Blossom: Days Thirteen to ... what? Fifteen?

Back to the Roaring ...

Saturday 13 to Oh, Monday 15 Frocktober

Outfit/s

• Back to the twenties ... then back to the factory.

 Menu

• Breakfast - toast, coffee, fruit ... yes, every day.
• Lunch - sandwiches, fruit, tea ... yes, every day.
• Dinner - fish and veg, sultana cake, most days, then boxty and veg.

Mood

• Decaded out!

So ... I have just had three whirlwind days covering two or three decades!


They started with Saturday, during which I spent a fair proportion of the day doing housework and getting ready for a very special occasion, Rock Your Frock at the German Club, a special Frocktober event held by our lovely friend Lisa R (who is just lovely).


Myself, Darla and most of our delightful Flamingos and their partners came along (we missed our beautiful Miss Penny, but she was doing some fairly wonderful things - check her blog!). Darla and I decided that we may as well act like the 1940s ladies we are, and rummaged through our wardrobes to rediscover our Glory Days ... which, being Frocktober, obviously occured in the 1920s - 1930s.


As such, we decided to visit our dear lovely friend, Miss Viki of Do or Dye Salon in Canberra, and get our hair done - it being a very worthwhile occasion and all.


Here is myself in the act of being Viki'd.

They are not actually instruments of torture.

This is the result.

It was GREAT in the twenties, before the Depression and all.

 I wore: an asymmetrical velvet skirt by Gallery Serpentine from Darling Central, a silk Chinoiserie shirt, a velvet Art Deco jacket featuring a peacock tail print, sparkly patent shoes from Darling Central, stockings with a Hallowe'en bat feature and spooky enamelled earrings from Darling Central. Also a faux-fur wrap from Darling Central, vintage gloves and a vintage purse. And mega faux pearls.

I looked a bit like this:

Frocked up hard. Oh goodness, same facial expression as previous photo. It's my 'Oh gosh I have to go out and see the Beautiful People, thank heavens I have great hair' expression.

 And Darla wore: a thirties-style Chinoiserie dress with beaded peacock feature, a vintage fur cape and muff, seamed stockings, thirties-style shoes and thirties vintage earrings. She looked like this:

Why yes: she IS gorgeous.

We had a lovely evening and were THRILLED when our lovely Gloria won the Best Dressed Lady award in her amazing gold Glitz dress and bolero from Darling Central: she looked like this (forgive bad photo quality, it was a fun night.)

Our lovely Gloria, Lady in Gold.

It was generally a lovely night and we old ducks in the forties enjoyed our trip back in time a decade or two.

Oookay. Sunday. I am afraid I wussed out fairly early on Saturday night, because I am (currently) ooh, OVER A CENTURY old, so I was able to spring up out of bed like a teenaged gazelle on Sunday, and get to Darling Central, where I saw our gorgeous Jasmine, the exquisite Miss Cassandra ... and the most beautiful beetle in the world.

I could not quite capture the loveliness of this sweet little beetle.

Then I had to race off, because I had a gig. The band I am privileged to sing with, the Gossips, had a gig at Adore Tea. I had slept very carefully and the remains of my Miss Viki hairstyle were going strong, so I decided to wear my twenties finery again.

I looked kind of like this:

Now smiling with blissful sleep deprivation.

And the Gossips looked like this:

Mike blistering the electronic ivories, Brenton thumping the skins like a boss, Dan the Man laying down some seriously filthy horn blues. (Er, jazz people talk like this, I hear.) Me? I sang some songs and got some lyrics a bit wrong.

Yep. I wore a black jersey wrap dress, my Hallowe'en tights, my twenties peacock coat, some mega faux pearls, two-toned wedges and a Miss Viki original ... and the band wore jeans.Oh, yes. Jeans.

That night the Captain and I went out to see family and eat some fish, and both experiences were perfectly wonderful.

Which brings us to Monday.

I had been feeling quite guilty after my weekend of Roaring Twenties, jazz-ages excesses.

But that's okay, because I had to put on my factory clothes, heat up my lentil soup for lunch, and get back into the real world.

So. This evening I decided I had to use up some mashed potato and decided to make Boxty for dinner.

What on earth is 'Boxty'?

I'm glad you asked.

Blossom's Boxty

You need leftover mashed potato (Using It Up).

You also need raw potato.

Scrub and roughly grate your raw potato.

Grate your spud. Also your knuckles, and your nerves.

Add your leftover mash.

Okay, it's ...

Brown.

Then add about the same quantity plain flour.

Carb City.

Stir it all up, add an egg and enough milk to make it into a batter. Also salt, pepper and any herbs you fancy.

Yep. We're in Corned Beef Territory again. But I can assure you it doesn't smell like dogfood.

Drop spoonfuls on a gently heated griddle or pan.

'Splotch'

 Cook both sides slowly until brown and crisp - 8 - 10 minutes each side.

They smell gorgeous.

Boxty is great to serve with leftover sausages or any other meat, grated cheese, smoked fish, scrambled eggs or anything else that sounds like it would be nice with hot, fragrant potato griddle cakes.

Enough for now - I have to recover from the Roaring Twenties so I can catch up with the Forties!

Frock you later,

Blossom