I'm still alive!

I haven't been really blogging much since October usually I'm on top of that because to me it is therapy. I have been busy decorating for fall/halloween having thanksgiving and decorating for christmas.

Merry christmas to all by the way! I hope you all got lots of lovely goodies! I did not ask for anything vintage this year from

Santa I have so much already! My Pyrex collection has cooled down...I have not bought Pyrex in awhile probably months!! I have most of what I want already. Now I'm on to fire king jadite. My husband got me a Bose system!! I have been wanting one for some time now and there it was wrapped under the tree! I did however sneak in a few vintage things I bought for myself for christmas. I bought a vintage 1950 or 1960s blonde mink cape in mint condition. And a pair of emerald green dangling rhinestone earrings from the 50s.

And also to add to my collection blue heaven juice glasses!! I will add photos tomorrow.

What did you guys get for christmas?

Fire King Jadeite-Ever find in a thrift?

I have always wanted to collect Fire King Jadeite. I have never had the opportunity to find any at a reasonable price...they are very expensive!

I have seen them at antique stores and on eBay but never in a thrift store. I did however find the Fire King tulip mixing bowl for $3.99! 

Has anyone ever found the Jadeite in a thrift store? and if so whats your story?

Halloween is in the air!

This is my favorite holiday of all time!!! I LOVE Halloween! It is so much fun! Watch scary movies (which I love), decorating with scary decorations, carving pumpkins, going apple and pumpkin picking! Best time of the year!

I already decorated the outside of my house!! Looks so nice. I also started to decorate my home for halloween/fall! Including my fall pyrex =)

Here are some pictures of the decorations...more to come!

Happy 70 year wedding anniversary nanny!

Although my grandfather died in 1979, I still say happy anniversary to my grandmother. Today August 1st would have been their 70th wedding anniversary.

My grandma and grandpa on their honeymoon in the Poconos in 1943!

On a recent trip to Adamstown..

Well, this past Sunday my mom and I went to Adamstown, PA. She has never been there but I have several times. It was an awesome trip...I did not bring any Pyrex back with me. Everything that I saw I already have! I did however bring a nice collection of cookbooks back with me, vintage that is!

Aren't they lovely? I have not really read any of them through YET...But I will post of each one very soon.

I also other nice things there too..to be continued.

MAGIC stain remover for vintage tablecloths!!!

Don't you just love vintage tablecloths? I DO! Don't you love the graphics, and the beautiful colors on them? I DO! The different themes or floral patterns are so great, but do you love the horrible stains on this beautiful linens? I DON'T! 

Often you see vintage tablecloth's with stains on certain areas of the cloth or all over the tablecloth and it looks like it is doomed and headed for the tablecloth graveyard.....but I will NEVER turn down a tablecloth that has stains on them EVER!

Why you may ask? I was researching and researching to find a way to get these horrible stains gone! 

Some people said clorox, but other people said the color would come out..maybe? 

Some others said BOROX, but others said it didn't quite work..

Some said BIZ 

And one women said TILEX! Yes!!! Tilex! For Mold & Mildew.

It contains bleach but doesn't seem as harsh as the regular Clorox.

It works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hurray!

I found it on this women's blog, thank you thank you thank you!!!!

You can see her blog HERE

I found this awesome 60's tablecloth at a tag sale this past weekend. I got it for $10 but it had such horrible stains on it...I tried stain remover advanced, didn't work. I went to the store and bought BIZ, I left it soaking in with a cup of BIZ for about 1-2 hours...your suppose to leave over night but I do not have a washing machine in my apartment so I just put 1 gallon of water in a bucket in the bathtub and 1 cup of BIZ and the tablecloth....the BIZ how ever did get the stains to fade, they were more suddle.

The TILEX worked like magic, I swear! All I did was spray the tilex all over the tablecloth, first try a little patch to see if the color stays...which most of them do, back then they made the tablecloths to where the color would stay and not turn. 

I then let it sit for a minute or so and then rinsed it off in the bucket with warm water and used OXY CLEAN color boost detergent..washed and washed that (I do not know how many women did this back then but this is hard work!)

and then soaked it in hot water and washed and washed.

