Month: November 2018

1860s Are the Children Winter Ready?

Dear Sis,

William and I are planning to attend an event later this month, so we need outerwear for our 1860s impression. I figured I’d start with the smallest of the two projects. It turned out better than anticipated, because I didn’t really like the fabric I had on hand, but wasn’t willing to spring for something new. I like the fabric much better now!

Finding period information was harder than I imagined, so I’m compiling it carefully for the benefit of others and later use. 

Infant Sacque Coat Pattern and Child’s Palette: 1860-1861 from A Day in 1862

Child’s 1860s Coat in White Wool in Colonial Williamsburg’s Collection

Cotton Child’s Coat 1860-69 from MET collections

Child’s 1865 Silk Dress and Coat Ensemble from Colonial Williamsburg’s Collection

Child’s 1860s Coat of Wool and Lined in Silk from MET collection

Lastly, Elizabeth Clark has a few articles on the topic which discuss period materials and layering: Cold Weather Clothing for Infants and Cold Weather Clothing for Children.

 

William’s 1860s Coat & Hood

The outer fabric is a Wool Twill of medium weight. It is lined in cotton flannel. The closure is 3 – 1/2 inch shank brass buttons. We made a matching hood by modifying our slat bonnet pattern, which will be discussed in more detail below.

I used Elizabeth Clark’s Slat bonnet pattern, sized 1-3 years. This wool hood to fully lined with cotton flannel to avoid irritating delicate young skin. There is 5 1/2 inch wide section of cotton batting in the crown in place of card stock slats. It is basted into the lining fabric, 2 inches from the front edge. The crown is folded back two inches to create contract and widen the field of view. William has a tendency to walk into things when wearing his slat bonnet. Peripheral vision is nice:) I placed the curtain ties and utility ties just as I would with a slatted bonnet. 

I modified Elizabeth Clark’s Infant Gown pattern back in the fall to create a Bolero Style Short Jacket to make our short sleeved frock usable. I used the short jacket pattern to create the coat pattern.

Adding Length and Hemline Width to the pattern: I added 10 inches from the armscye down to create length for a coat. I also added width by making the bottom of the coat 2 inches wider, by marking a diagonal line from the armscye to a point 10 inches below and 2 inches wider than the armscye point. I did this on both the front and back pieces. The result is a coat 8 inches wider at the hem than the chest, allowing fullness for skirts.

Our Bolero Style Short Jacket has no closure, and has roughly a 2 inch opening at the chest. To create a coat that closed with proper overlap for buttons, I added 2 inches to the center front of the front panels, allowing for a two inch overlap, which is space for either single or double breasted closure. We used only three buttons on our single breasted closure, to allow the center to drape nicely over skirt fullness.

The lining is full in both the front and back panels, but no lining is used in the sleeves. Also the sleeves are cut on a fold, but 1/2 inch away from the fold for ease.

Now I need to make a coat for myself!

Love,

b

 

Thanksgiving

Dear Sis,

We made way to much food for 2.5 people! …but it is all yummy and leftovers guarantee I don’t have to work very hard the next few days to feed my family. 

William’s eyes got very big when he saw his very full plate and a full set of utensils!

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Roasted Turkey Breast & Gravy 

Cheesy Potato Casserole & Creamed Corn

Cracker Barrel Carrots & Green Bean Mushroom Casserole

Pecan Streusel Sweet Potato Casserole

Homemade Crescent Rolls

1860s Pumpkin Pudding & Pear Pie

We have had this dish at other dinner parties, but we had never tried it ourselves. We decided we like it best without the corn flakes and extra butter. The recipe below includes these preferential adjustments.

Cheesy Potato Casserole
Serves 12
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Ingredients
  1. 28 oz frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed and drained
  2. 2 c shredded cheddar cheese
  3. 1 (16 oz) tub sour cream
  4. 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
  5. 1/2 c salted butter, melted
  6. 1 t garlic powder
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients. Spread into a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
  2. Bake 45-60 minutes at 350. Cool 15 minutes before serving.
Adapted from Lil Luna
Adapted from Lil Luna
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Surprisingly, this is a recipe Josh found and made for us a few times. Tonight he was kind enough to share his source.

Cracker Barrel Style Carrots
Serves 6
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Ingredients
  1. 2 lb. fresh baby carrots
  2. 2 T salted butter
  3. 1 T brown sugar
  4. pinch nutmeg
  5. pinch salt
Instructions
  1. Place carrots in a large saucepan. Cover with water and simmer until soft 30-45 minutes.
  2. Drain two-thirds of the water. Stir in the butter, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Serve warm.
Adapted from CopyKat Recipes
Adapted from CopyKat Recipes
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I’ve always liked the premise of Green Bean Casserole… green beans and mushrooms basking in yummy creaminess. However, I’ve never tasted the perfect balance before tonight. Fresh beans and mushrooms are a must! 

