War Cake

Lately, I’ve been doing quite a bit of research into World War I for a WIP I’m working on and because I’m an American History Junkie.  In my research I found this easy recipe our foremothers used to make a delicious treat for their families during wartime. Due to rationing common place ingredients weren’t always available so these intrepid women had to make do. This was also similar to a recipe used in my family during World War II as well.

This recipe is an easy, fun, and yummy bit of history.

Ingredients

2 c. brown sugar

2 c. hot water

2 tsp. shortening

½ to ¾ c. raisins

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. salt

3 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. hot water

Mix brown sugar, hot water, and shortening in a medium size saucepan. Add raisins, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Boil for 5 minutes after it bubbles. Remove from heat and cool completely (This is very important. Don’t shortchange yourself on the cooling) Add baking soda that has been dissolved in hot water. Add flour. Pour into a greased pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Reader's Rights

In light of the many bruhahas and kerfluffles that have surfaced lately in which authors try to dictate how readers and reviewers should write reviews, I have written up a sort of Reader's Bill of Rights.

see more Historic LOL

Reader/Reviewer Bill of Rights

1. As a reader, you have the right to review any book you have read in any manner that you wish.

2. You have the right to squee and write a fangirl/boy review if you loved the book.

3. You have the right to not finish a book and review it (but you should clearly state that it was a DNF).

4. You have the right to rate a book, but not write up a review.
a. You have the right to not like a book and not explain why.
b. You have the right to love a book and not explain why.

5. You have the right to talk about possibilities the author could have taken.

6. You have the right to read passages and not like the book. You may even choose to write an essay about why you didn’t like the book passages you read.

7. You have the right to dislike a book and wonder why others liked it.

8. You have the right to love a book and wonder why others hated it.

9. You have the right to review the entire product (cover, formatting, editing, paper, et cetera).

10. You have the right to start anywhere in a series.

11. You have the right to read other books in a series, even if you hated the first one.

12. You have the right, when writing a review, to use any short hand phrases that you like, such as “card board characters,” “reads like “Twilight,” et cetera.

What would you add to the list?