June 11, 2011 – Frozen Desserts

This is the time of the year when we are reminded that San Francisco is a different place. In a different country called America it is hot and summery. Friends and family there start complaining about the heat. They are either are incredulous, annoyed or both when we casually mention putting the heat on here n San Francisco. Our summer rule is never leave the house without layers, lots of layers.

For all those folks cooking away in America, it’s time for something summery like a frozen dessert. The manual from a 1950’s Coldstar Refrigerator has all sorts of recipes for “delicious” frozen treats. Every desert seems to involve jello. Snow pudding calls for gelatin, sugar, and beaten egg whites. One of these days, when I am feeling particularly ambitious, I’ll have to host a dinner party only using vintage, 1950’s recipes.

May 18, 2011 – Food and…

Food and what? I clipped this image and ad out of a magazine years ago. I have no idea what it was for. I stuck the ad in a big envelope long before the series Mad Men came along. Look closely, these gentleman aren’t quite so glamorous looking as their fictional counterparts. So the question remains, “Food and what?”

Perhaps these gentlemen are not even ad agents. Could it be a meeting of members of the Rotary Club planning an event? Perhaps it’s a group of Nixon operatives planning to fix the local ballots? Could it be the Springfield chapter of the Mattachine Society having a luncheon? It remains a retro mystery. Unless there is no mystery at all, and the modeling agency just got a call, “Four businessman; one old, one young.”