{Ministry of Food} WWII Christmas Cake Recipe

Last Sunday was 'Stir-up Sunday' , the day when christmas puddings are traditionally made. We don't all like christmas puddings here so I decided to use the day to pull out an old ww2 recipe for christmas cake and bake that instead.

Ingredients

5 oz margarine
3 oz sugar
1 dessert spoon black treacle
2 eggs (free range for the garden of course!)
8oz plain flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp mixed spice 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 lb raisins
1/2 lb chopped dates
2 tsp milk


Method

Mix together margarine, sugar and treacle until creamed.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Mix together flour, baking powder and spices.
Sift into butter mixture and fold in lightly.
Add in raisins and dates and mix.
Add milk and mix to dropping consistancy.
Pour into a lined tin  ( I used a 7" round tin)
Transfer to oven at 140 deg C and bake for 2 1/2 hours or until cooked

Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!!!

Vintage Tea Party ~ Somewhere Else, Cirencester

Yesterday was the very last  'Lavinia's Vintage Tea Party' of the year. But what a lovely afternoon it was... We were bathed in golden sunlight whilst we waiting to go in!!

 

Arthur sporting a rather dashing jacket and cravat ensemble

.

Period Camera - Honiton Antique Centre

Waiting for the Tea Party to Open!

Steady there Freddie!

 

Lucky Uncle George and Lady She compered the afternoon and we were entertained by singers and a Burlesque act by Dulcie Demure. Lots of lovely stalls tempted our pockets and we came away with a new dress and Hair Slide for Martha Rose! 

The afternoon ended with a fashion parade of the most finely turned out guests. Freddie and Arthur were picked along with some other fabulous looking guests to take part....

A rather nicely dressed lady called 'Olive' won the best dressed female prize and Freddie and Arthur won for the boys !

I must say he rather looks the part doesn't he!!!?

Hat & Bag- Charity Shop, Dress - Jusy's Vintage Fair, Coat - Pressie from Hubby

This was the only picture of me from yesterday! Taken by Martha Rose with the rest of the family in shadows!!  I didn't feel very glamourous yesterday, My hair wouldnt style properly and my dress / cardi outfit felt frumpy!! It a lovely dress really (you can see it from under my coat) The black sticking out just under the dress is the petticoat I made this week - now that did feel good! I also made the poppy too after all the inspiration on my blog last week!

Heyday giveaway

Fancy a new dress? Shona is celebrating  400 followers with a Daisy Chain  Fleur Dress giveaway on her blog here.

I love my English Rose version of this dress and get compliments on it wherever I go...

Don't hang around though Competition closes 7th November.

{Future Event} ~ Christmas Leave on the Watercress Line

I know, I know its a little early for me to be talking about christmas, but I just wanted to let you know that the 1940s family will be part of the reenactors at WWII Christmas Leave this holiday season.
I'm so excited it look like such a great couple of days


So instead of heading off to the shops on boxing day with the rest of the masses, why not come and join us being whisked back to the 1940s? 
The promise  of song, dance, steam and seasonal merriment beats queues,parking and leftovers for me, how about you??

Bath Vintage Fair

Another Fair today! This time Judy's Vintage Fair at the Pavillion , Bath. Judy has been running these fairs since 2005 and now she is taking it on tour around the country!!!


With a second local fair in two days and the potential to run into the same people, we decided to vary the look from yesterday a little...

The actual fair was a pleasant surprise as we havent attended one of Judys before. The stalls were very well laid out with plenty of room for browsing - although the changing room was very crowded!!


There was a nice range of clothing although it seemed to be more mid century than 40s. Not much childrens stuff at all, but we took cards from the sellers who -'had lots more at home'!!! Luckily the childrens clothes they did bring included some green 40s shorts for Freddie (such a nice change from grey!) and a winter coat for Martha Rose - a welcome purchase which will be worn to the Watercress Lines Christmas Leave event!!!

Friends who came looking for furniture were slightly disappointed, but if you were looking for jwellery then the world was your oyster!!!

We really did enjoy it and ran out of money before time!!
No moe planned for Bath that I know of but they are in Bristol next Month...
19th Nov College Green, Bristol

Hello & Welcome!!

I never know how to start these first posts!! But mostly I wanted to say thankyou to everyone who took the time to say hello to us or comment on our outfits at the Vintage Bazaar today in Frome!! We had a thoroughly good time sorting through all the treasures!! We found a lovely 'new' dress for Martha Rose but there seems to be a distinct lack of 1940s boys clothing! Maybe they just wore them all out!!!! Other finds included some union jack bunting for the stall, and a vintage 'Daily Mail book of Christmas Recipes' which will definitely come in handy as Martha Rose has requested a 'Vintage Christmas' this year! I wonder if that means I can take her old toys and wrap them in newspaper for her???

We did get asked if the children would be interested in modelling in a new boutique catalogue *how exciting!* I shall have to follow that one up straight away!

We also got told of the Bath Vintage Fair tomorrow, being held at the pavillion 11am - 4pm, if you want to join us in some lovely vintage retail therapy?