Progressive People’s Feudalist United Front

It's too early to be thinking about Christmas

2009-11-01T19:01:11Z

Last year I failed to make a list of the cookies I wanted to make for the family cookie boxes before I started. In an attempt to not do that this year, here's my lists.

People I need to send cookies to: 1) Mom&Dad, 2) MomInLaw (need new address?), 3) DadInLaw&BiL_Rik, 4) BiL_Peter, 5) BiL_Andrew , 6) BroChas, 7) Grandma, 8) GMGodparents.

This year's list includes: (drops) Toll House Chocolate Chip, Grandma Roger's oatmeal with blueberries, Grandma Roger's Oatmeal with candied orange peel, Spice Drops (vegan), Soft Molasses, Peanut butter crisps, ginger snaps, M&M cookies
(rolls) Refrigerator cookies with hazelnuts and poppy seeds, Orange and cardamom, Almond thins, Swedish ginger thins.
I'd like to make some rolled and cut cookies, but I don't think I'm going to have time.

ppfuf @ 2009-10-30T09:45:00

2009-10-30T16:53:33Z

Hitler should not be funny, but this filk on grammar taken from the movie Downfall is probabaly the funniest thing I've seen all week.

the Perfectly Period Feast for 1420-1440 Catalonia, 13Nov10

2009-10-26T17:54:20Z

Howdy ya'll.
I just got word that the West Kingdom's Fall Collegium 2010 has been moved to November 13. If you were hoping to attend the class on the Perfectly Period Feast for 1420-1440 Catalonia, please adjust your calendars accordingly.

Sadly that's not the bad news. The bad news is spring collegium for 2010 has been cancelled, so any preperatory classes for servers and carvers will be at the outdoor West Kingdom Arts and Sciences weekend. A&S weekend is currently scheduled for June 11-13th.

GM and I will try to attend any local collegial events between now and feast if there are people in outlying areas who would like to be carvers or servers. I may also attempt to teach the guest and staff feast classes at the cook's playdate at the West-Antir war in July.

eta: for more discussion on the decisions around collegium, please see etaine_pommier's Collegium? post. (sorry, here's the unlocked version, http://etaine-pommier.livejournal.com/241052.html .)

More experimental lasagna

2009-10-26T04:51:33Z

Tonight’s lasagne is another attempt at a white lasagne. Based partly on j_i_m_r’s suggestion in a previous lasagna thread and partly on Introducing Four-Cheese Lasagna in Cook’s Illustrated magazine, May&June 2007 (page 18-19).
For this lasagna I made a white sauce of 4 Tbl butter, garlic, 1 minced shallot, 1/3 c flour, 2 1/2 c milk, 1 1/2 c duck broth, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 bay leaves, Gruyere cheese, and parmesan cheese. I made a cheese layer of 1 tub of Trader Joe’s ricotta (drained), 1 egg, 1 head of garlic (previouly confited in duck fat), 2 tbl chopped parsley, 2 oz chevre (goat cheese), 1/2 tesp black pepper. For the meat layer, I chopped up six smoked duck legs from Dittmer’s, removing as much fat as I could (the bones went into the broth).
Stacking: Coated the bottom of a big lasagna pan with oil from the jar of pesto, and added some of the white sauce. Layer of noodles (Barilla no-boil noodles soaked in hot water and the remaining duck broth). Layer of ricotta mixture (about 1 ½ cups). ½ cup of caramelized onions. Layer of noodles. Duck meat, apx 8 oz gorgonzola cheese, pesto, the remaining ricotta mixture, more white sauce. Layer of noodles. Chopped sun-dried tomatoes, all the white sauce, and apx 6 oz asiago cheese. Bake 350. It’s still in the oven, but it smells really good so far.

14th Century Cook’s Playdate

2009-10-21T17:42:13Z

Thanks everybody who came out for the cook’s playdate at Coronet. Looking though the pictures that have been posted, it seems like there were a lot more people who came through than I realized.
For those of you who made food at the playdate, please write up your recipes (if you can) and submit them to the Mists Chronicler (Martin of Rivenstar) for inclusion in the next edition of the principality newsletter. Everyone who participated is welcome to write about it for the West Kingdom History site.

grab your aprons, the cooks' playdate is almost here!

