House Capuchin 3

Don’t expect this coming week’s report to be out on Monday! Tuesday is more likely given the photos and write-up time from 12th Night! I’m actually going to put Monday’s date on next week’s….

Anja usually works on the report each day during the week, which fills things in without a lot of effort. Over

the last couple of weeks things were skimpy because she couldn’t. She’s promising to keep things up over 12th Night weekend. We can hope….

We spent a lot of time this week just catching up and starting to figure out what’s left that we need to do for 12th Night. Anja is busy with her classes and was ill during part of the week, to boot.

This week we have to finish getting ready for 12th Night. That’s music to practice, sales goods for the booth and getting the classes ready, plus clothing, etc. That’s going to be our whole focus,

here.

• Herb Bunch – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 11am-1pm (not this week)
• Sewing Time – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 3-5pm (not this week)
• Project Day – At Ancient Light, Sundays, Noon to 6pm (not this week)
• Cheese and Wine happens irregularly, usually announced with little notice on our Facebook group.
• Next Potluck – 1/19/20, 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/

Early Week – We’re still cleaning up from the chaos of last week, but late Monday evening we put together a batch of stuff for Vesta and one for Marian. On Tuesday we headed into the Valley to visit. Wednesday was rest and food day. Anja got in a little embroidery time. Thursday Anja and Loren were working on cleaning up the shop from the holiday, so they could re-open on Friday.

Tuesday Trip – Anja’s take

We usually manage one trip into the Eugene area over the holidays to see friends. Vesta is one that is on just about all of the trips. Usually Iurii is, but he was in the hospital again… hoping this procedure will solve several of those problems…. Vesta remembered that Loren and Anja wanted to see Marian’s timber bamboo, so off we went!

We’re always late getting on the road, no matter what, but between the tiny amount of sleep that we both had and the gas card having problems that couldn’t be solved before yesterday morning it was a grumpier start than usual. We were finally rolling at 9:20.

It was dry and overcast, but not dim and grey. We chatted the whole way through Yachats and down the coast. The views of clouds over the ocean were spectacular. We stopped in Florence for gas and then headed into the Valley on 126 through Mapleton, Walton and Veneta and finally right to the restaurant.

We had chosen a place called “Spice and Steam”. It’s a very modern, looking place, decent decor, although the lighting was a little dim for old eyes. Vesta had ordered jasmine tea while she was waiting, and we all had several cups and several more after a refill of the pot. Vesta and I got egg flower soup and it’s some of the best I’ve ever had. After that she got several sorts of dim sum and I got radish patties…which had black pepper in them, so I couldn’t eat very much, but they were very tasty. Loren got a tofu dish that came in a mixing bowl…. I also got green beans, but they had tons of *red* pepper in them, so I paid for that the next morning. …and we exchanged goodies and talked. We had a whole box of things for her, but the “cheese slut” pin was a hit! Loren and I both had leftovers to take home.

So Vesta led us to Marian’s place and we got to explore her yard…or maybe I ought to call it a garden, rather than a yard. She has all kinds of herbs and plants, a huge old witch hazel tree and a stand of timber bamboo that has to be seen to be believed…. and I left the camera in the car. <sigh> They harvest every year, putting up pickled bamboo shoots when they come up in the spring, and there’s lots of cut and drying in various spots around the yard. She says that if you sit out there with a cup of coffee in the spring you can hear the stuff growing, creaking and scratching and groaning! At one of the stems I exclaimed, “It’s big enough for beer steins!” Quart or 1/2 gallon beer steins at that! We talked uses for bamboo for awhile before moving on to other plants.

She cut me a whole bouquet of bay (American rather than European) and I have not only a bay nut, but a sprouted plant in a cup that I have to bucket, soonest, to see how well one will do. Oh, that stuff smells wonderful! I was reacting like a cat in a catnip plant I must admit, sinking my shoes into the damp loam but getting right up into a branch and just *sniffing*! 🙂

She also showed us her tea plant which is about to bloom and gifted me with a blossom. Hoping to get pix tonight (writing up on Wednesday)! …and thyme and sweet violets and oregano all over the yard and…and….and… Anja was a very happy herby person… 🙂 (pix below in Herbs)

So we went inside and Marian had been baking, getting ready for the New Year’s party they were having that night. The house smelled absolutely delicious and we were offered all kinds of cookies that we were too stuffed to partake of. Loren nodded off in a chair and we let him doze while we were talking. Marian was working on the 12th Night schedule, too, when I pointed out that my 2, 2-hour classes had been reduced to just a total of 3 hours….

