[Sca-cooks] Return of the Wanderer (partly OT)

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

Last night, my lord and I arrived home after 12 days in Ireland.  It
was a wonderful trip -- beautiful scenery, fascinating sights, friendly
and hospitable people.

We were shocked and saddened by the events of September 11,
which were covered very closely by the Irish and British news
media.  An email home told me that family members were safe,
and as I had forgotten to unsubscribe to the Manche list, I was also
relieved to learn that SCAdians in the target areas were unhurt.
The Irish government declared a National Day of Mourning on
Friday the 14th. Not only were all non-emergency government
offices closed, but most retail businesses voluntarily closed down.

On a more cheerful note, I still managed to have a great time.  We
ate mostly pub grub, which was generally very good.  In the
seaside town of Dingle, our fish and chips were slow in arriving,
because the fish had just come in, and needed to be filleted.  I tried
a variety of local cheeses, became fond of Irish breakfasts, and
discovered that I prefer white pudding to black.  My tipple of choice
was cider, which was invariably Bulmers.

In the National Museum in Dublin, I saw a number of early medieval
artifacts that would be period for my persona.  I'm happy to know
that the horn spoon I've been using at feasts is quite appropriate,
as are the shoes I wear.

I also saw several of those ancient cooking pits, which use hot
stones dropped in water to cook meat.  The accompanying sign
explained that scientists had tested the method.  They were able
to bring 70 gallons of water to a boil in 18 minutes, and it remained
hot enough to cook meat for 3 hours.

The highlights of the trip were (in no particular order):
walking down the lane of a farm that was my great-great-
grandfather's 150 years ago
seeing the Book of Kells in person
standing in the center of a Bronze Age stone circle, with no sounds
audible but birdsong and the distant lowing of cows

Now I have to get out the Irish cookbooks in my collection, and
discover which recipes I have for dishes that I enjoyed over there.

Brighid, glad to be home


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net