Historic Cooking: Halloween Fruit Cake from 1920

Halloween Fruit Cakes.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

I realized, as I was going through my past food history posts, that while I have made various recipes from the 1920s (like cheese straws and Club sandwiches), I had never written them up or taken photos.  While I will have to re-create the cheese straws and Club sandwiches at another time, I recently discovered a cookbook on VintageRecipes.net: Mrs. Wilson's Cook Book published in 1920.  It has a lot of interesting recipes, but none, as far as I can discover, that contain alcohol any stronger than cider; this is a recipe book for the frugal, teatotal household, not one headed by a "flapper".  It does, however, contain recipes named after various holidays, and since Halloween just happened, I couldn't resist making the recipe called Halloween Fruit Cake.

_Downton Abbey_, Season 3!

original ca. 1915 cotton dress
from my collection

Who's excited that Downton Abbey is being shown again?  ME!  I'll probably have to see it online like last season because not everyone in my household is a fan, and the television was often busy on Sunday evenings with non-Downton programming ... but I'll be at a friend's house this Sunday for a Downton marathon and tea, where we'll review Season 2 and then watch the first episode of Season 3 together, all while drinking tea and enjoying cake and a variety of tea savories.  So very civilized.  Apparently there will be some heart-wrenching scenes in this season, so I might have to get out one of my vintage lace-trimmed hankies ... 

100 years of voting rights for California women!

South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild celebrating the Woman's
Suffrage Centennial at Satori Tea Bar!

San Jose joins the rest of California in celebrating an important milestone: the centennial anniversary of women being granted the vote in California!  In 1911 the Women’s Suffrage Amendment was finally passed by both houses of the California Legislature, and it was signed into law on October 10, 1911 by the governor, under the eye of Clara Foltz, the first female lawyer on the Pacific coast of North America, who lived and practiced in San Jose.

The work began in 1840, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, along with other female American delegates to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, were not allowed to sit in the convention hall and participate, because of their gender.  They realized the many similarities between the conditions of racial slavery and gender inequality, and resolved to address the issue on their return to the U.S.

'Teens costume for late-summer!

Getting ready for two local events coming up: a croquet picnic with the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild, and the Antique Auto Show at History Park, both in September. A group that I volunteer with, Portraits of the Past, attends the Antique Auto Show in costume to provide ambiance, and coordinates a costume contest there each year. Usually I wear 1920s frocks to the Auto Show, because they're easy to wear and cute as all get out, but this year I think I'll do mid teens, say around 1916 or so. I have a dress, but I need a better hat, so here is an image from my antique print collection that I am thinking about using:
antique fashion print ca. 1913.
I think I have a modern sun hat in a similar shape that I can use, and I have a lovely vintage lace scarf that I will probably drape over the brim like some of the examples in the print. My dress is a sheer white with a woven windowpane design, and I wear it with a wide blue ribbon sash that I found in my grandmother's sewing box (which I inherited) after her death.

Here are some other Edwardian, 'teens and 20s costume images for my inspiration and your enjoyment. They include various members of Portraits of the Past at past Antique Auto Shows as well as the historic fashion shows that we perform in each month.

catalog image ca. 1915. From the Costumer's Manifesto.

Sears catalog image ca. 1917. From Costumer's Manifesto.



















At the Harris-Lass House, June 2009.

photo ca. 1918. From the Sense & Sensibility website.

at the Antique Auto Show, September 2006.