ysabella_dolfin's Journal
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
ysabella_dolfin's LiveJournal:
[ << Previous 20 ]
| Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 | | 2:25 pm |
Words and communication...
This week has been a weird week wherein if things have not been specified down to the nth degree, then the wrong thing happens. The worst is when I am trying to be a middleman for things I have no knowledge of (like the restaurant's fire suppression system). It just feels like a Virgo Week. Like... if things are not exact and the details SO clear at to rule out any error, then everything has to be done two or three times before it is correct. This is the most difficult thing for me. I think I am SUCH a clear communicator. And part of being a clear communicator is understanding BOTH the message and the person you want to give your message so you can communicate in a way they understand. It's just been one of those weeks where it feels like my communication style is all wrong for the message recipient. I am so focused on what I want to do, what I need to do, that I am also not feeling very patient about the whole thing either. Oh well, hopefully whatever is cosmically amiss will clear up soon! | | Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 | | 7:11 pm |
Summer Time and the Living is Easy
I hear kids playing in the sprinklers... and the night feels warm and alive. Pliska and Galen cleaned the house over the weekend so I am going to take Plis out for cheesy American Italian food (which he loves). Ben and Jess' wedding was totally perfect. We had a blast and got to spend some real quality time with Ob, Cameron, Dmitriy, Wendy, Janosh and made some new friends as well (Ben's best man is adorable). We got to the winery on Saturday around 3 and drank wine and enjoyed the "castle", which looked like a Lego castle (Ben is obsessed with Legos). We hung out, did the rehearsal (their wedding coordinator was hot, she looked like Cherry 2000) then popped back over to Ben's parent's summer place on the water. They had a Lego cake! Ben was getting kind of stressed out so Bri, Thorfin, Dmitriy and Mellisa and I took off with him and went to grab some dinner. Food was WAY overpriced and mediocre, but we had fun anyway and then really partied hardy over on Ob's room when we got back. I am surprised we did not get in trouble with the hotel! Got up early and Wendy and Dave and I headed over to the Target for bathing suits. We had considered checking out Hearst Castle, but decided to decadently lay around the pool playing dominoes for hours instead, which was pure genius. Cameron had a blast and he and Wendy learned a lot about ghetto-style dominoes (I think this is a good thing?) Then we got dressed and headed over to the wedding site. The wedding was amazing and wonderful and we all had a blast dancing all night and drinking good wine. I think my liver is never going to forgive me. Monday rolled around and I had a heckuva hang over. But I was driving back home with Dave and Wendy and really looking forward to unencumbered chat time with them both. We stopped at the Hearst Castle, which was AMAZING. I only wish I could have taken ALL of the tours and then spent the day roaming the grounds. We then stopped at Big Sur Bakery for lunch (superlative bread) and I ended my day at Walnut Creek Yacht club having drinks with a friend and seeing my talented daughter's musical review. Just a really great weekend and a nice week ahead of me. Stein's wife is getting a big promotion at work and we are seeing her get "pinned" and other stuff tomorrow morning. I am catering a lovely wedding this weekend, plus checking out more sites for the Culinary Symposium with JIMR this Sunday. I am truly rich in the ways of wonderful friends and it has been SO restorative to get to spend time with them and more of the same in the near term. Hope everyone else has a lovely week as well! | | Friday, July 15th, 2011 | | 2:14 pm |
A quiet day... whew!