Green Bean Mushroom Casserole
Serves 8
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Ingredients
  1. 1 1/4 lb. fresh green beans, washed & trimmed
  2. 8 oz mushrooms, finely chopped
  3. 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
  4. 3/4 c whole milk
  5. 1/2 t ground pepper
  6. 3/4 c fried onions
Instructions
  1. Place beans in a large stock pot and boil until al' dente, 10-15 minutes. Drain.
  2. Stir in mushrooms, soup, milk, and pepper. Pour into a square casserole dish.
  3. Top with fried onion. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.
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Again, I’ve loved the idea on Sweet Potato Casserole, but I’ve never had one that wasn’t too sweet for my liking until tonight.

Pecan Streusel Sweet Potato Casserole
Serves 12
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Mashed Sweet Potatoes
  1. 3 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
  2. 1/4 c half and half
  3. 2 T butter
  4. 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
  5. 1/8 t salt
Pecan Streusel Topping
  1. 1/2 c pecans, crushed
  2. 1/4 c brown sugar
  3. 1/4 c butter, soft
  4. 1/4 c unbleached flour
  5. 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
  6. 1/8 t salt
  7. 2 c mini marshmallows
Instructions
  1. Place sweet potatoes in a large pot. Cover with water and boil until tender, 10-15 minutes. Drain.
  2. Mash cooked sweet potatoes with remaining ingredients and spread into a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
  3. For topping, cream together all ingredients except marshmallows.
  4. Sprinkle 1 c marshmallows over mashed sweet potatoes. Top with broken up bits of pecan streusel. Sprinkle with remaining marshmallows.
  5. Bake casserole 15-20 minutes, or until marshmallows are golden, at 375.
Adapted from Celebrating Sweets
Adapted from Celebrating Sweets
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I used to make homemade crescents all the time, but haven’t since Josh and I were dating. I’m glad I brushed off this old favorite:)

Homemade Crescent Rolls
Yields 12
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Ingredients
  1. 1/2 c warm water
  2. 1 T dry active yeast
  3. 1/2 c butter, melted
  4. 1/2 c milk or half n half
  5. 1/3 c sugar
  6. 1/2 t salt
  7. 1 egg
  8. 3 1/2 - 4 c unbleached flour
Instructions
  1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.
  2. Whisk together melted butter, milk, and sugar. Beat in dissolved yeast and egg.
  3. Add 1/2 c flour at a time, stirring between additions. Knead until smooth.
  4. Grease dough and rise 1 hour.
  5. Preheat oven to 350.
  6. Roll dough into a large circle. Cut into 12 wedges and roll up from the wide end. Shape into crescents and arrange on two baking sheets. Bake 12-18 minutes, until golden and baked through.
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Pumpkin Pudding

Ingredients:

1 fine sweet pumpkin

6 eggs

1/4 pound of butter

1/2 pink of new milk

ginger

nutmeg

1 wine glass of brandy

sugar

paste

Instructions:

Stew the pumpkin till soft and dry; rub it through a sieve, mix with the pulp the eggs quite light, butter, milk, some powdered ginger and nutmeg, the brandy, and sugar to your taste. Should it be too liquid, stew it a little drier, put a paste round the edges, and in the bottom of a shallow dish or place; pour in the mixture, cut some thin bits of paste, twist them, and law them across the top, and bake it nicely.

The Virginia Housewife (1860)

Pumpkin Pudding
Serves 8
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Ingredients
  1. 1 (9 inch) refrigerated pie shell
  2. 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
  3. 6 eggs
  4. 3/4 c whole milk
  5. 1/2 c granulated sugar
  6. 1/2 c salted butter, melted
  7. 1/4 c brandy
  8. 1 t ground ginger
  9. 1/2 t ground nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425. Unroll pie shell into a pie plate. Piece with a fork to vent.
  2. Place puree into a large mixing bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
  3. Beat in remaining ingredients as listed. Pour into prepared pie plate.
  4. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake 40-50 minutes more. Cool completely before serving.
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Sweet Crumb Pear Pie
Serves 8
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Ingredients
  1. 1 (9 inch) refrigerated pie shell
  2. 6-8 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
  3. 2 T granulated sugar
  4. 1 T cornstarch
  5. 1/2 t cinnamon
  6. 1/4 t nutmeg
  7. 1/8 t salt
  8. 1 c unbleached flour
  9. 1/2 c packed dark brown sugar
  10. 1/2 c unsalted butter, cold
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425. Place pie shell in a pie plate and piece with a fork to vent.
  2. Toss pears with granulated sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour over crust.
  3. For sweet crumb topping, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over spiced pears.
  4. Bake 15 minutes. Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes more. Cool.
Adapted from Mostly Homemade Mom
Adapted from Mostly Homemade Mom
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Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

b

William’s 2nd Birthday

Dear Sis,

William had a wonderful birthday party! Our guests included a handful of family members, a few neighbors, and his friend Carter’s family. We were a chatting, eating, playing, painting merry bunch.

