Next steps

• Pick a location. Nurumberg seems right as thats where the tax rolls came from.
  
• Flesh out the persona's story.
  
• Learn a bit about medieval german language.
• Purchase more garb. www.garbtheworld.com
  
• Two dresses
• Two Chemises
• Cloak
• Head Gear
• Work on garbing myself from the skin out appropriatly
• Identify what I like  in German garb
• Purchase fabric
• Find someone to make desired garb.
  
• Have court worthy German Ren Garb for 12th night 2009

So time line on this.

Last year when we finished at Ursulmas both Patrick and each  I emailed the Kingdom Deputy for Youth Combat  with a request for information a couple times. We heard nothing.
When trying to attend an Ithra (Collegium) i emailed for a carpool. I heard nothing.
I emailed looking for cardweavers in the area. I heard nothing.
Patrick emailed asking about child activites at a particular event. He heard nothing.
I emailed 2 local lists 1 kingdom list looking for a carpool to symposium. I heard nothing.
I emailed the Chatelaine an apology over an issue at the Baronial Social. I heard nothing.
I emailed the A &S minister suggesting a craft meetup thing, multiple crafts, an afternoon in a public space I heard nothing

I emailed the Baroness asking for advice. To sum up
Why don't Officers respond?
 What events are child friendly , what events aren't.
Any suggestions for families balancing activities and children.
Oh yeah we do have true medieval interests really and are enthusiastic members.
I cook and weave, he crafts and is a chirugeon. We've been told to go play elsewhere but really like playing close to home.


The response.
No response? I  must be using the wrong email address or email forwarding must be broken. No one ever blows off a question in this Barony/Kingdom.
The craft meetup suggestion? Bad idea. Don't suggest things unless at an appropriate for crafting activities, at that time i may volunteer to host one of this series. People don't craft with people they don't know so no one would come out since no one knows me.
If we want to meet other families with children, Tough shit go play with the canton instead..
 There is a culinary guild, don't like  how it runs? Tough shit.  (I never even mentioned anything about the culinary guild)

Seriously i felt the tone overall was "You're new here? Who cares, we didnt ask you to join"

and so I'm just feeling pretty eh on the SCA stuff in general again. The cooking and weaving I do have no requirement for an extrenal hobby structure.
 

So I cancelled. Patrick was willing to drive me out , then drive home, then come back out on Sunday and get me.  Thats a $40 tank of gas in transport . He would have done it. I wasnt willing to have him do it in the end. 

Part of me is really disappointed that no one had room to offer me a ride. Even when i emailed the entire kingdom list and 2 barony lists, i got no response. I was talking to a friend  and asked at what point do we stop being "newbies" to the barony and become "people who've been around for a year and have been blown off the whole time"
Its really not that bad, but sometimes, it feels like that. 

I'll have to make it a priority to go to the next cooks guild meeting, and  continue with my own cooking work at home. With the Baronial Socials cancelled, i think our next potential event is Yule.

The Culinary Symposium is next weekend and I'm thinking of not going.

Pros
Cheesemaking!
Hearthbaking!
Meeting people !
Geeking out over food!

Cons
I dont  know how I'm getting over there and back.
I dont know anyone who is going. Sure there are people I've "met" but no one I really know.

Meh. We'll see.

In other news, i do have a hard copy of Ein Buch Von Guter Speise in my hands to translate and play with. 

I have been on the mailing list for the Madrone Cooks Guild on and off since 1997. It was always said to me that this was the penultimate SCA cooking group. When we moved to Seattle in 2000 and were still active in the SCA, they were too far for me to take part. Finally at this point, I'm able to participate a bit. I've tried to get to a meeting on and off for the past year, and finally made it last night. It was a good place to be and I was glad that I went. I came away offering to make cookies for Crown tournament, and with a few ideas of what is coming up event wise in the next couple of months.

It also made me confident that I was doing the right thing by working on my own cooking projects. The guild will be a way to work on more organized projects and events, and a way to meet people. It may even be a way to get support for my cooking projects when i need assistance. (or people to feed)

Lastly, one thing i found interesting last night, was that there were complaints and frustrations at how disorganized Peasents Revel was. Considering it was one of the best events for us i was suprised and i shared that. One of the things that was mentioned was that people appreciate the "Picnic in the Park"ness of Peasents. If they know people enjoy and appreciate that, why arent there more events like that? I'll admit to being a little jealous of the PITP they do down in Caid .

50 year challenge
So there is a challenge to "do" 50 things before 50th year in 2015.

As per the FAQ there are three kinds of challenges
The Depth Challenge -
*50 of any one type of thing, in order to push your skills and knowlege to new levels (how broadly you define this is up to you)

The Breadth Challenge -
*do/make/learn 50 new and different things (how new, and how different is up to you/your group), or,

The Persona Challenge -
*making/learning 50 different things that your persona would know, have, or know how to do

The persona challenge is a given for me, as i'm working to develop Ursel Stegerin. However I was also contemplating the depth challenge, and either trying to cook a private feast for 50, or trying to do 50 yards of inkle/card weaving trim, 1 yard in 50 different patterns. I think both one of these breadth challenges and the persona challenge would be enough to keep me busy.


Cooking
My last cooking night went so well, that I need to keep going.



So I'm looking at recipes from Ein Buch von guter spice.
I've decided to work on the following recipes.


25 If you would make good bratwurst

31 To make ravioli

49 To make a good almond pudding

50 To make a grape pudding

61 To make a pastry dough for all shaped pies

70 A tart with plums, which can be dried or fresh

71 Another tart with fresh plums

93 How to make chicken dumplings

155 To prepare chicken in rosemary

177 To make an apple tart

199 To make Spanish pastries

The cooks symposium in November has posted a list of classes that will be taught, and I have to say, I can't hardly wait!


