A fun weekend, with edible Hats.
This weekend was our annual local renaissance dance event, Terpsichore at the Tower XIX.
As usual, I organized the dessert revel during the evening ball, and made a cake subtletie (or in this case, 2 of them) to be displayed during the day and eaten as part of the dessert buffet.
This year, I did Elizabethan Tall Hats. I decided to do a shorter black one (3 cake layers high) with an angled crown and slightly curved brim, which I was pretty sure I could do well, and a taller pleated style purple one, which I was less certain (with good reason as it turned out) that I could pull off.
For the black one, I used my friend elaine_alina's hat as a model for the proportions, and aside from having to rebake one layer that fell apart coming out of the pan, all went smoothly. I carved the crown, iced it and covered it with fondant, and placed it on the fondant brim, then added fondant point lace, candy pearls, a sugarpaste brooch, and real feathers (I'd tried making some out of wafer paper, but they were unconvincing). This was the result:
The purple cake, alas, did not go so smoothly. It came out a bit taller than planned, making it even harder to cover neatly with fondant, and the fondant itself was a bit too dry. I didn't realize how bad it was until it was on the cake, and started cracking badly, and wouldn't pleat the way I wanted. I eventually decided that doing more would only make it worse, and left it as it was. It still ended up recognizably a hat, but one that had survived a few camping events.
Pics of the purple hat, and more photos of the black one can be seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151400997313233.1073741826.563468232&type=1&l=326a9b0450
I finished the cakes on Thursday, freeing up time on Friday to get ready for the event, and to make a trifle out of cake scraps for the Friday night pre-event ball at the event site.
Event report below the cut.
I arrived Friday night a bit before 7pm, brought in and set up the trifle, then picked up the cakes from mom's place (I'd used her kitchen as it's much larger than mine and only a few bocks from the site) and brought them over.
I was thrilled to see out of town friends gradually arrive during the course of the evening, particularly dancemaster_e from Minneapolis (who we had not been expecting) and the Canadian contingent, which included Jamie from Ottawa, who had taken the train to Hamilton and then gotten a ride with folks from there. This was his first time actually making it out to Terp, and I'm hoping he had a good enough time to come again next year (as long as it doesn't coincide with his finals).
Much silliness and other fun occurred, including a comical version of Hyde Park, for which the keyboard intro had a polka feel to it, and the dancers decided to go with that, with much bouncing and flouncing of skirts. The dancing included lots of cascarde (quick bouncy Italian dances) and quite a few out of period (but fun) dances that wouldn't be part of the ball the next night. My trifle was well received, and they gave me (and then the trifle bowl) a cheer. Alas, I was carrying the empty bowl to the car at the time, so neither of us was present, but they cheered again when I returned. Aren also sent food for the revel--recipes she was testing for an event next month, and I greatly appreciated the venison pie, which was delicious, and made up for the fact that I hadn't really had dinner.
After the ball, many of us headed to elaine_alina's house to party for a while with the out of town guests staying there. We ate, chatted, and played games (Elaine and Jamie left Lynnette, Vince and I in the dust playing Scrabble) until about 2am, at which point I drove Jamie and myself to my place so he could sleep on my cat free couch (he's allergic). Fortunately, I only live 2 miles from elaine_alina's place, so we could hang out there, then sleep allergen free after only a 5 minute drive.
Jamie and I left at 8am to meet elaine_alina, charles_midair and sionandreas for breakfast at the Saline Inn, then headed to the site, where I was delighted to see mistress_jess, who I'd not seen in what seemed like ages. Traveling with an infant had delayed her and her husband such that they missed the Friday night stuff, but it was great to get to see them on Saturday.
I alternated between taking classes, and chatting with friends, attending Elaine's by request class, where someone requested Petit Rose, (since she wouldn't be able to make it to my class later), so I got drafted (happily) to teach it. I jumped into Darius's "Hour of Dance" class partway through, and was doing Genevra Weasly with Meg when they opened the dividers to prepare for a quick pre-lunch court, and the class suddenly both had more space to dance, and became the pre-court entertainment.
During the mini-court, charles_midair begged a boon for his protege, Baroness Giovanna, to be put on vigil for the Order of the Pelican, much to her surprise (and well deserved).
After lunch, I taught my Intro 15th Century Italian class (Petit Rose, Petite Vriens, Amoroso and Vita di Cholina). The class went well, aside from the fact that the last dance (which I'd been asked to add because it was going to be in the ball and wasn't being taught otherwise) was both more advanced, and had faster music. Once Alex offered to fetch a recorder and play it slower, all but one set were able to get through it successfully with me calling.
During the 2pm time slot, I chatted with people, then wandered up to get on the list for Giovanna's Vigil. I enjoyed chatting with folks while waiting, but when it was after 3pm and I still wasn't up, I decided to go dance and try to catch her later.
