Memory Monday: Food and Clothing Part 1

My Great-great Aunt and Uncle

FOOD AND CLOTHING PART 1

I chose the picture above because the couple looks to in their seventies or so, but they would have been in their thirties in 1865, in their prime, working hard as farmers. This ties in with a most interesting article I found in a book from that time titled Facts for Farmers, also the Family Circle. Today, everyone seems to be concerned about what they eat—carbs, fats, proteins and how to balance them all. In the article below, it doesn’t seem that the people in the mid-19^th Century worried so much about all that. Just look at what an average man who lives to the age of 70 years old would eat in a lifetime. Makes one stop and think about how much we eat today (but then we might not work as hard as they did back then). By the way, I’m not sure what some of these things are.

THE FOOD AND CLOTHING A MAN MAY CONSUME IN A LIFETIME.

Alex Soyer's "Modern Housewife" gives the following calculation as the probable amount of food that an epicure of seventy years might have consumed. "Supposing his gastronomic performances to commence at ten years, he will make 65,700 breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, to say nothing of luncheons and extra feastings.

To supply the epicure's table for sixty years, Soyer calculates he will require 80 oxen, 200 sheep, 100 calves, 200 lambs, 50 pigs; in poultry, 1,200 fowls, 300 turkeys, 150 geese, 400 ducklings, 263 pigeons; 1,400 partridges, pheasants, and grouse; 600 woodcocks and snipes; 600 wild ducks, widgeon, and teal; 450 plovers, ruffs, and reeves; 800 quails, ortolans, and dotterels, and a few guillemots and other foreign birds; also 500 hares and rabbits, 40 deer, 120 Guinea-fowl, 10 peacocks, and 360 wild-fowls.

In the way of fish, 120 turbot, 140 salmon, 120 cod, 260 trout, 400 mackerel, 300 whitings, 800 soles and slips, 400 flounders, 400 red mullet, 209 eels, 150 haddocks, 400 herrings, 5,000 smelts, and some hundred thou sand of those delicious, silvery whitebait, besides a few hundred species of fresh-water fishes.

In shell-fish, 20 turtle, 30,000 oysters, 1,500 lobsters or crabs, 300,000 prawns, shrimps, sardines, and anchovies.

In the way of fruit, about 500 lbs. of grapes, 360 lbs. of pineapples, 600 peaches, 1,400 apricots, 240 melons, and some hundred thousand plums, green-gages, ap ples, pears, and some millions of cherries, strawberries, raspberries, currants, mulberries, and an abundance of other small fruit, viz., walnuts, chestnuts ,dry figs, and plums.

In vegetables of all kinds, 5,475 lbs. weight, and about 2,434 lbs. of butter, 684 lbs. of cheese, 21,000 eggs, 800 tongues.

Of bread, 41 tons, half a ton of salt and pepper, near 21 tons of sugar.

His drink during the same period may be set down as follows: 49 hogsheads of wine; 18,683 gallons of beer, 584 gallons of spirits, 342 gallons of liqueur, 2,3941 gallons of coffee, cocoa, tea, etc., and 304 gallons of milk, 2,736 gallons of water.

This mass of food in sixty years amounts to no less than 831 tons weight of meat, farinaceous food and vegetables, etc., out of which I have named in detail the probable delicacies that would be selected by an epicure through life.

But observe that I did not count the first ten years of his life, at the beginning of which he lived upon pap, bread and milk, etc., also a little meat, the expense of which I add to the age from then to twenty, as no one can really be called an epicure before that age; it will thus make the expenses more equal as regards the calculation.

The following is the list of what I consider his daily meals:

"BREAKFAST.—Three-quarters of a pint of coffee, four ounces of bread, one ounce of butter, two eggs, or four ounces of meat, or four ounces of fish.

"LUNCH.—Two ounces of bread, two ounces of meat, or poultry, or game, two ounces of vegetables, and a half pint of beer, or a glass of wine.

"DINNER.—Half a pint of soup, a quarter of a pound of fish, half a pound of meat, a quarter of a pound of poultry, a quarter of a pound of savory dishes or game, two ounces of vegetables, two ounces of bread, two ounces of pastry or roasts, half an ounce of cheese, a quarter of a pound of fruit, one pint of wine, one glass of liqueur, one cup of coffee or tea; at night one glass of spirits and water."

But then again, if we totaled up how much we each eat in a lifetime, we might not be so different from our ancestors. Or we might be eating more. Although, eating 800 tongues in any lifetime (at least for me) would just not happen.

Next week, I will have Part 2 where I show how much clothing it took for a lifetime.

