A Modern Victorian Retreat Day

My teatime spread

 God bless the Wayback Machine, honestly.

One of my favourite websites that I discovered back in my early twenties was a website called "Eras of Elegance", one that appealed immensely to my history-loving sensibilities. It was divided into sections such as "movies" and "fashion" and "lifestyle", and gave not only brief overviews of historical eras and trends (i.e. the Ancient era, the Medieval era, the Regency, the Rococo, the Victorian period, etc.) but also gave lists of fiction that took place in these eras, historically inspired recipes, and ways one could translate historical fashions and hairstyles into a modern street look.

I loved that website so much. I was heartbroken when it disappeared from the internet. Thankfully, on the internet nothing is gone forever!

The Eras of Elegance homepage

One piece of the website that I had completely forgotten about, that I rediscovered again thanks to the Wayback Machine, was the ideas the site's author(s?) had for a "Victorian Retreat Weekend". That is, a weekend where one turns off all modern technology and does activities predetermined by the website (I assume the schedule is to be printed before the technology all goes off) to live in the spirit of the Victorians, if not quite historically accurately.

This idea intrigued me and would not let me go. I knew, now that I discovered it again, that I had no choice. This idea was gripping my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks. I just had to do it. But there was no way for me to get an entire weekend off - so I consolidated it to just a day, combining the suggested schedules for two days into one:

7:00 am: Rise and shine, get ready for the day
8:00 am: Make breakfast from scratch.
9:00 am: After cleaning up from breakfast, morning devotional activity or reading.
10:00 am: Housework, crafting, or family time.
11:30 am: Prepare a picnic lunch.
12:00 noon: Picnic lunch at a local park.
1:30 pm: Afternoon excursion - possibly a local historical museum or antiquing.
4:00 pm: Afternoon tea. Once tea is cleaned up, reading, crafting, or writing in a journal.
6:30 pm: Prepare dinner.
7:30 pm: Dinner and clean-up.
8:00 pm: Family time.
9:00 pm: Back to the future.

I set rules for myself. I would make historically inspired recipes, I would dress historically-inspired (in a vintage Gunne Saxe dress - Victorian by way of the 1970s), and I wouldn't use any appliances that they did not have in the Victorian/Edwardian eras. My phone was only used as a camera (they did have cameras) and a phone for 8pm family time (my family lives in California and it's my sister's birthday, I couldn't not call just because I wanna escape modern life for awhile).

So then how did it go?
I woke up at 7 and dressed myself in my vintage dress, brushing my hair and teeth, and washing my face, but try as I might I just wasn't hungry, so I didn't actually start breakfast until 9. I read until then. It was nice.

Breakfast was even nicer, though! I made scones from scratch! E of E asks on their suggested itinerary "when was the last time you had breakfast fresh from the oven?" I can't even remember, but these were delicious. I used this recipe, which I'd printed last week. If you wanna make scones from scratch ever, I highly recommend it.

One of my roommates had to dart out the door so she wouldn't be late for work, but Sarah came out just in time for breakfast, which was more than just scones and tea! We also had "Eggs sorta-Benedict"!

I say "sorta-Benedict" because, well, they weren't quiiiite Eggs Benedict. While the poached eggs and the hollandaise sauce (which is surprisingly simple to make - it's only three ingredients! Egg yolks, lemon juice, and butter!) were there, we used the scones instead of English muffins or crumpets, and because there was no Canadian bacon, Sarah chopped up some leftover Swedish meatballs. She said the slight lemony tang of the hollandaise went very good with them. I'll take her word for it.

The origin of Eggs Benedict is somewhat disputed. The earliest date they could have been invented is in the 1860s. New York City's own Delmonico's had a chef named Charles Ranhofer who apparently invented the dish for a Mrs. Benedict. Now this could be apocryphal, though it's not exactly like Delmonico's needs to make stuff up for the fame, they're pretty famous. What is known is that Ranhofer included a recipe for "Eggs a la Benedick" in his 1894 cookbook, The Epicurean.

Another possible origin date is 1894, not just from that cookbook, but another source has a Wall Street broker named Lemuel Benedict ordering the legendary combination of poached eggs, bacon, and hollandaise sauce as a hangover cure at the Waldorf hotel. The chef liked the idea of the combination, but began using Canadian bacon instead, and - so it is said - Eggs Benedict were born.

Whichever story is true, they're a New York City invention and properly Victorian, and also delicious.

I saved some of the peels from the lemons used to make the hollandaise sauce for later, but as Sarah had a flight to California she had to leave for by noon, after we cleaned up (I washed the pots and pans by hand as the Victorians had no modern dishwashers; Sarah was not bound to such rules and put the plates and silverware in the dishwasher) we had "family BEST FRIEND time" together until it was time for her to go and me to prepare my picnic lunch - an egg-salad sandwich and lavender lemonade!

How to make lavender syrup for lavender lemonade:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups of water, 3/4 cups sugar, and roughly one tablespoon of lemon zest over medium high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer, still stirring, until sugar is dissolved.

2. Remove from heat and add 1 1/2 tablespoons culinary lavender. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes - the longer the mixture seeps, the stronger the lavender flavour will be.

