Allyson

This is mostly meant as a visual tour of what I did at the fort last weekend. 😉 Enjoy!

Please note, this is a VERY pic heavy post, which is why images are behind the “more” line.

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This isn’t a prepping post, per se. I’m off schedule due to life being busy. I’ll try and get back on track in a week or two. Be aware that most articles through the month of November will be “canned” (ie written long in advance, probably this month) because it is National Novel Writing Month and I need to sit down and write a whole-ass book (this year it’s my 18th century cookbook) in 30 days. 50,000+ words in 30 days is not easy, and I don’t do a lot of other writing, though I may pop in to say hi. We’ll see.

So last weekend, I was up at the Fort. It was the big “Out of Time” timeline event, meaning they invited people from other eras than the Fort’s (which is 1740s through 1760s, roughly) to come and set up outside the palisade and present information on their part of history. We had someone from 13th century, quite a bit from WWI and WWII, and of course my 15th century group, The Brotherhood of the Arrow and Sword. With all my favorite reenactors there (only the Vikings were missing, as they had an event elsewhere), I asked for and received permission to plan a grand meal for everyone.

As you can see from the image to the left, it was quite the feast. I had three “removes” (we would call them courses, today). We ended up actually putting all the food onto a big table and letting people get stuff buffet style, which I totally lost control of. I really got descended upon by locusts, and that was not what I had intended. Next year will be better, with the “removes” going out on the table for people to get food from. Also, those with food allergies needed to go up first, and that didn’t happen. I learn new stuff every time I do this. 🙂

The preparations for this meal started on Friday evening. The salt cod had to go in to soak, as the water needed to be changed several times before it was put in with the turnip to cook. I think I changed the water five times? Regardless, the cod was not at all salty by the time it hit the table, and actually was quite good all mashed up with the turnip. The “pumpion soup” (squash soup) was incredibly tasty and easy, and I will be doing it again. The salad was “just” salad, but looked at tasted quite good.

Yes, I cooked a turkey over a fire. This was my first time roasting a WHOLE turkey, as in the past I’ve always disjointed it and cooked it in pieces. I wanted to put the entire turkey out, though, and so I roasted it in my largest cast iron pot. I started it breast up, flipped it after 1.5 hours, then flipped it again after 1.5 hours. It spent its last hour in the beehive bake oven, crisping up its skin to a lovely brown shade. The turkey literally fell apart, was juicy and tender, and basically disappeared within a few minutes of being put out. The ham was “braised,” which means I seared all the sides first, and then boiled it. Or rather, it simmered most of the day. The result was delicious, and it was reduced to a single meatless bone and a piece of gristle before the end of the dinner. I was so pleased that everyone liked the food!

I think I served about 40 or so people. We ate in the Great Hall, which is also where I did most of the cooking. I baked bread in the outdoor beehive oven (four loaves) and did the rest of the cooking over coals in the two fireplaces at either end of the Hall. It was nice to have all that space for cooking! Of the side dishes I made, the clear favorite was the Roots a la Creme, which are basically root veggies in a cream sauce. I have to admit, they were very delicious, and I ate the leftovers (what few there were) the next day.

The star of the show, though, was definitely the Rich Cake, from Martha Washington. I have never made a cake like this before, which is dense and full of extremely alcoholic fruit. It was moist, solid, flavorful, sweet, and indeed very rich. I will absolutely be making it again, though perhaps with a few minor adjustments. I can see what that thing could be set on a shelf and left for a month, though. There’s so much alcohol and sugar in it, nothing will touch it! LOL! Think of it as an edible Christmas cake, the kind we usually use as door stoppers.

Ratafia biscuits were the other new-to-me dessert that I attempted. They did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but they were not a clear fail, either. They were very edible, with a lovely almond undertone to them. They didn’t “loft up” as much as I’d hoped, though. I think I folded in the almond flour too roughly, perhaps. I will say, I’m never making the ratafia biscuits again without modern conveniences. Whipping the egg whites until stiff BY HAND was quite the adventure, and my arm still hurts. Totally worth it, just to prove I could do it, though. It might not have been so difficult if I hadn’t started out by creaming the butter for the Rich Cake first, then creaming the sugar into the butter for that same cake, all before moving on to whipping egg whites by hand for 25 minutes. Yes, I’m nuts. But you know what? I know I can do it, now.

