Christmas So Far

Best Biscuits Ever

I'm not sure I have shared the Best Biscuits Ever recipe that Honoree Jeffers (it is her mother's) posted on Twitter in the spring, but seriously it makes the BEST BISCUITS EVER!

Plus it is incredibly easy.

1) Two parts HIGH QUALITY self-rising flour. One part heavy whipping cream.
2) Make a well in the middle of the flour. Pour in the cream. Mix well with CLEAN HANDS
3) Don't over-mix. Dough should be moist but not wet.
4) Break off portions that are the size that you want your biscuits. Put on a greased cookie sheet.
5) Press slightly on the biscuits. Bake in a preheated to 425 oven until risen and golden. That's it!


That's about it.
I do 2 Cups SRF to a smidge over 1 Cup of cream, mix, then knead a couple of times on floured counter, press flat and cut with biscuit cutter. Sometimes I'll brush melted butter on top before cooking.
I'll probably do more then I need too.

Her last bit of info is VERY IMPORTANT!
6) Unless you never want to get rid of a man, don't make him these biscuits. I'm tryna tell you what I know. 

I can attest to this, Jim has said he will NEVER leave me now that I make biscuits this good.

Butternut Squash and Grilled Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich

Well Campbell's 100% "Natural" Soup that is.

Not too bad.
A bit sweet with a fall-ish flavor due to what I think was some cinnamon and nutmeg.
Swanson's tastes fresher and has a brighter color, but for a canned soup this was not too bad.

The sandwich was yummy too. Sorry nothing "foodie" about it. Nothing "artisan". Just Walmart french bread and cheese and some grape tomatoes.

Here's the crappy photograph.
The vintage in this picture would be the ugly Corelle plate.

River really wanted some.

*and so begins a new feature of anti-foodie posts...

Four More Years!

Halloween 2012

MINE.
ALL MINE.

MUHWAHAHAHAHA

Also tried a new Spanakopita recipe tonight from America's Test Kitchen and it turned out perfect.
Delicious.

WTF Vintage Halloween #1

Seriously, there is nothing more terrifying then Halloween masks from before the 1960's.
Christ.
Look at that.

I'm Back

Finally.
Long story.
Not worth the trouble.
Suffice it to say that it involves forgotten IDs and passwords and my lack of caring.

So this is just to say "Hi, lovely weather we are having".

A Reminder For Conservatives

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
’T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s,
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.


-- William Shakespeare (1564-1616) The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.

New Patterns at Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns

Still in the middle of updating the websites, but thought I would show you some of the new patterns I've listed in the last week.

This is a great pattern.
Totally a rip-off of the Mondrian Op-Art look YSL created from Simplicity.

And this Adorable 50's dress pattern.

I love the collar with the pull-though bow.

 Sexy 50's skirt with pleats.
There are arrows at the top pf those pleats.

 1940's Anne Adams dress pattern with a clever asymmetrical opening.

 I LOVE these two 1950's cover-up/day dresses with their huge pockets and adorable appliques.

Coffee and doughnuts:

And FREAKING carrots:

 All of these can now be directly purchased from Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns.

Memorial Day

Thank you for your sacrifice.

His Kind of Woman, Jane Russell

Just watched His Kind of Woman.

Crazy ass Noir.
The level of camp from Vincent Price is just shiny.
Robert Mitchum and Raymond Burr.
And Jane Russell.
She was just smoking hot.

 Howard Greer did the costumes.
Of course he did.
This is a Howard Greer on Dita.

Here is a couple more pictures from the movie, the other gal's dress is also amazing.

My Favorite Thing

Sherlock is back tonight.
Your local PBS station.
Watch it, I promise you will not be disappointed.


Over at Bookshelf Bombshells they have been hosting a Sherlockapalooza:


In celebration of the Sherlock season 2 premiere, Bookshelf Bombshells will have Sherlock posts aplenty all weekend long, featuring guest blogs from Holmes fans and Holmes writers, including the ladies of Baker Street Babes and Cumberbatch Web.

I should add that my favorite Cumberbatch Fan has a contribution to the cause. Go read it.

Pretty, Yummy Things

A Cookbook A Month is lovely cooking blog.
One cookbook a month with comments from the blog ladies and (I think) their families.
The photographs are worth stopping by.

Another blog is from my friend Helen Rushbrook, a photographer in the UK, who does lovely work.