We spent a good long while chatting. I gave Marian the set of little goodies that I had put together. She admired Loren’s bone needle and we had a good laugh over the bamboo needlecase that I had added. 🙂 She also got a set of ships and sheath and a matching bob.

I went out the back way where there’s a hand-rail and admired the pottery and glass bits embedded into the concrete steps to help with traction… even little pressed glass butterflies 🙂 . We got a last admiring look at the bamboo before heading out.

We stopped at Walmart to nab windshield wiper blades to replace the ones that shredded on the way in. I dozed while Loren went in after those and then he installed them before we headed out. It was getting darker, since the clouds were thickening up, making rolls and bumps under the cloud deck. It started to drizzle before he was done and we headed home and on the way through the mountains and down through Mapleton it was pouring.

It wasn’t coming down quite as hard in Florence, and we stopped first to use the “unfilling station” and then decided to get some supper there so’s to take a break. I love their cod basket with coleslaw and I got onion rings to go with. When we were done, we headed up 101 towards home and it got “interesting”.

What is it with people that try to drive in your trunk? In fog/rain/wind conditions, driving an old soccer-mom car, we only had about 5 minutes free of people with their highbeams on, riding our bumper. We were driving at the top speed we could handle in those conditions. First off….if we had had some kind of emergency stop (think branch, or elk) those folks *would* been have coming in the hatch of the car. 2nd, pushing someone just makes the not-so-safe conditions worse. 3rd, why highbeams on from behind us? We were literally glare-blinded *from* *behind* a couple of times! It caused a wild swerve because we couldn’t see the lines on the road, both times. 4th…. you won’t get there faster if you push, you’ll just make it possible that neither of us will get home. 🤨😳🤔🤫😲😲😲

But we did get home, partly offloaded and then spent 12 hours asleep, only waking to share pear brandy filled chocolates at midnight and then going back to sleep!

Cookery – Monday night was girdle cakes of barley and pea flour.

We took rolls, potted cheese, pickled onions and pickled eggs with us for a snack on the Tuesday trip and finished them on Wednesday.

Wednesday was bread day. The shop smelled wonderful while Loren was working on that. Since it was New Year’s, it was also cocky (lentils) and pickled herring day, for luck and prosperity in the new year.

Thursday was tresnovy chai (cherry tea) and stripping the bay leaves.

Anja was also working on setting up her cheese class, since the 12th Night schedule was finally confirmed on Friday.

Almond cheese was on Sunday.

Sewing – Anja discovered that the stack of pouch blanks that she’s cut have all been used up, so she started hunting through scraps and boxes of fabric for stuff to make more, and then realized that the green pouches for site tokens for the feast aren’t finished yet, either. That meant that the table needed to be cleared and the photos for the pouch page done.

…and then 12th Night sewing….and working on that set of cuffbands…and the pear pincushion. …and still no photos….

Sundials, etc. – We discussed possibilities for Rithmomachy pieces and boards on the long drive, also some of the other projects (like cutting the pieces for Anja’s puppet) and some pins. …and more sanding. Oi!

Herb Bunch – There’s a lot in the trip part about Marian’s garden. Here are some pix of the “loot” from that visit. 🙂

On Wednesday, we stripped the bay leaves, so they wouldn’t get too dry to pull. After about 2 days on a cut branch, they break, rather than strip off clean.

So, on Saturday during the workshop, bay leaves were sorted, washed and perfect ones strung as they dried. The damaged ones just went into a basket and will be ground.

The small tree got planted on Sunday.

Project Day

We started with stringing the now-dry good bay leaves and putting the others in front of a fan, since they weren’t drying well. Next up was getting some more photos of the onions being saved for dye and getting them put away until we’re ready to try some of that.

We had some things that needed to be put away, like large crockpots, so that was next up.

The little tree got planted, finally.

