Twelve posts for twelve months

This past Sunday Chronically Vintage celebrated its first birthday, a merry occasion that couldn’t help but start my week off on a very upbeat note. Many of you left the sweetest of comments in regards to this anniversary, and I sincerely want to thank you all for your beautiful words – it was joy to commemorate such a fun day with each of you!

On Monday, in the midst of running errands and doing nine loads of laundry (which, with any luck, will finished getting folded and put away today – while in the meantime our cat, Stella, has fun playing Queen of the Hill atop a mound of freshly washed and dried linens and clothing!), I began to think about the many wonderful (if I may humbly say so) posts that have filled the past year of this blog’s life and continued to reflect upon about them throughout the week.

Some were short and sweet, other long and informative; no matter what, each of them included at least one image. To date (excluding this one) 261 posts have appeared within the pages of this site. Amongst them it’s hard to whittle down a list of just a few favourites, but I thought it would be blast to look back at twelve posts that stand out in my mind.

As some of you may have guessed, the title of today’s post is a spin on the name of a classic vintage movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but instead of seeking ladies to marry, our posts each pair up with one month in a calendar year (each post having been added to the site in that respective month).

To make this look back at the last year even more fun, I found a fantastically pretty (not to mention alluring!) vintage calendar from 1950 amongst the endlessly lovely offerings that Suzee Que has in her wonderful Flickr stream, and have coupled up each month’s post with a gorgeous pin-up girl.


♥ Looking back at the past year in vintage style ♥


~ January ~



This post launched Chronically Vintage’s popular weekly recipe segment with a homey, old school favourite: Wonderful Wednesday Recipes: Welsh Rarebit.


~ February ~



February was a month of contemplation and realization for me, and many of you helped me through it with you caring, wise advise. This post was my way of acknowledging the wonderful support I was blessed to receive from my readers: You have all helped me to see the forest for the trees, thank you!.


~ March ~



Chronically Vintage went as Irish as a shamrock in March with a round of well known historical figures who hailed from the Emerald Isles: Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with vintage photos of famous Irish people.


~ April ~



Thoughts of springtime renewal, growth and the rhythm of life gave way to a post about the beauty of gardening with an old fashioned twist: Cultivating a garden of vintage style.


~ May ~



There was no pussyfooting around the subject here; I’d prowled the web and hunted down a handful of cat items with more than a pawful’s worth of immense cuteness: Hello Vintage Kitty.


~ June ~


Spirits were light and in the mood to laugh come June, so I took at stab at a popular post that was floating around the blogsphere at the time in which one describes certain articles of clothing they love and others they loath: Five items I would always/never wear.


~ July ~



When my birthday rolled around last year I dove headfirst into the depths of Flickr and emerged with oodles of festively themed images to help celebrate the beginning of the first year of the second quarter of a century of my life: 25 wonderful vintage birthday photos.


~ August ~



With temperatures soaring faster than a rocket ship into space here last summer (and our apartment lacking AC), it was all I could do not to fill the bathtub with ice cream and jump right in. I resisted the urge however, and instead rounded up a slew of refreshingly cool vintage ads: I scream, you scream, we all scream for vintage ice cream!.


~ September ~



With the weather finally starting to chill out a little, my mind turned to memories of the annual shopping trip for school clothes. While I haven’t sat in a classroom for a while now, I still get the urge to spiff up my wardrobe with new threads when September rolls around and this post was jam packed with the perfect sort of dresses to buy and wear when Mother Nature is teetering between seasons: Twenty "summer into autumn" appropriate vintage dresses.


~ October ~



Goblins and ghosts and witches, oh my! Things around here were in a decidedly spooky mood as Halloween loomed near, so naturally I wanted to embrace the spirit of the season and put my own vintage twist on it: Come on everybody, let’s go trick-or-treating!.


~ November ~



By the time November blew into town my head was already dreaming of plum pudding, fragrant pine trees and the joy of giving holiday gifts, which called to mind the childhood pleasure that came from pouring over holiday season catalogues each year, dreaming and hoping in the way that only a child can: The Sears Wish Book catalogue: a time honoured tradition .


