Ruth Tenzer Feldman's Blog, page 26
February 8, 2012
Bubble and Squeak!
I promised Lucy, who commented on the recent cookbook post, that I would tell you more about Bubble and Squeak. Just in case you want to know, none of the fictional characters in Blue Thread ate Bubble and Squeak except for Mrs. Jenkins when she was not cooking for the Josefsohn family. (I can't speak for the real people who populate the book.) Mrs. Jenkins didn't rely on a recipe, since she used leftovers. But if she were using a recipe, it would likely resemble this one:
From Washington...
February 6, 2012
"Give Us a Vote and We Will Cook…"
Thanks to the Feeding America archives at Michigan State University, I discovered Washington Women's Cook Book, compiled by Linda Deziah Jennings and published by the Washington Women's Suffrage League in 1908 or 1909. Delightful!
The book was part of a fundraising campaign. I can't say whether sales were successful, but Washington State men did give their women the vote in 1910. Smart move.
The book has hundreds of recipes for "old-time" favorites and a bunch I never knew existed. Ever...
January 31, 2012
Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour
History and baseball enthusiast that I am, I'm delighted to feature Richard Michelson's Lipman Pike: America's First Home Run King on the Blue Thread blog post for February 10. I'm a stop on the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. It's a virtual book tour, in which you go to a website on or after the advertised date to read an author's or illustrator's interview. My interview with Richard Michelson will, of course, be fantastic!
Sydney Taylor? She was born Sarah Brenner and wrote the...
January 27, 2012
Goodbye to Hull House
Hull House, 2010
Sad news today. Hull House, the settlement house that Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr started in Chicago in 1889 to help immigrants and poor families, has run out of money and is closing its doors. The original Hull House was modeled on a reform movement in England, in which rich and or middle-class settlement workers, or residents, would live in a poor neighborhood and share their knowledge with their neighbors. There were classes in everything from basic childcare to...
January 25, 2012
Ladies' Home Journal, Then and Now
Meanwhile, back at Blue Thread:
The smell of fresh bread lured me to the kitchen the next morning. Mrs. Jenkins…set the [sourdough] starter aside and served us coffee. "Ladies' Home Journal is against women voting. Big magazine like that, who am I to say otherwise?"
December 1883 issue
Starting as a one-page supplement to Cyrus Curtis's Tribune and Farmer, Mrs. Jenkins' favorite magazine took on a separate identity in 1883 as The Ladies Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper. A year's...
January 20, 2012
Pepper the Press
Had Miriam Josefsohn, the main character in Blue Thread, had a love of knitting or a fascination with sea creatures, I would have been fully prepared to write about her. But she was determined to learn about typography and printing. She had to pick two topics about which I was pretty much clueless.
Edmund Gress's 1910 book tutored me in all things typographic. The quest to figure out the details of early twentieth-century printing presses was harder and a lot more exciting.
I found some old...
January 16, 2012
Gussie's Gown Dresses Up OJM Exhibit
With humor, flair, and respect, the Oregon Jewish Museum has turned Gussie Reinhardt—or at least her dress—into an advocate for woman suffrage. I'd like to think that Gussie would have been delighted.
I invite you to meet the dress in person at a modest exhibit at the Oregon Jewish Museum in Portland from January 19, 2012 through May 6, 2012. It's part of the centennial celebration of the enlightened day—November 5, 1912—when Oregon women got the right to vote, with the help of some (likely...
January 13, 2012
Calling all Bloggers! The Blue Thread Blog Tour
Just like Miriam finds herself making connections that span thousands of years in Blue Thread, I'm hoping to make some connections as well—through a blog tour.
To celebrate Blue Thread's release in February, I'm looking for a few blogs on which to make an appearance. My publishers and I have a lot of ideas for posts, but I'm calling on you bloggers out there to rise to the challenge.
Possible topics include:
-Women's suffrage
-Jewish heritage
-Book-inspired recipes
-1912 fashion
If you're...
January 11, 2012
The Books Are In!
Abbey Gaterud, the interim publisher at Ooligan Press, interrupted my regularly scheduled life yesterday to announce:
THE BOOKS ARE IN!When I arrived at Ooligan HQ, folks were in a total frenzy! OK, not really. Everyone was sort of sitting around, getting the business done. A large box labeled RUTH FELDMAN occupied one chair. The box looked bored.
Eliza, Stefani, Lucy, and Abbey (l. to r.) celebrate the newest arrival at Ooligan Press.
But when I entered the office, there were hugs all...
January 9, 2012
New Year's Resolutions and Girls Inc.
I've given up on New Year's resolutions. I once resolved to lose ten pounds. That year, in the aftermath of food poisoning, I did lose a pound a week for more weeks than I had ever intended. No fun.
But I do want to remind you of my agreement with you on the Pursuing Justice page of this blog site. I promised you I'd devote at least ten per cent of everything I earn as a writer—starting with the February 1 publication of Blue Thread—to help girls and women get education, health care...
