Mid Century Housewife Days 9 and 10: Breaking Schedules... Or how I've Been Failing Miserably...

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I spoke too soon when I said in the last post that keeping the schedule has been easy for me.

Day 9 (Wednesday) was sooooo hard. I don't know whether it was the fact that Honey was off and home watching television or that I'm just getting lax in my schedule but... I had the WORST time staying on task.

That's just not me! I don't know what happened but before I knew it I found myself plastered in front of the television catching up on shows with Honey!! It's so hard to stay on task when she's off. I just want to be with her and snuggle. It seems that the schedule leaves no time for snuggling and spooning. Or perhaps its just supposed to come after dinner. During that time that says "enjoy a relaxing evening".

Around noon I realized what I was doing, freaked out and started cleaning like a mad woman! No matter how fast I cleaned, I couldn't make up the time lost! Having to stop and feed Honey lunch totally made sure of that. Sigh... On top of the cleaning I had to take time and wash my hair and have Honey trim it. Once again, breaking the mid century mold, but whatever. Hair is important and worth it.

Soooo, needless to say I had a major time management issue. Which means that it was time for dinner before I knew it... Actually is was way past dinner time. Like 9 o'clock.

I went to the Good Housekeeping cookbook and looked for something that I had ingredients for that could be made quickly. Nothing. So I decided to make for dinner what I had planned for the next day's lunch...are you ready for it (I don't think you are)?

Hash Cheeseburgers (I didn't take a pic of the recipe. It was on two consecutive pages in the book and was hard to photograph. I'm not sure you'll want this recipe anyway, but I'll give you the gist of it: Take a can on corned beef hash, mix it with chili sauce and sliced stuffed olives. Toast the english muffins. Spread the hash mixture over the muffins, place under the broiler until heated through. Place a slice of american cheese on top and put back under broiler to melt. Take out and garnish with parsley and stuffed olives. MMMMMMmmmm...)

Yes I know. It kind of sounds disgusting but hey... the point of all this is to be adventurous...right??

What you really want to know is, was it tasty, right?

Ummm... NOPE! With a capital N.O.P.E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've tried corned beef hash only one other time in my life and I thought it was the most vile thing ever. But Honey likes it in eggs so I decided to try it again. I have decided that it is even more vile than I remembered it.

Honey didn't even like it and she LIKES the stuff.

Maybe it was the chili sauce added to it. Or maybe it was the fact that you just spread it on an english muffin and heat it up...Or maybe it's the fact that corned beef hash looks AND tastes like something I could feed Givenchy. Maybe it was a combination of it all. But it was the WORST!!

So after tasting a few bites we both decided to just warm up the Frank Top Hatters from the night before.

Thank goodness we had left overs.



On to Day 10 (Thursday), otherwise know as Independence Day!!!!

Again, my schedule got totally thrown for a loop. I was able to get the daily cleaning done but it was supposed to be a "thorough clean" day and with having to get ready for the Liberty Belle Extravaganza, I had no time for that. So daily cleaning and dusting would have to do. I'll double up on the cleaning today.

I met up with Honey at her job and we were off to celebrate the 4th of July on the rooftop of the Hotel Empire.

The event was decent. I had such high hopes for it that I think I had too high of expectations.

During the day, it was really fun and the atmosphere was great. There was dancing and live bands and burlesque acts. The scenery was amazing, and the food and drinks were top notch!

I decided to wear my blue eyelet dress that I bought for Viva. I just added a red belt and flower.  I got a lot of compliments on it so I'm glad I didn't spend a million bucks on a new dress.

I should have taken a pic of Honey's whole outfit. We found this cute little 1940s looking blue blouse from Forever 21. She wore that and some highwaisted slacks. Super cute!

So what was not to like? Well, once the sun set the place got SUPER crowded. I mean, SUPER CROWDED. So crowded that it was really difficult to get any decent shots after sunset. We were all so close together. And there wasn't very much seating. I think they should really think of changing that for next year. I could understand if there was ample dance floor but even that was limited!!!!! Then in true NY fashion the champagne started flowing and people became ridiculous.  The place became a typical NY nightclub with flecks of vintage tucked in. Which was disappointing. Granted there were more music and dancing acts that were to perform but the atmosphere changed dramatically. Sidenote: People become so rude when they're intoxicated. All sense of civility goes out the window and they become silly and just... I don't know...annoying. I'm glad I don't drink to that point anymore. Not saying that I have never over indulged, but my 20s are DEFINITELY in my past thank goodness. Now if I drink too much at least I know to stop before I become too much unlike myself. I wish others knew to do the same.

