The Doctor's Notebook

You may use these recipes at your own risk.

Mint Teas

Teas made from various mints, using either dried or fresh leaves, are favourites. It is believed they can heal bee stings, bruises (of the heart and body), drive away headaches, strengthen weak stomaches, etc.

Relaxing tea: 1 tsp tea leaves, spring of any mint, 2 rose geranium leaves, 4 leaves lemon verbena, 1 rosemary tip, 1 sprig lemon thyme. Place in a teapot. Add 4 cups boliling water, steep 7-10 mins. Sweeten with honey, serve with lemon. Excellent hot or cold.

Mint tea: tea from leaves of different mints may be used alone or with other herbs. Good as a pick-me-up, helps with digestion, liver upset and is a good coffee substitute.

Orange Mint tea: to 3 cups orange mint leaves, add grated rind of 1 orange or 1 lemon, 3 tbsp tea leaves, 1 tsp ground cloves and 1 cup marigold petals. Store in airtight container. T0 serve, use same amounts as regular tea.

- From the Pioneer Kitchens, Southern Alberta Pioneers, Cantex Books, 1990

People, Places & Things

Edward Winslow 1746-1815

Edward, or Ned, Winslow gew up in Massachusetts. he was a man of means who loved British traditions. When the revolution came, he joined the British Army and went to Halifax where he became Muster Master General of all the British and Colonial troops.

After the revolution, he took it upon himself to find homes for the more than 6000 refugees arriving in Nova Scotia.

In 1783, he arrived at the mouth of the St. John River and was appalled by the lack of organization. Every where there were refugees, crowded, without proper provisions, starving and cold. He ordered surveys and began to hand out grants of land. Hw was so inspired that he explored 200 kilometers of the St. John River himself and came back with a dream of creating a Loyalist colonly north of the Bay of Fundy. His enthusiasm caught on and by 1784, a partition movement had formed and by June the provine of New Brunswick had been born.

- Great Canadian Lives: Portraits in Heroism to 1867, K. Ford, J. MacLean, and B. Wansbrough, Bryan Mills and Assoc. Ltd., Canada 1985-

Vanity & Happiness

Fashions in Makeup by Richard Corson and Peter Owen (London, 1972) suggests that it was a popular past time for many ladies of the day to make their cosmetics at home. There were a wide variety of receipts for oils, creams, hair tonics and powders.

According to several accounts, the dull powdered faces one associates witht he eighteenth century is misleading. There are hundreds of receipts for white face paint which was commonly called a varnish. It seems that a shiny face was preferred to a matte finish so one would glow with health in the light of so many candles.

Here are two receipts for varnish which are included for interest's sake ONLY. I do not advise you making and using these at home.

Varnish for the Face, Le CAmus

Put into a bottle twelve ounces of brandy, an ounce of sandarach and half an ounce of benjamin. Shake the bottle often and afterwards let it settle. When you use it, wash your face beforehand and it will give it the ahndsomest lustre imaginable.

Oil of Pearls, Abdeker

Put upon a plate any quantity of pearls and pour over them some good distilled vinegar. When the pearls are dissolved, add a small quantity of gum arabic, keep the solution for use. Wash your face before you bathe it with this solution, which will soon dry of itself. This is the best secrets that have been invented for rendering the face both white and fair.

Why Don't They Eat Cake?

A spring supper salad from 1733.

(Mrs. Groundes-Peace's Old Cookery Notebook, by Z. Groundes-Peace and R. Howe, David and Charles, UK, 1971)

Salmogundy

Mince very fine two boiled or roasted chickens, or veal, which you like best: mince also very small the yolks and whites of hard eggs themselves: shred also the pulp of a lemon very small: then lay in the dish a layer of minced meat, a layer of the yolks and then a layer of the whites of eggs, over which a layer of anchovies, and on them a layer of the shred pulp of a lemon, next a layer of pickles minced small, then a layer of sorrel, and last of all a layer of spinach and onions, or shallots shred small: having thus filled the dish, set an orange or lemon on the top, and garnish with scraped horseradish, barberries and slices of lemon; let the sauce be oil, beat up thick with the juice of lemons, salt and mustard.

From the Archives

This is an excerpt from a letter sent from the Marquise de la Tour du Pin, Albany, NY, 1794. It challenges the notion that all women wore their stays ALL the time. I've never thought this was true, afterall, how many of us modern gals wear our bras from the crack of dawn until bedtime?

"We had acquired moccasins, a kind of covering of buffalo skin, made and sold by the indians...

...One thing that had rendered me at once very popular with my neighbours. The day we took possession of our farm, I adopted the costume worn by the women of the neighbouring places, that is to say, a skirt of blue and black striped wool, a little camisole of light brown cotton cloth, a handkerchief of the same colour, with my hair parted, as it is worn now, caught up with a comb.

In winter I wore grey or blue woollen stockings with moccasins or slippers of buffalo skin; in summer cotton stockings and shoes. I never put on a dress or a corset except to go into the city."

- Dress in North America, the New World 1492-1800, by Diana de Marley, Holmes & Meier, NY, 1990

Twisted Knickers Returns!

After an absence of an obscene amount of time, your newsletter guide to trivial imformation from the 18th and 19th centuries has returned!

I will be posting some information already published in previous newsletters plus a lot more interesting gossip and tidbits to share around the campfire!

Posts will focus on all types of information on medicine, clothing, society, history, people, events, entertainment, politics, vanity, and most importantly, food!

There will also be reviews posted about books, movies, television and websites.

Please feel free to drop a line or comment at will!