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?

Chinese Takeout with Lindsey

A staple of Christmas day plans for generations!

Last year, NPR posted an article discussing the history of different holiday traditions that often go undiscussed: eggnog, jelly donuts for Hanukkah, and, of course, the tradition of Jewish families eating Chinese food on Christmas. Did you know it goes back to at least 1935? 

This year, we decided to pay tribute to that tradition with our own "Jewish Christmas". Read on to find out a little more about this classic holiday treat!

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!

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.

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!

Felicity Visits Mount Vernon

Paying a visit to George and Martha!

So, a lot's been going on in the world of American Girl. As I'm sure most of you know, our girl Felicity is back out of the archives and sporting a super pretty new meet outfit! This is exciting to me not only as a Felicity fan, but also because my own Felicity has been in need of a wig transplant for quite some time. A few weeks ago, I bit the bullet, got a new Felicity, and swapped her wig for my Felicity's beat up one, just in time for a field trip to Monticello. I was really excited to take pictures of my old friend all refreshed and sporting her awesome new dress on a gorgeous day at a gorgeous presidential mansion, but then I realized I'm actually one field trip behind when it comes to colonial homes.

(Also, in case you were wondering, BeFelicity was given a new wig of her own. Maybe she'll eventually make appearances around these parts.)

Back in September, I headed out to Mount Vernon with my friends Elizabeth and Jenna with Felicity in tow as usual. We got to eat at a historically inspired restaurant, explore the house and grounds, and meet an old friend of Felicity's. Any guesses on who it might be?

The National Museum of American History's 2nd Annual Food History Festival!

Politics on your plate!

Alright, back to business.

I've been fortunate enough to attend a couple really fun events since moving to DC. The Library of Congress' National Book Festival and the recent used book sale at the National Museum of the US Navy have helped boost my collection of signed books quite a bit, and of course I got to go see the African American Museum of History and Culture. One such event I've been meaning to tell you guys about since the end of October, but then my parents came to visit, the election happened, school got busier, and... yeah. Now it's almost the end of November and I still haven't shared it with you. Sorry about that.

The National Museum of American History had its second annual Food History Festival during the last weekend in October, and after a vote on my Instagram, I decided Kit would be the one making the trip down to the mall to go check it out. I had very little idea of what to expect, and while I feel like this event wasn't as fun or awesome as it could have been, it was definitely worth going to and I'll be happy to attend next year's, assuming I'm not swamped under piles of homework.

Addy Visits the National Museum of African American History and Culture!

Say hello to the newest Smithsonian!

I have a really cool announcement for anyone who's been living in a cave for the last couple years: there's a new Smithsonian on the Mall, and it's basically the best thing ever.

Plans for a Smithsonian focusing on African American history and culture have been in the works for a long time, and for the last several years, visitors to Washington could watch as a massive, unique structure was erected right next to the Washington Monument to house the collection. I know I've been impatiently waiting to see what the museum's like for what feels like forever, as every time I visited the city over the last five years or so the building looked closer and closer to being complete.

Well, the wait is finally over, and let me tell you, it was definitely worth being patient for.

DISCLAIMER: The following post contains images that may be upsetting to some viewers. Specifically, Addy has been photographed "touring" the exhibits and galleries at the museum as though she is a sentient being and is visiting it in the same way I have done past posts on site at historical sites and museums. I am but one white person, showing images that many people at this time cannot see for themselves, and I took Addy with me as the American Girl representative since she is the oldest black character AG has released and the most well known. The images contained are actual items, and they are brutal, but true, and are the kind of history that we, as people who claim to be interested in history, need to see. Because American history is not just pretty food and fancy dresses, it is brutality and oppression and ugly but if we do not look at it at the past, then we will never be able to see how not to perpetuate these things.

Maryellen's Trip to Disneyland!

Happy birthday to the happiest place on Earth!

My family is full of Disney fans. Even the few people who can't sing along with virtually every song, recite lines of dialogue from every movie and destroy all challengers at Disney Sceneit? love visiting the parks whenever we can, which definitely isn't as often as we'd like it to be. Too bad things like distance and money make catering to your inner child difficult, right?

A couple weeks ago, my dad and I managed to sneak away to Disneyland for a few days, and I brought someone small and vinyl along with me! Part of this is because I like taking dolls along when I visit places to take pictures of them outside of my house or backyard and to give this blog a bit of a traveling toy blog flavor, but the other reason is I was on a mission to find and eat Chris' Cold Pie. You might remember I tried to make it as an introduction to Maryellen last year, and it didn't go so well.

I also brought her along because Disneyland is still celebrating its 60th anniversary! As you can see, Sleeping Beauty Castle looks pretty festive for the event. Read on to see some more pictures from our trip!

Felicity Visits the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum

Re-enact a part of history and get to taste part of it, too!

I spent four years in Boston as an undergrad and did my fair share of stomping around the Freedom Trail and other historic sites in the area. There are still a few I need to check off - Lexington and Concord are a little challenging to get to when you don't have a car! - but here I was thinking I'd done just about everything there was to do in Boston.

And then I found out about the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, and everything changed. Apparently, a couple cool, new things have been happening in Boston since graduation, and this is definitely one of them. Read on to discover one of the coolest new attractions in the northeast!