I put it back on cold water and washed all of the detergent out and my husband had to wring it out because I was so tired by then! All the stains gone! And the color as bright as ever! I hung it out on the cloths liner and it is currently drying out in the wind! =)

I will post my photos of it when it is finally dry!

Blog alert! New blog for cookbook recipes!

I finally made a really nice blog (besides this one! Pyrexjunkie.blogspot.com). This other blog is all about vintage recipes from the 1920's-1970's. I am still keeping the Pyrex Junkie blog for my treasure finds and such, but I have another passion and that is cooking and especially cooking vintage recipes! They are so fun and different! So this new/other blog that I started is about taking vintage recipes whether it is from vintage cookbooks, hand written recipes, jello mold recipes, Family recipes, the most delicious recipes and the most disgusting, god awful recipes you can find and putting them to the test!
I will always post with the recipe and original scan from the cookbook and will show you how it is prepared with pictures! Then at the end I will show you the finished look and give you the verdict!

How fun is that? And not only will I be testing out recipes but would love for YOU to come and join in on the fun! You can send me scans of the recipes to my E-mail Retrorecipesdelight@gmail.com and I will post the recipe you sent!

The blog is called Retro Cookbook Recipes

Check it out! And follow me for updates on new recipe posts!

I would love this site to take a lift off and be something really fun!

Nehi Drinks

I bought this replica vintage looking metal sign at AC MOORE. It caught my eye. I never heard of NEHI drinks before and thought it would make a nice addition to my retro kitchen! Haven't hung it up yet but thought i would like to share it with you...it's pretty neat looking although it is not vintage. I do have an idea though from this, there is this awesome antique store in upstate CT that I have gone too and they have all types of metal signs and they are vintage..I saw a few I liked maybe Saturday I will take a ride and check them out again...If they are a decent size I would like to make a collage on one of my walls of all vintage metal signs..to be continued!

Last weekend thrift finds

I found a lot at the thrifts..now not a whole lot of Pyrex at all!  but it's okay I have most of the Pyrex that I want for now..

I found this awesome 1950's Pink Lingerie chest..I never heard or seen once before. I found it in this secret warehouse I go to, to get antiques and found this lovely piece...it needed some TLC and it got it and now its perfect! No manufactures name on it but it sure is unique!

Got it for $24 it was originally $49.

Like I said some TLC was needed, someone had lined it with 80's liner and my husband had some Black velvet liner that we had leftover so he lined every drawer except the top piece black velvet liner...it really looks nice!

TA DA! It was originally lined with this satin pink liner on top, which I kept and the black velvet makes it pop more! Thank you hubby =)

I love love love this piece! Has anyone seen one like this and not wood?

I found in another thrift store these Mallo-ware yellow coffee cups! Set of 8 for a dollar a piece! Couldn't pass these up!

I found these a few weeks ago at a goodwill by my moms house. These are the Pink Pyrex cereal/soup bowls set of 4...0.49 cents a piece!

Found these groovy yellow sunflower sour cream glasses, now this makes a set of 3 in this pattern for me!

$1 each

I was so excited to find these, Raffiaware. I have a few at home which I found at a thrift a few months ago..I am on the hunt for these for the summertime, perfect for a BBQ.

These were $1 each.

I found these really cute etched green depression glass ice cream or dessert cups? in the goodwill. Only 3 but they were too pretty to pass up! 

$1 each.

This I found in another thrift, happy to find another melmac type of dishware.

This is Holiday by Kenro . Nice turquoise color, got it for $2.49

Sorry for the blurry picture, these are possibly Hazel Atlas? no markings but really cute. 3 cereal/soup bowls in emerald green glass. $1 each!

That's it ! A pretty nice haul for not going for a few weeks! I will be going back out on the hunt this friday so let's see what I will find!

Vintage ad's finally framed!

It has been months and months that I have vintage ad's building up, I have gone through some LIFE magazines and took the ads out that I really thought that was interesting, I have so many probably 30 plus!