2009-10-15T22:31:37Z

A few more details on the cook's 14^th century playdate this weekend.

John's bringing spit adapters for the BBQs at the park
Janos is bringing his monster BBQ
Zinaida's bringing her oven on a trailer
Gianetta's bringing oil for frying
Crystal's bringing a krumkaka iron for wafers.

If you can, feel free to bring wood or hardwood charcoal. I hope to get the fire started before 10am. I expect we'll cook all afternoon until about 5pm. We'll eat as we go, and we're going to be listed in the site handout, so be nice to the folks who wander by for a snack. :)

We're also going to have some musicians, at least one group of singers for the 14^th century salon, and a discussion of the Story of Patient Griselda see link in comments for discussion questions, and go here http://www.bartleby.com/195/2.html and here http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/clkt-par.htm for the texts)

I'm hoping we'll have a dishwashing station, and a place to sit and eat out of the smoke. I'll have 5 gals of drinking water available.

If you can, please bring a clipboard and pen. Juana is bringing some extra ingredients and recipes (and I hope to have some too), so if you decide to cook one up, please write down your recipes/experiments.

At least one person as asked for oven space for bread. I'd like to bake a tart.

Details about Mists Coronet: http://mists.westkingdom.org/2009_Fall_Coronet.php

A vegetarian spider!

2009-10-13T23:07:20Z

Ok, it's only mostly vegetarian.
"It is utterly surreal," he said, "to see a spider use such effective hunting strategies to hunt a plant."

a new meme, say something nice

2009-10-13T20:56:31Z

Gakked from The LBK
thread_walker, thank you for the funny stories about your kids. blondefeather, thank you for the pickels at Crown, they were lovely. gurdymonkey thank you for the occasional haiku. metageek, thank you (again) for one of my favorite quotes, "I'm not a bibliophile, I'm a bibliophiliac; when I go into a bookstore my wallet bleeds." Thank you, alessandro_bard for singing the KittyCat song at Esfenn and at Crown. And thank you rachaelfleury for just being fabulous.

it's slow day at work

2009-10-12T19:17:15Z

Things you have done during your lifetime:
(x) Gone on a blind date
(x) Gave blood (about 6 gallons, I think)
(x) Skipped school (elementary, high school and college)
( ) Watched someone die
(x) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Florida
(x) Been to Hawaii
(x) Been on a plane
( ) Been on a helicopter
(x) Been lost
(x) Gone to Washington, DC
(x) Ridden in a police car
( ) Hugged a homeless person
(x) Swam in the ocean
( ) Swam with stingrays (petted one in the display at the aquarium, should that count?)
(x) Been sailing in the ocean
(x) Cried yourself to sleep
(x) Played cops and robbers
( ) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Ran a marathon (don't intent to)
( ) Sang Karaoke (I've sung in front of groups, just not Karaoke)
( ) Volunteered at a soup kitchen (I've made meals for the homeless, but not at a soup kitchen)
(x) Paid for a meal with coins only (way too often!)
(x) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
( ) Seen the northern lights (want to!)
(x) Been para sailing
( ) Been on TV
( ) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't (o good heavens, has anyone left this unchecked?)
(x) Made prank phone calls
( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose (most memorably, strawberry soda)
(x) Fed a Giraffe (by placing a carrot between my teeth and letting him take it)
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x) Fired a gun
(x) Danced in the rain
( ) Been to the opera
( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) Serenaded someone
( ) Seen a US President in person
(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(x) Watched the sunrise with someone
( ) Driven a race car
(x) Been to a National Museum
(x) Been to a wax museum
(x) Eaten caviar
(x) Blown bubbles
(x) Gone ice-skating
(x) Gone to the movies
(x) Been deep sea fishing
(/) Driven across the United States (half an x)
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
( ) Been sky diving (and won't!)
( ) Gone snowmobiling (want to!)
( ) Lived in more than one country
(x) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(x) Seen a falling star and made a wish
( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser (want to!)
(x) Seen the Grand Canyon
( ) Seen the Statue of Liberty
( ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
( ) Been on a cruise
(x) Traveled by train
(x) Traveled by motorcycle
(x) Been horse back riding
(x) Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR
(x) Been to Disneyland/Disney world
(x) Been in a rain forest
(x) Seen whales in the ocean
( ) Been to Niagara Falls (want to!)
(x) Ridden on an elephant
( ) Swam with dolphins
( ) Been to the Olympics
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China (want to!)
( ) Saw and heard a glacier calf (want to!)
( ) Been spinnaker flying
(x) Been water-skiing
(x) Been snow-skiing
(x) Been to Westminster Abbey
(x) Been to the Louvre
( ) Swam in the Mediterranean (want to!)
(x) Been to a Major League Baseball game
(x) Been to a National Football League game
(x) Swam with sharks (but it was a little tiny shark))
(x) Been White Water Rafting
(x) Written a book or screen play
(x) Been to a Tournament of Roses Parade (and can still feel the cold!)
(x) Lived in more than one state
( ) Become a parent
( ) Been Bungee Jumping (and won't!)
(x) Been to Vegas
(x) Been to a minor league baseball game
( ) Worked on a political campaign
( ) Been to the top of the World Trade Center or Empire State Building
(x) Ridden a Subway
( ) Been to your High School Reunion

