Independence Day Menus

by Posted on

Edith/Maddie looking forward to a relaxing and delicious day north of Boston.

For people in the United States, the 4th of July is a celebration of our independence from being ruled by a monarch. Many people take the day off to have a picnic, maybe take in a parade, and often watch fireworks in the evening. Others save their independence festivities for Juneteenth.

For my grandmother Dorothy Henderson Maxwell, July 4, 1900 was her birthday! We always knew her age matched the year from Independence Day until New Year’s Day.

I’ve mentioned before that she and her younger brother Jimmy drove a Cole touring car across the country from Indianapolis to Berkley, California, in 1918. Dot’s father drove the other one carrying Dot’s mother and the four younger sisters. Sometimes the family camped along the way, but they occasionally splurged on a hotel.

I have Dot’s trip diary. It’s a treasure, on which my cousin’s husband recently did some much needed conservation on (merci, Laurent!). The diary includes two pages about Dot’s birthday celebration in Salt Lake City.

The menu reads: Salted nuts, fruit cocktail supreme, crackers. Steak and mushrooms, potatoes sauté, stuffed tomatoe [sic], corn muffins. Tomatoe and asparagus salad. Fresh strawberry ice cream, demi-tasse.

I think that menu sounds fabulous, but it’s too bad she didn’t also get a birthday cake! At least she got to dance – I mean, trip the light fantastic – with her brother, who was about two years younger. You can drop by Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen on July 12th for my recipe for fresh strawberry ice cream.

A fictional version of Dot is the lady PI in A Case for the Ladies, which is on an ebook sale all month to celebrate Dot and Amelia’s birthday month (Amelia’s birthday was the 26th).

Wickeds and Readers: What will you eat today? Is dancing on the schedule or a parade, or do you have a quiet day of reading planned?

Unknown's avatar

Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

26 Thoughts

  1. Happy Fourth of July to the Wickeds and American readers!
    It’s a normal Thursday here in Canada. We had our national birthday celebrations on Monday July 1 when I enjoy eating burgers. Cherry tomatoes and local strawberries with Greek yogurt were the “red and white” items on the holiday menu.

    And thanks for the heads-up for the ebook sale.
    I bought my copy of A Case for the Ladies.
    Now that my vision is slowly coming back, I hope to enjoy reading it this summer.

    Like

  2. Nothing big or special for us today. Honestly thinking breakfast for supper today. However, it’s a while until eating time and minds might change. 🙂

    We are moving our 4th celebration to Saturday when we will having two dear families over for a bacon cheeseburger cookout. There will be chips, dip, baked beans and potato salad along with Three Day Coconut Cake, two pecan pies and ice cream for dessert. Having the numbers we have cooked for to reduce over the year to where it’s just hubby and it was an adjustment. And now after cooking for two for years, we will be cooking for 16 so no reducing of recipes now. LOL Everyone was told to bring nothing but their appetite. It’s been fun working on all the little details during this week. We will be ready and looking forward to it!

    Also praying for no firecrackers near us tonight. We have been so hot and dry for so long that the woods and lawn is dry and brittle. Not a good combination with sparks to start a fire.

    Wishing everyone a happy 4th! Have fun and be safe.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

    Like

  4. Oven baked chicken wings and potato salad for us. I freeze the chicken wings in their spicy marinade so all I have to do is pop them in the oven. Yum. I heard fireworks last night, but didn’t see any. I’m hoping the rain will abate and Eagle Lake will be able to set theirs off today. I’m able to watch them from my porch. Always fun. This is Buster’s first fireworks holiday with us. I’m curious to see how he does.

    Like

  6. That diary sounds fascinating! I am planning a quiet day. Someone spent a few hours in the middle of last night making sure their fireworks worked, so not much sleep here. Pulled pork, corn on the cob and a big green salad on the menu along with watching the Capital Fourth fireworks on tv. We are supposed to hit 115 today, so inside activities here. Happy Independence Day to all!

    Like

  8. Much like most other holidays that aren’t Xmas or Turkey Day, I don’t really have much in the way of special plans.

    While I do have the day off, I don’t go to parades and I’m not going to any cookouts. In fact, other than not going to work, this is pretty much like a weekend day for me. I got up, after a truly lousy night of sleep, and got ready for the day. I ended up doing some “thrilling” cleaning of the bathroom and changing the shower liner (try not to envy my exciting life!)

    I will do some reading today (working my way through MURDER AT THE RUSTY ANCHOR) and then later today I’m going to the weekly trivia night as any other usual Thursday since the 99 is open and we checked, they are still doing Trivia Night this week.

    No special menu for the day either. I had cereal and yogurt for breakfast. Lunch will be typical weekday lunch stuff and dinner is up in the air.

    Like

  9. Traditional hot dogs, corn on the cob, and macaroni salad. Special peach pie for dessert. Hubby, sister- and brother-in-law and I are going to our daughter’s third floor balcony that overlooks where the fireworks will be. Ideal seats! Happy Fourth, everyone.

    Like

  10. Edith, what a fabulous treasure! I love it.

    I miss seeing fireworks on the 4th. They used to do some in Studio City we could see from our backyard but that ended. 😦 I’m dropping by two parties, which is rare. We’re never invited anywhere! But I’d be just as happy sitting home and needlepointing or reading this year.

    Like

    1. Seriously. I’m happier watching the fireflies in my side yard than trekking somewhere to watch big noisy fireworks (which I can hear from here but not see).

      Like

  11. What a treasure that trip diary is! As it happens, I am alone this July 4th. Grandkids are with their other grandparents and Bill is in Key West. However, I have contrived my own July 4th picnic. Two pieces of fried chicken and potato salad from Whole Foods, followed by pre-cut up watermelon pieces. After I eat, at 9:15, I’ll sit on the deck off my study and watch Portland’s fireworks. I may even have a glass of wine.

    Like

  13. Pingback: Birthday Month and #GIVEAWAY! – The Wickeds

Comments are closed.