Take a Pound of Suet: Fall Cooking Workshop with Clarissa Dillon

Last weekend I was lucky enough to get to attend another workshop with Clarissa F. Dillon at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation. It is part of a series, one being hosted in each of the seasons to get an around the year taste of Colonial cooking. There was a great group of people there, we made a pork and apple pie, stewed pears , a boiled cabbage pudding, cauliflower, and a "Regalia of Cucumbers" with a side of pickled gherkins. Everything was delicious, especially Clarissa's pickled gherkins.     

Clarissa Dillon

 One of the fun things about these workshops is that they have a more experimental archaeology focus and not so much of a 1st person cooking experience focus as many people who attend these workshops are already established hearth cooks and are more interested in trying archaic or little known cooking and preserving techniques.

Clarissa is currently working on one such experiment and I am very interested in seeing the results. She has eggs in slacked lime and plans to remove and try one egg every month for 2 years to see if the staying capacity of eggs in 18th century preservation receipts was an exaggeration.  We also got to try picked gherkins and claret which are typically hard to come by.
      

The busy kitchen.

Making the pie crust.

The pie filled with layers of pork and apples.

Sue chopping quite a bit of suet.

Cabbage for the pudding.

Before the boiling cloth.

Draining the pudding.

All tied up.

Into the pot.

The completed Cheshire Pork Pie.

The Stewed Pears.

Some of the recipes:

The food was delicious and everyone had a great time swapping hearth cooking and colonial stories. Can't wait for the next one.

Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party

It's October already? What happened to September? Normally these are my two favorite months out of the year. But instead of cornfields and colored leaves we've had pouring rain and frigid days. I'm still recovering. I've also been doing way too much work on the computer to the point that my brain is fried so I will probably be taking a short hiatus soon. Technology, how can I love you and hate you at the same time?  

Fun trip to Valley Forge for a nice walk. The hurricane canceled almost everything we had planned for the weekend.

Monarch caterpillar chomping away.

 Remember the blood moon from the lunar eclipse? Most of us almost missed it because it was cloudy.

I made a friend a faux hairwork watch guard for Civil War Reenacting to replace a modern chain.

I don't post a lot of photos of myself. I'm tring to get better about this. Here's me with my mysteriously migrating kerchief. 

 I've been spending a lot of time sewing but it's mostly boring stuff like 18th century short gowns and aprons. One day I'll sew a pin cushion.

"Oh, but we forgot Ariya! Lets take the photo again!" I had the cutest class come to work. One of their friends and classmate couldn't make the trip so a group of girls made a paper doll of her and made sure to take photos of themselves and her doing all of the activities.

Fun find at an antique bookstore! I don't collect many antique books because I don't have the time to properly care for too many but I do still collect antique cookbooks, recipes and domestic books. <3 br="" nbsp="">

The Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia now has a fantastic exhibit where you can watch artifacts being conserved.

Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation Civil War Reenactment 2015

Just back from the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation Civil War Reenactment, in Media, PA.  As always, this is a lovely event with beautiful scenery where the spectators stand right up in the action. As always, the reenactors were top rate and the portrayal was beautiful.  Beautiful weather, scenery and friends, you really can't ask for a better time.

Here are my highlight photos from the event:

Go to my Facebook Album to see more photos:

So many photos from this weekend! Tag and share!To see my favorites: http://worldturndupsidedown.blogspot.com/2015/09/colonial-pennsylvania-plantation-civil.html
Posted by Stephanie Ann on Monday, September 21, 2015

Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party: I've Been Away

Normally the Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party Posts are about the more ordinary parts of life or seeing  extraordinary in the ordinary of everyday. This one is the exact opposite. This one is about doing everything out of the ordinary.

A few weeks ago I was invited to a Civil War reenactment. That's not out of the ordinary, is it? It was almost 3 hours away and I would be going by myself. I am a big fan of adventure; however, I am also a big believer in the buddy system. Maybe I should say I'm a fan of the controlled adventure. I honestly never go anywhere alone and I do a fair amount of planning before I leave.  I also hate to drive.

To contrast, one of my best friends is a lover of adventure. This instant. If she gets a call saying that there is something fun going on three states away, she has her bags packed and in the car before I can even whip out my pen and paper to make my pro/con and packing lists. She goes on solo, last minute adventures all of the time and I have no clue how she does it. (Backpacking, camping, snorkeling, archaeological digs, she's pretty much ready for anything.)

Midway into my adventure she called from Colorado, which had been her third fun adventure this summer.

"What's up? I haven't heard from you in awhile." she said.

"I'm in the Appalachians. I'm on a crazy adventure. By myself. "

"It's hard to believe. You drove all by yourself? I'm not buying it. Are you camping? Who are you staying with?"

My adventure started as soon as I put my things in the car. Rain, and lots of it. It wasn't bad for the first hour or so but soon became torrential. I could barely see a few feet in front of my car and the sky had a sickly color to it.

But I arrived safely at the home of my friends and for the rest of the trip the weather was beautiful and I got to see a lot of wildlife and beautiful scenery. I love the mountains! There were apple trees everywhere and I made it a point to try and taste as many different ones as I could.

The reenactment was fun and the location was very scenic.

There were so many stars! Way more than we can see in Philadelphia and many more than I captured here. The sky looked almost muddy with stars.  

All cats think they are tiny big cats but this particular kitty really has the "toy panther" thing down. There were lots of barns and lots of cats everywhere. 

My lovely hosts and I decided to go hiking vertically up the mountain. Probably a bad plan. :)

The tiny silver one in the corner will be mine when she is old enough to leave her mother.

I may or may not have shot some of this. :)

Overall it was a fantastic few weeks and I can't wait to go back.