by Krista | Jun 12, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
One of my favorite parts of medieval camping is waking up before sunrise while nearly everyone else is still sleeping.
The grounds are quiet and peaceful, and it’s lovely to get the fire burning, brew a hot cuppa, and sit near the warm campfire to watch the sun come up over the sea of medieval tents.
I love my morning cup of strong Earl Grey tea, and somehow it tastes even better made with smoke-scented hot water served in a medieval pottery mug engraved with my Aussie nickname.
Breakfast is hearty fare: pan-fried shortcut bacon (the good, meaty parts), scrambled eggs tossed with the delish crispy bits of bacon left in the pan, and thick slices of flatbread.
After breakfast there’s time to check out some of the medieval displays near us.
I love the gorgeous honey-scented beeswax candles made by my friend Stacey (see top two photos) and these beautiful medieval Hungarian glory beads made and worn by my friend Ann (see below).
One of my favorite encampments is the featuring Iron Age Vikings.
I especially like their food displays showcasing the foods that were available during their time in history. There were no potatoes then, or bell peppers or tomatoes, but they were able to make hearty stews with turnips, parsnips, and elegant purple carrots.
They made soup with dried peas, fried up eggs, and snacked on all sorts of nuts and dried fruits.
I was intrigued to learn that they would make a healing, nourishing tea by steeping pine needles in boiling water. Pine trees are in short supply in my part of Australia, but as soon as I track some down, I’m determined to try my hand at making Viking Pine Tea.
I love learning about new cultures and the foods they treasured. What food culture is most interesting to you?
by Krista | Jun 11, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Good morning! I am home again after a jolly weekend of medieval camping with dear friends.
I have heaps of stories and recipes and pictures to share with you over the next week or so, but today I’ll start with my favorite meal of the weekend: fire-roasted venison.
Our friends Greg and Steff are hunters and gave us a beautiful deer for our medieval camping trip. Part of the rules for participating in these gatherings is that everything, from utensils and clothing to recipes and menus, must be authentic to the medieval time period we represent. Since our group is 12th century, that means spit-roasted meats, hearty stews, flat breads, and all sorts of dried fruits and nuts.
At past encampments we’ve roasted goat or pork, so venison was a real treat.
We started by slicing up heaps of garlic, chunks of salty pork fat, and fragrant bundles of fresh rosemary. We made incisions all over the venison and inserted these flavorful little nuggets. Since venison is a wild meat, it can get quite tough, so tucking in bits of pork fat adds much-needed moisture with the added bonus of even more great flavor.
Once Neil got the venison prepared and on the spit, Ann, Stacey, and I set to chopping root veggies for a thick veggie stew. Turnips, parsnips, tubers, carrots – they all went in to a big cast iron pot to simmer over the fire.
Then came the hard bit – turning the spit. The venison takes about four hours to cook through and must be turned continuously to prevent charring or raw bits. No one can crank the spit for four solid hours, so we take turns.
It’s pleasant sort of work, not riveting or difficult, and you fall into a kind of peaceful, dozy trance as you turn, turn, turn. I loved watching the public as their eyes fell on the spit. They were entranced! Especially the little boy below. I don’t know how long he stood there, mesmerized by the roasting deer and the crackling flames.
Needless to say, the slow roasting meat smells AMAZING!! We never can wait until it’s completely finished before we start sneaking over with our medieval knives to slice off a piece of meat.
Oh my.
The roast venison surpassed all our expectations. It was tender, moist, and absolutely bursting with flavor. It was especially good when you bit down into chunks of roasted garlic and crispy rosemary. Yum!!
After the public went home, we gathered round the fire with Aussie beers, shooting the breeze while we waited for the venison to be well and truly done.
Then we gathered around the long wooden table and ate bowl after bowl of savory veggies and tender, smoky venison, washed down with earthenware cups of homemade mead.
Soon darkness fell and the stars came out and one by one we ambled off to our tents to sink into the deep sleep that only comes when you’ve worked hard, eaten well, and are sleeping in the fresh air.
What is your favorite memory from your weekend?
by Krista | Jun 7, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
“Mom, camping is not a date; it’s an endurance test.
