Thursday, February 5, 2015

Moving to a new blog for a bit...

I am not sure how much people actually follow this blog, but I will be working on another one for the next few months in anticipation of when I go to Hampton Court Palace to work and learn in the kitchens.

So this blog might be a bit silent, I will try to get something up once in a while, but as you can tell with this one already, I have many dry spells.!

If you are interested in what is happening or what this is all about, please go to tudorkitchen.blogspot.ca. That blog will have most of my upcoming action! :)

Hope to see you there, and here in the future.

~Em

#tudorfeast

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Bad, Bad Emelote...2014 Recap Part 2!

continued....

Well as things progressed after Chicago, I was very excited to maybe get some work done on the sewing room. We needed to get the floor installed, so we took the time to do that and then start moving stuff in...we that didn't work out as well. As of today (Feb 3rd 2015) the sewing is just a storage room. :( Sadness. But I have to finish it up this week so that I can get the final pattern testing done on the Goldhaube that I have been collecting items for. Almost all the materials have been collected, just a few items here and there still need to be purchased.

but the most exciting thing to end 2014 was that I was part of an amazing activity to raise money for the Ottawa Food Bank. I was part a finalist for CBC's Radio One's All in a Day's (with Alan Neal) Project Give Food Fantasy. Listeners were encourage to send in their food fantasy, and the top 10 would be picked to get the chance to win their fantasy by raising the most money for the Ottawa Food Bank.

Lucky me, I was a finalist for the Food Fantasy contest. This is the blurb I sent to CBC in hopes of being selected a finalist.

For the past eight years, I have had the opportunity to study and cook 12th to 16th-century historical recipes and menus for a local Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA) group. I have cooked feasts for over 100 people with only period recipes, and I have always wanted to cook a full Tudor feast at Hampton Court (King Henry VIII’s palace) in their still fully functioning Tudor kitchens. It is my dream to cook a 16th-century feast on 16th-century equipment in a 16th-century kitchen.


I had until 11:59pm on November 30th to raise the most money. On December 5th, they would announce the winners on the show. There were 2 corporate challenges that we had the option to do. If we won then we got $2,000 added to our fundraising total. The first challenge was a back of the cupboard recipe challenge. We had to take a picture of 3 items from the back of the cupboard and then make a recipe incorporating all of the items. A la Food network Chop style. My items were a can of Old El Paso Mild enchilada sauce, a can of mushrooms and pickled capers.

My back of the cupboard items


I really wanted to do a period inspired recipe but the tomato based enchilada sauce really didn't work out, so I thought about what could I do to get these together. Capers are period and are recommended in period sources in fish dishes, so I went with a fish cake and to bring in a medieval flare added an adapted recipe of an eggplant pickle side dish from my Medieval Arab Cookery book. [Spicy Fish Cakes with a Spicy Tomato Sauce served with Eggplant Pickle]. All recipes would be judged by Absinthe Cafe's Patrick Garland who won the 2014 Ottawa Gold Medal Plates competition. So I was sitting at my desk on the Friday they were announcing who won the challenge, I was so stressed out. lol They were talking about everyone's dish but mine, my heart was racing and finally they got to mine. Chef Garland said he was impressed on the thought that went into my recipe and that it sounded delicious considering my items. He really liked the eggplant dish too. So finally they announce the winner and it is ME!!!!!!! I got $2k for my fundraising.

CBC'a All in a day tweet.

 I couldn't believe it! Maybe I can cook! lol. The second challenge was to find 25 hard to find items that listeners sent in...has me running around all of Ottawa and surrounding area to find stuff. Not to mention Tsivia and others helping me out. Unfortunately I didn't win that one, but they two guys in our Food Fantasy 9 (as we were called) got to split the $2000. :) So I was still in the running. I hoped. We were not allowed to know how much we had fundraiser to keep the suspense for December 5th.

Strange stuff like this - Gumbo File from Chilly Chiles in Manotick

December 5th is when we found out how we placed in the Food Fantasy Challenge for CBC Ottawa's All in a day Project Give for the Ottawa Food Bank! We raised over $21,000 as a group of 9 people.

