Monday, December 29, 2008

Low-Cost Collectibles: Retro Recipe Booklets















In my search for ideas for this blog I
came across a feature article under
What to Collect in the current online issue of Country Living magazine. The subject was Recipe Booklets, items I've collected since the 1960's.



The booklets often came with appliances and cookware, but
they were also acquired "with-purchase" or free at grocery stores like A & P and Safeway. You could get some of them for 10 cents or a quarter by saving box tops or labels and writing in to companies like Baker's Chocolate and Heinz. Others came from Cooperative Extension Services
at various Universities. Utility companies offered booklets too.

Inspired by the magazine article I decided to go through my own recipe booklet collection which
I treasure more for the heart warming memories the little books bring than the recipes inside.
Whenever I have time to browse through the stack, as I'm doing right now, fond recollections of
times gone by come to mind.

One example is a booklet by Sunbeam that came with my first Automatic Fry Pan. It was a
wedding gift from my boss at the company I worked for back in 1961 in New York City. The
bright red cover shows an illustration of a woman dressed in 1960 fashion holding the pan neatly
filled with fried eggs. In her right hand is the automatic heat control plug-in and under that the
statement that promises "Everything you cook will be more delicious because you get the
correct heat every time."

Another booklet published in 1965, Proof of the Pudding, came with General Foods introduction
of Jell-O Instant Pudding. No more time spent cooking pudding the old way when you could
create these great desserts made with a package of the instant no-cook version.

Two booklets by Baker's Coconut & Chocolate stir memories of my children's birthday parties--
for one birthday I know I made that cut-up Teddy Bear cake.

Since I grew up on Bond Bread and my dear mother, Jean, passionately baked using Duncan
Hines cake mixes , those booklets bring flashbacks of so many good lunches at the kitchen table
and the wonderful aroma of cake baking in the oven.

So one question is, do you have to be a cook to collect recipe booklets? Bonnie
Slotnick, cookbook dealer and owner of her own cook book store in New York's Greenwich
Village says that's just not so. In a recent interview on National Public Radio Slotnick said
reading cookbooks for the pleasure of reading cookbooks and not for cooking is very okay. I
couldn't agree more.

Another question is just how much should you pay for a retro recipe booklet? The
booklets are usually very reasonably priced starting at 50 cents up to a few dollars each. Some of
the rarest could go for $15. but I have yet to find any at that price.

Where do I find them today? Flea markets and yard sales are places to look but I find
antique malls and shops are even better.




Please join me on my next hunt for retro recipe booklets at the Orange Wall, my shop inside the Charleston Antique Mall, 307 W. Charleston
Blvd., in Las Vegas, Nevada. We will definitely find some in my area and it's a good bet some of the other 40 dealers in the mall have a few on a shelf in their shops too.




To view the Country Living article with pictures and some history on retro recipe booklets go to: http://www.countryliving.com/antiques/what-to-collect/recipe-booklets-0109



For more info on Bonnie Slotnick go to: http://www.bonnieslotnickcookbooks.com/




Join Us for a Cup of Tea

Tea Time
Tuesdays at 2 PM
Starting January 13, 2009
We Hope You Can Drop By
Browse, Shop and Sit Down For A Cup of Tea and Something Sweet
Charleston Antique Mall
307 W. Charleston Blvd.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Serving Time: From 2PM - 3:30PM

Complimentary























































































































Saturday, December 13, 2008

Draper Style Revisited

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I became very interested in Dorothy Draper, the woman and her design style, when Carleton Varney, Draper's protegee` and the president of Dorothy Draper & Company, came to town earlier this month. Varney was here to celebrate the debut of his new book Houses in My Heart at the Las Vegas Design Center.

Varney's also published another wonderful book back in 2006 entitled: In the Pink: Dorothy Draper, America's Most Fabulous Decorator.


In my search for more on Dorothy Draper, I came across yet another interesting article that included a section titled The Elements of Draperism.


The Five Elements of Draperism


1. Intense color, bright colors and bold patterns.


2. Plant life, well maintained, as part of a decorative scheme.


3. Dense, textured carpet, for a homier ambience.


4. Striking details, a few bold accessories.


5. A roaring fire...the heart of any room.


According to the story in New York Magazine , as Minimalsim loses its' novelty, a new generation of designers , so-called modern-day Drapers, are keeping Ms. Draper's style of urban sophistication alive.


The How to Do It at Home section suggests the use of big mirrors with lots of flourishes, chessboard tiles, big patterned wallpaper, romantic furniture and harmonious fabric for color constrast.


New York Magazine/by Wendy Goodman/published March 19, 2006


To read the complete article , see a picture of the glamorous Dorothy Draper and full-color photos related to the topics I touched on here go to:
http://www.nymag.com/homedesign/features/16438



Want to create the Draper style in your home? Just head over to the Charleston Antique Mall where you can find romantic furniture, big flourishing mirrors, vintage fabrics and draperies, and those striking details like the bold accessories Draper may have used back in the 1930'-1950's.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

World Renown Designer Carleton Varney in Vegas

Renown interior designer, Carleton Varney, president of Dorothy Draper & Company was in town to celebrate the debut of his new book "Houses in My Heart." The special 1st Friday event was hosted by Robert Allen/Beacon Hill in the Las Vegas Design Center. (Yes, I started this blog the night before the event.)
The highly recognizied designer, Varney often speaks of his mentor, Dorothy Draper, with warmth, kindness and admiration as he did Friday in Las Vegas. I had to know more about this lady. So I searched.
Varney is quoted in an article on the design legend Draper, saying "Dorothy was to decorating what Chanel was to fashion." Draper, the first lady of interior decorating made her breakthrough in the world of design with the use of bold and bright colors, oversize prints and her anti-Minimalistic philosophy starting in the 1930's. Varney told Architectural Digest, " She took a world that was drab and dreary and made it colorful." Curious me read the complete article and several others, and became fascinated with Draper and Varney.
Here is the link: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/. Next type Dorothy Draper in AD's search box and it takes you right to several articles with photos on this fascinating woman.
You can view the Dorothy Draper & Company, Inc. site too. Learn more about the woman who started it all and the gentleman, Carleton Varney, who carried on the company name and Draper's philosophy of bright colors, floral flourishes and monumental-size design accomplishments. Varney is known for countless restoration and hotels projects around the world, his versatile line of lamps, dinnerware, crystal and linen designs and...his own line of fabric designs: Varney by the Yard. http://www.dorothydraper.com/
More on the Draper Style coming.