[Sca-cooks] Since it's the silly season and all...

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

"Pixel, Goddess and Queen" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com> wrote:
> I found a Twinkie cheesecake recipe!
> http://www.cooks.com/recipe/jn2bi5ga/twinkies-cheesecake.html
>
> I make no promises.
>
> Marga...er, um...Urtatim!

Whoa! I go away to Pennsic for a few weeks and while i'm not on the list i get my name taken in vain! Twinkies?!?! Seriously!?!? Harumph! (my brother loved them back in the 50s - i thought they were awful even then)

I wasn't going to Pennsic this year, but on the very last day to register on-line, in the last 3 or so hours, well, i registered. What can i say. Pennsic, it's hideously hot, hideously humid, it rains a lot... how could i skip that!

At Pennsic i camped again with The West, my home kingdom, which is essentially a fighter camp - they generally fight with the side with the fewest fighters. But, hey, it's at the top of Cardiac Hill, near one set of merchants and the Barn, and a fairly easy walt to classes. While food in camp was plentiful and filling, nothing was SCA-period. I only ate there occasionally (especially the night there were ribs cooked overnight and all day in the smoker - mmm-mmm-mmm), mostly relying on food merchants for my 2 meals a day.

One day, coming back from classes, in which i fully immersed myself, i noticed His Grace, Duke Cariadoc, pondering the sign in front of one of the food stalls. "Medieval Munchies" it said, "Hamburgers, fries, sodas, salad". Clearly the only thing potentially medieval was the salad, and from what i experienced after leaving California and driving to Pennsylvania and back, it was likely made of iceberg lettuce.

I mostly ate at the "Tuckerbox", an Aussie family's set-up. Nothing says medieval like a "Walkabout Pulled Pork Sundae", which is multiple layers of mashed potatoes, BBQ sauce, and pulled pork in a little plastic parfait glass, with a dollop of mash and a cherry (tomato) on top. I occasionally ate at Aunt Pat's (formerly Cornucopia), generally opting for a Mongolian chicken torpedo - or was that a submarine, or a hero, or a hoagie, or a grinder, or a po'boy - nope, definitely not a po'boy. And the Hunan Chicken at Delights of Cathay, although i always had to ask them for more chili paste in my dish.

I took Dame Alys's classes on Banqueting - most informative and i look forward to the eventual publication - and on SCA Feast Rants - could have used more ranting, in my opinion :-) I took His Grace's in-persona class on Islamic law. And Elewyse de Birkstead's on Fruit in Scappi, Scappi was definitely a fruity guy. 

I also took Basilius Phocas's two on recipes from Cristoforo Messisbugo. He has been working out many recipes based on his translation of Banchetti and Libro Novo and teaching them at Pennsic; i took his two different classes last year. Alas, due to class conflicts, i took this year's classes late in the War and only got to taste one delicious sample. One class featured "cheese pastry stars, rich raisin pastries, and sugar and cinnamon cookies", from which all students got a bit of spicy cinnamon cookie; the other was on "Capons with sour grape juice, egg yolks, and barberries; French egg-white gelatin; and the bread of milk and sugar", sadly with no tastes, which he did have for his class early in the War.

Mostly i took classes on textiles. Kumihimo, a Japanese braiding technique - SIX different classes taught by Gwen Blackthorne MacGriogair. Sprang, which creates stretchy netted textiles using only warp threads crossing or wrapping around each other, used in Scandinavia and "Coptic" Egypt - THREE different classes by one teacher. I am now a Kumihimo addict and plan to make some braid for my garb. And i took a series on relatively early Rus/Kievan clothing. I also took some hand sewing classes, to see if i could learn some new tips or tricks (people in my own kingdom may not believe it, but i do hand finish my garb). I got the most out of Lady Albreda Aylese's class on Sewing Flat-Felled Seams - she is the person who has been spearheading the A&S 50 program - and a very high energy and enthusiastic person - it was very nice to meet her.

Alas, i missed out on the Aethelmaerc Period Cooking Lab - too many great classes and only about 10 hours each day to take them in. I did take "But I Can't Read That!" Using Non-English Sources, by Galefridus Peregrinus of this list (and he has a funny story about the title, too). It was nice to finally meet him and his wife, Judith bas Rabbi Mendel, whose class on Jewish Cooking in No. Europe in the Middle Ages was quite interesting.

Most days i was in classes from 9 AM until 3 PM non-stop, and some days i also had later classes. While there were a few duds, most were quite excellent. I highly recommend Pennsic for the opportunities to learn subjects perhaps not taught in one's own geographical area. Maybe i haven't been to enough Pennsics (this was just my 4th), but it seemed to me that for the most part classes were better than ever. My profuse and profound thanks for the people who organize Pennsic U.

I also got to spend some time talking about a subject as dear to me as period cooking: period Middle Eastern clothing, with my Princess - i live in the Principality of the Mists. She does ME dance and wants to wear more period clothing, so i think i didn't bore her too much :-)

The first week was hot and humid and rainy - you know, Pennsic: You're soaking in it. The second week, however, was closer to California weather - nights in the 50s and days in the mid-70s, although a bit more humid than it is around here, and with a few sprinkles. The camp i was in has massive infrastructure: propane refrigerator; hot water on demand for the shower, the "bathroom" sink, and the kitchen sink; 2 stoves, one with a real oven; many wall tents that get rented out; several "garage" tents as rooms, and a massive wooden gateway. But everything got torn down and packed up and off to storage Friday 2 Aug., which was sunny and not excruciatingly hot. My plan was to follow Pennsic with a trip to Lehman's in Kidron OH, and by the time i could have gotten there, it would have been closed. So i spent the night on site sleeping in my van. Some other attendees had not torn down yet, and Friday night there was rain, a big rain, and a really big rain, then some more rain. I felt bad for those with wet canvas.

I spent i don't know how many hours at Lehman's - at least 4, maybe more. Got some cool cooking stuff, some stuff for cooking with charcoal, some black raspberry jam (it's so hard to find black raspberry anything! and they're so much more delicious than blackberries or raspberries) and some gifties, including the soap used on the Titanic!

It generally takes me about 2-1/2 days to get to Pennsic, but maybe i'm getting old because this year it took me 2-3/4 days - i needed a few naps - no more days driving 16 hours and sleeping 5 hours. So I took my time getting home - i left Saturday AM and got in yesterday, Tuesday, afternoon - 3-3/4 days. Besides many hours in Lehman's, i stopped at a homemade fudge stall in Ashland OH, bought a basket from an Amish man selling them in a school parking lot nearby, viewed a lovely Louis Sullivan bank in Grinnell IA, walked through Cabela's home store in Sidney NE, and viewed the Thunder Mountain Monument in Imlay NV, something along the lines of Watts Towers but not as tall and with a Native American theme.

Got home yesterday afternoon, mostly unloaded but still a bit more to do. I'll miss Pennsic next year... but maybe i can make it. It will be after i get home from performing in Bali with Gamelan Sekar Jaya.

Urtatim
the REAL Urtatim
Accept no substitutes!