1950s Diet: Day 6 (Mexican Food and Final Thoughts)

Well that was a looooong stretch in-between posts! I could give you the long winded version but basically me and my old lady ways threw my back out so the last week has been somewhat of a crap shoot. But! I'm better now, so onwards with the bloggin. 

Day 6 was probably my most true to form day of the 1950s diet-

I had a picture perfect breakfast:

About 1 cup of Cheerios w/ 3/4 cup of milk and 1 tsp sugar, 1 glass of OJ (about 6 oz) and an 8 oz glass of milk

and lunch:

1 sandwich: whole wheat bread, 2 slices of Swiss cheese, around 4 tsp of mustard, lots of lettuce, 1 hard boiled egg, and grapes. I had the apple later for a snack. (Betty says you can have lots of fresh fruit!)

Both meals I was able to do without any substitutions, and keep exactly to the book's suggestions. Dinner was one of my favorites, Mexican food, yay! I forgot to take a picture (blame the margaritas), but I had a delicious vegetarian taco salad. If this was the 50s my choices would have been more limited, with only really one or two options. Here's a 1950s menu from El Toreador, "The Only Spanish and Mexican Restaurant in Miami":

What's up with the spaghetti!?

So as you can see, only a few vegetarian options, but I'd be perfectly content chowing down the "fried tortillas with melted cheese" option, just sayin'.

Your choice in restaurants was quite a bit more limited as well, there were of course family owned places sprinkled around, but from what I gather the first chain was El Torito, which first opened in 1954 in Los Angeles. The chain's success had a lot to do with the "mild" version of Mexican food served there, it was a lot easier for those who were unfamiliar to ease into. 

For the more adventurous, canned Mexican food and cookbooks dedicated to the cuisine were also an option for home cooked meals:

So that just about wraps up my eating journal for the week! Here are my final thoughts and take aways from the week: 

1) Dinner has definitely been the hardest to keep authentic throughout this experiment. It relies heavily on meat and as someone who only eats fish about twice a year, it's not a great option. But I was able to get the jist of the balance of the meals and work around that. It seems like most plates were about 1/4 protein, 1/2 vegetables (2 different kinds), and 1/4 some other kind of fruit/soup/starch (this was sort of a mixed bag and didn't seem to follow a pattern). You also always got a "healthy" dessert like sherbet, stewed fruit, or jello, and of course, 1 glass of milk. (As an adult with a slower metabolism I think it's smarter to cut out the 1/4 mixed bag portion, and keep it to one or two glasses of milk a day, not "one with every meal plus one extra" as Betty advises for the teenage quota of about 2,000 calories a day. 

2) I saved a bunch of money (about $45 bucks!) just eating my breakfast at home and bringing lunch. As I said in a pervious post, this is definitely one aspect of the experiment I will carry on doing!

3) Even with what felt like "extra" food, the portions were smaller, and the emphasis seemed to be on a little bit of everything, and with that variety (taste, texture and visual), in the end you felt more satisfied and full. 

4) I loved having homemade, fresh meals (versus my usual microwaved dinners or oil filled omelette breakfasts), and that is also something from the experiment I want to keep on doing. 

5) Taking the time to make and have breakfast at home (instead of rushing around in the morning then eating breakfast at my desk) really sort of set the tone for a more collected day.

Now for the ultimate question...did I lose any weight? Was this diet even really a diet at all? Well the answer is sadly no, not really. When I weighed my self on Day 7 I was exactly the same weight as when I began this whole shebang. BUT I felt and looked much less bloated thanks to less salt and oil, as well as the homemade meals. A few days later however I weighed myself and was down .8 ounces, hey, that's something, right?! Like Betty says, "Do not be discouraged if nothing happens immediately. A diet that progresses slowly progresses more surely." I definitely believe this to be true, but my patience is still coming to terms with the "slow and steady wins the race" mantra. 

Well I hope you all have enjoyed this little vintage diet experiment as much as I did, till next time, happy eating!

xoxo❤️xoxo

Links to the rest of my 1950s diet posts!
1950s Diet: Day 1!
1950s Diet: Day 2 (Improvising and a Major Case of the Hungries)
1950s Diet: Day 3 (No-Chicken Soup and Teen-Age Exercises)
1950s Diet: Day 4 (Cheerios and More Improvising!)
1950s Diet: Day 5 (Dining Out and a Fifties Fail)

1950s Diet: Day 2 (Improvising and a Major Case of the Hungries)

Well as the title says, yesterday, Day 2 of the diet, was filled with lots of improvising (you can see Day #1 and all "suggested" meals here). I choose breakfast #4, the hot cereal option (as per the book's suggestion of alternating cereal and eggs. Apparently that way, it won't get boring, and I'll "forget" I'm even on a diet!...haha not likely) :

I ate at work, so compared to yesterday's cute soft-boiled egg and toast arrangement, here's my improvised version:

Fruit cup in place of the sliced orange, hot cereal (about 3/4 cup of steel cut oatmeal) with 1 tbsp of brown sugar (I allowed myself a bit more sugar since the oatmeal was made with water, not milk), 1 slice of marble rye with 1 tsp of butter, and black tea, in my very touristy mug from Graceland :). I forgot my glass of milk at home, but I was kinda over having so much of it, so that worked out.