Throwback Thursday: The Grumpy Girl

From my "old and unknown file":

Little Girl: “No stand! Want candy!!!”

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments.

Memory Monday: A Typical Wednesday and What We Eat

My Grandparents on Their Wedding Day

A TYPICAL WEDNESDAY AND WHAT WE EAT

Wednesday mornings are busy times at our house. My husband and I always go grocery shopping together—that is, after he’s had breakfast out with some of the people from his Sunday School Class. (I sleep in and am usually just about to have breakfast when he returns home. My favorite breakfast—Breakfast tacos, store-bought, of course.)

Well, with breakfast taken care of, we go and get our groceries. On the way home, we often stop by Subway (or some other favorite place) and get lunch to take home.

For supper, my husband usually has cereal from a box (since he didn’t have it for breakfast. I look around the fridge or cabinet and find something to nuke in the microwave. AHH, the joys of fixing food from my family.

It was so-o-o-o different years ago (like in the early years of my grandparents’ marriage. They married in 1910). No wonder the women didn’t work outside the home then—they didn’t have the time. Just look at what a cook book has for the menu for a typical Wednesday. This is from Five Cent Meals, copyright 1914.

BREAKFAST

RICE GRIDDLE CAKES
FETED BACON STRIPS
BANANAS
COFFEE—MILK

Rice Griddle Cakes

34 cup boiled rice 2 tablespoons drippings

2 cups flour 5 teaspoons baking powder

1¼ cup liquid 1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

Mix the dry ingredients. Add rice to the liquid ingredients. An egg may be added. Combine with the dry and beat well. Cook by tablespoonfuls the same as other griddle cakes.

Preparing the Meal

Make griddle cakes and start the first griddle full to cooking. Make the coffee, slice and fry the bacon, and set the table, attending to the cooking of the cakes at the same time, and when they are finished serve the breakfast.

Extra Baking

Before starting to cook the noon meal mix the bread and set it to rise. It will be ready for the second kneading soon after lunch, and can be baked before time for the evening meal. Make cinnamon rolls as well as bread. If coal or wood fire is used, plan to keep the top of the stove full while fire is going. Leave no empty space in the oven while it is hot.

LUNCH

SPLIT PEA LOAF

SLICED TOMATOES

BREAD WITH OLEO

TEA—MILK

Split Pea Loaf

4 cups split peas, cooked 1 beaten egg

2 cups bread crumbs 1 teaspoon minced onion

1 tablespoon minced parsley, celery, or other flavoring as

desired. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all the ingredients together. If too soft to hold its shape add more bread crumbs. If too dry, add milk, water or another egg. Form into loaf. Brown in oven.

Preparing the Meal

Use split peas cooked on Tuesday. A half hour before meal time, make loaf and put in oven to brown. Slice the tomatoes. Set the table and make the tea.

DINNER

Wednesday

BAKED CROQUETTES

BAKED POTATOES

HOT CINNAMON ROLLS

BANANAS WITH LEMON JUICE
LEMONADE

Baked Croquettes

3 cups chopped meat 1 teaspoon onion juice

3 cups bread crumbs 1 teaspoon salt

2 cups thick white sauce Pepper to taste

Make a white sauce by stirring ½ cup flour into ¼ cup melted fat, cook till frothy, then add slowly 2 cups milk or water, or the two mixed, stirring all the time, and cook again till thick, stirring till smooth.

Add cooked meat—beef, mutton, veal or pork—and bread crumbs. Mix well, form into croquettes about 3 inches long, lay them in greased pan, and set in hot oven to brown.

Bananas with Lemon Juice

Slice 4 bananas, sprinkle with brown sugar and lemon

juice.

Preparing the Meal

Put six potatoes for dinner and four for tomorrow's lunch in oven one hour before meal time, while bread is still baking. Croquettes and cinnamon rolls (see page 16) may be baked together about ½ hour before meal time. Set the table, prepare the bananas and lemonade.

The exciting part of this menu is that the next day for breakfast is that FARINA MUSH WITH TOP MILK is at the top of the menu. YUM!!! Really, please let me go shopping again tomorrow and have a McDonald’s Egg White Delight with sausage instead of Canadian Bacon and an caramel iced coffee.

Throwback Thursday: Man and Woman Smiling and Staring at the Camera

From my "old and known" files:

Man: Keep smiling. I don’t know who they are, but just keep smiling.

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments.

