Melody Tries Ghanaian Chocolate

Two bars, both delicious, what’s not to love?

Is there anything more fun than trying food from around the world? I don’t think so, especially when it’s different kinds of sweet treats. If only chocolate was as healthy for you as kale allegedly is. 

Last summer, my friend Ama surprised me with some chocolate bars from Ghana, which I was very excited to try and share with all of you. Read on to hear about how these tasty treats are not your average chocolate bar you’d find at your convenience store.

A Not Quite 1950's Cookie Swap

A good excuse to get together and trade some tasty treats!

Before we move on to discuss those other looks at international treats I had promised, there's a post I really wanted to get out before the end of January. After a long hard semester, my friends and I wanted to get together to have some kind of celebration that we made it through in one piece... but then everyone got busy with the holidays, so we ended up having it the weekend before the new semester got started. 

I've often joked with friends and coworkers and basically anyone who will listen to me talk about historic food that I not so secretly want to throw a bunch of authentic period themed parties, minus the casual or overt racism and sexism associated with the period. Since so many of my friends are fellow historians, they've been a lot more on board for entertaining the idea of an authentic Mad Men themed party, or Downton Abbey, American Girl... you get the picture. 

We didn't quite get there with the period authenticity this gathering, but I thought it might be fun to talk a little bit about the history of cookie swaps and hostess culture, while also highlighting the treats my extremely talented friends made. It's been a lot of fun to meet so many people with an interest in baking! 

Back in 2016, American Girl released a new holiday party outfit for Maryellen and a cookie set, complete with colorful apron. The catalogs make specific note that hostesses of Christmas parties would often wear colorful printed aprons, just like the one Maryellen is wearing. This immediately got me interested in what kind of party she might have been hosting, and it seems like a cookie swap would indeed be accurate to the period!

When searching newspaper databases, the term "cookie swap" first starts appearing in the 1930's or so, and hits increase as you start moving into the mid century. Food editor Clementine Paddleford for the Los Angeles Times - who I had to cite many a time in the article I wrote last semester, which I plan to talk about a little around these parts someday - commented on how this was the perfect solution to holiday gifting, as everyone could come away from the party with an attractive plate of cookies or other baked goods to take home.

Of course people have been getting together and exchanging sweets for hundreds of years, but I do think it's telling that more of these parties and the term "cookie swap" sees more use as we marched into the mid 20th century. Hostess culture was a very real thing for women of the 1950's, 60's, and even into the 70's. Parties were an opportunity to flaunt how perfect your home and family was, and were often semi formal events with real invitations mailed to guests, tasteful decorations, and everyone well dressed and groomed.

My party definitely wasn't up to the standards of an authentic 1954 cookie swap, but I did have a chance to break out the collection of Starbucks You Are Here mugs I've acquired over the past two years.

I debated trying out a new recipe to share with everyone, but at the last minute chickened out and decided to make my grandmother's (or Peg Bracken's) elevator lady spice cookies instead, along with some blueberry scones, as this was also a tea party. 

We had a really impressive and tasty spread, complete with three different kinds of scones, lemon bars, macarons, cupcakes, brownies, and several different cookies, as well as cheese biscuits! I was so excited my friend Meg decided to make these, as my grandma likes to do a version of them for Christmas and other random family gatherings, and they're super tasty. I'll definitely have to share the recipe here sometime. 

Although this wasn't a wholly authentic 1950's gathering, it was a lot of fun to get together and hang out with a bunch of like minded women without the lingering stress of an assignment we all knew we should be working on instead. There's been a lot of frustration in going back to grad school, but I've been really lucky to meet many cool people who I'll hopefully keep in touch with for a good long time. 

And hopefully we'll get to throw some more intense historically inspired parties when I've got time to make decorations!

Although I think this spread looks nice enough on its own!

Nellie's Trip to Dublin, Plus Irish Beef Stew and Guinness Chocolate Cake

Stew and cake starring one of the most beloved brands in Ireland.

This is yet another post that I've been sitting on for a long time, partially because I couldn't think of a good hook to really get it off the ground. Back in the fall, I was suddenly struck by wanting to make some Irish inspired recipes, and dug out an old recipe I had saved forever ago for a Guinness beef stew and a chocolate cake made with Guinness as well. I invited two friends over for dinner, snapped pictures, and then promptly lost any inspiration to write about it as a blog post. I tried a couple times, hemming and hawing over what to say, but figured it would be best not to force it and let it sit and wait for inspiration to strike. 

Good thing I did, because unknown to me, my parents were also having thoughts of Ireland! And surprised us all with...

Grace's Last Minute Christmas Baking: Santa's Trash Cookies and Holiday Shortbread

Some tasty, last minute additions to any holiday gathering!

In the four years I’ve been doing this blog, there are only two holidays I’ve done a post for every year: VE Day, and Christmas. Sort of a weird pair, right? 

Considering how infrequently I’ve been able to post this past two years, I knew I didn’t want to break my streak, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do this year. The first few years I’ve had this blog, I tried to feature historical recipes for each character, and I’ve shared some of my family’s Christmas traditions in the past as well. I knew I wasn’t going to have time to do the former, and a lot of the latter had already been taken care of by my family members, so I was feeling a little stuck. 

Fortunately, the internet provided some awesome last minute suggestions that I was happy to break out. One didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, but the other might just become a fan favorite. I know I sure liked them! 

Read on to find out how some simple additions can make any cookie nice and festive.

A Peek into the Pantry Saves Thanksgiving!

Swooping in to go where few people want to tread!

Well, helped save Thanksgiving anyway. I don’t want to take all the credit! 

The semester is rapidly cycloning to a close (which is why this post is over a week delayed…), and amidst all our final projects and fretting about our research seminars, my cohort and I got to celebrate Thanksgiving. I’m lucky enough to live close enough to home to get to visit family for the holiday, so I packed everything up, threw Nanea in my backpack just in case there were any good photo opportunities for Instagram, and headed home anticipating a nice, unfortunately blog post free weekend. 

Little did I suspect that I was going to end up providing something a little bigger than the cookies I wanted to bake.

Melody Makes Lazy Jane's Weekend Casserole

A no fuss alternative to a French classic!

Colder weather has officially set in, which means it’s time to break out all those comforting, stick to your ribs dishes. (I say as if I haven’t made this dish in the summer time before…) 

Lazy Jane’s Weekend Casserole is a family favorite perfected by my grandmother, and it’s something I always eat way too much of when she makes it for me. When I asked for the recipe and what the history behind the dish was, she told me something that I really wasn’t expecting: it actually has a loose connection to one of the most famous trends in cooking in the 1960’s! Got any ideas what it might be?

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.