One of my birthday gifts from Ron was a soy candle-making set. Back in the day I used to make candles a lot. First with the paraffin sold for pouring on top of homemade jars of jam to seal them. Not a great idea, since the candles melted too quickly. Then I graduated to using a giant slab of candle wax that had to be hacked into chunks before melting it in a large juice can. The wicking was string and the colours were melted crayons, and I had an assortment of plastic moulds that I had to tape together with masking tape and set in a bucket of sand before pouring the wax in.
My daughter-in-law gave me a soy candle in a jar last year, and I was pleased at how cleanly it burned. We had a small decorative jar of jam, and I remarked that once the jar was empty, it would make a pretty candle. So Ron gave me a starter kit: a bag of soy wax crumbs, wicks precut and waxed with little metal holders at the bottom, sticky circles to stick the wicks into the glass containers, and a metal melting pot with a handle to prevent burned fingers. How times have changed. It was a breeze to make a couple of candles in glass jars, and they light up the bedroom while Ron lights up my bottom.
Since I'm walking down memory lane, here are some recipes that I assure you DID exist when I was a kid.
Canned beans baked in hollowed-out onions
Tuna and waffles
Creamed eggs in corned beef crust
A shrimp tree
Yum yum!
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10 comments:
This post took me right down memory lane. My mother made homemade candles back in the day (as people say around here). She also cooked some god-awful recipes. We would have "toad in the hole," greasy dough with sausage links. Only thing less appetizing than the taste was the name! Thanks, Hermione, for the giggle! Enjoy the light from the candles, enjoy the warmth from your hubby's efforts!
OHHHHHHH I remember candle making.... I also remember the mess I made on my mother's living furniture when one or more of my homemade candles exploded..... LOL I was forbidden from making them ever again.
As for recipes - didn't recognise any of the one you posted - though my mother did have some 'winners' like fried spam and scrambled eggs....... (see me gag)
And a word to Jean Marie - toad in a hole is a favourite around here... it shouldn't be greasy - mine is crisp on the outside and light and tender in the inside... it's basically Yorkshire Pudding with sausages. Mind you I cook my sausage first and drain all fat off ...... maybe that's why they're not greasy.
Hi Hermione,
What a thoughtful and wonderful gift, I've never tried making candles.
The recipes look ghastly. Baked beans and sausages on toast were popular for lunch growing up and toad in the hole...yum!
Hugs
Roz
It never ceases to amaze me how much more variety and how better food has got in the U.K. in my own lifetime. I'm only in my 60s but I can remember eating at the first Chinese restaurant to open in my town and similarly the first Indian restaurant. There were earlier examples in the cities but not in most towns. My mother was quite daring with her culinary choices and tried cooking Chinese, French, Italian and Indian food long before any of my schoolfriends parents did. It wasn't always successful but she did try.
Yuck on the recipes. I love having candles around the house but never thought of making them.
Love,
Ronnie
xx
I've got to try toad in the hole (with cooked sausages). I love Yorkshire pudding!
Hugs,
Hermione
The tuna and waffles was literally gag inducing.
It is amazing the concoctions that they called food back in the 60s. Tuna waffles - YUCK. All the casseroles at Thanksgiving that used campbells soup of some sort and all that stuff - it is amazing we lived. :)
Baxter
Orange creamcicle salad was the best. My mother and grandmother made it regularly.
I remember my grandfather eating tuna and waffles. Smelled bad and looked bad so I am guessing it tasted bad.
Most of these recipes are foreign to me. WHen I was growing up mum did often chuck a ton of baked beans over fried eggs or a battered and fried fish fillet. I still enjoy baked beans with my fish and chips today.
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