And last but not least, I can't believe I have not mentioned CumberbatchWeb which is run by another UK friend and has all things related to the delectable Benedict Cumberbatch without being a creepy fan site with pap photos and gossip. Here is a nice write up of all his doings in New York in the past few days.

This, of course allows me to post a picture of Ben at the Sherlock PBS Masterpiece Q&A in New York last night.

(seriously...adorable....wish I could remember where I got it from last night)

(no I did not go, he's all that, but NY is too far to go for any dude.)
Sherlock will grace our TV screens once more beginning this Sunday night on your local PBS (I hope you support you local PBS) station.

Lastly, I know there has not been near enough vintage lately, but I'm in the middle of migrating from Main Street Online to Etsy or possibly just selling directly from Damngoodvintage.com so I'm still feeling all a muddle about that.
I will be having a brilliant sale next week.
Check back here for the details.

I added Kate O'Hara's Hot Cuppa TV Blog over in the Vagina Enhanced Human's blog link list because she's interviewed Benedict Cumberbatch.
I'm shallow like that.
And hey, it's another reason to slap his sexy mug on the blog too.

I feel I should add that this newest group of photos that cropped up from this NYTs interview has me jonesing for The Batch in a 40's Noir remake. Seriously, add a fedora and a gun holster and he's a private dick or a gangster.
And he'd be able to use that American accent he seems to want to use.
Someone needs to make this happen.

I Love a Man in Uniform

So I saw War Horse at Christmas.
Mostly because I wanted to see Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and Hiddleston (LOKI in Thor and Avengers) in uniforms.
It was what I expected, a good film that would have been a great film with a bit more editing.
All of the actors did a wonderful job, it is a beautifully rendered movie, but the truth is it was the best when we were watching the "war" part.
Whatever, because oh, there were some lovely men in manly uniforms
The boots and gloves the officers had were just too. die. for.

Look at those boots:

Rawr.
One more:

Which is all a way to say I thoroughly enjoyed this interview with costume designer Johanna Johnston from Clothes On Film.

Thanks to Cumberbatchweb for the heads up on the article.

New Favorite Website

The Vagenda.

A team effort with some excellent young feminist writers.

Vintage Online

First I need to just point you in the direction of  Photo Timeline. I used Dior beginning in 1947 to make this timeline.
Very cool.

Next take a gander at this:

 On Wednesday, the Museum of the City of New York announced the opening of an online-only show of its extensive holdings of the work of two couturiers, Charles Frederick Worth and Main Rousseau Bocher, the designer known as Mainbocher.

The detail of description of each garment is just wonderful. 
A vintage lover's dream. 
Here is the link to the online exhibition: MCNY Collection

Green

It is just so incredibly green and the light so sharp this time of the year.

Trust

Yesterday I was sitting at the computer and noticed a guy walking around my yard.
(I am normally home alone in this backwoods place with all the neighbors at work.)

So I got up and went to the door to ask him what he needed while my mad dogs barked their "please let us eat him" bark.
Sweaty, dirty and carrying a gas can this guy looked like Daryl from The Walking Dead with an unfortunate lack of hotness.

No dead squirrels over his shoulder though.

So he said he needed gas because he had broken down on the other side of the woods, that's like 4 miles.
I was all "dude, no gas, but would you like to use the phone?"
Not-hot-Daryl "no one to call."
Me. "Okayyy, maybe some water? I'll get you a glass"
NHD: "I'll just get some from the hose"

I boggle, but whatever.
He leaves but starts walking in the neighbor's backyards. So I'm a bit "yeah, right" and dial 911. I explain what is going on, but tell the gal I really don't want to get the guy in trouble, but maybe a car can come by and help him.
NHD disappears and at some point I see a country sheriff care cruise the neighborhood.
I figure it was over.

Oh no.

About 4pm when hubs gets home NHD is back. This time dirtier, with bleeding feet from blisters and no gas can.
NHD: I guess you were right...
Me: Phone?
(I need to stop here and let ya'll know that this guy was very sweet and incredibly polite with lots of "yes ma'ms.)
So I send hubs out with phone and some iced tea, NHD calls his brother WHO WILL NOT COME GET HIM so my sweet husband gave him a ride to his brother's place.
Come to find out NHD, who is not the smartest tack in the box, rode his brother's four wheeler out (that would be without permission) behind our place, broke down, found gas, got water in gas line so four wheeler was now not just out of gas but broken down which was why said brother would not come get him.

