Kitschen Feast

Last week, a friend introduced me to her retro cooking blog, kitschenfeast.blogspot.com. Like me, Heidi's also a Nebraska native, KC transplant, Northwest grad, communications major, and a married parent of two kids — the oldest of which is a boy in kindergarten.

She inspired me to find the most vintage cookbook we have, so I searched the cupboard and settled on this gem from my grandma, Better Homes & Gardens SALAD BOOK. (They wisely didn't call it a "cook" book.) Copyright 1958.

Though the outside is well worn, the inside is pretty pristine. Some excerpts:
• "The salad idea you're looking for may be a green accent for a back-yard barbecue ... or a jeweled gelatin mold to crown a holiday buffet."
• "Add nippy bits of water cress, chives."
• "Achieve the pep and vigor that come with good health." (Their italics, not mine.)
• "Start capturing salad sunshine!" I just realized that every paragraph on this page ends with an exclamatory sentence. The others are "Off to a right start!", "You're unruffled, too!" and "Happy tossing to you!"
And that's all before Page 4.

I did find a slip of paper, in G-ma's handwriting, that must've been a menu for some kind of get-together. It lists "wine-?, cole slaw, potato salad, green beans, fish, dessert-coffee". Fun times!

Wow. I can only imagine the number of times these recipes contributed to a Lutheran church basement potluck.