3. Strain out the lavender flowers and lemon zest and let it cool completely. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

I had no leftovers, though. I hand squeezed the lemons I'd zested into a Mason Jar (they had Mason Jars back then!) and added the syrup and some sparkling water before sealing the jar and putting it into the fridge while I made my egg salad sandwich. Then I packed them into my bag with one of my larger scarfs to be used as a picnic blanket and began my leisurely stroll to Hamilton Park.

It really is a lovely walk. If I ignored the cars, I could imagine I was a Victorian or Edwardian era woman, a Gibson Girl perhaps (though my relationship with modern womanhood is eh at best and many times I prefer "they" pronouns, I've always admired the Gibson Girls), strolling down the road past stately old Victorian homes like the types that are all around Hamilton Park. The walk to Hamilton Park is one of the prettiest in Weehawken. I got a kick out of looking at the historic homes!

Lunch!

Lunchtime was nice. Though I had vowed not to go into Manhattan today, I got to enjoy the view of it as I ate and read just over the spot where Hamilton had been shot. Originally I had planned to read Anne's House of Dreams, as I've been rereading the entire Green Gables series lately, but I knew if I did that, I'd spend hours at the park. No matter how many times I've read the series - hundreds, probably - L.M. Montgomery's prose has that effect on me, and I cannot put her books down!

I decided upon Midnight in Austenland, checked out at the Weehawken library (which was once another Victorian home), instead. It's a bit shallow but it's a fun read. Besides, it's about a modern woman attempting to escape for a bit into the past, and was that not what I was trying to do?

I stopped at a local bakery on the way home and picked up some sweets for tea, stopped at home to put them in the fridge and use the restroom, and then made my way to my afternoon excursion.

I picked the Hoboken Historical Museum as I had never been there, it's about a twenty-minute walk from my home in Weehawken, and it's in a historic building.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was very small. There wasn't a lot in it, but the staff was very friendly, and I was trying to stick to a schedule anyway, so I didn't mind. Anyway, I did totally enjoy myself!

The museum's current main exhibit was a collection of photos of Hoboken in the 1970s and 1980s. I looked at them to be polite, and they were interesting, but it did kind of break my illusion of trying to live historically for the day. At least they were in black and white.

The back corner of the museum is completely devoted to Frank Sinatra, though - complete with a diorama (pictured at right) of Sinatra practising singing in what I assume is meant to be his home.

This makes sense - Sinatra was born in Hoboken, and is one of the few claims to fame that the city has, other than being the location of the bakery from Cake Boss. I watched a clip that talked a bit about Sinatra's early life in Hoboken (and later Jersey City). It was a blast from my own past to go with the nostalgic/historic theme of the day - my grandmother on my father's side is a pretty big fan of Ol' Blue Eyes, so I grew up hearing a lot of his music when I visited her. It was nice.

I returned home for tea, pictured at the very top of this entry. I had decaf English breakfast, a scone with jam, crackers with blue cheese, and the sweets from Palermo's bakery, all fitting for a Victorian tea time if I do say so myself.  Then, I made potpourri!

I dried the lemon peels I'd saved from breakfast in the oven at 200 degrees farenheit for about an hour. While they were drying, I mixed together:

• Lavender - I wanted this mostly lavender scented because it's my favourite scent, and tried to pick things that mixed well with it.
• Rosemary - I used dried rosemary from the bush I had back in California that I miss so much
• Cloves
• Mugwort

Once the lemon peels were dry they got mixed in as well, along with seven drops of lavender essential oil. I put the potpourri mixture into an antique porcelain heart-shaped box from Holland that I bought way back in October at an antique store, back when I was obsessed with all things Dutch. I'm glad to finally have a use for the beautiful container, and the potpourri smells so good.

After journaling and reading for a couple hours, I made myself a historically inspired dinner. It's not the most attractive but it was good. I know that heavy creamy sauces were popular in Victorian times, so I whipped up a creamy mushroom sauce using this recipe.

I don't eat meat, so I roasted potatoes in the oven with some salt and pepper - simple, yet effective - and covered those in the mushroom sauce. I ate this with another scone, as well as a side salad of arugula (the same kind I'd had in my egg salad sandwich), blue cheese (the same kind I'd had at tea), and a homemade vinaigrette that I quickly whipped up using some pomegranate balsamic I got last winter in Monterey.

I spoke on the phone with my mother, sister, and California-bff Ashley before it was finally time to return "back to the future", to modern life again.

Eras of Elegance encourages those who take part in this retreat to "reflect upon your weekend" (well, I only did one day) and "consider incorporating some of the Victorian lifestyle into regular life."

I don't know if I really learned much, other than that lemon juice hurts like a bitch when it gets into papercuts. I did really enjoy crafting the menus and cooking all of those meals from scratch, as well as making potpourri. And though the housework and dishes were tedious, getting to read was really relaxing, though resisting the urge to check my instagram was harder than I thought!

All in all, I don't know if I'll do this again anytime soon, but I'm glad I did it. I'd say it was a successful retreat.

-Nym-