House Capuchin Shield2We still don’t have all the photos, but I don’t want this to wait any longer! There was a minor camera issue, but it spoiled a whole batch. Don’t get fingerprints on a camera lens! 

It was a busy week with classes, A&S and then Embellisher’s Guild challenges and then a “potluck”. This coming week won’t be quite so busy, but we’re going to have to re-take what pictures we can that were spoiled and then add them back into this report, so expect a few things to change by the end of the week. 

Helen Louise – Today we are having chicken and vegetables curry on rice… I’m making a quilt for a dear friend… thinking of working on some roman garb, but we’ll see… red linen is calling me…

All meetings are on hold for the moment, although Project Day and the Monthly Potluck are being held in the Virtual Realm. We’re also doing mini-potlucks, just Anja & Loren and one other “pod” at a time. Let us know if you’re interested!

  • 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 Virtual Potluck – 3/21, 4/18, 5/16, 6/20
  • No Winter Feast in 2021. We’ll revisit for one in 2022 next spring.
Arlys lion is finished!

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/

Misc – 

Educational Events

 Other Good Stuff

Knowne Worlde Entertainment Guide – KWEG – Entertainment List – https://tinyurl.com/KWEGSpreadSheet

Dance Vids – For as Many As Will

Classes – 

What to Consider When Choosing Your Name and Heraldry – Royal University of the Midrealm – RUM – Thory Vedardottir discusses things to consider when choosing a name and heraldry within the SCA.

Navigating eSCA – Royal University of the Midrealm – RUM – Baroness Sophia the Orange discusses eSCA – the resources, the options, and how it has been used so far.

Sir Baptist Hicks and the building of Old Campden House – The Landmark Trust – Join Landmark Historian Caroline Stanford as she explores the site of Old Campden House and its history.

Early Week – Anja got a new set of pictures of the balls display and the fillings on Monday. Those need to be processed, still. 

Tuesday was Adiantum’s A&S Night. Baroness Yseult did an informal class on the Sjkoldenham Hood and went on into a demo about some Nederlandishe hats! It was really information, going into patterns and construction and adapting the size for larger people (add a gusset!), but also the decorations on the hood and the associated clothing as well as the hats. Anja spent most of the time working on the current sewing kit project, but watching the various bits and pieces of display. 

Cookery – We hardboiled eggs several days back, but Wednesday evening we spent an hour peeling them for more pickled eggs, dividing pickled onions for garnishes from the last of the end-of-season-from-the-farmer’s-market cukes (they’re strong, but *really* tasty!) and the onions from the utopenci, which gave several smaller jars that are going to fit into 1/2 the space they were taking! …assuming that the utopenci and cuke pickles last through the weekend.. <grin> ..and some cucumber pickles, pickled beet slices, utopenci and a pickled onion, plus a roll with butter and roquefort made a great snack. Very happy tummy!

On Friday, since Sash was coming down, we decided to do the pears. We had Anjou pears, and you can see in the recipe section that I futzed with the recipe a bit, making more like the pastie fillings, since that’s what was in the freezer. He took two home and nuked them to re-heat. We also had a tray of various nibbles during the day. 

Two more got set up Saturday evening and Anja started the chicken for the Mortreas and Zerhefrehns thawing and then got the carrots started. Step-by-step photos are below each recipe in that section below.  

How to pickle Cowcumbers, The whole body of cookery dissected; Rabisha, 1661 – https://giveitforth.blogspot.com/2021/03/how-to-pickle-cowcumbers-whole-body-of.html?fbclid=IwAR238dl6D_IL-NRRM-j4lu4A0PyEwW2WxivxbPrGrl9S3Jq6eBjzY4CTM5Y

Zanzarelli – Medieval Soup – Parmigiano in the Middle Ages – Historical Italian Cooking – Today we prepare medieval zanzarelli, a soup with bread and cheese, from a 15th-century cookbook, Maestro Martino’s Libro de Arte Coquinaria.

MMMK 04 Mortraeas – My Modern Medieval Kitchen – My Modern Medieval Kitchen making a modern version of mortræas/mortraeas, meat cooked in wine.

Cooking With Hadley – Alfred and the Oatcakes – Royal University of the Midrealm – RUM – Dame Hadley of Beckenham demonstrates making oat cakes, and tells a story about King Alfred the Great accidently burning some oat cakes.

