House Capuchin 3

Some weeks just get too interesting…. This week is a good example. Everything was focused on 12th Night, from sewing to packing to food. There wasn’t one thing that got completed the way it was planned and some things just blew sky high! Still, there’s food, garb, write-up of the event (what we got to of it) and more for this week.

The main computer where we do all the photo processing and the major part of the editing, not to mention files, is one of the big issues. So…..very few photos this week. They just didn’t happen. ….and this is being put together on a very old backup laptop that’s slower than honey in January… in Sami territory….

Anja was supposed to go to Mid-Winter Feast in Adiantum on this coming Saturday, but that’s looking iffier by the minute. Hoping that this coming week sees some of the stuff getting sorted out! Meetings are at the regular times this week, plus we end it with a potluck!

• Herb Bunch – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 11am-1pm
• Sewing Time – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 3-5pm
• Project Day – At Ancient Light, Sundays, Noon to 6pm
• Next Potluck – – 1/20 (no Feb potluck) 3/17
• Winter Feast Date is 2/17/19

Here is the direct Portfolio link which has all the past Project Day reports and various projects, original here:  https://housecapuchin.wordpress.com/portfolio/  and new one here:  https://housecapuchin2.wordpress.com/portfolio/ and number three is here: https://housecapuchin3.wordpress.com/portfolio/

Early Week – ….was almost all pointed at 12th Night.

Amy chimed in, “I’ve been looking into finding a copy of ‘Nalbinding for Beginners’ book. It hasn’t been re-released yet. I’ve also got only a few lucet cords made for largesse.” She dropped the cords by on Sunday.

Cookery – On Tuesday we got a grocery list together for what was needed for the weekend and started a mushroom catsup to use as a hot liquid “sauce” for some tiny sausages for the Vigil food that we were taking to Seamus’ vigil. We also got several cheeses to cube for that same purpose and looked over the pickles to see what all we needed. Most of those got finished Thursday night into early Friday morning.

Sewing – Anja

Gonna weep a little weep here. After fighting my way through *all* week and into Friday morning, early, I discovered that the smock neckline had been offset by almost 2 inches…. I hadn’t noticed! How did I miss that?!?!?? …but miss it I did and the other pieces (kirtle and coat) weren’t finished, either, and I ended up having to stop. To my way of thinking, since this outfit was due for this weekend, I failed. Going to have to get back at it, next week.

Loren’s projects, Sundials & such – Loren pecked all week at njalbinden needles and lacing fids of bone. He sold one in the merchant booth as he was working on another. 🙂 …but there are more to go, both for Anja & his shop and for largesse.

Herb Bunch – Pretty much nuffin’s this week, unless you count watering plants and using spices in cookery. 🙂 Mushroom catsup… dehydrating the lees… that’s going to Alexander as mushroom spice, once it’s ground.

Project Day – …was all unpacking…. more on that farther down….

12th Night – Friday – Anja

Loren went to take a nap on the sofa, Friday morning, and I kept packing, but was done in about 1/2 an hour. He staggered past me, saying he *had* to sleep, and I crawled in with him. We woke around 11 and got going, running on just coffee. I was still fighting the computer, but gave up after awhile and just went with what we had.

We *finally* had everything in the car and were checking for the last bits (We made one *big* oopsie, but got everything else. …more on that, later…) and were on the road just past 1pm. We stopped in Newport for gas and at Cash&Carry for some things we needed and were heading out rt 20 by 1:45.

It was a pretty drive. We were both so tired that not a lot of it registered, though. We did stop for some lunch in Philomath and then at one of the rest stops, but we finally had to pull over in Woodburn and nap. We were back on the road just past 4:30, which meant that we hit traffic getting to Arlys’ place, but got there not long after dark.

Arlys and I scrambled into our garb, quickly, while Loren was offloading the things that would stay at her place. We loaded her and her stuff and headed for the Red Lion/Doubletree by Lloyd Center.

<<<<< Alys had this awesome sign in front of her booth. It is available here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/whisket14/works/33679546-an-tir-we-believe?fbclid=IwAR3ICsDwPsBCH99l6aacvB3Kfhf26JDCHXfHPWE4g1dyNWgRSGRIxhJnYII

Arlys went in the main entrance and then Loren and I went around to the Annex. We offloaded the merchant stuff and rough-set the display, then I went and signed us in to the event while Loren got the vigil food and caught up to me. Once he was signed in we went to the 14th floor (where all the parties were being held and there were a *lot*!) found Seamus’ and I started helping set out foods and set up.

I got to hold Rori for a bit until Mom was *just* far away enough, getting food, for him to react badly to someone playing peek-a-boo. 🙂 He’s adorable.