~ December ~



As the year drew to a close I wanted to put together a post that was positively bursting at the seams with many of the sublime vintage fashions I had encountered since beginning Chronically Vintage. This delightful post allowed me to just that: Seven stunning vintage holiday season outfits.

♥ ♥ ♥


I realize that this calendar is a little wonky. It starts with January (’10) and finishes with December (’09), but I wanted to include a post from every month of the year, and given the Chronically Vintage was born in April (’09), this was best way I could think of to do it.

Looking back through past posts I found myself rereading many of my entries and the comments they generated. It’s been a profound joy to write about such a diverse array of vintage topics and to learn so much more about the past in doing so.

Thank you again so very much, everyone, for being a part of Chronically Vintage’s world. I know that the next twelve months – and beyond – are going to be fabulous, too!

Wonderful Wednesday Recipe: Grandma Jean’s Classic Hamburger Picnic Pie

Like many grandmothers the world over, my paternal grandma is a wonderful home chef. Growing up I ate many meals at her home, each a blend of old school style and modern sensibility. She was fond of serving melon with supper, loved to whip out potato chip coated backed chicken for a special treat, and made, what stands out in my mind, as quite possibly the best berry filled English trifle of all time. Yet she wasn’t opposed to trying pesto, sun dried tomatoes or fragrant far-eastern inspired chutneys either.

My grandma’s cooking style with homey and comforting, yet never boring. I associate her dishes most with the sun-kissed summer months and holidays the whole year round. There are scores of wonderful recipes that my grandma cooked for her family when I was growing up, but (aside from the aforementioned trifle) none of them stand out in my mind with the same adoration, nor provoke such strong cravings, as her summertime hamburger picnic pie.


{Always a classic, a can of tomato soup gives this delightful dish a lovely vintage hit – as well as a mildly tangy dose of vegetable flavour. Vintage Campbell’s Tomato soup ad via Shelf Life Taste Test’s Flickr stream.}


Don’t let the pie crust in this recipe put you off, the entire dish is wonderfully simple to put together, and once in the oven it takes care of itself. As it bakes your kitchen fills with the savoury, enticing scent of tomatoes, beef, and flaky pastry. Even on the hottest dog days of July and August, when venturing into the kitchen for even so much as a popsicle seems makes you feel as though you could melt, I will – and often do – gleefully turn on the oven and whip up this stupendous dish.

Brought to the table it looks like – and is – a work of culinary art. Even when eaten warm, somehow (at least I’ve always found) you don’t feel stifled in the least by the fact that you’re consuming a hot dish on an even hotter day. However, by all means, this succulent meat pie can be nibbled at room temperature or cold from the fridge. There is no possible wrong way to eat this beloved summertime treasure.



Grandma Jean’s Classic Hamburger Picnic Pie

Ingredients

•1 tsp butter (or olive oil)

•2lbs (900g) lean ground beef (or extra lean ground chicken or turkey, which is what I generally use; you could certainly also try this recipe with TVP or another vegetarian/vegan ground meat substitute)

•1/2 cup finally chopped white or yellow onion (about one large, or two small, onions)

•1 (10.75 ounce/315ml – appox.) can condensed tomato soup

•2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

•2 tbsp dried basil

•2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Annie’s Natural’s makes a fantastic organic Worcestershire sauce that I just love!)

•1 tsp sea or kosher salt

•1 tbsp garlic powder (grandma’s original called for 1/4 tsp garlic salt, but I find that between the sea salt and condensed soup, this dish is salt enough and so prefer to use garlic powder)

•1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper



Directions

Preheat you oven to 425°F (220°C/gas mark 7).

Heat a large skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat and melt the butter (or pour in the olive oil and allow it to get a little bit warm), add in the ground beef (or chicken/turkey or ground vegan crumbles) and chopped onion, cook for six minutes or until the meat is fully cooked through and the onions are nicely golden brown.

Remove from the heat and transfer the meat and onions to a large mixing bowl. Stir in the all of the other ingredients (except for the pie crusts, naturally) and blend well (if you want to taste the mixture to adjust the seasoning levels at this point you certainly can, as there are no unsafe rare ingredients in it).

