Miscellany
( Webester's Dictionary, 1895)
The Farmer's Almanac, 1853
A dirty jack-towl, a dish-cloth, and a wig;
A foot of a stocking, three caps and a frill,
A brush and six buttons, mouse trap and quill;
A comb and a thimble, with Madonna bands,
A box of specific for chaps in the hands;
Some mace and some cloves tied in a rag,
An empty thread-paper, and blue in a bag;
Short pieces of ribbon, both greasy and black;
A grater and nutmeg, the key of the jack;
An inch of wax candle, steel and a flint,
A bundle of matches, a parcel of mint;
A lump of old suet, a crimp for the paste,
A pair of red garters, a belt for the waist;
A rusty skewer, a broken brass cock,
Some onions and tiner, and the drawer lock;
A bag for the butter, a bunch of old keys,
Two pieces of soap and a large slice of cheese;
Five pewter teaspoons, a large slice of rosin,
The feet of a hare, and corks by the dozen;
A card to tell fortunes, a spong and a can,
A pen without ink, and a small patty pan;
A rolling-pin pasted, and common prayer book,
Are the things which I found in the drawer of the COOK,"
Based on a poem by Tina Trivett
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress undeneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and somtimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for the shy kids
And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled,
it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in the apples that had fallen from the trees.
When dinner was ready, Grandma waked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in form the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents somthing that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.
We may live without poetry, music, and art:
We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
He may live without books,--what is knowledge but grieving?
He may live without hope,--what is hope but deceiving?
He may live without love,--what is passion but pining?
But where is the man that can live without dining?
Lucile: Part 1, Canto 2 XIX ( Owen Meredith,1860)
There is in every cook's opinion
No savoury dish without an onion:
But lest your kissing should be spoiled
The onion must be thoroughly boiled.
For pottage and puddings and custards and pies,
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies,
We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon,
If it were not for pumpkins we should be undoon.
Watch above a flame,
Keeping it a glowing thing,
For the ones who came,
Tried, hungry, when the night
Marked a kitchen's warm red light.
Nothing lovelier, I think,
Than a women's face,
Calmy bent above a fire,
As with quiet grace,
She moves deft hands to make
Food more wholesome for love's sake.
Something great and beauitful,
In her simple art.
Something to delight the mind,
And make glad the heart;
Women tending fires that men
May be strong to work again.
Grace Noll Crowell
Kitchenology with Princepea Friends, 1933
(Cook Book of Tested Recipes, 1914)
Draw the egg of violet hue
Means friends fond and true.
Pink will bring you luck,
A lover full of pluck.
Gladly take the egg of green
Good fortune soon will be seen.
Wealth and happiness with the egg of gray
Keep it and hide safely away.
The egg of blue
Means lovers few.
Do not touch the egg of red,
If you do you�ll never wed.
A lover this very night,
If you draw the egg of white.
You�ll marry in another town�
If you choose the egg of brown.