Thanks Vintage Christine!

Many thanks to Chris aka Vintage Christine at I'm Not Old, I'm Vintage!  What a great treat to come home to yesterday.  When she said "loads of candy and stuff", she wasn't kidding!  I was so excited when I found out that I was the Grand Prize Winner in her recent Valentine's Giveaway.  The little Limoges heart dish is incredible, and it's going to get a nice place on the coffee table so it can be enjoyed.  I wanted to share a few pictures of the huge amount of goodies that I got.

I can't believe how much was packed into that box!  And then there were the Ghirardelli Intense Dark chocolate pieces.  Dark chocolate is my FAVORITE!  Yum!  Hmmm...maybe I should eat all of this one morning before work and show then kids what they act like all day!  Okay, I'm not going to do that, but it is a fun idea.  The big question is, what do I eat first?!?

This massive amount of goodies called for a special cloth to be displayed on, so I dug out my vintage Kitchen Parade tea towel that I keep put away with the vintage tablecloths I have collected.

Thanks again Chris!  Have a great Wednesday everyone!  Have you entered my give-away yet?

Let's Eat Out in Portland, Oregon

Last Thursday was a stressful day.  I have some big things coming up at work, and the stress was getting to me.  The day ended with a lovely staff meeting that made a lot of people upset.  What's more, I still had a middle school boy's basketball game to attend, and I was helping the Student Council with the concession stand.  I had 45 minutes after the stressful meeting.  I had to get out of the building for a few minutes.

I headed downtown to a little antique shop / flea market to find a prize to make the day better.  What I ended up with was this 1957 cookbook and guide to dining in Portland, Oregon.  Titled "Let's Eat Out in Portland, Oregon" this book was written by Barbara Angell, who you can see in the photo below of the back cover.  For $2.50, it was a great way to brighten up a bad day.

It's not perfect, and as you can see, there are some stains on the back.  This cookbook features several different restaurants in Portland, gives some background information about each one, and provides a recipe or two from each one.  I've taken pictures of a few of the pages to share with ya'll.

First up is Cafe Baron at Hotel Multnomah.  They feature recipes for London Broil.  Also pictured in this photo is The Stirrup Room, which features a recipe for Crab Puffs.

Next up is Ford's at Redmonds' on the Hill.  Recipes featured from this restaurant are Turkey Steak and Rum Pie.

Raleigh Hill's Corral provided recipes for Boston Clam Chowder and Corral Pecan Pie.

Yaw's shared a recipe for Yaw's Chess Pies.

Now I'm getting hungry!  I think my favorite thing about this cookbook is that it provides photos of each of the restaurants.  Some of them are exteriors and some are interiors.  Each one shows great mid-century design.

I've tried to look up several of the restaurants listed in the book, but haven't discovered any that are still in business.  That doesn't mean that some of them aren't still open, I just haven't found them yet.  Please share if you know of any that are still open!

I do know that Ford's at Redmond's on the Hill closed in the early 2000's and that the building was to be raised for a development.  An article that I found online said that the restaurant was moving to a new location, but that's as far as I got.

Here's the complete list of featured restaurants: 1. Amato's  2. Bart's  3. Blue Heaven  4. Cafe Baron (Multnomah Hotel)  5. Chase's  6. Dan & Louis Oyster Bar  7. David's Shore Room  8. Davey's Locker  9. De Vault's Chuck Wagon  10. Encore  11. Ford's at Redmond's on the Hill  12. Henry Thiele's  13. Hillvilla  14. Ireland's  15. Kamm House  16. King's Coffee House (Imperial Hotel)  17. London Grill (Benson Hotel)  18. Mandarin  19. Nendel's  20. New Tokyo  21. Old Country Kitchen  22. Pancake House  23. Poncho's  24. Prime Rib  25. Raleigh Hills Corral  26. River Room (Congress Hotel)  27. Three J's  28. Three Star  29.  Yaw's  30.  Ye Olde Town Crier

Just a reminder, if you haven't already entered the Spring Seed give-away, please visit this post to find out how!

28 Followers! It's Give-Away Time!

I had originally planned to do my first give-away when I reached 25 followers.  It's an important milestone for a blogger.  So, while I was  coming up with what I wanted to do, and waiting for everything to arrive, I gained another 3 followers.  So, I'm doing a give-away to celebrate 28 29 followers (29 followers as of Feb. 7, 10:30 PM).

