End of Spring Semester Round-Up 2013

I'm back from Ireland and finally re-settled on the West Coast! My experiment in cooking turned out pretty well. I'm keeping 21 recipes out of the 48 I tried.

My favorites? These three:

Salmon and New Potatoes and Corn and Tomatoes

 Winter Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese

Beef and Guinness Stew with Champ

Definitely keepers.

This summer I'll be focusing on lunches - what I'm calling my 'Bento Box Series'. They won't all be Japanese inspired but many will be. I plan on experimenting until I have a couple of tried and true recipes and you all are welcome to follow the show!

Looking Ahead in 2013

This blog will be going down a different track for the next few months. I am studying abroad in Europe  and have no intention of doing any of my usual crafts. Instead, I will be focusing on cooking.

I became interested in cooking my sophomore year as I grew increasingly disinterested in my college's meal plan. I was certain that I could make better food than Dining Services, and I could do it for cheaper too.

I was right. I spent that fall making stir-fry, pasta and meatloaf. Eventually, I wanted more variety and started looking online for recipes.

I've always found it frustrating when I read cooking sites and I can't make many of the recipes. It has nothing to do with skill - I had never poached eggs before trying a recipe I found - but rather, lack of equipment. In the best possible scenario, I'm at my college apartment with a large fridge, plentiful shelf space, a working stove and oven, plenty of pots and pans and knives, and a hand-held mixer, courtesy of my roommate. I don't have a grill or a blender or a food processor or a bread machine or a car to drive groceries home. I do have a Food Lion within walking distance and an adequate bus route.

Of course, things aren't always so rosy. Last summer I was in Texas with limited fridge space and no car. I relied on my friends with cars to get me to the store (closest one was 2 miles away) and relied on food I could keep in my closet. I made a lot of egg-on-toast and three-bean salads in those days.

Now I am in Europe with several supermarkets within walking distance, with limited fridge space, one frying pan, two or three other pots and pans, and what appears to be two knives. If there are measuring cups or tablespoons, I haven't found them yet.

So until May, I will be focusing on writing up recipes that I've found and tried. I can't promise that they will all be good, but I can and will write down the recipe, my modifications, and the cost.

It's sure to be a fun ride.

Looking Ahead in 2012

Given that I'm posting this on New Year's Day, it is time for resolutions and future ideas.

My resolution for this blog is to finish more projects than I start. Put another way, at the end of 2012 I want to have less on-going projects than I do now. Furthermore, I want to finish by the end of 2012 any projects from 2010 or from 2011. I want to keep a fresh rotation of projects so one doesn't keep wasting away in some closet. 

A pipe dream I have is to make a costume set late in the Cavalier period, circa 1610-1630ish, coming off the tail end of the Elizabethan/Jacobian era and segueing into the Commonwealth era.

What I am looking to create is more from the 1630s. The falling band is falling out of fashion, but still can be seen. Trunk hose are giving way to breeches,with boots and spurs and boot hose. The hat is a large brim shallow hat, sometimes with a side cocked up with a feather.

This is the time of the Three Musketeers, after all.

Some inspiration:

Charles I : Antony van Dyck , 1635
Portrait of Charles I, king of England (1600–1649). Oil on canvas, ca. 1635.
Wears a shorter waistline doublet without points. Breeches end below knee and stockings tie off. Long sleeved doublet is unfitted and without panes.

Henri II of Lorraine, Duke de Guise: Antony van Dyck, 1634

Portrait of Henri II de Lorraine, duke of Guise; oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

Wears a buff leather jerkin and gorget, open at the front. Breeches match the cape. Notice large falling collar and turned back ruffs at cuffs. Breeches end below knee at ruffle. Sleeves are paned.

Royalist Brothers: Thomas Gainsborough, 1638

Portrait of Lord John Stuart and his brother Lord Bernard Stuart (later Earl of Lichfield)

Unfitted Doublets with slashed sleeves and front, unopened front. Large falling collars and breeches end below knee with knee ruffles.

I call this a pipe dream because it currently has a completion date of 'before I die'.

The pattern I'm looking at is the complete Cavalier Man package from Reconstructing History, which I think has everything I need.

A project that has a much sooner completion date is the Irish costume. I already have a pattern for this - the one from Simplicity patterns. I don't know about the authenticity of this - Simplicity is not known for that. Frankly, it's hard to find reliable sources about traditional Irish clothing to begin with.

But it looks fun. And that's all that matters. With any luck, I should get started on this costume this year.

It will be an adventure for sure!