Category Archives: Jean Zimmerman

Salvation One Swallow at a Time

Doing some research on the foodways of 1875, I found that in 1876, the women of the First Congregational Church in Marysville, Ohio, published a cookbook to raise money to build a parsonage. They called it the Centennial Buckeye Cookbook. It turned out to be one of America’s most popular cookbooks. I like the dedication on the frontispiece of the first edition:

“To the plucky housewives of 1876, who master their work instead of allowing it to master them.”

Darker, though, is this unattributed quote with which the book opens: “Bad dinners go hand in hand with total depravity, while a properly fed man is already half saved.”

1 Comment

Filed under Cooking, History, Jean Zimmerman

I Heard It Through the Grapevine

Amazon’s Vine program pairs up veteran reader/reviewers with new books to post opinions that will help other people make choices in what to read.

Hot off the presses, here is what some of the Vine reviewers have to say about Love, Fiercely:

“An engaging book that is beautifully written. Get it!”

Book Addict (Midwest)

“What a lovely story, one that engulfs you in the world of Manhattan’s elite during the Gilded Age.”

S. Rogers (Boston, MA United States)

“Jean Zimmerman truly brings the Gilded Age to life in “Love, Fiercely”. It is an ode to time gone by but also a lovely romance… But this was a real treat. Eminently readable, not overly burdened by huge historical proclamations, yet relatable even as it is pointed out that these two were very rich in their prime of life. Very much enjoyed this book and glad that I picked it out to read.”

sanoe.net

“Jean Zimmerman’s discussion of what makes this portrait so important was like attending a college lecture hall given by the university’s much-beloved and brilliant art history professor. Zimmerman taught me why some great works of art become “iconic” works of great art. I loved this aspect of learning from a fascinating teacher… I look forward to spending a good amount of time in front of the portrait of “Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes” by John Singer Sargent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with my copy of this book at the ready to help me appreciate its artistic, historical and social significance.”

s.r.cohen “thinking reader” (CT, USA)

“Details of the indefinite courtship between Edith and Newton, their eventual marriage, their Paris years and their subsequent lives that focused on philanthropy and preservation are skillfully covered by Jean Zimmerman. I felt immersed in “the age” in this comprehensive study of the progressive times, the habits of the very wealthy and their enclaves along the east coast, and the history of New York City.”

J. A. Bell “she reads xyz” (Florida, USA)

“LOVE, FIERCELY is an excellent book for those fascinated by the wealthy of Manhattan and its environs during ‘the gilded age.'”

Falkor The White Luck Dragon (Niwot, Colorado)

“I found this book inspirational in so many ways–both by the tasks both undertook to help the less fortunate–as well as how they lived their lives. Really, really enjoyable book. I loved it!”

Mayflower Girl “amazon-junkie since 1996” (Albany, NY USA)

“An enthralling history told through two remarkable lives.”

Jaylia3 (Silver Spring, MD United States)

“I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of, not only, New York, but the United States. The book tells a fascinating story woven through the lives of two unique individuals. It is not a traditional love story. Rather it is the tale of two people who grew together and helped each other through the ups and downs of life. I very much enjoyed it.”

Nancy Famolari (Pennsylvania, USA)

I’m proud!

2 Comments

Filed under Jean Zimmerman, Love, Fiercely

EarlyWords

I had a great time getting interviewed by Nora Rawlinson, co-founder of EarlyWords, a web program for librarians that helps them dig out from under the avalanche of books they get each season and figure out what to recommend to their patrons. Nora asked some questions that went to the core of The Orphanmaster, and I can’t wait to see how the podcast with the interview will sound. It will be posted on the EarlyWords site for six weeks along with information about the book. Not sure when, I think early March, but I will keep you informed.

1 Comment

Filed under Jean Zimmerman, The Orphanmaster

Smithsonian Loves Love, Fiercely

Smithsonian.com calls Love, Fiercely a “must-read book”: “This sneakily sweeping history tells the story of early 20th-century America through the “greatest love story never told.”

Read more: Smithsonian Love, Fiercely review.

Leave a comment

Filed under Jean Zimmerman, Love, Fiercely

The Sweetest Berries

I didn’t know they made them anymore, these candies my daughter gave me, saying she didn’t want them, they were too real. I’ve been trying, failing to put together in my mind how I know them, why I have such an acute sense memory of this particular candy madeleine… red raspberries, black blackberries, chewy and oh so sweet and yes, somehow, very very real. I remember an old world that doesn’t exist anymore, something about being little, and an old woman who lived next door beckoning me over to give me these berry candies in a white handkerchief. A white handkerchief? That doesn’t make sense. Anyway, I’m going to stop troubling over it, and shelve them back with the Sens Sens and violet drops and turkish taffy, the other staples of that antique child world.

