August Recap: Cooking Away
My August goals were:
Finish the gonete
Finish the commonplace book.
I have said before but keeping up momentum on the gonete, despite knowing that I will have to do a third iteration, was really challenging for me this month. My brain knows that testing the concepts of the horsehair, additional linings, and sleeve configurations was necessary, but my motivation said a lot of “why bother?” In the end, I’m really glad I did bother though. I started off this month determined to get that gonete wrapped up. It has languished far too long. So I sat down and powered through the remaining attachments of the horsehair braid, reassembling the outer layer, and reattaching the hooks and eyes. Lo and behold, the horsehair maid such a difference. The before and after are really amazing, with bonus points to Evan for capturing the maniacal cackling that came with me celebrating how well it worked. It is not perfect, and version three is definitely still in my near future (more on that below), but it is so much closer to the intent of the garment and this one is actually going to be much more usable as a wardrobe piece.
The next steps for this were the bell sleeves. My last attempt for these ended up being very blocky and I think it had a lot to do with the fabric choice. This blue is a much lighter, drapey-er fabric. What I decided to do for these sleeves is actually cut them longer than they need to be, allow them to hang and drape, and then cut them down once they’ve pulled a little bit so that their hems are level at the height I want them at. I did adjust my plan slightly and instead of keeping the rectangular sleeve insertion from last time, I added a curved top to the seam and that seemed to work out well. There were two tests I wanted to try for getting the right drape in the bell sleeves. The first had the opening of the seam closer to the shoulder seam, the second a little further down around the armscye. Of the two orientations tried, the more forward facing was the more successful. To wrap up this garment (though not necessary for its usability), I think I’m going to yet again bring back some of my remnants from the Green Saya and add some thin blue velvet trim to the neckline of this to even out some of that curling it gets where the fabrics are folded over each other at the neckline. My third iteration of this garment is going to try a couple of things different.
Instead of using canvas for the interlining, I am debating finally venturing into the world of buckram. I think that slight additional stiffening might help even out some of the tension ripples from the attachment points at the front. I also think that it’s very possible that the buckram will obviate the need for the horsehair.
I’m going to build in probably additional ease in this, somewhere between 1/2 and 1 inch. That will still keep the garment supportive, but will also help smooth any tension points.
I’m going back to wool for this. I revisited my statistical analysis and I’m thinking a dark red wool with some black trim at the neckline is going to be a very fun option. Renaissance Fabrics has a lovely wine colored wool flannel that I know I like working with (this is the same fabric that went into the Domingo Ram saya and it is lovely and plush but still very nice to sew with). They also just so happened to have a big sale this month so I picked some of it up along with some matching thread.
I’m debating shaping the sleeves more trapezoidal than rectangular, to allow for some additional mid-arm fulness.
Speaking of fabric sales- I also took the time to acquire some nice black linen for the black linen saya I want to do to go with the front laced yellow saya (that I really need to come up with a better name for). And when I say black linen, I mean BLACK as heck linen. It’s this lovely Onyx Linen also from Renaissance Fabrics on the same sale and it’s just gorgeous. I did also pick up some lacing rings for this same project at the same time too. Sof’ia’s grandmother was also destashing and in doing so, allowed me to acquire several really breathtaking pieces of wool. It does mean I’m due for a destash to make my fabric stores more purposeful but there’s some gorgeous stuff in there.
I knew given everything else I was doing this month, the commonplace book goal was going to be a stretch goal but I’m happy I set it. One of the things I did was sit down and do at least one entry each day once the gonete was basically done and I made a lot of progress. Most of my time was spent on the recipe section, which are the most extensive entries, but also needed some editing in terms of grammar. I’m still trucking forward on that steadily. The walnut ink I chose was ultimately not a great decision (it doesn’t flow fantastically) but I’ve made it work with my pen and once this project is done, I’ll probably retire that ink.
The other big thinky thought I had on Persona Pentathlon was about the quiver. I love archery, but it hasn’t been something I could devote time to practicing outside of events, largely due to transportation issues, so it’s been ages since I shot. I’m thinking it makes more sense to replace the quiver as part of that project with a skirt to go with the gonete. A lot of my source images include skirts that given their shape make sense as wrap skirts along with chopines so I’m going to use some black wool that I got in the above stash building to make a wrap skirt as one of my 5 items.
Prepping the roasted filling ingredients for the Za’atar chicken hand pies for Sof’ia’s dayboard.
Early in this month, I also got to work on a very special cooking project- a dayboard spread for Sof’ia. At Battle on the Bay, Sof’ia officially entered into a formal relationship with Gracie as her dependent and it was my honor to help make that special by putting on the food. The menu was a lot of fun, and I wanted to really lean into a theme of spices (it’s in their household name, Casa de Especiero de la Cruz, and Gracie is very much the “queen of spices”). The menu is a lot of SCA-passing mundane recipes I’ve made over the years with one of my Nola recipes as well. It’s been a while since I did this level of batch and pre-cooking but I had a great time with it. I spaced it out over the whole month (much easier to do now that I’m at home full time) and made sure everything could easily be served at ambient temps and didn’t require I figure out how to warm it all up on site. Everything was made to serve about 20, and I’ve included a link here to my spreadsheet of how I planned it all out. I had so much fun working on this project, not just because it’s cooking and food and I love those, but also because it’s for someone special. Food is always better when made with love.
The final spread, with the addition of a stunning smoked brisket from Gracie.
Sof’ia’s Dayboard Menu
Stuffed Onions with Spiced Lamb and Pomegranate
Jeweled Rice Pilaf topped with Candied Barberries and Pistachios
Za’atar Chicken Hand Pies
Yogurt Sauce
“Custard which is a fritter” Sweet Hand Pies
Assorted pickles, cheeses, jam, and flatbreads
Revisiting the “Custard which is a fritter” recipe from Nola was part of this and giving its filling a bit of an upgrade. Adjusting the use of hardboiled egg yolks vs fresh eggs and mashing the cheese in with the herbs made a lot of difference in the texture of the filling. Filling the empanadillas was much easier and allowed for the very quick cooking times that small pies of this size need. I made over 100 miniature hand pies between the two flavors for this spread. It took a whole weekend of creating fillings, dough, resting ingredients, and then hand filling and sealing each pie. It was a lot of work but worth it to have such a portable menu item for both savory and sweet in the spread. However, that recipe is still not right. The filling was robust enough on both the mind and rosewater when it went into the pies, but lost a lot in the cooking and storage. I also want to revisit the note I read somewhere of “curds” actually being closer to what we would understand as yogurt today. I think that would a) give it some interesting tang inside the filling, and b) help give the filling a slightly softer texture in the end. I also need to mess with upping both the mint and rosewater inclusions.
The other non-planned project this month was a bit of a birthday present to myself. I bought a mirror box quite a while ago, and, unfortunately, it was damaged in transit. The mirror itself was shattered, several corners and edges were dinged up, and some of the hinges were warped. It sat unfinished for quite some time, but this month I knew I wanted to get it done and usable. Unfortunately, the mirror insert was custom fitted to the box- I’d have to completely custom make a new one and that is just not within my skillset or tools capacity. So with a little creativity, I ended up decided to get a smaller picture frame that I knew would fit in the box, fit it with a mirror instead, and that will be my mirror box. To fancy it up a little bit, I found hardware fittings that suited my style a little more and gave it a little more of an SCA vibe. I got new hinges, but I also added corner guards and a latch and lock on the front. I debated (and purchased) handles and box feet, but neither feels appropriate for this box. The handles will find their home on my feast gear box, while the feet and hinges that did not fit with this box will find theirs on my coffee box. I have a mild obsession with boxes, but boxifying my SCA gear has made packing a lot easier for me, as well as keeps my storage closet all the more organized (if you’re not counting my fabric stash).
September promises some fun project opportunities so my goals for the month are:
Continue on with the commonplace book.
Make headway on Gonete version 3.
Get my fabric stash under control.
