Picnics and Parades ~ An Old Fashioned Memorial Day

Today it seems as though Memorial Day is the beginning of summer, rather than the summer solstice on June 21. Memorial Day marks the opening of pools and beach rentals. That is not the way our grandparents and theirs observed the day.

Memorial Day or Decoration Day was a day filled with parades and picnics. The entire town or city followed the marching bands and military units into the oldest of cemeteries. There they listened to music and speeches and then made their way to their family plots and unfurled a blanket and unbuttoned the picnic hamper.

The cemetery was almost a public park with natural areas and scenic vistas and a variety of sculpture. It was designed to be peaceful and quiet, well except for those bugles and trombones on parade days. Memorial days were most likely the busiest of visiting days in the cemetery.

With all of the festivity and then the work of tidying up the lots and placing flowers on the graves, visiting with neighbors, sustenance was a necessity.

In Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (1859), Isabella Beeton wrote of picnic menu items including: sweetened stewed fruit with plain pastry biscuits, cold plum pudding, cold meats, pigeon pie, lobster, fresh jam puffs, baskets of fresh fruit and cheese. She also includes breads and butter for tea. Beverages should include ale, wine, brandy, lemonade and soda water.

She warns of items not to be forgotten: cork screws, a bottle of vinegar, a stick of horseradish and a bottle of mint sauce. And of course, wine glasses, teacups and saucers and lump sugar and milk. (This info comes from a wonderful reference by Susan Williams: Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America)

The Victorians used convenient hampers and even make-shift ones of boxes, partitioned on the inside into compartments. Today it is much the same; all manner of baskets and hampers and totes can hold our picnic items. If you are in the market for a new tote of sorts, check out Picnic at Ascot, Inc. They have back packs and collapsible market baskets. The Impulse Wine and Cheese Set consists of: 2 cotton napkins (5 designs from which to choose), 1 corkscrew, 1 wood cutting board and one cheese knife. It closes up into a neat 8 1/2 X 12 packet and weighs, empty, one pound. The neatest item I saw was an ice cream tote!! Now you can take along your half-gallon of Bryers and it'll stay cold! No need for an ice cream maker.

One of the most popular picnic items today must be fried chicken. If you want something other than fast food fried chicken, here's a recipe ~ the secret is soaking the breasts overnight in buttermilk and frying in your grandmother's seasoned cast iron skillet. This comes from the humorous book Some Day You'll Thank Me For This: The Official Southern Ladies' Guide to Being A 'Perfect' Mother by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays:
6 chicken breasts buttermilk 2 eggs 2 cups whole milk 2 cups flour
salt and pepper to taste pinch of garlic powder 1/4 t. baking powder
fat for frying ( Crisco, vegetable oil or combination)
Soak breasts overnight in buttermilk.
Beat eggs and milk; dip chicken in mixture.
Combine flour, seasonings and baking powder in a brown grocery bag and shake to mix.
Shake the chicken one piece at a time until well coated.
Heat enough of the fat in the skillet to almost cover the chicken.
When you drop the chicken in, the fat should sizzle.
The art if frying chicken involves the grease, which must not burn the chicken but cooks it at an even, medium-hot level.
Do not crowd the chicken when frying.
Turn only once, when golden brown on one side.
Remove from the skillet and drain on a brown grocery bag that has been covered with a layer of paper towels, approximately 20 minutes.

It's not fast food, but I can smell it frying now!

And They're Off...

Anyone who follows horse racing knows that the Kentucky Derby was May 1st. As the Derby is an American tradition which started in the Victorian Era, what better way to celebrate the fastest two minutes in sports than with a festive afternoon tea filled with all the delights of Churchill Downs. There's just one problem, when we decided to have the tea we realized we didn't know quite as much about the Kentucky Derby as originally thought. So I sat down to do some digging on the subject. Imagine my surprise when the research proved to be one of the most interesting days I've spent at the Hunter House Victorian Museum. I thought I'd be learning about the history of the race, the food served there, and the motivation behind women wearing the most elaborate and outlandish hats to such an event. Instead, I spent the afternoon delightfully learning about the history of the word 'dude'.
So, I guess now you're wondering how I got from the derby to 'dude'. Well, I started with reading about how the race was started by the grandson of William Clark, that's right half of the Lewis and Clark team that explored America. Col. M. Lewis Clark traveled to Europe where he experienced the thrill of horse racing. Upon his return, he decided to create a horse race that would capture the intrigue of Americans. Clearly, he succeeded. However, knowing the history behind the race lead me to ask the question "why drape the horse in a blanket of roses?" I then started in search of the answer. This tradition started when a New York social elite came to the race, bringing with him one red rose for every woman in attendance at the race. This social leader, Evander Berry Wall, had the distinction of being labeled 'King of the Dudes'.
Being a child of the 1980s myself, I have been using dude for pretty much my entire life. I had never thought that the word was used in the late 1800s. Obviously, I had to find out why Mr. Wall was a 'dude'. I found that the word dude first appeared in print in the 1870s as a derogatory word. When Mr. Wall became King of the Dudes, a dude was an "ill-bred and ignorant, but ostentatious man from the city who was unfamiliar with life outside a big city." It was taken further when dude ranches were created as a place for a 'dude' to go outside a city and learn about cowboy life. Outside of dude ranches, the word fell out of use until the 60s, when it was resurrected by surfers as a way of greeting. The word has evolved again since then. Now, not only is it used as a greeting but it is also used to express emotions. By simply saying the word 'dude' in a different tone of voice, someone can express sympathy, support, or even disapproval. However, today people do not use the word as an insult.
Even after all that research, I'm still not quite sure how the word evolved from an insult to what it is now. However, I do know that the word isn't likely to go away anytime soon. After all, it has infiltrated our whole system of pop culture. Ever heard of "Dude, Where's my Car?", "Hey Dude", or "Dude, Looks Like a Lady"?

Don't forget about our "Run for the Roses" tea, Sunday, May 16,2010 at 2:00pm. We still have spaces available. Admission fee is $15.00 per person. Please call 757-623-9814 for reservaions.