Scalloped bananas, a unique summertime dessert recipe

✯ Day 222 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

It's usually about this time of the season when the incessant heat of summer starts to almost take on an almost humorous quality. You make a sort of funny peace pact with this ever-present warmth and come to accept - perhaps even embrace it - for what is, aware in the back of your mind, that in the blink of an eye it'll be winter again and as you shovel through another three feet of snow, you'll pine for these roasty-toasty days.

Just as the second half of summer can be (despite the crushing heat) oddly light-hearted - even silly at times - so too do I find this season puts me in the mood to try off-the-wall, sort of kooky, entirely fun recipes. Luckily when dealing with vintage recipes, one does not usually have to look far to find a dish that falls under that heading.

While I'll stop short of grape, celery and beef tongue stuffed aspics, I do think there's something rather intriguing about the sound of banana scallops.

Fear not (unless you like ocean dwelling scallops and bananas together in the same dish), this recipe does not include any seafood. Instead, I believe, the name derives more from the same that finished product takes on.

{Not a million miles off from other fried fruit desserts like apple fritters, these Scalloped Bananas would be a terrific addition to a tropical or tiki themed meal. Click here for a larger version of this intriguing 1940s fried banana recipe. Darling vintage Chiquita Banana ad via curly-whirly on Flickr.}

I haven't made this recipe yet myself, but it's definitely go into "try this file". Years ago there was a great Chinese restaurant in my hometown that served light, crispy breaded and deep-fried bananas and, while not quite the same, I imagine the taste of the two would be quite similar.

If you're in the mood to have some fun this week, too, why serve with these yummy Banana Scallops (perhaps dished up with some French vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate or caramel syrup), they're such to be a conversation starter - and who knows, perhaps become a family favourite!

Summer nights, how I love thee

✯ Day 221 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

Vincent Van Gogh once said, quite fittingly, "I often think that the night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day". I, for one, am more than a little inclined to agree with the artist, and perhaps at no time of the year is that notion more apt than during the summer.

Night is an enigma, a joy, a fright, an adventure. It calls to us and yet can put our guard up, for we're taught from the earliest of ages that it is during the night when things of danger and potentially even evil lurk. As we grow up and the line between day and night fads somewhat, we often cease to fear the dark, yet we maintain a healthy respect for it.

In an era, now over a hundred years old, of electrically lighted cities and towns, highways and everyday streets, night doesn't necessarily hold all of the power it once did, but it still retains an illusive quality that endears it to my heart like a dear friend.

While there is much to be said in favour of a summer day, it is night that makes for my most favourite part of this tantalizingly warm season. Summer nights as a child held a world of possibility that the day simply could not compete with.

On the warmest of July and August eves, in a corner of B.C. that swarmed with tourist activity from sun up until sun down, my parents would sometimes take me - and when they got older, my siblings, too - to the local beach at night.

The lake that this beach called home was separated by a narrow two lane road from a long strip of hotels, restaurants and small shops, many of which had neon signs that cut through the inky blackness like permanent fireflies.

In water so warm you almost boil an egg, I floated on my back and gazed up through wet eyelashes at those glowing signs, a sky of dusty stars, the outlines of tall hills surrounding the town. The unforgettable scent of fried foods, car exhaust, suntan lotion, cotton towels and damp sand filling my nostrils.

{Night swimming is joy that's long been embraced by swimmers of all ages, the darkness somehow making the simple act of playing in the water about a million times more fantastic and magical. Vintage photo by O. Winston Link via UTATA.}

Those nights of swimming, a blend of serenity and energy few things I've ever experienced can match, are but one page in the history book of summer my life has written.

There are also smoky campfires, lengthy road trips, tree house sleepovers, neighbourhood parties, drive-in movie theaters, shadowy games of hide-and-go-seek, the intoxicating aroma of honeysuckle and wisteria wafting through my bedroom window, hours spent secretly sitting on the roof of our small Edwardian home with my little brother as we craned our necks to watch for bats, shooting stars, and - we hoped - perhaps, just maybe, (this being the era of X-Files after all) a UFO.

For every summer night I've lived, I have a memory, and each is a cherished possession. It was during summer nights that I first hitch-hiked (sorry, mom!), first watched a drag race, first remember staying up to see the sun fully rise.

I grew taller, got braver, became stronger, let go and embraced a million things in those summer nights of childhood. I kissed and cried, planned and dreamed with eyes wide open. I pinky swore, sung until I was hoarse, made solemn promises, and, in so very many ways, grew up.

At all times of the year, I am more of a night person than a lover of day. It is during this current season however, when the moon winks at the world, a cotton sundress can be worn comfortably at 2am, and an exhilarating, electric energy pulsates through each fibre of the air, that I recharge my soul's batteries, recall those magic memories of youth, and stay awake far later than most, blissfully thankful for the power and, as Van Gogh described, rich colours of summertime nights.

A lovely look at the history of vintage swimwear

✯ Day 220 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

For various reasons (not being a jet-set millionaire definitely being one of them ), it's been a long time - far longing than I care to admit, actually, since I last frolicked around at the beach.

Chalk it up to poor health, living away from bodies of water, and a hectic life. Yet, these excuses really don't seem to cut it any more. I miss swimming a great deal (I'm very allergic to chlorine, so I can't use chlorinated public pools and Toronto, to the best of my knowledge, does not have any public salt water pools unfortunately), and wish dearly that I could blink my eyes, tap my heels, and suddenly find myself on a tropic beach somewhere gorgeous, the ocean lapping at my ankles.

Alas though, as the fan whirls in my ear and the constant rush of city traffic roars past below my balcony, I know that such a dreamy vacation is just that, a dream for the time being. Nevertheless, even if (like me) you're not en route to the Caribbean, Mediterranean or Riviera right now, a gal can still have fun thinking about what kinds of vintage swimsuits she's wear to the beach if she was suddenly standing in the sand.

 

 

For a quick, yet thoroughly delightful overview of the history of swimsuits as they evolved through the first decades of the twentieth century to help bolster your vintage bathing suit inspiration file, be sure to check out one of Glamourdaze most recent Youtube videos, a look back at vintage swimwear.

The styles seen in this lovely clip run the gamut from gamine to vixen. Some are relatively modest, others full-on pin-up girl worthy beguiling, leaving just a hint to the imagination.

All, however, share in common the fact that they are beautiful, well-tailored, elegant, becoming, feminine, and marvellously appealing. Whether you prefer one pieces of the 1920s and 30s, or go gaga for flirty 40s two piece suits, these examples of yesteryear swimwear are exceedingly easy to swoon over.

As I sit here, the hours of another beach-less summer day ticking past, I can't help but feel refreshed by this wonderful vintage swimwear video, which has made me even more determined to get to the beach next summer!

Whether you're diving into the lake every day, just get a few hours at the each summer, or have your own backyard pool to splash around in any time you please, I hope that you enjoy this charming look back at the history of bathing ensembles as much as I did. Here’s to hoping we all make to the beach a whole lot sooner than later!