Dude! What about saving the Medieval Babes?

I went to an event called War Dog in Maple Ridge, hosted by the Society for Creative Anachronism on Saturday with Elizabeth. Apparently, Vancouver is the "Shire of Eisenmarche" in the "Kingdom of An-Tir."

War Dog, is a mixture of medieval fair, and competition for the "warriors" of the Kingdom to compete for titles.

I would have gone on Friday afternoon, However I was daunted by the veritable typhoon happening outside. Several campsites actually flooded on Friday evening, leaving three to four inches of water in the bottom of the tents that were set up at lower elevations. I didn't want to end up like Bugs Bunny versus the Mad Scientist on Ether, and end up floating away on the air mattress, down the river. (If you're confused, that's also the episode with the Big Tall Red Hair monster, who Bugs coddles/confuses by pretending to be an Esthetician, and giving him a "permenemenant" with sticks of Dynamite.) It's one of my favourite episodes of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons.

I digress...

I chose to call myself Abigail, for my S.C.A. name, after my deceased twin sister. I thought it would be something that she would be okay with, and perhaps an event, if she was alive, that she would have enjoyed. Although that is something I never will know.

I ended up purchasing a few items at one of the merchants, one of them being a dark forest green velour overcorset with black ribbon lacing on both sides, and a black crushed velvet half cloak with various shades of grey "fleur de lis" style embroidery along the edges of both the hood and the cape. Both items gorgeous, and both items reduced in price because they got wet from all the rain, but were undamaged as far as I could see. They looked quite pretty with my gown. I also picked up a pewter "Celtic Goddess" knotwork necklace charm, and a purse and matching change purse in a dark sage green with bright yellow celtic knotwork stitched and edged in orange all at a reduced price. It probably was not as profitable for the merchant but suited my purposes quite well. I contemplated picking up a small gift such as a celtic knotwork ring, to mail to Devin, but wasn't sure what he would like so I refrained.

I participated in a cooking "competition" called Eisen Chef. Its a creative knockoff of "Iron Chef."

The only things limiting the chefs when they prepared the dishes they made was that they had to stick to a particular era and a particular region of cooking, and the ingredients available at that particular point in time. Most of the food was cooked on coals, and prepared on site. It involved a LOT of research. I was very impressed.

The first chef that presented her dishes to us was cooking in a Persian style. Her ingredient of choice was Walnuts. I never really knew the versatility of walnuts until this event. I had a very good walnut bread, a unique style of Hummus, chicken breast slices with finely diced walnut in a soup style sauce, and a walnut mousse that was absolutely to DIE for. (And that Elizabeth and I both wanted to take home.) Unfortunately, the chef had forgotten her walnut cake. (Damn!)

The second chef was preparing Anglo Saxon style food, and the ingredient he chose to feature was Carrots. Now, I'm not a huge fan of carrot. It's okay in small portions,, but not when it's overwhelming. I tried a portion of Carrot soup, a carrot porridge (which in all actuality is a beef and carrot stew, but was called porridge... It was very good.) And I had a sample of carrot pie, which is very similar to Pumpkin pie, but a little grittier in texture.

The third chef was Yuki-San, (who's Japanese name is practically unpronounceable, let alone type-able. So we called him Yuki-San, A.K.A. "Bonny Donny!") He prepared food from Japan, and his ingredient of choice was Soy. (including soy bean, soy sprouts, soy milk and tofu in various flavours and firmness.) the starter was a shot of sake, He prepared several dishes including the staple sticky rice, a mushroom soup with soy milk, real shredded crab and shrimp served on deep fried tofu slices, and his dessert dish was a very soft tofu with a mild sweet almond flavouring and a leaf of this gorgeous lemon smelling leaf from some plant that neither Melissa or I can seem to remember the name of.

The fourth chef, was also Saxon style cooking, and his ingredient of choice was pork. He did up several dishes incorporating pork. Even the dessert dishes had pork pieces in them. I'm very particular about the cuts of meat I eat, because I can't eat fatty meats. I wish I had paid more attention to the kebob style dish that had turnips, pieces of pork and pieces of pork LIVER. I ended up popping a piece of liver in my mouth, and after my shock at finding out what it was after a few chews, remedied the situation very quickly. Namely by almost puking. I should have realized that Offal meant liver, but clued in after the fact, because I was distracted by good conversation.

Liver? No that's all right. I'd rather gnaw my arm, thanks.

I really felt that the Japanese chef had a slight disadvantage, not to his fault but the ingredients for the era of Japanese cuisine was quite limited. Nevertheless, Yuki-San was accepted as a Standing Eisen Chef, receiving a title in the SCA, a very nice handcrafted Sake shot glass and a shiny new handcrafted knife. Congratulations Bonny Donny!

He also got a good faceful of cleavage when I gave him a hug. I'm sure he wasn't disappointed.

Halfway through the second session of Eisen chef, some of the SCA members did medieval dance, and I recognized a few of the songs and dances from class but was too busy participating in the cooking competition. It was basically dinner entertainment. At the end of the competition, my corset was definitely tighter than usual.

I saw several one on one "battles" held by the Heavies, AKA the armoured swordfighters (and various and assorted other weaponry.) None with a naked blade, but with practice weapons. and also the "swishy-pokies" (Being the fencers.) I found the thud of the sword on a kite shield more satisfying out of the two styles, personally.

There was only ONE thing that I was disappointed about from the whole event, and it was regarding caste and societal status. Now, I'm merely a visitor to this event and not a member of the organization, but this did bother me. Hear me out.

I was standing with a few ladies in between Eisen Chef sessions, and out of the corner of my eye, noticed a woman who was from another visiting SCA Shire, accidentally slip and fall next to the "Duke of Eisenmarche."

Now the "Duke" being about 45 years of age, and fully capable of helping this woman to her feet, did nothing. He stood there and looked at her. I was appalled. I don't care what "status" you have in this society, but when someone falls, you help them up, and you make sure they are all right. Human beings are human beings. I probably don't have a right to say this, but in a society that bases itself on chivalry, I thought that was most unchivalrous.

Other than that. I had a good time. A very good time.