Crown Tourney and other things

I am not yet recovered from last week. I am still very tired. The week was fantastic. Not only I had the whole week off from work but I managed to get my hand sewed white partlet and a black partlet ready for the event. I was satisfied for the result. Both partlets look quite good. After the event I realized that there are some strawberry pudding stains in the white partlet… I have to find some way to get rid of those. Quite many people said to me at the event that I may have too fancy outfit for the kitchen. But these are really clothes for the kitchen because the people use these kinds of clothes at the kitchen in renaissance. Some day I will make a fancier outfit that I will not use at the kitchen :D. 

As I told earlier at the weekend before the event we went to Turku to make special things, gingerbread castles, marzipan dragons and kings and their soldiers (marzipan also) for the feast. The feast went also well… actually I didn’t have much time to eat anything. At the middle of the feast the feeling at the kitchen was quite hectic but not too much. I am very happy for all the help we got before and during the event. And I am still very very happy for every gift and good words we received. 

Next event for us is going to be feast of St Homobonus at 7.-9.11. That means I will have only three weeks for making the open-fronted Flemish gown and the sleeves and I don’t have proper headdress for the outfit yet either. Sounds like impossible task because I will have a day off from work at Friday and I am going to Helsinki book fair and I will stay at Tofa’s at the weekend (I hope that I have time to start making my next long term project… Viking outfit… at that weekend also). And weekend after that I will go to the handicraft fair at Lahti with Sahra. And one other thing is that there is a really big mess at our house… I have fabrics, books, papers, notes, threads, pots, baskets, sleeping bags etc all over. And Sahra asked me to give my Italian ren. outfit for their display at the handicraft fair. So I might want to do the sleeves for that outfit too. 

It is almost done...

This is the mantra I am chanting today. That means the under dress for the Flemish peasant wardrobe is almost done. I need only to sew the hem and make the lacing holes.

Last weekend was wonderful! We (Ulf+I) were at Turku making special things for the Crown Tournamet’s feast. It helps a lot to have so much good friends who are willing to help us. And I wouldn’t be this far with the under dress whitout Teresa’s help. So they helped us not only with the special things but making me feel happy to also have something new for me and that makes me feel very good. And thanks to Elsa I don’t have to make the cookies and I can concentrate on doing other things during this week also.

3.10.

Damn headache.. today is not my best day :( . I am very stressed out right now. I have to admit that I fear something goes wrong with the CT feast big time. This feeling is quite common for me. I am again worrying that we burn something, there is not food enough for people or even worse. I haven’t told our plans for the feast here. The main reason is that I want to give some surprises. The main theme is going to be 15th century English, but we will have to take some recipes from other resources also to keep the feast balanced. As I told earlier, this weekend I will be doing some baking and also next weekend. This weekend I will also try some unfamiliar recipes. But now I have to do something to my headache…

Busy day… busy week?

Today’s theme: How to make excellent small cakes extremely fast…

Well I had only one hour to try the cakes today. I needed to know if the recipe is ok and are the cakes alright after freezing. I need to know very fast if it is working or not because if the cakes are alright I will make some for Crown Tourney. There are lots of things to do at advance so next weekend is going to be baking and sewing weekend. And weekend after this we are planning to go to Turku to bake some more.

But anyway I was quite hasty this time and I didn’t double check the recipe. I just picked the recipe from Cariadoc’s Micellany http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html . I didn’t have any sherry (instead I used rosewater) and I didn’t use nutmeg (I just grab some cinnamon… it is not a good substitute… I wasn’t thinking anything but that we can’t use nutmeg at the Crown because the allergy issues). 

What else… well I haven’t have any time for making new clothes or other handicrafts after the weekend. The bodice is almost done… need to make some lace holes to the bodice next or maybe I will do that after attaching the bodice to the hem? Anyway I need some silk for making the lace holes and I need it now! But there isn’t any shop near to us where I could find silk embroidery threads right now :( . 

I know by now that my open-fronted Flemish gown is not going to be finished by Crown. But I try very hard to have at least this (kirtle) under dress, a white partlet and a black partlet finished by Crown. (and maybe something for my head.. a caul maybe?).

……………………….

Cakes are ready :) and the taste is ok! Let’s see what happens after freezing… These ones are without any icing.  

22.9.

Here are some photos about the smock and making the kirtle. I have bought the red linen many years ago from Raijan Aitta http://www.raijanaitta.fi/ . 

Smock

Pattern (Kirtle)

Kirtle (bodice)

21.9.

The smock is finished now. I started to make the kirtle today. I have decided to make linen kirtle with waist seam. Why? Because I think that it will be cooler at the kitchen than woollen kirtle. That is not a very good explanation why, so I will make woollen kirtle also when I have time and test it at the kitchen. I mean that the kirtles under these Flemish open-fronted gowns are probably made by wool http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/aertsen/cook-stove/cook-stove.jpg . I want to make kirtle with waist seam, because that way I can have probably enough support to the bodice. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad idea yet :D.

I want, I want!!