Spring fever has hit me big time this year - and spring is still weeks away.  It really got bad when I got my catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, a great little company here in Missouri a couple of hours away from the Shack.  This got me me thinking, wouldn't rare heirloom seeds make a great item for my give-away?  I know that I love to work in my yard every summer.  I look forward to it all year long.  I ordered double of everything here - one set for me and one for the lucky winner.  We can have twin flower gardens!

So, here's what you get:

5 packets of heirloom seeds and a 36 plant starter greenhouse, in case you just can't wait to sew them outside and want to get a head start on things.

First up: Mother of Pearl Poppy.  Here's what Baker Creek has to say about this variety of poppy:

"(Papaver rhoeas) A lovely mixture of misty and subtle shades. The late Sir Cedric Morris, painter and gardener, presumably years ago selected and named this mixture of pale and smoky colors as grey, lilac, mauve, pink, soft orange and white. Various flowers have flecking in the same tones and some delightful picotees. This refined mixture has a good balance of pastel colors. It is one of the most subtle poppy mixtures to grow in the garden. Easy, direct seeding on almost any soil, full sun or partial shade. Stunning!"

Up next:  Lilac Pompom Poppy:

"(Papaver somniferum) Amazing double and semi-double lanciniata-type flowers in delicate lilac color. The large, frilly blooms are truly eye-catching when they contrast to the bluegrey foliage of the plants. Just scatter the seeds of this hardy annual in early spring and wait for the colorful blooms. One of the most unique and beautiful poppies you can grow."

Bee Balm Lemon:

"(Monarda citriodora) An annual, lemon-flavored variety. Superb tea plant; striking pink-purple flowers, beautiful and tasty."

I have bee balm growing in my yard that I got from the local Master Gardener's sale a few years ago.  I didn't realize that it was an herb that could be used for making tea, but I did know that the leaves smelled great when you rubbed them between your fingers.  I've found that hummingbirds will come up to my bee balm.

Love-In-A-Mist Mixed Colors:

"A splendid mix of colors, with wispy, feathery foliage surrounding the beautiful blue, white, pink, and purplish-blue blooms. Love-in-a-mist dates back to English gardens of the 1570s. A very attractive flowering plant."

Lastly, I have a packet of seeds for Jet Black or Nigra Hollyhocks.  Here's what Baker Creek has to say about them:

"Biennial. Direct sow in spring or autumn. May behave as a perennial if cut back after bloom. This variety was mentioned in 1629, and was planted in the gardens at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson. This traditional variety is shockingly beautiful with its near black flowers and just a hint of red. Gorgeous planted out by the old white outhouse or in the back of your flower bed. A must for historical gardens. You’ll love this richly-colored variety."

I hope that the idea of adding historic plant varieties to your home excites you as much as it does me.  These are not the ordinary plants that you will run out to your local garden center and buy in flats.  These flowers will set your home apart from every other home on the block.  Of course, they have to be started from seed, but that's part of the fun of gardening!

Here's how it works:  each of my followers who leave a comment to this post will be entered for a chance at the prize.  Each entrant will be numbered in order of when they placed their comment (if you are the first to comment, you will be entrant number one, and so on).  I will then use an online random number generator to choose which entrant number is the winner, making this completely random.  The only thing is that you must be a follower of my blog to be eligible for the prize (I will double check the entrants with my followers list).  If you aren't a follower, please click the little "follow" button at the lower left of the page and then feel free to enter the give-away (I will only know if you are a follower if you choose the "Publicly Follow" option).  Entrants will be accepted until midnight, Friday, February 12.  The winner will be announced on Sunday, Valentine's Day.

Good luck to everyone, and thanks for following Cul-De-Sac Shack.  Without you, I would have no reason to blog!

Retro Shopping in Grandma's Attic

I feel like I had a really successful Saturday!  After enjoying sleeping in until 9:30, I called the flea market that I visited last Saturday to see if they still had the Kroehler chair that I saw when I was over there.  I was pleased when the store owner told me that it was still there.  I told him that I'd take it and I would be over in about an hour.  He was nice enough to take the tag off it and hold it in case someone else wanted to buy it.  Sometimes you just can't beat the great people that you find in small towns.  Anyway, by 11:00 Saturday morning I was the proud owner of that great pinkish-tan chair!  It's currently in my storage unit as I can't put it in the house until I take the bed out of that room.