Memory Monday: The Tale of the Veil

My Wedding

THE TALE OF THE VEIL

My husband and I were married in the 1970s. My mother made my dress and veil. Five years later, we bought a house and took all the things that had been stored at both sets of parents’ houses. Sometime later, I unpacked the dress and veil. Unfortunately the crown of the veil had been crushed beyond repair. So when our daughter got older and wanted to place dress-up, I let her use a lacy top and the crushed veil when she wanted to play bride. We played it over and over so many times. As she got older, we put away those make-believe clothes and they stayed packed away for many years.

After our children moved out, my husband got his study back and I got the third bedroom for my library. The one thing I made sure to do was make a corner into a grandchild’s play area, including make-believe clothes. The time has come to take that old, worn veil out again. My granddaughter has worn it a couple of times. But she is just two and I see her wearing it many more times as she plays at Granddaddy and Grandmommy’s house.

I look forward to telling her how her great-grandmother made the veil for Grandmommy (and show her our wedding pictures in the albums), then how her mommy played with it. Just think—four generations have had their hands on that bit of fabric and netting.

I like tales that link the generations in our family.

Throwback Thursday: Girl with a Cat

From my Old and Unknown File:

"It’s my cat, and if I want to name it 'Dog,' I can!"

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments below.

Memory Monday: Things My Grandmother Might Have Done

My Daddy as a Toddler

THINGS MY GRANDMOTHER MIGHT HAVE DONE

Maybe because I never knew my maternal grandmother (she died when my dad was nine years old), I like looking at books that were written after she married my grandfather. I like to see what she might have read or been told about housekeeping and cooking. One of the books I have used is titled Putman’s Household Hints and it was written in 1916—the year before my dad was born.

I would like to share a few of the things from that book. I really like the last one and might try it the next time my gravy is pale.

Soup poured through a cloth will have all the fat removed.

Place salt in the oven under the baking tins and the contents will not scorch on the bottom.

Never use bread and meat knives around the heat as it will temper the edges.

In cases of emergency, when it is necessary to cut fresh bread and the knife refuses to work proper ly, heat the knife and the bread will cut easily. To do this often, however, is death to the knife.

A teaspoonful of cornstarch added to a cupful of salt and mixed thoroughly will keep salt from sticking in damp weather.

When serving butter in cubes, if a small piece of the paper in which the butter is wrapped is placed over the blade of the knife with which the butter is being cut the edge will be smooth and even.

If a quantity of browned flour is kept on hand for making gravy, a great deal of time will be saved.

When gravy does not brown pour into it a table spoonful of coffee. It will brown immediately and contain no taste of coffee. This is quicker than browning flour when in a hurry.

How many of these hints have you heard of before? Which ones do you think you will try?

Throwback Thursday: Children in a Wagon

From my "Old and Unknown File":

"Think we can get another half dozen kids in the wagon?"

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments below.

Memory Monday: Child's Chair

Little Blue Chair

A Child's Chair with a History and Maybe a Future

I won’t say our family members are hoarders, but some of the things we keep are used for generations. My husband was an only child, and his mother saved a number of things from his childhood—his story books, his metal trucks, his small record player with records, his little cowboy boots (which no one after him ever wore), his porcelain potty (not the chair, just the bowl), as well as several other things, including the chair above.

Now my mother didn’t save as much, but then there were four of us girls. I still have my last doll which my daughter played with when she was a little girl (see post about the LAST DOLL), a few books that I got through a Weekly Readers Book Club subscription, and a stuffed Jolly Green doll (well, this last one I finally threw away a couple of years ago because it was literally falling apart, maybe because it was over fifty years old).

I guess I have passed on the saving/hoarding gene to my daughter. It showed up in her at an early age. Once when I told her to clean her room, she hauled a large trash bag into the living room filled with books, toys, and trash. When I asked if it needed to go to the dumpster or put with what we would sell in a garage sale, she let me know it was neither—it was what she was saving for her children. Now you have to understand that at the time she was probably only in the second or third grade, so I figure she had heard me say the same thing “way too many times” about something I was saving for my grandchildren.

But there are some things that have been saved (and used) across the generations. The chair pictured above is one of those things. My husband used it about sixty-five years ago when he was a little boy, only it was a deep rose red then. Years later, our two children (who are both in their thirties now) used it. We have discussed the different colors of the chair lately, but neither one of use can remember when it was repainted blue (there is a layer of white between the red and the blue—how patriotic).

The chair is in use again for the newest generation. Our little two-year-old granddaughter sits on it while she plays in our living room. It is just the right size for her. And as well-built as it is, it should be available for the next generation in about another twenty or twenty-five years (and maybe several more generations after that).