by B.L. Unkel | Nov 19, 2022 | Baking
With the holidays fast approaching, so too are pies, cookies, and candy. And the one thing they all have in common? Sugar. History While all green plants make sugar, only sugar beets and sugarcane make enough for extraction to be practical. The knowledge and...
by B.L. Unkel | Nov 12, 2022 | Writing
What do you do when you overhear a murderer talking about the murder she committed? Not a question most of us have ever had to consider, but that’s exactly the situation I found myself in several years ago while vacationing in England. Setting the Scene I’d...
by B.L. Unkel | Oct 15, 2022 | History
Since October 7 was National Bathtub Day, it seemed timely to write a DYK on Bathtubs. Bathtub History It’s easy to think bathtubs are a relatively modern invention but think again. The first known bathtub dates back to 1700 BCE and the Palace of Knossos on the...
by B.L. Unkel | Oct 8, 2022 | Baking
Don’t you just love fall? It brings cooler weather, the smell of wood smoke in the air, and color in the trees. But there’s another reason to love fall—apples. History Did you know it’s believed apples come from modern-day Kazakhstan in Central Asia? Their...
by B.L. Unkel | Sep 24, 2022 | History
I think it’s safe to say almost everyone reading this has purchased something from a vending machine at least once in their life. Maybe it was a newspaper, a canned drink, or a candy bar. Whatever it was, the machine dispensed a specific product once you’d paid the...