The state of me... Things are really more exciting and wonderful than I am probably expressing in my angsty "OMG! Opening a restaurant is HARD!" posts of late. It IS really hard. In some ways, shockingly and depressingly so. BUT... most restaurants take 18 months to open and I am WAY ahead of the curve <knock on wood> clocking in at lease-signing in February and realistically looking to open in the next 6-8 weeks. As much as I complain, I am so lucky to have had such an easy time with ABC and the Health Department. They were professional and helpful advocates of my small business, for which I am deeply deeply grateful. So was Contra Costa Fire. I've gotten some really fantastic restaurant/winery clients for my charcuterie (even if... well none of them have actually paid for anything yet lol... they've ORDERED tho) and truly humbling press (in a good way!) and attention for my salumi. I have a Stein. He is the best sous chef and work-partner in the whole world and with my trusty Stein by my side, I know I can do anything. We seriously ARE going to conquer the world if given half a chance. I have a Brion. He has done everything in his power to help, support and nurture me thru this stressful time. So have all of our friends and family. It's been a truly humbling experience (once again in a good way) to see my friends jump at the chance to help me in any way they can. I would be typing for days if I tried to list everything everyone has done. I got offered admittance to the order of the Pelican AND I am getting a dress that I've always wanted made by Erzabeta, one of the most talented seamstresses I know AND as a freakishly cool bonus... a hemd (shirt) made by none other than Mistress Aldith herself! I know... I know... I am totally not worthy LOL, but I am going to take it!!! You cannot imagine how lucky I feel to have these two supremely talented women making me clothing! They are both true artists and I can't wait to see what they were inspired to make! We had a blast with JIMR and Andrew at the Tiki Bar last night. They had this HYSTERICAL band called Messuga Beach Party that were all wearing these giant black beards (I think they were trying to look hassidic, but they just looked like Brion Wilson from the Giants). Gislane and Krysta and Jax came too. It was too crowded to stay long but it was nice to get out and have fruity rum drinks. I am surrounded by love, with Mary and Galen running around in the mornings. The kids in and out. Brion to snuggle with at night. Stein to plot world domination with. My friends to hang out with. I guess sometimes I get nervous about so much good fortune in my life. But then I wonder.... I mean bad stuff happens to me too, but I think I do try to focus on the good things as much as possible. I guess it is the good Irish Catholic girl in me, even if I have a lot of issues with how human beings co-opt god for their own selfish purposes, I still feel a loving and kind universe looking out for me... like a positive energy that flows if we let it... if we look for, nurture and respect it. It is good to feel that chi or life energy all around us... comforting. Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful day! | | Thursday, July 7th, 2011 | | 7:14 pm |
Pelican Offer.... SURPRISE!
Soooooo... all day yesterday I am getting texts from friends like thus, "I think I am coming to practice tonight". Stein and I are working on sausages etc and I mention to him, "I think practice is going to be busy!" Then people start rolling in... Catherin of Wessex... Kate... my laurel... Paul and Sue... Matt and Lisa... Francisco (his first ever FP)... Alys... Marguerite... hmmmm... this is a REALLY busy practice. Like... the busiest practice ever... is that Collin McLear AND his son?? FUN! LET'S DRINK! So THEN people are like circling up outside and then I was like... ohhhhhHHHHhhhh, the King and Queen are here (BTW, our K&Q are really awesome)... and now Corwyn is calling everyone to gather around... Holy Cr*p... I am going to get something good right up in here! And then, in front of TONS of my friends, plus both my peers AND my apprentice-sister (not to mention my own hot sweaty fighter-pelican) AND my gorgeous Sara and Sammy... TM Marc and Patsy offered me admittance to the Order of the Pelican. I kind of looked at Stacey and was like, "What do I say now?" And she said, "YES." It was really funny. So of course I said yes... it was so sweet of Brion to organize having all my friends there, plus keeping it totally a secret (since June Crown no less!)... he is really so wonderful. Of course it was SUPER busy but I could still spot Hirsch grinning from ear to ear all night and everyone had a great time. It was really pretty perfect. Soooooo now (as Francisco says) it's time to plan the thing... So I talked to Stacy and Brion today and we decided to do it at October Crown. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.7) parlor_games and Ula will be here, plus Kaaren and hopefully Master Eduardo and some of my other An Tirian friends, plus I've asked Erzabeta to make me a German middle class dress and that should give her plenty of time to put that together. She is so talented and I have long coveted her wool middle class German! Muhahahahaha! Now I shall have one of my very own! Anyway, Master Eduardo asked me when I was visiting for the Culinary Symposium what I would do if I was offered a peerage and I remember thinking how far off that probably was and told him I didn't think I would really need to think about it for a while... so now he is probably chuckling at me. Truthfully, I've been so busy at work that it's been far from my mind but at the time I was thinking that being offered a peerage was kind of like being offered a job and I would have to be really prepared to do the job. I know my real life is really busy right now, but I am still really excited to be co-autocratting the next Culinary Symposium and exploring all of the range of SCA service so I feel pretty good about where I am in my life and in the SCA. I feel like I am inspired to do the job... you know? I am also pretty stoked about all of the fun stuff coming at October Crown. A bunch of my friends are coming, B4B is always a total blast and I think we will see a great turn out and have a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to it! I am going to try to do the really fun Friday night vigil and then keep the ceremony itself short and sweet. So YAY! Pretty cool! | | Sunday, June 26th, 2011 | | 7:09 pm |
| | Saturday, June 11th, 2011 | | 3:11 pm |
| | Friday, May 6th, 2011 | | 11:29 pm |
Sooo tired
So much to do lately... this whole work thing (especially with no real paycheck in site) is tiring! thankfully I love it. We made four sausages today: The Compass Dog (which is a super yummy 100% beef hotdog), Andouille, orange fennel (pork) and a seafood one (that I was really happy on the consistantcy etc, light and fluffy!). All four will be sampled by T-rex next week with the bulk of them coming to Mists/Cynagua war for the Pot Luck with The Principality Royals (so if you've been wanting to try some Compass Star sausages, you can for free if you stay for dinner Saturday of the War! Bring a side dish to pass pretty please... ok so ALMOST free). I also found... a freakishly cool spice shop today. Tucked in a hidden corner behind the 99 Ranch in Concord. They had Mustard oil! OH YEAH baby... mostarda here I come! I spend about $30 on a giant bag of every kind of spice imaginable. Including a GIANT bag of mustard seeds (they had giants bags of both black and regular mustard seeds). Stein showed me where it was... I am not sure you could find it if you didn't know somoene who knew where it was? You can't even see it from the front of the building. We still have not heard anything about the work the landlord has to have done on the building. The engineer had taken all the measurements last week and was putting them into his CAD program and hopefully we will hear something soon. David seems to be losing patience with the project as well, which is stressful. He has been SO good about everything. I just need to stay focused. I feel a lot better after making the decision to rent a kitchen and test out the local food vendor scene. Plus the busy wedding season is right around the corner. Stein and I are having a ton of fun making sausages, and I am really proud of our product. I guess there is no use sitting around moping about the delay in the restaurant... it won't make it open any faster. At least I don't have to pay the lease while I am waiting (so far). I've been doing my best to get all of my ducks in a row. It's just such an insane process when everything goes RIGHT. All it takes is one anti-business building department to bump it up to damn nigh impossible. I am actually feeling remarkably ok considering my innate loathing of arbitrary inept processes. Ok, time for bed... catering a fancy pants dinner for 10 in the City tomorrow night. Whew! | | Monday, May 2nd, 2011 | | 8:52 am |
Beltane n stuff
It was a really nice event. I know I should not have felt relaxed with my schedule as it was, but it really was very restoring and relaxing.
I brought the kids and they both had a lot of fun (other than a very cold night of sleeping on Friday night). Sammy went feral for the weekend with the other children and VERY important things were accomplished, like a super cool fort made of logs and branches, socks were thoroughly wetted in the creek and sheep skulls were hunted and carefully saved (to make a "Kurgen helment").
Sara helped me with Sabrina's food prep and even rolled out to Danelaw with me for the evening socializing, which was warmly raucous and much laughter peeling into the night.
I got on site on Friday with Galen and we helped Paul, Sue, Will and Sabrina set up. We had a nice little courtyard and were right across (by design) from Ellie and Fabe. I'd colluded with the Bard of the West (Amanda) and Ellie and Fabe to create an area for bardic activities at one end of the list field. We had Kitka coming to play for Paul, plus Amanda was hosting Bard of the West comp (congratulations to Cat for winning, as she is so incredibly talented) so there was plenty of activity for the artistically musically inclined.
Friday night I made bean stew for our guests. We had the usual household plus the Crown Prince and Princess of Caid (and one of our very dear friends who is their HOC, Lorissa), Matt and Brynne, Maeva Anora and Mistress Anne of Oertha all in the kitchen tent, plus the son of one of Paul's squires (Kel) and Telynor and Alastair (the harpest I've been talking about, plus her wife), plus some of Paul and Sue's friends (the couple who got Paul the Kitka performance for his birthday).
