The Blaire Wilson Tea at American Girl Place

A special event to celebrate 2019's Girl of the Year!

One of the projects I picked up in grad school was doing a deep dive into the history of American Girl programming and marketing to see how the brand has changed over time in hopes of publishing my results in a journal or as an actual monograph. Whether or not that's ever going to happen is still up in the air, but a fun benefit of tackling this has meant I've had a perfect excuse to attend a lot of neat American Girl themed or sponsored events as "research". 

Being close to an American Girl Place has made that even easier, and so when I saw the announcement that AG Place DC was going to be hosting a series of Blaire themed teas, I jumped at the chance to go! Read on to see our pictures of the event and our review - is it worth attending?

A Trip to the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's WWII Weekend

Three whole days of living history, air shows, and flea markets!

Three years ago, when my sister was graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, I got my paws on a flyer for an event: World War II Weekend at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania. The flyer boasted that it was a three day event filled with an air show, rides in vintage warbirds, reenactors, a swing dance, and much, much more. 

Anyone who's been reading this blog for more than a few weeks - or who knows me in real life! - knows that my favorite era to study and teach others about is World War II, so of course I immediately wanted to go. Unfortunately, Reading is just far enough away from my parent's house, DC, and where I now live post-grad school that it was always a hard sell to folks to hike out that way with me. Fortunately, my wife is also very into World War II history and doesn't mind long car rides, so this year, we packed up our bags (and Molly and Nanea) to go check out the 29th Annual WWII Weekend!

Maryellen Attends the Pyrex and Vintage Festival in Havre de Grace

A must do for any vintage fan in the Mid-Atlantic!

Last year, when my parents helped my brother move back to Georgetown to start his sophomore year of college, they drove all the way from Connecticut to DC and back. While making their return trip, they stopped in the cute little town of Havre de Grace, Maryland, which is about half an hour outside of Baltimore and pretty close to the Delaware border. This detour introduced them to one of the coolest stores I’ve ever been to: JoRetro, a shop that specializes in vintage clothes, accessories, home décor, and – you guessed it – Pyrex. 

My mom discovered that they host a biannual Pyrex and vintage festival, and let’s just say as soon as I heard that, I knew I was going to be making the drive come rain or snow or whatever else nature might throw my way. Read on to see some pictures from our trip!

First Chefs and a Seed Cake with Jane

A temporary exhibit that really brings you a sweet taste of history!

Last post, I mentioned an exhibit at the National Archives that I had missed out on years ago. Living in DC, such worries are a thing of the past, unless of course there's a cool exhibit going on at a non DMV area museum. Take the current exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library: First Chefs! 

First Chefs spotlights books, documents and artifacts from the library's collection, as well as a few other local institutions that help bring to life how and what people in Britain and North America ate in the late 1500's through the 1700's. The exhibit shines the spotlight on several interesting figures in culinary history, as well as showing the public that more extravagant food often meant exploiting the labor of enslaved people, women, servants, and laborers. Read on to see highlights from the exhibit and a recipe inspired by one of the personalities featured in the gallery!

Caroline and Lalie visit the National Museum of the Pacific War

A gem in the heart of Hill Country, Texas!

After Christmas, I successfully convinced my wife and dad to make a pilgrimage with me to Fredericksburg, Texas. Why? Because it's the home of the National Museum of the Pacific War, an institution I've been wanting to visit for literal years. 

Long time readers might remember that my other big historical passion besides food history is the Pacific Theater of World War II. This is usually specifically focused on either the Marines or the Allied POW experience, but extends to pretty much everything and anything. As common place as World War II history is - seriously, it's gotten to the point where it's hard telling fellow historians it's what I like to study and teach others about most because it's just so overdone - the Pacific still tends to be overlooked by textbooks, museums, and media. Visiting an whole museum that focuses on the topic promised to be really exciting and totally worth the three hour drive from Austin. 

Spoiler alert: it totally was. Read on to see pictures from our trip!

Harvesting History at the Henry Whitfield House

One of the oldest homes in New England!

