Food for thought

With the exception of a niggly little cough, I've made a full recovery after the pneumonia and would like to say Thank You to everyone who left a comment wishing me a speedy recovery after my last post.

It came upon me so quickly; one evening I had the aches and thought that I had 'flu coming on, then a few days later it had turned into pneumonia which left me feeling totally feeble, shivering, breathless and with a hacking cough to boot. Now, I'm not one to give out public health messages, but if you've ever got 'flu and find yourself breathless, then phone your GP at once. I didn't realise until my GP confirmed it that pneumonia can take a sudden grip - even if you're a healthy adult with no underlying health issues - and if untreated, pneumonia can have serious consequences. Luckily for me though, I didn't have to go to hospital and was prescribed antibiotics with my GP telling me to "Take things easy". I felt so rough I didn't even feel like knitting!

 

After being cooped up in the house for two weeks, I ventured out this weekend and brought a couple of cookery books from my local Red Cross bookshop to add to my collection. One is a 1937 edition of The Electric Cooker and How to Use it. Only the very fortunate could afford an electric cooker in the Thirties as most households still used a cast iron range to cook on, and an electric cooker was both very desirable and expensive too. To help those housewives who managed to persuade their husbands to fork out for a new cooker, the book provides a comprehensive 'how to' guide and also includes an array of recipes interspersed with advertising for products such as McDougall's flour, Rolamatic electric irons and the delightfully named Scrubb's Cloudy Ammonia.

Don't think that I'd want to wash my hair with ammonia!

Here's a sample of cake recipes from the book that you might like to try out - especially if you're a 'hasty cook'!

The other book I brought is a very hefty tome indeed: Mrs Beeton's Cookery and Household Management dating from 1960. I love cookery books that also include colour photos and this book has plenty ranging from food assortments such as bread....

...through to room interiors like these coloured bathroom suites. These photos made me wonder if the spectre of avocado and brown bathroom suites from the Seventies has seen off coloured suites like these for good? I wouldn't mind inheriting a period bathroom with a perfect primrose yellow bath and sink like that below; I think they look really pretty. Although, I don't go much on mixing colours like the blue bath and pink bidet (very continental for the time!) and loo! Far too optically busy for me.

And finally, as Valentine's Day is looming, here's a recipe for Valentine's Cake taken from the trusty Mrs Beeton book...

P.S. Hello and welcome to my new readers  :-)