Alexander and I talked food a lot and I got to talk to Seamus for a little before the vigil officially started. Wow, there was food! Everyone pitched in and the table and the credenza for the hot stuffs were so full that we were having trouble putting plates and utensils out! My dilly beans and the cheese and the smokies in mushroom catsup were a hit…but earlier than we had planned on heading home, Arlys’ back gave up and we zoomed out, hardly saying good night to folks.

I fell asleep on the way back to her place and only remember a couple of things before falling into bed. Unfortunately, that’s when the “oopsie” kicked in. We forgot my air purifier…. I was up for several hours with a bad asthma attack that then never quite quit for the rest of the time we were at the event. It really only quit this morning (Sunday is when I’m writing this….) which meant that I was pretty miserable on Saturday. <sigh> ….but more on that in the next day!

12th Night – Saturday – Anja (most pix in this section by Alan Roberts) 

Another cold, windy day.

Saturday was insane. We knew it was going to be, but for me, having my lungs act up the night before meant that I was in a haze for a lot of the day.

We got up pretty early and headed for the event as soon as we were dressed. I sat in the merchant booth for a bit while Arlys headed off to a meeting and Loren was trying to track down someone from Seamus’ household. Alys fed me a scone and a cup of coffee, so I had something to start the day with.

At 10 I headed for the Embellisher’s Guild meeting, then after a brief stop back at the booth I went to the area where the Challenges were occurring and was there for several hours.

After that I went to Court to see Seamus’ elevation. I’m afraid that I dozed during all of it but Seamus’ part.The wonderful (and really cute) poem that was written for him is included below. I wish I could have heard all of what was going on, but between my distance from the Thrones, the Tablero game going on behind me and my lack of knowledge of sign I missed a lot.

Yes, the Silent Heralds we there! One of them was Aesa (House Silvermists) and she was very clear and large enough to see. Some of the others were rather….smudgey… I don’t speak Sign, but it helped when I was really lost as to what was going on.

There was a funny bit with a bunch of beakers that I wish I could have followed and I really couldn’t hear much of the stuff that was said about Seamus. He’s posting some of it, so maybe I’ll have more to put in next week.

And there’s a Youtube of the ceremony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA74CJc79_4&fbclid=IwAR3yVnL36kynLM0XokGrNbYa9OQammdfAlyA9UF-sFHTmloB0sjf4mBNcfs

There was a Lion of An Tir made and a Knight, as well.

Then the Coronation

…and First Court

Loren sat booth during that whole time and after, when I stopped back near the Embellisher’s display and then just sat. My blood sugar was way low and I was worn through. At least I managed to talk houpellandes with Elisabeth de Besancon for awhile and got Marya her wire that I had promised several weeks back.

I sat booth for several hours after that as Loren sorted out what had happened with the various bits and pieces of things that had needed to get delivered and/or picked up. He was running up and down a lot. Alexander turned up in the booth and we talked food for quite awhile and then he went back up to the room with Loren to get our stuff from the fridge and closet.

Seamus stopped in the booth not long after that. I got to chat with him for a few and got to see the *awesome*  mantle that Snorri had been embroidering at Tymberhavene Yule.

I chatted off and on with Alys, which was lovely. We don’t often get to connect at events.

By 6pm we were packed up and heading for Arlys’, since she decided to skip the Laurels’ meeting. Once there we pulled out a new Alliance scroll between her and House Capuchin, and got that signed (the old one has Marcus’ signature and he’s left the House).  We had pizza for supper, talked a little, packed up there and headed home. We hadn’t intended to until Monday, but without my air purifier the dander at her place just overwhelmed my lungs’ ability to cope.

We had a good drive home, although I faded out fairly quickly, and then woke at a jerk on the wheel because Loren was fading. We pulled over at a rest area and snoozed for an hour or so and then went on. I watched the moon set and beautiful stars all the way home, but we drove through some interesting fog in the Coast Range. We got in around 1am.

12th Night – Sunday – Anja – Unpacking

Sunday was all mail and unpacking, at the shop. We didn’t worry about timing because we had planned on the shop being closed and no Project Day. Some dishes happened. There are a lot because of the vigil foods. …and there were leftovers.

A lot of what we ate was leftovers from the weekend, but I took some of the Little Smokies (TM) and made a hot dish for supper in the crockpot from those, canned tomatoes, olives and onion, and spices. So, not period…. I also cooked up the rest of the green beans that didn’t go into another batch of dilly beans (which were *really* well-received!) and it turns out that green beans do show up in Gerard’s Herbal, so are counted as period. I gotta look more into that.

We pecked at unpacking, but mostly caught up on mail and then I started to write, finally managing to get the write-up about Saturday done just before Sunday was!

