Y is for Yill

Yill is a dark Scottish ale ...

Railbender Ale is a Scottish style beer made by the Erie Brewing Company in Pennsylvania!

McEwan's is actually made by Scottish & Newcastle in the UK!

I love them both ... to drink and to use in braising beef and making stews.  They add incredible flavor!

I'm linking to Alphabet Thursday, so make sure you visit Jenny to enjoy all the other posts!

Happy Alphabet Thursday!

Pigs for Tabletop Tuesday!

I'm participating in Marty's Tabletop Party, so make sure you click through to visit all the other posts!  Special thanks to our hostess ... for her many efforts to help us entertain ourselves!

I set little things around for Miss Phoebe to discover when she visits.  She loves Gwamma's pigs, so I decided to put a few out for her!  I'll decorate just about any empty spot ... and yes, these are sitting on a stack of baskets beside the dryer!  Why not?

...and look how pretty my quince bush is ... It is supposed to snow this week ... one more time!

Easter Inspiration for Friday

Make sure you visit http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ to see all the Inspiration Fridays posts. You'll be surprised what you find. I've posted a few pictures from last year's Easter table ... to help get us in the mood to get the bunnies out! Miss Phoebe has grown so much since that picture was taken. She had just found all the eggs I'd hidden in the front yard ... and that Easter rabbit left her a paper dollar in each one! Last year she saved all her money ... this year, she knows it spends! Happy Friday! I'm so glad this work week is over.

X is for Xylograph!

X is for Xylograph – an artistic print made from an engraving on wood. Many of us learned how to do this in high school art class and we printed pictures that were simplistic. I remember that we weren’t actually using wood … soap I think … and I carved a very folksy looking flower. One of my friends managed to carve an eye and another friend carved the outline of a cat.  The carving is dipped into paint or ink, then stamped on canvas or paper. 


Those were easy to do, but can you imagine carving this into wood? I’ve know some incredible artists who did great carvings, but nothing this detailed.

Then others were printed and colored or painted … like this one.

These prints are both from the 19th century and were found in the online museum of the Habsburgs, the ruling dynasty of Austria. Visit english.habsburger.net to learn more about them. To read even more interesting things, like the fact that the House of Habsburg married into so many other royal families in Europe that they eventually ruled over a broad region … and they split the family between the Austrian Habsburgs and the Spanish Habsburgs. The Spanish side of the House liked itself so much that it eventually eliminated its bloodline through inbreeding! Check outhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburgs  for the whole story!


I'm linking with Alphabet Thursday, so make sure you go visit Jenny to see all the other posts!  Happy Alphabet Thursday!

Apricots Set the Mood for Spring!

 I knew it was spring, when our apricot tree bloomed Sunday!  How beautiful!

 It put me in the mood to change the looks of my little maple hutch!  I pulled out my  Mikasa Day Dreams ... that I bought a couple weeks ago from my friend, George ... at his antique shop!  George has everything imaginable in his shop ... and has owned shops from Southern Illinois to Kansas City!  I had looked at this dinnerware for a year ... and finally decided I had to have it! 

I'm happy to post with the Tabletop Tuesday linky party! 

Make  sure you visit Marty and enjoy the other posts! 

Federated Women's Club in 1911

I'm reposting this for Sunday Favorites!  I love this story ... and hope you'll drop by Happy to Design to visit the other posts:

Original Post from March 8th:

I'm posting this in celebration of National Women's History Month ... and to recognize International Women's Day on March 8th.  This year's celebration marks the 100th year of celebrating this special day.

I love to study anything pertaining to the history of our foodways and was  surprised to find something about "fireless cooking" that pointed right to the Federated Women's Club and something members did in 1911!

The story begins this way:  The General Federation of Women's Clubs was formed in the United States in 1890.  In Germany, a similar action resulted in the formation of clubs in 1906.  One of the first things the German club women did was launch an effort to teach women who had to work in the fields on farms all day ... how to use a method of fireless cooking, so they could return to their homes after working all day and have a meal that was ready. 

This 1906 method was fairly simple.  A pot of food was brought to a boil in the morning.  Then, with the lid in place, the pot was dropped into a well made in a block of straw ... then it was covered with even more straw, so the pot continued to steam and simmer all day.  By the end of the day, the pot of food was done and ready to eat.  The straw provided the necessary insulation ... and sometimes the family actually had a box made of wood that was lined with straw.  Sound like a crock pot?  Well, a little bit!

According to this article ... in this 1911 cookbook ... in America, the Federated Women's Clubs launched a project similar to the project in Germany.  The big difference was the fact that they bought actual fireless cookers and distributed them to rural families, so women could start their evening meal ... early in the morning ... and go out into the fields to work.  Good nutrition for families was one of their primary goals, so distribution of this new tool ... and teaching women how to use it ... helped them improve the quality of life in America's farmlands.

This ad from a 1906 Saturday Evening Post promotes the Fireless Cookstove as a Christmas present!

Here's the guy who claims to have made the original fireless cooker ... and with his special discounted price ... every family could have one!

Fellow Federated Women's Club members ... be proud of the efforts that our sisters made 100 years ago to help feed our families!  We're still doing good work ... all around the world!

Dressed up Dogs!

 

Hi, friends! I'm participating in the magazine cooking event at Kitchen Bouquet, but I have to admit that I'm going to cheat a little!  This recipe was either in Family Circle or Women's Day about 50 years ago ... when I was in grade school!  It had to be one of those two magazines, because they were the only ones my mother would buy!  (...because they were not expensive)   I begged her to make these hotdogs ... and she told me that she thought I should make them.  This was probably the first thing that I ever cooked!

