The Wartime Housewife E-Book

Biff Raven-Hill

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 238

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

The Wartime Housewife will bring old fashioned values and skills to our very modern world! In this book, she shares recipes and tips on budgeting, repairing things, mending and scavenging; ideas for the school holidays, outings, gardening, DIY, sewing and craft; and anything else that might prove useful in your daily life. The Wartime Housewife knows only too well what it is like to manage on a tight budget and, by following her way, you too can learn to make the very best of what you have, as well as seeing the value in what is around you and making the most of it. Written with sharp wit and illustrated with vintage photographs, Wartime Housewife is the perfect guide to navigating gracefully the rigours of modern life.

Leseprobe

To Peter Ashley and Simon Clarke, without whom Wartime Housewife would never have got off the ground

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people for all their help, friendship and support:

George Ashley, Wilfred Ashley, Christine Beckwith, Jo Blackwell, Sophie Bradshaw, Anna Bramhall, Jennie Browning, Robert Browning, Heather Coombs, Louise Drennan, Fougasse, my grandmother Eleanor Haslingden, Marjorie James, Pam Jessiman, Paul Jessiman, Karen Lipman, Joyce Raven-Hill, Jean Skinner, Lindsey Smith, Michael Stanley, John Stothert, the people of World War II who are my inspiration, and all the readers of The Wartime Housewife website who are relentlessly interesting and entertaining.

CONTENTS

Title

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Etiquette and Modern Manners

2 Household Essentials

3 Knitting Sewing and Mending

RECIPE SECTION

4 Household Tips

5 Pastimes and Amusements

6 Gardening

7 Health and Beauty

Conclusion

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

Dear Readers,

The Wartime Housewife has been a successful website for several years now, offering information and advice about all aspects of home and family life.

The wartime housewife is a state of mind rather than a physical entity. She sprung into being after a concerted campaign of mickey-taking by the father of my children who said that my frugal behaviour and scavenging mentality was like living with a wartime housewife.

This appealed to me very much and before long, he had designed a wonderful logo and label which I applied to food presents and the cakes and puddings with which I supplied a local café.

In 2009, by which time I was a single parent, my friend suggested that I start blogging as a foundation for future writing work. ‘But I wouldn’t know where to start!’ I protested feebly. ‘Leave it to me,’ he said in a manly way and by the time I had finished cooking dinner he had set up my blog site. I began writing the next day.

The Wartime Housewife is a place where you will find old-fashioned skills and values applied to our modern lives. Life can be hard and, in this necessary period of austerity, money is tight and wastefulness is not an option. Even if money was not tight, wastefulness is wicked. Our resources are not finite and before we even think about buying new things, we should think seriously about whether we can repair or re-use the old ones.

Ask yourself: if the power goes down, will I be able to cope? Would I be prepared if there was a powercut, if a wicked fairy took away all the ready meals, if the clothing factories in Asia closed down and I had to pay more than a fiver for an outfit and couldn’t get any more?

Learning to be resourceful is fun. Seeing something that you have made yourself from scratch is deeply rewarding. Scavenging in skips can reveal all sorts of treasures so start to be a ‘snapper up of unconsidered trifles’ and give old things new life; make the most of what you have. This is the Way of the Wartime Housewife!

But home life is so much more than being able to knit a vest out of leftover spaghetti or using old socks to make sleeping bags for hamsters. There have to be extra dimensions: fun, creativity, beauty and the development of enquiring minds, including your own. There is so much more to running a house than keeping everything pristine. One of my favourite phrases is that no one will ever write on your tombstone: ‘S/he really kept up with the ironing!’ But they might well write that you were a loving and trusted parent who gave guidance and security to the family.

No one will steal your dishes if you decide not to wash up in order to spend some time reading to your child. The carpets will not disappear if you occasionally choose to take your elderly parent out to lunch instead of doing the hoovering.How many times have we seen children having more fun with the box than the gift? Periodically ban the use of all things electronic, including the television; then make sure you have a bag of boxes and bits and pieces so that children can use their imagination and make something amazing. Do it with them – you’ll be amazed what you can create out of the stuff that usually goes to landfill. Go outside, breathe deeply, look up and really see what’s around you. Go to the library, choose a book at random and see what it has to tell you. Ask yourself, ‘What can I do?’ and then start to do a bit of it. I would also advise you, despite a significant amount of cleaning tips in this book, not to be too clean. We need bacteria – it is germs that exercise our immune systems and make us stronger. I’m not suggesting that we return to the glory days of running sores and consumption, but if we are not exposed to a bit of dirt our bodies will never learn to fight the dirt.

