Nanea's Pineapple Mint Julep

A refreshing, fruity must have for any summer celebration!

Happy VJ Day! Today marks one of the many days the Allies celebrated as the end to the war in the Pacific. Nanea and her friends would have been young teenagers by the end of the war, and would be celebrating the end of the conflict and hoping for a speedy return of their friends and family who had gone off to war. Or maybe their celebrations were more subdued as they remembered the lives that had been lost in the conflict. Victory Days were fun, spontaneous holidays, but they also marked a very somber moment for families who had lost loved ones in the conflict. 

To celebrate, I decided to continue the summer of the mocktail at our apartment, and when I was looking around for something VJ Day inspired, I knew this was the treat that was meant to be featured. 

This tropical twist on the classic mint julep is appropriate for all ages, and comes straight from my 1943 copy of the Women's Home Companion Cookbook. Read on to see how you can bring this refreshing taste of history to life yourself!

Molly's Pinwheel Peach Cobbler

A historical recipe that might be redefining cobbler topping for me!

Happy VJ Day, everyone! On August 15th, 1945, Japan announced their surrender, thus finally ending World War II. Like VE Day, many people around the world went nuts, rushing to places like Times Square or their town centers to throw parties and celebrate that the war was well and truly over. For many servicemen and women, this was the day they had been waiting for anxiously since VE Day. Troops in Europe had been expecting to be demobilized to join the forces already in the Pacific to spearhead an invasion of the Japanese home islands, and this finally took away the anxiety that they would have won the war in Europe only to get killed trying to end the war in the Pacific. This meant that many of them could finally, finally return home to their families, and were eager to get on the first boat home they could get.

Troops in the Pacific were similarly elated, especially the Marine and Army divisions that were still recovering from rough fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Although it would still take a long time for many people to return home - both European and Pacific troops needed to participate in occupation duties if they didn't have enough "points" to return home - they began to think a lot more hopefully about what the future held and of course, that included soon being able to indulge in comfort food they hadn't been able to have since shipping out.

For that reason, I decided the best thing to make today would be an old fashioned peach cobbler, something soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines no doubt fantasized about on nights where they were feeling homesick and would soon get to enjoy once they got home. Although this is a little different from other cobblers I've made, I can safely say this was tasty and definitely worth bringing to any VJ Day parties you might be planning yourself.