Medieval veal stew from the Netherlands

When I made this recipe (follow link to Dutch website of Medievalist Student Society Firapeel; recipe there in medieval and modern Dutch) for my girlfriend and for Fred they both wanted a translation of it in English. Here it is, finally!

To cook this for a small gathering you need to do some maths, the recipe as given is the third course of a medieval banquet and feeds 15 people! It is authentic but adapted to modern kitchens, and the userfriendliness of things like stock cubes :-)

civé de veel

or

medieval veal stew

• 15 veal steaks of about 100 gr each, that are good for stews
• 300 gr of butter or lard
• 6 large onions
• breadcrumbs: the equivalent of 15 slices of bread
• 1 1/2 litres of red country wine
• 3 litres of beef stock from stock cubes
• season to taste with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom; and, to be authentic, saffron and applecider vinegar

Roast the veal for 10 minutes (not quite well done) in the oven (or in frying pan: seal quickly and fry a short time with low fire). Let the meat cool and cut in (not too small) pieces. Chop the onions (need not be finely chopped). Melt the lard / butter in a large frying pan. Add the meat and the onions and allow to simmer for about 30 mins.

Meanwhile, make 3 litres of beef stock from the cubes and, while stock is hot but not boiling, add 1 1/2 litres of red wine. Let the breadcrumbs soak in this liquid.

Pour the stock mixture into the frying pan with the meat. Not all at once, it should not get too watery. Add more whilst stewing if necessary. Let it warm up to simmer, and let the stew reduce to the consistency of a thick soup. Let the stew simmer for at least another hour. Whilst stirring, add spices for seasoning (saffron for colour), and the applecider vinegar.

According to the medieval recipe the result should be yellowish, thickened, which enough onions, the twang of the vinegar, and the strong taste of the spices. However, for the sake of your guests, the Firapeel website wisely suggests consideration for modern tastebuds!

For a small dinner party, adjust quantities and serve with grean leafy things (e.g., corn lettuce (lambs’ lettuce) with simple oil and vinegar on the side, which is the preceding course in the medieval banquet as shown on Firapeel’s website), and (homemade) bread. (Remember there were no potatoes here in the middle ages! ;P)

Rijst Met Kerrie: My Grandmother’s recipe for “rice with curry”

This recipe is not an Indian curry. As far as I know this is one of those recipes that live in one particular family. There are other people in .nl who make something they call “rice with curry’ or ‘curry rice’, but they will have a completely different recipe, often more akin to actual curry than this one. However, if I am wrong and you know the true origin of this recipe, please post a comment!

The quantities in this recipe can vary, it is not exact science. Ditto for the time things take to cook. Don’t try to hurry this recipe.

Serves 4

• 150 gr of marg, we use Blueband (the solid one)
• 6 large onions, finely chopped
• about 4 teaspoons of curry powder (the one I use is the mixture sold as Kerrie Djawa (Dutch/Indonesian for ’sweet curry’) (brand Lucullus) in Dutchland)
• 2 chicken legs
• a few bay leaves (2-3)
• 12 teaspoons of flour
• lots of leaf celery, chopped: you can use a whole bush/plant; and I mean the leafy herb, not the one with the big stalks!
• mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• rice, whichever you prefer, Gran uses brown rice and nowadays prefers Basmati; (4 portions, but my concept of ‘portion’ is about 30 gr/person, most people want more)

First boil the chicken legs slowly in water for at least an hour, with the bay leaves. The chicken should be completely soft and fall of the bone easily. Save the stock, you need it for the recipe. Let the chicken cool on a plate and pluck the meat off the bone, shred it in small pieces.

Take a large saucepan, heat the marg, add the curry, and let the onions simmer in this, slowly. They should not go all brown, rather become soft and transparent. Add salt when onions look ready. Then stir in the flour, let it cook. Stir vigorously so no raw lumpy bits are left. Then gradually begin adding the chicken stock, keep stirring to avoid lumpy bits. Let it reduce to a nice thick sauce. When this is done, start boiling the rice (you can do this earlier, also depending on how long your rice takes to cook). Now add the chicken, celery leaves, and mushrooms to the stock and let it simmer together.

~oOo~

I will post some pictures later.

my map of the world

Here’s the map of the countries I’ve visited worldwide, and maps of Europe, the UK and the USA (counties/states visited). I found that there are not nearly as many red bits on the map as I thought there would be, because I travel a lot more in my mind and visiting my online friends, than I get to travel irl. Especially the map of the USA is almost empty irl. My map of the UK may be incomplete because I am not sure what counties I have visited. It is true that there are big parts of the country I never see, because I keep going back to the same places. I intend to fill these maps with more and more red bits in the not too distant future.

create your own visited country map

create your personalized map of europe

create your own personalized map of the USA

I’ve visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited?made by marnanel map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of the Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright 2001.

wishlist

waaaay too ambitious … but visualizing your dreams you are already half way there, they say…

things to learn in the (near) future

• BHV / Emergency response training (already have the first aid cert. … now to keep the licence valid… :/)
• car mechanics
• carpentry
• skeelering / inline skating (at this stage I am still confused as to which is which… :P) : goal is skate parade of London, New York, Paris
• riding horses
• climbing and caving (= work in progress)
• rescue swimming
• singing properly, countertenor hopefully
• play guitar
• flamenco dancing
• flying small aircraft
• design and make my own clothes

things to achieve:

• participate in Drag Queen Olympic 2008 (Amsterdam Koninginnenacht)
• skate parades see above
• marathon London, New York, Rotterdam
• climbing high mountains, as in proper climbing… no specific goals yet
• walk to Santiago de Compostela from Netherlands
• walk to Rome from Netherlands
• black belt Shuri-Ryu Karate
• ditto for Modern Arnis
• publish articles that i’m working on, my MA thesis and some undergrad papers worthy of publication
• write phd dissertation, get phd, publish
• publish a book of poetry
• publish some short stories
• get back into Tai Chi

languages to learn, in no particular order:

• improve skill in French, German, Spanish, Italian
• try not to completely forget all my Dutch ;p
• learn Portuguese
• Indonesian (Bahasa, Javan, Karo-Batak)
• Japanese
• Russian
• New Greek
• Modern Irish
• Modern Welsh
• Arabic
• Turkish
• Chinese
• Biblical Hebrew
• Frisian
• Old Saxon (no that’s not Anglo-Saxon)
• modern Icelandic
• Swedish
• Hungarian

Random things I want:

• tattoo of my own design
• mac powerbook
• professional photo camera
• mp3 player
• very important: new bike, city bike with somewhat thicker tires and front carrier on it, black, men’s frame: Kronan swedish military bike! expensive but there are dealers who offer a good price
• proper sunglasses and one of those clipon things that’s stronger (got that), both of these polaroid
• this treasure box
• Bookhug book stand

Gear to buy:

• karate gi, mouth guard (purchased), sparring gloves, knife (the one i have may be okay, must check); sword; machete
• climbing rope, belt, magnesium bag, shoes
• better daypack, larger (30 l)
• proper pocket knife w/ tools, haven’t decided which one
• camping kit: sleeping bag, tent, whatever is needed, see…
• outdoor clothes for hiking and climbing that dry fast, and dont tear easily: pants from here ; shorts also look good; one or two more tight fitting t shirts would be good, too
• more comfortable running clothes, the hiking t-shirts are great but for pants i have no idea; the shoes are okay for the short distances i do now. if i manage to get into the marathon thing at some point…
• new low class hiking boots next year… i wear them much more than i thought i would
• skates, knee and elbow protection, helmet
• guitar
• flamenco shoes see below

clothing and things to buy, male stuff:

• decent pair of black men’s dress shoes
• decent men’s suit, or 2, black and grey
• decent short sleeve shirts
• wristwatch with gadgets (waterproof, timezones, date, stopwatch, altimeter, etc.)
• cowboy boots
• black pants
• black jeans and blue jeans
• fix wardrobe to look handsome not boring generic male
• better ties
• wearable men’s skirt
• irish tartan kilt
• dark red / wine colour dress shirt

clothing: costumes

• threepiece men’s suit, chalk stripe
• men’s chainwatch, antique
• flamenco dress: pattern from here ; pattern for dress and skirt ordered
• flamenco shoes; shawl
• men’s flamenco shoes
• men’s flamenco skirt
• japanese shogun outfit
• geisha outfit
• ordinary medieval men’s outfits, or robin hood outfit :-D
• medieval lady’s dress
• medieval knight’s outfit
• medieval sorcerer’s outfit
• formal ballroom dress
• very wrong 1980’s outfit, think Culture Club
• can’t resist the thought: proper cowboy hat
• also can’t resist the thought of a zorro costume, with the right hat, cape and mask
• Venetian Carnival Mask and cloak, maybe more than one mask

books: ugh… where to even start this list….

list will be updated

island

i’m living on a deserted island, wild seas roaring all around.

somewhere far away, is the world of my past. a world where nothing was right, nothing fit, nothing made sense. a place of hurt, from always being pressed into someone else’s tidy box.

somewhere, in the distance, is the world that is my own, where i belong, the life i was meant to live. equally beyond my grasp. to get there, i have to travel back to the old world, and destroy most of it. take what is worth keeping. and the people who matter, if they can follow me. a new way back is the only way forward.

and either way, there is a raging ocean to cross. perhaps in some past life, i was a sailor, carrying goods down the river Nile, once upon a time when the piramids were new, or so a wise man once told me. no matter. for this time around, i’m swimming on my own.  i have no ship to keep me afloat. no stars to guide me.

very soon, it will be time, to go back to the old world. to tell them my new name, show them my new world. i feel that when i take that plunge, i will fall, and fall, and keep on falling… till i drown. it’s a nightmare.

then i wake up and realise: this island, right here… this is Atlantis. submerged Atlantis. and i’ve been sitting on the bottom of the ocean all these years. i’ve grown stiff from the inertia. every movement aches. but i begin to see: the only way to go from here is up.

dodging the debris

okay, so i stayed on the road, and the hurricane continues to rage around me. i guess the best way is to jump into it, and catch one bit of debris at a time, and trash it. mind-decluttering-super-fling-boogie or whatever. it kinda works. the hard part is to really catch one and only one piece of mental trash at a time, and process it fast enough to be ready for when the next one comes along. and to dodge all the rest until you have a place to put it.

i’m learning but not fast enough. i catch one issue, fix it, and immediately i look up the next one hits me,  like right between the eyes, head on collision. the funny thing is that, if this image of the hurricane is a good description of what’s happening in my brain, it should get easier and easier very fast: once you develop speed to catch the flying boulders and papers and what not, without getting hit, you should be able to pluck most of them out of the air, and … the beauty of it is that the storm is then supposed to go away, or… the wind will keep blowing but without the debris.  Eventually you can catch almost all the trash that’s in the air, and only once in a while will a new piece show up, or several… but by then you are trained to get rid of them and you can still see the sun behind the (smaller) clowd of trash. …

well, in theory that is….

so this is the training phase, after i’ve been ducking to avoid the swelling storm for all these years. maybe, instead of ducking, i should find some sort of temporary helmet, to wear while i still get hit by my brainjunk more often than not. my head hurts.