We had a great time for about 3 hours up until the sun went down, then when things got too crazy we ended up leaving a little early. Around 10pm. Honey was exhausted from working all day and I was annoyed. We had plans to go to the Rockabilly Night Market here in Brooklyn, but when BOTH of our phones died I couldn't look up the address (we went last year and had a complete ball. It switched locations this year). So we just came home and had ice cream and wine. I guess it wasn't a bad way to end a weird day.


These last two days have been the hardest yet. Not because of the cleaning being difficult or  my not liking to cook or anything like that. Just because I was becoming so proud of being able to stay on time with everything. These days have thrown me for a huge loop. Totally makes me feel like a mini failure. I'm sure housewives around the world can relate. Or at least I hope they can. We don't even have a kid and I think it's hard. I couldn't imagine adding little ones. Although I hope to soon!!!!

Here's to today being a better more productive day than the last!!!


xoxo

Mid Century Housewife Day 8: Ballerinas and Top Hatters!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a weird housewife day because I had to go in to the studio. My boss had an emergency and couldn't go in to teach so she called on me. No, it wasn't totally housewifey but duty called.

So I made breakfast, did the daily cleaning and went to the supermarket. I prepared the beginning of today's dinner and put it in the fridge. I'm glad I chose something that was pie like and was an easy make ahead dinner. I went to the studio for a couple of hours, met up with Honey, came home and put dinner in the oven. I was a little apprehensive to go teach because of the experiment. I went only because there was no one else who was available and I like to be helpful when I can. But now I'm glad I went. It gave me the chance to see that most of the housewife schedule I will be able to keep up with when I start back teaching. Of course things like meeting Honey at the door with a drink will have to go.  I also won't be able to cook dinner every night but fortunately for me Honey is an excellent cook and can take up the slack there (and there won't be nearly as many mid century meals though I do plan on making at least one a month. Maybe I'll make it a feature here on the blog.). Things like the morning dusting and the weekly "thorough clean" days I plan on keeping.

I believe that all of my dance training has made all of the schedule keeping easy for me. In dance (ballet in particular) there are certain things that you have to do every time you have class. At times its done the exact same way every class for weeks and weeks on end. This is done in order to perfect whatever it is you are learning. Being used to and expecting repetition definitely comes in handy for this little experiment.

Well, It looks like I'm off subject again. Now, on to dinner.

Today's dinner (and the dinner for the next few days) came from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook published in 1955.

I wasn't too sure about this one but figured it had to be a least decent. I mean it has hotdogs, baked beans and cornbread.

And...

It was a success!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!

It was actually pretty good. I really think kids would love it. It reminded me of a corn dog! It was a little runny. I think from all the milk. I think next time I make it I'll reduce the amount of milk in the recipe. That way it thickens a little more. But it was tasty. We're going to have the leftovers for lunch today.

Today's plan is more cleaning laundry, hair washing and wardrobe prep for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the States. So that means Honey and I get a night on the town. Vintage style. We're going to the Liberty Belle Extravaganza on the roof of the Empire Hotel in Manhattan. UBER excited!!  I was going to buy a new dress but I have so many dresses that I bought for Viva that I only wore the one time, so I think I'll recycle (I'll save the new dress buying for my birthday next month!). It should be a great way to spend the holiday!!! I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures and share them with you all.

That's the Housewife update for the day!

Mid Century Housewife Day 7: Salmon Loaf...Another Mid Century Food Fail

Yes, It happened again.

Another food fail.

This time with Salmon Loaf. I know, I know. It doesn't sound good to begin with. But you never know, right. 

Well, it's not that great. At all. I think its all the bread crumbs mixed with canned fish. Just not the best texture combination. The taste wasn't TERRIBLE. But I definitely wouldn't recommend it. Honey had a bad day at work so she was a little more straightforward in telling me she thought it was disgusting. HA! But, that's the point of cooking all these recipes this week. There's bound to be some bad ones. Luckily it's been more good than bad. 