We still have to finish getting things put away, but at least we’ve made a good start. I have to get back to my outfit, again, since it’s now expected to be done and looked over at Summits A&S.

Seamus O’Caellaigh – I also want to thank Paul Cook-Giles for being my Herald!  Best Herald ever!!

Recipes

Mushroom Catsup (plus bonus “mushroom spice”) (This is what we cooked the little smokies in for the vigil.) – This is a product of the 18th century, not period, at least as far as the name. The methods all make sense for a period sauce, though, so we decided to try it after watching yet another Townsend’s video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29u_FejNuks ). Start this in the evening because this needs to sit overnight, and then the dehydrating takes awhile. Makes about 1 ½ cups of catsup and 1 pint of dried mushrooms. Takes 24-36 hours for the catsup and another 12 for the “spice”.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of fresh mushrooms
• 3 oz dried mushrooms in water to cover
• two Tbsp of salt
• several bay leaves (used 5 small)
• Small Crockpot
• 1 shallot
• 1 Tbsp horseradish sauce, or 1 tsp prepared horseradish, ¼ tsp cloves, ¼ tsp allspice, ½ tsp lemon peel, All to taste (suggested amounts, iow)
• 1/4 cup of cider vinegar
• Cloth at least 18 inches square (best is muslin or old percale, cheesecloth wastes too many little pieces and lets too much through.) or coffee filter
• Small bowl (2 cups or so)

Directions

1. Start with the dried mushrooms, water and bay leaves. Put ’em on “keep warm” in the crockpot to get ’em to re-hydrate. After a couple of hours drop them into a a storage box in the fridge to wait for the fresh mushrooms. (You can do this with all fresh or all dried, adapt to suit.)
2. Chop fresh mushrooms and put into the crock.
3. Add salt.
4. Let sit overnight with the crockpot turned off! Volume should reduce by about 1/3 by morning, after having been mostly full.
5. The next morning stir it well.
6. Add the re-hydrated mushrooms
7. Chop shallot and add.
8. Add spices.
9. Stir.
10. Add 1/4 cup of cider vinegar.
11. Cook on high for 1 1/2 hours.
12. Pour into a cloth.
13. Hang to drip into bowl until cool.
14. Squeeze hard, until the “waste” appears mostly dry.
15. Refrigerate the “catsup”.
16. Dehydrate the “waste” and save to use in soups, stews or as “spice” in other dishes. (Grind well to use as spice, and no, use a coffee or herb grinder, food processors don’t work….)

Dilly Beans

• fresh green beans
• Pint jar
• Pickle broth
• 1 Tbsp dill seed

Method

1. Wash your green beans.
2. Take the straightest ones and cut to fit the jar, at least cutting the ends off the bean.
3. Pack tightly into the jar.

4. 

   Add dill seed to the tops of the beans

5. Take previously made, cold, pickling broth and pour over packed beans. (This recipe shows up repeatedly in our posts, use the Search function.)
6. Screw jar lid down, but not tightly.
7. Refrigerate, at least overnight, screwing the lid down tightly about 12 hours after putting the jar into the fridge.
8. Eat within a week.

Music

Basketry Links

• https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fthebasketman.com%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3e4VcgI_9JtYEqXmjtdLfXoQH3b7KnpTR305VlvLHQ_Dw00S-czv0i5ck&h=AT0khYl97R9w11AGar6BpsDK_FeOnVJtkBNnmL0a3Q5vgJNCRfwV-_7nndyutQDbZlEH9x7cTlIpiYfh8Hqv71KkCjXBcgc4Z3V4O5HV9Sm_tjMe_CwLMJs1nossV1DdZA
• http://thebasketman.com/?fbclid=IwAR3e4VcgI_9JtYEqXmjtdLfXoQH3b7KnpTR305VlvLHQ_Dw00S-czv0i5ck
• https://www.caneandbasket.com/Default.asp?fbclid=IwAR0gK_j9WW2OK9LZoCtyi8gSkLYsyCb7kSLqW6AFymMMmUJHENJDDAjcm90

Funnies 

Anja, Loren, Sasha, Brandon, Amy

Largesse Item Count – (includes gifts, prizes, auction items, etc.)

• ASXLVII = 24
• ASXLVIII = 88
• ASXLIX = 794
• ASL = 2138
• ASLI = 731
• ASLII = 304
• ASLIII – 87 plus 25 pouches for block-printing, wood butter, tissue holder, 8 bookmarkers, 25 bottles of gall ink, 25 unfinished pincushions, 1 sewing kit (except for bone needle), varnished stuff (124)

Total as a Household = 3771 handed off

In ministerio autem Somnium! Anja, graeca doctrina servus to House Capuchin
Page Created 1/6/19 & published 1/15/19 (C)M. Bartlett
Last updated 1/15/19