It's the small flourishes and attention to detail that tends to impress people at dinner parties. Using this vintage tool ...

Question: I bought what I think is an antique butter mold at my neighbor’s garage sale. That is what she told me, and it had been in the family forever. On the bottom the carved mold is a flower.

Once a burdensome chore for each family to produce for dinner, the art of making superior butter became a delightful practice, and each neighborhood soon developed butter-making households that had ...