Jan 2008 a

Tue 01 Jan 2008
We got up and Steve started cooking pancakes, while Jen started to chop up the fruit. Thankfully there was a little too much food and not too many visitors arriving all at once, so the "all day breakfast" we put on, worked a treat. A bit later the party wound down and some card gaming started up...
Here's Terry hiding behind his cards:



Wed 02 Jan 2008
Back to work. It was a lovely holiday while it lasted.

Fri 04 Jan 2008
After work we fly to Sweden! Arrive on site and enjoy the snow!!!!
Immediately get dressed up and hold a short court, sending Katherine to vigil for Pelican. The amazing thing was, she was genuinely surprised! She's good at always knowing what is afoot.

Sat 05 Jan 2008
All the memorising/preparation of our lines for the Coronation ceremony seemed to hold in our minds well enough to do a 'distinguished' job of it.
Crowned our Heirs, stepped down, and later were created Duke and Duchess.
After lunch, a Strawberry Party was arranged in honour of the new Duchess (Jen)! The female royalty of the Kingdom (who were present) were invited, as were the Ladies of the Rose. We enjoyed various strawberry-flavoured things including vodka, champagne, and chocolates; and the ice-cream with melted chocolate and strawberries went down a treat!

Unfortunately our camera picked a terrible event to be out of batteries (I knew there was something I forgot to do! -Jen) so all the following photos are pinched off the following websites, listed below. (let us know if you want your photos taken down from this site and we'll happily do it for you).



Below: there were "angels" serving the royal table at the Feast.



For more Coronation pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lord_edricus/sets/72157603656490228/
http://www.skauma.org/bildarkiv/dynpage.cgi?&dir=/2008/Coronation/

Sun 06 Jan 2008
Snow! We wake up to a good foot or more of snow!
We saw our first "big" actual 6-sided snowflakes too! Cool.
We pack up our stuff, and help cleaning up around the event-site also. We hung out and chatted with Allessandra Melusine at Thora's place and enjoyed Thora's son's (Ivor) cooking (dinner) when finally it's time to head back home. We flop into bed at about 2am.

Mon 07 Jan 2008
Work.... tired/shattered.

Thu 10 Jan 2008
Jen's on holidays from 5pm - and together we visit several supermarkets, shopping for the Feast that Steve is organising for this weekend. Step down and rest? Not Alaric!

Fri 11 Jan 2008
Steve goes off to work, and Jen goes and picks up Kiriel and Drakey from the nearby local London City Airport. Luckily for Steve and everyone turning up at tomorrow's feast, Kiriel and Drakey are troopers and get stuck into cooking up most of the dishes. Edith (the steward running the event itself) also turns up later in the morning and gets stuck into the cooking too. Jen runs away for a scheduled Chirocpractic appointment (which was amazingly good!) and spends much of the day dashing off to source other 'not-yet-purchased' ingredients. Steve and Terry arrive after work, and they also work on food prep stuff! Wulfgar helps out too..... truly, our house is Feast-prep ground zero!!!!!

Above: Drakey and Kiriel
Below: Terry in our 'extended kitchen'


Sat 12 Jan 2008
The day of truth. Steve is relaxed and happy to concentrate on his favourite dishes for tonight's feast.

He's extremely thankful to everyone who worked on the feast and he certainly highlighted that although he was head cook and menu designer, it was largely 'done' due to the good works of Kiriel, Drakey, Robert and others.

Jen thinks this kind of food is exactly what she's been wanting!
Also... the site, St Ethelburga's Chirch, which was built in 1361 (we believe) was the perfect site for 15th century English food (Harleian Manuscripts) conveniently located a stroll from Liverpool St Station, inside the London square mile! Very well done to Edith for finding this superb venue!

Jen took lots of photos, (the camera had full batteries this time!) and there are also other links below....



Above: one of two pies Jen decorated
Below: Clancy and Ursula the Viceroy and Vicereign,
added some royal flair to the event.


Above: two cooks, Alaric and Drakey
Below: another cook, Kiriel, with Sebastian (Terry) looking dashing as ever




Ethelburga pics on other websites:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickjordan/sets/72157603700384772/
http://betahelix.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=88&page=1
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/Dragonteeth/Feast%20Of%20St%20Ethelburga/