Cats, cats, cats, and more cats, part 4

Over half a year ago I wrote I wasn't done with showing you cats and more cats from my place.
If you are interested, you can find part 1 to 3 here, here, and here. There I said "I have quite a few around the place, some because I fell in love with them myself, others because for some weird reason people think I like cats and have given me a lot of items over the years. Really strange, I know. Why would they think something like that? 😂"

Let's start with a tiny one. An online friend had sent me a surprise parcel and among other things it had a cute little glass cat in it.
The very first miniature basket I crocheted from wire in 2010 had a little black polymer clay cat in it and some colored wire loosely stuffed in to mimic yarn. I thought I still had a picture of it, but it's probably in a "safe spot", too ... anyhow, it was my first clay cat, a little creepy looking because I was really bad at it then, and also my baskets have improved a lot after that. So this single earring is kind of a homage to my (very humble) beginnings.
I have been searching for similar glass cats since then, but never found one that worked as well as this one (it's not a bead and I don't use glue, so it needs to be a specific way for me to attach it safely).

This sweetie with the sparkle eyes was a gift, but I have to admit I'm not sure anymore by whom. It's rather heavy, so I think it would work better as a bag charm.

Bikky's print has been on my blog before, but I love it so much that I want to show it again. Bikky's model for her digital paintings is her own cat Broccoli which also gave her shop the name - "Broccoli Cat Art".
A cat on a book holding a teddy, could it be any more perfect for me?

As a kid, I had one of those animals which collapsed if you pushed on the hidden spring with your thumb although I don't remember which animal it was. I had to look up what they are called - one name for them is push puppets.
A Swiss toy maker invented them (some sources say 1926, some 1932) and called his company Wakouwa using the first letters from his name Walter Kourt Walls. Originally, they were from wood, but soon other companies began making them as well, and plastic was used, too.
Here's my (nameless) cat.

The last two are from the MUTTS universe and new additions.
I just noticed that I never really talked about cartoons here. I love cartoons and comic strips and like to say that the cartoonists I follow and who so generously share their work publicly (I wish I could support all of them) help keeping me sane in these times.
There are the timeless ones, the bizarre ones, the witty ones, the smart ones, the satirical ones, the silly ones, the creepy ones and so on (although cartoons and comics can be more than one thing, of course) - and if I could share just one word for MUTTS, it would be "warm-hearted".
Patrick McDonnell created MUTTS in 1994 telling the everyday adventures of Earl the dog (based on his own dog), Mooch the cat, and the animals and people around them.
On the website it says that "Compassion for all creatures is at the heart of MUTTS. Throughout their adventures, Mooch and Earl befriend an adorable array of creatures, including neighborhood pets and their guardians, wild animals, adoptable shelter pets and rescue workers, animals at farm sanctuaries, and more."
The stories make me smile, laugh, and sometimes cry, like the story of Guard Dog, for example, or the pleas of Shtinky Puddin', the kitten "who cares passionately about protecting endangered animals".
This magnet of Shtinky gazing into the night sky is now on my fridge.

"Hopeful Stargazing"

Then there was this comic strip.
When I looked in the shop, I couldn't find it as a print. So I reached out to the team on social media. They said they'd put in a request with the design team to resize it for a print, confirmed shortly after that it would get made available, and a few weeks later it was.
It only arrived a few days ago - much faster than I had expected, though - so I haven't chosen a frame for it yet, but I just had to show you.

For personal reasons that I don't want to go into, this strip hits really close to home in more than one way, therefore I was so glad they did that.
"Some days you hold your cat. Some days your cats holds you." 💕

You can find MUTTS on their own website, on Instagram or Facebook, you can also subscribe to a daily comic strip (I really don't have many email subscriptions, but this one gives me a boost).
I should add that I'm not affiliated with them in any way, I'm just a huge fan, and if you are an animal lover and don't know the strips yet, you maybe should have a look, too.
Also, as usual I asked beforehand if it was okay to share this.

A little warning at the end, there will definitely be a part 5.

