Nothing left but the wishbone

This little gem was another piece of 1950's cooking ephemera tucked away in a cookbook. Courtesy of the San Diego Gas & Electric Home Economics Department!

I still don't fully understand the idea of using spagetti (especially left-overs) in casseroles.

"Contrary to popular opinion, hot foods placed directly in the refridgerator will not spoil" You mean there was a time when that was popular opinion??

Ok, the last recipe lost me at the pimento and killed me with the toasted coconut and pineapple garnish. With turkey. And the fact that it's a soup?...what is that anyway?

So who's ready for Thanksgiving?

Mmmmm, delicious?

Since Thanks-for-giving-me-a-bellyache Day is near and I finally got a working scanner, I thought I'd share some authentic 1950's recipes this week.

I hope you ate already!

Main Curse! I mean, Course.

I'd actually eat this one. Accept I hate bananas.

This sounds like a great way of ruining perfectly good ice cream and Fig Newtons.

Big surprise that this is my favorite. I have a strange attraction to gelatin molds and desserts.

These just a few of the many items tucked into the pages of a 1938 cookbook. The most recent clipping I found was from the late 50's. Looks like this book had been well used for some time!

Stay tuned for more!

It's a go!

I'm committed. I'm going for it. As my sweetie says "Go big or go home", so I'm going big! Of course that's easy for him to say, he's going to be out of town for the whole ordeal.

So I've pressed my family into service, additional supplies are on the way,and I have back-ups of all my blades and circle cutting gadgets.

All I need is a really cleverly worded teaser to put inside each cookie!

Well, then there's the hammering part but I'll give myself a headache if I think about that now.

I'll post some pictures later. I've never done this type of volume before so I'm ready to document the process.

Promo Dilemma

Here's the scoop. Just like many others, I just got an email for sponsorship of any/all of the 3 Bust Craftacular shows. I am contemplating the lowest level of sponsorship which includes business name and website on the program and Bust website as well as contributing promo items for the gift bags. I would have to contribute 500 items for the more established NY show and 100 to the new LA show. Have any of you done promotions with such volume before? What sort of items or coupons did you contribute? Did you see any noticeable traffic/sales. I was only going to try the LA show but reading about the success of the NY show makes me wonder if I should do both. 600 items by early December.

So I was thinking numbers here...2 ways to look at it;

1- I would be reaching 600 people for just over $1 (my promos cost me a buck). Where else will you pay that little and reach so many?

2- If only 10% of those people (60) actually visit and buy something, at say, $10 (my average price) that's a $600 return. Not too shabby. And even if only a few of those become repeat customers it will balance out.

Doesn't sound too bad, right? I want to use these fabric fortune cookies. I think they will stand out well against all the buttons, key chains, magnets and lip balms and they beg to be opened. Inside I will make a special....well, this is where I'm stuck. The cookie gets their attention but what's inside has to get them to come to Etsy. So it has to be something they'll keep once they've opened the cookie.

Now I'm thinking of turning it into a raffle or drawing What if I offer a gift valued at say, $75 if they come to Etsy and convo me to get their name in the hat. Would that be enough incentive for them to hold onto their freebie and actually come visit?

This is a huge risk and I want to take it but I need to approach it smartly. I would love any ideas, suggestions or feedback. Please!

I have until Monday to decide (last chance to get supplies in time). Please advise! Pros and Cons, let me have them!

Garlic & Bananas

Since I've been working so hard the last few days I gave myself the afternoon off. What that really meant was cooking and cleaning. I've been reading a lot of cookbooks lately so I was really looking forward to baking something. But what?

When I walked into the kitchen I was greeted with the scent of very ripe bananas. Aha! Banana bread coming right up! I can't stand the smell of bananas and I can only eat half of one before I gag. But throw a banana into a baked good and I'm in love. I mashed and mixed and popped it in the oven. Because it's such a wet, heavy batter it takes forever to bake. It was torture! And hour of delicious, warm, vanilla-banana scented joy wafting up the stairs while I cleaned. Even worse is that the recipe calls for an hour cooling time before eating. What?! I had it slathered in butter and popped in my mouth as soon as I could handle the loaf. Heaven.

But I wasn't finished yet! I wanted to bake more! I eye-balled the big fresh loaf of french bread on the counter and remembered I saw a recipe for making your own croutons. Why the hell not? Sounds like fun. Mix a little olive oil, salt, fresh garlic, fresh grated Parmesan and the cubed bread. Bake for about 25 minutes.

More heavenly smells! I adore garlic and again, I was eating my crunchy cubes of baked yumminess as soon as it was cool enough to handle. And later again on my salad. Mmmmmm, perfection.

I just wish I hadn't baked them both within a few hours of each other. When tell people I just baked banana bread and garlic croutons the first reaction is, well...eewww. Two tasty but very disparate flavors that would do well to have their own day of glory.

Wow, I'm hungry now. Think I need a slice of warm banana bread. And no croutons :)