Happy 4th of July: Questions for my Readers

This in an invitation for all of my readers to get to know each other. If you have a blog or website, you can post the answers there and leave a link in my comments or if you don't you can just post your answers in the comments.













Questions:

1. Websites, blogs and social media can skew our lives and make us look hyper-focused on one aspect of your life. What are some interests/hobbies/ect. that you have that you think your readers/friends might not know about?

2. What have blogs/the internet introduced you to that you never knew about before?

3. What are your top 10 most visited websites?

4. What is your favorite/most bizarre/interesting fact about something in history?

5. If you could wake up tomorrow and have acquired a new skill in your sleep, what would it be and why?

6. If you could spend 1 year in a different time period, which would you choose and why?

7. What are your internet pet-peeves?

8.  What is your newest hobby/interest? Tell us a little about it.

9. If you could invite 3 deceased people to dinner who would it be and what would you talk to them about?

10. If you had to play a character in a movie, who would you play and why?

March to Destiny: The Shippensburg Reenactment 2012

The Shippensburg Reenactment “March to Destiny” is always a lot of fun. Maybe it is because it is a Confederate victory in my home state or maybe it’s because it is civilian and military centered.  Civilians can enjoy a number of lectures, an ice cream social and a ball. Not to mention that you can be chauffeured into town in a wagon or carriage. 

This weekend was hot but not to the extent that we couldn’t enjoy ourselves. We didn’t attend any of the lectures as we have in past years and instead wandered the town together, and read in the shade of the trees. It was a very relaxing event. No drills, short battles and the townspeople really support the weekend when time-travelers take over.

From The New York Herald, 1863

For those of your not familiar, Shippensburg is a small town in PA that was occupied by Confederates on the way to Gettysburg. The town retains much of its 1860s appearance, albeit with modern establishments. One such building containing a hardware store, opened its doors in 1858. In modern times, the store is called Pague & Fegan but it was originally called McPherson & Cox  Hardware Store. The building itself was looted by Confederates in June of 1863 but McPherson reportedly hid his most expensive assets in the walls and wallpapered them over, preserving a portion of his livelihood.   

The town has many stories of the raids. In his report to Colonel R. H. Chilton, Lieutenant-General R.S. Ewell simply stated "At Carlisle, Chambersburg, and Shippensburg, requisitions were made for supplies, and the shops were searched, many valuable stores being secured. At Chambersburg, a train was loaded with ordnance and medical stores and sent back. Near 3,000 head of cattle were collected and sent back by my corps, and my chief commissary of subsistence, Major [W. J.] Hawks, notified Colonel [R. G.] Cole of the location of 5,000 barrels of flour along the route traveled by the command." 

Forgive the Lack of Posts...

Low or No-Cook Civil War Dishes for Reenacting in the Hot Summer Months

 One of the most frequent questions that reenactors get asked is "Aren't you hot in that?" and the answer is "Yes!" Cooking over the fire isn't usually too bad but there are some events, like the 150th Manassas, where it is so hot no one can move and no one was willing to cook and it really wasn't safe for anyone to be eating hot food. Here are some tips and recipes for those days where it is so hot that you burn your hand picking up your tin plate that you left sitting in the sun.

There are three ways to avoid cooking in the heat. The first is to plan to bring foods that require little or no preparation such as nuts, fruits, bread, pies and cakes or things that can be prepared ahead of time at home. The second way is to plan to cook at night after the sun goes down and eat the dishes cold the next day. The third is to cook meals that are prepared without heat.



No Preparation Food:

 -Peanuts, bread, cakes, bread, pies, pickles, apples,watermelons, cheese, hardtack, etc.

Things to Eat Cold:

 -This includes pretty much anything that you are okay with eating cold but also includes period dishes such as cold meat slices or hard-boiled eggs. This is a period option, especially in the army where men have time to cook but might have to wait until later to eat. 

No Cook Dishes:
 

What we know today as "Cole Slaw," although the dressing is a little different.

 It's a good idea to have cold drinks available. This version of Lemonade doesn't need to be heated.

This isn't like today's chicken salad and is much more like a chicken cesar salad with a few additions. The recipe recommends gherkins, which are cucumbers and chopped hard-boiled eggs.






Be creative with your meals and preparation times. If you are going to make breakfast and know it's going to be a hot day, try to start early. You can also get an early start on lunch or start meals at night. Try anything to keep yourselves away from the fire for long periods of time.

Eggs Benedict: A Short History

Egg Benedict, dish consisting of a split, toasted English muffin, topped with poached eggs, slices of Canadian bacon and Hollandaise Sauce is a dish of questionable origin. It supposedly dates back to the 1860. Delmonico’s Restaurant, opened in 1827 in New York City is credited with its creation when Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, a regular patron, was bored of the selection and wanted something new. Charles Ranhofer, the chef at Delmonico’s presented her with “Eufa a' la Benedick” An “English” bread with a “Canadian” meat and a “Dutch” sauce with a French name? Sounds just like something a chef would serve a worldly client, tongue-in-cheek.

At least that’s one version of the origin. Another version of the origin of the dish, published in 1942, claims that a Wall Street broker named Lemuel Benedict drunkenly ordered the invention in 1894 from the Waldorf Hotel. Regardless of the origin, the dish became very popular in the 1890s and has continued to be a staple on restaurant menus ever since.

Eggs and toast have been pared together for hundred of years. What makes Eggs Benedict special is the addition of the sauce and slice of ham. “Hollandaise sauce” is the term that has been used since the turn of the 20^th century but the sauce has been used for centuries as “Dutch sauce.” The first recipe was published in a Dutch cookbook in 1593. Hollandaise sauce is an emulsion of egg yolk, butter and lemon juice. It is neat because as an emulsion, the ingredients normally repel each other. Today we typically only associate Hollandaise sauce with Eggs Benedict and asparagus, but it used to serve a variety of dishes.

Eggs Benedict was made at my request for my birthday breakfast. :) We cheated and used a packaged sauce because supermarket eggs have to be cooked at a low temperature for a long time to kill the bacteria. If you wish to make your own, there's a recipe here at the Food Network.