Independence Day Menus

Edith/Maddie looking forward to a relaxing and delicious day north of Boston.

For people in the United States, the 4th of July is a celebration of our independence from being ruled by a monarch. Many people take the day off to have a picnic, maybe take in a parade, and often watch fireworks in the evening. Others save their independence festivities for Juneteenth.

For my grandmother Dorothy Henderson Maxwell, July 4, 1900 was her birthday! We always knew her age matched the year from Independence Day until New Year’s Day.

I’ve mentioned before that she and her younger brother Jimmy drove a Cole touring car across the country from Indianapolis to Berkley, California, in 1918. Dot’s father drove the other one carrying Dot’s mother and the four younger sisters. Sometimes the family camped along the way, but they occasionally splurged on a hotel.

I have Dot’s trip diary. It’s a treasure, on which my cousin’s husband recently did some much needed conservation on (merci, Laurent!). The diary includes two pages about Dot’s birthday celebration in Salt Lake City.

The menu reads: Salted nuts, fruit cocktail supreme, crackers. Steak and mushrooms, potatoes sauté, stuffed tomatoe [sic], corn muffins. Tomatoe and asparagus salad. Fresh strawberry ice cream, demi-tasse.

I think that menu sounds fabulous, but it’s too bad she didn’t also get a birthday cake! At least she got to dance – I mean, trip the light fantastic – with her brother, who was about two years younger. You can drop by Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen on July 12th for my recipe for fresh strawberry ice cream.

A fictional version of Dot is the lady PI in A Case for the Ladies, which is on an ebook sale all month to celebrate Dot and Amelia’s birthday month (Amelia’s birthday was the 26th).

Wickeds and Readers: What will you eat today? Is dancing on the schedule or a parade, or do you have a quiet day of reading planned?