I was sitting in on Charlotte's Medieval History class when she mentioned the super weird phenomenon of St. Vitus' Dance, also know as Dancing Mania.
It's just what you'd think--outbreaks of uncontrolled dancing that swept through Europe during the late middle ages and even into the 1600's. Participants often did not live where they danced, or traveled from place to place, and no one seemed to be immune. The outbreaks mostly occurred during...
Okay, so I'm usually wary of giveaways, BUT we have an extra copy of Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages kicking around the Brainery, and we might as well do something useful with it.
How did we end up with two copies of this lovely book? Let's just say I don't pay all that much attention to what's in the Amazon cart before I place orders, and sometimes multiple copies of things magically arrive.
And though I'm way too...
If I had my way about things, I'd just hibernate until spring. Since only bears and frogs get that luxury, though, it's time to dig out some wintertime hobbies.
As far as I can tell, cold weather is all about baking. Butter stays firm, helping make flaky pie crusts, and doughs rise nice and slow giving a better (if more patience-requiring) flavor. It's also a great excuse to keep your oven on all day - "I swear it's still pre-heating!" - to...
Yep, December is the busiest month ever, but you can't possibly go to a holiday party every single night, can you? (Well, maybe you can.)
Some highlights?
Lots of things to make those parties more awesome: punch, bitters, dumplings, ravioli, and an explanation of where some holiday traditions come from
Things to do inside during the winter: archery, chess, screenprinting, video making on your phone
Things that don't really fit into...
I was flipping through On Food and Cooking by the awesome Harold McGee tonight and stumbled on the #1 fact of all time:
Cheeses made with rennet melt, while cheeses made with acids don't.
This is amazing! We've all tried to make a grilled cheese with some leftover queso blanco (haven't we?) only to discover that it doesn't work at all, much to our disappointment. Well, now you know that it's because queso blanco, along with...
