The big push of getting ready for the feast is eating everything but the Herbs Workshop, and it almost ate that this week! We’re looking at around 30 people this time, so if you haven’t contacted us yet to get on the list, please do, ASAP! Shopping is happening *tomorrow*!
Other meetings will be on time this week. There will be a Cheese & Wine Thursday night.
- 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
- Cheese and Wine happens irregularly, usually announced with little notice on our Facebook group.
- Next Potluck – 3/15, 4/19, 5/17
- Winter Feast Date is 2/23/20, Theme German Renaissance
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/
Feast Progress – Cookbook work all week. Getting closer. Reminders went out on Thursday.
Early Week – We started the week with cleanup, as usual, and baking.
Cookery – Lebkuchen and focaccia baked on Monday.
The focaccia didn’t come out right, so that got ground on Tuesday to dry for breadcrumbs. Tuesday was also a use-up-the-12th-Night-Cheese cooking effort (mostly got turned into lasagna) and then the 2nd batch of bierocks.
Wednesday was all cookbook up until 7pm, then the Feast Cooks meeting. Intense couple of hours, there.
Thursday – baked garlic for garlic butter and got that made and put by. Also, a honeybutter. Working on quick-drying breadcrumbs about a third of them took flying lessons and one batch scorched… <sigh> We’ve got about a quart.
Friday some shopping happened. Research on how to get a chunk of horseradish root happened, too. Turns out we have a local fellow…..
Saturday was chicken broth for the soup and mustard, spicy pear mustard. It’s darned near weaponized while you’re making it. My nose ran for an hour and *burned*! Made a radish and cream cheese spread after that, not period, but pretty, and intended for sandwiches. A 2nd batch of chicken broth happened.
Radish spread
Sunday was finally the bacon/blue butter. (above)
Sewing – no one showed for the workshop and Anja was working on the herbs from the morning.
Sundials, etc. – Progress on sanding…
Herb Bunch – Most of the week as pick-up-and-put-away, but on Saturday during the workshop time the 3 of us tore apart the compounding station. We bagged or jarred everything that wasn’t, combined duplicates, got rid of trash, and pulled all the things that needed to be washed out and got them put by. It took a couple of hours, but wow does it make a difference!
That’s the Herbs shelf at the back, and then l-r: a bowl of some herbs that need to be sorted (mostly cones and cedar sprigs) A box of jarred herbs with bagged ones on top, a box of miscellaneous empty jars.
Project Day – Was all on finding and cleaning dishes and utensils to make sure they’re ready for the feast. We’re not done, since the boxes will be pulled out and re-set…..
We also spent time making room in the freezers for more stuff….
None of that creates pictures!
Recipes
Pear Mustard – German Mustard (Spicy pear/wine) Makes 3 cups and a little over.
- 1 can preserved pear halves
- 1 cup ground yellow mustard
- ¼ cup ground ginger
- 1 TBSP salt
- ½ cup sweet white wine (Pinot Grigio) (May need another ¼ cup)
Method
- Drain the pears, leaving as little juice as possible. (Save the juice for breakfast, or add to wine and reduce for a yummy syrup)
- Mash the pears.
- Zap for three minutes in the microwave.
- Add mustard and mash.
- Add ginger and mash.
- Add salt and mash.
- Zap for 2 minutes in the microwave.
- Add /1/4 cup wine and mash.
- Zap for 1 minute.
- Add /1/4 cup wine and mash, making sure that it’s mixed as well as you can. It’s going to be lumpy, that’s the pears, but they smooth out when it’s spread on something.
- Box and refrigerate at least overnight to let the flavors blend.
- You may freezer after that for up to a month.
- Before serving, let thaw overnight.
- 20 minutes before serving time, zap in a nuker for 3 minutes. Add ¼ cup of wine, if it’s too thick for what you need.
34 To make the mustard for dried cod – Welserin
Take mustard powder, stir into it good wine and pear preserves and put sugar into it, as much as you feel is good, and make it as thick as you prefer to eat it, then it is a good mustard.
Miscellaneous pix
Music – AncientFM this week!
Links
Rome pilgrimage to the lost bones of the world’s first celebrity chef – https://writingroma.wordpress.com/2019/09/25/in-search-of-the-worlds-first-celebrity-chef/
Sanctuary with Shannon McSheffrey (podcast) – https://www.medievalists.net/2020/01/sanctuary-with-shannon-mcsheffrey/
Medieval Manuscripts: The Peterborough Psalter in Brussels – https://www.medievalists.net/2020/01/medieval-manuscripts-the-peterborough-psalter-in-brussels/
13-year-old discovers Byzantine burial inscription – https://www.medievalists.net/2020/01/13-year-old-discovers-byzantine-burial-inscription/
A History of the Wolf – https://www.historytoday.com/archive/natural-histories/history-wolf
Europe’s Oldest Intact Book Is Discovered Inside the Coffin of a Saint – https://mymodernmet.com/st-cuthbert-gospel-oldest-book/
Updated Pages – Winter Feast ASLIV
Funnies
Viking Kittens!
Anja, Loren, Louisa (v), Isabeau (v), Daniel (v), Sasha (v)
Largesse Item Count – (includes gifts, prizes, auction items, etc.)
- ASXLVII = 24
- ASXLVIII = 88
- ASXLIX = 794
- ASL = 2138
- ASLI = 731
- ASLII = 304
- ASLIII – 146
- ASLIV – 185 plus 2 puppets, 3 hippocras mix, 20 powder fort packets, 5 tiny bobs, lucet cords, 25 pouches for block-printing, 1 medium pouch, 4 small pouches, 12 bookmarkers, 18 unfinished pincushions, 1 sewing kit (except for bone needle), varnished stuff (124)
Total as a Household = 4016 handed off
In ministerio autem Somnium! Anja, graeca doctrina servus to House Capuchin
Page Created 1/16/20 & published 2/3/20 (C)M. Bartlett
Last updated 2/3/20
House Capuchin 3 
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