But first I’m going to eat them all, too real or not.

2 Comments

Filed under Jean Zimmerman

Old New Amsterdam

I heard the windmills creak in lower Manhattan yesterday.

I walked the streets between Pearl and Broadway, the ones that bear the same names they did when the Dutch settled New Amsterdam. They appear completely different, of course, but their contours are the same. Stone Street, so designated because it was the first thoroughfare paved with cobblestones, now lined with tall buildings but formerly the place of grand mansions and a rather large brewery. Marketfield Street, a few steps away, is now a pestilent alley but used to be a comfortable and elegant place to dwell.

I walked up Broad Street, wide because there used to be a canal running there. It was referred to as The Ditch, and was not paved over until 1676.

The Ditch

So the ghost of New Amsterdam lives on in today’s Manhattan. Having written about people who lived on the streets in The Orphanmaster, I walk around the neighborhood and exclaim over one of my characters, say Blandine Van Couvering, residing in a dwelling house on Pearl Street, and her favorite tavern the Red Lion just across the street. Yes, Pearl street is now a gritty concrete canyon, but I see the past there.  I can imagine the parade grounds that spread out just where Broadway widens at Bowling Green today. I can visualize the Dutch fort where it towered, exactly where the U.S. Customs House stands today.

And always, in the background, that lilting, rhythmic creak, as the windmills grind the local wheatberries to flour.

Leave a comment

Filed under Fiction, History, Jean Zimmerman, The Orphanmaster

Fetch the Pickles

The last Downton of the season. Thinking of the mini scandale over anachronistic expressions on the show. “Step on it,” etc., etc.

But sometimes a hit of modernity is just what’s required when you’re inventing history. Though dozens of words in The Orphanmaster were put through the etymology wringer to see if they fit an 1660s vocabulary, there were times when only a certain (anachronistic) expression would do.

Tibb Dunbar habitually uses the expression “Fetch the pickles,” which, I explain, means “let’s get it started.”

It wouldn’t have worked any other way.

Leave a comment

Filed under Fiction, Jean Zimmerman, The Orphanmaster, Writing

Feelin’ Spry

I collect two kinds of cookbooks: pamphlet recipe books of the ’30s-’70s, and community cookbooks of various vintages. They speak to me.

For example, I have a tiny fold-out sheet from Drake’s Bakeries, vintage 1940s, bearing the title “Snappy Desserts with Drakes Handy Layers – Always Fresh,” with the picture of a goose (is the snappish goose what makes them snappy?) and inside, “He married an angel if you serve him Drake’s Angel Food Cake with any of these icings.” It suggests adding any one of fifteen ingredients to “the basic icings”: fresh fruits, nut meats, tutti-frutti, maple syrup, etc., etc. The pictures of cake slices, raspberry, coconut, boston cream, look like the perfect plastic foods you might have played with as a child.

Moving on. “Good Housekeeping’s Cake Book with decorating ideas for many occasions” has lurid cover cake shots and an interior harlequin theme. A birthday cake glows in one photo with dyed pastel coconut stripes.

From 1941, “300 Tasty, Healthful Dairy Dishes: For health, beauty and happiness, use more milk and dairy products. These economical recipes will add tempting variety to your daily menus.” Oceans of white sauce flow over asparagus and beans. Would you care for some scalloped tuna and cabbage?

And all the booklets from the blender companies. Eerie photographs of beaming, aproned kitchen divas wielding mixing bowls.

But weirder still come the industry offerings. ‘Proven Recipes Showing the uses of the Three Great Products from Corn,” published by Corn Products Refining Co. of New York; “Success in Seasoning” by Lea & Perrins, also located in Manhattan; and “What Shall I Cook Today,” my hands down favorite, published by Spry, a shortning giant that was once a competitor to Crisco – “The new, purer, all-vegetable shortening triple-creamed” and advertised via hopelessly bland, homey comic strips:

“I’m getting another can of SPRY.”

“So am I. I think it’s marvelous. It creams so easily.”

“Spry is so white. I just KNOW it’s purer.”

“It’s more economical, too. You can fry with it over and over again.”

I love to take these booklets out once in a while and just paw through them and imagine a time when women relied upon their recipes, and were inspired by the, rich, technicolor images within.

