Category Archives: history
Fruit Fit for a President
In the days before air freight, I impatiently waited for summer fruit season. First, green grapes, followed by berries, cherries, peaches, and melons. Most of the time, I simply ate the fruit plain, or enhanced it with a bit of … Continue reading
Cornbread with Colonial Roots
There must be as many recipes for cornbread as there are cooks who have made it. The common ingredient is corn meal, but the shortening, the sweetener, and the type of corn meal itself varies from region to region, and … Continue reading
A Sunny Dessert for Dreary Days
By this time of the year, I need something sunny-looking on my table because there’s no escaping the snow and day after day of below-freezing temperatures. Enter apricot pudding, a recipe I adapted from The New Thought in Cooking by … Continue reading
Gingerbread Fit for a President
Inaugural ceremonies of the past week inspired me to read more about the inauguration of George Washington, America’s first President, in 1789. It took place at Federal Hall in New York City, as the U.S. Capitol and the White House … Continue reading
Holiday Cake without Candied Fruit
Forget the glazed green cherries and other icky candied fruit. This cake relies on raisins and pecans – nothing artificial in either one. And you’ll likely have these ingredients, plus brown sugar, flour, and spices, in your pantry. You don’t … Continue reading
Recreating a Tearoom Treat
Through the mid to late 20th century, department store tearooms gave shoppers a place to relax and regroup. Originally a clever marketing ploy to keep customers in the store, the tearooms became a beloved part of the community. Many were … Continue reading
Cucumber Soup: A Summer Soother
As our garden yields a profusion of cucumbers, slices in salads quickly become monotonous. I’ve tried cutting spears for vegetable dips, tossing cubes into smoothies, and making batches of blender gazpacho. Too bad I don’t like pickles! Americans have grown … Continue reading
Traditional Cookies with a Peppery Kick
Though more than 150 years have passed since my mother’s ancestors came to the U.S. from Germany, traditional recipes continue to migrate down through the generations. We are Jewish and light the Hanukkah menorah, but I also grew up making … Continue reading
Maple Sugar Season in March
Warm days and cold nights keep the sap in sugar maple trees flowing. In New England, Native Americans taught settlers how to slash tree trunks and extract the sap to use as a sweetener. These buckets from a local farm … Continue reading
Vodka with Old-World Elegance
In between a one-two-three punch of snowstorms, I pulled out The Russian Tea Room: A Tasting (Clarkson Potter, 1993), a book of recipes and reminiscences from then-owner, Faith Stewart-Gordon. I never went to the Manhattan restaurant but its tea (and … Continue reading
heritagerecipebox 