28 ~ Sunday, August 15, 1993 -- North Shore News A century of home cooking brings back memories UP TO our necks in iifestyles and technologies we’d never dreamed of, we miss simplicity, you and J. Eleanor ise THE VINTAGE YEARS Waltzing, for instance. We used to do some pretty mean waltzing in our day. And train whistles. In the night, long ones. And men doffing hats to ladies. If you see a man in a hat these days it’s a Tilley, and they don’t doff worth a darn. I bet Woodward’s Food Floors would get top mention | on a lot of lists of ‘‘Gee, I wish that would come back...” As a clueless bride from the bush, I got my shopping degree in their premises. Those lovely smiling women at the checkouts — they were obliging friends. And Bea ¥ Wright, who always had some good advice or good recipes to offer. She kept us up te snuff. - Bea Wright doesn’t live ., there‘any more, but she’s still in the recipe business, you'll be ‘glad to know. She’s shed the pseudonym now — Mona Brun is just herself — but she ~~ still dispenses food informa- tion. . _ ~ She'll be at the PNE again, '- and for-three of her days, NX, Aug. 23 to 25, designated “ seniors’ days, she will pay special attention to our par- ticular eating styles. Every significant event in life is distinguished by the special food that belongs to it. '' The First World. War was a scramble. By the 20s, which maybe roared in New York but stayed, pretty sober in the provinces, Sunday dinner was the highlight of the week, both socially and table-wise and it generated a lot of recipes for soups and leftover casseroles. Pyrex casserole dishes were a hot item. When we slid downhill into the deprivation of the ’30s, it was to tighten belts, not splurge on food. Kraft Dinner was born (my mother wouldn’t be found dead with it) and so was sliced bread (ditto). And the Watkins man, who had good vanilla and floor polish, went on the road. For the First War years and again in the 740s, we struggled with rationing, trying to feed the family in the usual fashion - with eggless this and sugarless ‘that: And I, one of thousands, painted my legs to pretend to be wearing stockings, and had - someone rule a fake ‘‘seam’’ ‘down the back. , It tickled in the doing. We all went inad for electric appliances in the ’50s --- every bride had at least one pop-up toaster offered. That’s when television began to sabotage our mealtimes, they say, laying the ground work for TV trays and ordering in. The following decade we got self-conscious about ethnic cookery and ex- otic seasonings, and the new buzzword was ‘‘organic.”” Come the ’70s, we were leaping cultural barriers one after another, and getting heavily into weird things like falafel and bulgar and Japa- nese sushi. The fads pursued one another through the "80s, and here we are closing in on 2000, furiously fresh, fat-free and full of fibre. Carol gave me her ’30s reci- pe for macaroni and cheese to remind you of your youth: This would feed a family: 2 cups elbow macaroni 3 Tbsp. butter 3 Tbsp. flour 1% cups mitk Salt and pepper VY. tsp. dry mustard 3 cups shredded sharp cheesz 2 Tbsp. dry crumbs 1 Tbsp. melied butter 2 Tbsp. chopped parsiey Bring a big pot of water to the boil, dump in the pasta and the salt. Stir frequently to prevent sticking, and when all is tender, drain. ‘ You grated the cheese while the pasta was cooking, so now get a saucepan, melt the 3 Tbsp. of butter in it, and stir in the flour with a steady hand to rnake a smooth paste. Gradually add the milk, stirr- ing relentlessly until it’s smooth. Stir in half the cheese. 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