I’ve never cooked out of one though.

Leave a comment

Filed under Cooking, Jean Zimmerman

“The Dog Is a Yes-Animal…”

“very popular with people who can’t afford to keep a yes-man.” Robertson Davies

Still thinking about dogs after attending the Westminster show the other day.

“The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.” Samuel Butler

Old fashioned dog names: Tubs, Duke, Trouble, Chester, Minstrel, Prince, Captain, Tracker, Chip, Rags.

Helen Keller kept a pit bull. If anyone knows its name, please inform me.

Helen and woman’s best friend

My dog Oliver has just come in to tell me that he likes the baked chicken drippings very much.

1 Comment

Filed under Dogs, Jean Zimmerman

Upcoming Podcast

I’m psyched. The Orphanmaster will be featured in an upcoming podcast for a librarians’ website called earlyword.com. It’s to help librarians get the word out about forthcoming books, as I understand it.

I will be interviewed by Nora Rawlinson, the cofounder of EarlyWord, and I’ll get to introduce Blandine and Drummond, Kitane and Martyn and Lightning and Jan and Antony to a wider public. There will be further information about the book on the web site, too.

As a great fan and frequent user of libraries (just today I paid a $17 fine because I couldn’t bring myself to return some precious books), I will be terrifically excited to see my book on the Current Fiction shelf.

I will post more about this great opportunity later, as I clarify the timing.

Leave a comment

Filed under Jean Zimmerman

A Neo Con Brio

Amazing Love’s Crush and Otello Bruto were in excellent form today. These Neapolitan Mastiffs were so calm, so regal, so imposing, that it is easy to believe this dog was bred as a staunch guard of the family and property. The breed is fearless and independent but very rarely barks, and it has a beautiful silvery grey coat.

We spent time with two of them at the Westminster Dog Show, up close in the slobber-flinging zone, since there were only two contestants. More and the ring might have exploded.

We saw Giant Schnauzers and some wonderful mop dogs (the real name excapes me) but more than anything I loved these wrinkled, dignified Mastiffs. I like to imagine a Neapolitan Mastiff centuries ago, guarding a Medici’s castle keep. Later, the Gilded Age adored large breeds, with a greyhound or great dane or afghan hound at your knee a sure sign of distinction. Because it showed you had a big enough house to accomodate one?

Maybe I could insert a Neo into the late 19th century tale I’m working on now.

Handsome Guy

Leave a comment

Filed under Dogs, Jean Zimmerman

Utter Cupidity

Jumping the gun on Valentine’s Day — which I am celebrating by going to the Westminster Dog Show with Gil.

Did you know that bridegrooms were served three courses of asparagus at their prenuptial dinner in nineteenth century France? Earlier, English herbalist Nicholas Culpepper opined that asparagus “stirs up lust in man and woman.”

Succulent Spears

Alexandre Dumas dined on almond soup every night before rendezvousing with his mistress. Samson hooked Delilah with the same nut.

And the Aztecs’ name for the avocado plant was Ahuacuatl, the “testicle tree.” Catholic priests in Spain in days gone by found the fruit so obscene, they banned its consumption.

Chocoholic Lous XIV made love to his wife twice a day at the age of 72.

Food for thought.

Leave a comment

Filed under Cooking, History, Jean Zimmerman

Lightly Flouncing

A ballroom dance of the 1870s. Gowns of lemon, frost, raspberry on every side. A horn sounds and the quadrille commences. But is that a tear in your eye?

The Cotillion

Leave a comment

Filed under History, Jean Zimmerman

The Frequency of Pie

“It is utterly insufficient (to eat pie only twice a week), as anyone who knows the secret of our strength as a nation and the foundation of our industrial supremacy must admit. Pie is the American synonym of prosperity, and its varying contents the calendar of the changing seasons. Pie is the food of the heroic. No pie-eating people can ever be permanently vanquished.” 1902 New York Times editorial

Leave a comment

Filed under Cooking, Jean Zimmerman

Cabin World

Slippers worn both day and night. Pancakes for dinner. Books bricked up over the windows. A stroll to the mailbox “for exercise.” A shower is exotic. Scraps of notes next to the computer. Dog slogged out 22 hours a day on the bed. Three old cars outside, each broke in a different way. A roaring fire even on fifty degree days. The clocks all an hour off. Outside, the dreary winter beauty of the wetlands.

“I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write.” P.G. Wodehouse

Mmmnn, comfy

Leave a comment

Filed under Home, Jean Zimmerman