A Little Christmas Adventure
Bejeweled hams and Tipsy Parsons. Along with my favorite dish of the week.
I’m cooking up a Christmas feast - and feeling grateful that this insane vintage menu is not what we’ll be eating tonight! But don’t you love knowing there was once a time when people sat down to bejeweled hams and tipsy parsons?
This menu, from the December 1968 issue of Gourmet strikes me as so retro as to be rather wonderful.
(With apologies for the quality of the images; this comes from bound issues I found at a garage sale, and it’s impossible to achieve better quality pictures without tearing the whole thing apart.)
And while we’re on the subject of terrible images…. this lovely little caviar and beet tart in a buckwheat crust is definitely the best thing I’ve eaten all week. Rich, surprising, absolutely delicious, it was the highlight of a spectacular meal at Cafe Carmellini; can’t think of a more festive place to celebrate the season.
I hope you are having a very merry Christmas.
I can't say which I love more the Tipsy Parson, Moon Soup recipe advertisement or the Blue Nun on one page with the champagne on the following! All fabulous as well as the bejeweled ham! I will now go out to the garage and search through my ancient Gourmet magazines that I bought at a library sale for further fabulousness. My father introduced me to Gourmet and cooked out of the two original brown covered cookbooks. It changed utterly after you left, and not for the better. Thank you for all these wonderful images, ideas and memories. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and best wishes for a decent New Year.
Ok but I kind of want to try the coffee jellies???