I, Heidi S. Quinn, am responsible for the content of MANY THINGS. Email me at heidi.quinn@comcast.net.

May 28, 2012  I'm making German Dark Rye Bread today. I hate baking bread on a hot day, and was putting it off thinking that I could make it through the summer eating the compact German loaves they sell in the cheese section at Roche Bros, but just can't do it. I hate those breads and eat them only as a last resort... and then I have to choke them down. So today I'm baking. I've fixed my Dark Rye recipe... First of all, I left out the instructions for adding the salt and grapeseed oil (only realizing this after I had baked my loaves today). Second, I had tried to modify it to stretch it into 4 loaves, but discovered when I did that that it isn't a 4-loaf recipe, it's a 3-loaf recipe. So I went back to 3 loaves on this go. I am going to try to remember to add a picture to the recipe when the loaves are done. I should try to do that for all my recipes now that I'm going to have the summer off. I'm a teacher now... we don't work over the summer.

I have to admit that I changed my career to teaching out of a need to fulfill my original career goal but also to get myself out of cube life... I haven't regretted it for one minute. It wasn't until after I was well into my student teaching that I realized that teachers don't work over the summer, they have unions, and they have retirement funds. I'm still learning things about teaching that don't make much sense from a teaching point of view... but I love it because the kids are a challenge. And I'm finding that the philosophy of a vocational school (which is where I teach) syncs perfectly with my approach toward life. With that said, facing a summer in which I have no work is daunting. We will be spending some time in Ireland, and I did sign up for a one-week seminar for school. Other than that, I'm putting together a list -- redecorating the dining room, selling stuff/clearing stuff out, working on my book (the never-ending project that it is), finishing my needlepoint projects, and read Ulysses among other books I've stock piled from the library book sale and local yard sales. Plus my babies are moving back home next weekend... so I'll have time to spend with them. =) I've posted a picture of them sitting on an amusement park ride.

May 27, 2012  I added my recipe for Chicken & Rice. I also fixed the page for Chicken & Leek Pie because I noticed that I never finished typing it up. Oops! I also updated The Corn List... it's been a while, and I know there are "corn" people out there using it so it would be helpful if I tended it more regularly. 

May 13, 2012  I've been watching episodes of The French Chef on youtube this weekend, and decided to make the walnut cake that Julia Child made in her VIP Cake episode. It's cooling on the wire racks at the moment, but I abused the cake in its unmolding and, as a result, was able to taste the piece that fell off. The cake is spectacular. You can enjoy the recipe and find a link to that episode here: Julia's Walnut Cake.

April 28, 2012  I added the Socca recipe that I made at Easter. I'll be making that today along with a Barley Vegetable Chowder recipe I found on epicurious, sans corn of course. I also added my ancestral line to Henry I in the Hood line. In pursuing this line I discovered I'm also descended from Eleanor of Aquitaine who I first encountered 20 years ago when I borrowed the movie The Lion in Winter from the Randolph Public Library. Coincidentally, last night at the Norfolk Library book sale I found a book about Eleanor and snapped it up for 2 bucks. I dropped $50 last night for 25 books. That should last me until next year's book sale I think.

This morning I've been weeding out. Ni and Alyssa will be moving in with us in the next month or so, so we are taking advantage of this lifestyle change to rid the house of the things we've been meaning to eliminate. I've called the Whistle Stop antique shop in Dover, MA, to come see about carting away our dining room set, along with a number of items I haven't used in years. We want to update our dining room, but for the time being may turn that room into an office so we can make space for the stuff that will be moving in at the end of May. I also need to get Jim to tackle the pile of clothes that has been lumped in the corner of our bedroom for weeks (months?). There were a few articles of clothing in there that he wanted to keep, but he hasn't taken the time yet to pick them out of the pile. It's good to have an occasional incentive to clean out... like I always say, if it weren't for company, my house would never get a cleaning! 

