared the reindeer pattern) and had plans for making the elf on the cover along with Santa. Santa didn't materialize this year, unfortunately, but I did make the elf...sort of. 

While I started following the pattern (shrinking it down to match with the size of Silverbell, the reindeer), somehow I ended up making two girl elves and pretty much ignoring the accessories and clothes. In part, I feel like the beard was a deciding factor for this, and, if I'm to be honest, not making Santa, as I was not going back out to the craft store to find fake fur or something along those lines to make it, I didn't think the white yarn I had looked right, and I had several shades of brown yarn handy.  

Meet Candy!

Cookie and Silverbells are great friends!

The shirt from the original pattern did remain. I just turned it round and have them wearing it as a jacket instead and to break up the stripes I gave them little aprons. The tiny shoes, also from the original pattern, were hand sewn out of felt!

There is supposed to be a third youthful boy elf to go with them, which I was intending to make the vest for, but I never quite decided on what fabric I wanted for the body and clothes, so he's still a little pile of pieces. He might get finished within the week, but we shall see about that dependent on how I'm feeling. Meanwhile, I have these two sweet elves to help me wish you the merriest of Christmas!

 

♥ ♥ ♥

On Gunter Meets Pudding: A Photo Post

 Gunter--Pudding; Pudding--Gunter. Remove the Pudding!

A random and spur of the moment project that ended up being perfect for my tired, unfocused brain as aside from size (pieces were cut free hand) and color of the holly leaves, there are very few choices to make when it comes to how a classic pudding looks. Gunter approves of the pudding! ♥

On Making Angels 1960's Style

A couple of months ago I was digging through the garage for something and found a handful of  craft magazines mixed in with some old kid's magazines. The oldest of the bunch was "Fun with Craft Sticks" from 1966.

It has a few different Christmas crafts in it, the one that appealed to me though, were the popsicle stick angels that appear on the cover (as opposed to the one ladened with decoupage daisies and marbles). As usual, I made adjustments and used balsa wood for the head rather than a bead and felt for the hair instead of plastic wood. Hard to see in the picture, I bent gold paper clips to make the halos.

Jokingly, I've been referring to them as The Supremes!

Ultimately, I think I'd like to get them on strips of green and pink ribbon to hang in rows on the wall for an extra 60's touch! 

Moving on, I also pulled out my 1964 Christmas Magic by Margaret Perry, this time to make angels. The pattern in the book, as with last year's donkey, is actually to make an aluminum candle holder, but I used heavier weight metallic paper and decided to hang them from the ceiling. I also copied and sized down the pattern to make slightly smaller ones. Sorry for the not so great picture, the heater makes them move!

 And thus you have the beginning of my Christmas crafting. Stay tuned for the next round!♥

On "Before the Coffee Gets Cold": A Book Review

Title: Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot)
Genre: Sci-fi

About the book...
In Japan there is small, sleepy, out of the way cafe named Funiculi Funicula that has been brewing coffee for hundreds of years. Here under very specific rules time travel is a possibility and four individuals will seek to find peace and comfort in visiting the cafe in the past and future.

What I think...
I love time travel books and this one was different than most, but definitely in a positive way.

It was quirky and humorous without being over the top and struck a nice balance between the sad and hopeful elements in the story. One aspect I really liked was that it was much more subtle in terms of the science behind the time travel, with Kawaguchi letting the the reasoning behind why the cafe works the way it does remain a mystery. 

As with any time travel novels there are rules, in this case, however, they are not your typical ones, a point I found refreshing. The primary ones are that you have to be in a specific chair in the cafe and that you must dink the cup of coffee served before it get cold. The reader is delightfully reminded of these two rules throughout the book with the presence of a ghost who occupies the particular chair for most of the day (she gets up once a day to use the restroom) because she did not remember to drink her coffee before it got cold and additionally serves as an interesting minor character in terms of multiple interactions between other characters.

The characters, interestingly given the amount of detail given in the text, aren't all that fleshed out, but, once again, this somehow works really well with the novel as a whole and makes the reasoning behind the time travel for each of the four individuals richer.

At times it has an air of a script about it, almost as though you're reading stage directions, which makes sense as Kawaguchi is a playwright (his play of the same title won the grand prize at the Suginami Drama Festival). I really don't mind this type of writing and find it a nice change of pace.

To sum it all up...
A bittersweet and quirky time travel novel that is highly enjoyable.  ♥     

On Autumnal Decorating: A Photo Post

Last year I shared my wonky pumpkins, but never got around to sharing the other two decorations I made and now I have a few more new decorations to share before we move into the more Christmas-y decor makes (forewarning, you'll be seeing some shortly!)! 

