Title of Event: Rae Katherine Eighmey -- Abraham Lincoln in New Orleans
When: Thursday, February 11, 2010 7:30 PM
Location: Common Good Books
Description: In 1831 Abraham Lincoln spent a month in New Orleans and never wrote a word about it. This is the basis for award-winning local author Rae Katherine Eighmey's second novel. Eighmey has immersed herself in historic periods as she has been rediscovering original, historic-period recipes for the past two decades. Her expertise in translating these American classics from the past 175 years into recipes for today’s kitchens has led to four cookbooks. Three of these -- A Prairie Kitchen, Hearts & Homes and Potluck Paradise (published in October 2009 was a finalist in the Minnesota Book Awards) -- are available from Minnesota Historical Society Press and local book stores. Her next book Food Will Win the War, a study of food conservation on the World War I home front containing more than 50 recipes was published by the Press on February 1, 2010.

An award winning writer and cook, Eighmey is an authority on 19th and early 20th century Midwestern cookery. She has worked with historical societies, museums and groups to design menus or recreate dishes for special events, has written articles and given numerous presentations on her research. Eighmey served as one of the project scholars for Key Ingredients, a 12-site, state-wide, Smithsonian Institution Museum on Main Street exhibit coordinated by the Minnesota Humanities Commission.