Abby Murphy

  • Colonial Craft: Pomanders

    Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that you’re settling into 2014. I spent Christmas with my family in Ohio, listening to my dad’s beloved Ray Conniff Singers and cooking up a storm. We spent… Continue reading

  • Apple pie

    Sometimes you get old recipes right the first time: you decipher the flowery language, you make the right substitutions, you determine the correct proportions. And sometimes, well, you don’t. This is a story of when I got it wrong. We… Continue reading

  • Afternoon Adventure: The Tavern Club

    Happy December! I’ve just returned from a whirlwind trip home to Cleveland for Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful to see family and take long walks and eat lots of delicious (modern) food. Around the holidays we often reflect on the… Continue reading

  • Colonial Cookbook: The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy

    Meet Mrs. Hannah Glasse. By day, she is a plain English housewife, struggling to scrape by in the mid-1700s. By night, however, she works on her revolutionary new idea: a cookbook designed for the masses of untrained servants working in… Continue reading

  • Historical links, lately

    Happy Friday! I’m planning to enjoy some unexpectedly warm November weather with plenty of walks outside and reconnecting with friends. And of course, some kind of extravagant baking/cooking project will be involved. Fall chestnuts, I have my eye on you.… Continue reading

  • Spiced, stewed pears

    Thank you for all your wonderful comments on our news! It can be scary to put big announcements out into this void of the internet, so it meant a lot to read your good wishes. We’re knee-deep in fall over… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: Champagne julep

    There’s something I’ve been keeping under my hat for a while, and it’s time you knew: Josh and I are engaged! We’re thrilled, and despite all the chaos of starting a new school year, we couldn’t be happier. We’re also… Continue reading

  • Research comes from the unlikeliest of places

    As evidenced by my various afternoon adventures, I love visiting historic sites. I will drag Josh to living history museums just to pretend I’m living in colonial New England (more on that soon). When my parents called to say they… Continue reading

  • Afternoon Adventure: Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park

    About a month ago I met up with my parents in Hyde Park, New York, for a weekend of sight-seeing and poking around historic places (this is the order of the day with my family). After touring two painters’ homes… Continue reading

  • Shortbread fans (and a bit about ovens)

    It’s the last gasp of summer, friends. The air is getting cool at night (sometimes). Stores offer apple cider in big displays. And this week I go back to school. To mark the occasion, let’s look at one more recipe… Continue reading