House Capuchin Shield2Sad face…. The number of active members of the House is at an all-time low. We’re picking up people who are non-SCA at a lot of the workshops, but there are only a handful of us, now. We’re still getting things done!

Potluck is this coming Sunday! With any luck we’ll have rabbit pie for a main dish, plus the pickles and babovka that we’ve gotten made. Everyone is welcome, just bring a dish that serves 6-8 and your feast gear. We *try* to be in garb, but it doesn’t always happen, since Anja and Loren’s shop is open during the potluck time. All meetings this week are at the regular times.

  • Sewing Night – At Ancient Light, Thursdays, 6-8pm
  • Herb Bunch – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 11am-1pm
  • Sewing Time – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 3-5pm
  • Project Day – At Ancient Light, Sundays, Noon to 5pm
  • Cookery and/or Cheese & Wine – Watch the schedule or the Facebook group! This is going to be irregularly scheduled for when tasks need to occur.
  • Next Potluck – 11/19, then 12/17

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

We had a babovka to finish >>> and we’ve been steadily munching on some of the pickled things we’re made when anyone comes in. 🙂 Anja was embroidering and pestering Loren about the tinkle loom and the dice. She’s trying to finish the current stock of pincushions, as well, so she can make more of the puff pincushions from back in 2014. More ingredients for tvarog got purchased and a few of the shopping lists for the feast got created.

Cookery – Apples for the pie filling got processed Tuesday Night. Candied borage flower and pickled nuts are in Herbs below! New batch of tvarog started Saturday night.

Sewing Time – Thursday – …was Amy, Anja and Loren. Amy’s chugging along on lucet cords and found some new njalbinden information. Earlier in the day, Jamie finally came in with the pheasant pelt and furs that we’ve been trying to get for a couple of months. The pelt is going to become our “re-feathered bird” for the feast. Anja has a sheepskin for her chair, some fur to decorate pouches and a there was a collar that Louisa has dibs on. There is also a stack of lynx pelts that have a tentative owner. Jamie got to try some of the babovka and we talked SCA for a couple of hours.

Sewing Time – Saturday – …was Loren, Jeanne and Anja, who spent time on the secret project. Yes, pictures were taken, but they won’t show up for awhile, yet.

Herb Bunch – The weather is closing in, so we need to concentrate on making things from the herbs that have been collected. Jamie still had borage flowers so those were the first thing on our list. The nuts got done late in the afternoon.

Candied Borage Flowers

How to candy borage flowers

  1. Pick early in the day before the sun hits the flowers.
  2. Rainy days ok
  3. Separate calyx from flower
  4. Line upon plate
  5. Have dehydrator tray ready (preferable with a screen)
  6. Separate an egg and mix the white with 1 Tbsp water. (I usually do two eggs, ‘coz it’s easier to keep the brush full) Put the yolk in the fridge
  7. Have a small plate of sugar handy.
  8. Holding the stamens in your finger fill the brush with egg white. Put a dab in the white center of the flower base first, then brush out along each petal.
  9. Set the flower bottom-down into the plate of sugar and dab the stamens with egg white.
  10. Cover with sugar.
  11. Pick it up with a fork from underneat, shaking off the excess sugar, then set it on the dehydrator tray.
  12. Repeat ad nauseam
  13. If you have extra petals or stamens put egg white on the largest piece and set it on the sugar. Brush each extra piece with a little egg white and set on top, then cover with sugar and put the whole lump into the dehydrator.
  14. Run the dehydrator until the egg/sugar/flower is completely dry, probably overnight. Let cool for an hour (open) then run for another 4 hours and put them into an air-tight container while still hot.

Note – Yes, this is raw egg white, which has the possibility of food poisoning. This risk is lessened by drying the flowers completely. You can also buy meringue powder to do this with, but you need to make a thick “glue” of it, not thin it all the way out.

Note 2 – In period these would have been dried in or near the fireplace.

Pickled Nuts – This smells wonderful. No clue what it tastes like, yet. Anja has a walnut allergy, so the two nuts were separated and the pecans that she can eat were done first.

Pickled nuts – Anja has done candied nuts for decades, but hasn’t found pickled ones, anywhere, despite remembering eating them as a kid. The only recipes online were either for what she would call “candied nuts” or for green walnuts, so she decided to experiment.

  • 2 cup apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup salt
  • 2 cup white sugar
  • 2 cups whole walnuts
  • ½ cup whole pecans
  • Cardamom, cinnamon, chopped nutmeg, whole allspice (no, I didn’t measure)
  1. Boil, then turn to simmer.
  2. Add pecans. Cook 5. Skim off into jar. Fill with broth.
  3. Add walnuts. Cook 10. Skim off into jar. Fill with broth. Wasn’t quite enough broth to cover so added some water and honey. .

Project Day – …was an unusual day. The Celtic music festival was this weekend in Yachats, so some folks were in town that we only see once a year. One of them stayed all afternoon, talking with Loren and Anja who were working on largesse and the secret project and tending the new tvarog. Then in the late afternoon Isabeau got to the shop and we spent the evening doing the same thing!

 

Miscellaneous pix

Music

Links

The Aberdeen Bestiary is now online! https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f1r

Funnies 

Loren, Anja, Jamie, Amy, Isabeau

divider black grey greek key

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

  • ASXLVII = 24
  • ASXLVIII = 88
  • ASXLIX = 794
  • ASL = 2138
  • ASLI = 731
  • ASLII = 185 plus 4 pouch (2 more just need strings), 25 pouches for block-printing, 35 (plus 26 unfinished) pincushions, 7 emery bags, 10 lucet cord, 1 hat, 1 bone needle & case, 2 sewing boxes (finished except for bone needles), varnished stuff (124)

Total as a Household = 3544 handed off

moving writing pen motifIn ministerio autem Somnium! Anja, graeca doctrina servus to House Capuchin
Page Created 11/5/17 & published 11/13/17 (C)M. Bartlett
Last updated 11/13/17