It’s rare that I ever get around to posting follow-ups. I’ve been the lucky recipient of additional stories and recipes in response to past posts — I even have a plan to scrapbook them. But I’m always in the thick of a backlog of new posts and new stories. Charlotte Truesdell’s Ricotta Cheesecake will be…
Mrs. Brown, the first-nameless protagonist of playwright Chandos Fulton’s 1873 novelette, responds witheringly to the news that a friend’s daughter has wed a man of modest means. “It was a love-match, I suppose,” her friend Mrs. Campbell told her, and Mrs. Brown “did not deign a reply.” As the plot of Fulton’s novel unfolds, Mrs….
When I finally took a stab at baking the Shady Side specialty Hard Jelly Cake, I nervously wondered how my reputation would fare. Treading in the steps of experts is always a setup for embarrassment. If my beaten biscuit experience taught me anything, it’s that the flame-keepers of some of our state’s more forgotten foods…
The Wikipedia entry for “Chess pie” offers up several possible explanations for the name – the pie is named for a piece of furniture called a pie chest, or for the town of Chester, England. Some theories are just silly. “It’s jes’ pie.” Okay… whatever. The likely explanation is that “chess pie” evolved from recipes…
Baltimore’s Front Street Theatre had undergone “extensive alterations and improvements” in 1850. Carpenters Carnan & Eckert built out a parquet for standing room theatergoers. “Skillful” painter John Delpher was hired to apply a fresh coat of paint. New curtains were hung, and 600 cushioned seats with spring-backs were installed. A decade and a half later,…