This kept me full for several hours unlike yesterday's breakfast, but oatmeal is really not a dieter's friend, calorie wise, so I'm not entirely sure why that's on the menu, but ok!

Lunch was a salad, this is what the book has to say for those of us who "bring money to school instead of a lunch-box":

After looking around a bit I came to realize that French and mayonnaise-based salad dressings were the most common, which ruled out my beloved ranch :( Hidden Valley started producing it in 1954, but it really didn't pick up speed and become popular until much later. "Salad oil" was around, but being that French is being considered too oily, that easily rules out Italian dressing too.

Adorable Wishbone ad from 1959. I would have been all over that "cheese" dressing!

My non "genie-us" salad: spinach ("leafy greens"!), cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, avocado, 1 hard boiled egg,  Monterey Jack cheese, croutons (to make up for the slice of bread), and I was stuck with a lemon juice/salt/pepper mix again for the dressing. 

It was all downhill from here. About an hour later I was starrrrvinggg. Like Chris Farley Gap Girls hungry.

 

My modern stomach is definitely not used to these potions, sad.

Here's what the book has to say on snacks: 

So munch on an apple I did. I could almost hear my stomach laughing at me for the lame attempt. By the time dinner rolled around I was famished again, here's what din looked like:

A salad (made up of spinach, pearl tomatoes, Beyond Meat grilled "chicken" strips, and the ever faithful lemon/salt/pepper dressing), homemade (vegetarian) vegetable/egg noodle soup (it tastes *just* like chicken noodle soup!, and could be made vegan with a noodle swap), 1 glass of milk (my only one for the day).

About two hours later I was starving again, so I broke into the Thin Mints. 

Fun Fact: by 1951, the Girl Scouts had three cookie varieties; Peanut Butter Sandwich, Shortbread, and Chocolate Mints (now known as Thin Mints). 

Now where can I get one of these swell 'Fatty' sweatshirts?!

That's it for Day 2 Daddy-Os, see ya tomorrow for Day 3 as I continue to navigate my way through this 50s diet!

Update: Goodbyes, Cats and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Hey Blogland,

It's been a pretty long hiatus, hasn't it? 

Well most of you reading this will know why, but for anyone who doesn't and would like to-my Grandma passed away last August. The family has spent every weekend since her passing clearing out her house, and it's been a very long, hard, physical and emotional process. But in a way I feel as if I know her a bit better. Seeing all the little collected pieces of someone's life through out the years will do that I guess. I have a few things of hers around my apartment now, one of them being her cat. That makes three now. Oi. Vey. Gardening shows and knitting magazines, here I come.

Anyway- I won't babble on, sometimes I feel the more you talk about something the more it loses meaning. So I will end the updates there.

One of the items from Grandma's I got to keep was her incredible Betty Crocker Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book-from 1946! Which leads us to the other part of this post. There are lots of cut-outs from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine as well (meant to be added to the cook book, appropriately sized and everything), but nothing older than 1954, I'm in vintage baking heaven. 

Inside front cover

Front Cover

Look at this beauty! It's been through the wars alright but is still completely gorgeous. Just imagine all the history this book has seen!

I like cooking but baking is just special. It's what fills your house with those smells and warmth and really just makes things feel like home. There's only a handful of things I can do to sort of "time travel", and baking is one of them (listening to records is my other fav!).

So with my "new" cook book in hand I decided to tackle one of the recipes that has mystified me for years-the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake!

My cake will totally be as pretty as these, yep.

Here's the recipe we're working with:

This recipe does not call for soaking the pineapples slices in (spiced) rum, but I sure did. Why the heck not?!

Step 1: In the butter goes to melt               

 Step 2: Brown sugar added to melted butter, mmm.

Step 3: Arrange pineapple slices and maraschino cherries over the sugar/butter combo

As you can see I wasn't able to fit the specified 9 slices of pineapple, 7 was really pushing it. 

Aww don't be sad my little left over rum soakers, you will be a delicious Mai Tai soon.

Step 4: Here we have the egg yolks, sugar, and pineapple juice (it came in juice, not syrup) all mixed together

Step 5: And now the dry ingredients added (flour, salt, and baking powder)

Step 6: Pour batter over pineapple slices (I forgot to get a picture of this but here's the finished batter! It was thick.)

I did the dishes while I waited for my cake.

Hahahahaha. Nope.