Line two 8 or 9 inch pie plates (I prefer to use glass or ceramic ones for this recipe) with the bottom layers of pastry. Divide the meat mixture evenly between the two pies and place the pie crust lids on top of them, scoring both tops a few times with a sharp knife to create steam vents. Crimp the pies all the way around with your fingers, a fork or a pie crimper, and then slide them side-by-side (but not touching) in the middle of your 425° oven (if you oven isn’t wide enough to cook two pies at once, cook them one after the other).

Bake your hamburger pies for 30 minutes or until the pie crust has reached your desired level of golden beauty. Once baked, remove from the oven, place on cooling racks or folding dish towels and allow the pies to sit for a few minutes (I usually give them ten minutes to cool off ever-so-slightly).

If you’re going to serve the pies warm, bring them to the table at once. If you’re taking them on a picnic let them cool for a few more minutes than cover the pies with aluminum foil, wax paper or plastic wrap (or slip them into appropriately sized reusable plastic containers) and take them with you on your journey. Should you wish to eat the pies cold, let them cool for about thirty minutes (or until the bottom of the pie pans are luke warm or cooler) and then cover them and slide them into the fridge, where they’ll keep for three days.

My very favourite way to eat this hearty, flavourful pie is al fresco in the setting sun of a sizzling hot dusk, with a glass of mind-numbingly cold ice water and a slice of cantaloupe melon on the side – just as grandma used to serve.


Each pie makes 6-8 slices/servings

Bon appétit!

Happy 1st birthday Chronically Vintage!

On a day quite like many before it, something deep inside my soul stirred, a longing to put pen to paper (or in this case waltz my fingers across a keyboard) and share my lifelong adoration of all things vintage with the world.

While I’d like to regale you with an eventful tale of how Chronically Vintage came to be, its birth was really was rather on the quiet and unassuming side. Like a gentle breeze across the springtime landscape, this blog spun into existence softly, but with immense passion fuelling its creation onward.

Perhaps not all that surprisingly, I’ve always enjoyed reminiscing about the past – even when that past is, in this particular situation, only twelve months old. It’s fascinating to mark one’s life by the years created between various dates. As with most stretches of time, the span between this April and the last has been filled with its share of ups and downs, rough days and moments of unbridled joy. It’s created a year in which I feel I’ve found myself more at home with who I am – which I’m sure comes in part from getting old, but also from the comfort and courage that accompanies time spent amongst others who understand, care about and encourage you.

This blog would, unequivocally, not be what it is today without my amazing readers. There are scarcely words to thank all of visitors and blogging friends, not only for your comments, support, understanding and camaraderie, but for “getting” me. As many of you can no doubt relate to, it can be strange to be the only (or one of the only) vintage lovers in your family/social group/town!, and as such it means even more when through the powers of the internet you suddenly find yourself a new home brimming with fellow vintage fans.

Through your own sublime blogs I’ve learned enough in the last year to fill a small library! Your pages have given me a lifetime of inspiration and twelve months of splendid happiness. The thoughts you’ve written down, the images you’ve discovered, the outfits you’ve sported, the history you’ve preserved, all of these things have propelled my own thoughts in fantastically diverse and creative directions. You’ve influenced my wardrobe, make-up and hairstyles, my home decor, my collection of vintage items, and perhaps most of all, my blog writing.



{Adorable vintage birthday card via Vintage-Mouse’s Flickr stream.}

Thank you, everyone, for supporting Chronically Vintage both directly with your comments and behind the scenes with the inspiration I garner from your own marvellous posts. It’s been nothing short of a fabulous year on the blogging front, and one that I honestly cannot imagine having never taken place.

This blog came to be at a time when I really needed a creative outlet to get my mind off of countless pressing, uninspiring, downright heavy issues, and it has been a cathartic, artistic outpost of felicity for the past twelve months – just as I’m certain it will continue to be in the future.

To say I’m looking forward to Chronically Vintage’s second year of life would be a serious understatement! I’m positively bursting with excitement over what my second year of being a vintage blogger has in store, and can hardly wait to share each and every moment with you all!

Happy 1st birthday, Chronically Vintage, I love you!