Lunch Menu

Spaghettios (Train Wheels) & Bread Sticks (Rail Road Ties)

Cheese & Cracker, Fruit, & Vegetable Trays

Bottled Water & Chocolate Milk

Cake & Ice Cream

Cupcake Train

We painted a wooden train engine red and put a number “2” on the side. We baked cupcakes and frosted them with Swiss Buttercream. We sprayed the frosting with edible color. Last we added “Happy Birthday” candles.

Ice Cream Bar

Our ice cream bar consisted of a vanilla party tub of ice cream, chocolate and caramel syrups, gummy worms, homemade strawberry sauce, maraschino cherries, mini honey graham cookies, mini oreo cookies, mini peanut butter cups, peanuts, sprinkles, and a can of whipped cream.

Activities

Train Conductor Hats and Bandanas

Train Toys, Books, & Puzzles

Painting Plaster Trains

Favors

Train Shaped Butter Cookies

It took a lot of tries before his little mouth was well enough aligned to blow out his two candles.

William opened one gift at a time over the course of three hours. We unpackaged each thing and played with it before moving on to the next gift, giving him time to focus on each item before moving on. No mad dash, no tears! But many Hugs and “thank you-s” all around.

Gran recorded what items each guest brought inside the cards, so we would remember who gave each gift when writing our thank you notes.

Gran and her parents concluded day three of their visit, just a few hours after the party. 

Thanks to all the family and friends who helped make William’s 2nd Birthday such a special time! Special thanks to Aunt Angel for taking lots of great photos:)

Love,

b

1860s Thanksgiving

Dear Sis,

Our reenacting meeting this month was all about Thanksgiving traditions. Thanksgiving became a national holiday during the Civil War, causing it to be a more festive season than Christmas! We had a lot of fun making some mid-20th century recipes and eating the dishes other ladies had made:) These are the historic recipes we used with modern measurements and directions to ease the way for other 21st century home cooks:

Baked Goose

A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Class (1852)

Goose

6 potatoes

6 onions

4 apples

12 sage leaves

2 ounces of butter

pepper

salt

flour

Pluck and pick out all the stubble feathers thoroughly clean, draw the goose, cut off the head and neck, and also the feet and wings, which must be scalded to enable you to remove the pinion feathers from the wrings and the rough skin from the feet; split and scrape the inside of the gizzard, and carefully cut out the gall from the liver. These giblets well stewed, as shown in the recipe for Giblet Pie, will serve to make a pie for another day’s dinner. Next stuff the goose in the manner following, viz.: First put the potatoes to bake in the oven, or even in a Dutch oven; and, while they are being baked chop the onions with the apples and sage leaves, and fry these in a saucepan with the butter, pepper, and salt; when the whole is slightly fried, mix it with the pulp of the six baked potatoes, and used this very nice stuffing to fill the inside of the goose. The goose being stuffed, place it upon an iron trivet in a baking dish containing peeled potatoes and a few apples; and half-a-pint of water, pepper and salt, shake some flour over the goose, and bake it for about an hour and a-half. 

* recipe also suggested with duck

Baked Duck with Potato Apple Sage Stuffing
Serves 6
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Ingredients
  1. 3 pound duck, thawed, neck and giblets removed
  2. 3 medium potatoes, baked, peeled, and mashed
  3. 3 small onions, finely chopped
  4. 2 small apples, finely chopped
  5. 9 sage leaves, chopped
  6. 2 T butter
  7. salt and pepper to taste
  8. 2 T flour
  9. 5-6 medium potatoes, peeled
  10. 2-3 small apples, cored
Instructions
  1. Sauté onion, apple, and sage in butter in a skillet over medium heat until tender and liquid is cooked away.
  2. Mix sautéed mixture into mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 and set out a roasting pan.
  4. Stuff potato apple sage mixture into chest cavity of duck. Place stuffed duck on a rack in a roasting pan. Dust duck with salt, pepper, and flour.
  5. Arrange peeled potatoes and cored apples around duck. Add 1 cup water. Cover and bake one and a-half hours.
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To Make Good Plane Buns

The Book of Household Management (1861)

1 pound flour

6 ounces of good butter

1/4 pound of sugar

1 egg

nearly 1/4 pint of milk

2 small teaspoonfulls of baking-powder

a few drops of essence of lemon

Warm the butter, without oiling it; beat it with a wooden spoon; stir the flour in gradually with the sugar, and mix these ingredients well together. Make the milk lukewarm, beat up with the yolk of the egg and the essence of lemon, and stir these to the flour, etc. Add the baking-powder, beat the dough well for about 10 minutes, divide it into 24 piees, put them into puttered tins or cups, and bake in a brisk oven for 20-30 minutes. Sufficient to make 12 buns. Seasonable at any time.

