Roman Cookery

As promised, my experimentation with Roman cookery. I thought that since I was dressed as a Roman for our Ancients party, I should cook like a Roman.

SWEET WITH HONEY

200g white flour, 50g ground almonds, 50g walnuts, 50g sesame seeds, 150g honey, 3 eggs

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Crush the walnuts well and grind the sesame. Beat the eggs with the honey and slowly add the flour, almonds and walnuts, beating constantly. This will produce a thick sticky batter. Grease a cake pan and sprinkle with the ground sesame and spread over the batter. Bake for 35 minutes. Keep an eye on it as it can easily burn. When cooked, remove from oven and take out of the pan. Cover with a towel until cool and then cut into small squares. 

This dish is a great palate cleanser between differing dishes. It becomes quite a hard baked slice however not too hard to bite into. The honey is subtle but yummy. 

ISICIA OMENTATA (ROMAN BURGERS)

500g minced beef, 5 slices of bread soaked in white wine, 50ml grape juice, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce

Begin by soaking the bread in enough white wine to make the bread fall apart. Use your finger to break it up. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix together. Form small burger patties with your hands. Fry them in a non-stick pan with a little olive oil. 

This is a fabulous savoury dish. It's very quick and easy to prepare. 





MUSTACEI (MUST ROLLS)

500g plain flour, 300ml grape juice, 2 Tablespoons anise seeds, 2 Tablespoons cumin seeds, 100g lard, 50g grated cheese (sheep or feta if unavailable), 20 bay leaves, 40g yeast (optional)

Preheat ove to 180 degrees celsius. Mix anise and cumin seeds with the flour. If adding yeast to lighten the rolls, stir this through as well. Rub through the lard (softened to room temperature). Add the cheese and grape juice and work together to form a dough. Do not overwork the dough, just until it comes together. Form rolls and put on a lined baking tray with a bay leaf under each. Bake for 20 minutes or until the rolls are firm and sound hollow when tapped with a spoon.

An Ancient Evening

Well, it has been far too long since I last posted, however I have been inordinately busy between the final weeks of University and preparing for the final costuming events of the year. The first of which, the christmas party for my re-enactment group.

This year, we decided to hold a WDR (Wine, Dine, Recline) dressed in Ancients garb. One of the most perfect styles for the end of the year as the temperature in Brisbane rises. This year, it has been especially bad, so we did end our evening with a soak in the pool to cool off. It was a lovely evening where we all got to relax, chat and eat some delicious period food. Of which, I will be sharing the recipes that I used. However, as the event this year was held on the Birthday of one of our ladies, I decided to surprise her with a cake - a beautiful chocolate one that I dressed up as a roman bath decorated with columns, marbled sugarpaste tiles, lego romans, and a jelly bath. Aside from looking great it was a delicious end to our supper.

As for my costume, this year, I decided to do it up Roman. I picked up some beautiful silk cotton at my local fabric store that I knew would be perfect to turn into a gap sleeve gown. It is a simple as tying knots up the arms to create a sleeve. Due to the sheerness of the gown, I did make a white cotton voile tunic tied over one shoulder to wear underneath. It is all then secured with a tie at my waist. I did feel rather bulky in it all, but am assured that it looked lovely. Of course I forgot to get any full shots of my outfit, so this will have to do. It is not a style that I would try using a heavy fabric. To top the ensemble off, I styled a wig based on original roman busts. I used a lot of plaits and braids to get a roped together look.

Stay tuned for my experiments in roman cooking...

Upcoming...

Well, now that we are into 2012, I have to look at what's on my plate next. I have already added a lot of the events that I will be going to this year to my calendar (Supanova, Oz Comic Con, ACG Ball, History Alive). But a lot of those aren't for a while yet. In the meantime, I have been trying to put together a couple of pieces for work (vintage dresses, pants and the like) which has kept me entertained, but now I really need to get a head start on the upcoming months. 'Cause at this stage, April looks almost full to bursting.

March 9th - 11th - Ancients Camping
Hasn't really been confirmed yet, but I am looking at attending an Ancients camping event for a weekend in March. I just need to convince some of my fellow re-enactors to go along with me (hint hint, nudge nudge) I'm not too worried about my costumes as I already have the one that I made in 2010, and the outfits are stupid simple to put together. I would like to have another styled wig though -  red this time instead of blonde, so I have put that order in today. Then comes the fun styling part.

March 29th - Vintage Fashion Fair
Thinking that I might just rewear something to the upcoming Vintage Fashion Fair. It's not like I don't have stuff in my wardrobe. I wear it on such a regular basis though, that it is nice to have something different for the fashion fairs. Will have to see how I go time-wise. Who knows, I might become incredibly inspired to put something together.

April 14th - Titanic
The ACG are doing both day and evening Titanic events to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the sinking. Which means two costumes. I will be starting from the inside and working my way out, so be prepared for updates. I am going to start work on drafting up the undergarments patterns this weekend. Hopefully I can at least get my mock ups done and ready to make the final versions.

As for my gowns, I have made the final decisions, bought the fabrics and ordered the patterns that I am going to base my gowns on.

For my day gown - the lilac fabric is for the base dress, the white voile for the blouse. I am intending to add a bit of insertion lace into it as well. I know I have some in one of my boxes of lace. All I need to complete this is the fabric for the binding and the sash, which I am thinking will be a dupion silk that I can make the hat to match out of. 

For my evening gown - green satin (the colour is a little off in the photo) with black lace over the top. And if you look cloesly at the hem of the dress I want to make - tassels! It had me at tassels. I am thinking metalic thread and glass beads for my tassels. But still, tassels!

April 20th - 22nd - Supanova
And that brings me to Supanova. I am going to be re-wearing a lot this year, but as there are so many characters that I desperately want to make, I thought that I would tame myself with just one new one. And my choice this time is Squid Girl. I adore the anime and have been looking for an excuse to make the costume. I have started collecting the fabric (cotton for the dress, interfacing, and lycra to make the shoe covers and arm cuffs). I have also worked out how I am going to do the hair and have purchased my wig, so stay tuned.

I won't go on any further, but after April, the year is getting busier and busier. But I am looking forward to it all. The only thing I have to watch this year is that I don't burn myself out by doing too much. I got horrendously sick in November last year because I was so stressed out about a couple of projects and then adding work on top of that; I was a wreck. This year, I am trying to cut back. It may mean that I have to say no to a couple of events, and just try to rewear a lot of my costumes instead of making something new.

An Ancient WDR

And that brings me to Saturday. My re-enactment group (RIFF) had our Christmas party, which was actually an ancients Wine, Dine and Recline or WDR. It's a great theme for a summer party because we all end up wearing what are essentially sheets. It also makes for a very comfortable evening when you are eating lots of food because lets face it, you don't have to worry about your pants getting too tight. After my first failed attempt earlier this year at an Egyptian wig and draping white fabric around my body, I decided that this time I would do an Ancient Roman ensemble.



It was a great evening, we had way too much food, but it was all fantastic and actually made from recipes that are true to the time. I sometimes find it amazing what sort of research you can do on the internet. We spent the evening laying back on some comfy cushions, stuffing our faces and sipping on wine. I was really pleased with how my ensemble turned out and am really looking forward to maybe wearing it all again some time.