Cooking with Hurpum

I know I should have written about the Women's Circle Home Cooking from July 1975 in July-- its 50th birthday! But I didn't get this until the start of August, so I'm posting it now. It's either that or forget my intention to post about it next July, when I'm busy with whatever catches my interest then.

My favorite thing about this copy is that whoever owned it before me liked to write on the cover. I can't quite figure out what's going on in the upper right. I'm assuming it's the owner's name, which appears to be... Hurpum Pasteer? That's my best guess, anyway.

Luckily, Hurpum's handwriting was better (or maybe just easier to read against the lighter background) further down on the page. I can tell their favorite recipes were "tomato skillet cabbage page 51" (written right above the pancake) and "cheese cake blueberry page" (written upside-down at the bottom of the page). The page number is not there, but "12" is written twice near the 51 under the tomato recipe, so I guessed it was on page 12.

And this is what we have on page 12:

I guess "Uncle Jan's Blueberry Cheese Torte" was too much to write. Looks like Hurpum's got some good taste, though. I will always be excited about something that gives me an excuse to eat cream cheese.

When I turn to the Tomato Skillet Cabbage, I am greeted by this figure:

Maybe Hurpum was caught up in '70s diet culture and felt the need to atone for liking mounds of sugary, buttery graham crackers covered by mounds of sugary cream cheese. Or maybe they just really liked cabbage cooked in tomatoes and beef bouillon. (The little checkmark next to the title doesn't suggest much emotion, so I was left to speculate.)

I, of course, was more intrigued by the odder recipes. I didn't think the Eggplant Patties with Tomato Sauce would be too surprising-- just eggplant mashed up with a binder and maybe some Italian-ish herbs (if the cook felt adventurous), then fried and served with the tomato sauce.

I never would have guessed the eggplant patties would be made with peanut butter. Is it there for richness? For flavor? (There's not much in the way of seasonings!) I don't know, but that tomato sauce-- a third water and with no flavorings other than salt and maybe some sugar doesn't sound like it would help much.... So weird, bland eggplant-and-p.b. to dip in a bland sauce. Yay. 

I was initially confused by a recipe from the "Cooking with Grandmother" section. 

Grannie looks so content, tasting something she's making with love. 

When I got to the Fruit Punch recipe, I expected it to call for mixing some red drink mix with maybe some frozen lemon- or lime-aid and ginger ale or lemon-lime soda-- something you could serve at a kid's birthday party or a bridal shower in the church basement. So I was really confused when it started out with sliced bananas-- more like the start of a smoothie recipe than a punch. 

But then it went on to sliced citrus fruits. Usually you'd at least peel them for a smoothie. Pineapple pieces would make sense, but raisins? How is this a drink?

And then I saw that after adding the sugar and water, you needed to stir it every day for 8 days, then strain. And now I know why grannie is so happy. This "fruit punch" is to help the grownups put up with the grandkids....

Thanks to Hurpum for giving up their copy of Home Cooking. I should make Uncle Jan's Blueberry Cheese Torte in their honor. (I won't, but I should.)