Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls

Golly! I grew up cooking out of this book and I just discovered it was reissued a couple of years ago. Looking through the preview on Amazon I'm finding I remember so many of the recipes and the quotes from the kid recipe testers off by heart, like "If I were a mama I'd cook all day!" Actually I recall that I found that so amusing that I made a cross-stitch sampler magnet out of it as an eight-year-old. Odd kid I was.  It has terrific recipes like "Bunny salad," "Zoo cake" and as I recall the chapter on campfire cooking is positively mouth-watering.

 As a kid I had my dad's old copy (from when he was a kid) but it's in a box in Canada right now. I think I spy an amazon purchase in my near future...

fantasy outfits for autumn

As you might know, I'm a Canadian transplant to Sweden. I've been here for a year now and I love almost everything about it. Almost! The one thing I don't like is that my sewing has suffered since I've been here. I have a great sewing machine, a Husqvarna from the '60s, but I have not figured out the fine art of fabric shopping a la Sweden. Fabric is sooooo much more expensive here! I have a fantasy of going to Canada for two weeks with an empty suitcase and spending the whole time sewing and eating Canadian pizza and doughnuts (another thing I miss).

This whole year I've only sewn one blouse, a dress, and a pair of shorts. To satisfy my sewing itch I spend a loooooooot of time on Etsy looking at patterns and imagining what I want to make. Here's a look at some "perfect outfits" I've put together recently.

 I've been admiring this pattern for ages. Oddly enough I ran into a friend a few weeks ago and she was wearing exactly this outfit! (the blouse and red slacks). This confirmed that it looks equally good in real life.  Find it here if you want to snatch it from my fingers.

Summer is very emphatically over and the only thing that could possibly help me to cope with/enjoy fall is the introduction of a Pendleton into my wardrobe. Failing that I could use this pattern to make my own knock-off. From wearevintagesewing's etsy store.

This versatile shirt pattern would work with my fantasy-Pendleton and I love the sweater trims! Imagine how great they'd be for all those sweaters I always imagine myself knitting! It's here.

Speaking of knitting sweaters...

I adore this fair isle! Knitting sweaters actually seems like a more economical prospect here than in Canada, actually - I'm always finding wool on sale - but my slow knitting skills and total lack of stick-to-itiveness when it comes to big projects means this one will almost certainly remain in the realm of fantasy.

Sigh. A girl can dream...

Have you been sewing much recently? What's your fantasy outfit of the moment?

dresses and dinners

I'm all curled up on the couch this evening, worn out after spending the day in Stockholm at the Vintagemässan. It was great fun! I didn't buy anything, somehow I was satisfied with just looking today. Sometimes when I'm in a place where I want to buy/wear everything I compromise by buying nothing. Sigh. I saw so many lovely lovely dresses and was seriously tempted by, among other delights, a short-sleeved, robin's egg blue cashmere sweater, but it was just too big on me. Great fun anyway! It's on tomorrow, too, so if you're in the area you ought to go!

Now that I'm home and all tuckered out I'm taking advantage of the time by planning this week's meals. What are your favourite vintage cookbooks and/or meal planning tips? Have you seen that Amy Vanderbilt's cookbook is available on archive.org? It's got lots of nice recipes and I especially like the menu ideas, though I have to vegetarian-ize most of it. I shouldn't really call myself a vegetarian but I avoid meat almost all the time. In the summertime I indulge a bit more. After all, a grilled hamburger with chips and a coke is my favourite meal of all time, I think.

Gee I'm going to stop writing now. Apologies for this oddly stilted-sounding post. I haven't blogged since July and it would appear I've gotten rusty.

a promise to my oft-neglected blog

Oh my dear little blog. I really to want to be a good blogger, really I do. It's just that, well as you can no doubt see - sometimes weeks go by in which I want to do anything but blog! I'm going to try again though. Good blogs are so fun to read, and bloggers seem to meet so many wonderful people and get great opportunities via their blogs - and I want that too! So I'll try a bit harder and see how it goes.