Almond milk cheese was another thing to try. The recipe that we used and the pictures are in the next section. …and started a tvarog, since Anja’s going to need a few recipes of it for class next weekend.

Almond cheese – Edited Recipe – Makes approximately a quarter of a pound of “cheese”

Make thick almond milk, first

• 5 cup ground almonds
• 2 cup water

1. Put in food processor and whirl until creamy.
2. Strain through a fine sieve to get the almond bits out.
3. Then put the following into a pot and heat to boiling. Be careful not to overheat or burn.

• 2 cups thick almond milk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Pinch saffron, rubbed (optional)

4. Heat for five minutes and then add vinegar to your almond milk. It will immediately thicken and start to curdle. You can also add a dash of wine to the mixture instead of vinegar. Continue to cook for another five minutes or so stirring so that the milk doesn’t burn.

• 1/2 TBSP. red wine vinegar
• Sugar or salt to taste
• Flavorings (powder douce, garlic and rosemary, or whatever suits you) Suggested 2 tablespoons of sugar plus 2 teaspoons of the powder douce
• Garnish (comfits, flowers, fresh herbs, etc.)

5. Remove from heat and strain through a cheesecloth for several hours or overnight.
6. When the dripping has stopped, remove the almond mixture from the cloth and place it in a bowl. Discard liquid.
7. Add sugar (or salt) to taste in the bowl. If the mixture is a bit too dry or crumbly wine can be added as well. Flavorings can be added in the bowl (stronger) or while cooking (milder)
8. Garnish

After 8 hours dripping out….

The flavor is good, in fact it tastes like pumpkin pie without the pumpkin! The texture is good, like a cream cheese spread. There’s a slightly bitter aftertaste that is either the amount of cinnamon, or the red wine vinegar, mostly likely, but after the first bite, you don’t notice it at all.

So next up is a savory, since we’ve done a sweet.

Excerpted from http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-DAIRY/Al-Milk-Cheese-art.html 

a fyne xij. Fride Creme of Almaundys. — Take almaundys, an sta?«pe hem, an draw it vp wyth thykke mylke, y-temperyd wyth clene water; throw hem on, an sette hem in fe fyre, an let boyle onys : fan tak hem a-down,an caste salt )7er-on, an let hem reste a forlongwey  or to, an caste a lytyl sugre Jier-to ; an J^an caste it on a fayre lynen clothe, fayre y-wasche an drye, an caste it al a-brode on fe clothe with a fayre ladel : an let Je clothe ben holdyn a-brode, an late all j^e water vnder-nethe fe clothe be had a-way, an panne gadere alle fe kreme in fe clothe, an let hongy on an pyn, and let fe water droppe owt to’ or .iij. owrys ; ) an take it of Je pyn, an put it on a bolle of tre, and caste whyte sugre y-now ]7er-to, an a lytil salt  and if it Tvexe Jikke, take swete wyn an put ]jer-to ‘pat it be nojt sene : and whan it is I-dressid in the maner of mortrewys, take red anys in comfyte, or ]’e leuys of borage, an sette hem on Je dysshe, an serue forth.

Recipe can be found here: Full text of “Two fifteenth-century cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55” ( http://www.archive.org/stream/twofifteenthcent00aust/twofifteenthcent00aust_djvu.txt )

For more information on this and similar recipes, please visit Dan Myers “Medieval Cookery” at http://www.medievalcookery.com

xij – Fride Creme of Almaundys. Take almaundys, an stampe hem, an draw it vp wyth a fyne thykke mylke, y-temperyd wyth clene water; throw hem on, an sette hem in the fyre, an let boyle onys: than tak hem a-down, an caste salt ther-on, an let hem reste a forlongwey (Note: Other MS. forlange.) or to, an caste a lytyl sugrether-to; an than caste it on a fayre lynen clothe, fayre y-wasche an drye, an caste it al a-brode on the clothe with a fayre ladel: an let the clothe ben holdyn a-brode, an late all the water vnder-nethe the clothe be had a-way, an thanne gadere alle the kreme in the clothe, an let hongy on an pyn, and let the water droppe owt to (Note: two.) or .iij. owrys; than take it of the pyn, an put it on a bolle of tre, and caste whyte sugre y-now ther-to, an a lytil salt; and 3if it wexe thikke, take swetewyn an put ther-to that it be no3t sene: and whan it is I-dressid in the maner of mortrewys, take red anys in comfyte, or the leuys of borage, an sette hem on the dysshe, an serue forth.

