WHO MAKES MUCH of a MIRACLE......

 MIRACLES by WALT WHITMAN   (1819-1892) written in 1856  as "Poem of Perfect Miracles". Appeared again, revised, in 1881

 Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles.

 Wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,

 Or stand under trees in the woods, or talk with any one I love....

Rona from the hill

 Or sit at table at dinner with the rest

 Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car

 Or watch honey bees buy around the hive of a summer forenoon

 Or animals feeding in the field

Discovery Passage

 Or bids, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,

Mt. Washington range

 Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright

Simon from the hill

 Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring

 These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles

 To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle

 Every cubic inch of space is a miracle

 Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,

 Every foot of the interior swarms with the same

 To me the sea is a continual miracle,

Vancouver Island range

 The fishes that swim, the rocks the motion of the waves the ships with men in them.

 What stranger miracles are there?

Mr. Spencer from the hill

Photographs 2020

WINTERSCAPE.......

 "It was one of those days when the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade..." - Charles Dickens

 "Even the strongest blizzards start with a single snowflake....."
                                       -Sara Raasch

 "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant...."
                                     -Anne Bradstreet

 "If winter comes, can spring be far behind...." -Percy Bysshe Shelley

 "A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things..." -G R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones.

 "A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water...." - Carl Reiner

 "Winter changes into stone the water of heaven and the heart of man...." - Victor Hugo

 "Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people's legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world...."
                                           - Sara Addison Allen

 "Winter is the time for comfort, for a talk by the fire, it is the time for home..." - Edith Sitwell

Photographs 2020

GINGERSNAPS and beyond......civil war recipes

"I think food is actually very beautiful in itself..." -Delia Smith

Some dishes still served today, which hearken from the Civil war are as follows: Cold Ham Cake, Pickled Eggs, Pickled Fish, Hasty Pudding, Scotch Hash, Biscuits, Pot Pie, Jerky, Swamp cabbage Stew, Salad dressing, Horehound candy, Gingersnaps ( also known as Hospital Gingerbread since it was given to invalids)

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN’s GINGER COOKIES (adapted from Eliza Leslie’s receipt book “A useful companion for large or small families” 1847)

They were invented by medieval Monks in Franconia, Germany. Earliest recipe record was from 1296  . They came to America  with the colonists. Tea always included cucumber sandwiches, cakes and gingersnaps. They were first mentioned in 1805 . When Abraham Lincoln was  in a debate with Stephen Douglas and he told a story about the gingerbread men his mother made when he was a boy. 

Combine a pint of West India molasses, half pound butter, ¼ pound of brown sugar, two big spoonfuls of ginger, small teaspoon of soda, and enough flour to make a dough you can roll out. 

Smack the dough with a rolling pin so it will be crisp when baked. Cut into shapes or circles. Bake in moderate oven, after pricking the shapes with a fork.

 These are wonderful for a trip you might be taking on a boat. Will stay nice for weeks.

"A great dinner can change your day around."

Brett Gelman

And now for two recipes that actually go together....................

PICKLED FISH and DRESSING.

PICKLED FISH 1865

“Standard ration for army soldiers during Civil War consited of 10 oz bacon, 1 pound fresh beef, 12 oz dried fish or 16 ounces pickled fish,1 pound corn meal, five times a week. 1 pound of soft bread, or hard bread twice a week. Coffee, tea, sugar for women and children when necessary.” –Alderson, “Influence of Military Rule”

Take any fish . Scrub. Clean. Dry. Cut into chunks. Put in a jar with salt, allspice, and horseradish, and onions. Stuff it up to the brim of the jar. Then put jar in a warm oven for a few hours. Make sure the oven is the right temp. Too hot and the fish will bake. 

 You want the fish to wither. This will keep six months.Keep in a cold cellar for six months at least.  (By that time it will be good and rotten. Yummy)

SALAD DRESSING 1862  ( pairs nice with the pickled fish)

1.Take a mushy cooked potatoe, preferably one that has  been around a day or two, and grate it.

2. Add the yoks of two cold  hard boiled eggs that you have saved  for this purpose

3. Put into a clean bowl, with a soup spoonful of dry mustard, a pinch of salt, a tiny bit of pepper, and cayenne, if you have that in the pantry. Mix well with a clean wooden spoon.

4. Add a beaten egg , just gathered from your hens, or saved from the week,  and a spoonful of anchovies, and work together.

5. Stir with your right hand and then with your left as you pour in oil  a bit at a time to form a gooey paste.

6. Still stirring and switching hands as your hands tire, add equal amounts of more oil and vinegar.

7. It should become a stiffish white  sauce.

8. Add some milk if you have some on hand to dilute  the consistency

9. This dressing is good on pickled fish, salads, sandwiches . Any food that  may require extra taste, or an extra “umpfff”.

LAST RECIPE in the group is the BEEF and PIGEON PIE with the addition of pigeon feathers in the decoration.  A combination that will have your guests talking about it for years.....

If you have been fortunate to have acquired a couple of chubby pigeons, you an use them in  a delicious pie to which you may add  leftover beef. It will make the pie less gamey.

To prepare the pigeons for the pie. Slather butter and salt over the inside and outside of pigeons. Chop up their livers and lay aside. Season  gizzards. 

Bake  slowly for best flavor. Take the meat, liver and gizzards, mix with the beef you have waiting on hand. Combine with leftover vegetables.

Make a quick pastry, form into the pie pan. Put the ingredients into shell and top with pastry. Cut a hole in the top and stuff in the wings to look like a flag.  It will look most impressive when you bring it to the table…..feathers and all. 

Bake till pastry is not raw and meat is sizzling. 

And now you're ready for your first Civil war dinner party.........

Photographs 2020