Oat Cakes

  • 1 Cup oats (250g) (Scottish porridge oats or whatever you have)
  • ½ Cup Oat Flour (46g) (any flour will do)
  • 1 ½ sticks (170g) butter melted
  • 2/3 Cup (50g) dried fruit chopped (apples, apricots, cherries)
  • 6 tablespoons (126g) honey
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C –OR– Set a skillet or frying pan over medium high heat. Cooking these on a skillet is closer to the way the Anglo-Saxons would have done it, but it is considerably more difficult.
  2. Add the oats, dried fruit, cinnamon, and salt to a medium bowl and mix well. Then mix in the honey and the butter. Once fully incorporated, add the oat flour and mix to combine.
  3. With your hands, form small flat patties, fairly thin, and about 3 inches across and set them on a lined baking sheet (or on a plate if you are using a skillet.)
  4. If you are baking the cakes, bake in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes, or until they start to darken around the edges. Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool completely. –OR–
  5. If you are using a skillet or frying pan, gently place several cakes onto the pan. Leave them for 1 – 1½ min, then using a spatula, flip the cakes gently so they do not break, and cook for another 1 minute. The cakes should be browned (possibly slightly scorched) on both sides.
  6. Then set them on a wire rack to cool. Repeat until all the cakes are cooked.

Sewing – 

Michelle Crocker was working on a tunic early in the week and put some pictures up online. She was antsy to get it right and several of us spent some time assuring her that she would, indeed, and she did! 

On Saturday Anja was one of the evaluators for the Embellisher’s Guild Challenges. 

Herb Bunch – Watering, tending, checking up on plants…. all week. A chunk of Anja’s garden is going to move to their tiny home space asap! The last of the spring flowers, plus that succulent that we rescued.

Project Day – Loren and Anja started the day by getting things ready for the cookery. Anja had been online asking folks about an ingredient in one of the recipes and got an answer by 1:30. Hard-boiled eggs for the one dish, started pears in the crockpot by 2. Realized that before I started the two chicken recipes I was going to have to make chicken broth. Argh…..  

So, got that made and strained and the solids put in a box with salt and ground mushrooms. That’s going to get cream of mushroom soup added. The broth went into a big canning jar to get used in the Zerfahrens. 

The carrots got set up with ginger and honey and craisins and into the tripot for final cooking. Next I made the Zerfahrens for chickens, got that into a tripot and then the Mortreas. By then it was 7pm. Loren was really tired and I needed a break, too, so it wasn’t until 7:45 that we started to set up to actually eat. The pears were at 190-195, so those got pulled out to set up. 

Potluck

The food was *yum*. Two different takes on similar ingredients turned out to be worth trying on the same day. The carrots were sweet without being sticky. The Zerfahrens chicken was a nice savory flavor and the Morteas had an interesting tang of wine. We had added aniseed (like the Meister Hans Mortar Chickens) and that was a good touch. The pear was delicious as they had been on Friday. Loren’s rolls are always tasty and they were a good “smoother” for the chicken dish flavors. The sweet was some 100’s of 1000’s, since we were so stuffed, but we had marzipan and maple candies later with some other nibbles.

Potluck Menu

Nibbles Tray

Nibbles

  • utopenci
  • cucumber pickles
  • pickled onion
  • pickled beets
  • pickled beans
  • white bread rolls
  • butter
  • roquefort cheese
Carrots

Main

  • lentil pottage with bacon and carrots
  • Stuffed Pears
  • Honey/Ginger carrots
  • Mortraeas
  • Zerfahrens of chickens

Afters

  • 100’s of 1000’s
  • marzipan
  • Maple Candies and Marzipan


    maple candy
  • comfits
  • Figs
  • Pecans

Recipes

Pear

Mittelniederdeutsches Kochbuch  Filled Pears

  • 6 pears (they do not have to be ripe)
  • 1-1½ cups of cooked mixed lamb and pork meat
  • 8-10 dates
  • Handful raisins and crasins
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp mixed cardamom and nutmeg
  • 1 egg (we used two, but that was overdoing it.)

Method

  1. 1 Hack upper 1/3 off pears.
  2. Dig out dark stem bit on short end.
  3. Cut out a cone from the larger end that includes the entire core.
  4. Hollow out more, still in the cone shape.
  5. Extra bits of pear and what can be cut off the cores go into the microwave for 5 minutes and then get fork mashed.
  6. Throw the rest of the ingredients on top and zap for 3 minutes to make sure any fats are melted.
  7. Mix well.
  8. Pack pear “cups” tightly with filling and set tops on.
  9. Pin in place if you have to.
  10. Wrap tightly in foil.
  11. Place in a pie pan and bake at 350F until soft to the touch or fork tender, about an hour and half.
  12. Open the foil and twist on the stem to get it loose. You can replace it for looks. 
  13. Serve hot, with honey on the side for those who like it very sweet.

Note – Pears can also be baked in a crockpot on high for 4 hours or until they are fork-tender and the inside reaches at least 170F. 

Translation – Volker Bach – 3/15/21

95 Item if you would make pears, take them and cut the pears off above (cut off the tops). Cut out the core and throw it away. And pound the other with fat meat. And take (add) egg yolk and spices and salt. Fill that back into the pears. And set them in the embers and let them roast.

