alysten | Weekend recap

It was a good weekend, filled with food, fun, friends and much frivolity.

Friday:
We rearranged the living room, de-iced the air conditioner and finished up the post-Pennsic clean up. I went out with

binsteaj and

math5 for a girls night out. Mmmm Mexican food and plotting and autocrating Noisemakers (i've been told its an easy event... they have the kinks worked out). Went to Naked Chocolate and I bought 5 2oz bars of chocolate that was to become experimentation fodder for Spanish drinking chocolate.

Saturday:
Project day! We actually got stuff accomplished. Lissa was able to get 3 duct tape doubles done. Each double had different challenges. She got to an ample chested figure, a guy figure and a girl stuffed into a corset figure. There was even a fiber lesson for me as I was grilling baby sheep chops. FYI, the new angus beef hot dogs from Ball Park Franks are quite tasty. Tabbards and bags were cut for Raze a Village. There was even a spice lesson for

ianraven 's youngest daughter and she was a big help in the frosting of cupcakes. Finally... there was the chocolate. Folks got to see into my experimental mind as I went though the process of adding stuff to the pot.

This was also the day I tried on my new corset with actual garb. I needed a new double so that I can work on a new doublet for the purple gown. The corset changes the bust line significantly as well as the torso shape. The new corset is full of win and awesome and

spinpsychology did a great job lacing me into it. Lissa learned how to tie someone into a 16th century corset, and much learning and breathing was to be had. It did wonders for the posture too (don't mind the wrinkles... I hadn't ironed it yet).

Sunday:
Today was a day of doing NOTHING. Ok... so I sat on the couch, looked at 16th century Spanish soup recipes, learned that Nutmeg and Mace are from the same plant (though I prefer the smell of mace) and that they had paella in 16th century Spain, but it wasn't called "Paella" until the 1800's when someone had to give the dish a "printable" name. I am thinking I might do a couple of dishes for the River War A &S.

I've determined that I actually like cooking 16th century English food. French is kinda cool too. Spanish... hmmmm we will see. Most of the dishes that are printed recipes come from the Mediterranean side of the country. This had a large influx of Arab culture and they were much better at writing things down. Thought they do a lot with bacon and almond. Which makes sense given the cultures in the area, and the influence of the Spanish Inquisition. Foods from northern Spain were not written down or had a stronger French influence. Most of the Spanish redactions are from the Libro del Arte de Cozina which was written by a Spaniard, who was cooking for the Italians... go figure.

It is another venture into what is out there, what were they doing, and engineer the dish. As it is... I am finding that there are recipes that I have differences into how they were redacted, ingredient amounts used, and variations of spice and herb mixtures. I am really ready to get into the kitchen and give these things a go.