Archive for October, 2009

Through dedication and determination, George Washington accomplished the impossible by leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War. On Thursday, October 29th at 1:00 p.m., our panel of historians, including Caroline Cox, William Fowler, Ed Lengel, and Andrew O’Shaughnessy, will explore how Washington’s leadership was instrumental in securing American independence via the distance learning broadcast First in War: George Washington and the American Revolution. Discussion topics on the broadcast will include Washington’s relationship with his generals as well as the common soldier, the British perspective of the war, the turning point at Valley Forge, and the quelling of a rebellion at Newburgh. This program will be broadcast across the nation and available for free by DVD. Check out the Fairfax Network webpage for information about registering or requesting a DVD copy.

The full title of this book sums up its history pretty well: “Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats being a Family Manuscript curiously copied by an unknown Hand sometime in the seventeenth century, which was in her Keeping from 1749, the time of her Marriage to Daniel Custis, to 1799, at which time she gave it to Eleanor Parke Custis, her granddaughter, on the occasion of her Marriage to Lawrence Lewis.” Learning about the foodways of a particular time and place, such as 18th century Virginia perhaps, is a surprisingly revealing way of learning history. Recipes such as “candied marrygolds in the Spanish fashion,” “sheep’s tongue pie,” or “pickled lettis (lettuce) stalks” are sure to either pique the interest or gross out a child- perfect history lesson material. While many of the recipes in the book, such as a recipe that begins with deboning an entire turkey, may be a little too difficult to make in the classroom or home, some recipes such as apple puffs or almond cakes could be easily made today. Each recipe is annotated by author Karen Hess with interesting information about the ingredients, process, cost at the time, historical tidbits, etc. If you can’t make it to Mount Vernon to see our Foodways interpreters flipping up some hoe-cakes in person, this may just be the next best thing. Yum!