h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been well, thanks.

How have you been?

I've been great...got through another Fringe http://www.fringetheatreadventures.ca (the Intl. festival) & I have a hot-air roaster! Among other things...

That festival website is interesting.

A coffee roaster! The aroma of roasting would be enough to keep me wired for a few hours.

I've been doing some writing and (apparently) collecting cookbooks.

Cookbooks...anything interesting? (Guess who hasn't had breakfast?)

The cookbooks are used, but in very good condition.

I have found a hardcover copy of the original Moosewood Cookbook and a softcover of The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Some Nigella Lawson cookbooks, Jamie's Kitchen (by Jamie Oliver), other British cookbooks, a chocolate cookbook and vintage cookbooks such as the 1920 edition of the Boston Cooking School Cookbook.

Oh, I found some history books and some Mary Stewart novels, as well.

Hmm, interesting - the older ones I mean, nothing against Jamie or Nigella!

I like vintage cookbooks. My oldest find is a 1892 copy of the 'Everyday Foods' book.

Whoa 1892...in good condition?? On that coffeegeek site someone had reprinted part of an article on brewing during the civil war era.

That book is a bit yellowed and all, but it is all there and it was cheap, so I don't mind. There is a penciled in recipe for dandelion wine on the inside of the cover.

If I remember the Boston Cooking School instructions... heat water in coffee pot, dump in ground coffee, crack an egg into the pot and then add the shell... heat to boil, remove from heat... pour.

During the Civil War era... if was not available, chicory, nutshells, tree bark etc. were substituted.

I believe this one used a roasted sweet potato...? Possible? I'll see if I can look it up, ok.

Roasted sweet potatoes make very nice pies.

Alright http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/general/247774 Wheter it just works on my computer...

WhetHer...

It worked.

That was interesting. The sweet potatos would sweeten and mellow the acidity of the coffee at the same time.

Yeah as the person who posted it says "resourcefulness"!

Kind of makes me wonder about the failed experiments.

Hmm, that's worth considering I suppose...I imagine this was a regional variant. But how did they hit on sweet potato?

Because okra was too messy? And, the sweet potato worked well enough that they didn't need to try beets?

Okra Would be messy...& you'd get a pudding/sludge! I suppose depending how much you used. , of course.