Then, I went over to my Grandma's house and was thinking about a piece of retro artwork that used to hang in her living room.  It took me a second to remember that it was in her attic, where Granddad put it after it lost it's place of prominence above the sofa to the large Precious Moments limited edition artwork.

I asked Grandma about it and got the standard - anything up there you want, you can have (I knew this would be her reply, but it is always best to ask first).  So, up to the attic I ventured, and out came this vintage metal leaf / branch sculpture.  I always loved this thing when I was a kid.  Now, it is going to once again be prominently displayed, this time above my sofa.

I think that the colors are perfect for the living room.  I rearranged the living room again and feel like I have come up with the perfect layout.  When I got it set up this way, it just felt like home.  The sofa is now back on the short wall, leaving the perfect place for the copper-tone leaf thing.  I just need to do a little cleaning - it has between 15 - 20 years of dust accumulation on the back.  That much dust doesn't just wipe off.  Thankfully when Granddad put it in the attic, he put it up there with the face down!

Stay tuned tomorrow, it's give-away time!

Have a great Sunday!

Friday Movie: Smokey and the Bandit

This week I'm sharing one of my favorite movies of all time.  Dad and I would cancel all of our plans to watch this every time that it came on TV when I was growing up.  They made three of these movies, but the first one is by far my favorite!

These fun movies feature Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed and more.  The exciting story of a bet to run bootleg liquor in 28 hours, the action never lets up.

If you want the whole story of what you'll find in Smokey and the Bandit, visit the Wikipedia article here.

I am so ready for a weekend.  It has been an incredibly long, stressful, and exhausting week.  I am to the point that I can't hardly remember my own name...it's Pete, right?  Anyway, have a great Friday

~ Missouri Michael

Weekend Finds

I spent some time this past Saturday going to a flea market.  We had a lot of snow the day before, and I had an unplanned three day weekend thanks to the winter weather.  So, here are some of my finds:

First of all, I found this great chair by Kroehler.  The fabric is in amazing shape without any noticeable flaws.  It looks great.  Upon closer inspection, I found that the legs were wobbly, and when I checked them, they were all tight, so something needs to be fixed somehow.  I also discovered that while the padding in the arms and the back is soft and in great shape, the padding in the seat cushion is turning hard and would most likely need to be replaced.  Not a big deal, except for the fact that the cushion does not have a zipper on it, so it would have to have a seam removed, be restuffed, and sewn back up.  I love the chair, and the price was great, but I already have two mid-century chairs for the upcoming den conversion.  What I want is a couch in this style.  The chair looks almost gray in the photo, but it is actually a pinkish-tan color.  It has been at this flea market for over a month.  If it is still there the next time I go, I'm afraid it might come home with me.  Price: $35.

Isn't this little turquoise bedside lamp great?  It is glass with a turquoise swirled design on the inside and gold trim, a gold lattice and floral pattern in the middle, and a brass base.  I think it will look great sitting on the Heywood-Wakefield bedroom set of mine that is currently at Mom and Dad's.  I just need to get a shade for it.  This originally was going to be what I gave away for 25 followers, but I can't bring myself to part with it.  Sorry!  I paid $2 for this little gem.

Sometimes you walk by something and it just speaks to you.  I walked by a booth where everything was $1.99 or less, and sitting there, begging me to take it home was this fun little bear sitting on a log.  What a great little planter.  I'll have to come up with some type of little plant to put in him.  No markings to indicate maker, but I'm fairly certain he's mid-century.

Finally, in the same booth that I found the bear planter in, I found this little guy.  He has a little sticker on the bottom that says "OMC Japan".  He was also begging me to bring him home once he saw that I had picked up his brother, and I'm so soft hearted that I couldn't refuse his plea for a new home.  The quality from this company was not very good.  The finish is decent, but the mold  parting seams were trimmed very sloppily.  My first job was in a ceramics factory here in town, and if I had ever produced something that looked as awful as the parting seams on this poor little guy, I would have been out of a job.  Anyway, he was a cheap addition to my home - 99 cents.

Have a great Thursday!

I'm Back!

Thanks for you patience while I took a couple of days off!  I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate you and your taking the time to read my blog - it still amazes me that anybody would be interested in what I have to share!  Thanks again!  I have two other posts today, so please check them out.  I think in my mind I needed to make up for the missed post.

~Missouri Michael