Cookbook: Good Housekeeping 1933

Let me begin by saying, "I love books!"..... Especially vintage/antique cookbooks.

My love for cookbooks stems from my mother, she got me into collecting them.

My mother's family is French, so we LOVE food.

Before moving I neglected my cookbooks and didn't use them as much as before I decided to uproot and finish my degree.

However, I am back at it and would like to share my love of cookbooks with all of you. 

Just for a side note, I would like to add that I stick with my cookbooks 'til the bitter end. 

Meaning, I try to prepare every recipe within the cookbook before moving on to the next one.

The first little gem I would like to introduce you all to is my third edition, 1933 Good Housekeeping cookbook. 

I absolutely adore this book for very many reasons, but most of all I appreciate the simplicity of these of recipes.

The added home keeping tips are just a bonus. 

There are many different versions of this book but I prefer the older ones because it reminds my so much of how my father's mother cooked.

God rest her soul. 

She was a traditional southern woman that would fix a meal out of anything, she always knew how to make something out of nothing.

I'm sure her growing up during the depression times had a lot to do with her style of cooking. 

Now back to the cookbook itself....

So far my favorite recipe to cook is the chicken croquettes. 

Again, very easy to cook and always turn out great. 

the book covers such topics as:

-Left-overs and the Game of Thrift

-Jelly Making

-Stocking the Pantry Shelf

-Cooking for Two/Six Persons

-Soups

-Canapes and Hors D'Oeuvres

-Along with many others..... 

The only problem with older cookbooks is finding recipes to suit my foodie style. 

I have given up red meat and I am on my way to giving up pork.

Pork has been my biggest challenge thus far. 

Until Next Time.....

BzzAgent: Glade Expressions Collection

                          

First, let me start by saying that I am sorry I have been away for soooo long. After graduating from college, starting my career, and moving life has been pretty hectic. However, I feel that I have reached a settling point where I can get back to blogging. During my absence, I became a member of bzzagent and I have really enjoyed writing reviews for different products. I would like to start bringing those reviews to my blog. The first product I would like to introduce to you lovely ladies and gents is the new  glade expressions collection oil diffusers and fragrance mists. The fragrance I chose to try first is pineapple & mangosteen mainly because I like the bamboo diffuser that was offered with this scent and felt that it would fit the decor in my home better. The diffusers offered with the cotton & italian mandarin, fuji apple & cardamom spice, and lavender & juniper berry only come in white. The great thing about this diffuser is I can buy the other fragrance refills and use them in the bamboo diffuser. I don't feel that pineapple & mangosteen is an appropriate scent for the upcoming fall season, but since the diffusers only last 30 days I will be able to change the scent out quickly. 

When I first opened the product the scent of pineapple was quite obvious however as it has sat in my home for the past few days I don't notice the scent as much. When I feel that the scent is a little "lacking" I use the matching fragrance mist. The fragrance mist tends to linger for a few hours before it dissipates. On a side note, let me state that I am an avid Febreze user and I put all of my Febreze goodies away to ensure that I give these products an accurate review. I once tried glade a few years ago but didn't like the fact that it didn't get rid of the pet smells that lingered in my home, instead I felt that it just masked the scent instead. I still feel this way about the glade expressions collection fragrance mist and oil diffuser, however, I feel that the oil diffuser maintains a pleasant scent in between sprays. I'm also not sure if I really like the pineapple & mangosteen scent, it smells very cheap and a little too sweet for me. Inserting the fragrance diffuser was easy and I like the idea that no heat is needed and although glade came up with this fragrance mist holder I feel that it is lacking in design. Even though the fragrance mist is concealed I do not plan on leaving this institutional looking spray out for my guests to see. I felt like the company could have done a little better job with the design since the oil diffusers are designed with a modern look. Below I have posted pictures of the items as they are currently located on a table in my foyer. Sorry for the poor picture quality, my digital camera is currently charging so I had to take these with the droid. 

Until next time. 

Nook Book: The Mill River Recluse

For Christmas I received a nook simple e-reader and I quickly became addicted. 

The first book I purchased for my nook was The Mill River Recluse. This is Darcie Chan's first novel and at $.99 I didn't feel bad about purchasing this book. I ran across this title while searching the NY Times Bestseller list and after reading it I know now why it was on this list. This book is about a woman who was abused by her husband and spent 60 years in seclusion. She confides in the town priest and only he knows her secrets. HER SECRETS are what kept me reading and made it hard for me to put my nook down even for a short period of time. When I thought I would find a resting place I would find myself having to read on because of things that were being revealed throughout the book. 

This is a fairly easy read as the writer presents the story in a clear and concise manner. 

I hope Darcie Chan continues to write because I look forward to reading other books by her.

Until next time....

Oreo, Peanut Butter, & Brownie Cupcakes

I am a cupcake lover and I have recently gotten into experimenting making different types. I ran across this recipe and just knew I had to try these. Needless to say these oreo, peanut butter, and brownie cupcakes are rich with flavor. At first I could only eat half of one but they are so good that I forced myself to eat the other half. :) I wish I would have had some vanilla bean ice cream to go with these, but I settled for milk which I highly suggest you have on hand to wash them down with. These were very simple to make. Each cupcake has two oreos on the inside held together with creamy peanut butter and just add peanut butter to the top of the oreos that are being held together then pour on about 2 tablespoons of brownie batter (of your choice) and let it cover the cookies. I did add peanut butter to the bottom of the cookies that were being held together but the peanut butter just stuck to the cupcake wrappers so I don't recommend this, however the recipe I was using said to do so. I also wouldn't recommend using brownies with walnuts or pecans in them because this is an intense brownie/cupcake just the way it is. I hope you guys try these and enjoy them just as much as I have.