I have had this very irritating feeling today. I want everything and I want it now. I try to focus on 16th century clothing now but at the same time I want Viking clothing and I want 14th century clothing as well. I want to have different time period clothes for different types of events. I don’t mean that I want to “change period” at the middle of the event. Someone has once said to me that I am interested in maybe too many things at the same time and that I need to concentrate on something. Well I have concentrate on medieval and renaissance (and little bit on Viking/Anglo-Saxon) cooking and on embroidery (mostly blackwork). But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to learn how to do other things. Actually we don’t have any room at home for new dresses right now. All closets are full of clothes… or other things like books and miniatures. Sometimes I think that we have more re-enactment clothes than mundane clothes. Or maybe it is that the re-enactment clothes take more space to keep than mundane ones. Maybe I need to get rid of some of our oldest re-enactment clothes?

Desserts

I have been at home today because I have fever. There is not much that I can do when I have fever… fortunately I have my smock and there are still some long seams not yet sewed. Sewing, if it is just sewing some long seams, are something that one can do in this situation. 

Last weekend we tried again some recipes from Cindy Renfrow’s book Take a thousand eggs or more: A collection of 15th century recipes. Both of the recipes are from the first volume and both of them can be used as sweet dessert. 

Creme Boylede

Take cream or milk, & bread of pandemaine, or else of tender bread, and break it in the cream, or else in the milk, and set it on the fire till it be warm hot; and through a strainer throw it, and put it into a fair pot, and set it on the fire, and stir evermore: and when it is almost boiled, take fair yolks of eggs, and draw them through a strainer, and cast them thereto, and let them stand over the fire till it boils almost, and till it is skilfully thick; then cast a ladleful, or more or less, of butter thereto, and a good quantity of white sugar, and a little salt, and then dress it on a dish in manner of mortrewys. 

My thoughts: (The recipe is for two)
2,5 dl milk (or cream)
2 slices white bread (whitout the crust)
2 egg yolks (beaten)
3 T sugar
pinch of salt
1 T butter
ginger

Mince the bread slices and put them into a small pot with milk (or cream). Place the pot over medium heat until it is warm but not boiling. Strain the milk and bread mixture through a strainer and return it to the pot. Heat gently. Add the beaten egg yolks and stir until the mixture is very thick. Add butter, sugar and salt. Taste and add more sugar if you want. Stir more and put the mixture into serving dishes. Garnish the dish with little ginger. You can serve this bread pudding cold or warm.

Pandemaine bread is, I think, somekind of white bread. I think that it is made by very fine white flour. I looked at the second volume of Take a thousand eggs or more to find what is “mortrewys”. At that volume there were three “mortrewys” recipes. All the recipes contain minced meat. And in the recipes ginger is used to garnish the dish. That’s why I choose ginger for garnishing. If you can, use cream because it will taste better than milk.

Creme Bastarde

Take the white of Eggs a great heap, & put it in a pan full of Milk, & let it boil; then season it so with Salt and honey a little, then let it cool, & draw it through a strainer, and take fair Cow’s milk and draw it withal, & season it with Sugar, & look that it be poignant & sweet: & serve it forth for a pottage, or for a good baked meat, whether that thou will.

My thoughts: (for two)
4 egg whites
0,5 dl + 2 T milk 
pinch of salt
1 T honey
1 T sugar
(currants or raisins for garnish)

Put egg whites and 0,5 dl milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly and beware that the mixture is not taking colours. Add salt and honey. Remove the pan from heat as soon as the mixture solidifies. Let the mixture cool and add 2 tablespoon of milk to it. Press the mixture through a strainer into a bowl. Add sugar and stir. Pour into serving dishes and garnish with currants or raisins if you want. You can serve this dish cold or warm. 

The dish was very interesting. Maybe not my favourites but it was a good experience to try it. It might taste better with meat? 

Socks!

I have overcome my fear of making socks. First pair of socks is done. I don’t know if I should call them hose, stocking or what. I am not good with terms :D. But anyway this is just a beginning and I of course need more than one pair of socks (because most of the SCA events are longer than one day). The socks are woollen and I have used silk thread for sewing. I used the patter that I found in this website: http://www.faucet.net/costume/research/hose.html .

I have heard that the hardest part of making socks is making the first pair of socks. That is very true. I have also heard that you should be very careful not to make too small socks. Mine are maybe little bit too big… but I don’t yet know what happens when I first wash them. Some shrinking might happen (?). More photos in Flickr. 

Interesting week

This week has been very interesting. I have been at Tuusula which is near to Helsinki (Monday to Friday) on the in-service training which is related to my work. I was lucky to have a change to stay at Tofa’s during evenings and nights. The in-service training place was very gloomy and dull… for “normal people” so sleeping in familiar place was a very good thing. I didn’t bring that many projects with me because I knew already that the week is going to be (mentally) hard…. well sitting eight-nine hours (thank good less than that some days) is something I don’t miss from the school times. Even when the subjects are very interesting… or let’s say honestly… most of the subjects…

The smock is not yet finished. I had to cut it smaller. Fun thing was that I was able to make my first socks (I have had lots of help since year 2002 or something…). I have started again this sock project last time six months ago (or something). It has been very frustrating because I couldn’t figure out how the pattern or patterns works. So it has been clearly a stumbling block to me. And again most of the fears about that I can’t understand how to make something like socks, has been only in my head. But more about the socks soon. I have just finished the first one… and I am very eager to go to finish that other one.

I put some pictures about the Assisi tablecloth project into my Flick account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evagrelsdotter/