Ah yes, we do love nostalgia here in the U S of A! Although Monsieur Proust based his novel on the taste of some wonderful little almond cookies (the Madeleines), I could easily go in to the same raptures over the Swiss Steak my mother used to serve for dinner. In fact I did when I found a pretty good replica of her recipe a section called “Our Most Memorable Meal” on page 48 of the issue of of Reminisce: The Magazine That Brings Back The Good Times that I reviewed back in 2001. I still make Swiss Steak every now and then, but I call it “Swish Steak.”

If you don’t have a box full of your mother’s and her mother’s mother’s family recipe treasures like I do, the editors of Reminsce tell you how to get a copy of Grandma’s Great Desserts. If you submit great old-fashioned entrees, plus everything else from soup to nuts for their Memorable Meals section, or do the same thing in two person portions for their “Cooking for Two” section, they will send you a gratis copy of grandma’s great goodies when they print you entry in a future issue.

Among the other goodies in this bimonthly issue are recipes for Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake and nice old-fashioned Stuffed Pork Chops. There is also something I will definitely try: Crumb-Coated Tomatoes (made with ripe tomatoes). I have plenty of them ripening in the garden and it’s time to do tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes in any version I can think of.

There is a funny piece called “Peas, Peas, Go Away!” written by a lady from California. As a child in Yonkers, New York, her mother would make her eat veggies she hated. Mine too; I got everything I wouldn’t eat at dinner, cold for breakfast the next day, along with a lecture about the starving kids in Europe. The writer and her brother found a way to slide the peas they both hated down the hollow tubular legs of the Formica-topped kitchen table. To make a long story short, her mother eventually complained of a stink and two very worried kids blamed each other until mom let them both off the hook. She still hates peas.

It seems that everyone who knows about this magazine, printed in Greendale, Wisconsin (part of metro-Milwaukee’s south side), has sent in photos, remembrances and their favorite jokes and cartoons from the past. How long has it been since I’ve seen an installment of Little Iodine by Jimmy Hatlo? Here too, the editors ask, What made you laugh?” and ask you to write about your fave comic strip of the 20s, 30s, 40s, or 50s. There are entries from such locations as Hartford, Connecticut; Victor, Montana; Bakersfield, California and Blue Springs, Missouri, so obviously this little bit of nostalgia heaven gets around.

There’s a wonderful old photo of an outdoor dance class taken in the early 1900s somewhere in Wisconsin. The sidebar telling about the dancing class's memories contains a quote about an unhappy looking little boy who, it was said, would rather have been playing baseball. I don’t think the person who wrote the piece looked very hard at the “other” two boys, who obviously are as limp-wristed as they can be--or is my gaydar working overtime? Those two are baby fruitcakes if I ever saw any.

Reminds me of the tales told about me dancing next to the piano when my Aunt Carrie (who sang opera at the Met) would visit and play classical music and I would show off. I have a friend who tells about his mother getting him done up as Carmen Miranda to show off for company while his father cringed in his easy chair. See, we remember all kinds of things if we are given a chance!

Also in this issue are articles on old tintype photos, also called deguerrotypes, ferrotypes, and melainotpes, depending on the process. Usually these metal photos are quite reasonable in antique shops, but if you have some of historic events or famous people, take care of them because they could be worth a bundle.

I found boxes full of these in the attic when I used to go up there and prowl around on rainy days. I ruined all the ones I had because I thought it was clever to staple them on the walls with other items in my early apartments. Everything looked good but got ruined. Using display techniques for home decorating isn’t really a good idea.

Then there are memories of first cars, last cars, car trips, train trips and a wonderful four-page spread of antique postcards. I stapled a lot of those artound when I was decorating, too. Bad idea! If you have any, you’d be better off keeping them in a photo album or an old cigar box.

In “Fond Flashbacks” we are given a review of 1936 and everything that went with it. I was six years old then and didn’t even know there was such a thing as a depression. My dad was a country doctor who got paid by the farmers in food when they didn’t have any money. I remember he rented one of the first freezers so we could store the meat he got in payment. Sometimes it was wild game, which suited him just fine. He was a hunter and an excellent cook who took the time to teach me both skills.

Flashbacks continues with Names in the News (Edward the VIII abdicates, Howard Hughes, Charlie Chaplin and other celebs), Sports (the Olympic Games in Berlin, Baseball Hall of Fame, Roller Derbys and Joe Louid defeats Max Schmeling) and Movies, Radio and Humor. Little boxes tell us what songs were popular that year, what radio shows premiered, how much stuff cost and the best books of 1936.

As I read on there was a piece on “The Singing Rage” Patti Page and a song called “old Cape Cod.” The article concerns a woman’s search for the sheet music. A friend found a copy on the Internet for $12.75, and it turned out that another friend knew the composer who autographed the music. Happy days all around. This just goes on and on, this remembering and telling. It’s a wonderful way of sharing and you can get a copy of all this for only $11 a year by calling (toll-free, mind you) 1-800-344-6913. In the current copy in front of me there is an early bird saving certificate. You could start you Christmas shopping early and send a subscription to friends for only $9.98 for orders mad before October 31, 2000. Now, them’s cheap memories.

Naturally, there’s a “Letters” page and another page of viewpoints and feedback from the readers. The editors seem to have covered everything. Not to let you off easy, they push their next issue on the last page saying, “as a reward for reading all the way to the back page . . . here’s a sneak preview of what’s coming next time.” It will be the November/December issue, so you know it will be filled with holiday memories, among other things.

If you need to know more, you can check out the Internet web page at www.reimanpub.com.


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