Mortraeas

Mortraeas

MMMK 04 Mortraeas – My Modern Medieval Kitchen – My Modern Medieval Kitchen making a modern version of mortræas/mortraeas, meat cooked in wine.

  • 3-4 slice bacon
  • 1 chicken breast
  • 2 eggs
  • Salt to taste and 1/2 tsp aniseed
  • One slice stale bread or ¼ cup bread crumbs
  • Cup of wine or more to cover.
  • Cinnamon

Method – (We used the food processor)

  1. Chop bacon.
  2. Cook bacon until it begins to color with 1/4 cup water. Add more if it starts to stick. 
  3. Grind chicken  in a mortar. OR chop fine. OR use a food processor.
  4. Add to bacon and cook
  5. Add wine and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add salt and aniseed.
  7. Shred bread.
  8. Add bread crumbs and stir well.
  9. Whisk the eggs with a couple of tablespoons of wine. Add to meat mixture and stir well. Turn off heat.
  10. Keep stirring until eggs are cooked through and mixture thickens.
  11. Sprinkle with cinnamon. (If needed) 

Zerfahrens

Zerfahrens of chickens

  • 2 sm chicken breast
  • 1 slice bacon plus two TBSP bacon fat or three slices bacon
  • 2 eggs
  • Chicken broth

Method

  1. Chop the bacon (food processor)
  2. Cook until starting to turn color.
  3. Thaw and chop up the chicken breast. I used a food processor.
  4. Two eggs went in with the chicken to be chopped
  5. Add broth to bacon. Stir
  6. Add chiken/egg mix and a bit of salt and dill weed.
  7. Stir very well.
  8. Bring to a boil.
  9. Either simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or crockpot on high for at least an hour.

Original

Ein new cookbook 1581 – 6 Zerfahrens of chickens. Take the breast from the young hens/ cut it away from the bone/ and chop small together with calf fat/ chop into it eggs with the yellow and white/ put it in a clean fish ketter/ with a good hen broth/ that is not over salted/ and stir well over the coals/ that it does not scorch/ when it has come to a boil/ then let gently boil/ about a quarter of an hour/ so it becomes good and well tasting.

Miscellaneous pix

Music

Restoring Lost Songs from Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy (2) – Benjamin Bagby – Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge – Benjamin Bagby, director of Sequentia, discusses his performance practice in reconstructing songs from Boethius’ De consolatione philosophiae. The video features a performance of Si quantas rapidis from book 2 with Hanna Marti. This is part of the project Restoring Lost Songs: Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy directed by Dr Sam Barrett at the University of Cambridge, see: https://boethius.mus.cam.ac.uk/

𝑻𝒘𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔… – Musica Medievale – Ensemble: Murmur Mori

Songs:

Under der linden, Walther von der Vogelweide (XIII cent.)

 En mai, Colin Muset (XIII cent.)

Today is the first day of Spring: Flowers begin to poke out shyly over the outside world. The love song of birds fills the woods and meadows. The trees dance lazily, showing the first buds to the spring wind that the dry leaves sweeps away. In this setting, the Murmur Mori ensemble plays two spring songs from the 13th century: Under der linden and En mai quant li rossignolet

Links

Science in the Middle Ages – Rediscovering its Latent Genius – https://www.medievalists.net/2021/02/science-in-the-middle-ages/

Series – In Search of the Once and Future King – https://www.medievalists.net/tag/james-turner/

Early Christian relics examined and dated by researchers – https://www.medievalists.net/2021/02/early-christian-relics-examined/

Video Links

The Medieval Knight with Christopher Gravett (podcast) – https://www.medievalists.net/2021/02/medieval-knight-christopher-gravett/

Can you go to the toilet in medieval armour? (and other funny stories) – Modern History TV – Jason Kingsley OBE, the Modern Knight tells some funny stories and answers key questions about wearing real medieval armour.

Funnies 

divider black grey greek key

  • ASXLVII = 24
  • ASXLVIII = 88
  • ASXLIX = 794
  • ASL = 2138
  • ASLI = 731
  • ASLII = 304
  • ASLIII – 146
  • ASLIV – 230 plus 4 puppets, 4 powder fort, 8 cheese spice and 9 powder douce packets, 1 kiss-lock pouch, 9 tiny bobs, 7 pincushions, 3 pins, 3 snip case w/snips, lucet cords, 25 pouches for block-printing, 1 medium pouch, 4 small pouches, 12 bookmarkers, 14 unfinished pincushions, 1 sewing kit (except for bone needle), varnished stuff (124), 2 emery strawberries, 1 woolen spool-knit cord, 48 key bottle openers

Total as a Household = 4061 handed off

moving writing pen motif

In ministerio autem Somnium! Anja, graeca doctrina servus to House Capuchin
Page Created 3/15/21 & published 3/23/21 (C)M. Bartlett
Last updated 3/23/21