history lesson

  • Berliner Pfann kuchen

    We’re fast-forwarding here (briefly) to the 1960s. After East Germany built the Berlin Wall in 1963, dividing Berlin into two parts, President John F. Kennedy paid a visit to West Berlin to demonstrate America’s support for the divided country. During… Continue reading

  • Frontier House (II)

    A few days ago I gave an overview of PBS’ miniseries Frontier House, where three modern families live for five months on Montana homesteads as though it were 1883. Here are just a few things that were fascinating about the… Continue reading

  • Frontier House

    It’s 1883. You’ve arrived in a desolate part of Montana with your family and all your worldly belongings, ready to create a homestead and start your new life as a farmer. You have only the woods and the tools you… Continue reading

  • History 101: 1900’s Wisconsin

    Time Period The nice thing about The “Settlement” Cook Book is that it has an actual publication date (1903). This makes our job of contextualizing the recipes much easier. Downtown Milwaukee, c. 1900 America’s early 20th century is often called the… Continue reading

  • Tips for housekeeping in the 18th century

    1. Save all your wood ashes. You can gather them in a barrel and pour water over them to create lye. (See no. 2.) 2. Save all your cooking fat. You can boil it with the lye to make soap! Yes,… Continue reading

  • How to keep your own hearth fires burning

    Even though I’ve thoroughly distanced colonial cooking from its original hearth application, I thought it would be useful to look at some of the tools used in hearth cooking. You know, in case you had a hankering to put your… Continue reading

  • History 101: Colonial Virginia

    This little blog has always been something of an experiment; heck, it’s even in the name! And like the way my students pepper me with questions when I haven’t taught a lesson clearly enough, for some time now this space has… Continue reading