Endless Minutiae

I just watched (or tried to watch with a lot of fast forwarding) Judy.
Renee Zellweiger was just great. I know Judy Garland had a shitty life, but jeez. Don't watch if you're in a sad mood.

hey, any winged frogs near by?

I'm finally ready to start selling these. (Yes, I know it's last minute, but ya know, ya do what ya can.)

anyways - I have 2 items currently available - Sport Bag Fresheners and Dresser Sachets.
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The Sport Bag Fresheners are stuffed with cedar and a silica desiccant. Use them in gym bags, armor bags, (inside your helmet!), hockey bags - anywhere you want to keep things dry and fresh.  Made from blue canvas or black bull denim, so they're built tough.
The Dresser Sachets are upcycled mens tie sample silks. Filled with a separate bag to keep them from leaking or staining your clothes. All different sizes, no two alike. Use them in suitcases, dresser drawers, closets, etc.
I use steam distilled essential oils for scents. Currently the Sport Bag Fresheners are a cedar blend of Virginia cedar and Himalayan deodar cedar.
The Dresser Sachets are available in cedar, lavender and sandalwood/vanilla.

Dresser Sachets are $7.50 each, 3 for $18. Sport Bag Fresheners are $5.
( pic behind cut! )
You can buy them from my etsy store  - http://www.etsy.com/shop/GianettaDB?ga_search_query=gianettadb&ga_search_type=seller_usernames  or from me directly, or Duke Steingrim will have them at his shop at 12th night.

coming soon: Headache pillows

Here's my latest idea - virtual cookie exchange.
If you want to join in, post an old favorite or a new cookie recipe. I'll probably do a few of them, but wanted to get the dough rolling. Thanks to ppfuf for inspiring me!
Last year I got the Cook's Illustrated Holiday Baking issue, and made their Brown Sugar shortbread recipe. It was great, but I think I threw out the mag in a fit of cleaning frenzy. (Clean all the things!!!)
I checked their website, but 1. it wasn't listed in the search, and 2. it's a paid site, and I didn't feel like signing up. I do recommend their recipe, if you can find it.
This year I'm going to try this recipe on Epicurious instead.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Brown-Sugar-Shortbread-Cookies-4301

I had to go to the mall yesterday, so I picked up a chicken shawerma at one of the food court places. All was fine until about 11:00pm. Sick all night, sick all day. I'm still too weak to swing a cat (and hit a peer). Just entering this because I feel so pitiful, and maybe someone will feel sorry for me. :)

The QA gig is over. I think there was a lot of good - All of the booths looked good..  I tried a bite or two from most of the booths - they were all good.  I learned a lot in my comparative spice testing, and developed a new respect for the medieval chef.  Blending the spices together in a recipe makes a huge difference in the final product, but tasting them individually allows you to see why and how they work together. I think the favorite spice for people was the long pepper. It was interesting - it's the closest to regular pepper, I think, but the finish is longer than regular black pepper, which is a lot more volatile and up front. People's  second favorite? cubebs. People liked the fruit overtones.  And a lot of people were happy to taste the grains of paradise.
I liked how we were able to tie the spices in with the gingerbread, and the horrible cinnamon things.  The sugars were more of a stretch to explain, but almost everyone liked the Manus Christi.
My banner was awesome!

the bad? The hall is just too far away. If the merchants were all over there, or the something else was over there, we might have gotten more traffic. But fighters and consorts just don't have enough time to get over there, and everything else is so distracting, it's easy to forget about. I don't know how many people came through, but I'd hoped for more.  Cement floors are hell on your feet, especially when you're standing most of the time, and wearing your perioid shoes.

I hardly saw any of the event. I watched one of my champions fights (yes, I was a consort!). Didn't make it to any of the parties. The traffic going there and coming back was horrible terrible.  Even using the carpool lanes, it was just heinous, and took twice as long as it should have to get there and back. I'm glad we stayed in a motel - it wasn't that rainy, but the cold and wind would have been an issue for me Saturday night, I think. I had my gloves on before we even got in the car Sunday morning.

and the other good - my son's friend got his AOA this weekend. Due in part, to a letter I wrote about him! Letters to the Crown work!

digital books checked out from the library, a glass of wine...
and a mountain of laundry. :-)

I'm off this week, and would like to go to lunch maybe one or two days. I still don't eat much so something light would be nice (or Indian - I never get Indian food anymore). I'll travel a reasonable distance (like to Berkeley), but anything out of state is right out :-) Local would be great - I'm in Santa Clara
so if you want to go, send me a message!

 To Our Kingdom Knights:
sports nutrition is an important part of fighting. The wrong breakfast can make you sluggish, distracted or digest too soon, leaving you hungry and irritable. The Cook's Collegium FundRaiser Pancake Breakfast has the answers.
Pancakes can provide the long lasting carbohydrates that you need to keep you dancing around your oatmeal eating opponent.
The protein and fat in our sausages will keep you swinging wraps as long as you need to.
Take advantage of the antioxidant powers of real fruit by adding blueberries to your pancakes.
Stay hydrated through the day by starting off with a cup of our potassium rich orange juice, then drinking water through the day.
 
 
To Our Laurels:
Find your focus. Your muse does not like being distracted by a growling stomach, dirty dishes, or uncomfortably tight clothes. You can foil these distractions by getting your breakfast at the Cooks Collegium Pancake Fundraiser.
Our sugarfree syrups and delicate fruits will satisfy your sweet tooth without adding bulk to  distort the fit of your fine apparel.
You can sleep in, secure in knowing that you won't have to touch a stove or wash dishes, so feel free to wander over in your period correct pajamas (g-rated please!), enjoy a leisurely breakfast and compose a sonnet to the joy of pancakes.
 
To Our Kingdom Pelicans:
let's face it - you already have a lot on your plate today. Our pancakes will fill you up, our coffee will fuel you up, without adding to your workload. No dishes to delegate, no packing of heavy breakfast items. We get up early so you don't have to!

And to Our Kingdom's Royal Peers:
Let's just face it...You like being waited on.  and you like supporting Our Kingdom.
But don't dirty your hands with the toils of cooking breakfast.
join us, or send one of your 'court members' to fetch your breakfast from us! 

To the populace of the West: 
Greetings unto the West Kingdom!
Tired of packing orange juice and finding out it's broken the eggs in your cooler? Wish you could take your Mini to Crown, but your kitchen equipment takes up the back half of a Suburban? The Cook's Collegium FundRaiser Pancake Breakfast has the answer - no need to do dishes, figure out how that propane stove really works, or sneak offsite to Starbucks. Our pancakes, sausage, coffee and juice will keep you going all day.

Come to the Black & Gold Sunshade and have a good breakfast for a donation towards better cooks in The Kingdom.

EDIT:
fixed forwarding errors and, it's Saturday Morning - starting around 8, we'll cook till we run out of food! June

To anyone in the West Kingdom who reads this:
At March Crown, the Clothiers Guild will again be sponsoring the Fabric Swap and Sale.
For those whose reach has exceeded their grasp, and find themselves with just too much fabric, bring your excess to the swap and sell - find something you like and trade or barter. For those just starting out, or those looking for a true bargain, bring your skills, your other arts and trade, barter or just plain buy some exciting new (to you) fabrics!