The Food Timeline

If you're a Foodie and historian, you'll be delighted with the info at The Food Timeline. I've had this link for years now but refer to it often and did so again this morning when an armored D desired to know what knights ate for breakfast. BTW, did you know they had pancakes and waffles in medieval Europe?

For your enjoyment, here's a Foodie quote from the ever-quotable Shakespeare:

Touchstone: No, by mine honour, but I was bid to come for you.
Rosalind: Where learned you that oath, fool?
Touchstone: Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they were good pancakes and swore by his honour the mustard was naught: now I’ll stand to it, the pancakes were naught and the mustard was good, and yet was not the knight forsworn.

[As You Like It Act I, Scene II]

DVD Review: Wives and Daughters

The children and I love Wives and Daughters. We first watched it a few months ago when I borrowed it from the library. This weekend, at D's request, we borrowed it again. We watched the first half of the miniseries last night. It was hard to tear ourselves away from it to get ready for bed. We can't wait to finish it today - even though we already know how it ends. Unlike the unfinished novelby Elizabeth Gaskell, the miniseries actually has an ending. (You can read Wives and Daughters and Elizabeth Gaskell's other works online here.) We enjoy all of the well-rounded characters, which are played by very talented actors. It is to P&P3's credit that three of its actors were also in Wives and Daughters: Tom Hollander (Osborne Hamley) will be Mr. Collins, the lovely Rosamund Pike (Lady Harriet Cumnor) will be Jane Bennet, and Penelope Wilton (Mrs. Hamley) will be Mrs. Gardiner.

The 3 disc set offers:

a 20-minute documentary, The Making of Wives and Daughters

a 55-minute portrait, "Who the Dickens is Mrs. Gaskell"

a who's who guide to the stars

The "making of" documentary was interesting but I was disappointed after watching the biography of Mrs. Gaskell. It makes one a little sad when you learn of a great writer's flawed personal life; I felt the same way when I read Charles Dickens' biography. Regardless of Mrs. Gaskell's personal life, Wives and Daughters is a great family movie and provides the opportunity to discuss many topics, such as honoring parents, duty to family, choosing a spouse, and the unseeable consequences of our actions.

Here are two funny quotes from Wives and Daughters:

Miss Phoebe: We always knew Roger Hamley loved our Molly.
Miss Browning: We knew no such thing, Phoebe.
Miss Phoebe: Well, he rode seven miles to bring her a wasp's nest and you don't do that for just anybody!

Claire Gibson: Riches are a great snare you know.
Mr. Gibson: Be thankful you're spared temptation, my dear.

Calories Burned Calculator

iVillage has a nifty calories burned calculator. It turns out that when I walk for 5 minutes on my inclined treadmill that I'm burning about 30 calories. When I bicycle for 30 minutes with the family I'm burning about 245 calories. When I spend an hour Blessing my home, I'm burning about 153 calories. This is all very interesting. Most calories-burned calculators I've seen ignore the exercise of keeping the house. I like this one.

Update: Name Brand Clothes At Thrift Store Prices

I have an update to my post Name Brand Clothes at Thrift Store Prices. I signed up on the Beall's Outlet website to be a VIP Shopper and receive

advance notice of when the DOTS move, when new markdowns are taken and when brand name receipts arrive

in the stores. To thank me, Beall's Outlet emailed me a 10% off coupon. I thought this might help anyone who lives near a Beall's Outlet.