Historic Main Street

My wife and I had a few hours to spend on Historic Main Street in St. Charles.  This was my first time and we were not really there for the food, but more so for shopping or window shopping.  This was more of a reconnaissance trek.  We went to see what was there.  We did see some very and I mean, VERY, interesting places but the best one was the Man Cave.

 Inside this historic building, was an old car, some old tin plates depicted pinups with humorous and some anti-female slogans and some old car-related nostalgia.  The place was pretty small.  What got me the most was the owner, who came out to greet us.  I was expecting more of a friendly shop owner, which was a change from what we had experienced so far. (See The England Shop.)  The guy comes out and he first asks "you don't see any candles or stinky jewelry in here do you?  This is the only place you can see on this street that doesn't sell any of that girly crap.  I suggest you get yourself a 6-pack and come on back and we'll drink it here while your little woman goes out shopping."

Well, we left the store.  Not just because the guy was like that, but because my wife was holding her tongue the whole time and I did want to bail her out of jail after she decks this guy.  Really?  What moron of a shop owner insults a probably customer?  Also, a week before Father's Day, who knows how many women think that this shop has the perfect gift for their husband and they get an ice cold reception from the obvious bachelor running it.

It was fun going into the small Espresso shop right off of the cobblestone street.  It felt a bit out of place, like a 1960's police box in the Dark Ages. It was perhaps the only air conditioned area we had stepped in and was attached to 2 more stores: one for hot sauces and one for coffee flavors.

It was weird, a coffee shop in the middle of a historic area.  It had good drinks.  Anyway, it just wasn't as busy overall, as a historic shopping area could be.  It was weird.  We did see plenty of small bars and restaurants and think we will be going back soon to try some of them.  If we do go, I'll let you know how it went.

What do you have cooking in your log cabin?

I admit, I am not so much a history buff than a history reader.  I do enjoy reading history and learning about things of the past.  I even enjoy reading about what ancient peoples ate and how they prepared their food.  Corresponding with that notion is an interesting book called Log Cabin Cooking, from Barbara Swell.

My mother took a trip to Springfield, Illinois, where thanks to our 16th President and his modest life, the idea of living in a log cabin has been pushed to the brink of Romanticism and given a feeling of adventure, when for those who were actually dealing with the life, it was nothing fun at all. My mother picked up this cookbook, which tells a little about how people in the 1830's cooked and did their basic food stuffs, without the use of fancy gadgets, like: thermometers, microwaves or refrigerators.

While some of the ideas and generally accepted principles were good enough to get food on the table, in most cases, it wasn't goo enough to make things tasty.  Even so, many of the frontier people survived because they did a few things that would help them.  How they survived with little to no fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products is beyond me as I can't make it through the day without a big glass of chocolate milk.

Out of necessity came simple recipes that needed little wet ingredients: baked items, like breads and muffins.  Out of this book, I tried my hands at the cornbread, which likely came from a 1835 recipe.  Unlike the original peoples, I had an easy time at this, as my oven has a thermometer built into it so I set the temperature I wish and simply wait.  The book suggests that you get your wood oven hot and then place your hand inside of it so you can check the temperature.  Like a grill, the temperature is based upon how long you can have your hand near the fire without having it burn off.  Using their simple recipe, of mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ones and combine them together, I was able to pour the batter into my Pyrex cooking pan, instead of my cast iron pan.

Now, again, I had it easy as I was able to play some video games while this was cooking, compared to those living in the wilderness, but in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes, a nice tasting, but a tad dry cornbread came out of the oven.

Now since I have never seen anyone server cornbread dry, I know that it is okay.  You always serve cornbread with a soup, because its dryness sucks up the broth.  You also almost always slather a thick coating of butter on it and either fix certainly made this a very tasty cornbread.  So, give one point to the housewives in the 1830's.

Along with this, you have to wonder how they did their everyday work and still make food for the table.  There was a lot of breads or muffins, a lot of soups and stews and a low of preserved things.  House chores would be so much more difficult as you would have to go outside to wash the clothes and the dishes. However, overall, some of the great things we have today as American dishes, came from things that were prepared during this time period or the time in the West.