One more thing. Following my March 17th post, a few folks contacted me to fill me in on additional ancestors who fought in American Wars. So I have taken the liberty to update my March 17th post to list all ancestors and all American wars they have fought in to the best of my knowledge. There are others lurking about in my family lines, and also, during the Indian wars, it's difficult to draw a line between those who were enlisted and those who fought because those wars were fought in the dooryards of the people who were building their houses in the lands of New England. So men, women, and children were involved in the conflicts and being killed. For example, Hannah (Emerson) Dustin of The Warren Line was kidnapped by her native opponents and had to fight and kill to free herself; Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson of the Hood Line was exiled from Massachusetts Bay colony for being a woman and preaching, and was killed in an Indian raid on Long Island, NY. With that said, if you want to add to the list, just sent me an email. Many other civilians in the family line were also kidnapped or killed in their homes during the Indian wars. Furthermore, something I have learned first hand from being a teacher for the past few years is that families pay a dear price as well, having to survive on their own while the men are away. And now that mothers serve too, the price of a mother's absence is just as great. So when we see those lists of men who served, let's also consider the losses their families incurred as well. 

April 20, 2012  Having just purchased the 1636-1659 Records of the Dedham Town and Selectmen, I've spent my day reading about a couple dozen ancestors of mine who were in Dedham during that time period. As I read, a familiar name popped into the equasion that reminded me of an entry I made back in 2006 on September 9 while reading the 1672-1707 Dedham records that I'd just bought, regarding a young John Littlefield who did "rvn vp and down from place to place mispendeing his time: and by that meanes may not only bring ruin to himeselfe, but also charge and damaige may come to the town..." A few readers have, since 2006, contacted me about the Littlefields. Although they are not ancestors of mine (that I know of anyway), the story drew my interest and then my sympathy. So today, I can provide some backstory to that tale. I have discovered the date of the Littlefields' arrival in Dedham: "31 of 6 mo: 1650 ... Vpon the request of John Littlfield. it is consented vnto. that libertie shall be allowed him. to hyer or purchase som habitation in our Town to dwell in. so long as his behauiour and carriag be honest industrious and peaceable". Hmmm. This is the arrival of John Littlefield Senior... and I'm guessing that John Jr has not yet arrived in this world. A valuation of houses taken in 1651 places the house of "Joh. Littlefield" at 1 pound; only 2 other houses of the (roughly) 60 that are listed are valued at less than John's, so we can assume that John Littlefield was a very poor man. A revaluation done in 1655 lists no value for John Littlefield, meaning that either the house or the man was no longer there. John Littlefield's country rate for 1653 was 5 shillings; this is about the lowest rate assessed and about one quarter of the men listed are assessed this rate or a lower one. John Littlefield is mentioned nowhere else in the records that I have. 

March 18, 2012  I've rediscovered a dark, moist rye bread that I first made a few years ago for Christmas. I made 3 loaves today and they came out great. Check out my recipe for German Dark Rye Bread.

I also added a few generations for Jonathan Nutting in The Hood Line. Turns out that an ancestor, Ebenezer Nutting, built the historic Munroe Tavern of Lexington MA in 1695 and sold it 2 years later. An archeological dig was done there a few years ago; you can read about it at The Fiske Center Blog. 

March 17, 2012  I was able to pick up a copy of The History of Ashburnham Massachusetts for a reasonable price, thinking I would get some good stuff on the Polleys in The Pitcher Line, but it turned out I was able to collect on Thomas Gibson in that line, instead. It turns out that Gibson enlisted 5 times during the American Revolution and was stationed in Charlestown MA during the siege of Boston. In that same line, William Pitcher also served in the Revolution. Others who fought in the American Revolution and other wars are listed below. This is not a complete listing. As you go through the family lines, you will see military titles listed beside names, and you will also see that many families fought and were even killed at their front doors during the Indian Wars. So consider this a partial list:

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