Brickbat and Fairings

Hello CQ Readers,

This month marks the release of Beyond the Valley, the final book in the Daughters of the Potomac series. You may have noticed with many of the authors you have read that we writers like to share some interesting facts about the stories we write. We often include them at the end of our books. Here is the glossary I included at the end of Beyond the Valley of actual things you would have found in Colonial times. Oh, and if you have a book club, there are Discussion Questions after the Glossary page.

Can you imagine General and Mrs. Washington partaking of these at their table?

Ginger fairing:  A sweet and spicy ginger cookie.

Pasties: Chunks of beef, potato, swede (yellow turnip), and onion wrapped in pastry glazed with milk or egg white.

Molasses dumplings: A type of doughnut fried in oil and dipped in hot molasses.

Stout porter: Strong beer.

What you might walk up at a grand estate. Brickbat: an antique form of paving that made use of the inevitable accumulation of broken bricks at a colonial house. 

Can you picture a lady wearing one of these on her way to church or to tea? Bergere: (French for shepherdess) A flat-brimmed straw hat with a low crown, trimmed with ribbon and flowers.

A Book Launch Tea Party is schedule here on Colonial Quills for February 22 with Rita Gerlach and C. J. Chase. Come by for tea and scones!