Sweet Lemon Biscuits
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Ingredients
  1. 3 c flour
  2. 1/2 c sugar
  3. 4 t baking powder
  4. 3/4 c salted butter
  5. 1 egg
  6. 3/4 c milk
  7. 1/4 t lemon extract or a few drops lemon oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450.
  2. Whisk together dry ingredients.
  3. Cut in butter.
  4. Stir in egg, milk, and lemon extract or oil until just combined.
  5. Press out dough on a floured surface and cut with floured biscuit cutter.
  6. Bake normal biscuits 12-14 minutes and small ones 8-10 minutes.
Notes
  1. Makes 1 dozen normal biscuits or 2 dozen small ones.
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Apple Sauce

Directions for Cookery, In its Various Branches (1840)

Pare, core, and slice some fine apples. Put them into a saucepan with just sufficient water to keep them from burning, and some grated lemon-peel. Stew them until quite soft and tender. Then mash them to a paste, and make them very sweet with brown sugar, adding a small piece of butter, and some nutmeg.

Apple sauce is eaten with roast pork, goose, and duck. Be careful not to have it thin or watery.

Apple Sauce
Serves 6
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Ingredients
  1. 8 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
  2. 1/4 c water
  3. zest of a lemon
  4. 1/4 c dark brown sugar
  5. 1 T salted butter
  6. 1/4 t ground nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Simmer apples, water, and zest in a saucepan until tender, 15-20 minutes.
  2. Mash. Stir in brown sugar, butter, and nutmeg. Cook to thicken as needed.
  3. Serve warm or cool.
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Boiled Parsnips

The Book of Household Management (1861)

Parsnips; to each gallon of water allow 1 heaping tablespoonful of salt.

Wash the parsnips, scrape them thoroughly, and, with the point of the knife, remove any black specks about them, and, should they be very large, cut the thick part into quarters. Put them into a saucepan of boiling water salted in the above proportion, boil them rapidly until tender, which may be ascertained by thrusting a fork into them; taking them up, draining them, and serve in a vegetable-dish. This vegetable is usually served with salt fish, boiled port, or boiled beef: when sent to table with the latter, a few should be placed alternately with carrots round the dish, as a garnish.

Large parsnips, 1 to 1 1/2 hours; small ones, 1/2 to 1 hour. Allow 1 for each person. Seasonable form October to May.

Parsnips and Carrots
Serves 6
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Ingredients
  1. 3 parsnips, peeled and coined
  2. 6 carrots, peeled and coined
  3. salt
Instructions
  1. Simmer parsnips and carrots in salted water until tender, 20-30 minutes.
  2. Serve warm.
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William got silly when it was time to leave and put my coat on instead of his.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

b

Party Prep Chugging Along

Dear Sis,

This week we started making party decorations for William’s train themed second birthday party that is quickly approaching. Our train crossing signs turned out great!

We used cardboard and acrylic paints. William enjoyed some of the leftover paint:)

We baked the cupcakes just before bedtime. When I asked William what kind of cake he wanted he grabbed a box of chocolate and white cake mix, so we made mabel cupcakes:) They pasted the taste test!

Love,

b

Fun with Candy Corn

Dear Sis,

We enjoyed another play date today! Both the boys love doing art, so we usually do some sort of crafting. This time, I had a bag of candy corn to use up:)

Our tiny artists made Candy Corn Turkeys with the help of the respective mamas.

We all ate a lot of candy corn while we glued, as would be expected, but we still had a lot left over, so we made impromptu rice crispy treats:)

To sum things up… we all had a sweet morning and afternoon together:)

Love,

b

Daily Walk

Hi Sis,

Like most kiddos Evelyn loves to be outside. When she was very young and I couldn’t figure out why she was crying, we went on a walk, or put her bouncer on the porch. Then, we had a happy girl. 

So, it has become a part of our daily routine now. If it isn’t raining, we go for a walk. 

One of the joys of living in the country… the pretty scenery. The difficulty, pushing a stroller on gravel. hehehe

Love,

Jamiegoof