I big household organized activities were Sabrina's Laurel party and the Kitka performance. I think we set everything up really well to facilitate the whole day. We made a large courtyard in the middle of camp (which was filled with listeners for Kitka in the evening), plus the household living room and Will and Sabrina's sun shade. I watched Sabrina's ceremony from behind the Mists Thrones. Sara helped attend HRH Mora and then I dashed over to the Saluminati meeting (where Mrs. Keegan was sorely missed) where the meat-party was in full swing with a grinning Wulfric presiding with much glee. Cured things were eaten, wine was sampled, people mingled and chatted... life is good!
Then I dashed back to camp to prepare the food stuff for Sabrina's party and hang out. We did a quick rearrange of the household pavilion to house the Kitka performance and just as the sun was starting to go down on gorgeous green wine country hills, people gathered around the pavilion, spilling out onto the grass with small children tucked onto laps and mugs of libation in hand as the strong clear voices of the women rang out into the hills. It was truly magical (my daughter HAD to have a CD) and special and we heard from many folks they got serenaded thru dinner, much to their delight. I just cannot say enough about the experience... it was just so wonderful!
Then Bri and I headed out to Danelaw to hang out with our friends. Gwen made these meat pies wrapped in foil and I think I ate about 10 of them... partially, then wrapped them back up and threw them back in the fire, while stepping on Katherine Blackhawk's feet the whole time. It was very silly and extremely fun. We went to bed around 1:00 am... got up and broke down and left for our traditional Cattlemen's dinner with the family.
OH something happened on Sunday that was really unexpected and heartening. Someone who has not liked me very much asked Brion if I would be willing to chat and I was rather anxious about it. But I was a big girl, I did it and was very pleasantly surprised. I know it was a small thing, but it made me feel very hopeful for the future and at peace with the world. And it was really very generous and giving of them to do so. Anyway, like I said it was a very restorative weekend. | | Thursday, April 28th, 2011 | | 8:22 pm |
Foggy Day of Work...
All I can say is thank goodness I can do this in my sleep, 'cause that is what I basically did today. I didn't even drink all that much at practice and didn't have a hang-over. I just think the two solid days of sausage making, plus teaching a 5 hour class on sausages, plus practice (Brion and I did squeeze in dinner alone on my birthday) and all of the bullsh*t going on with the Martinez Building Dept... well I am exhausted.
Today I made:
Rolled wafers (with the real cinnamon I got in Seattle)
Biscotti (with coriander, Scappi recipe)
Fillo dough filled with ricotta, carmelized onions, prunes and some spices
Tartlets (Will be filled with skyr and berries)
Pork (roasted, sliced) will be served with the Martino mustard Eduardo gave me
Romesco
Roasted heads of garlic
Hummus (Just because I like it, it's my own recipe)
Fruit
Scotch eggs (made with the home made sausage meat Stein and I made Tues/Wed. they are adorable)
Balsamic reduction (meant to be like Saba)
Softened the white beans and put them in the pot with the duck stock, celery, carrots, calabrese sausages, lardo, fresh thyme and I can't remember what else (there is a TON of it, so if you get in late Friday, come by and grab a bowl of it)
Already packed are the pickles and ground the Weaver's coffee. I have my French Press and my airpot. I packed the green almonds for HH Vittoria. I need to bring something to boil water in.
Still need to slice all the charcuterie. Do one platter for the Saluminati meeting, and then one for Sabrina's party. I packed all of the serving utensils but not the actual platters and bowls, which I still need to do, plus pack clothing and garb for the kids this weekend. Bri and I forgot pillows last weekend, which makes for a really sore and miserable night of sleep for Bri. I need to bring something really warm for Sara, or she will be miserable!
I will do a blogspot post update on the restaurant tonight as well.
| | Monday, April 25th, 2011 | | 2:10 pm |
I should be working...
Bad Rachael... no biscuit. I did get the pickling done this morning, go me! I also stopped by the Middle Eastern grocery and grabbed some lebneh and green almonds, plus black peppers for the chocolate chili sausages Stein and I will make this week. I also got my class hand out written for the sausage class I am teaching tomorrow night at the Jr College. I am really excited about it! I get to do a lecture and then hands on sausage making. I need to bring my stuffer and not forget the clamp that hooks it to the counter this time. I may bring in some of the unusual spices I picked up in Seattle as well to inspire the young chefs :) I also ordered my product for pick up in Oakland tomorrow. Stein and I will head out in the morning to grab it and likely put the bresaola and capicola into cure, and then prep the rest of the meat for grinding and stuffing. Then I will have to go set up the class, including get copies made, put my books and things aside so the kids can check them out. I also need to grab some of the staple products, like curing salt etc. so we can chat about what they are and what they do. I am going to finalize Sabrina's menu for this weekend tonight. I can use some of the sausage to make some scotch eggs for the weekend. I think we are going to have a very full house with some of the members of Kitka camping with us, plus so many visitors in camp for Sabrina's laureling. I need to probably plan finger foods for 50-70 in the afternoon. I will get things plated as best I can and prepped out to the fullest before I leave so I can spend as much time as possible at the Saluminati meeting. I can get people to put stuff out, but my aesthetic for food is something I can be really picky about, so I should prep out pretty well and go over everything with people in camp so they can set stuff out and all I have to do is some finish work when I get there. I would also like to maybe send some snacks over to the Bard of the West Competition if I can remember. I am pretty excited about the lengths to which the Kingdom (thank you again Haus Schweitzengen) is going to support Bardic activities this weekend and I hope the people who have been missing the Eric-side bardic can come out and enjoy the many glorious activites planned. It must seem a little funny for me to be so invested in supporting bringing that aspect back in a bigger way, since I am not a bard. But I feel partially responsible for the introduction of the torch lit raging keggers on the Eric that seem to have shouted down these artistic evening explorations and sharings... so I also feel like I should do my best to show some love for the things that make other people happy (in particular my SCA family). ALSO! There have been some West Kingdom web site hiccups and Saeunn has been getting out the word on the Competitions for Beltane. I am going to do the Wooden Spoon Crispy competition... but I know it is supposed to be anonymous so I will try not to let it slip which item is mine :) Beltane | | 7:42 am |
| | Monday, April 18th, 2011 | | 8:16 am |
Culinary Symposium
It was really rather transformative and just such a great experience!
Hard to describe... I got off the plane aroun 11:30 am and Master Eduardo picked me up at the airport, we headed back to his place where I got this gorgeous lasagne lunch and we just... well pretty much chatted non stop. We are so alike in many ways (only he is far more classy and kinder them myself lol). It is rare to have such a strong connection so instantly, but I am grateful for it!
We grabbed a lady from the East named Alys Catherine (I think she is a Countess or Duchess, she reigned with Valhalric) she was SO interesting! She had gone to Hampton Court and videoed a lot of the food demonstrations they do there (late period English food, in period tableau) and she did a lot of sugar paste and comfitsetc. She had this Ivan Day video of how he has interpreted the whole English pie thing... it looks to me like a lot of that stuff is not meant to be edible, they handle the shit out of it and it has to be hard as a rock!
I also got to seriously geek with the Viking Food Guy, who is very Fermentation focused! I am fermenting meat, he is fermenting everything else (Bread, fruit, vegetables). I had him and my most beloved Mistress Katrine in the same cabin, so as you can imagine, there was non-stop talking about food... it was a little bit like heaven.
Hard to explain how amazing the exeperience was. JIMR and I have been asked to run the next one (I will do the adminstrative stuff, Juanna will organize tracts etc) and we have some really great ideas on how to do that.
Master Eduardo did a research paper tract that was based on the one done at Oxford that he read at previously which I am hoping Ariane will run for us. It was really interesting! We talked about doing the papers on "Serving" and period service, since it is so applicable to what we do at SCA feasts and most of us are trying to figure out how to do that better (particularly Crystal and Geoffrey Matt). It was basically either read or summarize your paper, then a Q&A session. It was a really tight group of people who participated and it was SO interesting.