I sat down to enjoy my quasi Mai Tai, which consisted of rum/pineapple juice from the soakers, pineapple slices and cherries that stained my fingers. (That can't be good to ingest right...? Eh, oh well.)

Afore mentioned kitty trying to muscle in on my booze, rude. 

Aaaand 45 minutes later I had myself a cake! (It was looking done before the given 1 hour time).

Okay now I know it's not so pretty but don't judge, at this point we're one Mai Tai in, and this is also post flip and a transfer back into the pan. But the best part? It was DELISH. There was a sort of almond creamy ness to it (although none was added)/amaretto type flavor, and the sugary butter top was just so mmm.

Well I hope everyone enjoyed my little vintage baking adventure as much as I did, I plan to do many more! Till then darlings ❤

Save Bomb Girls!

If you haven't heard of this incredible show yet- you really, really ought to. It's set in 1940's Canada, following the lives of a group of young women who work in a factory building bombs for the war.

This little trailer gives a great quick introduction to the main characters:

As you can see there are plenty of outfits and handsome men to drool over...

But this show had so much more than that. I'm sick to death of "reality" programs, and so to genuinely care about these characters was very refreshing. It also gives what I think to be a pretty realistic, less focused on account of the time-the difficult dynamic between men (especially those not serving) and women, and often the prejudice these women simply trying to earn a living received. The actresses captured the spirit of those strong and brave women perfectly.

This  program sadly only aired two seasons before it was announced this past April it would not be renewed for a third, despite a huge fan base and multiple awards. Here in the U.S. the first season is available via Netflix, and the second I watched on YouTube. There's a petition you can sign to help save this wonderful show, they still need a little more than 1,600 signatures before they can submit it. We need more quality programs like this around, so please sign if you can, it only takes a second! Also if you're interested there are more ways to help, please visit the Save Bomb Girls website for more information.

Fish and Chips, Flowers and Fun in San Francisco!

This past weekend my mom and I spent a lovely Saturday in San Francisco celebrating Mother's Day. Other than a lot of Toms shoes, there was lots of beautiful scenery to be seen and amazing food to be had.

First we stopped off to look at some flowers and patio furniture at Flora Grubb Gardens, a gorgeous nursery/pottery/outdoor furniture oasis in the middle of the ghetto. Like people selling dodgy pies on the corner ghetto. Combination laundromat and car wash ghetto. Anyway, I digress. Flora Grubb seems to be the place to stock up, none other than Martha Stewart made an appearance last month (apparently her people called ahead of time to warn she'd be there) and everybody's favorite scoundrel President-Bill Clinton was there earlier in the week! Sadly mom and I missed them both, but at least mom can take comfort in knowing her taste in patio furniture is in good company. 

This was the most interesting part of the nursery to me:

This awesome old car (possibly a Ford Edsel?) converted into a massive planter box! 

Now of course I'd rather see it up and running, but I guess not being in a dumpster is a plus.

                 ^That's me and my always stylish Mom!^

After Flora Grubb, we did some shopping at The Gift Center (a bunch of little indoor shops selling jewelry), nothing vintage-y to see there aside from this leftover sign painted on the side of an unrelated building (no idea what it used to be!) down the same street (Brennan).





Our next stop was The Cliff House for an early bird dinner! A couple of nifty sights along the way:

Now abandoned cinema but the building still stands and some New York looking apartments

Mel's Drive-In! (Holy fog Batman)

The parking lot for The Cliff House is directly across from the once happening Sutro Baths:

Sadly today as you peer over the side of the cliff this is all you'll see:

 Aaaand after a little windy walk uphill and a quick photo-op stop...

We'd arrived!

How could you not love this building from the get-go!? The surrounding scenery, the architecture, the history, even those palms! Just divine.

Inside did not disappoint either, it splits into two restaurants, one more traditional and the other some fru-fru place charging God-knows-what for about two tablespoons of food. Luckily we ate in the older restaurant, the "Cliff House Dining Room":

There were gorgeous details everywhere-

From beautiful woodwork above the bar, to fab tile patterns on the floor!

 Even the bathroom doors were cute!

This incredible "ceramic muse"was once a feature in the Sutro Baths, created early 1890's.

Our table had some fantastic views as well:

 The walls inside were lined with pictures of their celebrity patrons! I sat next to Judy and Bob!







After and delicious portion of Fish and Chips, we headed on our way, but not before a quick photo with a cowboy that once resided in Playland !

Alright, and now for the major highlight of the day, I got to see where Marilyn Monroe got married!! San Francisco City Hall! And holy moly what a stunning building it is!

Marilyn and Joe leaving just after being married there on January 14, 1954:

Another of the couple on their happy day!

I hope to see the inside someday!

Well after a full day it was time to head home, a few parting views of the city:

 Hope you enjoyed my mini tour of San Francisco, till next time darlings!