Posts Tagged ‘Traditions & Lore’

Measuring Does Matter

Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Heart Shaped Measuring Cups

Heart Shaped Measuring Cups

An important factor in being a good cook is to understand how to properly measure ingredients. With many recipes, the correct measurement of ingredients can either make or break a recipe. This is especially true in baking where every tiny teaspoon counts!

There was a time when cookbooks did not use terms like teaspoon, tablespoon or cup. Instead, they used phrases like “nice leg of spring lamb” or a “handful” of beans. Sometimes, a recipe would reference the size needed to another item, such as “the size of a walnut.” Recipes would also indicate personal preference by terms like “sufficient” salt. After all, what is sufficient for one person may not be sufficient to another.

It wasn’t until 1896 when Fannie Farmer introduced the “Boston Cooking-School Cook Book” when exact measurements were introduced. In the United States, we generally measure liquid ingredients and dry ingredients by volume. Elsewhere in the world, cooks usually measure dry ingredients by weight. In fact, worldwide weight is typically the universal way of measuring.

Favors, Favors & More Favors

Friday, August 20th, 2010
Wedding Favors

Wedding Favors

Additional meanings have become attached to the wedding favor as time has passed. In total, the wedding favor is a symbol of well wishing for the five most important ingredients of a marriage bond: Health, Wealth, Happiness, Fertility and Long Life.

Essentially, the wedding favor is a symbol of love and respect from the bride and the groom, and a token of well wishing for their deliriously happy future together.  In addition, they add to the décor and overall theme of the wedding itself.

Wedding favors have become increasingly popular over the years as more and more people want small keepsakes to remember special occasions by.  The actual monetary ‘value’ of the gifts is relatively small now in comparison to our ancient Ancestors.  Common favor include ribbons, candies, picture frames, personalized book marks, laminated plaques, candy, seed packets, pillows, balloons and potpourri.

Wedding Favors have been around awhile

Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Wedding Favors

Wedding Favors

The tradition of giving wedding favors is rooted in ancient European history.  It was a ritual of common practice for wealthy aristocrats who were celebrating marriages, christenings, births and birthdays.  The bride and groom would give small presents, now known as favors, to their guests and well-wishers to thank them for sharing the momentous occasion.  Initially the favors were of great value, being made of expensive materials such as gold, silver, precious gems, porcelain or crystal with contents  great value, most notably sugar.  At that time, sugar was a very rare substance, prized for its suppose medicinal qualities.

Why Is There a Sprig of Live Ivy in the Bride’s Bouquet

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Ivy in Bridal BouquetIvy symbolizes eternal fidelity & wedded bliss. A popular Victorian tradition was for a bride to plant the ivy in her bouquet after the wedding and watch it grow through the years, passing down sprigs from the same plant for her daughters & granddaughters to use in their weddings.

Something old, something

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in her shoe:

Something old, Something Blue

This saying dates back to Victorian time.

Something  Old:
Represents the link with the bride’s family and the past. A common solution many bride’s choose is to wear a piece of family jewelry or their mother’s or grandmother’s wedding dress.

Something New:
Represents good fortune and success in the bride’s new life. The wedding dress is often chosen as the new item.

Something Borrowed:
To remind the bride that friends and family will be there for her when help is needed. The borrowed object might be something such as a lace handkerchief or an item of jewelry.

Something Blue:
Symbolizes faithfulness and loyalty and dates back to biblical times when blue represented purity. Frequently the bride’s garter is the blue item.

A Silver Sixpence in her Shoe is to wish the bride wealth, both financial and happiness.

First comes love. Then comes

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Daisy Wedding Cake

a cushion-cut diamond ring.  Next; a vintage-themed wedding with a fried-chicken station.  A wedding may be one of humankind’s oldest traditions, but the ingredients reflect the world we live in today.  Here’s todays top in cake flavors;

  1. pound cake with peach mousse
  2. red velvet cake
  3. dark chocolate cake
  4. almond cake with Bavarian cream filling
  5. spice cake with orange buttercream filling
  6. hummingbird cake (banana, pineapple, pecans) with cream cheese filling
  7. carrot cake with lemon filling
  8. grasshopper cake (mint and Oreos)
  9. Key-lime cake
  10. Banana-buttermilk cake with peanut butter filling

Legends of the Honeymoon

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Legend 3:
Honeymoon -  The word first appears in the 16th century. The honey is a reference to the sweetness of a new marriage. And the moon is not a reference to the lunar-based month, but rather a bitter acknowledgment that this sweetness, like a full moon, would quickly fade.

Legends of the Honeymoon

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Legend 2:

In ancient times, the Teuton people began the practice of the honeymoon. Teuton weddings were only held under the full moon. After the wedding, the bride and groom would drink honey wine for thirty days. Therefore, the period immediately following the wedding became known as the honeymoon. While the name survived, the purpose of the honeymoon changed. After the wedding, newlyweds would leave their family and friends to go and do what newlyweds are supposed to do. Today that purpose survives, only now a vacation is incorporated, usually to a romantic get-away locale.

Legends of the Honeymoon

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Legend 1:
In ancient times, many of the first marriages were by capture, not choice.  When early man felt it was time to take a bride, he would often carry off an unwilling woman to a secret place where her relatives wouldn’t find them.  While the moon went through all its phases, (about 30 days) they hid from the searchers and drank a brew made from honey.  Hence, we get the word, honeymoon.

The First Kiss

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

No ceremony is complete without the kiss. In fact, there was a time when an engagement would be null and void without one. Dating back from early Roman times, the kiss represented a legal bond that sealed all contracts.

The kiss that seals the wedding is much more than a sign of affection. It has long been a token of bonding – the exchange of spirits as each partner sends a part of the self into the new spouse’s soul, there to abide ever after.