Living A Vintage Life: In Shades Of Avocado

Take a trip back in time with me - a time when Tiki Gods, Harvest Gold and Avocado were staples of home decor; when double-knit polyester and mutton chops were stylish! Dig out your leisure suits and disco shirts and stroll along with me through 'Wes Clark's Avocado Memories'. I don't know how I ever found this delightful capsule of 1960s-70s California suburbia but it's one of my favorite sites on the whole internet and I'm tickled to have a chance to share it here. WCAM isn't just any vintage website - there's nothing girly or fashionable here. Nothing for sale. Just pure reminiscing about a time period that many of us vintage lovers and folks deep into their 40s can relate to.

Spanning 1966-1980, Wes shows us with bare honesty and humor his childhood in Burbank, California, the changes inflicted upon their little ranch home and the suburban lifestyle of the era. A period when a true patio was decorated with Tiki gods, whether it be in Burbank or Honolulu, and family dens were decked out in drinking memorabilia and anonymous farm gear.

Leafing through WCAM will not do it justice - you must slowly journey through, as though walking through a long buffet line. Scroll to the bottom of each page, click every link and taste every morsel Wes has to offer: the 8mm movies, the school cafeteria recipes, the locomotion, Kraft cheese and more! It will take days, and you may need to take a break just to check the calendar once in awhile, but the journey is worth it. Fortunately he started adding more pages after the initial site was built - there's enough here to keep you busy the rest of the summer so slather on some Coppertone (or baby oil with iodine for dark, homemade 'tan'!) and grab a glass of Tang and start your Avocado vacation!

FOODIE FRIDAY -- R Is For RED VELVET CAKE

When I was growing up in Southern California, Red Velvet cake was not common. I hadn't even heard of it until the 1980s, and since every recipe I came across called for oodles of red food coloring, I just couldn't bring myself to ever bake one. (I avoid artificial anything, including coloring)

The current popularity of Red Velvet cake (and of course, cupcakes) has led me to research its origin, and try to come up with a recipe sans red food coloring. Some food historians believe that home bakers started using red food coloring to enhance the natural red hue produced by the interaction of cocoa with acid--vinegar, buttermilk, etc. Perhaps home bakers started adding red food coloring after Dutch process cocoa became widely used. (The Dutch process makes cocoa easier to dissolve by adding an alkalizing agent like potassium carbonate, decreasing the acidity in the batter and thus muting the redness.) Whatever the reason, it is likely that the original Red Velvet Cake did not include red food coloring.

Red Velvet cake is neither chocolate nor vanilla, and can contain anywhere from 1 measly teaspoon of cocoa, to a full cup full. Most recipes call for shortening (not a favorite in this house) but purists insist on oil for a moist cake, and many like butter for its rich flavor. Buttermilk or milk and vinegar are also almost always called for. Boiled or Cream cheese icing is most common.

Here is a recipe I have used that has always been well received:

Naturally Dyed Red "Velvet Cake" Using Beet Root Powder

Ingredients:

* 6 eggs, separated
* 1 cup granulated sugar, divided in half
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1/3 cup buttermilk
* 1 tsp cream of tartar
* 3/4 cup cake flour
* 1/3 cup beet powder
* 1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a metal bowl placed atop a pot of simmering water, whisk together egg yolks, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, vanilla and buttermilk for 3-5 minutes until pale yellow.
3. Remove from heat and continue whisking for an additional 5 minutes until thick and foamy, nearly tripling in size.
4. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together egg whites until foamy. Add in cream of tartar.
5. Continue whisking until soft peaks begin to form, then gradually add remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and beat until peaks are stiff and glossy.
6. In a third bowl, sift together cocoa powder, cake flour and beet powder.
7. Gently sift dry ingredients into egg yolk and egg white mixtures, folding all three components together until combined.
8. Divide cake batter into two 9" round cake pans, lined on the bottom with parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
9. Remove from heat and invert pans over baking rake while cake cools. Gently cut cake away from edges and remove from pan. Frost and layer as desired.


Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

* 8 oz (two sticks) butter, room temperature
* 8 oz cream cheese
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1 cup powdered sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add in vanilla and powdered sugar, beating until well combined. Allow cake to completely cool before frosting. Makes enough to frost a two layered cake.

(recipes courtesy of suite101.com)

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Interesting additional information on the history and origin of Red Velvet Cake: http://www.suite101.com/content/origins-of-red-velvet-cake-a90997

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Any cake wold look GREAT on this vintage cake plate from mymilkglassshop.etsy.com:

Need to transport your cake? Cool carrier from keeky27.etsy.com:

Relist, Deactivate, Feature? Oh My!

Vintage Butterfly Brooch by SweetSugarBoutique

It can be somewhat of a juggling game figuring out how to balance your shop. How many pages are just right? How much is too much? How often should you relist to keep things fresh? Is it even worth rearranging items? Do customers search specifically or do they browse? All solid questions.

Vintage Easter Postcard by TheOldBarnDoor

Be careful you don't start from the premise of a bias. If you're a browser, chances are you operate under that assumption in how you structure your shop. If you don't really buy online and just have your shop, that likely is influencing your behavior as well. Never assume your customer is familiar with Etsy. Etsy is focused on and is successfully bringing millions of new eyeballs to the site monthly.

Art Deco Hall Teapot by jenscloset

First step is trying to understand your customer base. Who is your customer? Take out a piece of paper and fill in the following items: education level, profession, age, urban or rural, martial status, kids, and what kind of car of they drive. (I go into this in detail in my other Wednesday posts) This loose analysis of your customer will allow you to grasp how they shop.

Vintage 1980's White Lace Mini by PersonalPursuits

For example, a young urban executive earning 6 figures working 60 hours a week is probably not going to do more than scan the first and maybe the second page. (Google analytics will show you this information in detail) When I saw that the 1-3 pages got the vast majority of traffic on my Google analysis I switched my behavior.

1950's Automobile Speedometer by TheFancyLamb

As a result, I now change my featured items every 24 hours or so. Every time I do, they start popping up as favorites in the activity feed. This is such valuable feedback! I try to make sure that my featured items are also never on the first page of items. That's just wasting advertising space.

Aynsley English Bouquet Earrings by GeneralWhimsy2

I assume that once an item is listed, it'll be buried in a few hours. While it's tempting to assume that something is wrong with the item, don't. It's probably not the photo or the pricing. they probably just haven't seen it. (Assuming you've got great photos and reasonable prices)

Royce Enamel Pocket Watch by VintageinBloom

For my customers that are Etsy sellers (the crowd that tends to browse more), I rearrange the shop often. And every night before I go to bed I relist 4-5 items for that International crowd that is just starting their day. I never deactivate items unless something is wrong. Why waste your listing fee? Rotate in a new photo, but don't bother deactivating it.

Vintage Chip & Dip Set by thecreekhouse

Now obviously this is just my interpretation of the Google numbers. Use yours. Look at the Etsy stats. Figure out who you're primarily selling to. This isn't hard-it's fairly safe to assume that hip vintage clothing isn't being gobbled up by the generation that had to wear it! People tend not to appreciate the decades that they lived through. (Meaning, it's hard for me to appreciate the late 1970's & 80's) Keep your shop fresh and the sales will follow!