So, I remember making them ... and I still make them the same way!  The recipe couldn't be simpler.  Each hotdog is wrapped in a piecee of bacon (I fry it until it is almost done, but still pliable), then placed in an open bun that has a piece of American cheese laying in it... topped with mustard, katchup, pickle relish (but we always used Mom's homemade pepper relish ... I still make it ... so I still use that) ... and then bundled up in aluminum foil and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes!

They come out with a bun that is a little crispy ... a dog that is steamed perfectly ... and a combined flavor that takes me back to my childhood.   These became a big hit in our household for Saturday lunch, usually with soup or chili in the winter ....  and fresh tomatoes and cucumber/onion salad in the summer.

Enjoy ... and special thanks to our hostess for keeping our creative juices flowing!

W is for Wagon

I'm posting with the Alphabet party, so make sure you click through the favicon on the right to visit the other posts!

My dad was a carpenter and a builder of fine cabinets ... and wagons and carts and anything that a four-legged creature could pull.  He loved his horses ... ponies ... and at least a few goats ... and he loved his kids and grandkids!  In this slide show, you'll see my dad and my brother (who inherited his affection for animals and has been able to copy his expert skills) ... and a couple generations of kids ... riding in these wagons.  Everything you'll see, except an antique doctor's buggy, was built by my dad and/or my brother.

I love to say that we grew up in a great family ... we had everything "that money could NOT buy"!  My dad could build anything and he would cut down harness to fit goats ... and he could teach anything to pull a wagon. 

W is for wagon ... and we had lots of them!  Enjoy and make sure you click my home page to see my other posts!  Happy Alphabet Thursday!

What Happened to Uncle Peck's Fighting Cock?

If you want to know what happened to my Uncle Peck's fighting rooster ... visit this ...

Made at Home in the Southern Illinoisan Newspaper

Celebrate Ina Garten!

I'm joining  Lynn (and Earl) at Happier Than a Pig in Mud for the Celebrity Chef party!  Click through to visit the other party posts!

I love Ina Garten and when Earl told me that Lynn wanted to celebrate Ina ... I knew I had to join in all the fun.  I think Ina is "real people" ... and I love it when Jeffrey comes into her show to taste something! 

So, here's what I made from Ina's Food TV recipe collection.   If you'd like the recipe for her East Hampton Clam Chowder or Ina's Cape Cod Salad click thru to obtain the recipes from the network's site.

Leprechauns in the Bathroom!

Little green folks have found their way into the bathroom!

I'm participating in Tabletop Tuesday, so make sure you click through to visit Marty
 to see the other posts.  Make sure you visit my home page to see all the othe St. Patrick's Day posts on my site.

Happy Anniversary Mrs. Roosevelt!

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in 1884 and by the time she was ten years old, both her parents had died. Eleanor was raised by the extended Roosevelt family and she met her future husband, FDR, when she was two and he was four. They were married on March 17, 1905 in what an article in the New York Times described as a beautiful wedding.

Eleanor and Franklin while Dating - He is knitting!

Eleanor in Her Bridal Gown

Eleanor was the daughter of President Teddy Roosevelt’s only brother, Elliot. The President skipped the St. Patrick's Day parade he was supposed to be in ... because he gave the bride away in a drawing room wedding in the home of Eleanor’s cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Parish. The following is an excerpt from the New York Times, March 18, 1905.

"The bride, walking with the President, and preceded by her six bridesmaids, came down the wide flight of stairs leading from the third floor to the second and across the large foyer hall at the rear of the Parish drawing room, through wide doorways and on to a large mantel at the west side of the Ludlow drawing room, where the ceremony took place. First in the bridal procession came the Misses Alice Roosevelt and Corrine Douglas Robinson, followed by the Misses Ellen Delano and Muriel Delano Robbins, and last the Misses Cutting and Isabella Selmes. The attendants were in white faille silk frocks trimmed with lace and silver, and wore tulle veils attached to white Prince of Wales ostrich feathers, tipped with silver, and carried large bouquets of pink roses.



Following came the bride and the President. The bridal gown was a white satin princess robe, flounced and draped with old point lace, and with a white satin court train. The bride's point lace veil was caught with orange blossoms and a diamond crescent. She wore a pearl collar, the gift of the bridegroom's mother, and a diamond bowknot, the gift of Mrs. Warren Delano, Jr. Her bouquet was of lilies of the valley.


The bridal procession passed through an aisle formed by the ushers, who held white satin ribbons. The bridegroom, who came from the large foyer hall of the Ludlow house to the salon to meet the bride, was attended by Lathrop Brown as best man, J. Roosevelt Roosevelt, a half brother, not having arrived from the South in time to fill the place. The ushers were Edmund Rogers, Nicholas Biddle, Lyman Delano, Owen Winston, Charles B. Bradley, W. D. Robbins, and Thomas P. Beales of Boston. A small reception followed the ceremony.


The house was decorated throughout with ferns, palms, and pink roses. The bride's grandmother, Mrs. V. G. Hall, was in black velvet and point lace. The bridegroom's mother, Mrs. James Roosevelt, was in white silk, covered with black lace. Mrs. E. Livingston Ludlow was in mauve satin and point lace, and Mrs. Henry Parish wore a changeable pale blue and pink silk crepe, with lace sleeves and yoke."

Eleanor Roosevelt was the First lady from 1933 to 1945 and fulfilled her duties in enormous ways.  She had many pursuits, which are detailed in the official First Ladies website.  I encourage you to read more about her in your celebration of National Women's History Month ... at Eleanor Roosevelt's biography.  You'll be amazed at her global accomplishments in a world that was dominated by men.  She was remarkable.