Until Next Time...

FooseBash!

I love car shows and I love when people give back. This past weekend I headed over to Braselton, Georgia to YearOne to attend their charity car show. One of the charities that the proceeds benefit is one that Chip Foose is a huge activist for, the Progeria Research Foundation. Chip Foose's sister died from progeria which is a rare disease that effects children. Every year he attends this car show to raise money by signing autographs and creating sketches. Last year he spent over 11 hours just signing. It's amazing that he takes time out of his busy schedule to come down to Georgia and meet and greet with over 1000 people. I commend him greatly for being such a determined activist.
The car show was fabulous with some great looking cars and I met some pretty cool people.
Everyone should volunteer in some way, and give back to those less fortunate.

Until Next Time....

Annnnnd maybe next time won't be so long.

I Collect Seashells by the Seashore!

Seashells Collected at PCB

Last Friday, 8/12/2011, my b.f. and I took an over night trip down to Panama City Beach. It was nice to be able to go and not have to focus on anything else but eating, sun, and the water. We stayed at the Fontainebleu, which was my first time. Staying there reminded me of the stories that my mom and dad use to tell me about when they stayed in PCB and how that was the "it" place to stay. Our tiny room had been renovated and had new appliances, paint, cabinets, etc. but you could still feel that sense of oldness. Anyhow it was cheap, $89 a night, and right on the beach... Right beside the private residence beach of Bid-A-Wee.

We had a great time, we ate at Angelo's steak house on Friday night. Steak, at the beach? WEIRD!, I know right? Well if you have been down that way you know that is the place to go and has the world best steaks. I have been going to Angelo's since I was kid and was always amazed by the HUGE bull outside. That night I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into a juicy steak, but for the first time ever my steak, on the inside, was tough. Boy was I sad.  I think it was just a bad cut of meat because it seemed to have a lot of what looked like tendons on the inside and they were tough to cut thru. Now, seeing as how a single meal generally costs $20, I had to complain. I didn't really want to because the taste of the steak was AMAZING, but I feel like for the price I should have gotten something better in return. The manager there was very nice and had me another entire meal cooked, sadly by the time I got it my b.f. had already finished his meal. The manager was generous enough to remove my meal from the bill and I sat there and ate my delicious steak. 

Please keep in mind I am generally not the type to complain but I think I handled this quite well. Honestly we didn't even expect my meal to be removed I just wanted another steak,I do think it was nice that the manager took into consideration the fact that I would be eating alone. Needless to say we left our waitress a pretty hefty tip and left. I understand things happen and I will continue to go back.

On Saturday, we woke up and went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for lunch. I had a turkey burger, which is normally very good, but it turned out dry this time. I didn't complain and I ate it because any other time I have eaten there in the previous years my food has been amazing. I love that place, they play great music, and it sits right across from the beach in front of Pier Park. After we got done eating we headed out to the beach where we collected the shells above. Now, I haven't been down there since BEFORE the oil spill in the gulf. The water was so full of seaweed it looked black but the sandbars were clear so if you could make it out to one of those it was okay. Since my b.f. had just spent the week watching Shark Week on the discovery channel he was totally distressed about getting in that "murky water where sharks like to hunt". lol Well I braved it and went out into the water because I was roasting like a chicken in an oven and he decided to look for shells on the shore. After I got tired of trying to beat the tide I went up with him and started collecting shells too. What distressed me the most were these black looking shells and even a piece of sand dollar we found. We even found that piece of shell that looked like it had been burned. It made me wonder if these were shells that were effected by the oil spill. I have never seen so many black shells like we did that day it was very odd. I am not much of an environmentalist but it did upset me that a place that I grew up taking family vacations there was effected by the BP oil spill. I sort of felt violated. My mother has been in uproar since all of this took place and even stated if she was able to should would help with the relief effort, but after my visit there and picking up these shells I started to feel a bit of her anger.

After gathering shells we jumped in the car and headed home, my b.f. sunburned and me content that I got a mini vacation and was able to enjoy the beach. 

Now, almost a week later, we are back in Athens, I'm back in school and he is recovering from sun poisoning because he thinks sun block is for sissies. I hope I get to visit again soon.

Until next time...

Beauty: Wet 'n' Wild Color Icon Vanity Palette

I'm writing a review on my favorite Wet 'n' Wild palette. I know what some of you are thinking.... "Wet 'n' Wild, seriously?" But hold your horses these palettes are truly amazing. They are soft, buttery like, and highly pigmented. To me, they are comparable to MAC. However I do believe that MAC has gone a little of track in quality since Estee Lauder bought them out, but that's just my opinion. 

It might be a little late in the game to write a review about this palette because Wet 'n' Wild is phasing the six pan palettes out and soon it will all be about the 8-pan palettes. But on to the review.... 

This palette contains beautiful golds/browns in both matte and shimmer. I was not a fan of matte colors until I started using this palette. However, I must say that the matte powders are not finely milled so the colors can come out a little chalky looking. Going back to MAC, there are some great dupes in this palette that have been reviewed in other blogs online. I would provide a dupe list but I do not have the colors to compare in pictures, sorry about that. BUT you can google search for the dupes.


Until Next Time...