food, glorious food!

2009-10-12T19:00:14Z

I love no-event weekends. This weekend's goal was to clean out my freezer of the random accumulation of ingredients and find the kitchen after several weeks of events in a row. I think I very nearly succeeded in making a cheese soufflé. This one actually looked like a souffle, unlike my previous attempt which looked like a child's science project on the topic of Mars. I also discovered that 6-7 pounds of onions will just fit in my crock pot, and after 24 hours will result in apx 4 cups of caramelized onions; can't decide if it was worth the effort of not.
I found 3/4s of a jar of almond butter in the cupboard. I didn't like the cookies made with it, and seem disinclined to eat it, so it's free to a good home at Coronet.
Friday night I made chicken mole for lunches and a variant on porkchops in mustard crumbs for our Gourmet Magazine Memorial Dinner. Saturday was cornbread for breakfast, pork buns for lunch, and cheese souffle with salad and smoked lamb ribs for dinner. Four ginger tarts went into the freezer. Sunday breakfast of bacon and potato knishes. First snack of mushroom pasties, second snack of tomato and basil bruscetta, then GM made braised short ribs for dinner. A mac-n-cheese casserole went into the freezer.
My next free weeekend, I want to roast a practice goose. Hopefully that will happen 1Nov09. I also think I'm starting to get lasagne withdrawl.

today's meme

2009-10-09T17:47:55Z

Do you believe in the concept of a soulmate? Do you think you've met him or her? Do you ever worry that "the one" got away?

View 1843 Answers

Do you believe in soulmates?
No. I think the whole concept of there being only one person on the Whole Planet just for me, because I'm such a special little snowflake to be one of the more destructive memes of modern life. After all, why should I accommodate anyone, or try to improve my relationship skills when my true soul mate will love me, warts and all?

On another topic, I had not idea the word chauvinist came from a person! http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000522

a foodie weekend, 17October09

2009-10-06T20:11:56Z

The 14th century cooking demo is still on for Mists Coronet. Please look for the yellow and black BC-style sunshade near the flat parking lot.

If you'd like to bring some samples your favorite food to the Tastes Of The Mists, that would be cool too.
> In west-cooks@yahoogroups.com,
"the fabulous duchess" <...@ ...> wrote:
>
> Their Highnesses of the Mists would like to invite all
> interested cooks to participate in a Festival of Tastes at
> Mists Fall Coronet. They would like to give cooks an
> opportunity to show off their yummy food and the populace a
> chance to learn that period food is yummy. If you are so
> inclined, please bring tasting samples to the Mists Royal
> Pavilion after court and after dinner on Saturday evening at
> Mists Coronet. Since many people have food allergies, please
> have a list of ingredients available. This is separate from
> the 14th c cooks playdate
> which will be happening during the day at Coronet, but
> feel free to make extras of the food you cook at the
> playdate to include in the evening festival.

