by Kate Dolan | Oct 19, 2014 | Articles, Colonial America, Food, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History
It would have been very easy to set the table in the early 1600s. Guests wore their own knives to the table, and forks were only used as cooking tools in the kitchen, so they would not be laid out on the table either. Except in Italy. At about that time, an English...
by Kate Dolan | Oct 3, 2014 | Articles, Food, Latest Posts, Living History
Does it bother you that the person sitting next to you at the dinner table has a knife? Probably not. After all, you have one too. But more than that, the knife within easy grasp of you neighbor is about as sharp as a cotton ball. Not much of a threat. But in the old...
by Kate Dolan | Aug 22, 2014 | Articles, Food, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History
We may sometimes hesitate about which fork to use, but most of us don’t worry about our choice of spoon. That wasn’t always the case, however. In 1649, using the wrong spoon could get you killed, if the right person happened to notice. Diners in the English...
by Kate Dolan | Nov 15, 2013 | Food, Holidays, Latest Posts, Living History
The Christmas tradition I’m featuring this week is the Christmas pudding, which figures in the newest release in the Cotillion Christmas Traditions series, Helena’s Christmas Beau. I mentioned to my husband that I had incidents with flaming Christmas...
by Kate Dolan | Oct 25, 2013 | Food, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Regency
The word “festive” equals “party” in my world, and parties provide the perfect excuse to try new drinks with no persuasion needed. So for my blog about the release of the next book in the Cotillion Christmas Traditions Regency romance series—this one titled Festive...
by Kate Dolan | Jun 21, 2013 | Food, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Servants
England actually had a warm enough climate to grow wine grapes during the middle ages. Whether the wine would have been drinkable by today’s standards is unknown, but as the climate cooled during the “Little Ice Age” (from about 1350 to 1850), the British could not...
