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The Washington Apple
Found these on my doorstep when I got home from work last night. It’s real! Now available from University of Oklahoma Press or your favorite online bookseller.
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The Surprising History Behind “as American as Apple Pie”
How a phrase that didn’t exist until 1924 became an iconic food metaphor When I give talks about my book, people often ask where the phrase “as American as apple pie” came from.…
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How Arbuckle’s Ariosa Coffee Sparked a Legal Battle
America has long been a nation of coffee drinkers. Decades before Starbucks introduced Americans to Frappuccinos, another company was dominating the coffee market: Arbuckle Brothers. Born in Pittsburgh in 1839, John Arbuckle, Jr.…
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The Presidential Scandal that Spawned Two Desserts: Part 1
It’s President’s Day, the perfect time to dive into the origins of two popular 1970s desserts: Watergate Cake with Cover-up Frosting and Watergate Salad. Both take their name from Richard Nixon’s infamous Watergate…
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Debunking Viral Recipes: Water Pie
I enjoy watching cooking videos. In recent years, content creators have recreated several historic recipes with results that range from delicious to disgusting. While these videos are highly entertaining, the historian in me…
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Betty Crocker’s Christmas Cookies
Merry Christmas! It’s the time of year for spending time with family and friends, and for some of us, lots of baking. We have our holiday favorites: rolled sugar cookies, ginger snaps, pecan…
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Shipwreck: A Historic Fire Lookout Dish
Last weekend, my husband and I attempted to stay at Surveyors Lookout in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest near Avery, Idaho. Fire towers are an iconic part of western forests. Before the advent…
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Summer apple adventures
This year, it’s been my pleasure to serve on the Washington Humanities Speakers Bureau. I’ve been traveling around the state talking about my book The Washington Apple, now available in paperback! If you’re…
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French Women Don’t Get Fat?
It’s the time of year for resolutions and a host of diet advertisements and articles to accompany them, which makes it the perfect time to review The Low Calorie French Cookbook by Marguerite…
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Pancakes and Camping
Labor day has come and gone, but fall is still a great time for camping. A few weeks ago we stayed at a Forest Service cabin in the mountains. While we did not…