12. Cold Cream of Almonds. Take almonds, and stamp them, and draw it up with a fine thick milk, tempered with clean water, throw them on, and set them on the fire, and let boil once: then take them down, and cast salt thereon, an let them rest a furlongway or two, and cast a little sugar thereto; and then caste it on a fair linen cloth, fair washed and dried, and cast it all above on the cloth with a fair ladle: an let the cloth be held above and let all the water underneath the cloth be had away, an than gather all the cream in the cloth, and let hang on a pin, and let the water drop out two or three hours; then take off the pin and put it in a bowl of wood, and caste white sugar thereto that it is not seen: and when it is dressed in the manner of mortrewys, take read anise in http://giveitforth.blogspot.com/2015/09/comfits.html” comfit, or the petals of borage, and set them on the dish, and serve it forth.

Almond milk link – http://giveitforth.blogspot.com/2015/01/almond-milk.html

Interpreted Recipe  Makes approximately a quarter of a pound of “cheese”

•  2 cups thick almond milk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. red wine vinegar*
• Sugar to taste

Once you have made the almond milk, you will need to strain the mixture through a sieve to remove as much of the almond bits as you can.  Put the strained almond milk and salt into a pot and heat to boiling being careful not to overheat or to burn it.

Note: Saffron can be added to the almond milk to make it yellow like butter at this stage.  I did that and I was impressed with the results.

Heat for five minutes and then add a dash of wine or vinegar to your almond milk. It will immediately thicken and start to curdle. You can also add a dash of wine to the mixture instead of vinegar. Continue to cook for another five minutes or so stirring so that the milk doesn’t burn.

Remove from heat and strain through a cheesecloth for several hours or overnight.  When the dripping has stopped, remove the almond mixture from the cloth and place it in a bowl.  Unlike making cheese from dairy, the liquid that is produced from the almonds can be discarded.  The whey from cheese making is full of whey protein and can be used in smoothies or baking.

Add sugar to taste in the bowl.  If the mixture is a bit too dry or crumbly wine can be added as well.  I used approximately 2 tablespoons of sugar and then I added 2 teaspoons of the pouder douce to this.  I did not need to add wine because the addition of the sugar made the almond “cheese” very smooth, similar to cream cheese. At this point I imagine you would be able to caste it into molds, or serve it in bowls garnished with comfits, or flowers if you see fit.

Miscellaneous pix 

Music

Links

• What Were the Prospects for an Illegitimate Child in Late Medieval England? – https://www.historyhit.com/what-were-the-prospects-for-an-illegitimate-child-in-late-medieval-england/
• Top 10 WEIRD Facts About Medieval CASTLES – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw4eX1S9nVU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1MgvpwS1CECQefw-lLMhAdKzoXszCReIDqzyv3cjPGGT4kZ3_MM0yib78
• Shadiversity – https://www.youtube.com/user/shadmbrooks?fbclid=IwAR398-j74CKkDeur-ux0GErU-ujweqcgzHwmZ-m5CsBKStGzm7qps4KTveI
• Authentic German Springerle – https://www.daringgourmet.com/authentic-springerle-recipe/
• Tomb Containing Three Generations of Warrior Women Unearthed in Russia – https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tomb-containing-three-generations-amazon-warrior-women-unearthed-russia-180973877/
• Lucy Worsley’s 12 Days of Tudor Christmas – https://www.pbs.org/video/lucy-worsleys-12-days-of-tudor-christmas-fir5kn/

Funnies 

Brandon(V), Anja, Loren, Vesta, Marian, Amor(V), Sasha(V), Amy (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 – 179+6=184 plus 2 puppets, 3 hippocras mix, 20 powder fort packets, 3 tiny bobs, 1 large bob with tassle, 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 = 4015 handed off

In ministerio autem Somnium! Anja, graeca doctrina servus to House Capuchin
Page Created 12/30/19 & published 1/6/20 (C)M. Bartlett
Last updated 1/6/20