If you can survive camping with someone, you should marry them on the way home.”
Yvonne Prinz
“It always rains on tents.
Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.”
Dave Barry
We are going camping this weekend and I am jittery with excitement. Yes, it’s winter, the skies are full of dark clouds and the forecast is rain but I’m STILL excited, cuz, baby, we’re going camping!!!
I love camping. Nay, I adore it. Just the word camping makes me feel slightly giddy and my mind sparkles with images of pine forests and foggy mornings and sunbeams glittering across the water.
I know that in three days I will be willing to give nearly anything for a hot shower and a heater and a cooking implement that doesn’t billow smoke in my eyes, but today I am practically beaming with happiness and anticipation.
I can’t wait to make cheese in a cast iron pot over the fire, to sizzle up a pan of bacon and sausages and eggs first thing in the morning, to snuggle down under layers of quilts in the tent at night.
I can’t stop smiling when I think of sitting around the table with my dear friends munching on almonds and dried fruit, cookies and grapes, visiting happily with our hands wrapped tightly around mugs filled with hot tea and coffee.
Most of all I’m looking forward to the camp at nightfall, gathering around the fire to roast marshmallows or just gaze into the mesmerizing flames, swapping stories and jokes, sipping homemade mead that the bloke next to us brings every year.
Now it’s time to tuck in that last bag of marshmallows, grab my pillow, and make sure the camera is charged.
It’s going to be a great weekend.
What are you looking forward to? xo
by Krista | Jun 3, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Winter arrived this weekend in a fury of fierce winds and pelting rain.
Before the rain arrived, I bundled up in layer upon layer to take the girl goats for a feed in the fields accompanied by Solar. He loved it, bounding through the tossing grasses before cozying down into a little nest out of the wind. I felt like a little kid again as I hunkered down there with him, sinking my fingers into his thick, white fur, laying back and watching the grass and tree branches being whipped above us.
After our rest we went exploring, finding all sorts of things hidden in the grass by the wood pile.
I love old, weathered wood, always have. My grandpa used to take us grandkids out for drives on the prairies of Alberta. We’d pile into the back of his station wagon and bounce along rutted tracks and even bumpier fields before clambering out to find abandoned homesteads and barns ready to be examined by a crew of curious blond-headed kids.
We never knew what we’d find: old iron bedsteads, weathered window frames with tattered curtains still flapping in the prairie wind, dusty bottles that whistled eerily when rogue breezes blew across their tops.
We always wished for treasure, of course, and I suppose we found it through the stories we imagined of the people who used to live in these empty buildings.
My thoughts would run wild wondering who had rocked on these rickety front porches, what did they eat, wear, dream of, and why had they dropped everything and just left?
I will never know, but I think that was part of the magic of those adventures, making up our own stories about who the residents were and what had happened.
I loved wandering about finding old wood piles that had been chopped by hand but would never be used, looking inside old tins and wondering if they had once been filled with cookies or flour or perhaps, carefully collected rocks, feathers, and bits of wire from an imaginative child.
I loved opening creaky cupboard, closet, and cellar doors, hoping against hope that I would find a hidden diary or photo album that would reveal everything I yearned to know.
I treasure those adventures and it makes me smile to be able to relive them a bit here on our Aussie farm, finding remnants of abandoned projects, an unexplained pile of rock that looks very, very much like a grave, and the detritus of generations living off the land.
After such meanderings it is lovely to come in out of the cold, casting off layers of wool and flannel, and sit down to a dish of roasted macadamia nuts tossed with salty crisp bits of rosemary and thyme.
These savory little morsels make stormy winter days an absolute pleasure.
What do you think of when you see old, weathered wood?
Roasted Macadamia Nuts with Thyme and Rosemary
Ingredients:
2 cups raw macadamia nuts
olive oil
fine sea salt
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C).
- Place all ingredients in medium bowl. Toss well until nuts are evenly coated.
- Cover baking sheet with baking paper and spread nuts in single layer.
- Roast for 30 minutes until nuts are golden brown.
- Cool 10-15 minutes and eat warm. Store leftovers in sealed container.
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