I took a few that I really liked and went to A.C.Moore and got some frames, and guess what the frames I bought were MADE IN THE USA! woo hoo! I purposely bought them for that reason.

Here they are framed and looking beautiful in my kitchen....

The one to the left is Delmonte ad, the middle is an awesome frut lifesaver's ad, and the one to the right is another delmonte ad. I will be adding Pyrex this weekend to my kitchen!

Then I have two awesome Budweiser ads that I wanted to frame and put next to my bar in the living room, and I must say they look great!

Well what do ya think????

The surprise Chocolate cake!

Well I was browsing for some vintage recipes for some interesting chocolate cake. I came upon this site HERE. It is called Grandma Moore's Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake...that's right...MAYO!

I personally call it The Surprise Chocolate Cake! That way when I let someone try it, they won't freak out by the mayo part.
Anyway, I heard Mayo in making a chocolate cake from scratch was a good ingredient that would make it moist and tasting good. So I had to try it! Just had to!

I browsed upon a women called Mrs Filberts-

I believe I read somewhere that she was married to a sale's man who worked in Hellman's and wanted to boost up his sales and came up with the idea of Mayonnaise in Chocolate cake, and it worked!

I found a recipe on line that is called Grandma Moore's Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

It is really easy and is really good!!

The Surprise Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients:

1/3 Cup cocoa

1 Cup boiling water

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup Mayonnaise (Hellman's)

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Grease (I use the Pam flour spray)9x9 square pan.

-Whisk together cocoa and boiling water in medium Pyrex bowl until smooth and cool to room temp.

When cool, whisk in vanilla and Mayo.

-In a large Pyrex mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, soda and salt. Add chocolate mixture and beat on low speed for 30 secs to combine.

Increase speed to med-high and beat for 1 minute until smooth.

-Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 26 minutes .

- Let cake cool in pan, for 1-2 hours. Frost with chocolate icing...recipe below:

I found this recipe HERE

Old Fashioned Chocolate Frosting:

-1/2 cup butter

-3 ounces of Hershey chocolate bars (about 2 and a half bars)

-1/2 tsp salt

- 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

-1/3 cup evaporated milk (add more when mixing all together to get the consistency you desire)

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-Sprinkles for topping

Melt butter and chocolate together in frying pan over stove on medium heat.

Remove from heat when melted, and beat in the remaining ingredients.

Decorate cake with frosting and enjoy!

Betty crocker commercials

I am addicted to cookbooks and the most common name you see is Betty Crocker! I love her cookbooks! I have a few. Anyway, I searched their old commercials and are really fun to look at.
Oh My! Now I am going to go to the super market and get some Betty crocker cake mix!

Thrift Haul

Yesterday I took the day by myself and drove to CT to go to all of my favorite thrift shops..Haven't been thrift shopping in a few weeks. I got a nice haul to bring back home with me! Although no Pyerx from yesterday, I did however a few weeks ago find nice Pyrex cereal bowls. Will be posted with the rest of the finds.
I did see a lot of Butterfly Gold but I did not buy any because I have it all and I have a few to sell, and that pattern doesn't sell well for some reason.

I will post my findings sometime today, I have so much moving of Pyrex! The Pyrex I am selling anyways, I am boxing them up and selling them on ebay and a tag sale I will be doing at my house.

So here goes the packing!...to be continued.

Strawberry Shortcake Birthday cake

Well I took out all of my vintage cookbooks and went through them to see what recipe I can make for my grandmother's birthday cake. I knew I wanted to do pink icing and make something with strawberries. So I was looking at "Pillsbury's BEST 1000 Recipes, BEST of the BAKE-OFF Collection" from 1959.

This is a pretty awesome book, so if you come across it buy it!

-Taken from the book below:

It is about a bake off that took place in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC or at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in LA. There was 100 women and a few men from all over the USA who were chosen through a nationwide competition to bake their best recipes before a committee of judges. The grand prize winner would win $25,000.
For one day, the ballroom becomes a giant, busy kitchen-filled with 100 electric ranges, refrigerators, mixers, groceries.
The big moment comes the following day. At a special awards luncheon, televised nationwide, the names of the top winners are announced.