A dirty child is a happy child. Get them used to being muddy and falling out of trees from an early age. Teach them the skills to be independent so that you can send them out with confidence to play in the street, to walk in the countryside. Teach them to look closely at things, to appreciate the detail. If children get plenty of fresh air and exercise they will also develop good appetites and are less likely to obsess about what’s on their plate if they’re starving hungry. In my book, a fussy child goes hungry until they make the decision to eat what’s put in front of them and appreciate the work and love that has gone into preparing that precious food.

Another thing I hate is when people ask if you work or if you stay at home. Anyone who has ever stayed at home will know that it is incredibly hard work running a household. I often think that parents should be recruited into high-level management jobs when their children have grown up because they have to have such a vast array of skills: husband, wife, parent, social secretary, ordnance and logistics expert, psychologist, finance expert, taxi driver, liaison officer, caterer, nurse, negotiator, leader of the United Nations … and that’s just the basics.

But it’s not for everyone and, if we should have learned anything over the past fifty or sixty years, it is that we have the freedom to make choices which suit our personalities and lifestyles. It’s no one else’s business how we conduct our home lives and the only thing that matters is that we are doing our best and no one gets neglected – including ourselves.

Everything is about balance; food, money, exercise, friendships, love – even chocolate. Yes, even chocolate. Try to find a little time in your day to do ‘thinking’; not obsessing, panicking, agonising or fretting, but quiet time to reflect on who you are and what you’re doing. Now stop reading this introduction and make yourself a nice hot cup of tea (an accompanying custard cream is entirely your own affair). Open the book at random and choose something to do. You won’t regret it.

With love and best wishes,

Wartime Housewife

I

ETIQUETTE AND MODERN MANNERS

Many people think that having an accepted code of manners and particularly etiquette is old fashioned and out-moded. Who does anyone think they are telling someone how to behave or how to hold their knife and fork? Well, let me put you straight once and for all.

Manners are there to facilitate the comfort of others. Exhibiting good manners says to a person, whether a stranger or an intimate, I care about you. You are sufficiently important to me that I recognise your needs. Manners make people comfortable and oil the wheels of social machinery. Without manners, we are barbarians.

Etiquette is there to facilitate the comfort of you. There are few things more disconcerting than being in a situation where you have no idea what to do, how to behave or what is expected of you. Etiquette gives you a safe framework for behaviour in much the same way as discipline provides a safe framework for children. If you know how to behave, others will take you more seriously. That is a fact.

Imagine that you want to write a letter to the Prime Minister complaining about the state of the nation or a particular situation that you find unacceptable. Should you start the letter: ‘Oi! Cameron! What you going to do about housing, eh? It’s alright for you living in a palace while I slum it in a council house etc. etc. Up yours, Joe Bloggs,’ there is a reasonable chance that you won’t get a helpful response.

If, however, you start the letter correctly, taking into account the nature of your audience, such as: ‘Dear Prime Minister, I wish to draw to your attention the problems that people in my area are experiencing with regard to housing etc. etc. Yours sincerely, Joe Bloggs,’ you are far more likely to get a sensible and considered reply.

And this is really the bottom line. Manners and etiquette are there so that you have the ability to blend into any situation by assessing the nature of the people you’re with. I hold my knife and fork exactly the same if I’m sitting in front of the telly with a microwaved spag bol on a tray, as I would if I were dining with the Duke of Poshington. However, my manners and behaviour might just become less formal if I was out on the lash with Irish Alice. Much, much less formal …

TABLE MANNERS

General Manners for the Family

Sharing food is one of the most pleasant and companiable things people can do. Enjoying a meal carefully prepared for you is a lovely thing and taking the trouble to cook good food is another way of saying, ‘I care about you,’ which is the essence of manners.

A rather lovely family group, having a rather lovely family meal. From Housewife Magazine; November 1943

Nowadays the ritual of eating is much more relaxed than it ever has been, but if the ground rules become second nature, it is one less thing to have to think about.

Cutlery

Forks on the left, knives and spoons on the right and the guest should work from the outside inwards, course by course.

If a fork is used without a knife, it is held in the right hand with the tines (prongs) pointing up. Always hold it as near to the end of the handle as you can. The fork should rest on the middle finger which is supported by the outer two fingers.

Eating with just a fork

If a knife and fork are being used together, the fork should be held like a knife with the tines pointing downward. It is acceptable nowadays to turn the fork over momentarily in order to scoop up food that has been pushed onto it by the knife. In that case the food should be pushed onto the inner side of the fork, otherwise you might poke your companion on the left with your elbow.