note to self

2009-09-24T19:31:18Z

New Project: A perfectly period Spanish Feast at Fall Collegium (~~23Oct2010~~ moved to 13Nov10). Primarily based on The Book of Sent Sovi: Medieval Recipes from Catalonia (backed up where necessary by Chiquart's 'on Cookery': A Fifteenth-Century Savoyard Culinary Treatise, Arnaldus de Villa Nova's Liber de Vinis, and the new translation of Le Menagier de Paris). The main service sources we hope to use are Enrique de Villena's Arte Cisoria (backed up where necessary by "Boke of Curtasye"/Sloane MS 1986 and Ruperto de Nola). The time period is 1420-1440CE, but the geography (other than "Iberian peninsula") is not quite determined, but likely to be Catalonia.

ppfuf @ 2009-09-23T10:53:00

2009-09-23T17:59:56Z

A link, gakked from this is an excellent piece on how difficult artistic criticism is
Read it first.
Screenwriter Josh Olson has summed up exactly why I hate judging sca competitions. He's also summed up the parts of my job that I hate too.

fundraising lunch at October Crown

2009-09-17T16:56:01Z

Most of you probably know learnteachwas injured in a motorcycle accident last November. The resulting hospitalizations have resulted in a haystack of medical bills.

I'm sponsoring a fundraising lunch at the West Kingdom's October Crown Tournement on October 3rd. Please come by for a sausage (or some vegetarian-friendly quiche). The lunch will be served from Trouble, the Crosston's black and yellow sunshade, somewhere slightly off the main fighting field.

If you would like to help with the lunch, please leave a comment here. I'm looking for help with making 25 quiches, 144 boiled eggs, 200 baggies of misc. sweets; shopping for apples, oranges, sausages, napkins, and bread; and bringing water for 10-15 gallons of sekanjabin.

even my pants had a bad day

2009-09-10T20:24:45Z

Last Tuesday, I was working from home. One of the things I like about working from home is I can wear my most comfortable pair of jeans which, while almost passable for running errands on a Saturday morning, are no longer in the category of office wear. GM had to take one of those medical tests you have to starve yourself for, so in interests of being a good wife, I dropped him off and went to get him a smoothie. Smoothie in my hot little hands, I headed back to pick him up. Have you noticed in a fit of generosity, Jambajuice overfills their cups slightly? It doesn't matter if you drink it right away, but if you don't it soon leaks around the lid and leaves raspberry colored stains on your pants.
I did manage to make it through the rest of my afternoon at home with only the usual amount of cat fur on my jeans.
In a desperate attempt to reduce the amount of leftovers & random ingredients in the kitchen, I made a lasagne (from the bottom up: sauce, boiled noodles, 1 lb drained ricotta, 6 fat cloves of garlic (chopped), 1 zucchini sliced thin, apx 6 ounces olive tapenade, sprinkle of grated smoked mozzarella cheese, no-boil noodles, 2 Aidell's portabella sausages (chopped), 2 Aidell's garlic and artichoke sausages (chopped), 1 cup caramelized onions, apx 8 oz Classico pesto, sprinkle of grated smoked mozzarella cheese, boiled noodles, 1 3/4 cup mushroom duxelle (shitakes, milk, provolone, shallots), smoked tomato sauce, all remaining grated smoked mozzarella cheese (1 1/2 pounds total), garnished with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella balls.) All went well until I tried to move the still-warm lasagna into the fridge. One slip, one wave of lasagne and there was cheese&tomoato sauce on the oven, the floor, my feet, and my pants. There was much cussing. A very wide spatual is the tool of choice for scooping up the sad remains. I felt like Kryten, "Bon Appetit, Bin!". Most of the lasagne is ok.
Still not sure the shitake mushrooms were the best choice, but we'll see what GM thinks.

Saturday is International Bacon Day!