One of the best things about living in the DC area is that I’m not too far away from where I grew up, making going home for the holidays nice and easy. Jessi and I got to spend our first Thanksgiving together at my parent’s house, doing all the typical Thanksgiving things (including my now traditional Indian pudding!), going Toys for Tots shopping (my favorite holiday tradition!) and stopping by one of the oldest homes in America for their annual post-Thanksgiving event. 

You know, as you do when you’re a historian. Or married to one. 

Accompanying us were Jane Collier, a girl from 1614 Jamestown, Virginia who has appeared on the blog many times before, and Fear Tyler, a new friend from 1692 Salem Village (modern day Danvers), Massachusetts. As American Girl seems to be deviating from making pre-20th Century characters, I’ve started to slowly take matters into my own hands and create a couple from periods of history I find personally interesting that the company is unlikely to cover themselves. As Jane and Fear have strong connections to the early colonization of North America and the crazy Puritans, they seemed like good travel companions to check out a historic house museum that holds a special place in my heart.

Tea with Valerie Tripp at Mount Vernon

With a talk that revealed some fun behind the scenes looks at the creation of our favorite colonial girl: Felicity!

Longtime readers might remember that I was lucky enough to attend Tea with Valerie Tripp and Friends at Historic Huguenot Street back in 2016. I was even luckier when I saw that Mount Vernon would be hosting a similar event as their last in a series of teas with Martha Washington! Of course, I leapt at the chance to get tickets, even though Mount Vernon is kind of horrible to get to if you don’t have a car. 

Last weekend, Jessi, Felicity, Elizabeth and I set off on a very long metro ride and a bus trip to visit, armed with a book to get signed and a camera to document the event for posterity. Read on to find out what we did!

Mini Grace dines at America Eats Tavern in Georgetown

Historically inspired dishes in the heart of Georgetown!

This has been an exciting, eventful summer so far, which is unfortunately why the blog has been so quiet these last few months. I’m hoping to come back with a fall full of exciting historical recipes, possibly with some new friends to explore those with us, as well as celebrating A Peek into the Pantry’s fifth anniversary next week! 

But until then, I do have a little something to tide you over: a trip to America Eats Tavern in Georgetown!

Les Grandes Grandes Vacances de Petite Grace, Part Two

First stop: Disneyland Paris!

Hope you all enjoyed Part One of Grace’s Long, Long Holiday! Time to kick off part two, which might be a little bit shorter. I did overdo it with the pictures a little in the first one… 

Speaking of which, I forgot to share some of the pictures of all the beautiful poppies we saw in Normandy! I was in heaven. Poppies are my favorite flower and seeing them sprinkled through the fields was really magical.

But okay, on to Disney Paris.

Les Grandes Grandes Vacances de Petite Grace, Part One

Or, Mini Grace's Long, Long Holiday

Guess who finally graduated from her master’s program! And then promptly still hasn’t had enough time to sit down and get back to blogging the way she wants to. Hopefully that will change once I’ve moved into my new place, gotten back to work, and gotten married (!!), but we’ll see. Maybe I just need to make peace with the fact that A Peek into the Pantry isn’t going to ever get back to a seven posts a month schedule. 

Another reason I’ve been a little absent here is Mini Grace and I went on quite an adventure! Enough of one that I’ve decided to split it into two blog posts to spare you all from sifting through hundreds and hundreds of photos all at once. I’m really excited to share some of our adventures with you. 

Where did we go?

Viva Las Vegas, Maryellen! Plus, the History of the Shrimp Cocktail

There’s more to Sin City than meets the eye!

A few weeks ago on Instagram, I posted a picture of Maryellen on a beach chair and asked everyone where they thought she might have traveled off to. I bet no on guessed Las Vegas! 

Las Vegas is a post World War II boomtown that really came into its own in the 1950’s and 60’s, partially thanks to the mob and nuclear weapons. I wasn’t ever particularly interested in visiting because I’m not one for gambling or the bombastic shows the city’s famous for, but when a research trip for work had me going there, I figured I’d make the most of it. 

As it turns out, Vegas is a really interesting city with some cool entertainment, food, crime, and nuclear history. There was so much to see and do that I actually feel like I need to go back to make sure I actually see it all! Since it’s not usually a city that’s well known for anything other than Elvis impersonators and slot machines, I thought it might be fun to show you all a little bit of Vegas beyond the Strip… and some of the Strip, too! 

