You know I like sharing helpful ideas here on Hip Forums for all groups. Including people who raise children. Parents and educators, for example. I'm never going to have children myself. And I actually tend to avoid them anyways. Because frankly, I don't like them or being around them sometimes. (Did you ever notice kids, especially very young ones. When they walk into a room, they have to touch everything? Touch everything with their germy, unwashed hands?) But I remember, for example, when I was a child myself. And the fun things that the adults used to do for us children. Most of them taught us a lesson, perhaps scientific or historical. And they were always simple, so we could try them out later ourselves at home. For example, did you know? In George Washington's time, popcorn was served as a breakfast food? It was served in a bowl with milk and Maple syrup. Ben Franklin used to enjoy it that way. And, popcorn is the only snack that is has good nutritional value and is actually healthy for you. If you're a teacher, you could do that in class one day. I think microwave popcorn would probably work for this. Just make sure it is the plain popcorn. Also, you know I once found this book by author Madeleine Cosman. Fabulous Feasts. I think the book was meant for a more mature audience though. In it, Cosman tells how she often has Medieval-themed parties for all her friends, where they dress up in Medieval costumes. Then she serves them some of the unique recipes in the book. They all come from the Middle Ages, but she uses contemporary ingredients you can find in any store. But I found the book in the U of M, Dearborn, MI library in 1991. And some of her recipes teach an interesting story in history. For example humble pie: 3 pounds honey-comb tripe 1 teaspoon powdered gnger 3 cups water 1 Tablespoon vinegar 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 2 cups beef broth 9-inch pastry shell 1 cup wine 1/4 teaspoon pepper Boil tripe in water and Salt for 1/2 hour. Preheat oven to 275°. Drain tripe and discard boiling water. Cut tripe into small pieces, about 1 inch across. In heavy covered casserole, combine broth, spices, wine, vinegar, and tripe. Bring to simmer. Bake at slowest simmer for 10 hours until tripe is tender. Reset oven to 400°. Put tripe in pastry shell. Bake for 40 minutes until pie is set and crust nicely browned. Before serving, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on crust of pastry. Making that in your class one day would also teach your students about history, about the dish humble pie. When someone is forced to endure humiliation, we say they eat humble pie. Actually, that is just a play on words. The original name was umble pie. The word humble actually comes from "umbles", which is plural of numble, or deer innards. The name lost the "n" because people kept referring to it as "an numble" due to a process in languages called assimilation. Yeah, humble pie was fed to servants of lower rank during medieval times after the hunt, while their masters ate the better cuts of meat from the venison. Cosman also has some very tasty food in her book. Like the breakfast dish Potrous, or coddled egg: 1 raw egg 1 sliver spicy Cheddar cheese ½ teaspoon butter, for greasing ⅛ teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon Ricotta cheese ¼ teaspoon dried sweet Basil 1 Tablespoon honey ½ teaspoon crushed fresh Sorrel ½ teaspoon spicy brown mustard Break the egg into the well-greased coddler, piercing the yolk. Carefully spoon the ricotta into the center of the Egg. Make a cavity in the Ricotta and then spoon in the Honey. Into a well in the Honey, spoon the Mustard. Place the Cheddar sliver in the middle of the Mustard. Cover the coddler. Cook egg in coddler for about 7 minutes. Serve hot. I made that one for myself once or twice in the past. And I just used American cheese. As I said, it's just a breakfast dish that people still make today. She also has a lot of other recipes in that book that tell a story. And they often contain very simple ingredients you can find in any store. Like in her recipe for vegetable gruel. She says you should use a special grain for this recipe. But ordinary Grape Nuts cereal would do, if that's all you can find in the store. As I said, Cosman's book was meant for a more mature audience. But you can share the recipes themselves with whomever you wish. As I said, I have been sharing them with people for 30 years now. I usually don't even tell them where I got them. Many of her recipes are unique. But many of them are still around today, and very healthy too. Madeleine Cosman has an interesting story too. She lived in New York and California, where she taught Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the City College of New York Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She also advocated for immigration reform and also using old Medieval health practices. Like I said, I first heard of her from that book in 1991, where she said she held Medieval-themed parties for her friends. I also was just reading online now, that she was rather conservative. And some people found her views and statements, on politics and medicine for example, kind of controversial. But I still love her book. You should buy it if you get the chance. It's interesting.
