This picture can be found in the 1930 New Delineator Recipes cookbook. It shows how “canned vegetables provide a splendid variety for every day in the year.”
A look back at history
I’ve begun writing a series of articles in this week’s issue of The Othello Outlook about the history of the city. The first one deals with the Homestead Act, which is what brought many of the original settlers to the area.
Some of you know I’m sort of a history buff. My bachelor’s degree is in social sciences and I took many classes in history to earn that degree.
Currently, I’m the archivist for the Othello Community Museum, where I take care of over 100 years of photographs, articles and personal documents.
Washington history is a little different than most states. It’s very unique in the fact that our state was settled from the west to the east. After all, what was here in the 1800s?
Well, we had rattlesnakes, jack rabbits, mile after mile of sagebrush and not much else. There was little water, resulting in devastating dusk storms.
Without the Homestead Act, there was little reason for anyone to attempt to farm the area.
My husband’s family did, indeed, make a go of it. It wasn’t easy and they struggled daily, but they helped establish Othello.
If you travel northwest along McManamon Road, you will come to Morgan Lake Road and Morgan Lake. These were both named for Eric’s great uncle Simon Morgan. His homestead was at the base of the Indian stone face seen from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife maintenance shops.
Eric’s grandparents homesteaded just south of there. I have a 15-page document by Eric’s father detailing some of the family’s personal history during that time period. Hopefully, I will be able to include some of that in my series of articles.
Today, we live in one of Othello’s original houses. Eric purchased it some years ago from Will May, who many still remember. It is next door to where the May Dairy used to be.
My hope is to also share some vintage recipes in this column in celebration of the city’s 100th anniversary. If you have a recipe passed down from your parents or grandparents, I’d love to include it.
I have several recipe books written early in the 1900s. They are really fun to read and many contain words of advice on how to set a table, caring for the family, entertaining guests and more.
One interesting cookbook on my shelf is “New Delineator Recipes,” printed in 1930. It includes several simple menus for each meal and some amusing pictures, such as items that can be found in grocery stores and what a well-stocked pantry should look like. Most of the recipes are very basic and simple to prepare.
Cakes were typically prepared from scratch, rather than with the mixes we use today. Here’s one that is easy to make and you can top it with your favorite frosting.
Golden cake
1/4 cup butter or shortening
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon orange extract
Cream the butter or shortening and add the sugar gradually. Beat the yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Mix and sift the dry ingredients and add to the first mixture alternately with the milk. Flavor. Bake as loaf or layer cake in a moderate oven (380 degrees) for 45 minutes.
Of course, at today’s oven temperatures, moderate would be 375 degrees … unless you can move your dial just a little past that temperature or you use an oven thermometer.
Please share your vintage recipes. You can email them to me at labordi@hotmail.com. Or leave them in the comments on this post!
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