[Sca-cooks] Belated introduction/It's a small Known World after all!

[Susan Fox-Davis]

almost-a-dame Ruth wrote:

> > Dear Ruth:  Welcome to here!  I have friends in Adria, mostly in
> > Esperance and Terre Neuve, one of whom [Sir Nigel, Fleur-de-Lys Herald]
> > is coming up to your end of the world for a Knighting in a couple of
> > weeks.  I won't be there, but I've made the belt for the new knight, so
> > I'll be there in spirit.
>
>         Bwahahaha!  Well, I'll be sure to think of you at the
> time.  I happen to be Sir Nigel's squire, the one he'll be Knighting,
> and the end recipient of the belt.  Thank you, by the way!  :)

Oh, for goodness' sakes!  There really are only 40 people in the world.
Nigel will laugh his silly butt off when he hears about this.  Remember, I
taught him everything he knows -- but not everything I know!  <evile grynne>

I hope you like the belt, the color is a little hard to mix, darn near has
its own 'recipe.' I think Fiebing's turquoise is just a little green-ish, so
I put in =just a dab= of Navy Blue, not too much.  Half of it got knocked
over, it came out of the carpet like a champ, with rubbing alcohol but my
coffee table will never be the same.

> > I'm glad there are some good academic foodies in your org!  The only
> > time I entered an Adrian arts competition, [Hais from al-Bagdadi, yum],
> > they wanted more documentation.  Huh?  What part of "primary source"
> > didn't they understand?  I wish you'd been there.
>
>         Adria can be pretty picky about documentation, which is
> both good and bad.  The new requirements for a Masterwork include
> *3* separate primary sources.  Ay, carumba!  However, I've got
> it nailed with the frumenty thing.  The Tournament is this Sunday
> and I have no fewer than 6 original primary-source recipes.  If
> the frumenty turns out tasty, I'm hoping the judges will allow
> me the Masterwork, though I've done no particular setup for that
> (you can either ask to be judged for a Masterwork, or you can
> have one awarded spontaneously).
>
Well, you go girl!  Here's hoping for the Masterwork win, do they give you an
oak leaf cluster on your blue belt for that? <GGG>

> > I'll be interested to see your redactions for the frumenty and
> > gingerbread, and recommend you do your own redactions instead of using
> > the ones in PLEYN DELYT.  We can do better than those.
>
>         A lot of our versions of the recipes have been "adapted"
> slightly already, though I did like the way their roasted carrot
> recipe turned out.  At the moment, we're going from the book for
> speed, though -- our Guild ended up doing the feast at the last
> minute.
>         I *was* a little mystified to see the PD version of
> frumenty made with cracked wheat, however.  Every original recipe
> is very clear that you beat the wheat/barley up in a mortar to
> hull it, then boil the whole grains "till they break" (a phrase
> that makes no sense if you're using cracked wheat).

I'm thinking that means until it's breakable with your teeth, rather than
hard enough to break your teeth. :-/  OK, I've gone and gotten the book.  The
exact words are "til yt breste", that's "til it burst"  which makes a little
more sense.  [If anyone's keeping score, this seems to be from DIVERSA
SERVISIA, one of the other 14th Century English manuscripts collected with
The Forme of Cury in Hiett & Butler's CURY ON INGLYSCH.]  I tend to think of
frumenty as a Christmas dish, but there's nothing that says you can't enjoy
it anytime the wheat crop is in.

Well, happy times and congratulations on your upcoming honours,
Selene