Now, fair warning, the content of some of this post is a little more murder and mayhem than some past places we’ve visited because Vegas was basically founded by the Mob, and one of the museums we visited goes into that history pretty explicitly. There’s also going to be a little discussion of gambling – hard not to get into that when talking about Vegas! – so if any of that isn’t in your (or your kids’!) taste, feel free to skip this one. Let’s say it leans a little more PG than most of my previous posts.

Felicity Visits the Museum of the American Revolution

The new museum on the block!

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to Philadelphia for a conference, which was exciting because I got to present an article that I’ve been working super hard on for close to eight months by now, but also because there’s a new museum in town that I’d been dying to see. 

The Museum of the American Revolution opened in April 19, 2017, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington and Concord, and you might remember that it was being advertised at Revolutionary War Weekend at Mount Vernon. It’s located in the historic area of Philadelphia, not far from Independence Hall and other Revolutionary era sites. I’d only visited Philly once before, several years ago now, and I was excited to get back to the city and check out this cool new destination.

Luciana, the National Air and Space Museum, and Astronaut Ice Cream

Boldly going where few dolls have gone before!

Way back when I started collecting American Girl dolls again, I told myself I wasn’t going to collect the modern dolls. Several Girls of the Year later, and we all know how that turned out. 

This year, the Girl of the Year is Luciana Vega, a Chilean-American girl growing up in Virginia who dreams of being the first girl on Mars. To make that goal happen, she attends Space Camp, gets SCUBA certified, learns about teamwork, and presumably will have a few more adventures before the year’s out. Everyone – myself included – is very enchanted with her STEM focused collection and unique accessories, and while I had a couple issues with her first book, overall, she’s an extremely solid addition to the Girl of the Year line up. 

I was also excited about her introduction because there’s still an obvious Public History connection between Luciana and the museum world in DC: the National Air and Space Museum! I’ve visited there before with Molly (and plenty of times since then!), but our coverage was a lot more Air than Space. A few weeks ago, I headed down there to give you all a look at one of the most visited museums in the world from a doll’s eye view, complete with a discussion of one of the most popular items sold in any space themed museum gift shop.

Marie-Grace and Cécile Celebrate La Chandeleur at Hillwood!

A French tradition in 20th Century American Style!

Not far from the National Zoo, visitors to DC can swing by the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, a beautiful historic home with an incredible amount of European art. Marjorie Post bought the property after her divorce from her third husband and arranged for the property to be turned into a museum after her death. Originally bequeathed to the Smithsonian, the museum is managed by the Post Foundation, and is a really lovely place to visit if you want something that’s a little removed from the hustle and bustle of the National Mall. The museum is also a vocal supporter of the LGBT community and hosts Pride themed events and has a delightful café on property as well. 

I’ve had tea at Hillwood before – a really lovely date with my fiancée the last time she visited me! – but I had never been inside the house proper before and have been meaning to do so since I moved here. So when my friend Ama sent me a link to their annual Crêpe Day celebration, I leaped at the chance to go look at some beautiful artwork and enjoy some hopefully tasty crepes. 

Read on to hear about how our adventure went?

An All American Tea Party at Colonial Williamsburg

Not quite the old Felicity Tea event, but close enough for me!

As you guys know – or as new readers might expect – I love Colonial Williamsburg. Living history is a really interesting, entertaining educational tool, and every time I visit, I come away learning something new and with a lot of fun memories. 

So imagine how excited I was when I heard that Williamsburg was going to be hosting an event this summer that was right up my alley: An All American Tea Party, where kids of all ages could bring a doll along with them, enjoy a tasty tea, make a craft, and enjoy a scavenger hunt with an exclusive prize at the end! Although it's not technically a Felicity themed event because it wasn't officially licensed with Mattel or American Girl themselves, it's pretty clear from the marketing who and what inspired the event.

There was just one problem: I live a good two and a half hours away from Williamsburg, and don’t have a car. 

Fortunately, I’m extremely lucky to have a good buddy who is always up for an adventure, whether it’s a trip to the mall or getting trapped on the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia for three hours because our train home got delayed. Jenna and I got spots at the last seating of the tea, which was September 16. We hopped in the car with Felicity and Elizabeth in tow and set off to see if the All American Tea Party lived up to my childhood experience at the official Felicity themed events.

