I was the healthy child in my family. My maternal mother had many health issues and of the children who lived, I was the rosy cheeked one bursting with health. My two brothers both had allergies. I was told by my grandmother that the boys carried the allergy gene and with each successive boy, they got worse; Ron surely proves that point! Perhaps a bit of an ‘old wives tale’, but true enough for us.
It wasn’t until later in life that I dabbled in the world of unforgiving foods and environmental allergians. It wasn’t until later in life that alternative medicine and food choices played any part in my health plan.
Recently I was going through some old papers and came across an article that had been published in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette in 1954. I love the images of a 1950’s hostess. I actually have many of my mother’s silver tea set pieces (as does niece Rebecca). Fancy silver service isn’t part of today’s entertainment world, but I do very occasionally get them out, polish them and wonder at the era that used them regularly. I can’t be certain as my mother died when I was just in elementary school, but I recall silver polish time on her weekly schedule.
HAS HEIRLOOM TEA SET
Tea Set is simple Colonial design is among Mrs. Douglas L. Liston's collection of silver and china handed down in family. The Listons live at 17 Balder Road, frequently entertain members of various clubs in which they are active.
From the Telegram and Gazette – 1954
HOSTESS HINTS
Allergic to Eggs; Flour. But Bakes Just the Same
By MED B. DOHERTY
Here’s a homemaker with a problem.
She can’t cook or eat eggs in any form. Neither can her two children.
Mrs Douglas L. Liston, of 17 Balder Road, says someday she’s going to write a cookbook that has “dozens of recipes without eggs- if she can ever compile enough recipes to fill it!”
Mrs. Liston’s inability to eat eggs is based on an allergy she’s had since childhood. Her son Andrew Barry, 4, and her daughter, Linda Gail, 2, have inherited her allergy. The only person in the family who hasn’t an aversion to eggs is her husband, a native to Buffalo, NY., who was brought up in a town just outside Edinburgh, Scotland, and came back to this country when he was in High School.
“You’d be surprised,” Mrs. Liston says, “at how hard it is to find a recipe for cake or cookies or muffins that can made without eggs. I have managed with the help of friends who know about our egg problem to collect quite a few. And some of them are pretty good too.”
“Of course I have an egg or two in the house now and then. Sometimes when my husband is looking for a midnight snack, I make him an omelet. But to cook eggs, I have to put on rubber gloves. It is not only eating them I am allergic to- the very touch has violent reactions.”
Also flour
“As a matter of fact, I’m also allergic to other things too. Flour is one of them, I love to bake pies, but I can’t unless I wear rubber gloves to keep the flour from touching my hands. Fortunately, it’s only the flour in the raw state that bothers me, and when it’s cooked, I have no trouble eating the pie.”
But Mrs. Liston’s allergy is no trouble to her as long as she stays away from the things she is allergic to, and “after a lifetime, I know what I can eat and what I can’t. Actually, I live a very normal life and my problem isn’t half as bad as some of the problems that exist in the world.”
Mrs. Liston is a Worcester native. The former Gail T. Thompson, she went to South High, then to University of Vermont. After her graduation, she worked at the university and that’s where she met her husband, who went there to complete his education after serving in the Navy. Married in 1948, they came to Worcester to make their home, and Mr. Liston is now working with his wife’s father in Thompson Engineering Co.
Activities
Mrs. Liston is a busy woman. Neighbors marvel at her activity in clubs and at home. For instance, she is on Worcester Girl Scout Council’s board of directors. Her job is director of adult training, which means she is in charge of the training program for leaders and other adult Scout workers. This, and her work on the troop committee of Chestnut Street Congregational Church takes up about two full mornings a week. If she isn’t attending meetings she is on the telephone arranging programs.
She and her husband are co-presidents of the Mr. and Mrs. Club at Chestnut Street Congregational Church and she is active in Worcester Branch American Association of University Women. Interested in children, Mrs. Liston is a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, a group which does volunteer work with the Cerebral Palsy Clinic School at Belmont Hospital.
“Baby sitting is a problem we have solved rather well,” Mrs. Liston says “With all the club work there is, we would be in a spot if we hadn’t solved it. There’s a sitting service at the morning Scout meetings. If I’m busy afternoons, a neighbor helps out. At night we have a good teenage sitter in the neighborhood.”
“And of course, when we entertain, we’re right here to take care of the children themselves. And out=r entertaining is usually simple. Fortunately we entertain groups from church, or one of the other organizations my husband and I are active in. The the usual cake and coffee and sandwiches are on the menu. One thing I always do is pass a relish tray with pickles and olives and celery and simple hors d’oeuvres. I think it adds a lot to simple refreshments.”
A couple of Mrs. Liston’s recipes follow:
EGGLESS-SUGARLESS GINGERBREAD
1 and ¾ tsp. soda
1 c sour milk or 1 c milk & 1Tbl vinegar
1 c molasses
2 and 1/3 c flour
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp each of clove and salt
¼ c shortening
Method
Mix soda with sour milk and add to molasses. Sift dry ingredients together. Combine with the molasses mixture. Add melted shortening. Beat well. Pour into greased, shallow pan and bake in 350 degree oven 30-40 minutes.
CHOCOLATE UPSIDEDOWN CAKE
1 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¾ c sugar
6 Tbl milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 and ½ Tbl melted shortening
1 c chopped nuts
1c light brown sugar
4 Tbl cocoa
Method
Sift flour with baking powder, salt and sugar. Stir in milk, vanilla and shortening. Add nuts. Blend. Spread in well greased 8X10 inch pan. Mix brown sugar with cocoa. Spread over batted. Over this, pour a cuo and a half of hot water. Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. May be served with whipped cream or hard sauce.
BEEF AND CHEESE APPETIZERS
(Note: this one cracks me up!)
¼ lb. chipped dried beef
3 oz. cream cheese
1 large apple
Method
Crumble beef. Divide cream cheese into 12 pieces and roll each into a small ball. Roll each ball in beef until coated. Spear each with a toothpick. Serve with toothpicks stuck into apple or other fruit such as a grapefruit (like sun rays?)