I can't remember if I've participated in Thing a Day before.  And I seem to recall that it might have something to do with being creative, but I'm going to use my Thing a Day this year to try to clean up "stuff."  Stuff can be projects I've been meaning to get to and projects I've started and never finished or it could just be getting things done around the house.  Sometimes this may mean I clean something or mail something as my thing, but I'm finding I need some motivation.  Hopefully with so many others participating, I'll get through a bunch of "stuff" on my list.

Feb 1 - Made Turtle Bites with the help of Sol - my niece asked for turtles for Christmas.  I've had the ingredients lying around since before the holidays, but with Mom's surgery and the weather, we didn't end up traveling to see her.  So, I finally got around to making the turtles last night.  The first attempt at homemade caramel was a fail (tasty hard candy, but a fail for turtles).  However, the 2nd attempt was successful.  We toasted the pecans for a nice crunchy effect.

Feb 2 - Acquired additional gifts to send with turtles to family.  Dealt with two items on the mail "to do" pile. Did one load of laundry + full hour of Tonin' Tuesday for the win.

Finally finished an old project - Japanese attire (for me) that was meant for goldfrog's and R's coronation...but, better late than never.  It's entirely machine sewn, but it's checked off the list, and it's been a good way to ease me back into an interest in sewing.  Especially since Projectz! are coming my way.

I still need to figure out footwear, but I have the inner kosode, mid-level kosode, uchikake, hakama, and obi done.

I haven't posted in a while.  To catch up, I did some sewing for TRM (current) for Coronation, and I did a lot of planning and organizing for Feast and the Feast A&S for Coronation (both of which ended up fairly successful, and there was lots of good food, based on period recipes, people learned stuff and had a good time doing it).  Then, very early the Sunday after Coronation, I traveled with K&M to San Francisco for Aimeric and Chiara's wedding, caught up with a former co-worker and toured a couple of lovely Japanese gardens before returning home on Tuesday.  Nadia ate about 6 inches of polar fleece string and we had trauma for a few minutes, but she is all well, and frisky and happy again (but the strings are now hiding, and a supervised activity).

I have a few more things to clean up from the Feast and then it's on to the next projects, yay!

( Picture from Hakone Gardens )

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well. We all can make stuff!

Spring Coronation Feast will be held in Jararvellir on April 4, 2009. As Head Cook, I would like to try something a little different and provide a venue for lots of people to redact, cook, and serve tasty and beautiful period food and beverages.  This feast will have a limited number of tickets sold (40), plus head table (10).  Because people like to know what they are paying for, I will provide a basic set menu. However, for the rest of the feast, I’d like to encourage a friendly competition.  The style of the feast will be Tudor, since during that time so many foods and spices were accessible and the nature of the feast was to please the nobility.

Competition:
Awards in two categories:  Presentation & Taste
Judged by head table, with fabulous prizes

Rules:
1. Each cook (or team) may enter one or two dishes.
2. Each cook (or team) must find the food they will serve forth pleasing to their own palate (both aesthetically and gastronomically).
3. Recipe(s) must be documentable to the 16th century.
4. Recipe(s) must be redacted by the cook and not taken from an already redacted source (assistance with redacting is acceptable).
5. Each dish must be made in sufficient quantity to serve 18-20 people – a taste, not a full meal (if you make a presentation with individual servings, you will need at least 18).
6. Each dish must be presented on two (2) platters.  One platter will go to head table (10 servings), and the second platter (at least 8 servings) will go to a table selected by Their Royal Majesties.  Should there be more food on the platters than head table and the selected table care to finish, the platters will then circulate to other tables.
7. Each cook (or team) will be required to bring an ingredient list with them to answer any questions there might be during the presentation. Feasters with dietary concerns will be welcome to ask about ingredients, but cooks will not be required to plan for any particular dietary concerns.
8. Teams may include cook(s) and presenter(s); however, there will be a basic format and a 1 minute time limit for presenting dishes.
9. As these dishes will be served as feast for Coronation, there is a budget.  Each dish may be reimbursed up to $20*.  However, receipts must be presented to the Head Cook (Iohanna Carracci) on the day of the feast and must abide by the SCA’s rules governing purchases (this especially applies to the purchase and production of alcohol).
10. _Deadlines_:
A) Each cook (or team) must register with the Head Cook (Iohanna Carracci) by February 15, 2009.
B) Each cook (or team) must submit the original recipe of the dish they plan to prepare and their redaction by March 14, 2009.
Make sure to include a reference to the original source material (cookbook, manuscript, etc.) and why you believe the recipe would have been served in the 16th century.