Random Saturday - Cookbooks, part 2

In 2012, I told you about the Gas-Koch- und Backrezeptkalender, here and here, and in 2014 I even made something from it!
It translates to "Gas Cooking and Baking Recipe Calendar".
Being a librarian, I wanted to look up when it was first published and for how long, but the listings in the different library catalogs differ.
For example, one listing says that it was first published in 1927 under the title "Hamburger Gaskalender" - I don't think I need to translate that - and under the long title from 1959 until 1973. Here it says that's when it ended, there it says it still exists, but without indication of any holdings. Several listings say it started under the longer title in 1952, however, which is also not true as I happen to own one from 1950, but don't mention the Gaskalender at all although they were all published by the Gasworks in Hamburg.
You probably wonder why I'm even telling you all that, but it's an occupational disease. It drives me nuts not to know exactly!

Fact is that I have several of them myself - with another one on the way - between 1950 and 1970, some are smaller, some are taller (sorry, couldn't resist). Only two of them are missing the top leaf.
I think it's fabulous that calendars from that time, whose leaves were meant to be torn off, still exist at all today. I remember that we often had the grocery store's calendar hanging in our kitchen which also had stories on the back of the leaves if I remember that right, but it was actually used.

The calendars are full of information, recipes, and little stories praising the advantages of gas-operated appliances.
The one from 1956 the extra info is all about spices, for example.

I think my favorite is the story - also from the 1956 one which has been the latest addition - about a lady inviting her friends for a "Kaffeekränzchen", a gathering of ladies for coffee and cake. They have to be on time, though, which surprises them all. They are even more surprised when their hostess ushers them down to the laundry room telling them her "big wash" is about to start; they are almost afraid they are going to be asked to help.
But no, their hostess has taken them there to show them her new gas-operated washing machine. Not quite convinced at first, the guests are quickly changing their mind when they hear that the machine does it all itself, even turning off!
Can you imagine being without a washing machine? I think I would have been just as enthusiastic about it and am not surprised the hostess felt the need to brag a little.

Of course I also chose another recipe for you, not randomly this time, but the recipe of my birthday 1950 (no, I'm not that old, but I don't have the calendar from the year of my birth).
Remember that this was not too long after the war and the Wirtschaftswunder had only just begun, so the ingredients are not too unusual.

It's a sponge cake with potato marzipan for four people.

Sponge:
3 separated eggs, 3 - 4 tbsp. water, 150 grams of sugar, 1 baggie of vanilla sugar, 150 of grams flour, 50 grams of starch, 2 level tsp. baking powder

Filling:
3 tbsp. jam
for the potato marzipan: 200 grams of unsalted boiled potatos, 125 grams of sugar, bitter almond aroma
for the cream: 1/2 pack of instant pudding, 1/4 liter of cider, sugar to taste

Decoration:
50 grams of oatmeal, 25 grams of fat, 1 tbsp. sugar

Make the sponge and cut it twice.
Put the potatoes through a fine sieve, mix well with the sugar and add the almond aroma.
Use the cider, sugar and instant pudding to make a blancmange and stir until cold.
Spread the jam and 2/3 of the potato marzipan on the bottom layer and the cream on the second layer.
Use the rest of the marzipan for the top and around the cake and add the roasted oatmeal.

What do you think, would that have made a good birthday cake for me? 😉
Actually, a family member of mine has birthday tomorrow, I think he would be quite surprised if I offered him this cake!

Random Saturday - Cookbooks, part 1

I have probably mentioned one or the other time that I'm not much of a cook. That doesn't mean I'm not cooking at all or that I can't cook at all, but I rarely ever had the passion or the patience for elaborate recipes, and to be honest, these days it's even more difficult, also because I can't stand for too long and also don't really see why I should do some big cooking just for myself.

A few days ago, a friend mentioned having many cookbooks, but not using them anymore because of online recipes.
That made me think of my own cookbooks. Yes, I have a bunch of cookbooks, old vintage ones and new vintage ones. No, honestly, that makes sense. I bought vintage cookbooks at fleamarkets or online and I bought new cookbooks so long ago that they are also vintage now 😉 at least most of them.

I remember when we got a new kitchen. The saleslady showed us a hanging cabinet for cookbooks, very uncomfortable for me to use because I would have needed a footstool to open and close it. I said I'd prefer an open shelf and she said that the cookbooks would get greasy that way. She was so surprised when I said that that was absolutely fine for cookbooks in my opinion if they were used. She was even more surprised when she heard I was a librarian, but being used to what textbooks look after long use, a bit of grease can't shock me.
Actually, the cookbooks in my kitchen are not very greasy, but tend to get dusty on top because I hardly use them. Some of them have never been used except for looking at recipes and thinking how nice they looked.
At the moment I don't need the space they are taking up and they add to the kitchen look.

