Historic Cooking: Fourth of July Pudding from 1916.

Fourth of July Pudding.  Photo: Liz Raven.

The Redone Challenge: Today in History (June 29-July 12, 2014) Make a dish based on or inspired by a momentous occasion that took place on the day you made it. Get creative - you would be surprised by all the interesting things that happened every single day!

The Recipe:

A Fourth of July Luncheon. To be served buffet style or on the porch.  By Cora Farmer Perkins.

FOURTH OF JULY PUDDING: Pick over, wash and hull one quart box of strawberries.  Sprinkle with one cupful of granulated sugar, cover, and let stand two hours.  Mash, squeeze through a double thickness of cheesecloth, and add one cupful of cold water, and lemon juice to taste.  Turn mixture into a brick mold.  Beat one pint of heavy cream until stiff and add one-half cupful of powdered sugar, one-half tablespoonful of vanilla, a few grains of salt, and two thirds of a cupful of rolled dried macaroons.  Pour cream mixture over fruit mixture to overflow mold.  Cover with buttered paper (buttered side up) and adjust cover, when mixture should be forced down sides of mold.  Pack in rock salt and finely crushed ice, using equal parts, and let stand three hours.

            Remove to chilled serving dish, garnish with selected strawberries, and cut in slices for serving.

--from _Woman’s Home Companion_, July 1916. 

The Date/Year and Region: the United States, 1916. 

Historic Cooking: Chicken Saltato con Fungi from 1916

Chicken Saltado con Fungi ingredients.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

Since the Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge project officially ended, and no new challenges will be posted, those of us who have completed some of the challenges in the past decided that we would continue the project on an informal basis. We choose a challenge from the whole list of previous themes, and either complete them (if we never got a chance to do so), or re-do them, on our own time, with no requirement (even such an informal one as we had) to complete the recipe and post about it within a certain time period! I've been reading Edwardian Farm by Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn, and Alex Langlands, so I've been thinking about life in California during the Edwardian period, and the similarities and differences between Edwardian California and Edwardian England. 

Catching up -- school days begin again!

My mom's empty classroom.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach.

Hello everyone,

I haven't fallen off the face of the blogosphere, but wow!  It has been a long time since I've posted.  Several things have been going on in the meantime. My mom retired from her kindergarten teaching career and I helped her move out of her classroom; 20+ years in the same classroom = a surprising amount of stuff!  Weeks and countless hours of sorting, packing, throwing away, giving away, and hauling papers, books, DVDs and videos, pictures, posters, activities and worksheets that she used to supplement the curriculum, and all the toys, puzzles, and manipulatives that belong in a kindergarten classroom.

I also spent 6 weeks as a teacher's aide in the same school's summer school program, teaching Medieval
history to a class of mostly 3rd, 4th and 5th graders.  It was a lot of fun!

'Teens costume for late-summer!

Getting ready for two local events coming up: a croquet picnic with the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild, and the Antique Auto Show at History Park, both in September. A group that I volunteer with, Portraits of the Past, attends the Antique Auto Show in costume to provide ambiance, and coordinates a costume contest there each year. Usually I wear 1920s frocks to the Auto Show, because they're easy to wear and cute as all get out, but this year I think I'll do mid teens, say around 1916 or so. I have a dress, but I need a better hat, so here is an image from my antique print collection that I am thinking about using:
antique fashion print ca. 1913.
I think I have a modern sun hat in a similar shape that I can use, and I have a lovely vintage lace scarf that I will probably drape over the brim like some of the examples in the print. My dress is a sheer white with a woven windowpane design, and I wear it with a wide blue ribbon sash that I found in my grandmother's sewing box (which I inherited) after her death.

Here are some other Edwardian, 'teens and 20s costume images for my inspiration and your enjoyment. They include various members of Portraits of the Past at past Antique Auto Shows as well as the historic fashion shows that we perform in each month.

catalog image ca. 1915. From the Costumer's Manifesto.

Sears catalog image ca. 1917. From Costumer's Manifesto.



















At the Harris-Lass House, June 2009.

photo ca. 1918. From the Sense & Sensibility website.

at the Antique Auto Show, September 2006.