2014: The Reckoning

Brought to you by the most racist candy ever made...

Kitty-cat related advertising for now-defunct soft drinks...

The original cast of The Facts Of Life...

The Smylie Family...

My beloved Hee Haw lunchbox....

A scrumptious Swanson TV dinner...

And my favorite random 1975 photo of all time.

I'm back, bitches.

"...so I have more time to tease my hair to dizzying heights!"

Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy Convenient Meats as much as the next gal, especially in a party setting, as I am usually too shy to speak to anyone and wind up drowning my sorrows in several party-size platters of assorted cold cuts.

And I am willing to overlook the fact that Our Lovely Hostess has apparently chosen to go with a quasi-Polynesian theme for her Whores Devores (hors d'oeuvres).  You just know those cherries came straight from a glorious syrupy jar, and the pineapple is courtesy of Dole!

I can't, however, overlook the hair.  It fascinates me.  The amount of engineering...not to mention hairspray...involved in this coiffure belongs in The Hairdo Hall Of Fame.  If one exists.  And if one doesn't, should I start one?

From The Summer of 1979: The Versatile Deliciousness Of Thousand Island Dressing

People

August 6, 1979

Unfortunately, Wishbone Thousand Island dressing isn't included on that Scarsdale Diet that all the girls at the beauty shop are so crazy about...you know the one, the one we saw on Merv?

(I love the "recipe hints" in this ad.  You don't have to sell me on using Thousand Island on sandwiches.  I love it on reubens, on turkey sandwiches, with roast beef on rye...)

(And something else: you can make the most divine salad dressing with hummus, lemon juice, Bragg Liquid Aminos, and olive oil.  Slap it all in a bowl and mix it up.  I prefer much more of the Liquid Aminos than the lemon juice; but you come up with your own proportions.  Experimenting with the amounts is part of the fun!)

As I Blog While Starving (And A Chicken Is Baking In My Oven And Our Whole House Smells Like Lemony Garlicky Deliciousness)

And as my stomach growls...

Boy howdy, this blog is going to be a favorite of mine.  I can just tell.

I've been toying with the notion of actually making some of the vintage recipes that cross my path, kind of like what I did with The Salad of '75 (remember?).

Then I would photograph the results and give you my review.

What do you think?

I love the condescending quotation marks.  Isn't that cute of that homemaker, to actually think that she's a chef?  Whatever will her pretty little head think up next?

Donuts + Ukelele Music = Great Party

Hooray for donuts!

Hooray for parties!

Hooray for Young America!

(This message is brought to you by the Bakers of America.  Yes, readers: always look for that red, white, and blue seal.) 

Edited to add:
I totally want to have a donuts and ukelele party now.
It sounds like a lot of fun.
Yes, really.

Vintage Breakfast: Snap! Crackle! Pop!

I can't find an exact date for this darling commercial, 
but it's a real favorite of mine.

The Rolling Stones got into the Rice Krispies game with this jingle that Brian Jones wrote with the J. Walter Thompson ad agency in 1964.  It aired on the BBC's Juke Box Jury.

 

The Monkees did a number of commercials for Kellogg's Rice Krispies, featuring their own version of the "K-E-Double L, O-Double Good...Kellogg's best to you!" tagline, with Micky on lead vocal.  
This is one of my favorites because it features the Monkeemobile.

What This Blog Needs: The Magic Of Soup

I love soup.  I could live quite happily on the stuff.

Growing up on a tight budget in Indiana, we ate a lot of Campbell's soup.  Bean With Bacon and Tomato were the favorites in our house.   Our thermoses were often filled with Beef Barley soup for schooltime lunches.  And if you were sick, Mom made our sickroom a little more special with Chicken And Stars.

Today, as an adult, one of the ultimate comfort foods for me is Campbell's Tomato made with full-fat half-and-half.

From 1954: When Someone Barfs On The Table And Calls It "Supper"

Women's Day

March 1954 

It's the little lemon slices that make this dish elegant!

From Our Cousins Across The Pond: Love To Lard You, Baby

1950

From 1958: Back When You Could Say "Beef Balls" Without Having Someone Snicker

I love old recipes.  This is a terrific double-clicker and we might just have all four of these dishes over the next couple of weeks.

Gelatin and Green Olives...Together At Last, United In Deliciousness!

Wonderful memories of my Grandma Mary, who most certainly would have made this Jell-O salad and served it proudly with dollops of mayonnaise...all the while with a Pall Mall burning between her fingertips manicured with Revlon's Fire and Ice and a highball awaiting her when she finished the chore.

What This (And Every) Blog Needs: More Campbell's Soup

1959

If there's anything I like more than morbidly obese animated children extolling the virtues of My Canned Childhood (we ate a lot of Campbell's in my house growing up), it's using wink-wink nudge-nudge stereotypes about Scottish people to sell soup. "It's thrifty, too...aye, you can add seven or eight cans of water to that soup to make it stretch farther!"

Have you had your soup today?

The Vintage Hungries: The Immortal Deliciousness Of Taco Bell

1979

I Got Me A Case Of The Vintage Hungries: Ripe Olive Susan To The Rescue!

And look at them yummy Deviled-Ham Rollwiches!

It's still hotter than Billy Be Damned here in Hell, Arizona, and one thing that always tastes good when the temperatures are still 193 degrees are sammiches!

Be sure to note the radish bouquet.

From Eudaemonius' most excellent photostream on Flickr

From 1981: Consult The Phone Book For The Class Nearest You

And Finally, The Chef Himself

Notice how he pronounces his last name: Boy AR dee.

Chef Ettore (Hector) Boiardi
1898-1985

From 1986: It's Dinner Time At The Rearick Homestead

Hey Rearick Dad: less talky, more cooky!

Chef Boyardee Pizza Pizza Pizza!

Sorry, Ken and I have been watching Strangers With Candy again and I've got Jerri Blank on the brain.

This clip is from the mid Fifties. I especially like the end where the little slices of pizza disengage themselves from the rest of the pie. I'm unsure as to whether or not Chef Boyardee is the equivalent of pizzeria pizza, as the clip claims, but it does have a special flavor all its own that I am sure has nostalgic value for many of you here.

Enjoy!

From 1980: Chef Boyardee Chili Mac!

Ken and I ate a whole lot of chili mac back when we were young and first living together, because it was cheap and the recipe made a lot and I wasn't a very accomplished cook then.

I had no idea that Chef Boyardee made his own version in a can! According to the Chef's website, this dish of deliciousness is still available on store shelves!

From 1984: Thank Goodness For Chef Boyardee

The ultimate in canned comfort food, in my opinion. I love the ravioli so much. The taste takes me right back to my childhood, finding this in my official Roy and Johnny thermos from my Emergency! lunch box.