I would also like to run the hands on food making stuff in a super practical way and let each instructor who is using the kitchen to do a food making class also has the option to donate that food towards the feeding (lunch, Dinner etc) for the syposium. So for example Urtatim did this delicious rice dish, and she could have finished her class, covered the dish and then we could have served it as part of the lunch service for everyone, the pie making class would have been great for this as well!
Anyway, we have a bunch of ideas and we will be talking to you all about them and making a more clear plan, so please don't hesistate to grab Juanna or myself and chat us up about it!
More later... too much to do today
| | Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 | | 3:01 pm |
Just vegging til the Giants game starts...
Bri and I are hanging out answering various correspondance next to each other on our side by side computers. He's in deep conversation with several lovely female friends of ours and I have been chatting on and off with my daughter all morning... it's one of those philosophical "what is life all about" kind of mornings (Rat and Stacey came by earlier with Zach to drop off some dog food since their sweet sweet puppy died recently).
I had a great time at the Fettburg Championship (but not sure HOW in the world I got a sunburn!) and hit Mari's Garb 101 class, which was good and hit all the basics a new person would need to make a quick peice of garb they can use for a long time that is documentable for a decent range of time.
Had an interesting time at Crapaud this month. Great cuddle time with my friends, but a little sad one of the last sacred havens from boorish posturing and hubris-a-rific bullying feels increasingly breached. Thankfully the boorish never notice how thin their welcome is...
Anyway, and on the life/relationship thing... I have so many friends teetering around in limbo in their relationships right now. I wonder sometimes how we get into a place where things are so bad, but there is simply not enough will do anything else? I've been guilty of it myself on occasion and it makes me wonder what survival mechanism in our long ago past contributed to playing possum in our most intimate of lives. How do we talk ourselves into, for example, staying with a man who has gotten his wife pregnant twice since you've been together because he says you are the "love of his life"? It seems incredulous, but... it happens all the time. I wonder if we kind of tell ourselves, "Well nothing is perfect, but I am getting SOMETHING out of this".
( Blahbity Blah Blah ) | | 2:12 pm |
Posting for a friend
"I need some help from you readers out there, since pre-order sales are very important. If the following book, Desdaemona sounds like one you'd like, or one of your friends or family would like, please pre-order it instead of waiting to buy it in the store. For those who have heard me talk about how much I like Chaz's books, and for anyone else who has randomly wandered by, he has a new urban fantasy coming out at the beginning of June called Desdaemona ('cause she's a demon). This is a fast-paced, exciting book about Jordan, a young man who can't quite seem to turn 18, and Desi, a young woman searching for her sister. While they search England, they must also avoid some very bad people, and creatures, who have other plans for them. | | Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 | | 9:22 pm |
The Catch 22
Today the Health Department called to tell me my plans has been approved! I am so rediculously excited. I don't think people realize how dire the situation is in California until you have to work with various government offices to try and get things done. We are a rediculously regulated state. We have laws upon laws we must adhere to. These laws likely started out as "idiot laws"... you know, someone does something stupid and so they pass a law. There are a lot of people in California and these laws are aimed at the lowest common denominator. So I have had to file for at least 25 licenses and permits to open my little cafe (which is about 720 square feet). Each of these has different requirements and a different governmental body that oversees, manages and enforces some aspect of running a business or restaurant. Most of these governmental bodies do not have the money to do their jobs right now. And THIS where the problems arise. At EVERY turn, I have been helped over and above by people who work for these governmental bodies. These places are short staffed and employees have to take forced furloughs. If not for these hard working folks, It would be taking me twice as long to get stuff done. The old "20 business days" now equals 45 days due to the severity of the budget crisis. Now if I need 25 different permits and licenses, and most of them take anywhere from a few minutes to "20 days", and many of them are contingent on getting the last one... you can see why it takes sometimes a year or more to open a business. They've created this unwieldy beuracracy one must traverse, and then there is no money to pay the people who are supposed to be proccessing all of the paperowrk, so things just don't get done... The thing that really sucks about the whole thing is... small business is more mobile and will always show signs of life before big business in a stagnant or down economy. So it would make sense to make things easier on small businesses if you want to jump start your economy. But this state just doesn't have the money to do it. Colleges are bursting at the seams with people out of work trying to make their skill set more saleable. Welfare programs are helping people hardest hit by the downturn. Where do you cut programs to help "business"? | | Monday, March 28th, 2011 | | 2:51 pm |
Life... she does meander along...
