I was a huge fan of Nancy Drew mysteries as a youngling, reading them all from The Secret of the Old Clock to The Crooked Bannister. I tried Hardy Boys and they didn’t do a thing for me – proving once again, I suppose, that it’s nature not nurture that made me a raging homosexual (though of course I did have a domineering mother and absent father-figure – classic causes of turning kids gay!).
I remember I (and my sisters) continued to read the books even after we’d figured out the highly-formulaic – nay, virtually identical – nature of the plots. And we loved to mock the vast array of synonyms for Nancy’s hair color – strawberry blond, titian (none of us knew what the hell this meant), reddish-blond – and mode of transportation – roadster, convertible, coupé (yes, with the acute accent). Not to mention “plump” Bess (who we imagined as morbidly obese) and “tomboy” George (who we described generously as “mannish”). But we still loved to read them again and again…
Anyway, The Hairpin posted some lovely selections from The Nancy Drew Cookbook: Clues to Good Cooking. I can’t decide which I like best: “Sleuth Soup” a mixture of canned beef consommé and tomato juice – topped with whipped cream. Or “Bungalow Mystery Salad” – a combination of frozen orange juice, pineapple juice, bananas, ginger ale and sugar that is frozen in muffin pans. To the recipe’s credit, it is indeed a mystery. Be sure to click through to read all the delightful selections, including “Mysterious Mannequin Casserole” (the mystery is why isn’t there any actual mannequin in the casserole?) or “Old Album Meatballs” (“First, finely chop one old photo album…”).
from The Hairpin
It's a Complete Outrage 