[Sca-cooks] wine for breakfast

[Suey]

Sorry to be so slow in responding:
On 9/5/11 7:48 AM, sca-cooks-request at lists.ansteorra.org wrote:
>  Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>wrote:
>> Suey said:
>>
>> <<<  Catherine of Lancaster, wife of Henry III of Castile at the turn of the
>>
>> 15th C died an alcoholic of wine. Wine was the breakfast beverage in
>>
>> Castile at least.>>>
>>
>> Can you give me more details on this last assertion, that wine was the
>> breakfast beverage in Castile in the 15th C.? We've talked about foods for
>> SCA breakfasts before as well as a bit on period breakfasts, when they
>> existed.
>>
>> I tried to look through your blog and didn't see more info on this.
>> However, since blogs appear to be just serial with no indexes, I may have
>> overlooked it or not gone far enough back. I'm just now, this holiday,
>> finding time to get over to your blog with time to read through it.
>>
>> I'm probably biased, but I'm having trouble find what I'm looking for in
>> blogs or searching blogs for what I'm looking for. The same goes for
>> 'bookmarking' or saving the info I find in blogs.
>>
>> For instance the Spanish cheese pies that you mention and point to in
>> Charles Perry's blog look like a wonderful party or revel item. But unless I
>> try to simply save the info by copying and pasting it into a file on my
>> system, I'm not sure of a good way to save the recipe for my later use. I'm
>> hoping that they can be baked ahead of time and then warmed up just before
>> leaving for the party or revel in the microwave or oven.
>>
>> I love having the photographs of the food items. Several items I would
>> probably have skipped over, but I was drawn to read them after seeing the
>> food item in a photograph.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>>    Stefan
Ana Valdes replied that wine was watered down in Spanish literature like 
Don Quijote. The bit about Catherine Lancaster is in the Chronicles of 
her son, Juan II of Castile, Isabelle's grandmother and father. I do not 
remember her watering it down but wine from the pueblo today, it is raw 
and does need watering down for my palate, but my husband thinks that is 
a crime, so it is very possible that she drank it either way but it is 
clear that she ruined her liver which was the cause of death. Other 
breakfast food mentioned is bread. My research indicates it was day old 
at least.

Food was not eaten until after the early morning mass - to break the 
fast - thus breakfast. From what I can see it took place immediately 
upon leaving the castle chapel and before the kitchens were opened, 
therefore, nothing was cooked for breakfast.

Thank you much for your comments on my blog Stefan. As it is new to us 
we are working on it and as i mentioned yesterday we hope the search 
engine is working better. As far as recipes are concerned I do not have 
a set pattern. I am trying to present long recipes in phases so that 
most can be done ahead of time. I am no fan of working 12 hours straight 
in the kitchen and then trying to look lovely and relaxed at the dinner 
table.

Patience for the Spanish cheese pies. They will come but my blog is 
being published alphabetically and only 5 items per week. I have a 
friend who tries to push me but I still reply I am on "AL"

I repeat any recipes you have are most welcome and photos too. As you 
can see, I faithfully I give credits.

This has turned into a mammoth endeavor as I have spent years 
researching the words and now adding recipes and photos is very time 
consuming. I feel like Julie in Julia and Julie.

Please, we hope we have improved the comments box so we hope you have no 
problem posting them.

Many thanks for any suggestions and/or contributions.

Suey