Jennifer Michie

Tag: holidays (page 22 of 31)

December 21, 2015 / 0 Comments

Holiday Shopping in the 1960s

Mashable Christmas 1

I have a soft spot for the 1950s and 60s. The hair, the clothes, the houses, the furniture! I came across these photographs from the 1960s on Mashable. Taken by amateur photographer Ronald Sanderson of department store window displays around South Shields and Newcastle-upon-Tyne during a 1960s holidays. These photographs are too cute! Enjoy!

Mashable Christmas 2 Mashable Christmas 3 Mashable Christmas 4 Mashable Christmas 5 Mashable Christmas 6

December 13, 2015 / 3 Comments

Quiet

Quiet. Quiet is how I feel.

I have lost a loved one this festive season and it has made me simply crave quiet, to crave peace. Although, both are in short supply at the moment.  I’ve not visited here, because I’ve had little to say. I’ve been lighting my candles, listening to music, baking bread, cooking, reading; just being.

It’s made me step back from the edge of the surging river, that is the holiday season. I love Christmas, it makes me sad that it is such a rush. There is too much hustle and bustle. When do we stop to take in the beauty of the season around us? To enjoy family and friends? Everything seems to be moving more and more to a harried finish line, where once crossed, we come out the other side dazed, dishevelled and confused, wondering what happened to Christmas in the first place?

Christmas is about being with the people you love, cherishing the time you have and being present in the moment. And that is exactly what I plan to do – to relish the quiet moments; to enjoy the noise of jovial voices and laughter; to find myself amongst all of it whole again.

The memories you make with those that you love are so very important. For it is memories that you are left with.

November 25, 2015 / 1 Comment

Marilyn Monroe’s Stuffing

CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - MAY 1953: Marilyn Monroe on patio outside of her home. (Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/Pix Inc./Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Maybe more famous now then during her lifetime, Hollywood starlet, Marilyn Monroe seems as at home in the kitchen as she did on the silver screen. Auctioned off during a 1999 sale of her personal effects at Christie’s, heralded two well used cookbooks and a set of bright yellow enameled Le Creuset pots and pans. She had a love affair that fans never knew of, she was a kitchen goddess, long before it became a “thing” to be.

I know that today, for many, is a day of preparation and if I was at home celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, we would already be in the kitchen working away on family favourite’s and much loved recipes.  In case you are looking for something new this year or haven’t quite finalized that Thanksgiving menu, I thought I would share this little recipe.

Marilyn Monroe Stuffing Recipe

This recipe, like a recipe from your grandmother or mother, is scrawled on letterhead from an insurance company, probably the nearest thing she had to hand. Recipes written on the back of receipts or in the margins of a book always seem to me, the best kinda recipes! And like many old recipes I have, there is not a clear step-by-step directive, but you can still follow along or hazard a guess at her meaning. However, the NY Times Cooking section has researched and refined her scribbling in to an exact recipe and I shall include that below, in case you don’t have the time or inclination to decipher this yourself.

{Recipe Image From “Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters by Marilyn Monroe”}

Marilyn Monroe’s Stuffing, Matt Lee and Ted Lee

INGREDIENTS

  • A 10-ounce loaf sourdough bread
  • ½ pound chicken or turkey livers or hearts
  • ½ pound ground round or other beef
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • 4 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 cups chopped curly parsley
  • 2 eggs, hard boiled, chopped
  • 1 ½ cups raisins
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan
  • 1 ¼ cups chopped walnuts, pine nuts or roasted chestnuts, or a combination
  • 2 teaspoons dried crushedrosemary
  • 2 teaspoons dried crushed oregano
  • 2 teaspoons dried crushed thyme
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon salt-free, garlic-freepoultry seasoning (or 1 teaspoon dried sage, 1 teaspoon marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg)
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 tablespoon pepper

PREPARATION

  1. Split the bread loaf in half and soak it in a large bowl of cold water for 15 minutes. Wring out excess water over a colander and shred into pieces.
  2. Boil the livers or hearts for 8 minutes in salted water, then chop until no piece is larger than a coffee bean.
  3. In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef in the oil, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat, so no piece is larger than a pistachio.
  4. In your largest mixing bowl, combine the sourdough, livers, ground beef, celery, onion, parsley, eggs, raisins, Parmesan and nuts, tossing gently with your hands to combine. Whisk the rosemary, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper together in a bowl, scatter over the stuffing and toss again with your hands. Taste and adjust for salt. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use as a stuffing or to bake separately as dressing. To serve as a dressing, pile about two quarts of the mixture into a 9-inch square baking dish and bake at 350 degrees until the top is evenly browned, about 1 hour.
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