| Gervase Markham gives us a significant look |
[Dec. 19th, 2009|09:23 am] |
[or, a possible clue to why Med and Ren menus are so heavy on the meat]
Now for a more humble Feast, or an ordinary proportion which any good man may keepe in his family for the entertainment of his true and worthy friends, it must hold limitation with his prouision, and the season of the yeere: for Summer affords what Winter wantes, & Winter is master of that which Summer can but with difficulty haue: it is good then for him that intends to feast, to set downe the full number of his full dishes, that is, dishes of meate that are of substance, and not emptie or for shew; and of these sixteene is a good proportion for one course vnto one messe, as thus for example,
First, a shield of Brawne with mustard: Secondly, a boyld capon; Thirdly, a boyld peece of Beefe: Fourthly, a chine of beefe rosted: Fiftly, a neates tongue rosted: Sixtly, a Pigge rosted:
Seuenthly, chewets back't; Eightly, a goose rosted: Ninethly, a swan rosted: Tenthly, a turkey rosted; the eleuenth, a haunch of venison rosted; the twelfth, a pasty of venison;
the thirteenth, a Kid with a pudding in the belly; the fourteenth, an oliue pye; the fifteenth, a couple of capons; the sixteenth, a custard or dousets.
Now to these full dishes may be added in sallets, fricases, quelquechoses, and deuised paste, as many dishes more, which make the full seruice no lesse then two and thirty dishes [emphasis mine], which is as much as can conueniently stand on one table, and in one messe: and after this manner you may proportion both your second and third course, holding fulnesse in one halfe of the dishes, and shew in the other, which will be both frugall in the spendor, contentment to the guest, and much pleasure and delight to the beholders. And thus much touching the ordering of great feasts and ordinary contentments.
Right-- so there you have it. He's told us explicitly what meats should be served, but he's also told us that the salads, side dishes, etc., should make up an equal number without enumerating them exactly. Corollary: serve vegetables! |
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| Lost your ability to make decisions for yourself? |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|11:15 pm] |
Well no wonder, there's someone else claiming the ability to make decisions for all the adults in Australia now.
lacking the ability to be rational about this at the moment. and everyone else is talking about it already |
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| Thought of the day |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|10:27 pm] |
Today I went to an ACF rally about Climate Change, and a woman from Tuvulu talked about higher king tides washing away houses and farmland. And then, as I was reading an article suggesting that the current cuts suggested at Copenhagen are still likely to result in a 3 degree temperature rise, I suddenly thought, "hey, the disaster's really going to happen this time".
When I thought about my response, I realised that none of the worries of the future I had in my childhood and young adulthood have come to pass. We have not had a nuclear war, the world didn't end on 1 Jan 2000, and the hole in the ozone layer is basically under control.
Subconciously, my brain has been putting climate change into the same bucket, with the same likely conclusion. I wonder how many other people have the same response going?
Edit: How many other people think that climate change will be resolved somehow, based on this erroneous thinking?
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| Oops! |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|10:17 pm] |
We now know what we need for Christmas. A fire extinguisher. Smoke alarms. A fire-retardant blanket. Oh, and a new toaster.
Sigh.
The house smells of smoke, unbeknownst to my Beloved who, despite being an excellent cook, has the approximately the olfactory acuity of a plaster duck. The bench got a bit singed, but nobody was harmed, so all in all it could have been worse. As in, looking-for-somewhere-else-to-live worse.
It's an instructive lesson though. What would I rush in to save in the event of a real house fire, presuming there was time to rush in and save anything? Assume we've got the people out. What else?
My terabyte hard disk, Flounder, and my half-terabyte media disk, Cephalopod, have a bunch of files on them, some of which would be difficult to replace. Laptops, of course. The collection of paperwork in the bottom of the filing cabinet, birth certificates, passports and the like. Flurf, my teddy bear. Not much else. The place is insured, and having possessions is a trap. We could happily get rid of nearly everything and survive unscathed.
Still, that's no excuse. Extinguisher, alarms, blanket and a toaster that's not toast, stat!
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|12:40 pm] |
Hairography. Just something I have been thinking about. Nice to see we are not so far behind Glee here. We won't talk about the other shows...
So some nifty costuming news. I hope.