Classes currently offered:

Cheese!

Welsh Food

French Food in the Renaissance

Tourney Cooking

Presentation- Italian

Presentation - The Blythesome Bridal and the Meal Within

Presentation - Who put the leeks in cock-a-leekie soup?

Mustard

Period Varieties of Veggies/Fruits

simple camp cooking / eating medievally while camping

Redacting from Period Sources / Finding and Using Period Sources.

Medieval Pottery, Form and Function

Matre di' 101

Ancient Roman Cuisine

Gingerbread

Feast Management from Concept to Table

Late Period Scottish Food

Hearth Baking

Middle Eastern foods

The Alchemy of Food

Dutch Oven Cooking

Stone Grain Grinding

Ottoman/Persian food

Basic Redaction (do you REALLY need a thousand eggs or more?)

Cultural Forces Behind Food in Elizabethan England

An overview of Viking cooking tools (hands on over the fire)

Recreating Viking bread from the archeological record (using all period tools if I can swing it)

Recreating Viking Cooking (from a research perspective)

Viking Dairy Products (hands on making cheese/skyr)

Of those , I'm most interested in
Stone Grain Grinding
Cheese!
Alchemy of food.
Dutch oven cooking (though I've gotten rid of most of my dutch ovens at this point)
Feast Management from Concept to Table
Hearth Baking


I've also picked out another half dozen recipes from Sabrina Weserlin to redact, and am thinking about a project for the 50th year challenge.

I should have posted sooner. We really enjoyed going to Peasents. It was the perfect laid back even with an opportunity for everyone to participate. That gave us an opportunity to jump in and have fun.

Doesnt mean we had much more luck meeting people. Sure we had some great interaction, but  I cant say that much of a connection was made. We're still working on it though.

Other events coming up?
Maybe September Crown for a daytirp
Maybe AutumnWar.

We're off to Boars hunt and I'm prepping lunch for us to take with. Tonights  dishes were Apple Pillows and Chicken Buns from  Sabina Welserin and Dyuerse Bake Metis from Harleian MS 279.
 
Here is what I did.
For Chicken Buns  http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html (#97)
I took some leftover chicken drumsticks and pulled the chicken off. Chopped it thin.  I  toasted some bread and grated it, then added it to the chicken, and also added eggs until it resembled  almost a soft meatloaf.
In the instructions it states to " let them fry very slowly and roast them" So I turned the oven to 300,  heated some oil/butter ** in my cast iron pan, planted small "meatballs"  in the pan, then baked util they were cooked through, turning once as they got a delightful golden color on the bottom . 


They've been pronounced good. I thought they needed salt, and added some to the second batch. (the cooked chicken was seasoned and I'm afraid of oversalting.

Padraig actually pronounced them "medieval chicken nuggets"

** So the oil thing. I was at a loss of what to use to "fry/roast " them in. Should it have been a dry fry? I fried in about 1/4 inch of  liquid. I went with butter for the flavor, and canloa oil for the ability to take the heat.  So now, I'm wondering how do i get to a closer choice  as to the appropriate oil. Trade documents to see what was imported? Household records? 

The Apple pillows were simple. Apple, cut in quarters dipped in batter of  1/2 c flour (freshly milled wheat) 1/2 water, 2 eggs.  Then dropped into oil to fry slowly till cooked. These were good, but I'll admit that the lack of sugar surprised me, and my family appreciated them more when i  "accidentally" tapped a little powdered sugar  over the batch. Its clear that as a fried item these will not work for our lunch tomorrow. I'll have to go with apple tarts instead.

I've got to get better about taking down measurements when i make things. For example, the chicken that i used for the chicken buns was the right amount. Why didnt i toss it on the scale to see how much there was? I'm also going to go back to the manuscript and try to translate for myself a little bit at least.

Lastly, with the Dyuerse Bake Metis, I used ground pork and decided that with the leanness of todays pork I'd add extra fat. I realize now that bacon was a bad choice because of the smoke flavor.

I'm reading through Dear Sister which covers a variety of eras and locations, and provides a a great insight into womens communication.

I also have Janssen's History of the German people out, but havent given that much attention.

I missed the Ithra this weekend due to homework, thus missed the discussion on Kampfrau clothing, but thats ok.

Instead I'm going to work through the German 101  list "From Unterhosen to Gollar"  starting with the skin out of course.
I love the costume pictures on this site for inspiration

I'm still not planning on making  much clothing of my own, though I am no learning to sew. I plan on making some of my own trim, and asking Leah to  make some clothing and purchasing pieces as i find them available.

So we have a name and I've pushed ahead for the registration of it.
I've created an email address and moved all of my SCA lists over to it.

As a household there are things we need to do (more feast gear for example) but this is my own personal list.

While it might be assumed that as a person in the SCA I must make my own clothing, I'm not going with that option. Yes I'm working on how to sew mundanely, but everything thats involved in German Ren is a touch too much for a beginner like me.  I figure I'll purchase some, beg to have some made and then if I really feel like I want to , I'll try to make it.

i'd much rather work on recreating a recipe then recreating a gown. Shouldn't the SCA be about doing what I love?

• Pick a location. Nurumberg seems right as thats where the tax rolls came from.
  
• Flesh out the persona's story.
  
• Learn a bit about medieval german language.
• Purchase more garb. www.garbtheworld.com
  
• Two dresses
• Two Chemises
• Cloak
• Head Gear
• Work on garbing myself from the skin out appropriatly
• Identify what I like  in German garb
• Purchase fabric
• Find someone to make desired garb.
  
• Have court worthy German Ren Garb for 12th night 2009

Since these goals are for  January of 2009, I'm crossposting them there.