The National Museum of American History's 3rd Annual Food History Festival!

Many Flavors, One Nation!

Hey, Happy Halloween! 

Whew, it has been a semester! Sorry for falling off the face of the earth again. I think at this point I just need to make peace with the fact that this is going to end up taking the back burner until after grad school. All my free time and writing energy has been going towards my big research project, which I'll tell you guys about once I have time to do it justice. 

I'm catching up with comments and emails right now. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you all. I've also got a couple posts on the back burner which will probably start seeing the light of day sometime around December... if I'm lucky! (Including a super cool trip to Williamsburg!) 

Until then, here's a short update about an event I got to attend with some friends last weekend: the Smithsonian Food History Festival! Read on to hear about our experience this year with Many Flavors, One Nation at the National Museum of American History.

Julie's Trip to Disney World

The Most Magical Place on Earth!

Said it before, will say it again: I come from a very Disney family. No, we’re not Annual Pass holders, we’re not locals of any of the parks, nor do we go every single year, but we like it and always manage to have a great time when we go. 

My mom first went to the park with her parents and older brother when she was seven, turning eight in 1972. Back then, there was only Magic Kingdom, and they drove from Connecticut all the way to Florida, making some stops along the way. Since there was just one park, they ended up spending parts of their two week vacation at other Florida tourist attractions. She and her family would go back to visit when she and her brother were in college, and then she and my dad celebrated part of their honeymoon there in 1987. We were actually there for their 30th anniversary, which was why they had booked the vacation in the first place. 

I love Disney history almost as much as I love, well, almost any kind of history. So even though I didn’t plan on doing a huge, drawn out photo adventure while I was there, I still wanted to do a quick write up about the trip. Considering my mom was a girl with long blonde hair and considered rompers to be the height of fashion, the obvious choice in host for this post is, of course, Julie. Read on for some Disney history and talk of tasty food!

Melody Explores the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Celebrating 50 years of folklife!

In 1967, the first Smithsonian Folklife Festival was held in Washington, DC. Created as a means of encouraging cultural exchange, the festival has been held every summer for the last 50 years. Each year has a different theme, often centered around the culture of a particular country, region, or US state. They’ve managed to feature every region of the US, as well as 90 individual countries. That’s pretty impressive!

The festival is held on the National Mall between the US Capitol Building and the Washington Monument, making it a popular stop for tourists visiting the monuments, museums, and government buildings. Fourth of July is usually sandwiched more or less in the middle of the festival, which runs for two weeks. They’ve got programming running all day, with lots of vendors, artisans, and experts in their field. 

In honor of the 50th anniversary, the festival’s theme this year was more multicultural than usual: Circus Arts! Almost every culture in the world has a circus, right? It also featured programming about migration and the history of the festival. Want to check it out?

Felicity's 4th of July in Washington, DC

Where else can you see the actual Declaration of Independence on America’s birthday?

Is there a better place to celebrate the Fourth of July than Washington, DC? I don’t think so, especially not after the awesome day I had yesterday! Washington in the summer is hot, crowded, and often plagued by metro problems (although that’s definitely not just a summer problem), but if you can make it down to the nation’s capital for the Fourth? I think it’s worth it. 

Why? Well, I’ve got some cool programs to tell you about.

Felicity Attends Revolutionary War Weekend at Mount Vernon

A weekend you won't want to miss!

Last month, two of my friends and I packed up and drove to Mount Vernon for Revolutionary War Weekend! It's a two day long event with reenactors (American and British), historically inspired vendors, special exhibits, and a battle reenactment. Mount Vernon is always worth a visit, but I'm especially excited to share a few photos of our time there last month.

(Unfortunately, one of the reasons this post has taken me a long time to write is I'm so fed up of using my phone to take pictures! But fortunately I am in possession of a new camera, and hopefully will get to break that out soon. Please bear with these less than ideal photos!)

An extra treat was getting to meet some representatives from the brand new Museum oft the American Revolution! Got any ideas about what they might have brought with them to show visitors?