ohio

  • Plain Encounter

    Last year, my parents bought 40 acres of forested land in Hiram, Ohio, so my dad can expand his maple sugaring operation. When I visited them last week, they were deep in the process of having the land surveyed so… Continue reading

    Plain Encounter

  • Both Past and Present

    What would it be like to live in two eras at once? Last week I read a beautiful and thought-provoking piece about working at a living history museum, by the blogger and historic gastronomist Sarah Lohman. “Living My Best 1848 Life,” posted… Continue reading

    Both Past and Present

  • Wedding dress, 1920

    I promise this isn’t going to become a blog about weddings. But it turns out that when you’re planning a wedding, you end up thinking about weddings a lot. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes you want to plug up your… Continue reading

    Wedding dress, 1920

  • 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

  • Afternoon Adventure: Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village

    As a teenager I went to an all-girls school, one steeped in tradition and programs that recalled English prep schools. One of the big ones was chapel, where we heard guest speakers and senior speeches. Before the program began, we… Continue reading

  • Brewing and distilling the old-fashioned way

    Turns out cooking from historical recipes isn’t the only way to play with food and history. There’s a new trend brewing in the alcoholic beverage world (sorry, couldn’t resist). Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewing Company, maker of some of the best… Continue reading

  • Maple sugaring (II)

    Last week I wrote about my family’s maple sugaring tradition. Today I’ll add an amendment: while we love most of the maple sugaring process (tapping trees, collecting sap, boiling it down in the evaporator), we have a hard time with… Continue reading

  • Maple sugaring

    In our family, February and March are the maple syrup months. Temperatures dip to freezing at night and warm up during the day, so the sap runs easily from the trees. Evenings are spent out in the sugar shed, boiling… Continue reading