At 10 pm NHD and his brother (who I never saw) came by, borrowed a flash light and some alcohol to clean out the line and get the vehicle out of the woods. He gave me a $1 for the bottle of alcohol.
Sigh.

So I'm glad the cops did not find this poor dude wandering the neighborhood because it would probably have not ended well and I'm glad my crazy neighbor was not home during all of this because he would have shot the poor guy.
Some days you just have to trust your fellow man.

Pancakes

Pancakes.

I love pancakes.

(I did find a recipe for a pancake cake. I mean..my mind...IT WAS COVERED WITH ICING. Pancakes. Covered with icing.)

I love the pancakes you get at some restaurants, fluffy and sweet, they melt a bit in your mouth, perfect...like heaven.

Unfortunately my pancake making skills have been known to elicit howls laughter from my family so I just stopped making them.

Except I still craved them.

It was a cosmic joke.

Then I found the following recipe.

It is a bit of a pain in the ass, more trouble then opening a box and mixing in water, but worth it.

(Typing this out because I don't know where I got it and the piece of paper it is printed on is not long for this world. Messy cook.)

3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour

2 Tbl Sugar

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 tea Baking Powder

Pinch Salt

1 Tbl melted butter

*1 Cup Cottage Cheese or Ricotta (I prefer the CC, you'll want to drain it a bit)

3/4 Cup Whole Milk

3 Eggs Separated

1/2 tea Vanilla Extract

*Using an immersion blender (or whatever you have) immerse up and down in the cottage cheese until it is the consistency of Ricotta.

Whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder and salt in bowl. 

Combine whichever cheese you choose, melted butter, milk, egg YOLKS and vanilla in a sep. bowl and whisk until smooth.

Beat the egg whites in a mixer until stiff .

Add the dry mix to the wet mix stirring gently until just combined. 

Add small amount of whites to lighten batter then fold in the remaining whites.

I cook on a cast iron griddle and I always seem to fuck up the first few pancakes because, well, I suck making pancakes. 

I have found that if I make small pancakes they are easier for me to flip and do not become a ridiculous mess.

Of course the lesson here is that even though my pancakes might still look like (even with this recipe) they are now fluffy and taste yummy.

Holy Jebus. I went looking for a vintage image and those Aunt Jemima ads are just incredibly racist and SAMBO'S...Lord I had forgotten all about Sambo's. I can remember eating at one when I was a kid in the 60's.

*image from Dave's Cupboard

WTH Adsense?

Seriously, if you are seeing a fucking ad from some bull shit pro-life group on my blog right now I'm as confused as you.
So don't sign their damn petition, but instead donate money to NARL or Planned Parenthood or Emily's List because if there is one thing I do not support it is the anti-choice/ anti-women /pro-women as incubators movement.

Sexism 101

Difference bet. Limbaugh & Maher is *not* that one is sexist the other isn't. The difference is that only one would strip women's basic rights
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 10, 2012

Woman's Home Companion 1910

Woman's Home Companion, March 1910
The Fashion Department
Conducted by Grace Margaret Gould

These are scans of a magazine page I have framed and hanging on my wall. On the back is an advertisement for Himalaya Cloth "an exact reproduction of the fashionable rough silks" along with drawings of these two dresses.

While the S-curve corset looks incredibly uncomfortable and I thank the Gods that I live in the age of cotton knit I have always loved the fashions of the Gibson Girl/ Edwardian era. 1910 of course is towards the end of this time and with the beginning of WW1 more realistic, comfortable styles took hold.

Vintage Dior at the Oscars

Natalie Portman wore a vintage Dior (1954 H-Line) gown last night.
Love the polka dots.

The H line of 1954 with its exaggerated body contortions generated considerable negative publicity. The design shifted the bosom up and incorporated the hipline of the middy as the crossbar of H. Dior’s intention had been to create the illusion of a longer, leaner look. The controversy primarily centered on the treatment of the bust. The constricting bodices pushed up the breasts sometimes resembling the sixteenth-century Tudor style costumes of Anne Boleyn.

                                - As Seen In Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising*

I love the the ruching low on the back of the skirt.

Click here to go to Rare Vintage where you can see the gown details.

*I have a collection of 1954 Vogues, I might look though them tonight and see if this dress was in any editorial shoots.

Early Spring