BLUE KITCHEN TURNED 15 LAST WEEKEND. Yep, we first posted on November 6, 2006. Not sure what the traditional gift for the 15th anniversary is, but we’re giving ourselves the week off. We’ll be back next week with a new recipe (we’re pretty sure). Oh, and the New Perfection above? It’s the kerosene cook stove on the Logsdon Sand and Gravel Co. towboat we saw at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa, a few weeks ago. The stern wheeler towboat was built in 1940. The stove is probably the same vintage—they were made from 1907 up to the 1950s. Who knows how many meals it must have cooked for the crew that took this boat up and down the Mississippi.
Seeing stuff like this is just one of the things that keeps us interested in food—making it, eating it, thinking and talking about it. And writing about it here, even after 15 years. See you next week.
After 15 years you definitely deserve a week off. 🙂 That’s a LONG time, and blogging has changed so much (particularly in the last 8 years or so). Congrats. And here’s to another 15!
Thanks, John! And you’ve been at it for 11 years now, so you know what a long time in blogging feels like.
Congratulations!
Well deserved time off to my favorite blog and bloggers.
Everyone should be making time to play!
Bonne anniversaire et félicitations from the Périgord!
It’s also our 15th anniversary of reading your recipes every week, so it’s been good for all of us.
Winter’s closing in here, to recall one of our favorites from those hallowed songs of the 60s (maybe 70s? Who knows? We’re too old to remember). The fields are frozen and the trees are bare except for the chestnut trees, which drop their leaves late in the season, all the potted herbs have been brought into the veranda to winter over, the wild boar are running rampant and the stags are rutting and the fireplaces are roaring and we’re sleeping under mounds of goosedown. And it’s only November.
When our fingers thaw out in the morning, we begin to put together cassoulets and choucroutes royales and potages Saint-Germain and lentilles with Montbéliard sausages and boeufs bourguignons and other rib-sticking peasant dishes. We’re not above buying a pre-prepared lasagne from Italy for nights when we’re lazy. I’ve got leeks and potatoes today, so that dictates making a soup, probably not a vichyssoise, but something hearty with lardons and spinach and a bit of nutmeg.
We’ve ordered our turkeys for the annual Thanksgiving feast we’ve been holding here for 6 years now with all the neighbors and villagers. It’s become a tradition here; last year, when we couldn’t do it because of Covid, people were disconsolate and beseechingly asked for takeout, which we happily complied with, though it was frankly a PITA. It felt like being a market vendor, handing out packages of roast turkey and dressing and gravy and fresh cranberry sauce with oranges and mashed potatoes and butternut casserole and roasted cauliflower with pistachios and pumpkin pie to lines of people in the dark by the light of a November moon. There was a strangely Medieval quality to it all, like having pilgrims stop by your wayside for sustenance on their way south through the Pyrenées to Compostelle.
This year, we’re gearing up for another in-person gathering, but I’ve asked people to help out, and Isabelle is bringing the “gros purée de pommes de terre” and Madeleine is making a pumpkin flan, and others will bring the wine and apéritifs. Clem has cleaned out the veranda, and we’ve got enough fuel for the two huge café heaters to keep people warm eating outside. We’ll have all the (four) fireplaces burning and extra gloves and hats if people are cold. Cannot wait to renew this tradition and have our neighbors and villagers all gathered under our roof (well, one of them) again.
Thanks so much again for your many years of enticing our palates.
Mel & Steve
I’m fairly new to your blog which I might add, is a great blog to find ideas for out of the ordinary dishes, so wish you a much deserved week off.
That said, because today November 11 th is Veteran’s Day in America, I do hope you try to put aside a wee bit of time to visit your neighbourhood Cenotaph to pay your respect for the many who risked their lives to give us the freedom we have today thanks to the sacrifices they made for us.
If you’re interested excerpts from VA aka department of Veteran’s affairs.
History of Veterans Day
World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France.
However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”
The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.
In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”
An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.” Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
“Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.”
Happy anniversary!
Your posts and your recipes have added so much joy to my life. Thank you!
Thanks, everyone!
I somehow drifted away from my weekly check-in. I am sorry I did this. Congratulations, and thank you for many recipes I followed in the past.
Anita! Glad you checked in again. Hope you’re doing well and happy new year!