If I had stuck with the Searchlight Recipe Book that I used in the posts from Day 4 and 5 we would have been eating...salmon roll...Which is basically tinned salmon rolled in a bread dough. I'm not sure which is worse!! 

Here is the recipe... (from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

And here it is in all it's fishy glory!

Yep. This, my dears, is a salmon loaf. Like a meat loaf but made with (of course) canned salmon...

I had hope for this recipe because I looked up a modern version of the recipe and it had gotten 4 stars in the reviews. But nope... I didn't even like this one. I think it's also the addition of the white sauce in it (shiver). 

BUT...dessert was a treat!

It was exactly what the recipe says it is. A pudding brownie or a brownie-y pudding. It was kind of like those molten lava chocolate cakes. Really tasty. I put the last of our ice cream on top. And added some caramel sauce. A really good way to end the night.

This was strictly a food post because the daily housewife routine just repeats itself everyday with only a few slight changes. I think I'm going to keep much of the schedule when life goes back to normal at the end of the week. Especially the tidying up first thing in the morning. It keeps the house nice and neat without a lot of work. 

But I'll tell you what I've been struggling with. I've been struggling with actually having to get totally dressed first thing in the morning. Usually I wake up early and piddle about the house in my pajamas until it's time for me to start getting ready for work. Only then do I put on a full face and do my hair and pretty up. Before that, I'm quite a homely sight!!!! But the housewife schedule requires that you get dressed right after breakfast. It's killing me!! Of all the things that you would think would be hard for me these two weeks and it's putting on clothes!! Haha! Oh well, at least the house dresses I have are comfortable. 

Stay tuned for Day 8 (geez, has it been that long already?!?!?!)

xoxo

Mid Century Housewife Day 6: Honey and the Housewife Visit the In -Laws

So sorry today's post is sooooo late. We've been having thunderstorms in the NYC area and my internet was spotty all day. As a matter of fact it still is but it's better than it was this morning.

So yesterday this Mid Century Housewife spent the day at Honey's parents' house. Things never go as planned when we're with her folks. I love her mother but she's not very...ummm...organized when it comes to planning family get togethers. It was supposed to be a small get together for Honey's aunt and uncle who unexpectedly came into town from North Carolina. We were going to have an early dinner, spend some time with the relatives and then go to a (LGBT) Pride party a friend was having. 

Well. I did all my housewifely duties before we left home. So that meant breakfast and light cleaning. We arrived at her mom's house around 3 in the afternoon. When we got there NOTHING had even been started. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but Honey's mom loves to go ALL out when it comes to family dinners, think southern style cooking. So it take hours to prepare. And when we got there she had only started the baked ham. And what else was on the menu you ask??? Well, left to be cooked was, collard greens, baked mac and cheese, sweet potatoes and fried chicken (told ya, completely southern cooking). And absolutely NOTHING was ready. So needless to say Honey had to help get things on track. I wasn't asked to help because Honey's mom still doesn't trust my cooking skills even though I am a really good cook. I guess I am better at baking but it didn't even cross my mind to bake anything. I guess I should have. It would have definitely added to my Housewiving. I could have made some obscure 50s dessert. No scratch that. That would have been a horrible idea. Could you imagine what my soul food cooking, control freak mother in law would have said if I came in with some dessert that included fruit cocktail, whipped cream, marshmallows and jello?!?!?!?!?!?! It makes me giggle to even think of it!!!!!!!

Anyway, so as you could imagine dinner wasn't ready until 7pm. We had planned on being gone by then, but with dinner just finishing there was no way we could just leave. No matter how much we (I) wanted to. So we spent the whole evening at the in-laws. Honey felt so bad because she knew I really wanted to go out and celebrate, especially with DOMA being knocked down and all. I didn't want her to feel too bad, so I put on my big girl face and powered through the evening as only a well mannered vintage girl could! By the way, my dress was a big hit. I didn't take a pic of it because I've put it on the blog already when we went to Viva Las Vegas. It's the pink one shown here And as I said, I was going to come home and change and take pictures of celebration outfit, but that never came to pass. It's ok. I'll save it for another time. 

