Tea at Trianon: Smith Island Cake

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Smith Island Cake

Maryland's state dessert. From Southern Living:

Maryland's state dessert is being recognized for its historical and cultural significance with a new roadside marker. The Smith Island Cake, a show-stopping confection consisting of at least seven layers of thin cake with cooked fudge icing, became Maryland’s state dessert in 2008, though residents of remote Smith Island have been making it since the early 1900s. According to The Baltimore Sun, the sign marker is part of a grant awarded to Smith Island United by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation's "Hungry for History" program, which recognizes “significant food dishes that have played a role in defining American culture and forging community identity.” Smith Island United’s initial request for a marker was denied due to lack of proof that the Smith Island Cake was at least 50 years old. But with help from Beach to Bay Heritage Area, Smith Island bakers Mary Ada Marshall and Janice Marshall submitted handwritten letters confirming that they baked the cakes with their grandmothers and mothers. (Read more.)