Night Night Little Piggies

I started a new writing project this week, and I'm tired tired tired.

So before this little piggy trots off to bed, here are a few creepy vintage pork images found around the interwebs for your twisted viewing pleasure:

Last but not what in the weirdness is this?

Kitchen Snark Coloring book

Do you love cookbooks? Need a distraction from the cares of the world? The Kitchen Snark Coloring Book is here to help! You'll find 50 pages filled with humor, wisdom, memories, and a touch of snark, all waiting for your creative flair. Color the stress away with this timeless book of vintage fun.

Amazon LINK -  https://amzn.to/37JNptD

to create something fun connected to one of my other loves: vintage cookbooks!

Homemade biscuit and homemade chocolate gravy with butter

Melissa Underwood Hodge Gravy:: 1-cup sugar -1-tablespoons butter -1-1/2 cup milk - 2 tablespoons flour -3 -tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder mix together and boil and take a whisper until Thick .. Biscuit::; 2-cups self -rising flour -1-1/3 cup shortening -3/4 cup milk --- shortening into flour add milk and form dough into balls. Place dough onto lightly floured and knead 4-5 times . Roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with biscuit cutter or cup .place on ungreased bake sheet .bake at 425 deg for 15 minutes

Canning as art?

Canning as art form! And I can't manage to make a batch of refrigerator pickles.

Heart Shaped Fish Croquettes

There's no time like RIGHT NOW to start thinking about VD goodies! Especially all you wives out there.

Apparently Pet Milk agreed that the fastest way to a man's heart was through his stomach, and so they published this booklet in the 1940s.

It was FREE if you can believe such a thing, and apparently contained recipes like this one:

"Love it? Of course he will! It's a man's idea of really good eating."

Check back soon for more Valentines Day meal ideas!

French Onion Casserole

Ronda Meadows

This dish is similar to French Onion Soup, without the soup. 

It is a quick and easy side.

Cheesy Onion Bake
2-3 Tablespoons butter
3 large sweet onions, sliced thin
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
8 or so slices of French bread
Melt butter in a pan over medium heat, and add onions. Saute onions until translucent. In a shallow 2 quart casserole pan, layer onions, 2/3 of cheese and pepper to taste.
In a sauce pan, heat soup, milk, and soy sauce, stirring to blend. Pour soup mixture in a casserole and stir gently to mix. Top with bread slices. Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, top of bread should be nice and toasted.
Push bread slices under the sauce and top with the remaining cheese. Place casserole back in oven and finish baking for 15 more minutes.

Mother's Day was yesterday, in case you forgot

In the world of Mother's Day advertising, including a date reminder seems crucial. Because, as this sweet example points out:

THERE'S NO HURT LIKE FORGETTING

Whitman's chocolates just weren't afraid to bring the guilt vibe.

The hubs and I have been chatting about whether norms have shifted, and if Young People are no longer slaves to the cultural expectations we grew up with about holidays like this one. Let's take a stroll through some ads which underscored our enculturation that celebratory action was required, and which included the date to help reinforce preparation timelines.

Colgate chose a kindler, gentler version of this message, if a bit braggadocios. 

Dairy products even got in on it, though this poor queen looks like she's warding off an attack.

Usually the ads focused on presents, which were frequently candy. But of course chocolates aren't the only gift option. Who wouldn't want a "rubber tyred shopping jeep"?

The gifts below might have come from the heart, but mom herself appears half-hearted.

Maybe she's just tired from dreaming up new casserole recipes to bake in those dishes.

Some gifts are both practical AND appreciated. I'd go bonkers for a mid-century Lane cedar chest if we didn't already have one.

Or maybe mom would just like some... meat. 

So she can cook it. 

For you.

But let's get back to Whitman's, whose marketing department eventually gave up on the guilt tripping, but still focused on the tangible, this time offering a how-to guide.

Last but not least, I'm still trying to figure out the message in the ad below, and the text is a bit too small for these tired motherly eyes to read:

If you have an idea about the scenario in play here, please post it in the comments. I'd love to read it.

Meanwhile, happy Mother's Day to all who should be celebrated!

Chilling moments in fridge history

After reading an old post on this blog, I popped down the vintage refrigerator ad rabbit hole and am going to pull you in too so I won't be alone. 

Here's where the goosebumps started:

The caption freaked me out a little. It reads like the title of a Twilight Zone episode, or a commentary of today's political climate. Either way, I'm scared. It makes me long for the days when we only had to worry about cameras in microwaves.

This ad is less menacing:

It still hints of some looming doom, but the trepidation is leavened by the idea that you can do something about it. You can defend your household. Or at least your leftover tuna casserole.

If the fridge in your house isn't up to the task of actual defense, it could always hide in plain sight, disguised as a bedspread.

Contact paper anyone? Decoupage? 

This ice box provides a different kind of camouflage, though there's no guarantee of safety for that tuna mac:

I've never seen anything like it, outside a hospital sandwich vending machine, or a diner pie-go-round.

My favorite part is the name, though. I'm adopting it as my new cussword stand in:

Rotafrig.

I'll proclaim it while evaluating just how much tuna I should stock up on, and where the heck I'll store it.

ROTAFRIG!

If you need a distraction from your own prepping, scroll through more fridging fun by clicking here. 

Enjoy! And prepare!