2009-09-03T18:38:18Z

If only I'd known! I wouldn't have changed the date of the bacon explosion party, because this Saturday is Ducal, LoudBand camp, and my semiannual visit to my parents, but maybe I'll take some Dittmer's bacon down for my dad. http://internationalbaconday.blogspot.com/2008/01/welcome-to-international-bacon-day_20.html
eta: My BiL, Peter, who sent me this link just followed it up with:
> Remember, remember
> The Fifth of September
> The Bacon Cheeseburger and Fries
> I know we'll be makin'
> The Day just for Bacon
> And eatin' smoked pig til we dies.

::sniff:: That's beautiful, man.

edited to add (again): OMG! The bacontini!

teaching in Cloondara tonight

2009-08-25T19:56:32Z

GM and I are taking our 14-16th century tableware class on the road to Cloondara tonight. I'm fussing over the slide presentation on my lunch hour. Does anybody who's taken the class before have any suggestions? I feel like I'm trying to include too much. This class is just about the material culture (spoons, plates, cups, linens) not the etiquette or server's class.
In addition to the "how we made it" discussion, we hope to include some of the "where you can buy it" so if you have links to share, please write me before 4pm pacific time today.

Stuff you can buy:

Ceramics, Knives, Table Linens, all kinds of things from Historic Enterprises (info@historicenterprises.com)
http://historicenterprises.biz/reenactment-goods-cutlery-c-102_163.html
Drinking vessels:
http://historicenterprises.biz/reenactment-goods-drinking-vessels-c-102_194.html

Trenchers, spoons, salts, misc tableware from Billy and Charlie's: http://www.billyandcharlie.com/misc.html

Steve Millingham Pewter Replicas:
Cutlery and Tableware http://www.pewterreplicas.com/dept.asp?id=38
Drinking Vessels http://www.pewterreplicas.com/dept.asp?id=36

Mercy the Potter, cups, plates, animal head pitchers!: http://www.rakurakutei.com/sales.htm

Knives from Gaukler Medieval Wares
http://medievalwares.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66_99_105

Cups, water jugs
http://ancientpots.homestead.com/gallery.html

Aquamaniles and pitchers from GRIFFIN DYEWORKS & FIBER ARTS
http://www.twoheartsentwinedpottery.com/

Roller Derby in SF?

2009-08-17T20:03:37Z

My brother in law is coming for a visit and would like to go to a roller derby, Saturday the 29th of August. Does anybody know how to find roller derby within an hour's drive of Menlo Park? My google-fu is failing me.

Vignettes, part II

2009-08-17T03:48:59Z

GM and I did end up going to South Dakota last weekend. The visit to my brother's family went smoothly, and we all went to the WalMart portrait studio to get a picture taken. Mission Accomplished. We also went to see my eldest nephew in a community theatre production of Fiddler on Roof.

This weekend, GM's in Wisconsin at the Ring of Steel reunion. RoS is his old stage-combat troop. I hope he's having fun. I know I'm old&dull now; I woke up Saturday morning and realized the only constraint on my behavior (other than G-d and peer-like qualities) was 2,355 miles away and my next thought was ooo! I could have egg salad for lunch!

I made a veggie lasagne for next weekend {the usual sauce and no-boil noodles 1) drained ricotta with goat cheese, thin-sliced garlic, sliced zucchini, 2) cheese, pesto, chopped artichokes, chopped white-only leeks 3) portabella mushrooms cooked down with shallots, milk, and provolone, 4) chopped fresh basil, cheese, green garlic-stuffed olives, fresh tomatoes}. I also made Alton Brown's crepes. They are sadly disappointing.

The garden is in a terrible state. I've paid little attention to it all summer and the weeds are taking over the herb garden. Even more unhappily, last Monday I went out to look at the plum tree and thought "I should pick those this weekend" and when I went out Saturday morning, they were all gone. Not sure if it was the squirrels or the birds but not a single plum is left on the tree.

GM's brother Peter is headed our way for a visit. I'm looking forward to seeing him, even though I have a small selfish wish he was coming in a less busy week. We're teaching a class in Cloondara on Tuesday, and I'm hoping that's the same day Peter will want to go to the city.

