activities

  • Afternoon Adventure: Highclere Castle

    AKA: That time we went to Downton Abbey. We saw all sorts of wonderful things on our honeymoon. The Churchill War Rooms, the Tower of London, Stonehenge, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, a play with Sîan Phillips…and yet, now that we’re… Continue reading

    Afternoon Adventure: Highclere Castle

  • 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

  • Blueberry picking (and muffins)

    It’s been two weeks since we returned from vacation in Canada, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Even though I’ve since joined my parents for a weekend in upstate New York. Even though Josh and I have entertained and… Continue reading

  • The best-laid plans of gardeners

    It’s been some time since we’ve visited the container garden. Let’s take a stroll, shall we? Here’s the basic layout: broad beans (the happy tall stalks in the corner); sugar snap peas climbing those bamboo trellises; one strawberry plant; onions… Continue reading

  • Two years

    Dear blog, Today you are older and hopefully wiser. (I’m not sure I am.) We’ve done quite a bit this past year… cooked from recipes from 1967, 1903, and the 1st century AD visited Downton Abbey through Victorian and Edwardian… Continue reading

  • Afternoon Adventure: Longwood Gardens

    A month ago my family met up in Philadelphia to celebrate my sister’s graduation. We had some free time before the festivities began, so we drove about an hour outside of the city to the Brandywine Valley, former home of… Continue reading

  • How to render suet for cooking

    Back when I first started this blog, I learned a few things right away about historical cooking. First, some old recipes are very similar to their modern counterparts (like pie). Second, animal fat is wonderful. From salt pork to lard,… Continue reading

  • Afternoon Adventure: Servant Life Tour at The Elms

    I want to say something meaningful about all this horrifying news coming out of Boston, but I can’t find the words. There’s only so much sadness I can take in at a time, especially when it’s on such a vast… Continue reading

  • Spring greening

    Ah, spring! When a young lady’s fancy turns to…plants? Yes, it is all plants, all the time around these parts. When Josh and I go for a walk, I coo over the tiny purple stars blooming in the myrtle. I… Continue reading

  • The wearing of the green

    Almost all the seeds I planted a few weeks ago have sprouted, and my seed tray is now a veritable wonderland of tiny green sprouts and tendrils. While I love all the phases of the growing season (except perhaps pest… Continue reading