williamsburg cookbook

  • One year

    Dear blog, You are one year old today. To celebrate, I doctored this photo of a decidedly unhistorical chocolate beet cake. I hope you like it. It’s been quite a year! In one year of blogging, I have… worked with two cookbooks… Continue reading

  • Chowder, a sea dish

    Despite the cold, rainy weather (in June, no less), I have summer on my mind. The beach, in particular. Having grown up in Ohio, where the only large body of water was Lake Erie (of questionable cleanliness), I was excited… 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

  • Corn pudding

    There’s nothing that says summer quite like corn. Corn on the cob, scorched with grill marks, dripping with butter. Husks that remind me of bark stripped off a tree. Corn silk that seems to get stuck everywhere, from your teeth… 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

  • To butter shrimps

    Last weekend it felt like summer. 80 degrees, not too humid (so, more of an ideal summer than a real one), sunny. I spent Saturday afternoon setting up my tomato and pea plants outside, in a sheltered spot with plenty… Continue reading

  • Mount Vernon

    About a month ago, I chaperoned my tenth-grade class to Washington, D.C. on their annual five-day field trip. Not only did I lead the trip, but I also had spent the entire year planning and preparing for this adventure. Therefore,… Continue reading

  • Supposedly delicious

    Every now and then I flip through the Williamsburg cookbook, looking for my next culinary adventure, and one of those recipes jumps out at me. You know, the ones that are a little, well, too adventurous. After the steak and kidney… Continue reading

  • Cheese biscuits

    Yesterday Josh and I had a simple night in. Cooking dinner, watching the latest New Girl episode, talking about our days. As part of our goal to become more mindful, healthful eaters, Josh made a delicious vegetarian chili, chock-full of sauteed veggies,… 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