Got there late for Jamie's St. Paul's Cathedral class, but enjoyed watching it nonetheless, and was also amused after the class when everyone was on the floor scraping & peeling off the tape he'd used to outline one of the floor patterns (two overlapping serpentine heys, which he discovered after taping them out on the floor formed a swastika--which was a source of much teasing).
During the day I got many compliments on the cakes, and was told by a friend that they'd overheard people remarking on how cool it was that the purple one looked like it was well worn, while the black one looked like it only came out for court. Entirely unintentional, but amusing.
Next was dinner with 31 other people from the event at Mac's Acadian Seafood restaurant (a block from the site), where I was evil and had the fried clams (which are nothing like the usual friend clams you see most places), with redskins instead of fries (because I didn't need *more* fried food) and their yummy hot bread and house salad (which includes dried cherries). I had to get back to warm up for singing before court, so the waiter put a rush on my order, getting me my food very quickly, and my bill in time for me to pay before I had to leave (just as others were getting their entrees). He got a very good tip from me.
Sang with the Cynnabar Singers before court, watched numerous friends get baronial and kingdom awards, and court was even done in time for the ball to start a bit early.
After a few dances, I spent the second half of the first set setting up the dessert revel. Lots of folks pitched in to get the tables up, tablecloths on, and food out of the kitchen, uncovered, and cut if needed. About 20 people had signed up to bring stuff, but we had far more than 20 dishes show up--3 long tables full of food for folks to pick from, with my cakes at the far end. After a brief Baronial Court to recognize the musicians, those playing music got to go first in the dessert line, followed by everyone else.
Aside from checking periodically to see if I needed to put out more forks, I had the rest of the evening free to dance and chat. My knee and ankle held up better than they have for the past few dance events I've attended, and I was able to dance more--enough to make my feet hurt, which hasn't happened for a while.
Post revel at Elaine's place, with tons of food (including dessert revel leftovers), lots of conversation, and a large game of Cards Against Humanity. Jamie and I left around 3:30am or so, got about 4 hours of sleep, and then got up to head over to aelkiss and niquerio's place for brunch, which inclued yummy french toast with real maple syrup, some coffee cake and other goodies from the dessert revel leftovers, and great company. After eating, we did a little dancing in the living room while niquerio played the music on her harpsichord, then went out to lunch with those still there at that point (aelkiss, niquerio, elaine_alina, Felice, Michael, and myself)
All in all, an awesome weekend with lots of dancing, great food, and even better friends.
As usual, I organized the dessert revel during the evening ball, and made a cake subtletie (or in this case, 2 of them) to be displayed during the day and eaten as part of the dessert buffet.
This year, I did Elizabethan Tall Hats. I decided to do a shorter black one (3 cake layers high) with an angled crown and slightly curved brim, which I was pretty sure I could do well, and a taller pleated style purple one, which I was less certain (with good reason as it turned out) that I could pull off.
For the black one, I used my friend elaine_alina's hat as a model for the proportions, and aside from having to rebake one layer that fell apart coming out of the pan, all went smoothly. I carved the crown, iced it and covered it with fondant, and placed it on the fondant brim, then added fondant point lace, candy pearls, a sugarpaste brooch, and real feathers (I'd tried making some out of wafer paper, but they were unconvincing). This was the result:
The purple cake, alas, did not go so smoothly. It came out a bit taller than planned, making it even harder to cover neatly with fondant, and the fondant itself was a bit too dry. I didn't realize how bad it was until it was on the cake, and started cracking badly, and wouldn't pleat the way I wanted. I eventually decided that doing more would only make it worse, and left it as it was. It still ended up recognizably a hat, but one that had survived a few camping events.
Pics of the purple hat, and more photos of the black one can be seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151400997313233.1073741826.563468232&type=1&l=326a9b0450
I finished the cakes on Thursday, freeing up time on Friday to get ready for the event, and to make a trifle out of cake scraps for the Friday night pre-event ball at the event site.
Event report below the cut.
I arrived Friday night a bit before 7pm, brought in and set up the trifle, then picked up the cakes from mom's place (I'd used her kitchen as it's much larger than mine and only a few bocks from the site) and brought them over.
I was thrilled to see out of town friends gradually arrive during the course of the evening, particularly dancemaster_e from Minneapolis (who we had not been expecting) and the Canadian contingent, which included Jamie from Ottawa, who had taken the train to Hamilton and then gotten a ride with folks from there. This was his first time actually making it out to Terp, and I'm hoping he had a good enough time to come again next year (as long as it doesn't coincide with his finals).
