Over the years, television, movies, and fashion have parodied the fifties. I was eight at the beginning of that decade and seventeen by the end of it. The development of many of my values and the creation of much of my personality took place during the fifties. In small Midwestern towns, children led lives narrowed by lack of exposure to big city ideas, with little access to sophisticated cultural events and revolutionary concepts.

We jumped rope to racist jingles, sing-songed to gender-biased rhymes, and intoned war chants. “Bombs over Tokyo”, we’d sing when dropping missiles from the top bunk onto our sister below. We chose up sides for “Cowboys and Indians” knowing that being an Indian meant lurking and being sinister. Ennie, meenie, miney, mo”…didn’t end with “catch a tiger by the toe”. If you could get a boy to play house, he told you what to do, demanded dinner, and then went off to the bowling alley.




Eddie Fisher, Any Time

The post-WW II years reflected a stepping back from the radical ideas of the 30’s and 40’s. Rosie the riveter put down her welding torch and went back home; racial lines tightened as the country moved toward integrated schools and an integrated military; and the Catholic Church’s Legion of Decency was going strong. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the military man, replaced Harry Truman's and Franklin Roosevelt’s emphasis on social programs with consistency and a return to normalcy. The official response to nuclear war was “to duck and cover”; we assumed that women and minorities were content with their lives; we populated Middle Eastern countries with romantic notions of Bedouins and Lawrence of Arabia; and the Russians were the world’s villains.

We ate meals at home prepared in the kitchen, had chicken or roast beef on Sunday and could count on a Thanksgiving turkey with bread stuffing, Waldorf salad, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. There were no cooking shows, cookbook aisles, or food processors. Lattes, chocolate truffles, fresh mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, designer lettuce mixes, ginger root, balsamic vinegar, pesto, ethnic food, Artisan bread, fresh mushrooms, and fresh fish did not exist. But we did have fried chicken, Jello salads, white oleo with a red dot in a plastic sack, Mogen David wine, radio recipes, buttermilk biscuits, juicy tomatoes from every summer garden, Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks, loosemeats, and Ramaki.
 
Ruth Fitzpatrick’s Heelan High Loosemeats

• 1 lb ground chuck, ground round or ground sirloin
• 1 Tbs. lard or Crisco (if meat is round or sirloin)
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1 Tbs. prepared mustard (not Dijon)
• 1 Tbs. cider vinegar (not balsamic)
• 1 Tbs. sugar (not Splenda)
• Water to cover
• Salt and black pepper (fine ground not coarse ground), to taste

Melt fat over medium heat and lightly salt bottom of cast iron skillet.

Break ground beef up in skillet and start crumbling it with the back of a wooden spoon. Add chopped onion while browning meat. Keep working with the back of spoon to break up meat. When meat is cooked and lacks any pink, drain off any fat. Add mustard, vinegar, sugar, and enough water to cover meat.

Simmer until water has evaporated—30 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve on soft, warm, hamburger buns with pickle slices, mustard and Lay's Original Potato Chips.

Ramaki

• 1 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
• 1 Tbs. sherry vinegar
• 12 ounces chicken livers, cut in half
• 1 (4 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and  sliced
• 12 slices bacon, cut in half

In a medium bowl, mix together teriyaki sauce, garlic, ginger, and sherry vinegar. Place chicken livers and water chestnuts in the mixture. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  

Wrap each half slice of bacon around one chicken liver half and a slice of water chestnut. Secure by skewering with small skewers or toothpicks.
 
Bake the appetizers in a 375° oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or place the Ramaki on a broiler pan and broil, 5-6 inches from the heat for10-15 minutes until the bacon is crisp. Or you can deep fry the Ramaki 3-4 minutes until the bacon is crisp.