Morning everyone,
I thought it might be fun today to combine a little bit of history on aprons with a game and a giveaway. Now, I know aprons have been featured before on Petticoats and Pistols, but I’m going to take a different approach.
When we think aprons, most of us picture Mom or Grandma in the kitchen wearing a traditional bib or half apron. Maybe an image of Dad grilling in the back yard or kids making crafts come to mind. People in restaurants and bakeries often wear aprons, everyone from the head chef to the servers to the dishwashers. It’s part of the uniform and often promotes the establishment’s brand.
Interestingly, aprons have been around for at least the last seven hundred years, if not longer. Their primary function was to keep clothes clean as an apron is much easier to wash than an entire outfit. This can in handy during the pre automatic washer and dryer days. Over the centuries, aprons progressed, becoming a useful tool that included pockets and fasteners to making a fashion statement — those with money had aprons constructed of luxury material while those without used flour sacks or even a hand towel tied at the waist. And just in case you were wondering, the word apron came from the French medieval word “naperon”, which was a small tablecloth placed over a larger one to protect it from spills.
You probably know aprons aren’t used solely by people in the kitchen or those working in the food preparation/serving industry, though that’s likely our first thought. My late mother, who painted and made pottery, used to wear an artist’s apron (sometimes called a smock). I can still see her sitting at an easel, paint brushes sticking out of her apron pockets. Many of the blacksmiths we’ve used wore a farrier’s apron when they came to shoe our horses. And who hasn’t been to the grocery store and seen the butcher behind the counter wearing an apron or sometimes a white jacket?
Well, here’s where the fun and giveaway come in. Who else wears an apron and why? I can think of a bunch more, but I want you to submit your answers in the comments. And it’s fine if there are duplicate answers. There are no hard and fast rules to this game. The winner will get this awesome and adorable cowboy apron – to be used however you want – two backlist print books and some author goodies.
Come on, play along. I’ll randomly draw a winner from everyone who comments and announce the winner tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll break out my writer’s apron and get back to writing.
Okay, that last part was a joke. I don’t have a writer’s apron. But it’s kind of a cool idea. Maybe I could…….
Good Morning, everyone. There are so many comments, and I love all of them, that I’m not going to respond individually. Know that I’m reading all of them and writing down names. Thanks for playing along, and let’s keep the fun going!
Okay, so I’m one of those people that never measures, and tosses everything together and it works. So trying to figure out exact measurements isn’t easy. But here goes. This is the dish everyone wants me to bring to potlucks, family dinners, taco Tuesdays and so on. My famous Spanish Rice! I’m going to give the single batch version. Serves 6? I’m used to making double and triple batches so I’m having to pare it down. And that’s not a picture of my rice. I couldn’t find one on my phone (yes, my family is always taking pictures of food) so had to find something similar. At any rate, it’s a colorful and festive looking dish!
Ingredients:
