Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Just the right kind of note...

The soundtrack for the day is all blues.  I've just been listening to Clapton, Stevie Ray, Joe Bonamassa all morning... Am I depressed?  No, not in the slightest.  I just love the blues.  It's a cloudy day and it just seem fitting.  Plus, I just love bluesy guitar licks.  Almost.  Just almost, makes me want to bust out my guitar and start playing - I haven't played in over a year.  (Interesting new fact about me, eh?  - I'm somewhat musically inclined)

But anyway, I did say almost.  Instead, I've been making ice cream this morning.  Yeah, you know.  That ice cream that won last Friday's poll.  So hopefully, I'll get around to posting it either tomorrow or Friday.

Sesame seed brittle - my new favorite snack AND ice cream topping =)
 I've also been reading up on my new cookbook.  From e-bay.  Seriously.  E-bay is a gold mine for vintage cookbooks.  And considering I just decided at the beginning of the month that I'm going to start collecting odd and vintage cookbooks, this was a perfect way to start it off.

Over 700 pages of jam-packed awesomeness

isn't it's thickness beautiful?!
So excited to try stuff out of here
 I think the reason that I'm mostly excited to start reading this one is the fact that it's from 1945.  1945.  My own mother and father weren't even born yet.  Meaning all of these fancy (sometimes unnecessary) gadgets of today aren't even around or required for this sort of stuff.  And I don't know about you, but being a student, I don't really have the budget for certain things that are in cookbooks of today (i.e. a sous-vide machine).  So it'll be interesting learning the methods of a time where things were different.  Times where food was still just as good as it is today.

Do you guys have a favorite vintage cookbook?  Or just an odd one that's not mainstream?

22 comments:

  1. I do love vintage books; my son gave me a copy of Mme Benoit's Encyclopedia of Canadian cuisine and he found it on ebay.
    Sesame seed brittle sound pretty good.
    Rita

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  2. Sounds cool, I might have to jump on your bandwagon

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  3. Sesame seed brittle! Looks yummy :)

    I love to look through my mom's red and white cookbook that she got as a wedding gift over 40 years ago. She still uses it...and I've tried some things too!

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  4. What a great cookbook!! That is quite a find - the treasures you must find in that.

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  5. I have had sesame brittle from different stores but I never thought to make my own. You're right - this would be exceptional on ice cream!

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  6. Lovely post... Waiting for the ice cream recipe

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  7. I have a _Little House on the Prairie_ cookbook that I've been dying to make something out of. My husband also recently bought me a translated copy of one of the oldest cookbooks in history. It was going out of print, so he ordered it for me. I haven't really looked deeply into it, but I think you've inspired me for my summer projects! :-)

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  8. I have a little Pillsbury booklet from the early 90's that I will always cherish :)

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  9. This sesame brittle looks delicious. love that old book, difficult to find one

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  10. What a great reason to look for vintage cook books! Love it! I wish I could play the guitar. My father is an excellent guitarist and he gave me a guitar years ago, but I just never bothered. Guitar lessons are on my to-do list...I know that it would mean a lot to my dad if I could play with him!

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  11. I have no idea what kind of machine that thing you said!
    I love the old cookbooks, old handwritten recipes! That would be a nice thing to pass onto your kids if you have one, and then they will be triple-amazed how old the book is :)

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  12. The brittle does look quite yummy! I love blues too! :)

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  13. I have the 1941 edition of that very cookbook! I use it all the time for simple sauces and things -- it's where I first learned to make cranberry sauce.

    Vintage cookbooks are the best, but avoid anything from the mid-late ’60s unless you want to start scratching your head over ingredients like "oleo."

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  14. Oh gosh, I love super-dark seed/nut brittle! Did you make that yourself? It looks so glorious crisp!

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  15. That sesame brittle looks awesome. Vintage cookbooks hard to find but they are truly delicious using all the natural ingredients they had found at that time...

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  16. Your sesame seed brittle looks wonderful..perfect to top your ice cream! I love my mom's old NYT's cookbook~

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  17. This was such a sweet post! I have never heard of sesame seed brittle. I will have to check it out!

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  18. That cookbook is so cool! I have something similar from my grandmother's home-ec class in the 40s. It's just a fun book to flip through. The brittle sounds great, especially on ice cream.

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  19. Just read this post the other day and reading about your new collection of cook books made me think of it. Thought you might enjoy it, thought it was a good read. http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/journal/2011/3/20/pkhali-unearthed.html

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  20. I'm going on ebay right now! That's a great tip.

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