Tag Archives: Cookbooks

A Year in Books/Day 93: Retro Happy Hour

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  • Title: Retro Happy Hour Drinks and Eats with a ’50s Beat
  • Author: Linda Everett
  • Year Published: 2003 (Collectors Press, Inc.)
  • Year Purchased: n/a
  • Source: This was a gift from a close friend.
  • About: This is one gaudy book. From the bright, hilarious vintage photographs and illustrations that decorate every page to the cheesy, mysteriously appetizing recipes, it’s a step back into the best of the colorfully bland, chipper Eisenhower Era. If the photos of my grandparents’ home, circa 1955, could be colorized and re-animated, I’m pretty sure this is what it would look like. The menus can, with very few exceptions, be made with on-hand ingredients. Go ahead and plant your tongue firmly in your cheek; now just try to resist deliciously middle-brow dishes with zany names like Elfin Mushrooms, Southern Belle Hot Pecans, Front Porch Nibblin’ Corn, Flip-Flop Fizzee, Red Dawn and Swindler’s Bay Punch. You can’t, it’s impossible! Every time I flip through this not-quite-a-cookbook, I have the throbbing urge to dress up like Amy Sedaris and throw a retro-tastic shindig.
  • Motivation: I borrowed this book from a friend on behalf of my mom, who was throwing some kind of small bites and booze party for her lady friends. When I tried to return it to its owner, she insisted that I keep it. Aww, I have fabulous friends!
  • Times Read: ?
  • Random Excerpt/Page 15: “That’s What I Call Entertainment!: If your budget can handle it, consider hiring professional entertainment other than a band: a magician, juggler, fortune-teller, comedian, clown, or Santa. Be creative!” (I think that I am going to throw a party in December just so that I can hire a Santa. Who does that? Me, I do!)
  • Happiness Scale: 10