*If you have a particularly costly ingredient, please contact Iohanna and additional funds may be made available.

~Iohanna Carracci

arebekah@gmail.com
608-957-9072


~ Please feel free to pass this missive on to any lists or persons who may be interested.

It always amazes me that these things are anywhere near my personality.

My contribution to the Thanksgiving meal was Garlic Smashed Taters:

Recipe:

Boil until fork tender in salted water (approximately 10-12 minutes):

Peeled Taters (5 lbs Golden & 2.5 lbs Red) - cut into 1" cubes
Peeled Garlic Cloves (about 1 head)

Drain, then in batches (making sure there is garlic in every batch) add to Kitchen Aid Stand mixer along with:

Light Sour Cream (a couple of good dolups)
Milk (enough to make the taters creamy)
Salt (to taste)

Whip until creamy, remove batches into crock pot.  Hand stir in:

Garlic Pepper (10-12 twists on the fresh grinder)
Butter (1 stick, cut into pieces)

Mmmm, garlic.

Edit: this make a lot of taters...it filled my large crock pot nicely and fed 11 people with a nice quantity of leftovers.

I sailed through minor surgery this morning and was discharged by 9:40am.  Yay! 

Now I have good drugs, Mom waiting on me, and a cuddly kitty.

Proposal is in to TRH...now waiting to see if they'll go for my plan...mwhahahaha....oops, gotta keep a lid on that inner voice until there is approval.   And, even if They would prefer I take it in a different direction, I'm fine with modifying the menu bits. 

Edit: It's a go - yay!

My dad and his wife, Paty, got a miniature schnauzer puppy a couple of weeks ago.  Siggy is the cutest thing.


( See Pics... )

It's been quite a while since I posted - lots of work, not much of interest to others going on. However, I do owe a recipe post for the Samosa's from Rose Tourney, which I'll try to get to soon.

This week promises more overtime (and I've had overtime the last two pay-periods)...which is nice for the eventual money, but leaves me a bit worn out by the weekend.

I was extra spacey and mixed up my dates today ;  I thought the scroll drive work day was Sunday...but in fact it was Saturday, so I dropped in on wendybyrd  unexpectedly - at least it was early afternoon and I didn't wake her or her household up.  I'll try to make the next one 'cause I dug out my C&I stuff, and I have two blanks in progress already (that I'd forgotten about), but I'm more productive in company when it comes to this kind of project.

Instead of C&I work, I shopped this afternoon and I came home with:
-6 new to me books, including a new to me author (Frugal Muse $24)
-1 DVD + 1 book on CD (Pre-Played something or other $5)
-1 pair of linen twill trowsers (JC Penny's $2, yipeee)

I resisted:
-100's of books
-several DVD collections
-the cutest little black dress
-slippers

Goals this week:
-post Samosa Recipe
-research Tudor Feasts
-find left slipper (without tearing whole place apart and ending up with more mess)

So now that I am a happy pet owner, I find that my time spent on the couch is no longer unproductive...I am now earnestly a petting machine, belly rubber and neck scritcher. My reward is a lap full of cuddly fluffy purring kitty, who occasionally bats at my hands if I slow down on the pettin's.

I have a cat sleeping on my leg and now my leg is asleep....aaaack...do I wake the sweet kitty or just chop off the leg and leave her in comfort?  

I couldn't stand it anymore...I went to the Humane Society this afternoon to meet Nadia, a special needs kitty who has cerebellar hypoplasia.  She wasn't adopted during Catapolouza and she's been at the Human Society since March (their longest stay kitty).  Here is a video of another cat who has the same condition that Nadia has: This is Charley

She was being kept in the office of staff person, so she would have more space and personal contact and care.  I spent about 30 minutes communing with her on the floor...she's just a sweetheart.  She likes belly rubs and head skritches.  I was a goner.  She came home with me.

Swiped from leleth_faery

The Omnivore's Hundred is a list of foods the gastronomic Andrew Wheeler thinks everyone should try at least once in their lives.

The rules of the meme: bold those you have tried, strike-through those you wouldn't eat on a bet.

commonly added rule: italics for those i haven't tried but definitely WANT TO.


 l

My mom is great.  I want to be her when I grow up.  I'm just saying...she lives her life according to her ideals, she's able to help people in their time of need, she works hard and she knows how to have fun.

I have a blinky light on the dashboard...I did the stuff you're supposed to do to make it go away...and it's still blinking at me...but, I love my car dealer and their online service scheduling, 'cause I was able to schedule a service drop off for Monday morning, before work, at 10:30 on a Sunday night.