I bought some rare earth magnets :) I am just waiting to get them sent here andto hear back from the seller. I am going to rip out the velcro in my Mara shin guards and put magnets in instead. The velcro just shreds my hands trying to put the darmed things on. Didn't know what type to use so I got two sizes ;) Both are nice and thin so they should work well for this. Also I may put some in my Catwoman cowl to hold it to the catsuit :) I've been thinking of different traditional options but I am concerned for my hair as it tangles very quickly with hooks and eyes and buttons and snaps right at the nape.
I also found all the reference material for another project I would like to work on :) I shall be making a big reference file and sketches to work out what to do.
And I am about to pick up an article from my library I got via ILL. I ordered two so I don't know which one it is. I'm hoping the earlier article as I need it to track down some texts. The later one though is interesting.
And I found another scrap of my red silk. I can make more leaves from that and save the rest of the cabbage for another project. I hope.
I also decided I would just use my red sateen for the skirt lining of the Mina underskirt. It will be strong enough as the silk is very light. All 16m packs down into a shoebox! Just deciding if I want to turn the hem or use the pinking shears :D I think i will save them for the taffeta francaise as i am not sure of where to get them sharpened. they do seem of reasonable quality though. I htink they were just cheap as they were from an emporium :)
I have been thinking about transporting it to Geedon next year but I think I can use a garment bag on my flight so I'll probably use that. I will have access to an iron I am sure when I get there :) I did the same for my Ever After dress both times I traveled with it. |
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| my wishlist |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|08:39 am] |
Posting this quickly from work - where I arrived at 8.30am - a personal record for the last 4 months.
I thought I would post my wishlist now, hopefully in time to be of some use.
Small notebook for in my handbag. The one I have is almost full and it's nice to have a new one each year. Although without Midwinter, next years may not fill up like this one did. The one I have is 9cm x 14cm and 1.5cm thick. I really like the elastic to hold it closed. I've noticed I do quite a lot of drawing in it, so if it had some pages with 5mm grids that would be awesome.
I use a diary at work and last year I consciously went out to buy one with interesting pictures every so often. I like that. I also like A5 size, with a week to a page (2 weeks to an opening)
Hair stuff. I can't seem to keep them, so hair ties, clips and bun things would be great. This would make a fantastic recurring present - at least while I have long hair. Rose would probably enjoy this sort of gift/s too.
I need a compost turner. One of those metal things with a handle and a spiral on the end that you can screw into your compost pile and then lift.
The watering can I have is dodgy. The water rose keeps falling off. Maybe I should have spent more money on it. but I don't think I knew how much I would use it.
I plan to lie on the couch for at least 3 days over the holidays and I really need stuff to read while I do it. Help.
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| Laundry, it's dangerous |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|11:14 pm] |
Can I have a new spine, please? This one is fracked. Managed to frack it while transferring my laundry from the washer to the drier, of all things. Feels like it's a muscle spasm more than a disc problem, base of the rib cage, right hand side. Hurts like frackery when moving, so I've spent the evening flat on my back watching the end of season 2 Battlestar Galactica, hence frack being the epithet of choice in our house at the moment. Last night was our last rural fire training for the year, so I don't have to worry about that until 13 Jan, but if we get any actual fires over the holiday period, and this doesn't come right in a hurry, I'm probably going to be stuck at the bottom doing comms, or planning & intel, or logistics. Though, given that I've spent the first half of the week assessing people on their incident management skills on a CIMS course, it would actually be quite good to be part of the IMT rather than dragging hose. A silver lining perhaps? Stupid back... Ow. |
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| the calm |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|08:03 pm] |
finished work today, which is really nice. the garden is doing its thing all by itself now. it's too early to start on the final christmas stuff. too late to start anything else.
it's nice. |
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| Scrooged |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|10:51 pm] |
I really hate Christmas.
Well, the gift-giving is OK, and the time off from work is very very welcome. And I don't even mind spending time with the extended family, because I've seen some extended families from hell and mine isn't all that bad.
It's having to think of what I want for Christmas that I hate.
I mean, what do I want? Everything falls into one of three categories:
Stuff I won't have time to look at (like books);
Stuff I would like but don't have time to go through the complex process of choosing (like clothes; I hate it when other people choose clothes for me); and
Stuff I need so I go out and buy it myself.
There's nothing else. Either I like it but wouldn't use it; I like it and would use it but have to choose it myself; or I like it, would use it, and have already chosen it myself. That's an exhaustive set of Things I Like And/Or Need.
My mother-in-law long ago reacted to this impossibility in her son-in-law the only way she could: she bought me torches. You can never have enough torches. Well, normally; I, alone of all humanity, now have enough torches.