These are two pictures of the bake off preparing their favorite recipes to be tested!

These are pictures below of the luncheon taken place at a hotel waiting to be tested by judges.

So getting back to the recipe....I found this recipe that fit what I wanted to make, it is called "Strawberry Alaska"

it was the Senior winner by Mrs. R. H. Borth, Sr. from Dearborn, Michigan

Dessert deluxe...layers of rich yellow cake are filled with fresh strawberries...meringue frosting is baked on just before serving.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes 

Makes two 8 inch layers

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup shortening

4 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp lemon extract or lemon peel

1 cup milk

For strawberry filling:

Fresh strawberries sliced, and sugar. Put in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Drain well.

Directions: 

Sift together 2 1/4 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt. set aside.

In another bowl add 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1/2 cup shortening, creaming well with hand mixer.

Blend in 4 well beaten egg yolks, 1 tsp vailla and 1/4 tsp lemon extract or lemon peel (I used the lemon peel and it was fine), beat well. 

Add the dry ingredients with 1 cup milk blend all together

Grease the 8 inch round baking pans with baking spray.

Pour batter in two round pans and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cool. 

(I cut a slice on the top of the bottom layer so the top layer would sit flat on top of it.)

I also added cool whip on the bottom layer first and then added the sugared strawberry filling on top of the cool whip and put the top layer on. I did not use meringue frosting I used my own home made frosting and used red food coloring to make it pink. Garnished it with fresh sliced strawberries and sprinkles!

Tomorrow is my grandmother's 89th Birthday!!!

Time has sure flown by. Tomorrow June 19th is my grandmother's 89th birthday!! She is doing so wonderful at her age, I hope when I get to be 89 that I am like her. She still cleans, cooks, does her drapes, sews, walks to her doctors, talks up a storm and thankfully still remembers all of her famous storys like they were yesterday. Her mind is still sharp as ever! I am so close to her, I love her so much and to think a day without her gives me heart ache. She reminds me of Betty White who is 91. Strong like an ox! I hope she reaches a 100 and better! =)

I was always attached to my nanny as I call her. She was there in the delivery room when I was born, my dad at the time was a taxi driver in NYC and couldn't make it in time so my nana was there with me.  I was always at her house, with the kiddie pool, having her dinners, sleeping over her house in the summertime...always wanting to be near her. She tried to teach me how to ride a bike, but I just have no balance so I never learned =) She was there through the good and the bad times, she came to my wedding in 2010 and danced up a storm! I love my nanny and tomorrow I am making her a special vintage birthday cake, and also taking her to the hair salon (my treat) to get her a hair cut..then on the weekend will take her to get anything she wants!

Here are a few photo's over the years of my nanny...Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy her!

Ambrosia Fruit Salad

My husband and I were on a conversation yesterday about our childhood memories and what type of foods we grew up on and then it finally hit him, he kept forgetting to mention to me this one favorite dish of his, a dessert dish his step father made on every fourth of July. He didn't remember the recipe but remembered bits and pieces of it. Well we did a search on the internet and found it! We found it HERE: Her blog is "Because of Madalane". Great blog!  Anyway, We ran straight to the grocery store and got everything we needed. and it was delicious!

It is called Ambrosia Fruit salad.

The ingredients are:

1 large can of DelMonte fruit salad
1 small can of DelMonte fruit salad
1 small can of DelMonte Pineapple chunks
1 tub of Cool Whip
2 Cups of Mini Marshmallows
Maraschino Cherries for topping


Drain thoroughly all the fruit, place in large Pyrex mixing bowl.
Add marshmallows and cool whip and mix together.

Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours until thickened.

Add Cherries for topping before serving.

Update- Jell-O mold was fantastic!

I had the Jell-O strawberry mold last night for dessert and it was great! My first Jell-O mold and I can not wait to make another! The strawberries on the inside was a nice touch. And the whipped cream made it even more delicious.