Eating persistently with the tines of the fork turned upward is not acceptable. The knife should be held as in the illustration and never held like a pen.

If you are eating with a spoon alone, it should be held in the right hand, just like a solo fork. If a fork and spoon are used together, the fork should be used in the left hand with the tines pointing downward. The spoon is the receptacle in this case and the fork as the guide.

Soup should be sipped from the side of the spoon unless it is a really thick, chunky pottage which would be impossible. The spoon should be dipped sideways into the soup and pushed away from you so that any drips fall back into the bowl. When the bowl is nearly empty, tip it away from you slightly to get the last bit out of the bowl.

Pausing and finishing eating: It is correct to lay your cutlery down after each mouthful while you chew and swallow. To indicate with your cutlery that you are merely pausing, the knife and fork (or fork and spoon) should be laid neatly in the twenty past eight position of the clock with the tines of the fork pointing down.

Eating with a knife and fork

Eating with a fork and spoon

Eating soup

When you have finished, lay the knife and fork (or fork and spoon) neatly side by side, in the six-thirty or twenty-five past five position, with the tines of the fork pointing upward. This indicates to both guests and waiting staff that you have finished.

How to place your knife and fork when you pause from eating

How to place your knife and fork when you have finished eating

Food, guests and seconds: If you have guests at the family table and that guest wants a second helping, the family should always hold back and offer the food to the guest. A muttered warning of ‘FHB’ (family hold back) to an over-enthusiastic child can dissipate any awkwardness.

General Behaviour

Everyone should come to the table when called or at the time appointed by the cook.

You should go to the loo and wash your hands before sitting down to eat, but if you must leave, discreetly ask to be excused and return to the table as quickly as possible.

Conversation is extremely good for slowing down the speed at which you eat, and it is proven that eating slowly is much better for your digestion and if you’re trying to lose weight. Use the meal table as an opportunity to catch up on the day and show interest in what other people are doing.

Never talk with your mouth full. You should only ever put as much food on your fork as can be chewed and swallowed quickly if you need to speak.

Be attentive to the needs of the others at the table. Pass drinks down if someone’s glass is empty and always offer drinks, food or gravy to other people before using it yourself.

When you have finished eating, do not get up and leave the table before everyone else has finished. Remember to say thank you to the cook for your food.

The people who have not cooked should clear the table and wash up or load the dishwasher.

These behaviours should be the same whether you are sitting at a table or sitting on the sofa with a tray.

ENTERTAINING

Entertaining is much more fun if you get out all your best china and glasses and put on a bit of a show. Ordinary life is too dull not to make the effort from time to time.

The first thing to remember is that when you issue an invitation, make sure that you are absolutely clear about what sort of event you are hosting and what is expected of your guests so there is no confusion. It would be desperately embarrassing for your guests to turn up to an informal affair wearing full evening dress and with their valet in tow. OK, so I’m exaggerating about the valet, but you get my drift. See the section on ‘Correspondence’ for help with composing invitations.

Cutlery

When laying place settings, the tines of the forks should always point upwards and the blade of the knife should always face inwards towards the plate. Forks go on the left and knives and spoons on the right. You should start using the cutlery on the outside first and gradually work inwards.

From left to right: fork for starter, fork for main course, fish fork, pudding fork, knife for main course, knife for starter or butter, fish knife, pudding spoon, soup spoon, tea or coffee spoon

An informal place setting for soup, main course and pudding with wine. What do you mean you don’t do this every evening?

Place setting for soup, main course and pudding with sherry, red wine and champagne – formal

Place setting for starter, main course and pudding with water, red wine, white wine and port

Crockery and Glasses

Seating

I am always inclined to have a seating plan so that you can think in advance who will get on with whom and which guest should be kept as far away as possible from another.

From left to right: dinner plate, side plate, soup bowl

From left to right: water tumbler, red wine, white wine, champagne, sherry or port

Place setting for soup, main course and pudding with sherry, red wine and champagne – formal with mitred napkin

Place cards – these should be handwritten and nicely presented. For informal dinners just the first name is acceptable. For formal events, the full name including courtesy title should be used, e.g. Mr Joseph Bloggs, His Royal Highness the Duke of Poshington, Dr Josephine Bloggs, The Rev. Josephine Bloggs etc. Technically a wife should be referred to as Mrs Joe Bloggs but I think I would flounce out of a party in a huff if anyone addressed me thus. It is the twenty-first century after all.