The only near diaster was my hair. I pin curled it the night before and brushed it out into this cute style but as soon as we got to where we were going it started pouring rain!!!! Good thing I had my hair emergency kit in my purse (hair pins, brush, snood and a travel sized bottle of hairspray). I was able to wrangle it and make a even better style! Honey's mom kept saying I looked like Lucille Ball. Total compliment!!!

Well, that's all for now. Just thought I would do a quick post while I'm waiting on Honey to get here and the internet is actually working. Yes, Honey is working late...again...so we're having a late dinner.

What's on the menu tonight? Salmon loaf!!! HAHA!!! Doesn't sound too appetizing, huh? Well tune in tomorrow and I'll let you know whether it is a success or a bust.

I'll leave you all with a recipe that I would have liked to entertain the in- laws with. Hehehe! I'm still giggling!! (I need to find a bigger pic of this! I wish I could tell what the recipe was saying)

One more thing. I was nominated for a Leibster Award by the lovely Joanna at Dividing Vintage Moments!!! YAY!! It's my second one!! I'll be sure to nominate my blog pics and answer her questions as soon as I'm off of housewife duty! Thanks so much Joanna!!!!

xoxo

Mid Century Housewife Day 5: Saturday...A Housewives Day Off...Well, Sort of...

Today's post is going to be super short because this Mid Century Housewife is taking the project on the town!!!

Honey has family in town from North Carolina this weekend so we are off to the in-laws. Sigh...this is both a joy and a pain in the you know what. Mothers in law have a history of being...well, mothers in law and no one can do anything as well as them. Especially YOU!!! But they mean well (most of the time), so we love anyway. Besides, making nice with the mother of your spouse is always a good thing for your marriage.

Then after that, we come home to change and then it's off to a party to celebrate NYC's LGBT Pride weekend!

No, it's not very vintage but I'll be dressed in my vintage best for the in-laws and my pin up best for the Pride party. I'll try to get some pics to do an outfit post to go along with tomorrow's post.


Now... on to Yesterday

Yesterday (Saturday) was day 5 of the project. Wow, has it been 5 days already? Time definitely does fly when your having fun, or doing dishes, or sweeping the floor.

On my daily housewife SCHEDULE Saturday doesn't have any special cleaning assignments. Just the normal daily tidying, cooking and meal planning for the upcoming week. I did the tidying but since I did the meal planning yesterday I had extra time to wash my hair and give myself some much needed pampering. I don't see when these ladies had anytime for themselves. There is so much to do in one day. Especially if you have children. But I have to admit. The more I clean and dust the easier it gets because I don't leave anything until it piles up. Doing tiny bits of cleaning is MUCH easier and faster than letting it build and doing one big clean. Honey keeps commenting on how clean everything is. That must mean I'm doing something right.

Anyway, I cooked dinner which was breaded pork chops. This recipe was tasty too. I think I'm going to keep it to make it again.

Super simple recipe and super yummy. It says to make a sauce to simmer the chops in. I just made a gravy and let them simmer in that. They also didn't take as long as it said. I almost left them to long. As you can see, some of the breading came off.

Dessert was left over cupcakes and whipped cream from last night.

Later I set my hair in my go to set.

IMAGE SOURCE

Then it was off to bed. I'll try to get some outfit photos in and share with you tomorrow.

Until then,

xoxo

Mid Century Housewife Day 4: Rainy Day Cupcakes and Realizations

Yesterday (Friday) was Day 4 of the being a vintage Housewife.

I had a very slow start to the day, as my stomach was KILLING me since I had my monthly visitor overnight.

I woke up super early because Honey had to be at work early. When she saw how miserable I was she let me sleep in. I tried to refuse but she wouldn't take no for an answer, bless her heart. So, there was no breakfast for Honey this morning. I'm lucky to have the partner that I have. I'm totally convinced that if we actually lived in the 50s and had kids, she would have still let me sleep in as well as got the kids breakfast and off to school. She's the best like that. 

After and extra hour of sleep I was finally able to pull myself out of bed and get some tea and pain killers. Thankfully, that did the trick to get me back on my feet. Then it was off to the supermarket.

