Thrills Gum

How many of your remember Thrills gum? As I recall, it tastes like soap and when I was in high school, it was the gum you chewed so that your parents couldn't smell cigarettes on your breath. (As if!) I had no idea that they still made the stuff.

TV Dinners

I came across this posting on Pinterest last week and it really piqued my interest! As kids, when my parents were working (they had an ad agency in our house, starting in the mid-'60s), from time-to-time, they had to hit the road to see clients, so we kids got to eat TV dinners. Ya-hoo! But we never had Banquet brand; we always had Swanson TV Dinners.

Yup, just like this. I remember that turquoise logo. But ours always had some sort of apple-like dessert.

More like this. But we rarely got the fried chicken dinner. Generally, it was sliced turkey with gravy (I loved that) or...

...more likely this one. The Salisbury Steak Dinner. But wait! Ours never had soup.
That would have been really high end.

Now this is more like it! (Although I don't remember that fancy-shmancy cobbler.)

Boom Boom!

I love wine bottle labels -- and wine too, to come to think of it! -- and my brother brought me this one from Washington State a while back. I haven't felt like throwing it away because I just love the look of it. The wine was pretty darn good to!

Crazy Food

I bought these candies at Chapter's because I just loved the packaging (and they were half price). Dark chocolate with a crunchy mint interior. What could be better?


For the retro supper of the year award, I baked Richard these Pillsbury crescent rolls with hot dogs. My mom used to make them for me in the late 60s or early 70s and I just loved them. You know what? They tasted exactly the same!

The Owl & the Pussycat

I saw this box of biscuits at Starbucks the other day and just had to have them! Richard bought them for me as part of the on-going birthday present.


And just look at these delicious butter cookies. The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear is my favourite kid's story of all time. I guess that's why I thought it'd be a perfect challenge to appear in the centre fold of a recent issue of ATC Quarterly. To see what folks came up with, click here.

Playbox Cookies

Does anyone remember Peek Frean's Playbox Cookies? As a kid these were my favourite. I thought the Canadian version was called "Toybox" cookies and the images weren't quite as ornate as these...maybe just simple musical intruments and such. But it was 30 or more years ago (yikes!) and now I'm not sure. Anyhow, I came across this old tin at a garage sale in Hawkesbury last Sunday. Does anyone remember these?

Good Eats

In many places the snow has melted but since I live at the bottom of a hill, there's still plenty of snow here. My chard is almost covered with the white stuff.


Check out the footprints of a few hungry deer who enjoyed a snowy snack.


Meanwhile after a walk in the woods, Richard and I tucked into a pot of tea and a package of Square Milk Lunch Biscuits...


...all the way from St. John's, Newfoundland.


Don't you just love the packaging? Looks like I could have bought this in the 1950s or 60s. The packaging probably hasn't changed since then. Why tinker with perfection?