Wines

If you are at all unsure as to which wines to serve with which course, the following rule of thumb is pretty safe.

SOUP – sherry

SHELLFISH AND FISH – dry white wine

WHITE MEAT OR POULTRY – a dry white wine is always safe or you may prefer a very light red or a rosé

RED MEAT AND GAME – red wine, something full-bodied like a Burgundy or for less robust flavours, something lighter such as a Bordeaux

CHEESE – you can carry on with the red wine if you like but it would seem a shame not to get a decent port out at this point

PUDDINGS OR DESSERTS – a lovely sweet wine such as a Sauterne or a Muscatel is a lovely treat

Serving Wine

OPENING – red wine should be uncorked and allowed to stand for a while to achieve room temperature. This is called chambré-ing (pronounced ‘Shom-bray’). An old red needs only an hour whereas a new red needs to chambré for several hours.

DECANTING – ideally vintage port and red wines should be decanted slowly into the decanter through a strainer to remove the sediment. White wines and champagne are served straight from the bottle.

PORT – port is brought to the table at the same time as the cheese and/or dessert. The host should serve the person on his/her right, pour himself some and then pass the decanter to the left. Port is always passed clockwise and each guest should help himself. It is up to the guests to make sure the decanter keeps moving and that everyone has an elegant sufficiency.

Napkins

Firstly, they are called napkins not serviettes.

If you are having a formal dinner then napkins should be linen and large. Paper napkins are fine for informal dinners and can be more easily co-ordinated with your colour scheme.

If you like to fold napkins into interesting shapes, then they should be placed in the middle of the place setting. If they are simply folded, then they should be laid neatly on the side plate.

As soon as you sit down at the table, you should unfold your napkin and lay it neatly across your lap. Do not tuck it into your shirt front, gentlemen, please. There’s no need to slobber on your napkin, just use it to dab your mouth or discreetly wipe your fingers.

When the meal is finished and you leave the table, do not fold your napkin; just put it back on the table.

Food

When choosing your menu, spare a thought for your guests and whether certain foods will be awkward or messy to eat. This doesn’t matter so much for informal parties, but if your guests have turned up in silk frocks and expensive waistcoats, they won’t want to risk dripping butter or spaghetti down their fronts.

And on the subject of food, may I just point out that ‘dessert’ means fruit or nuts and pudding is everything else. ‘Sweets’ are humbugs or fruit pastilles.

Special Diets or Allergies

It is incumbent upon your guests to notify you if they have special dietary requirements. If they turn up and can’t eat anything it is their own fault. It is extremely impolite to refuse food without very good reason. If you really can’t eat something, take a tiny portion and leave it on the side of your plate. Equally, the host should refrain from drawing attention to you in this situation.

I was once at a dinner party and was served foie gras, which I will not eat under any circumstances. I took a tiny piece and left it on the side of my plate. My host noticed and asked loudly why I wasn’t eating it and I was forced to explain my ethical objections, which was rude to the host and uncomfortable for the other guests. Manners are all about comfort – physical and emotional.

Dinner Parties without Staff

Now, I’m not suggesting that we all maintain a full staff chez nous, but obviously dinner in a restaurant where one is being served by waiters requires different manners to a party in one’s home.

By far the best method of serving food at a dinner party is for the meat to be served by the host and the plates then passed down the table to the guests. The guests then serve themselves with vegetables and condiments. This is convenient, friendly and doesn’t take the host away from the table.

If you are holding a serving dish for another diner to help herself, offer the dish to the person on your left who will then serve herself, replace the serving implements side by side in the dish, take the dish and then offer it to the person on her left. Thank the person serving but do not attempt to continue a conversation while the food is being passed round.

Do offer to help your host but never bang on about it. It is the guests’ responsibility to be charming and agreeable and the host has probably worked out a way of doing things which will cause the least disruption and your insistence on helping may end up being a hindrance.

Conduct

As I said in the last paragraph, a guest is required to be pleasant and charming and to extend conversation to people on either side of him not just one person. A guest should mingle and stimulate conversation.

If the person next to you is unutterably dull or uncommunicative, try to draw him out with questions about his work or hobbies. Conversation should flow both ways but some people are just ignorant. If you cannot escape, draw in another diner from across the table and share the pain. If you are at an after dinner party, draw the person out for as long as you can but then make your excuses and leave, possibly because you’ve been hailed by someone on the other side of the room.

TIMING – never be late, but absolutely never be early. Hang around in the car round the corner rather than turn up half an hour early and throw your host into a panic.