I like working from home. You see different things during the day than you do in the morning and evening. When you lean back at your desk to stretch you can think, in your best Wesley voice "My G-d what is that thing?", before running off to get the extensible duster.

duck and mushroom lasagne

2009-07-24T18:15:44Z

So I'm thinking about making an experimental lasagne this Sunday. I'd like to make a lasagne with duck meat (probably smoked breast, chopped fine), caramelized onions and a layer of mushroom Duxelles (probably porcini). But I can't decide about the cheese. I'll probably stay with Ricotta for the white layer, but for other cheese.....GM suggested conte cheese, so I might go with that, or an aged, smoked mozzarella.
I guess I don't really have to decide until I get to the Milk Pail this afternoon. Anybody have a good idea on what sort of cheese would go here? It's an otherwise ordinary tomato-based lasagne as described in previous posts.

ppfuf @ 2009-07-19T17:08:00

2009-07-20T00:10:50Z

Seems like it’s been ages since we had a quiet weekend at home. Saturday we had brunch with greatsword’s family and watched The Man From Snowy River, a charming film about a poor boy who falls in love with the heiress of a big horse ranch. Today I spent mostly in the garden, pulling weeds and paying for last winter’s laziness. This winter I must make sure the things that need trimming get trimmed. Two small volunteer trees are blocking what little sunlight gets to the flower garden. Hopfully I’ll get them trimmed all the to the ground next Sunday. Tonight we’re having a lasagna dinner with dave_orphal, etaine_pommier, Robert and Isult. In fact, I should go put shoes on so we can go.

More on the 14th century cook's playdate

2009-07-18T17:25:45Z

I should have lunch with learnteach more often. I always come away with an idea for something interesting to do. In the previous playdate post I talked about books we might use as sources, and now I’ve got ideas about using some iconographic eveidence. I’d like to re-create some of the scenes from the Luttrel Psalter (warning! this very cool, page-turning link will want you to install Adobe Flash). The last page is a dining scene we could use for the table. There’s another 14th century picture of a man and a woman dining in an open tent. I uploaded some pictures of people dining in the 14th century to the perfectlyperiodfeast yahoo group. I'll dig around for some pictures of 14th century cooks, as there's one of a man roasting little birds tied to a spit I'd like to try to re-create with the quails-stuffed-with-cheese-and-wrapped-in-bacon recipe from Taillevent.

14th century cook's playdate at Mists Fall Coronet

2009-07-15T17:11:33Z

I've been talking to LearnTeach, and we'd like to host a 14th century cook's cook-over-fire playdate at Mists Fall Coronet (Ed Levine Park, October 16th-18th). This will be in conjunction with the 14th Century Salon suggested by the fabulous CallistoToni.

So what's cooking in the 14th Century? Just on the web there's English translations of these four cookbooks:
*) The Forme of Cury, English 1390: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/
*) Le Viandier de Taillevent, French http://www.telusplanet.net/public/prescotj/data/viandier/viandier1.html
*) Ein Buch von guter Spise, German http://cs-people.bu.edu/akatlas/Buch/recipes.html
*) Le Ménagier de Paris, French (cooking sections only) http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html#Beginning

Right now we haven't decided on which recipes we're going to try, so if you have a favorite please let me know.

If you don't like cooking, feel free to bring a story from Chaucer or the Decameron to read to the cooks.

regards,
Crystal of the Westermark

ps/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_century

ETA: I was focused on web sources and neglected to mention Book of Sent Sovi: Medieval Recipes from Catalonia avaliable from http://www.poisonpenpress.com/cookery.html.

work, work, work

2009-07-14T19:43:25Z

I'm impatiently waiting for the economy to improve, mostly because I'm getting real tired of being told to be grateful to have a job I don't like.
But on the upside, one of my team leads said something slightly amusing. He referred to data in an old database to be archived as being "put out to XML" in the same way as most people would say "put out to pasture". I wonder how long it will be before English speakers have so little idea of agriculture that a pasture will be a mysterious noun.
Today I also learned that a staple remover can be used to get a old-style crown cap off a bottle. Can I put my new skill on my resume? I'm a real problem solver! "Sangria Senorial" is pretty good.