Bed done

The bed is in our tent, in the camp in Visby. The rope stretches a bit much, though. I hope it gets better with use.

Will it be ready in time?

We decided to bring some wood that had been in storage for two years or so when visiting Nattfari's grandparents in their summerhouse this weekend.

Yesterday we started on a rope bed, but didn't quite finish. Today I have been at work, and Nattfari has had other things to do as well.

I really hope we can finish it before Visby medieval week!

White gifts

I made a new chemise for me. There was enough fabric left for a shirt for Nattfari, but not really for a decent legngth chemise, so I made a shirt. Visby medieval week is a long event, so an extra shirt for him  to change with could be nice.

I also made a new coif for Nattfari. He only had one and it was a bit on the small side so I hope that the new one will be better. He was away when I cut the fabric so the size is a bit of guesswork.

Mending stuff

With less than two weeks until we leave for Visby Medieval Week there won't be much fancy new stuff being done, but some mending of old stuff and perhaps some new underwear. I have started on a new St. Bridget's cap since the one I currently have is made from a cotton fabric, and I also think I need another chemise.

This is one of Náttfari's hoses, and there seems to be a big gap between the foot part and the upper part. I will now spend a couple of minutes sewing that shut, since Náttfari himself is away and will probably not have time to fix it when he returns next weekend. Or rather, if he has time to fix things, there are other things I would prefer that he did. While sewing I'm watching the first season of The Tudors.

Less is less

I had a cheap fabric that I had intended to make an inner floor from if and when I got a bigger pavillion. Now the day had come to actually do that. 

It's just that there was nowhere near as much fabric as I had thought, only about six metres. When I bought it I got what was left of it in the store, so at least there is no remorse about not having bought more. We will still need carpets, though. 

The Majgreve menu and some thoughts

Friday

No food served. There was fire so that people could heat food that they brought. Erik graciously offered to stuff my sausages with cheese and wrap them in bacon. Yes, everything is better with bacon.

Saturday

Breakfast
Due to the uncertain number of participants and wanting to keep the budget I opted for pancakes and no other form of eggs served for breakfast. Otherwise it was a rather simple breakfast. The coffee filter holder worked fine directly in the thermos.

Lunch

Stew with chicken boiled in beer , bacon and root vegetables
Bread
Butter
Cheese

The stew went down well, but given the small amount of participants adding a kg of bacon was unnecessary and there was way to much food left although we decided not to chop all the vegetables.

Dinner

Smoked and dried beef (Bosnian style, with garlic)

Smoked pork tenderloin
Smoked salmon
Cream cheese
Butter
Honey butter

Bread

Flatbread
Radishes

Soup of greens

Mustard
Sauerkraut with apple and cumin
Pork belly

Rosehip and apple soup
Whipped cream
Hazelnuts
Dried apples
Dried plums
Dried blueberries

The iron age house had two indoor fireplaces and two outdoor fireplaces. All the water had to be brought to site and there was no electricity. Most stuff went well anyway, but more could have been prepped. I forgot the vegetables that I had peeled and chopped at home, and I had not done all of them anyway.

I did a lot of the shopping on my way to the event and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of stressed Friday evening shoppers at that store. 

We did not use all the smoked pork tenderloin, and did not have any hard cheese for dinner. Most of what was put on the table was eaten. I think that there was enough food, but it might have felt good to have some more leftovers to prove it.

I had bought some meat for a stew as well, since the numbers I was given the day before the event suggested there would be a lot of people. Given the actual turnout I decided to leave it in the cooler since cool leftovers are better than warm leftovers. 

There should have been a frumenty-like dish as well, made from barley, but it got burnt very early in the cooking process. We decided not to scrub the pot and wait for the water to boil again and just let that dish disappear. 

This interpretation of viking food seems to go well with the fussy eaters. Not to complex flavours and the foods can be identified

The numbers are likely to change late when cooking for local Holmrike events. I need to shop less ahead and have a plan to add food late in the process. 

I would like to recruit at least one dedicated kitchen helper ahead of time. It worked getting a bit of help here and a bit there, but it would have felt good to not have to rely on the event steward constantly helping out. 

On the subject of the event steward: she did well and I would no doubt work with her again if she decided to do another event.

Whipping lactose free cream is hard. Not sure if it is the lack of lactose, or that it was only 35% fat plus some thickening agent. 

New underdress

I have had this fabric for quite some time. I fell in love with it, but the colour is not very flattering on me so I have been unsure of what to do with it.  I also had a piece of the same fabric in green and white which I used as a lining for a liripipe hood. It is a linen/cotton mix that frays a lot, so it needs rather large seem allowances.

First I made a pair of oriental pants out of the fabric, but they were not baggy enough to be comfortable, so I have now undone them and made an underdress for my viking garb. There was some unused fabric to add as well.