Much silliness and other fun occurred, including a comical version of Hyde Park, for which the keyboard intro had a polka feel to it, and the dancers decided to go with that, with much bouncing and flouncing of skirts. The dancing included lots of cascarde (quick bouncy Italian dances) and quite a few out of period (but fun) dances that wouldn't be part of the ball the next night. My trifle was well received, and they gave me (and then the trifle bowl) a cheer. Alas, I was carrying the empty bowl to the car at the time, so neither of us was present, but they cheered again when I returned. Aren also sent food for the revel--recipes she was testing for an event next month, and I greatly appreciated the venison pie, which was delicious, and made up for the fact that I hadn't really had dinner.
After the ball, many of us headed to elaine_alina's house to party for a while with the out of town guests staying there. We ate, chatted, and played games (Elaine and Jamie left Lynnette, Vince and I in the dust playing Scrabble) until about 2am, at which point I drove Jamie and myself to my place so he could sleep on my cat free couch (he's allergic). Fortunately, I only live 2 miles from elaine_alina's place, so we could hang out there, then sleep allergen free after only a 5 minute drive.
Jamie and I left at 8am to meet elaine_alina, charles_midair and sionandreas for breakfast at the Saline Inn, then headed to the site, where I was delighted to see mistress_jess, who I'd not seen in what seemed like ages. Traveling with an infant had delayed her and her husband such that they missed the Friday night stuff, but it was great to get to see them on Saturday.
I alternated between taking classes, and chatting with friends, attending Elaine's by request class, where someone requested Petit Rose, (since she wouldn't be able to make it to my class later), so I got drafted (happily) to teach it. I jumped into Darius's "Hour of Dance" class partway through, and was doing Genevra Weasly with Meg when they opened the dividers to prepare for a quick pre-lunch court, and the class suddenly both had more space to dance, and became the pre-court entertainment.
During the mini-court, charles_midair begged a boon for his protege, Baroness Giovanna, to be put on vigil for the Order of the Pelican, much to her surprise (and well deserved).
After lunch, I taught my Intro 15th Century Italian class (Petit Rose, Petite Vriens, Amoroso and Vita di Cholina). The class went well, aside from the fact that the last dance (which I'd been asked to add because it was going to be in the ball and wasn't being taught otherwise) was both more advanced, and had faster music. Once Alex offered to fetch a recorder and play it slower, all but one set were able to get through it successfully with me calling.
During the 2pm time slot, I chatted with people, then wandered up to get on the list for Giovanna's Vigil. I enjoyed chatting with folks while waiting, but when it was after 3pm and I still wasn't up, I decided to go dance and try to catch her later.
Got there late for Jamie's St. Paul's Cathedral class, but enjoyed watching it nonetheless, and was also amused after the class when everyone was on the floor scraping & peeling off the tape he'd used to outline one of the floor patterns (two overlapping serpentine heys, which he discovered after taping them out on the floor formed a swastika--which was a source of much teasing).
During the day I got many compliments on the cakes, and was told by a friend that they'd overheard people remarking on how cool it was that the purple one looked like it was well worn, while the black one looked like it only came out for court. Entirely unintentional, but amusing.
Next was dinner with 31 other people from the event at Mac's Acadian Seafood restaurant (a block from the site), where I was evil and had the fried clams (which are nothing like the usual friend clams you see most places), with redskins instead of fries (because I didn't need *more* fried food) and their yummy hot bread and house salad (which includes dried cherries). I had to get back to warm up for singing before court, so the waiter put a rush on my order, getting me my food very quickly, and my bill in time for me to pay before I had to leave (just as others were getting their entrees). He got a very good tip from me.
Sang with the Cynnabar Singers before court, watched numerous friends get baronial and kingdom awards, and court was even done in time for the ball to start a bit early.
After a few dances, I spent the second half of the first set setting up the dessert revel. Lots of folks pitched in to get the tables up, tablecloths on, and food out of the kitchen, uncovered, and cut if needed. About 20 people had signed up to bring stuff, but we had far more than 20 dishes show up--3 long tables full of food for folks to pick from, with my cakes at the far end. After a brief Baronial Court to recognize the musicians, those playing music got to go first in the dessert line, followed by everyone else.
Aside from checking periodically to see if I needed to put out more forks, I had the rest of the evening free to dance and chat. My knee and ankle held up better than they have for the past few dance events I've attended, and I was able to dance more--enough to make my feet hurt, which hasn't happened for a while.
Post revel at Elaine's place, with tons of food (including dessert revel leftovers), lots of conversation, and a large game of Cards Against Humanity. Jamie and I left around 3:30am or so, got about 4 hours of sleep, and then got up to head over to aelkiss and niquerio's place for brunch, which inclued yummy french toast with real maple syrup, some coffee cake and other goodies from the dessert revel leftovers, and great company. After eating, we did a little dancing in the living room while niquerio played the music on her harpsichord, then went out to lunch with those still there at that point (aelkiss, niquerio, elaine_alina, Felice, Michael, and myself)
All in all, an awesome weekend with lots of dancing, great food, and even better friends.