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Recipe for Spring: Start with 1.4 %Egg Yolk. Add Brain Freeze.
When he took on the office of the President of the United States in 1801, Thomas Jefferson brought with him his love for ice cream. Having most likely gotten his favorite ice cream recipe from his time...
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A Highfalutin Riot: Fighting for the Right to Party at the Ballet
On the evening of May 29, 1913, many upstanding ladies and gentlemen of Paris, those with an appreciation for high culture and fine art, headed to the recently opened Théatre des Champs-Elysées for a...
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Popcorn for One
This past Saturday night, I did something new and wonderful. My husband spent the day with an old buddy of his and my children both attended an event Saturday night, so I found myself with some time on...
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Forget the Bunny: A Case for the Easter Fox
With Easter Sunday nearly upon us, it’s probably time we talk about rabbits. I have a complicated relationship with these admittedly adorable creatures. My first favorite stuffed animal was a...
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A Paper Book Smack Dab in the Middle of Nowhere
The intersection of State Route 206 and Morton Hill Road in Sullivan County, New York, could legitimately be considered the middle of nowhere. It’s a few miles north of Roscoe, New York, which sports a...
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Slipping in Unicorn Puke
In the early part of the fourth century BC, a historian by the name of Ctesias returned to his native Greece after traveling through India and Persia, where he served a number of years as physician to...
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The Ultimate Grilled Bagel Sandwich. Trust Me.
On September 12, 1683, after two long months of siege by the Ottoman Empire, the city of Vienna, Austria was rescued by the largest cavalry charge in history. Led by King Jan Sobieski III of Poland,...
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One Brick at a Time: The Greatest Book on Earth
I don’t usually post on Tuesdays. But today is a special day, because five years ago, on May 9, 2012, I posted for the first time in this space as the Practical Historian. I didn’t really know what the...
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A Cherry Popsicle and Other Things Mom Really Wants for Mother’s Day
If you live in the US (and you don’t live in a cave), I’m sure you know by now that this Sunday (May 14) is Mother’s Day. It’s hard to escape the ads for jewelry, and chocolate-covered strawberries,...
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A Flocking Good Time
On September 4, 1979, the students of the University of Wisconsin in Madison emerged from their dorms to attend their first classes of the semester and discovered their campus had been overrun. As...
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The Greatest Two Hours in Field Day
Yesterday I’m pretty sure I set a world record. I mean it’s not official or anything and it probably doesn’t sound that impressive on this of all days, since today is the 82nd anniversary of “the...
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A Most Inestimable Piece of Balderdash
In 1834, not long after submitting to the Southern Literary Messenger the disturbing story “Berenice,” in which a man yanks the teeth from his wife’s corpse only to discover that she wasn’t quite dead...
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Piles and Piles of Laundry: What a Pain in the Bustle
On November 16, 1874, an Indiana man by the name of William Blackstone gave his wife what might at first sound like the worst birthday gift ever. A manufacturer of farm equipment, Blackstone was...
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Experiencing Technical Difficulties
Lately my youngest son, who tends to like to play the pessimist anyway, has become obsessed with things that don’t work. It’s something of a family joke that stems from our recent vacation to Disney...
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Ancient Toilets and A Little Inconvenience
In 1827, Englishman Charles Masson was a soldier for the East India Company, though not a particularly dedicated one. In that year, he deserted and began what became a several year journey of...
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A Clever Person Does NOT Stick His Head Inside a Lion’s Mouth
In 1820, nineteen-year-old Isaac Van Amburgh accepted a position with the Zoological Institute of New York, as the cage boy whose job it was to clean out the cages of the exotic animals kept by the...
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Let’s Just Call Those the X-Days
What I really need is a do-over. At the start of the summer, all those sunny weeks and lazy days ago, I had visions of happy kids and chore charts and nutritious picnics, followed by well-sunscreened...
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Liars, Outlaws, and Mandatory Fun
We’re in our second week of a heat wave here in the St. Louis area, the kind that pushes the heat index well over 1oo degree Fahrenheit and keeps us all stuck inside and miserable. We’re fortunate to...
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A Talking Dog that Cares About Grandmama
This week brought with it at least two stunning pieces of news. The first is that highly decorated Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps does not swim as fast as a great white shark, even if he wears a...
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Because No One Wants to Be William the Goat Face
My youngest son has had a kind of juvenile sounding nickname since he was itty bitty. That’s partly because he was itty bitty, but also because he shares a first name with one of my cousins and it...
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