So it was a surprisingly social weekend considering Bri was off in An Tir sending me mighty texts of lovely cleavage all weekend in between he and Gurnen drunk dialing Pliska (OH and teaching a two sword fighting class). I stayed up way too late on Friday night with Mary and Pliska watching the last few eposides of Spartacus (the prequel) which was campy and fun (for softcore porn anyway). So then I overslept on Saturday and got over to Etain'e cote class super late. Most of the girls were in the final stages of being patterned for their cotes. I still learned a lot and should be able to put together a decent cote for myself when I stop expanding. It was convival and warm on such a rainy winters day and the food and wine flowed. We all skeedaddled Sat night to the winds with Rachelle, Steveie, Sarah and Isolte and I hitting this really nummy Thai place on the way out. Rachelle came back to the house and crashed here and she and Pliska and I wanted more Spartacus until we went to bed. She and I hit Mimi's in the morning for breakfast and then she headed back to Modesto. My son Mike came by so we could pickle some veggies and then I grabbed a very grumpy Bri from the airport. Today I had breakfast with Ayre and then Dim Sum with my roomie Mary... now I feel VERY sleepy! I did get off my butt and call the ABC about my paperwork, which I had feared was lost in the mail. they sent it last Thursday so hopefully the change of address will catch it so it comes here instead of there. OH I am going to post all the new restaurant stuff on my blogspot blog.... hmmmm Bri and I should be going to crapaud tho, and I am planning on making meatballs for Fighter practice :)))) So I hope we see you all there! | | Thursday, March 24th, 2011 | | 12:28 pm |
Interesting Period Food thingie
http://kenalbala.blogspot.com/2011/03/feast-inspired-by-borgias.htmlAlbala makes an interesting point. I doubt it is chef "ego" as much as just ignorance. Most American chefs are doing a kind of regional hybrid... and what I mean by that is Samuelson is Ethiopian by genetics, but culturally he is Swedish (he was adopted as a newborn by Swedish parents) and he is serving food to Americans (who will probably not buy fermented fish for dinner)... so his food is a hybridization of his interest in African food, his early experiences with Swedish food and the need to cater to the American pallet. Americans do French and other ethnic foods much better than they do Italian IMO. There is a good REASON for this, most of what we think of as "Italian food" is really American-Italian food inspired by the Southern Italians who settled here. The diet of actual Italians, especially Northern Italians, is likely closer to what Scappi describes than anything you will eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Which makes it additionally sad that the chefs who participated in the Borgias food marketing thingie did not even do a quick web search of late Rennasaince Italian food before making their culinary choices. It's not like it was in the early days of the SCA where information was limited and there were few, if any, translations of Italian and French medieval cookbooks. At the end of the day... I just think the frusterating truth is it is impossible to be an expert at everything. I had this conversation with Etaine yesterday; it takes SO long to even have a basic mastery of something. I've spent 3-4 years immersed in a tiny sub-sect of my profession and still feel like I have barely scratched the surface. Etaine has spent 10+ years studying fiber arts and there is still learning and exploring she is persuing. I think anyone who sells you they know EVERYTHING about ANYTHING is just showing their youth in that subject. But I am still sad they didn't do something a little food-history-geekier. You know what happens where I talk to other modern professional charcutiers and talk about Messisbugo or Scappi or Apicius? They LOVE it. I am instantly the goddess of sausage. The chefs working on the Borgia project could have earned themselves some serious street cred. Plus... the food is REALLY good. I mean, in total, if you look at the body of work of the Spanish, French, Italians and Germans in the late rennasiance, the food is remarkable. Ok, this isn't really a rant, it is more like a lament. | | Monday, March 14th, 2011 | | 9:18 pm |
Busy weekend and busy month ahead of me...