INTRODUCTIONS – a host should keep an eye on the guests at all times and make it her business to introduce people. However, sometimes a host can have a cerebral power cut and if it’s obvious that they’ve forgotten your name, step forward politely, smile and tell the other person your name to save your host embarrassment.

LEAVING THE TABLE – when dinner is finished, the hostess may ask you all to go to another room with more comfortable chairs. However, modern houses are sometimes too small to accommodate everyone in the sitting room and it may be more convivial to remain at the table. Wait for a signal from the host that the formal part of the evening is over.

LADIES WITHDRAW – in times past, the women would withdraw and the men would stay at the table for port and cigars. This may seem like a sexist thing to do, but in a large and more formal gathering it makes perfect sense. The women may want to go to the loo, touch up their make-up, hoik their tights up and have a giggle with the other women, which may be less easy in mixed company where one is obliged to mix equally with both sexes. However, this separation should not carry on for more than twenty minutes or half an hour before gathering together again.

Smoking

It is excessively bad manners to smoke at the table unless the host takes the lead and lights up or offers cigarettes round. It is far better to wait until the end of the meal and nip outside for a fag if you need one.

Nowadays, when smoking has effectively been criminalised without the inconvenience of the government relinquishing their revenue from it, it is possible to go to a party where no one smokes at all.

It is interesting to note in the 1981 Debrett’s that they suggest that cigarettes should be made available to guests and placed in suitable boxes or containers and that ash trays should be large and plentiful with a layer of sand in the bottom to prevent smouldering and odour.

Difficulties

Most of the time, a host must simply grin and bear it if a guest is misbehaving in a fairly minor way or being a complete bore. Quite honestly, it’s often better to simply not invite someone who you know cannot be trusted to behave or who gets drunk and obnoxious. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of another guest if things are getting out of hand.

CONVERSATION – as the host, only you can judge whether a conversation is fun and stimulating or uncomfortable or inappropriate. It is wise to choose your guests according to the sort of conversations you know to expect from them. Mixing a socialist worker with a fully paid-up blackshirt might be amusing, but make sure you have a comprehensive first aid kit to hand.

OBNOXIOUS GUESTS – if a guest pursues a conversation which is upsetting or annoying someone, the host should try to steer the conversation in another direction or, if possible, move them away and introduce them to someone else. If a guest is known to bang on about a particular topic it might be worth having a quiet word before they arrive and ask them to be sensitive to the interests of the other guests.

Likewise, if someone constantly repeats a particular story, you might tactfully say (with a mischievous look), ‘I’ve always loved that story, ever since you told it to me ten years ago!’

SOCIAL BLUNDERS – don’t make a fuss. If someone inadvertently makes an appalling blunder such as, ‘Bloody hell, isn’t Clive an unspeakable bore!’, and Clive happens to be your husband, immediately make the person aware of this fact and try to mitigate the offence by saying something like, ‘I know Clive can be rather forceful/shy/single-minded, but he’s very passionate/diffident/enthusiastic about what he does,’ or, ‘Oh most people find him rather entertaining.’ Sometimes, however, it’s best to shut up or turn the gaffe into a joke.

TROUBLESOME BEHAVIOUR – getting drunk, stoned or obnoxious is not acceptable. If someone gets completely out of hand, get another guest to help you remove them or put them in a cab and send them home. I once locked my host in a spare room at a dinner party until he had sobered up; no one should have to deal with that.

DRUGS – are illegal and the presence of them at a party may make some of your guests uncomfortable or even compromise them if they hold public positions. Again, it is up to the host to make the position clear on this at the start.

ACCIDENTS – with the best will in the world accidents happen. If you break or spill something, discreetly ask for your host’s help in clearing up. As a host, you should be prepared for such an eventuality and make as little fuss as possible. If something is spilled on clothing, quietly withdraw and sponge yourself down. If it’s a massive spillage, the host may offer to lend you an alternative garment.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Introductions

It is very important to introduce people you meet to your companions, whether at a social event or bumping into them in the street. Nothing complicated, ‘Oh hello Betty! Do you know James?’ or, ‘Mrs Bloggs – Mr Rumpole’.

If, like me, you have difficulty even remembering the names of your children, the safest thing to do is say, “Of course, you two know each other?” and, if this is not the case, the friends should then help you out by smiling and saying, “I’m Ada Benyon,” and the other person should say, “Barnaby Rudge”. Problem solved.

If, however, you have no intention of introducing someone – for whatever reason – that person should discreetly walk away and save everyone embarrassment. You can grill them about it later.

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