I did the marketing, the daily dusting and cleaning of the house. Today was another thorough cleaning day so I cleaned the bedroom and living room. I spent the early part of the day changing bed linens, vacuuming, washing windows and scrubbing walls. This has been the only point since we've lived in this apartment that I thanked my lucky stars that it's small. I got through every thing relatively quickly considering how much I had to do. 

Time to check the list...

I was up to the point where I was supposed to start any long preparations for dinner, so that meant starting on dessert. I was still slightly annoyed by yesterday's disaster (which after googling what may have went wrong and reading comments from you guys, I came to the conclusion that I didn't cook the cream filling long enough. I've made tons of cream pies before but let this one slip through my fingers somehow. No worries, there will be a rematch. And I will be victorious!!!!!!!!! Dramatic much?? hehe) , so I was determined to make this work. I decided on Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Cream.

For the next 3 meals I will be using the 1946 edition of The Household Searchlight Recipe Book.

Here is the recipe. 

These were incredibly easy to make! YAY! The one square of chocolate, which may have been for rationing purposes, didn't sound like nearly enough to me so I added a few squares! A girl can never have too much chocolate!

Here they are fresh from the oven.

At first I couldn't pinpoint what looks funny about them, then it dawned on me...they look like muffins. I guess because the recipe didn't call for the use of paper cupcake liners. I looked it up, and there were no cupcake liners before WWII. Maybe the use of paper liners wasn't a  very common thing.

While the cupcakes cooled...and Givenchy eyed them from a few feet away, I took a nap. I was soooo tired alllll day. I guess it was due to that unwelcome visitor...

When I woke I started dinner. 

Dinner was a Hot Tamale Pie

This was also super easy to make and assemble. It just took making the corn-meal "mush" in one pan, and browning the meat and veggies in another. 

I used a lot of seasoning. After yesterday's unfortunate dinner I wanted this to at least be mostly tasty. I couldn't afford another weird look from Honey so soon after the first. I think she would seriously denounce this experiment if that happened.

Fresh out of the oven. Excuse my well- loved square pan.

It looks yummier than it sounds, huh?! Thank the Vintage goddesses above because it was yummy...REALLY yummy. It kind of tastes like Shepard's pie. Honey really liked it and went back for seconds, and thirds and even fourths!!!!

Dessert was also a home run. A small recipe in the back of the book said to remove the center of the cake and insert the sweetened whipping cream. I just sliced them and put the cream in the center, and dab on top. MMmmmmmm... Honey added sliced strawberries to hers. 

So, as you can see it was a quiet day. But I enjoyed the peacefulness of it all. At one point I knew I had been online WAY more than I should have been. That damned Facebook/Instagram addiction. I put the computer away and decided if I was going to make this a truly, mostly vintage experience I really need to cut back on it. I haven't been surfing the web or anything. Just compulsively checking my Facebook. So from now on I'm going to monitor how many photos go to Instagram and how much updating I do on Facebook.

 Then, the best thing happened.  As I was baking it started raining and I just listened to the rain as I baked. It was actually quite beautiful. Baking cupcakes during a breezy summer rain. No television, radio or internet to numb my senses.  It made me realize that even after this is all over I really need to slow down and listen to the rain. To enjoy life's little moments as they come. To try to always be IN the moment as opposed to moving through one moment to get to the next and the next. Life is so beautiful if we just stop to smell the roses, or in my case the rain.

xoxo

Mid Century Housewife Day 3: A Pointless Bake Off

Let's just jump right into it, shall we?

Day 3 of the Housewife Project (Thursday)

Well, day 3 was spent cleaning. It was the day that was reserved for a deep clean of certain areas of the house. I decided to do the kitchen and the bathroom.

It was a ton of work. It took about 2 hours to finish just the kitchen alone. And that's with me having one of the world's tiniest kitchens. Every little nook and cranny had to be clean. Following the instructions from America's Housekeeping Book helped a lot, though.

I started off by emptying out the refrigerator and freezer and scrubbing the inside of it. Of course with that came the emptying of gross bottles and almond milk cartons that somehow got lost in the back of the fridge (just in case you were wondering, almond milk turns into a weird oozey substance when its spoiled. I guess it turns into almond oil or something...ick. Can't let that happen again).

