I almost didn’t want to use this space to make any sort of commentary on the whole Paula Deen fiasco. As a white girl foodie, part of me feels out of my depth in even having an opinion on such a complicated, racially-charged issue. But I have to admit I can see both sides. Let… Read More On Paula Deen
Yesterday evening, my mother and I had the honor of enjoying a period meal with Mr. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, at Walkerton Tavern, a circa 1824/5 tavern and meeting house literally around the corner from my house. The program was presented by Henrico County’s Division of Recreation and Parks and the Henrico Historical… Read More Dinner with Jefferson Davis
When the weather reports first called for snow, I honestly didn’t believe it. I mean, it’s nearly Spring and all. But snow it did and it’s still coming down. I woke up this morning to the news that school was closed, and since my husband is an essential employee at the state lab, I got… Read More When life gives you overripe bananas and a snow day, you make Elvis cake!
I was flipping through the channels the other day and came across a show that has quickly become my new favorite – “A Taste of History” on RLTV. On each 30-minute long episode, Chef Walter Staib, an international restaurant consultant, visits historic sites and uses their kitchens to prepare dishes of their time period. Many… Read More “A Taste of History” showcases historical cooking techniques and recipes
So for the past year or so, I’ve been kicking around the idea of starting a home-based baking business. It all started when I got a Kindle for Christmas and looked around for free books to put on it. The Kindle store had a ton of free books. The catch was that they were all… Read More Step one to starting a baking business: Finding a location
For the first time in my life, I can honestly say that I have seen two references to the use of bear fat in baked goods in the past week. You see, my husband, yes he of dyed black dreadlocks and floor-length velvet coats in high school, has, over the past fifteen or so years,… Read More Apparently, bear fat is awesome
Mary Randolph, a relative of Thomas Jefferson, published her cookbook, The Virginia Housewife in 1838. The volume is notable for its use of items native to the colonies, such as pumpkins, squash, shellfish and venison, and preparations familiar to English cooks. In honor of Thanksgiving, I whipped up a batch of individual pumpkin puddings to take… Read More Colonial Thanksgiving recipe – Mary Randolph’s Pumpkin Pudding
As any Virginian worth his or her salt can tell you, Thanksgiving started right here in the Old Dominion. In 1619, a full two years before the famous “first Thanksgiving” of the New England pilgrims, English settlers at Berkeley Hundred (what would later become Berkeley Plantation) held a “day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.” One… Read More Roundup of Virginia Thanksgiving food history events
If you’re in the UK, the BBC has a new series on the historical origins of our daily meals. Over three episodes, host Clarissa Dickson Wright reveals the history of breakfast, lunch and dinner through interviews with food historians and other guests. In the first episode, “Breakfast,” she blazes through English food history from the… Read More New BBC show highlights English food history
Dogwood Dispatches 