My mother was an excellent cook. I say "was" because after almost 40 years of cooking meals from scratch for her family, she's decided that she's done with homemade and done with cooking. Now she's strictly a microwave mama. It happens, and I don't blame her, really, but damn, I miss going home to her barbecued chicken. And her pork ribs. And her spaghetti, and casseroles, and stews...

It's funny how that even as I was raised on venison my dad shot and dressed himself, wild rainbow trout my mom fried up in cornmeal, and fat tomatoes, peppers, and peaches from our own garden, as a child I still wanted things like this:

















I know, right?! If you can believe it, TV dinner days were a treat for me as a child (much more so for my mother, I'm sure). I think all kids are like this, non? I cringe when I think back on the oysters I would pass up for Chef Boyardee (one of the few concessions my mom made to convenience food), and how even as my mom was ladling out creamy homemade macaroni and cheese, I would ask her for the stuff that came in a blue box. Ooh, the shame.

I just stumbled across a blog dedicated to vintage ads and pics of these and other "gastronomic atrocities of the past" so I can now get my fix of all sorts of forbidden and forboding delicacies.

Aspic and Other Delights

A favorite for so many reasons (and something I may actually make -- shhhh):