I really like decorating the mantle and with Thanksgiving being my favorite holiday, last year I went all out making an applique and a garland of acorns to add to the pumpkins, leaves, and other little glass and stuffed animals which typically grace the space.

The garland of acorns was made last year on somewhat of a whim and involved cutting out the fabric at random without any definite pattern being used. Because of this I ended up trying two different methods of making them thus resulting in some that are flat and some that are round and puffy and, while the stems are looped on all of them, some I decided to put thread loops on, which allows them to hang at different levels from the baker's twine. When I pulled them out of my autumn box again this year, I was just as equally delighted by them as I was last year!

Moving on to the bigger decorations, last year I also created a pumpkin and leaf applique to hang from the center of the mantle. This past week, I made two smaller mirror image appliques to go along with it. I'm becoming rather fond of making these and am thinking about making a few more for other holidays.

And finally, all the stuffed animal making this year resulted in the desire to make patterns for and sew a few more poly-poplin fruits and veggies. Last month I learned I do a marvelous job making square apples (I felt a bit like Dumbo blowing the wrong shape bubbles when I stuffed it) and this past weekend I sewed an ear of corn (pun very much intended). 

Wishing a very happy Thanksgiving to my US readers!

♥ ♥ ♥

On the Final Hundred Acre Wood Residents!

Well, my ongoing Winnie-the-Pooh sewing projects made using the patterns in The Pooh Craft Book started in June of last year have come to an end, as over the past three months I finished the final three!

Rabbit was completed the end of September, Winnie-the-Pooh the last weekend of October, and Tigger two days ago. 

There's not much to say about them since they were all very straightforward when it came to piecing them together. Rabbit was probably the most simplistic of the entire bunch and went together in a few hours, I left Pooh's eyebrows off and am not sure if I'll be adding them in the future, and Tigger ended up last because he was going to need the stripes painted on, which was not something I was looking forward to (painting felt is not a pleasure). The painting was actually a pretty quick process, though, since I wasn't going for precise and detailed stripes and they came out decently.

 

All in all a lovely Hundred Acre group, I would say! And now I need to find a new literary sewing project!

♥ ♥ ♥

On "Animated Classics: Disney Alice in Wonderland": A Book Review

Title: Animated Classics: Disney Alice in Wonderland
Genre: Fiction/Picture Book
Publisher: Studio Press Books 

About the book...
A short adaption of Disney's 1951 movie Alice in Wonderland with artwork from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library including the works of artists such as Mary Blair, Frank Thomas, and Ward Kimball.

What I Think...
I actually bought this more out of interest in the art rather than as movie to book adaption and am really quite pleased with it. The story is, as expected, a very simplified summary version of the Disney movie meant to accompany the the images that were chosen. In terms of the art, I really enjoyed seeing the mix of concept art, story sketches, and animation cels all in one place and variation between the artwork, although as a warning it is primarily made up of Mary Blair's work (being a huge fan of her, I never mind adding new books with her work to my collection).

The book concludes with a brief write-up about the Disney movie, which I thought was a nice way to tie everything up and offer a tiny bit of movie history, and a glossary that provides a short biography of the artists included along with the page numbers their artwork appears on.

Overall, the book itself is well bound, having a cloth cover and a ribbon bookmark (though, for an adult, it is very much a quick one sitting book). The cream colored paper used is a very nice quality and the artwork is beautifully printed.

To sum it all up...
A lovely little book for any fan of Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951) and some of the art that was used in the making of it.♥

On Random Movie Related Thoughts

I've been in a rather nit-picky observatory mood this year when it comes to horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and noir movies, and have been recording some of my more amusing thoughts on them. I now subject you to them.

Frankenstein (any and all versions)

-Why does the topic of smell never come up given what the monster is made of especially given the fact that it's basically been fried to bring it to life? There has to be some sort of odor!

Labyrinth (1986)

-In regard to the Bog of Eternal Stench, why doesn't stepping on the rocks make them smell? Those rocks clearly came up from the blog all covered in goo and, therefore, should be just as smelly.

-Why does the dad ask if she's home at the end? Did they expect her to run away because she was so upset? Isn't it night time?

The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)

-If you're not a child in an old movie, you really should avoid milk. Especially if it's glowing. (This builds on thoughts in relation to Hitchcock's Suspicion, in which he intentionally made the milk glow.) 

Earth vs. the Spider (1958)

-If the spider has to break down the wall to get out of the gym/auditorium, how in the world did they get it in there in the first place? 

