Blessed Eid!

We’re back from our summer break, and we had a fantastic turnout for our Culinary Night last night! In honor of the season, we decided to do a Turkish, Ottoman, and Persian Theme. We ended up getting dishes from ancient Carthage, India, Iraq, England, and all over the Islamic world, so it was a wonderful mix.

Culinary Group is getting so large that we may soon need to find a new venue for our monthly meetings! Last night (with kids included) we had over 20 people in attendance. While everyone is a good sport about sitting on the floor, we just keep growing!

Special guests last night included my husband Andrew, Melodie’s three children, and Melodie’s friends, Nicole and Brandi. We are a totally open group and you don’t need to be formally affiliated with the SCA to attend, so we hope to see more new folks in the coming months! (We do hope you’ll come out to other SCA stuff eventually, though!)

Really nice to meet everyone whose first time it was last night!

Here are some photos from last night’s culinary adventure! It was a unique palate shift for us, because we often focus on western European dishes. The dominant flavors on the table were almond, rose water, mint, vinegar, saffron, cinnamon, yogurt, and ginger.

We also had a number of gluten-free dishes, which is something we’ve started doing in past months to accommodate more of our gluten-sensitive friends. Seafood of any kind has also gradually begun to disappear from our meetings for the same reason – while seafood was totally common all over the place in period, we do limit ourselves a little bit to remain inclusive.

Next month’s theme is up in the air, but we’re thinking either apples or fried things – stay tuned!

Caiaphas explains his two varieties of kawah (coffee) – also on tap were his award-winning beers! Congratulations on your Bitter End Defendership! 

Part of last night’s group

Kawah, lime and rosewater sekanjabin (cordial,) yogurt rice with honey, chocolate zucchini muffins, zirbaj (with the parsley) and another similar chicken and almond dish

From left: saffron rice, Persian lamb, rose water cookies, chicken with cucumber, almond and rosewater cookies, sweetmeats (tastes just like Necco wafers!) stewed lamb, “oat cakes,” Punic porridge, Tarim basin bread, chickpea stew. (Not pictured: Asa’s delicious lamb meatballs!)

Until next time!

– Alice


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