Historic Cookery

Good Day!  My name is Carolina M Capehart, and I welcome you to my blog. 
First, the three words that best describe my life (thusfar) are: Artist; Actress;
and Author. (BTW I’d like them engraved on my tombstone, when the time comes.)

In the meantime, my passion is cooking over an open fire, using the equipment,
the ingredients, and the receipts (recipes) of the early 19th Century.  Currently,
I indulge this love of historically-based open fire hearth cooking by conducting
“Fireside Feasts,” a series of cooking workshops, out at the Wyckoff Farmhouse
Museum in Brooklyn, NY. I also participate in a variety of classes taught
throughout the NY area by my fellow hearth cooks. I certainly can always learn
something new! Besides, just being able to cook at an open hearth, no matter
where I have to go, or how far I have to travel to get there, REALLY floats
my boat!

How did I get roped into lugging heavy iron pots and standing over a blazing hot fire? 
Well, it all started years ago, back in my home state of Indiana, when I worked
at the living history museum Conner Prairie.  It was there that I learned the finer
points of hearth cooking.

Now, this love of historical cooking has been life-long, yes?  Au contraire, mes amis!  I had numerous other careers, other passions, prior to my days as an historical hearth cook.  Let me go back…

I was born several decades ago (eek!) in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Yes, that makes me a Hoosier.  (Go Colts!  Go Pacers!  HUZZAH!)  Went through grade school, junior high, and high school.  Was active in everything from piano lessons (can’t play a note now) to art lessons (YES!) to after-school activities to Girl Scouts (3rd thru 12th grade & “First Class”!) to school plays & community theater to ballroom dancing school (yet another thing I can’t do now).  Graduated from Principia College, in Illinois, with a double major BA (French & Fine Art).  I ran away from home (as my parents called it) after graduation, attended RISD’s summer session, and then went to live in Boston, Mass.  Got my first job ever (a crappy, but eye-opening one), typing advertising collection letters (5 of ‘em, each in triplicate, back in the days of carbon paper…yikes), which led to my determination to find more creative work, one hopefully using my life-long artistic talents.  And so I attended a Boston art school,  The New England School of Art & Design, where I studied graphic design and fulfilled my artistic and creative inclinations.  Got a job as an Art Director in the book division of the Curtis Publishing Company (publishers of The Saturday Evening Post), in Indianapolis, where  I spent my days handling the design, layout, paste-up, and general production of assorted “coffee table” books.  Occasionally, I also did photography and illustration.

Are you glassy-eyed yet?

Next came a Masters Degree in Journalism, with a concentration in Public Relations (yes, I had two majors, again) from Ball State University (David Letterman’s alma
mater) in Muncie, Indiana. My goal was to gain some credentials in the writing arena. I already had the graphic design thing conquered, but I discovered that
in order to get the type of job I wanted, I knew I needed BOTH. Immediately
(even before, actually) upon graduation, I began a job handling public relations
and marketing for the Parks Maintenance Division of the Indianapolis Department
of Parks and Recreation. It was a fantastic job, one wherein I was able to utilize ALL
my creative skills and to put ALL that education I received to good use. HUZZAH!

But it didn’t last.  I was forced out when, under the guise of “re-organizing the Department,” my position was eliminated; and since what I was then offered instead utilized only one tenth of my abilities and capabilities, I left.  After some other twists and turns of life, I began working as an interpreter at Conner Prairie, and thus began my love affair with historic cookery.  I had a marvelous time.  And it was a good time to be there.

Eventually, I ran away from home, again, and came to New York City in order to pursue a professional acting career.  I had been in numerous plays throughout my life, had attended acting classes sponsored by the local community theater, done commercials and voice-over work, AND wowed the public while at CP.  So, I figured why not try my hand in the Big League?

Still awake?

So I came, auditioned, got some parts, auditioned, got more parts, took some
classes, auditioned, met numerous “important” people, auditioned again, got
some great roles, shot “on location,” auditioned, and auditioned some more.
All of this was repeated over and over and…. I did a little of nearly everything,
from commercials to TV shows to indie films to student films to major films. My
two Claims to Fame are being on the cover of Newsweek Magazine in January 2001,
and guest starring in a “Question Man” segment of an episode of PBS’ weekly
program “TV 411″ (which incidentally, is still shown in re-runs every Friday).

However, I slowly fell out of it. And so, about four years ago, I began
to re-immerse myself in historic open hearth cooking. And here we are!

And that’s my life story, in a nutshell. A rather LARGE nutshell!

This page has the following sub pages.

• A few credentials