-Yet another example of a giant bug/insect/arachnid movie in which the creature can miraculously move about stealthily without creating any air current and therefore sneak up on everyone before they can run. 

The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958) (Semi-spoilers in this one, although it's pretty predictable) 

-Soooo many oddities in plot of this B movie. 

-The hundreds of years old talisman is wearable, but the chest has to be guarded from theft? And given that there were only a few people who knew about the chest in the first place, what merited the need for it to be locked up in a room and guarded by not one, but TWO people?

-If you found a head in a chest wouldn't you just close it?

-Given the purpose and value of the talisman, how and why did it end up at the base of the tree? Also, very convenient finding it the same time as the chest after all those years.

Invisible Ghost (1941)

-How terribly sad to be "Attractive Blonde" in a news article describing one's death rather than to be described by profession or by name.  

Dracula (1931)

-Why are there armadillos!?! Are they just running around the house? Could they not get rats for the scene? Isn't it too cold for them?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

 -What is boiling in the pot that's in the fireplace? Why isn't anyone concerned about the fact that it keeps bubbling over? Clearly it must have something that either doesn't evaporate or is important enough that keeps getting refilled since it's in multiple scenes.

 ♥ ♥ ♥

On Celebrating Hatter Day in This Style!

For those unaware, today in places where the date is written month first, 10/6, is considered Hatter day (for others, it is June 10). This unofficial holiday is based on the price tag on the hat of the Hatter in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which rather than the date actually stands for 10 shillings and six pence, but provides an excellent excuse to acknowledge, contemplate, and celebrate "Chapter 7: A Mad Tea-Party".   

Over the past few months, I've been very slowly working to finish the Mad Tea Party set from the November 1965 Woman's Day magazine (Alice and Dormouse both finished in 2012) and a Cheshire Cat from a 1960's issue of Woman's Day that contained a set of cat patterns, and thought it a fitting way to celebrate the day by sharing my finally completed set!

Rather than just sharing them like I normally would, for fun I decided to stage them in scenes from both Chapter 6 and 7!

Some sewing details for those interested in how I almost went mad in finishing up the set and started wondering if I was offending Time in how long I was taking in doing so.   

The Cheshire Cat 

"Did you say 'pig' or 'fig'?"

The Cheshire Cat had the least amount of adjustments primarily due to its simplicity, so I'm going to start with it. I downsized the pattern from the original, so that it would fit in with the other dolls. This made the seam allowance on the inner portion of the legs a bit tricky, which is why my Cheshire Cat doesn't exactly sit flat. This, however, I think it makes him a bit more whimsical, so I don't mind a bit. 

 

Additionally, I opted to leave the tail bare rather than put yarn loops and along similar lines decided I really liked it without stripes. I also tried what I'm thinking of as under-sewing the felt on its eyes and nose (meaning I stitched through the middle of the felt instead of coming all the way up through it) and am happy with how secure they seem to be. For some sparkle, since he might disappear at any moment, I used metallic embroidery thread for the whiskers! 

 The Hatter

The Hatter was a small scale lesson in lining, as both his vest and jacket are lined. I decided to try my own thing on the first sleeve of the jacket; let's just say doing the second sleeve according to the actual instructions went better. 

Next, his hat! Against my better judgement, primarily because I just wanted to be done and it was in my stash, I used poly-poplin. It does not crease or hold in place where you want it to and is certainly one of the most uncooperative fabrics to have chosen. On top of that, I had just barely enough stabilizer, which in the case of the primary piece had to be hand sewn on to the outer layer to make sure the hat didn't fold in on itself. As can be seen, the support for the top of the hat is made up of scraps shoved in there, so that will need to be replaced when I get more. Once again, though, despite spending over 6 hours on the silly thing, I was pleased with how it turned out.

The March Hare

I adjusted quite a bit when it came to the March Hare. The instructions called for the shirt opening to be at the back and the collar piece to be directly tacked to the March Hare's neck, but I didn't like that the Hatter's shirt actually buttoned in front, while the March Hare's didn't. Based on this, I ended up cutting the front of the shirt open, adding a placket, and hand sewing the collar piece onto the shirt (a truly maddening task that was made worse by not cutting the collar piece base at enough of a curve). The shirt was to be closed with hooks and eyes, which I did end up doing except at the front with the buttons covering the stitching from them.

Other minor changes I made were giving him a bow tie instead of ribbon, swapping out the pom pom tail for a gathered circle piece of fabric and not finding any fake wheat shoots that I liked and not wanting to buy an actual wheat bundle, I ended up using raffia on his head, which I think denotes his madness quite nicely.

