![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
What a busy but fulfilling weekend.
Saturday I got up early to head to Day of Dance, help with decoration and help in the kitchen. They were short handed with several of the anticipated helpers not showing up so I played in the kitchen for most of the day. One of the tasks I helped with was making all the almond milk and I realized that I had never documented steps of the process before so I grabbed my camera and took a few shots.
Almond milk is made by taking blanched and peeled almonds, pounding or pureeing them with water then sieving out the almonds solids. In period they likely would have used a mortar and pestle for this, but I've found a blender to be quite effective. Each batch I'd run in the blender was 1 cup blanched and peeled almonds, and 3 cups tepid water- blended on highest setting for approximately two minutes, then run through a cheese cloth and strainer. I'd then lift out the cheese cloth, squeeze out all the remaining liquids and set the almonds solids aside to be used as a thickening agent in another dish.
I was only slightly bummed about missing the Amoroso, as I seriously needed the hands on kitchen geek time. There's a lady who is trying to get some dancing started in Wyewood who's interested in the Italian dances, so it sounds like I may have lots of later chances to get more practice with this dance, so all in all it was a wonderful and productive day. The little quails came out beautifully, as did the lemon sauce. Bashira did a wonderful job, and I think she outdid herself with this one.
Sunday morning I met with Countess E and Mort, and we got a lot of planning and full tilt food geeking done. If possible I'm even more excited now about how the all-food all the time weekend is shaping up. After that I went to Holly's, hung out for a bit and picked up some more needles for a largess project I'm working on for Duchess Angharad, then helped her go through her room a bit.
Saturday I got up early to head to Day of Dance, help with decoration and help in the kitchen. They were short handed with several of the anticipated helpers not showing up so I played in the kitchen for most of the day. One of the tasks I helped with was making all the almond milk and I realized that I had never documented steps of the process before so I grabbed my camera and took a few shots.
Almond milk is made by taking blanched and peeled almonds, pounding or pureeing them with water then sieving out the almonds solids. In period they likely would have used a mortar and pestle for this, but I've found a blender to be quite effective. Each batch I'd run in the blender was 1 cup blanched and peeled almonds, and 3 cups tepid water- blended on highest setting for approximately two minutes, then run through a cheese cloth and strainer. I'd then lift out the cheese cloth, squeeze out all the remaining liquids and set the almonds solids aside to be used as a thickening agent in another dish.
I was only slightly bummed about missing the Amoroso, as I seriously needed the hands on kitchen geek time. There's a lady who is trying to get some dancing started in Wyewood who's interested in the Italian dances, so it sounds like I may have lots of later chances to get more practice with this dance, so all in all it was a wonderful and productive day. The little quails came out beautifully, as did the lemon sauce. Bashira did a wonderful job, and I think she outdid herself with this one.
Sunday morning I met with Countess E and Mort, and we got a lot of planning and full tilt food geeking done. If possible I'm even more excited now about how the all-food all the time weekend is shaping up. After that I went to Holly's, hung out for a bit and picked up some more needles for a largess project I'm working on for Duchess Angharad, then helped her go through her room a bit.