Once that was done I scrubbed the actual unit itself just for some extra shine. Then it was on to the stove. I spent 30 minutes scrubbing, and scrubbing...and...scrubbing until it was as shiny as a new one. That led to going inside of the oven which, thankfully, we cook enough and clean it enough so that it didn't need too much attention.

Then came the cabinets, then the walls, then the floor. It was seriously never ending (and don't forget all this happened after I had already  made and served breakfast, made the bed, dusted every piece of furniture...again...and walked around and made sure everything was were it was supposed to be...). But it was worth it. When I was finished it was like having a new kitchen. Every think was gleaming (with my sweat and tears).

The bathroom came next which wasn't that big of a deal since that gets a daily deep clean everyday anyway.

Then it was on to baking... Good thing I like to bake because it was only 1 o clock and I had already had a full day but no lunch yet.

I started with the Cheese Swirls that I needed to go on top of tonight's Tuna Bake.

The instructions were pretty straight forward. It was basically a basic biscuit dough recipe that was rolled into a jelly roll shape, then cut and baked. Sorry I forgot to get a pic of the actual biscuit recipe...

Here is the dough (messily) rolled out with the cheese on top. Of course it's American cheese.

Then rolled into a log

Cut into circles and baked off.

Here are the finished swirls! Aren't they cute?!

Then I moved on to the Strawberry Cream Pie...Here is where things started to veer in the wrong direction.  Here is the recipe

I did everything the instructions said... I mean, EVERYTHING...but for some reason when I went to check the pie after it had chilled for 2 hours I noticed that it wasn't setting...Totally soupy. But, I thought, maybe it just needs to chill longer. So I moved on to eating a late lunch and meal planning for the weekend. I still had 3 hours before Honey started on her way home.


Meal planning took longer than I expected because my indecisiveness set in and I couldn't narrow down what I wanted for dinner this weekend. I finally figured it out and let me just say, it should make for interesting blogging!!

When that was done it was on to the Tuna Bake

I knew I was taking a chance with this one because Honey DESPISES canned chicken soup. It literally makes her gag. But...it was worth a shot right. I got out the can opener and got to work.

Now this recipe would have been better if maybe the cheese swirls were not baked off in advanced and then baked AGAIN for 30 minutes when you put them on the Tuna Bake. Making the bake itself was not the problem. It was the fact that 30 minutes was way to long to keep already baked biscuits in the oven. So my super cute, perfect little swirls ended up over baked and looking like they were one step away from being door stoppers. Sigh...

I'm soooo anal with my baking, so that put me in kind of a bad mood. But at least everything else turned out ok right...wrong...we have to go back to my pie...

So right after I did the meal planning, and right before I started the Tuna Bake I checked the pie again. After almost 4 hours in the refrigerator it was no more near set than when I first put it in...Panic mode... ok... maybe not. Let's be creative. Let's see, we can eat it as like a vanilla/ strawberry pudding or something...or, maybe freezing it would work.

So I stuck my soupy cream pie in the freezer...sigh # 2.

Now fast forward to finishing up the Tuna Bake. I check the pie and well, it's definitely freezing. I have no idea how it's going to turn out but at least its solid now.

Honey comes home and I go through the ritual of putting out the table, setting it and fixing her drink. I pull the Tuna Bake out the oven and bring it to the table. Silence.

"What did you say this was supposed to be?" she asks

"Ummm...Tuna Bake??" I respond.

"Hmmm..." blank face from Honey

I serve it and she tastes it.

"Well, it could be worse" she says.

Which in Honey language means she hated it and doesn't want to hurt my feelings. I just laugh because like I said before, I knew I was pushing it.

I however didn't think it was all that bad.  I don't think I'll make it again but it wasn't HORRIBLE. I'm glad I made salad also because Honey ended up only eating the greens.

Then it was time for the pie. My poor pie had been through a lot. Pulled it out of the freezer and yep, it was frozen... here is the sad finish to my long day of hard work. This had NEVER happened to me before while baking!! UGH!! Stupid mid century cookbook instructions!!!

Honey agreed that if it had set it would have been scrumptious!! But alas, we had to eat frozen, strawberry cream pie.

Oh well, hopefully today's cooking and baking will be better!!!

Time to do more dusting!