Our Director of Development, Jennifer Trainer Thompson, is also the author of the Fresh Egg Cookbook. Here, she blogs about the intersection of 2 of her passions: MASS MoCA and food.

As I listen to Bang on a Can practicing below my office, in anticipation of their daily concerts in the galleries and the Marathon on July 28, I’m reminded that our predecessor – the Sprague Electric Company – was also musically inclined on Marshall Street.  In the Sprague Electric Victory Log (the company newsletter put out monthly during World War II), there was a “Marshall Music� column that was written by “Shipping and Cancellation�, and a big advertisement for an upcoming concert by the Sprague Electric Orchestra.  The concert was to be held at Drury Auditorium and tickets were $1 (you could purchase them at the Plant Dispensary).

The Sprague Electric Victory Log was filled with chatty news and ideas – from the birth of a granddaughter to someone who worked in the Payroll Department to a snazzy new knitting pattern for a vest (just “call for instructions at the Beaver Street Dispensary�).  But my favorite column is the recipe of the month, which was often provided by Gertrude Hall of the Tubular Assembly Department.  I love the simple writing style of the day – she assumes common sense will tell you what size pan to use.  Gertrude’s Fool Proof Fudge was published in February 1946, and she noted that it’s for “folks who do not have to count their calories�.

Fool Proof Fudge

2 ½ packages chocolate chips*

1 square bitter chocolate*

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 can sweetened condensed milk*

1 cup chopped nut meats

Place chocolate chips and chocolate in the top of a double boiler.  When melted, add the vanilla and the condensed milk.  Cook for 3 minutes.  Remove from fire, add chopped nuts.  Pour into a greased pan to cool.  When cool cut in to squares.

(*Note from Jennifer: assuming that packages and can sizes may have changed, you could substitute 3 cups of chocolate chips for the first two ingredients, and that a can of sweetened condensed milk is 14 ounces, unless you’d like to wing it.)

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