Now, there is actually one more Wonderland pattern for the White Rabbit included in this particular magazine. I didn't really feel compelled to make it because the White Rabbit does not attend the mad tea party in the book. Additionally, one of my first stuffed animal projects that I drafted and sewed completely by hand was the White Rabbit and being ever so fond of it, I'm willing put this last pattern on hold for a much later date. 

Wishing everyone a happy Hatter day filled with muchness of tea, contemplation on ravens and writing desks, the singing of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat", any other mad tea party activities you should chose to engage in, and, of course, the wearing of a hat!  

 ♥🎩♥

On Cabbages

As promised, a short post randomly rambling on about cabbages. 

Cabbages are a rather versatile vegetable. They can be boiled, steamed, pickled, fermented, chopped, eaten raw, creamed, or prepared using any number of other methods, and they come in a variety of colors, shapes, textures for those picky enough to take notice. 

Babies, of course, can be found in cabbage patches or under their leaves, making them a serviceable vegetable beyond the table. Additionally, in parts of Europe they were believed to have the power of showing one or helping one determine who one's sweetheart was, which in turn allows for the perpetuation of the legend of babies being found in cabbage patches. Should one partake in eating cabbage, however, this may keep a potential sweetheart away making it advisable to avoid consuming them while seeking out one's sweetheart.

And least we forget, there is always the option of using a cabbage as a substitution for a table top Christmas tree decoration because no party could be considered complete without one!

From Garnishing: A Feast for Your Eyes, 1987. (source: yuckylicious.blogspot.com)

 ♥ ♥ ♥

On "Letters from Hollywood": A Book Review

Title: Letters from Hollywood: Inside the Private World of Classic American Moviemaking
Editors: Barbara Hall & Rocky Lang
Genre: Non-Fiction 

About the book...
A collection of letters, notes, and telegrams ranging from the 1920s to the 1970s written by and to legends of classic Hollywood.

What I think...
I loved this book! While it's always fun to read old Hollywood correspondence, this book goes a step further and has included images of the actual items rather than just transcribing them, so you can see the actual document. Part of the fun of this was getting to see who had the messiest writing, preferred typing, and what type of stationary was used, so I was delighted they went this route.

Each item is accompanied by a short write up providing background context pertaining to the writers, recipients, and subject matter, which I appreciated for films and stars I was less familiar with and in some cases built up a greater understanding of a few of the topics being addressed.

 

In terms of presentation, the layouts were great and they did a nice job including photos that corresponded with the writers of the letters or the subject matters. For a coffee table sized book with glossy pages, I also thought it was really nicely bound.  

I also really enjoyed getting to read some of the "behind the scene" process that occurred during the making of some of the golden era movies and just . My favorites included a very sweet 1957 letter from Ingrid Bergman to Cary Grant thanking him for accepting her Oscar for her and a letter about how problematic adapting Double Indemnity was in terms of the Hays Code.

To sum it all up...
A treasure trove of correspondence that will delight any classic film fan! ♥ 

On Ten Years of Blogging!

Having sneaked up on me as stealthily as a Boojum, today marks the 10 year anniversary of this blog!

This blog has come a long way since it came into being, starting out with creative writing posts, moving into the area of sewing and vintage (I was insistent when I began, I was not going to venture there-clearly when one primarily follow vintage blogs and loves old things, one eventually ventures there) book reviews, and bits of non-sewing crafting. 

While I have not always been the most consistent in posting, in the past usually due to various time constraints due to coursework and more recently health issues, and I've considered giving it up a couple of times (primarily due to the former), I'm happy and proud to have been at it this long. I have made some very dear friends along the way, have a lovely log of how I've grown in my sewing skills, and, while it's waned over time, enjoyed being part of the vintage blogging community.

With my blog's name stemming from the poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" my blogging journey started with a few posts addressing several of the topics the Walrus says it's time to talk about, specifically shoes, ships, and sealing-wax. With a decade of posts, I think it's about time to get around to writing on cabbages and kings this month. As to why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings, I shall leave to your own personal speculation for the time being. 

Thanks for reading and here's a glass of "treacle and ink and anything else that is pleasant to drink" raised to more posts to come! ♥

On Gunter the Turtle: A Photo Post

 I was going to sew a hippo, but then ended up sewing a turtle instead. His name is Gunter.

He goes remarkably well with the doll I had made for an elderly relative in 2012 from a Joan Russell doll pattern found in the November 1965 edition of Woman's Day. 

 

♥ ♥ ♥