Category: Bibliographies

Down the Rabbit Hole: Wandering through an Amazing Maze of Links

January 24, 2022

A long time ago, like many children, I read Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The White Rabbit always intrigued me. Walt Disney’s interpretation of the character, with his twitching, nervous upper lip and hoppity movements, made me laugh. As did his habit of clutching his timepiece, which I called a grandfather watch. Just like the … More Down the Rabbit Hole: Wandering through an Amazing Maze of Links

A Plethora of Food/Culinary Memoirs for Your Reading Pleasure

September 12, 2020

In doing some research recently, I realized just what an amazing treasure we food-and-book-lovers have with all the food/culinary memoirs that have been surfacing for years. And as luck would have it, as is wont to happen these days with a few clicks and the right keywords, I came across an amazing bibliography compiled by Jessica … More A Plethora of Food/Culinary Memoirs for Your Reading Pleasure

The Armchair Traveler’s Spain: Books and Stories Guaranteed to Saturate Your Soul with Duende

October 16, 2019

To set the mood for the journey: In describing art/literature/photography, we English speakers are limited by our language. Other cultures, other languages contain words conveying succinctly what it took James Elkins 28 pages – or 14,000 words – to describe in “What Photography Is”. In Spanish, he could have just said, “Duende”, a word loosely … More The Armchair Traveler’s Spain: Books and Stories Guaranteed to Saturate Your Soul with Duende

Introducing Sarah Rutledge, a Cookbook Author You’re Going to Get to Know Very Well!

May 31, 2019

I’d like to introduce you a most interesting woman, Sarah Rutledge. Call her Miss Sally, as did her kin and her friends. She wrote a cookbook, The Carolina Housewife, published in 1847, which tells a most remarkable story. Unlike Mary Randolph’s The Virginia Housewife (1824), which tended to focus more on the victuals cooked and … More Introducing Sarah Rutledge, a Cookbook Author You’re Going to Get to Know Very Well!

What’s That You Say??? Medieval Culinary Terminology Unmasked*

May 23, 2019

If you’ve ever tried to read Chaucer in the original language, you know what you’re up against when you tackle a recipe dating from the poet’s time period. Actually, when you read The Canterbury Tales, you have it fairly easy, for there’s a multitude of resources to help you as you plunge through Chaucer’s Middle … More What’s That You Say??? Medieval Culinary Terminology Unmasked*

Transcription of Medieval Documents, or, What an Online Resource!

May 15, 2019

As I mentioned, albeit briefly, in “A Hastiness of Cooks”: A Practical Handbook for Use in Deciphering the Mysteries of Historic Recipes and Cookbooks, For Living-History Reenactors, Historians, Writers, Chefs, Archaeologists, and, of Course, Cooks, transcription is one of those things that makes all the difference when you’re trying to recreate historic recipes or analyzing … More Transcription of Medieval Documents, or, What an Online Resource!

Many Different Faces: Bibliography’s Extended Family

May 24, 2018

Cousin Connie Atherton, or Constance as she wanted to be called – she always said it sounded more grownup,  you know – inherited Grandma’s large coffee-brown eyes. Grandpa’s curly black hair went to his great-grandson Jake , whose sister Mildred emerged from their mother Flora’s uterus with long tapered fingers, a Doppelganger of Uncle George, … More Many Different Faces: Bibliography’s Extended Family