Alcohol was also a lot safer to drink than the water. Cholera was a major killer in all countries until municipal water treatment plants were built. People drank alcohol morning, noon, and night. Probably they didn't feel the cold as much because they were in a 'pickled' state continuously. Port was once drunk all through meals; it was Brummell who pushed it aside into the 'after dinner' class. The taste and 'style' of wines has changed dramatically through the centuries. It's an interesting subject for research. Try looking up the history of chocolate sometime. If you ever tried the famed 'morning chocolate' of upper class Regency, you'd spit it out immediately. It had almost no milk and very little sugar. Bourbon is very drinkable. Try a Pappy Van Winkle 20-yr old bourbon sometime. Amazing stuff.

Note that the leavening is baking soda...and as of NOW the directions in also say soda instead of powder as in the first I posted....and now I will correct it on my copy too!!! Carrot cake Julie Ts 3 eggs 3/4 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup buttermilk 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 tsps cinnamon 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained 2 cups grated carrots 1/2 cup raisins chopped with 1 Tablespoon of flour Buttermilk glaze 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup butter 1 Tblsp light corn syrup 1 tsp vanilla Orange Cream Cheese Frosting 1/2 cup softened butter 4 oz softened cream cheese 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups powdered sugar 1 tsp orange juice 1 tsp grated orange rind Preheat oven to 350 With a mixer Beat eggs, add oil and buttermilk, sugar and vanilla. beat to combine. Stir together flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and stir into batter. stir in pineapple, carrots and raisins. Pour into a greased 8 by 13 pan or 2 greased round 9 inch cake pans. Bake 35 to 45 minutes until set in the middle. Remove from the oven and immediatly spread with the buttermilk glaze. Cool completely and frost with the cream cheese frosting. Buttermilk glaze: In a medium sauce pan ( don't use a small pan) combine all ingredients but vanilla. Bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes stirring often...it will bubble a lot. It should be a light caramel color, stir in vanilla and pour over the cake Cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until light add vanilla powd. sugar and juice and rind...beat until smooth and frost the cooled cake.

Many teaspoons of vinegar later, including one that went down the wrong pipe (bad timing as I've got a strained back and coughing hurts, LOL)... my palate votes for 50/50 balasmic and cider. I preferred the cider mix over the white wine mix. One thing though is that the sherry vinegar (at least mine) has more of a bite than any other vinegar I have, I'm guessing because it's 8% acidic versus about 5% most of my others. Play around and taste it; I'm sure brand makes a significant difference.

Sherry Sour Cream Chicken Allrecipes.com "An easy and delicious way to prepare chicken breasts. Works best with skinless AND boneless breasts, but breasts with the bone in will also work. Adjust the seasoning to taste." INGREDIENTS  4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts  1 cup sour cream  1/4 cup sherry (I would use HarveyÂs Bristol Cream)  4 tablespoons butter  1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary  2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme  salt and pepper to taste  (I would also be adding onions and mushrooms to this dish, for more depth of flavour) DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 2. In a large skillet, saute chicken in butter/margarine until browned. Remove chicken and place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. (This is where I would then sauté up the onions and mushrooms.) 3. Add sour cream and sherry to butter/margarine in skillet. Stir together until smooth. Season chicken with rosemary, thyme salt and pepper to taste. Then pour the sherry/cream mixture over the chicken. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.