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Thehistoricfoodie's Blog

~ An enjoyable ramble through the world of Historic Foods and Cooking to include Gardening History, Poultry History, Dress, and All Manner of Material Culture.[©]

Thehistoricfoodie's Blog

Monthly Archives: December 2013

So Long, 2013

31 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by thehistoricfoodie in 18th century cooking, 19th century food, historic food

≈ Leave a comment

It’s apparent the end of the year is upon us when WordPress sends out the annual stats concerning blogs. Mine arrived this morning and I’d like to say thank you to everyone who commented they’d enjoyed a post this year and thank everyone for comments made. I do not write to compete with other bloggers in stats or popularity, but it is interesting to see how far flung the readership is. I’m glad you, the readers, found the blog informative and entertaining. Now, a word from WordPress.

“To kick off the new year, we’d like to share with you data on Thehistoricfoodie’s Blog’s activity in 2013. You may start scrolling!
Crunchy numbers
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 38,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 14 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

In 2013, there were 61 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 207 posts. There were 135 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 47 MB. That’s about 3 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was March 6th with 413 views. The most popular post that day was Native Americans and the use of Brass Kettles©”

The blog was viewed from 145 different countries, most often from the U.S., U.K., and Canada.

Posts viewed most often: “Queen Anne’s Pocket Melon, a Treasure Almost Lost”, “18th C. Kitchen Tools: Salamander”, “Colonial Pantries, Foods of North Carolina”, “Native Americans and Their Use of Brass Kettles”, and “Chestnut Flour: Its Many Uses”.

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Christmas 2013

27 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by thehistoricfoodie in Southern food

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

capon, chestnut dressing

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This Christmas was quiet and subdued for us, quite romantic actually. I’ve been under the weather since October and was sick right up until Christmas so even our tree didn’t get done until Christmas Eve (and I usually have it up Thanksgiving weekend). I will be seeing a pulmonary specialist after the first of the year and expect to be back to my usual self soon thereafter.

I made dinner for us, taking my time so as not to provoke a coughing spasm as have been coming on with any exertion and it turned out rather well.

The menu was roasted capon; chestnut and giblet dressing with gravy; maple baked acorn squash; corn, peas with mushrooms, cranberry sauce, and red cabbage with apple, vinegar, and brown sugar. (I will post photos later today)

I picked fresh sage, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and a bit of baby arugula from my garden which I chopped with a little garlic and mixed with olive oil and stuffed it under the skin of the capon. I then dried the bird, rubbed it with olive oil, and seasoned the bird with home-made seasoned salt before roasting it. The skin came out crispy and golden brown and the meat was so tender you could cut it with a fork.

Sadly the chestnuts I’d been hoarding for a month or so, given to me by a coworker, turned out to be no good, but a quick run to Publix produced some nice fat Italian chestnuts for the dressing and a few for snacking.

Partly because we ate too much and partly because of my chronic bronchitis we indulged in the luxury of a nice nap after dinner before getting up to watch A Christmas Story and eating chocolate meringue pie. A great meal, quality time with my Sweetheart, and being lavished with meaningful gifts – I can’t imagine having a better day.

Tea Towel History – The Radical Tea Towel Company

05 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by thehistoricfoodie in early household items, homesteading & preparation

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Radical Tea Towel Company

Good morning all! I haven’t posted anything in a little while, but will catch up soon. I’ve been a little under the weather for a while but have been doing some interesting things in the kitchen between bouts of bronchitis.

I received a very nice note and thanks from the co-owner of the Radical Tea Towel Company for my mentioning them in my previous post about tea towels. He asked if I would share more information including a link to their site so I hope you enjoy this. To get to his site go to theradicalteatowel.com and for this and more information from their website, go to the history page.

History of the tea towel
Since we humans first emerged from the primeval swamps we’ve needed to keep our cooking utensils dry. No wonder we’ve developed such a fascination with that most fundamental of accessories, the tea towel – or dish towel as it is sometimes called in the US.

Fast forward to the 18th century. The tea towel has reached the pinnacle of its perfection (never again to be matched until the arrival on the scene of the Radical Tea Towel Company in the 21st century).

Tea towels are now gracing the highest tables of the land and are made of linen, a delicate fibre derived from the flax of linseed plants. The soft texture of the fabric makes them ideal for drying expensive bone china, and tea towels are flourished with pride by the grand ladies of the time who are more than happy to do the drying up, not trusting their prized plates to their clumsy servants.

When not drying their crockery, these ladies would embroider the towels, creating beautiful heirlooms to be passed down through the generations. In today’s more democratic times, the Radical Tea Towel Company is pleased to be able to bring fine tea towels to the masses.

Made of linen, tea towels in those days were fragile – they needed to be washed very carefully and dried away from the glare of the sun. Fortunately for today’s crockery dryers, the Radical Tea Towel Company’s products are made of far tougher and durable high-grade cotton.

True to its name, the tea towel was in its element as an ingredient in the great British tea ceremony. There it rubbed shoulders with the finest crystal and chinaware and was designed to match the rest of the table linen. Often it was wrapped around the tea pot to insulate it, used to prevent drips or gracefully draped over bread and cakes to keep them fresh.

It was not until the Industrial Revolution that the tea towel became a mass-produced consumer item and manufacturers turned to fibres such as cotton.

In the early 20th century, American housewives – in good democratic tradition – would often reuse rough cotton animal feed sacks by cutting them up into dish towels. Not content with their unfinished appearance, however, they embroidered them with intricate patterns, despite the difficulty of working with the coarse weave of the sacks.

In modern times, tea towels can be made of cotton, linen union (a mixture of linen and cotton) or terrycloth, a thick cotton pile.

Still an object of fascination in the 21st century, the tea towel has become the canvas on which we paint our life and our obsessions. At the Radical Tea Towel Company we use the finest materials and printing techniques and combine them with bold messages. The results are unique tea towels and aprons that you will want to keep or give as presents to rally family, friends and relatives to the cause!

© 2013 The Radical Tea Towel Company

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