Onion Bouillon from 1900 recipe (Transcribed from The Centreville Press April 5, 1900, Centreville, Alabama) ONION BOUILLON One cup each of finely chopped cracklings, onions and cooked dried apples or peaches, one-half cup rice, tea-spoonful of salt and one-half teaspoon pepper. Boil in three pints of water until it can be pressed through a sieve; […]
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[old pics & films] Fired from her second film, she later became a famous actress in the 1940s and 1950s. Do you know her name?
She began her film career at the age of twelve, with the encouragement of her mother. After the film, her mother gave her a make-over, bleached her hair platinum blonde, then she used false identification, and she got a film contract for her daughter. When the deception was discovered, a short time later, she was fired. Do you know […]
DYK: Loose cannon is actually a nautical term
Today, ‘Loose cannon’ means an unpredictable person or thing, liable to cause damage if not kept in check by others The phrase is actually a nautical term. It derives from the days when sailing warships were armed with enormous cannons on wheels; if a tethered cannon broke loose it could do enormous damage to the ship. […]
It was rumored that President Harding’s wife killed him by poisoning him – what do you think?
President Harding suddenly died in office in 1923 while talking to his wife in a hotel room. He had been ill for weeks and rumors surrounded his death. Some people even accused his wife of poisoning him. Watch the films below and draw your own conclusions. President Warren G. Harding Vintage film from 1920s shows President […]
Taste from the past – Mush sticks from 1900 recipe
Mush sticks from 1900 recipe (Transcribed from The Centreville Press April 5, 1900, Centreville, Alabama) MUSH STICKS Make stiff cornmeal mush, season a pint with a saltspoon of pepper and half-teaspoonful of salt and pour into a mold. When cold, cut into sticks one inch thick and six inches long, roll in melted butter, place […]
DYK: He was a ‘son of a gun’?
Son of a gun seems to be a very strange phrase. A prevailing theory is that it comes from the 1800s, when British sailors took women along on extended voyages. When babies were born at sea, the mothers delivered them in a partitioned section of the gundeck. Because no one could be sure who the true fathers […]
DYK: The word spinster once had different meaning
A Spinster is an unmarried woman today, but once the word had a different meaning. Originally a spinster was simply a woman who made her living by spinning wool on a spinning wheel. However it was so common for single women to support themselves that way that by the 18th century ‘spinster’ was a synonym […]
{Amazing old film & pics} Woody Guthrie describes his personal experiences in the 1930s dust bowl
I can understand now why they thought it was the end of the world – sitting in the dark for hours, day after day – it’s hard to imagine Sallisaw, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. Oklahoma drought farmers. “Nothing to do. These fellers,” said one of them, “are goin to stay right here till they dry up […]
Taste from the past – Bernaise Sauce from 1900 recipe
(Transcribed from The Centreville Press April 5, 1900, Centreville, Alabama) BERNAISE SAUCE Stir in a saucepan over the fire until jellylike the yolks of two eggs, two tablespoonfuls each of stock and oil; take from the fire; add slowly half a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, one chopped olive and half a tablespoonful each of finely […]
The Night 30,000 people drowned in the Baltic Sea within minutes
We often remember the Titanic sea disaster, but did you know there was a sea disaster that even surpasses the Lusitania and Titanic combined. Excerpts (in italics) are from The Milwaukee Sentinel Feb. 7, 1954, The Night 30,000 people drowned in the Baltic Sea by C. S. Forester. On 30 January 1945, 30,000 people mostly […]