The real trouble is: I'm just not interested in things. I saw someone using a Kindle e-book reader yesterday, and I was almost jealous... until I realised that I have a laptop that can do everything it can do and it won't randomly delete your files due to copyright snafus. I could have DVDs, but all the DVDs I want, I have... and I wouldn't have time to watch the rest. Same with books: I'd love to get a complete back-catalog of Duntemann and Greenwood and Matthews and all the other greats (and even maybe some by people who aren't on or near my f-list!) but when would I read them?
No, what I really need is: time. Six or eight more hours in the day. That requires either temporal engineering or becoming independently wealthy. Neither is more or less likely than the other.
So that's why I hate Christmas. Humbug comma bah full stop.
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| Major accomplishment. |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|06:49 pm] |
I have ticked something off my list
SIDENOTE - I have not put my Bummer Holiday to do list up here because 1. its too long and Livejournal hates me cutting and pasting long bits fro word that it won't LJ cut it. and 2. My journal has become more about lists and less about me.
Today I spent nearly all day scrapbooking. I started at around 10.30am and finished at 4.30pm.
Not only is my scrapbooking bag all nicely organised, but I have finished the three little books for my Ex-husband, his mother and his father. In the past I have only done two but ex-husband's father got in contact with me so now I have an address to send things too.
On top of that I went to the gym, so I'm rather proud of myself today. The gym was a necessary today, not because I've eaten far too much chocolate - which I have, or that I have not moved much today - which I didn't, but because my backside has gone numb. I desperately needed to move around. LOL
Oh and one of my plans to the holidays is to do some form of scrapbooking every day (this can be something as simple as organising pictures) and to livejournal every day.
Day One - Qapla' |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|11:33 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blank | ] |
I am sure I had a list of things I wanted to post/ask about when walking home from work:
Recommendations for an mp3 player (preferably 8 hour min battery life, not Ipod)? May become necessary in the new year.
And there may or may not have been the links to the YouTube video of the Plimouth jacket in action
There may have been other things as well. But they have vanished for the moment.
Instead I made it home, cooked dinner, washed dishes, some catching up on net stuff and then did a binge of Dollshouse watching. There was intent towards sewing, but that evaporated in favour of curling up in the beanbag, under a blanket while feeling lethargic and watching TV. Which does happen occasionally.
Time to actually sleep now.
Still all quiet. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|10:19 pm] |
 
Just pinned and put on the stand. And the cat helping.
i really think I'll have enough silk left over to do something interesting.
Oh did you knwo if you pleat a solid red fabric for long enough you start to see stripes on the fabric? Well I did.. it was the light reflecting off the fabric and leaving those "sun" marks on my eye ;) The clue was when the "sub bleached" marks moved about. I was fairly freaked that the silk I used had faded over time... |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|07:40 pm] |
Hooray! Cunning skirt plan is working really well. Having some interesting pleat discoveries as well. I am more convinced than ever that the pleats are mounted to a supportive layer because of this :)
Hmmm, I keep changing my mind on what to use as I would like it to be hidden but strong. So my cotton sateen is out ;) But it will make for a very pretty set of underwear for it :) And with my pinking shears I will have lots of pretty ruffles :)
I think a firm calico will work. I might have to hunt out some black, the original may have a pale colour as there are a few peeks of something light in the afore linked photos.
I will need it asap as I want to sew the pleats up sooner rather than later so I can use all those pins again :) |
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| Won't be home for dinner |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|04:12 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
Won't be home for dinner. @ police station.
U in trouble?
Only if I spill my beer on the Inspector. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|12:49 pm] |
Recent movies I loved. Zombieland and Julie & Julia.
I just saw J&J today and was completely inpired by it and connected a great deal with both women. Especially Julia at the Cordon Bleau.
Zombieland was just good fun with just the level of inappropriate humour to be funny without being too crass. Yeah, in a zombie movie ;) Agreed it is not quite up there with Saun of the Dead but it really was a lot of fun. |
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| Working on posting more often |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|03:27 am] |
A note in reference to last night.....
One should not watch a show about cooking on nightshift. My stomach growled all night. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.... mmm... food porn flashbacks.
One should also not watch Bruno at work. I'm sure the dancing cock shots were not worksafe, hence I turned it off. I'm running a bit thin on movie choices to watch on nightshift. Got any reccomendations? |
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