We went to Chateau de Camville's combative arts weekend this past weekend and had a great time. It was very funny driving up there at night as it is really off the beaten path (the last three roads we drive upon prior to hitting the house were unpaved), but as you can imagine the place was gorgeous so far off the beaten path. We got in quite late as Brion had to work til 7:00 and then come grab Galen (his man at arms) and me. It was a lot of fun and I met a bunch of new people that I really liked, including this kick-ass harp player who had all this cool information on historical harps (she teaches a harp class at Pennsic that is like 3 hours long). She had this packet of period harp music that was done in the period muscial notes and has only recently been translated to our modern notation. Like I said it was really friggin cool! I am going to try to get her and her wife to come camp with us. I think Sue and Paul would LOVE them. Anyway... and today I checked out airfare to see if I could swing a trip to the An Tir Culinary Symposium and it will be a stretch but the airfare was cheap and I will be able to write it off. I am trying to learn more about period food preservation especially thru the Germanic line since it seems to be the most likely direct line to the type of fermentation we are doing modernly. From what I have seen of early Viking food preservation documentation, they were storing cured and smoked meats in whey. Meaning this is the first evidence I have seen for fermenting meat in lactic acid and/or acidophilus. I am curious to see how far into the Medieval period they were doing this for meat (I assume all eras of sauerkraut have used Lactobacillus in their fermentation process from early periods to modern since they were doing it in the Viking Era, various segments of the Medieval era and now modernly). As far as I have seen the french and the Italians were not doing this. So anywho... that is the weekend of April 15 and I am pretty excited about it. This weekend is Crown. Brion is not fighting. I am catering a Wedding on June 18, which is June Crown. Brion is getting to be a good enough fighter that he could win, and if he did, the Queen would be unable to attend Crown tournament during the day on Saturday, which means I would miss invocation, the list and court. It really sucks and I am feeling quite depsondant he can't fight. I asked if he would please fight for someone else and he said no. With the weather being iffy, we are going to go up on Friday and set up the food for Lochlan's vigil then come home and crash, then come up with the kids on Saturday morning and stay for the day. It is Lil's birthday on Friday so everyone wish her a happy one! Duke Sean and Lil will be up visiting for his squire's knighting and I can't wait to see them! Normally I like to game crown, but I am not sure who is fighting this time? I think Uther is fighting for Leticia, I think Ob is fighting (but I am not sure who for?) and I won't be surprised to see Havec fight (he is a big Pennsic fan and this is 40 year) for his new lady and I think Roric might be fighting as well. Miles will fight (and he did win White Shield, which can be a precursor to winning Crown) for Francesca think. Man I feel so out of the loop! | | Monday, March 7th, 2011 | | 2:08 pm |
WHAT?! A Meme! I am so bored...
A. Age: 41 in April
B. Bed size: Queen (home), Full (SCA)
C. Chore you hate: Getting people to help me around the house with the cleaning
D. Dogs: Bella the big brown dog
E. Essential start to your day: Coffee
F. Favorite color: Ivory and gold look good on me, I like yellow and think it is cheerful
G. Gold or silver: Both
H. Height: 5' 6"
I. Instruments you play: I was going to be dirty here and say skin flute, but I won't
J. Job title: Chef
K. Kids: Mike, Sara and Sam who are the light of my life
L. Live: Pleasant Hill, CA
M. Mom’s name: Patty
N. Nicknames: Ysa, Rach, Juana calls me Y-s-abella (like Wise-a-bella or Why-sabella)
O. Overnight hospital stays: Giving birth, when I got food poisoning
P. Pet peeve: Arrogant misguided assholes who can't take a f*cking hint
Q. Quote from a movie: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.."
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: One sister, one brother and a half sister
T. Time you wake up: I am a morning person, if I sleep past 8 it is a miracle
U. Underwear: Silky and full coverage... I hate thongs
V. Vegetables you dislike: I can't really think of any... I am not a fan of avocados or tomatoes, but they are both fruit
W. What makes you run late: Pretty much just Brion
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Lots!
Y. Yummy food you make: Hmmm, I am a chef so hopefully many things!
Z. Zoo: I like the Monterey aquarium!
| | Monday, February 21st, 2011 | | 9:30 pm |
|
[ << Previous 20 ]
|
