Boo! Beer and Babies

Good ale is meat, drink, and cloth. A Compleat Collection of English Proverbsby JOHN RAYEnglish naturalist and collector of proverbs1628—1705 Boo! Beer and Babies Musings For those parts of the world influenced by European conquest and culture, the calendar’s final three months are holiday central. From autumnal beer to Halloween to Christmas, this edition of […]
Election Cake

Election Cake of Days Gone By Three cups milk, two cups sugar, one cup yeast; stir to a batter and let stand over night; in the morning add two cups sugar, two cups butter, three eggs, half a nutmeg, one tablespoonful cinnamon, one pound raisins, a gill of brandy. Brown sugar is much better than […]
Lunch, Lattes, and a Touch of Tartrazine

When in doubt, eat your neighbor’s lunch. KEVIN HEARNEAmerican fantasy author1970—Trapped: The Iron Druid Chronicles As the school year and autumn begin in the northern hemisphere, musings keeps step with the season. This edition of musings looks at school lunches around the world and something to consider before putting those chips into your kiddo’s […]
Blowin’ Smoke—The Art of Trading Cards

Blowin’ Smoke and Brushing Up on History It’s 1885 and you’re sitting in a marketing meeting at the Richmond, Virginia, offices of Allen & Ginter. The tobacco company needs to stand out from its U.S. competitors. But those Brits!—They are the real competition for you and your fellow American tobacconists. Allen & Ginter has already […]
Winner! Winner! Sunday Dinner!

A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner. SAMUEL JOHNSONEnglish poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic,biographer,editor, lexicographer, and author1709—1784The Life of Samuel Johnson Apparently Google agrees! Musings starts this edition with a look bread and cheese news from Europe then brings us to the 2024’s Google Doodle winner […]
Let Them Eat Cake!

Let them eat cake! MARIE ANTOINETTEAustrian archduchess and last queen of France1755—1793 Marie or Not Marie? That is the Question! To answer the question: Not Marie. First, there’s the questionable translation of what was a quote attributed to a variety of royals long before Marie Antoinette ascended to the throne: Qu’ils mangent de la brioche! […]
One More Drink …

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker, American poet, writer, critic, and satirist (1893—1967), was renowned for her sharp wit and often acerbic jibes—sometimes self-deprecating. Given the era and places in which she lived, the social dinner and party circuits were part of the package. Parker’s penchant for drinking in excess was not a secret. Her biographer, Marion […]
No Cleaner Than a Kitchen

Such is life. It is no cleaner than a kitchen; it reeks of a kitchen; and if you mean to cook your dinner, you must expect to soil your hands; the real art is in getting them clean again, and therein lies the whole morality of our epoch. HONORÉ DE BALZACFrench novelist and playwright1799—1850Father Goriot […]
Coffee

Coffee—You Going Qahway? Legend has it that the first of God’s creatures to know the pleasures of “qahway” (or as we know it, coffee) was a goat. A young Arab goatherder, Kaldi, after tending his herd for some time, took note of the strange dancing behavior his goats exhibited after eating the crimson berries from […]
Hard-Boiled

The Hard-Boiled Truth Whether it’s the remnants of Easter or other eggs-acting holiday celebrations, suddenly you are left with an overabundance of hard-boiled eggs. So, no surprise then that the Monday after Easter is National Egg Sandwich Day. In addition, it kicks off National Egg Salad Week, marking the seven days following the Paschal celebrations. […]