A vintage recipe for the holidays...

[Better Dresses Vintage]

This recipe was so incredible, I just have to share. Have you ever had a real, Victorian sugar plum? The sort the Nutcracker fairy is named for? Well, you should. It's not even bad for you!

here's the recipe:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/better-dresses-vintage/victorian-sugar-plums-recipe/751896941505750

 

[StelmaDesigns]

They look practically healthy don't they? I mean, less the sugar since I consider honey to be a health food. Funny, I never knew what sugar plums were but since there is not one plum in this, that is the big surprise! I guess in my minds eye I see plums covered with sugar, haha! I know, not something realistic.

Julia

 

[claireshaeffer]

Liza only on the VFG Forum will you find a reference to jacks. Do children play jacks anymore?

My assistant Louise grew up in Scotland and she didn't know Chinese checkers.

 

[The Vintage Vendeuse]

These look fantastic, thanks for sharing. I may try them next year!
I made a traditional English Christmas Pudding for my British mother (who has lived in the USA since 1956). It was my first attempt and it came out deliciously. I've never been a fruitcake-lover and didn't expect to like it. The effort was well worth it, especially when I saw my mom get teary-eyed!
Recipe: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/ultimate-christmas-pudding
Recipe changes: I used grated frozen butter instead of suet and also soaked my fruits in Dubonnet instead of the particular sherry recommended.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas!
~Donna

 

[Pinkcoke]

I guess in my minds eye I see plums covered with sugar, haha! I know, not something realistic.

The original recipe really was real sugared plums! and is much older than the Victorian age, I have a brilliant novel called At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum, by Mary Hooper (about two sisters running a sweatmeat shop during plague ridden London in 1665) which includes 5 original recipes for seventeenth century 'sweetmeats' as they are known; Sugared plums, sugared orange peel, candied angelica, marchpane fruits and frosted rose petals.

 

[StelmaDesigns]

Oh well that's good to know Melanie. I remember my Mom making candied orange and lemon peels when I was about 6 or so and I couldn't wait to eat some they looked and smelled so good, but then wow, what a huge disappointment for a small girl they were! Haha! I think I spit it out and Mom never did make them again. I think it was a lot of work at the time and no one really liked them.

Claire, I was a jacks playing fool in grade school and could beat all my friends, ha! Now you know a tidbit about me, that and my expertise with a Yo Yo

Julia

 

[BonniesVintageClothesLine]

I remember Jacks....we called them Jack Rocks! Loved to play them! I doubt anyone plays them now or even knows what they are!

 

[retro ruth]

These look fantastic, thanks for sharing. I may try them next year!
I made a traditional English Christmas Pudding for my British mother (who has lived in the USA since 1956). It was my first attempt and it came out deliciously. I've never been a fruitcake-lover and didn't expect to like it. The effort was well worth it, especially when I saw my mom get teary-eyed!
Recipe: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/ultimate-christmas-pudding
Recipe changes: I used grated frozen butter instead of suet and also soaked my fruits in Dubonnet instead of the particular sherry recommended.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas!
~Donna

Well done! It's not Christmas for me, unless there's a Christmas pudding! I've never made my own though - maybe next year.

 

[retro ruth]

And I sometimes use 'sugarplum' as a term of affection! Like sweetie or honeypie. I'm not quite sure where I picked that up from!

 

[Better Dresses Vintage]

Claire, I don't know if it's anywhere near as popular with today's kids as it was with us, but, to be honest, I really only played at summer camp. And that might still be the case, provided electronics are not allowed at the camps. Without the electronics, kids would be doing the same things they always did, is my guess.

I still have my jacks (from the mid-70s). They are so much more delicate, yet denser, than the modern equivalents (even the nicer, higher-quality ones, such as the shiny one you see, from FAO Schwarz, in the photo). The box I made in "industrial arts" in 7th grade (1979)...


Here, I'm teaching my girls and the boy next door (literally) to play.

 

[Better Dresses Vintage]

Ruth, we do that here, as well. Sweetie, honey, honeybun, sugarplum... all terms of endearment.

 

[Better Dresses Vintage]

Julia, I accept your challenge, and at the next (if there ever is one, and I hope there is!) VFG get-together, I will be more than happy to kick your @$$ at jacks. I am undefeated...

 

[StelmaDesigns]

Ok Liza, I'd be happy to take that title away from you :o) My jacks are just like yours and from the early 70's. I still have mine too. I have a sparkle ball like you do but it's clear with colored glitter and my jacks have vestiges of color on some of them. Clearly we treasure them to have saved them all these years! I never let my kids have them, that is how special they are to me. Besides, I gave my oldest daughter my Moon Goon (sort of a version of a troll doll from the late 60s) and she cut the hair off! I was ridiculously upset over that! Hence, I only gave the girls my old toys I wasn't attached to.

Julia