We never went to Ponderosa but we did go to Howard Johnson's. I thought that was the greatest - ripple chips and pickle slices with your sandwich (wow!) and the great cone-shaped scoops of ice cream (this was before Baskin-Robbins, so HJ's had the monopoly on exotic flavors). And boxes of square-shaped pastel candies at the cashier desk, and little toys (proto beanies). Utterly fab!
Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten the fried clams?! They were great! I think there was also fried shrimp. I could go for some right now. I am hungry! But I think we are gonna get some samosas tonight, and that will be good...
writing in my notebook: "another reason I love Alternachicks: the retro memories!"
but I have to ask: what are samosas? are they indian pastries? sorry, I'm just not sure.
my kid food memories: McDonald's hamburgers and fries, homemade mashed potatoes, likem-sticks, sweetarts, sugar babies, Mary Janes, and yes HoJos too - if we were travelling on an interstate - my grandmother would take me there for clam rolls and sherbert. She was a foodie so she had a foodie friend in me! She's the one who first took me for Chinese food - the place was about 50 miles from our house - I was puzzled about egg rolls....hmm, they're pastry covered and fried - why aren't they sweet? LOL
I didn't go to a Ponderosa until I was a teenager, but I remember thinking it was a big deal. My first high school boyfriend used take me there on dates!
clothes: my parents had me when they were teenagers so I grew up watching them go out on weekend nights - but New Years was the big one - my mother with her updo - my dad with his slicked back Vitalis look!
Ok, Lidian one for you: what toys did you have? Hi Heidi the Pocketbook doll? Chrissy with the auburn hair that pulled down? Baby Alive? HA HA remember Baby Alive? My sister had that doll and beloved Mrs. Beasley doll too! what was the name of those little dolls that were dressed like flowers and they were drenched in perfume?
One Christmas, my parents gave me one of those K-Tel albums. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My cousins came over and we put it on the hi-fi then put on our fishnet stockings and go go boots and danced around the living room. We thought we were hot!
Terri, we will forgive you for not knowing what samosas are because we know that you led a very sheltered childhood.
Yup! Indian. Vegetarian, beef or chicken. They've got potatoes, peas, sometimes green beans... what else? Spices, of course.
They're best deep fried and served with chutney of some sort. But you CAN get them baked. My DH makes them occasionally. They're wicked. He used to make Indian food regularly for our guests. They loved it. Except once... my girlfriend ate too much, and confessed she had to stop on the way home to be sick at the side of the road. heh heh.
Oh... Mrs. Beasley! And Baby Alive. I always wanted one of those. And I LOVED those little dolls in the glass bubbles! The smelled good enough to eat!
And I would have died for one of those K-Tel albums. Everytime I saw a tv commercial for one, I would PINE for it!
I wish we had all that stuff now. It'd be worth a fortune!
We got things like Tinker Toys, baby dolls with china heads and cloth bodies, fake movie machines (a pack of paper cartoons that flipped over fast), always books, doll's tea china sets, Chinese checker games and those days-of-the-week panties. Also a thingie called a ViewMaster, I think, with discs that clicked around and showed you Niagara Falls and stuff. As I got older I used to get Tangee lipstick in "Natural".
Of course all I really wanted was a puppy and that only happened once. Betsy was my Uncle's idea and my Mother was none too pleased. She was NOT a dog person and I was only 4. Betsy was with us until Spring and then went to live on a Farm - she really did go to live on a farm, it wasn't just a story although I did not believe my Dad for many years over that one! I think I survived the trauma!
Oh, we had a viewmaster! In fact, the kids have one. They're ridiculously expensive now.
Tangee lipstick... I know THAT!
DH got me a puppy for my 24th birthday. Shortly after we had our DD. Then I had a nervous breakdown, and it was either the dog or the baby.
We sent him to a farm, where he lived happily ever after.
I loved the viewmaster ! how else would I have learned about the Las Vegas strip and Cyprus Gardens, Florida !
you know... the wonders of acrobatic water skiing, southern belles in hoop skirts? and Weeki Watchi where the mermaids swim! it was all a big world back then!
oh I remember the name of the other doll - Chatty Cathy!
Ruth - my dad was born in 1937- his fondest Christmas memory was getting something called an erector set!
and Ellis - you're right - if we'd kept it all - we could have sold it on Ebay and collected a small fortune
Childhood toys - let's see. I liked dolls a lot. When I was 3 I had Baby Boo (made only in 1965 I think) and my mom used to buy me Mme Alexanders but I didn't like them that much...never had a Barbie (alas!) but DDs have some (we had to hide them though because our cats love them and carry them around in their mouths and maul them if we don't!). I had a lot of Peanuts stuff - Snoopy dolls, rubber figures, sleeping bag. A few games like Lucy's Tea Party (Peanuts again) and Yahtzee but as an only child it was hard to actually use them...a purple beanbag frog with orange polkadots; Raggedy Ann; and a child's sewing machine that I just found at my dad's that I have NO memory of (must've loved that one!).
I had a View Master too - the height of technical wizardry then! And one of those four-nails-in a tube thingies you made long knitted tubes from (can't recall the name but you can still get them).
Ellis, I used to pine over TV commercials too - for dolls, and in the late 1960s for some scented pens called "Love Markers" (I was always too shy to say I wanted something, but I guess I was hoping that the hangdog expression on my face would speak volumes). I have nothing to add to your samosa description except that I was lucky not to be on the road, like your girlfriend, last night! I ate too many samosas (etc!!) myself and though not dramatically sick, my stomach was very unhappily full. I ought to know better but apparently not!
The scented flower dolls and Baby Alive I probably saw on TV and pined for. The name Baby Alive rings a bell, definitely but I never had one.
I had a little record player too. My first record was Sgt Pepper in the summer of '69. I have loved the Beatles ever since. My parents did not get it for me, someone gave them Sgt Pepper and I inherited it (they were exactly the sort of adults who didn't like anything about the Beatles! a very bad idea for a present - nice of the to give it to me though! they didn't realize that it would set off a love of the Beatles that lasts to this day and that I have gladly shared with DDs!)
As for clothes, they were mostly made by my mother - little dresses, well above the knees, and knee socks falling down, and Hush Puppies. And one of those thick ropy ribbons in my hair - they don't make them anymore but they were exactly like yarn for giants. My favorite outfit was a bought set of navy bellbottoms and navy and white top, slightly nautical. Yo ho ho!
