Once more into the breach!

LOL, I was hit up by a friend in the US to help provide her a simple finger foods menu for a small gathering she is throwing. So, I will dig into the tarts some more and other simple things. she is a competent cook and I'm sure she could handle whatever I throw at her. I'm sort of enjoying these mini opportunities to do things in my 'down time' between planned events.

On the book front, I will start doing some extra testing of the recipes with Bridis in September and hopefully get a good jump on things with the recipes I have already re tested for AiA. I am thinking of double formatting the book with 3 columns. Column A in 'American measure', column B is the ingredients, and Column C is weight/ volume for the Europeans in my life. Now to see if I can the formatting as I like. i will need various amounts of the page in this 3 column style but not for the instructions. This will be a test of many skills and much learning. December might be asking too much but I will do my best.

Now on to less light hearted fun, Once more into the breach of ... well, I'm not sure what to call it.
This is a bit on the 'inside' of the hobby.

I was at a gathering and several of us were having an open discussion on peerage and vigils and other such things when I casually mentioned a protege group I am on. One of the members present 'Jumped my shit', at least that is how I felt, and began a line of questioning as to why I would be part of such a group, and who was my peer, and if I don't have a peer why was on the group. I answered all questions as best I could. No, I do not currently have a Pelican. I had been in a relationship prior to being taken as an Apprentice but the relationship was dissolved as the peer was no longer an active part of the SCA. I was accepted into the group because the admins said I could. I explained my situation and they felt I would be a welcome addition to their group. It is understood in the group that were I to become a peer (Laurel or Pelican) I would leave the group as it is intended for non peers only. I guess my trouble is, what is it to her if I am part of this group? I am not her apprentice, I am only casually associated with her, what does she care? And why does it bother me?

I am more than a cook, I am an artisan as well. I sew when I need to not because I have a passion for it. I can draft patterns, I have a pretty good eye for color and cut and spatial awareness. I embroider only for myself mostly. I enjoy a variety of arts and have a list of things I would like to try. I am MORE than a cook.

I am MORE! I serve, not always in the front, not always where it is seen. i go to events and like to enjoy myself. I may give service there in some for but I prefer to do the behind the scenes things. The things that keep the organization running. The things that get events off the ground. The things that not everyone sees. Hidden service is still service, and it is for this reason that I joined that group. To gather Ideas from other places that may help invigorate us here. To have a sounding board of others who view service the way I do. I am not a 'one trick pony' despite what outward appearances are.

I think I was upset most by the accusatory feeling I felt. Like I somehow didn't belong there because it wasn't my box. I have my Lindquist ring because I serve my Kingdom, I have my Wheel because I serve my Barony, I serve because it makes me feel good.

secret squirrel project

OK, not a squirrel but a Pelican.

Now that the cat is out of the bag I can post this.

I was asked on Sat night (ok it might have been super early Sunday morning) if I could plan and make the food for a vigil to be happening at Red and Gold. As it was a friend asking, I of course said yes. Not knowing who the candidate was and apparently no one knew their wishes, I just had to sort of wing it! Not really having time to redact or plan big I reached for old standbys.  Tart de Bry, Mushroom tarts, a fruit tart, and an assortment of cheese, salami, pickles and olives. I did however add a recipe that was not redacted by me, Digby's fine cakes.

I invaded my apprentice sister's house on Wednesday afternoon. She lives close to site and we would be day tripping each day. This made the cooking and most other prep easier, especially when I saw how tiny the space there really was. There was no way I would have been able to do the prep on site. In total it took 8 hours on Thursday and 2 hours Friday Morning and about an hour and a half (with help) Friday evening.

The reception of the food was glorious. people stood next to the table nibbling and eating the whole night and used the bits leftover as a breakfast buffet in the morning, Not a scrap went to waste.

My notes on Digby's cakes. They are a lovely cookie. They would be spectacular iced with lemon and sugar as well as the rose ones. The are sticky and not easy to roll so I patted the dough out to the right thickness according to the redaction and used a floured cutter to cut them out. The time they needed in the oven was less than stated so the first batch came out browned but still tasty and not dry. I am sure they were at their best because they sat for a day. Next time, and there will be a next time. I will add more nutmeg. I found the flavor to be lost among the currants and icing. I will also make them thicker, closer to 1/2 an inch thick. I used a double batch of the recipe and got close to 30 cookies, I forgot to do an actual count of them so that is something I will add to the 'next time' pile as well.

I think  I will create a file of good finger food recipes in case I or someone else needs to do vigil foods on short notice.

I also bought new tartlet pans and they worked spectacularly!!! A little fiddly but well worth it! I need to experiment with my pie fillings for an accurate count of how many a batch makes but my estimate of doubling it went really well and garnered me about 50 to 75 tarts, again, silly me didn't write the count down. This will vary by type of filling I am sure. I do know that double my Tart de Bry got me 12 - 6 inch pies that I cut into six pieces each.

I look forward to more experimentation.

I have found a project

It seems the quiet will not last.

And I'm ok with that.

I am often asked for copies of my recipe or links to them etc. I love to share and have no trouble doing so. Half the fun is sharing. It was suggested though that maybe I compile a collection of all the recipes I have redacted so far and used at events into a cookbook.

So many ideas and questions:
Should I print just my redactions?
Include the original recipe or just the source?
How to 'sort' the recipes? By country? By date?
In a more 'modern' format? ie meat, veg, dessert, etc...

Where to have it printed? I know I will fo with an online source.
I will likely have all the books sent to me and then ship them individually to their recipients. Excel here I come! lol.



Looks like I will have to learn to format lol!!

I will need a bit of clip art or other free donated art, and a cover.

All quiet on the SCA front

With no immediate projects I have been quiet and taking time to focus on same rather mundane things. Like looking for work, I'm still looking btw. But my last post about it being hot did lead to a great post in my mundane blog. Yes, I started a second cooking blog to talk about mundane cooking. It reads a lot like this one in 'tone'. With me typing out a 'conversation ' with my reader and the focus is modern and mundane cooking.

I'm looking for projects and feel rather overwhelmed still at all the options, Though I would rather be able to focus on an event. Maybe I will create one (no, not giving up cooking for autocratting) but having a 'reserve pile' of menu's. Or maybe start planning well in advance the next Arts in April. It is only 9 months away after all, lol. No matter what I do I am still out here puttering and learning.

In fact I just had a rather funny, to me at least, experience. A friend posted a recipe she made that she had gotten from a friend. I asked about where it came from because it had a familiarity I couldn't put my finger on. It turns out it was a recipe I considered when doing my research For silver anniversary. It was from the 16th cent French cookbook I had looked through. Funny that I have not touched the book in depth in well over a year and still I could recognize the recipe. Even if I couldn't immediately place where from. It is amazing how much we retain as background noise in our brains and what triggers it to pop back up to the surface.