I recently returned from Europe, and I have a hankering for authentic Italian food…at least as authentic as you can get it when you aren’t in Italy. Marcella Hazan, author of the authoritative Italian cookbook “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking,” has a wonderful recipe for roast […]

When we were camping a while back, Brenda told me about her easy-peasy recipe for Calico Beans. She was kind enough to send me a snap of her recipe card, and tonight I made them for dinner. I did not know that I would love […]

A short while back, someone in one of the many cast iron Facebook groups to which I belong posted a photo of a brown beer bottle, with raised lettering marked “Wagner” and “Sidney, O.” The person asked whether the bottle was related to the Wagner […]

The Sidney Hollow Ware Company began in 1859 as “P. Smith Bro. & Co.” Philip Smith began working a small foundry in Sidney Ohio with capital of just $25 in 1859.  His brother Michael joined him in the business a short time later. P. Smith […]

I’ve seen this theorized here and there before, and the theories all made sense, but here it is right from the mouth of Griswold’s marketing department in 1921! “The Griswold … low frame … is for use on coal and wood ranges, and the high […]

The Wapak Hollow Ware Company was formed in 1903 by a group of five men in Wapakoneta, Ohio. The Company was in business until 1926, when it declared bankruptcy.