the Hannah of our concern

Happy 313th birthday. Also, I know what I want for dinner. And, 7 other things worth your time.

Happy 313th birthday to Hannah Glasse. I’m a few days early, but I don’t want to forget. (You don’t look a day over 175.)

A groundbreaking 18th century author, Glasse was basically the Julia Child or Martha Stewart of her time, best-known for her wildly popular English cookbook, which had an almost 21st Century title—and one of the best subtitles I’ve ever read: 

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy: Which Far Exceeds Anything of the Kind Yet Published

Her story is messy, however, starting right from birth. She was the illegitimate child of a woman named Hannah and a man named Isaac, who was inconveniently married to yet another woman—who also was named Hannah.

Yes, all 3 Hannahs, and an Isaac, all living together—along with with Isaac's two sons. No wonder that the Hannah of our concern described her childhood as “wicked,” and ran away at age 15.

She married an Irish soldier (“considerably older than her," according to a 2011 book, A History of English Food, by Clarissa Dickson Wright)…