Howdy, y’all! I am so honored to be a guest again on Petticoats & Pistols. This time, I’m taking us on a culinary journey.
While writing Dreams on the Horizon, I discovered through research a recipe for shoo-fly cake that included cinnamon. Many of us have heard of shoo-fly pie, but what about the cake variety? After reading the ingredients and knowing that Landon, my hunky main male character, loved cinnamon and was fond of the shoo-fly pie, I knew I had to incorporate the cake into the story.
I also found a recipe for clear soup from President Benjamin Harrison’s wife, Caroline. It inspired me to mention it in the book as the recipe Mae and her younger sister, Ruby, are making for supper in a fun scene where Ruby tries her feeble attempts at matchmaking. One of the ingredients is mace.
Mace? Because we authors are known to do three hours of research to write one sentence, I discovered mace is a spice that enhances the flavor of soup.
Read on for a fun excerpt:
Mae stirred the clear soup while Ruby chopped the carrots and separated the yolks from the whites of four eggs.
“Are you fond of Landon?”
One could always rely on Ruby to unexpectedly raise a topic unrelated to the current task. “Why do you ask?”
Ruby positioned her round face directly in front of Mae’s. “Your face is infused with blush.”
“It’s the heat of the stove.”
“Hmm.”
“Besides, you and Timothy really need to mind your manners and refrain from being utter pests when we have a guest.”
Ruby shrugged and returned to the carrots and eggs. “It was necessary at the time.”
“To converge on Landon and me all the while attempting to hide behind a sheet? Really, Rube, we could see you. Your eyeball and the top of your head, anyway.”
“It’s good practice for when I write articles for The Horizon Herald. I’m sure Mr. O’Kane may occasionally send me on a secret mission.”
“Secret mission indeed. I doubt it. Horizon isn’t a big city, and you aren’t Nellie Bly.”
Ruby lifted the knife in midair. “I may not be Nellie Bly, but I am assiduous, dauntless, and stealthy. All important traits for a successful newspaper reporter.”
I’m not sure what it was about food for this book (maybe I was hungry while writing it), but another topic I researched was restaurant menus. These days, we take for granted when we visit a nice restaurant, a café, or even the fast-food drive-through, that we’ll have a plethora of choices from which to choose. While conducting research for food choices for Landon’s uppity and wealthy parents, I discovered that, according to fastingtable.com, “The first restaurant menus in the U.S. were offered at Delmonico’s in New York City. Historical evidence confirms their use in the iconic restaurant by the 1830s.”
Most of us remember dollar menus, but what about feeding a family of four for a dollar? An article in Women’s Chronicle dated July 26, 1890, informs readers that the magazine, Table Talk, includes a menu for feeding four people for one dollar (seen below). According to the magazine, “It tells how to make everything…and gives the price of each ingredient used.”
Thank you for joining me on this culinary journey. Dreams on the Horizon releases on June 25. Can love overcome all obstacles? Will Mae Shepherdson’s dream of a school for the deaf be for naught when the company Landon Bennick works for determines the location of the new railroad spur? When a nefarious character with vengeful intent threatens Mae, will Landon intervene before it’s too late and save the woman who has claimed his heart?
***GIVEAWAY***
I’m giving one lucky winner their choice of a paperback or ebook of Dreams on the Horizon. (Limited to U.S. residents only). To enter, please leave a comment about the most unique food you’ve ever eaten. Can’t wait to read your comments!
Go here to snag your copy of Dreams on the Horizon.
Thank you for joining me today. As a special gift, be sure to snag An Unexpected Arrival, a Wyoming Sunrise novelette, for free by going here.
Penny Zeller is known for her heartfelt stories of faith-filled happily ever afters and her passion to impact lives for Christ through fiction. Her books feature tender romance, steady doses of humor, and memorable characters that stay with you long after the last page. She is a multi-published author of over two dozen books and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. She is also a fitness instructor, loves the outdoors, and is a flower gardening addict. Penny resides with her husband and two daughters in small-town America and loves to connect with her readers at her website at http://www.pennyzeller.com,