Of course only the "new vintage" and younger are there, not the really old ones.
I thought I could share one of my vintage ones with you every, now and then, something I haven't done often on the blog. I fear it will be completely theoretical, though. While I like the thought of trying out some of the old recipes, I'm very well aware it's probably not going to happen. Gotta stay realistic.

Today I brought you "Die fleischlose Küche für Gesunde und Kranke" by chef Kurt Klein, "The meatless kitchen for healthy and sick people".

You may see from the Fraktur typeface (not something everyone can still read, especially without practice) that this is an old book - and from the mold stains, fortunately the book doesn't smell bad - and although there's no year of publication, an inscription in the front tells us that Walter G. got it from his mother "for perpetual remembrance" in May 1937. I wonder if he was just interested in cooking or if he was or wanted to be a vegetarian and if he moved out from home at the time.

This book would have been a good start because it has 769 recipes including beverages (some longer, some just two or three sentences long, such as the one for lemonade for example)! I even found a few online recommendations for this book from not ten years ago.

Vegetarianism is nothing new.
I have to admit, however, that I hadn't been aware when they started making veggie meat, sausage, and cheese. Now there are so many companies jumping on the trend. When I stopped eating meat in the late 80s, there was nothing like that in sight. It was hard to get something vegetarian in restaurants and sometimes still is, depending on what kind of restaurant it is.
I remember my first visit to the US when in one place the waiter said he could only offer me a shrimp cocktail as vegetarian and was confused because I politely declined and in another place the waiter said they would just whip up a veggie plate for me if I was okay with that, and it was so good it made the others jealous.
In the Klein book there's an ad for "plant meat" by De-Vau-Ge, a company that still exists today. From what I have seen, some of their products are used in the book's recipes, not just veggie meat etc., but also granola and other cereals.

I thought I'd choose a random recipe to share with you. Just a second .... poke .... my finger chose recipe 292 "Kartoffelkruspeln". I didn't even know what that means, but it seems "Kruspeln" is an Austrian word for "cartilage", here used in the sense of "crunchy". If you suspect something now, you may be right. This is a recipe for potato croquettes (from the French "croquer" = "crunch").
- 1 kilo potatoes - peel, wash, boil until soft, and mash
- add 3 egg yolks, 100 g butter, salt and some grated nutmeg
- make little ball or sausage shapes, use egg and breadcrumbs or granola (semolina-like and of course from De-Vau-Ge) to bread them and deep fry them 3 to 4 minutes

Yeah, I also would have wished for something more exotic, but that's random choice for you. Maybe we will have more luck with the next cookbook.

Meet Kimberly from Gerushia's New World

Is it Monday already you may ask. No worries, you didn't miss the weekend.
This is a spontaneous post to introduce you to Gerushia's New World, "a dreamy and surreal New World. A world filled with color and whimsy and curiosity, and a bit of darkness too. A world filled with unexpected twists and turns" how Kimberly, the artisan behind it, describes it herself.

If you like the unique, the unexpected, the twisted, you should take a peek into this world.
There's a big holiday sale going on at the moment and you can save 50%. Yup, you heard that right, 50%!!! There are prints, originals, ACEOs and even a few very special dolls.

Let me show some of her pieces to make you get a first idea.

I had never heard of La Llorona before, but it's a fascinating legend you can read about here. I really like the darkness in this watercolor/collage original called "The Haunting of La Llorona".



Many of us are getting ready for winter and Christmas, that's why I picked these ACEOs called "Winter's bird" and "The Christmas crow".

Also getting ready for winter is Jack Frost Humpty Dumpty, one of Kimberly's dolls. She calls them "gnarly-dolls" and says they are odd, sometimes creepy - definitely not a children's toy, but art dolls.
Jack is completely hand sewn, without a sewing machine!

 

I hope I have made you a bit curious now, so go and take a look. I'll say it again - 50% off!
Also visit Kimberly's page on Facebook and her blog.