I was wonderful to see all the gifts they gave us! :) Everyone got something from their fantasy, along with many people actually getting it!








the TMNT movie fantasy - mmm - free Pizza

3rd place with $3310 - waiting my turn selfie
Talking on the Phone with Chris from Hampton Court Palace




I placed 3rd with $3310.  My prize was CBC connecting with Hampton Court Palace and getting me a day to cook in the kitchens! I didn't win, so I have to get myself there. But the hardest part is the connection.

The winner was Sharon Martinson who raised $5100 for her classroom kitchen in the Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School in Barrhaven, for a class of awesome individuals in the Autism Spectrum Disorder Program. Ikea and a local contractor will help make that happen! :)

I was super lucky to be selected to be in this contest. I will include some sound bites in the future. :)
 
The wonderful thing CBC did was that every contestant regardless of what they raised, got something from their food fantasy. :) it was amazing.

So now I am starting my fundraising Campaign to get to me to HCP. I want to go the 1st weekend in August. If you are interested in following that blog - here is the link.

My fundraising site is with Fundrazr.com - my campaign is here. Please consider donating and sharing. :)

~Em

Bad, Bad Emelote.... 2014 Recap Part 1!

Greetings my blog followers!

Well 2014 came and went without me blogging. Boo!

Basement demo and construction finished in April 2014. There were so many problems with it, but we have a finished basement. It still (as of Jan 2015) needs a ceiling, trim, 2 doors in the sewing room. The new floor for the sewing room is in, now I am just trying to get it all sorted and put back together.

O. did her first SCA camping event with flying colours. :) Her mother didn't fair as well..it was so HOT! But I think there will be lots of Camping in her future!

Spent almost all of August and September canning fruits and vegetables. I amassed quite a lot. :)

August Canning - Many pickles and Peaches
O's 2nd birthday came with 2 parties! One at Grandma and Grandpa's house and one at Nana and Fafa'. Lots of cool stuff and lots of fun too.

Rolling into the fall had some awesome experiences.

I ran my 1st 5k timed event! :) So exciting! Got to run with friends, met up with my sister (she was training/running for the Tower of Terror 10 miler at Walt Disney World in October.

Once I got home! :)
I got to go to a Tudor Tailor workshop in Chicago. I had never been to Chicago, so this was so awesome. SIL let us use her VW Diesel Golf Wagon (OMG! Awesome car!) to save on gas, unbelievable how awesome it was. We drove Thursday night to Toronto, then the second half to Chicago. It was great finally getting there. I had a lecture that night. I totally geeked out with other SCA people! :)

Friday Night

Checking out the possible wet nurse - Jane and Ninya
The Tudor Child
 
 I got to meet the ladies after at the wine and cheese. I also got to buy a whole bunch of awesome stuff while there too. I had a couple of glasses of wine...and really needed dinner. lol Had some great conversations with new people and got to meet one of my idols (Genoveva). She was only going to be there on the Friday and Saturday workshop, whereas I was doing the Friday and Sunday workshop.

 So after friends Kes and Menken talked about Steak n' Shake in Florida, I needed to investigate this more. There was one not far from our hotel! Yay! Also open 24hours!

Steak n' Shake - crazy prices!
Jeff and I  decided to stop at a liquor store to stock up for the weekend, and I found my vodka unicorn. BLAVOD! I have been looking for this stuff for 6 or 7 years! Stuff for Halloween this year.



Saturday

We had amazing weather for end of October. We rented bikes in Chicago and enjoyed the waterfront. Saw the bean and met new people while waiting for the train to Chicago proper. (We were about 1 hour out of town). 
OMG! The weather was awesome
 Sunday

I got to spend the entire day in a workshop with the Tudor Tailor Ladies. It was amazing, and it was really hard to be in the workshop about fabrics, to discover that all of my wool is really not up to snuff. Met some wonderful people and discovered that I really love this stuff.


It was exciting to meet the Ladies and have discussions about how they research and how to get the right fabrics, colours, shapes, etc. It was very exciting to meet new people too. People who have worked with the ladies and are doing really awesome things in the US! I hope to maybe work with Jane on something in the future, but that is in the works now. Right now I need to get all the pictures I took onto my computer and organized for research. :)

to be continued....