Egg Nog - setting the story straight

George Washington personally wrote the following recipe? "...fold slowly into mixture... Taste frequently." No. Another false claim is that a travellor wrote in 1796 that egg nog was served at breakfast in City Tavern, Phila. No, in Maryland. Thanks to the internet, WAY too many bloggers and book authors are blindly passing these modern tales on.

Pa. German Christmas and New Years traditions

This Tuesday, Landis Valley Museum staff will do a talk on the Pa. German customs for Christmas and New Years. Below is an 1853 account of Krishkinkle, stockings with sugar plums, and for those who are bad... a visit from Belsnickel. Also baking cookies for Christmas at Landis.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Alexis Soyer - more than just a celebrity chef

What a Renaissance Man Chef! -- humanitarian (Irish Famine and later he literally shortened his life by going to Crimea to help organize feeding the UK troops during the Crimean War), designer of cooking apparatus (camp stove for army, Reform Club kitchen, soup kitchen), cookbook author, promoter, writer... oh yes, and a chef. And, as seen in the image, a tad flamboyant.

From bones to diet to migration via Isotopes

Isotopic analysis on bones (humans and animals) can determine what they ate and where they were raised. So even when buried elsewhere, such as Jamestown, their earlier home and foods can be determined. Amazing.
A couple talks explain the proceedure and its importance to learning about the food and migration of our ancestors.