[Sca-cooks] Nicholas Flamel (was: Oops..um...nevermind

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

>And part of my library is labelled: Divination --Arithmancy -- Ancient
>Runes -- Potions -- Herbology -- Charms. But (food content) I haven't yet
>tracked down a copy of Charm Your Own Cheese ...
>
>Cynara
>Ravenclaw '68

Well, i was rather unimpressed with Harry Potter, but i've read all 
the books and seen all the films and will continue to do so...

And, well, what the heck, i've taken several different "Sorting Hat" 
tests. I always come out Ravensclaw, although on the tests to find 
out which Harry Potter character one is, i come out as Harry. That's 
embarassing.

A large part of my library contains books on various forms of 
divination (still haven't been able to get a fresh liver), and 
herbology. I am especially partial to ancient stuff  in Akkadian and 
Canaanite and such (some great stuff back there in Mesopotamia), and 
also to stuff from Late Antiquity when there was a great deal of 
syncretism and all the Hermes Trismegisthus stuff. And i have a 
section on the revival, so to speak, in the late Renaissance - 
Marsilio Picino is a joy to read - it's like having a chat with this 
thoughtful old Renaissance guy, very personal.

Anyway, there is a vague relationship of all this to food.

Last year the not-so-secret ingredient in the West vs. Caid Great 
Western War Iron Chef Competition was apples. And i found a Byzantine 
love charm said over an apple in the abstract of a conference of 
scholars on Byzantium. So that was the first dish we served - 
although for reasons i hope are clear i didn't allow any of the 
diners to eat of the apple.

So, a confluence of magic and food. But no charmed cheese.

Anahita