Here’s the thing. A lot of people there thought I was crazy for putting this dinner on. Cooking for that many mouths, spending an entire day in prepping, cooking, plating, and all the rest. I did have help, though, with two very good friends who took the time to show me the ropes (they’re both retirees from restaurant business, and know how to do proper mise en place). Everyone loved the meal, but yes, many of them thought I was insane for not putting at least some of this stuff into the very modern oven to bake. I was determined to do this “the 18th century way” though, because I know that if I can do it that way, then doing it with modern conveniences is easy.

This is also research. The cookbook I’m about to write next month will feature all of the recipes I used in this supper, along with many others that I’ve tried in the past two years. While I tailor my recipes to be cooked in a modern kitchen, the instructions suit those who want to do it the 18th century way, as well. I have to know how it works, so that I can explain it to others. Having the opportunity to work the kitchen for a big meal that way gave me a ton of insights into how an 18th century kitchen would have run. It makes my explanations better, when I’m talking to visitors at the Fort or to the encampment of my 18th century reenactors group.

Above everything, this is prepping (see how I masterfully brought it back to prepping? Go me!). I now know without a doubt that I can cook for a large group with nothing more than my two hands and fire. Nothing can stop me now! Oh, and everyone is looking forward to next year!

Yes, I’m a day late. I unloaded the truck Sunday, fell down, went boom. Yesterday was a lot of cleaning and recovery. So we’re a day late.

This weekend, I had the most amazing time cooking an 18th century supper for about 40 or so reenactors. I had a blast, even though it was a ton of work. We started cooking at about 9:30am, and rang the dinner bell at just after 6pm. By 8pm, I was in bed, in the dark, half asleep. LOL… But what a day! Everyone loved the food, and I made both a 13 lb turkey and an 8 lb ham, both of which were stripped like locusts in a wheat field. LOL… There were plenty of successes, and a couple of partial failures, but overall I did well. People enjoyed it, and I’ve been asked if I’m willing to repeat it next year (spoiler alert: I am!). Of the side dishes I presented, though, Roots a la Creme was probably the group favorite. It just tasted GOOD. So here is the version I made:

Ingredients:

• 4 large carrots
• 4 medium parsnips
• 1 stick of butter/margarine
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• 3 small scallions
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 shallot about one inch round
• A small pinch of ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp or so of flour for thickening
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 cup cashew yogurt OR sour cream OR heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• vegetable broth, if needed to thin it out a bit.

Peel your carrots and parsnips and cut them in large slices. Boil them until you can stick a fork in them easily (usually 15 to 20 minutes). Drain and transfer them to a stew pan. Add the butter, parsley, scallions, garlic, shallots, cloves and basil. Over a medium heat stir well to blend the butter and seasonings with the roots.

Add flour, salt pepper and broth. Boil quickly, stirring as you do, until it thickens to a sauce. Remove from heat and reduce your heat to medium. Add the yogurt to the roots. Stir over medium heat until well blended and smooth. Take care not to boil or scorch this. If your sauce breaks, take a few tablespoons out, add a bit of white vinegar to it, and whisk well. Slowly add that back to the sauce, and it should fix it. You can add broth if it’s too thick.

Serve.

It was a grand weekend. I have much to share and little time to do it in. There will be more later in the week. I wanted to share this, though, as an example of what people on the Left are sharing currently on book of faces and elsewhere.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

I’ve probably used this quote before on Vine, and I have purposefully used it elsewhere many times. I use it as a checklist of things to know how to do, to teach my friends and family, to help my children learn about. More than just a checklist, though, it is a treatise on logic. This is the first of two posts on the list of things Heinlein expects of a human being.

Change a diaper. This one relates to family, and to chosen family and friends. You need to know enough childcare that you can change a diaper. More than that, you need to know that a man spending time with his children is not babysitting them, because they are his children. He is parenting, not babysitting. Same with mom. You need to know how you’ll react if a kid sasses you (because it’ll happen, trust me), what to do if one escapes your grasp and runs pell mell for the roadway, and what medications everyone in your intimate personal circle is taking in case you need to tell a paramedic or a doctor.

Plan an invasion. You need to understand the basics of chess and other strategy games. You may not be the best strategist out there, but you need to know how to fight back if there’s a problem. This is literally why we have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. This is why free speech and gun rights are at the top of the list of protected God-given rights. All the weaponry in the world does you no good if you have no idea how to use it. All the weaponry int he world does you no good if you’re not WILLING to use it, if you have to. Planning an invasion means you have to know all sorts of things about guard rotation, building maps, routes in and out, security, physical barriers, targets, and a whole lot more. You have to be able to think your way through it, even if your plan is simplistic.

Butcher a hog. You must understand where your food comes from. Vegetables come out of the ground, and most of the ones we grow today require a lot of care. Animals have to be cared for, occasionally medicated, fed, watered, exercised, and loved in order to make them good food. They also have to have a clean death. And when it comes time to do the actual butchering, you don’t need to know special cuts and such, or be the most efficient, but you have to be willing to get your hands dirty and dig in as needed. You have to know that, at the point of butchering, the animal no longer cares what you do to its carcass, and your job is to make the most out of that animal’s sacrifice to feed your family.

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In the play Pygmalion (and later, in the movie My Fair Lady), there’s a quote that has come to mean an awful lot to me.

“Oh! if I only COULD go back to my flower basket! I should be independent of both you and father and all the world! Why did you take my independence from me? Why did I give it up? I’m a slave now, for all my fine clothes.” – Eliza Doolittle, Act V, Pygmalion

When I grew up, I lived in a house that was not political. It was a lot of things… abusive, alcoholic, nasty, obsessively clean… but it was not political. I learned nothing of politics from my parents. I don’t know that either of them ever voted. When I met Chris, I met someone who had an interest in politics, and who talked about it from time to time. I began to learn, both by talking to him and by talking to other people. I learned that I leaned Left, and over time I came to see myself as a “big el” Libertarian. I also learned that almost all of my friends were what would now be considered “far Left.”

I tried to listen to as many different viewpoints as I could. I listened to Chris, and people he suggested. I read about the Libertarian party’s platform. I listened to Gary Johnson speak, and was impressed (and sadly, it was the last time I was impressed by the Libertarian Party). I found out where Aleppo was before most other people. I educated myself.

When I lived on my own, way back when, I was a flower girl like Eliza Doolittle. I was not educated. I was independent. I didn’t have to look at the news and get that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t have to face backlash from the Left, and concern over the Right. I just blithely lived my life, ignorant and free. And I ask you, why did I give it up? Because I am a slave to it now. And I often wish I could go back to my metaphorical flower basket. But I know too much, and you can never put the knowledge genie back into its bottle.

I don’t have to list the ways that the Left is imploding. It’s all over the news, every day. We’re all aware of it.

But Monday night, I ran into Trump’s announcement about Tylenol. According to Trump, “There is mounting evidence finding a connection between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism — and that’s why the Administration is courageously issuing this new health guidance.” Being the person I am, the first thing I did was go and look up the cited studies, because I’ve been watching this stuff (as a parent to a handful of kids with autism). What Trump said is … while it’s not an outright lie, it is definitely stretching the truth beyond belief.

The studies cited (you can find them all on the WH site) mention correlation. They do NOT speak of causation. That’s because causation hasn’t been proven. And WE ALL KNOW THAT CORRELATION DOESN’T MEAN SHIT.

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I love tomato soup. I love roasted tomato soup and plain tomato soup. I love it thick and thin, and with a variety of toppings and additions. This is my newest version of tomato soup and I’ve fallen in love with it.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz bread, cut into 1″ squares
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ¾ tsp oregano
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• salt, to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 1 (28-oz) can whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 (15-oz) cans cannellini beans, rinsed, drained, divided
• 1 tsp oregano
• pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 3 cups packed baby spinach
• ½ cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
• ½ cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. On a baking sheet, toss bread, oil, oregano, garlic powder, and a large pinch of salt. Spread in an even layer. Bake the croutons, shaking the pan halfway through, until golden and crispy, 15 to 18 minutes.

In a large pot over medium heat, bring the oil up to temperature. Add in the onion and cook, stirring until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add in the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the onions are coated and the paste slightly darkens, about 2 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes, broth, and 1 cup of beans until combined. Add oregano and red pepper flakes; season with salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced and flavors have melded, about 20 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and carefully puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Alternatively, transfer soup to a standard blender and blend, stopping to allow steam to escape very carefully every 10 seconds, until smooth. Return the soup to medium-low heat. Add in the spinach, Parmesan, cream, and remaining beans. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted and cheese is melted and incorporated, about 10 minutes more.

Divide the soup among bowls. Top with croutons and more Parmesan.

Notes:

To make this vegan, use vegetable broth. Add most of the beans to the soup and blend them in, and only add a few unblended ones for mouth feel at the end. Cannellini beans make the soup much more creamy feeling. Instead of a half cup of heavy cream, sub in a half to a cup of Forager plain unsweetened yogurt. This will give the creaminess the soup demands, without watering it down or having to resort to using a roux to thicken it (undesirable with this type of soup). Instead of actual Parmesan, use one of the vegan options such as Violife brand.

This tastes incredible when served with grilled cheese (or vegan grilled “cheeze”) sandwiches!

So I ran into this dude, Kaizen, a few days before Charlie was assassinated. I think he speaks a lot of truth. I wanted to share it with you guys, see what you think of him. This is today’s video:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17ap4aXUbb/

And this is his substack, for those who use it:

Thatskaizen.substack.com

Enjoy…

I’ve said book knowledge is not as good as practical skill, and I stand by that. However, I also believe that book knowledge is better than no knowledge at all.

In my hallway, the one that leads from my inside door to the exterior door and the garage door, there is a large bookshelf. The bookshelf contains a variety of books on different topics. There are books on basic house carpentry, midwifery skills, cooking over a campfire, emergency survival manuals, and the Foxfire series (minus the really new ones that came out in the last decade). Inside the house are MANY bookcases, often with duplicates of the books on that outside shelf. We generally don’t touch the books on the outside shelf, though we do reference them once in a long while. Most of the time we use the inside versions. Or I use the versions I have on my phone, because I also keep digital copies on an old cell, that I can access even if the grid goes down.

Every time I find a book that covers a broad topic that isn’t already touched on, I get a new book for that hallway bookshelf. That is the bookshelf that contains enough information to live comfortably after a collapse of civilization. How to barter, how to set a broken bone, how to make cheese, how to find clay on a riverbank. Everything I can think of. The bookshelf is always growing, because there are always more things I can add, more knowledge that might be important someday. The bookshelf isn’t just a collection—it’s a strategic resource, organized by the levels of knowledge needed for survival.

There are different levels of knowledge, from an emergency or prepping standpoint. The first level is what you KNOW. This includes stuff you’ll need to just be able to pull out of your brain in an average emergency. If you don’t have at least some practice with the first level of knowledge, you’re just fooling yourself about being prepared. Everyone should know how to assess an injury (even if they don’t know how to treat it), and how to make someone more comfortable if they go into shock. Everyone should know how to start a fire, cook over it, boil water on it, etc. Everyone should know how to cobble together a shelter. Everyone should know how to connect with their people in case the grid goes down and you can’t communicate electronically.

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Charlie made Turning Point USA, and I love it. It flows off the tongue, and it speaks to so many people. But it is religious, and not all of us are. Nor should we be! We are not a hegemony, and I don’t want us to be. It’s antithetical to the founding documents of our country.

So I suggest… “Perspective Forge.” It holds the idea Charlie had, when he asked, “change my mind,” but it also brings to mind the birth of things. A forge is where metal is strengthened, shaped, molded, and made better, and perhaps we can make a place where our country and/or our people can forge their own opinions, shaped and made better and stronger by questioning themselves and others in polite debate.

I am not the person to run this. I have so little time… But if someone wants to work with me, I can throw ideas at your wall. Like this:

A secular version of Turning Point USA, accepting everyone, leaving the choice of religion (or lack thereof) to the members. “Turning Point USA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk. The organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government. (Union University)” Therefore, Perspective Forge’s mission would be to educate and organize people and enable them to debate while promoting the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.

And when I go and look up those three things (freedom, free market, and limited government), I run into some very interesting things. They are considered the hallmark of “classical liberalism.” Our Founding Fathers considered a free market to be one of the main ways to maintain freedom from tyranny (though they differed in how they get there). Safeguarding the right to acquire and own property was considered vitally important, as it shielded individuals from government overreach. James Madison called for the protection of one’s “faculties” (skills, talents, and abilities), which give rise to property rights, “the first object of government.” Whew. What that boils down to is that Madison thought that the government’s main purpose, first purpose, was to protect the skills and abilities of its constituents, so that they could excel in whatever “faculty” they liked. When government does that, he feels it automatically protects We The People from a rogue or tyrannical government. I’m not sure I totally understand that one, but the idea is interesting.

I would love to see this exist. I would love to participate in it. If nothing else, perhaps on Charlie’s Day (Wednesdays), I will ask everyone to “challenge my view” (rather than change my mind). I’ll pick a topic, and state my viewpoint on it, and you can join in the debate. Feel free to toss topics my way, because I’m not always great at thinking of good ones.