Dinner ideas?

May's task was purchasing stuff for the baby and getting the nursery prepared. I'm almost done that job and almost done May, so it's time for a new task.

June's task: preparing food for myself for the first few weeks of baby.

I figure when the baby first comes home I'll be exhausted. Unlike most people, I'm pretty short on friends and family to bring over casseroles and stuff, and even if I had that I wouldn't want to lean on people that way. I also don't want to rely on take-out or store-bought frozen food because it's both expensive and not great for me, and in the case of frozen dinners pretty much inedible. With that in mind, I'm trying to make a few things that can be frozen and reheated to serve.

I've got some persian rice from months ago that's still in in the freezer that will do a meal or two. I made chili last week and froze one dinner's worth. I can make spaghetti sauce, though that's less than ideal because it requires boiling pasta, which in the Texas summer heat is not something I'll be inclined to do. Today I made a lovely stew and I'll be freezing half of it. Lasagna would be nice, but as it would require the oven to reheat properly it's right out. Next week I'll make a stir fry because believe it or not, that actually freezes and reheats well. And at that point I'm all out of ideas.

I've got LOTS of freezer space (almost empty deep freeze waiting to be filled) and I'd prefer things that can be reheated in the microwave or on the BBQ.

What foods do you make in advance and freeze for yourself?

What things do you know reheat well in the microwave or on the BBQ?

Got any recipes you'd like to share?

Stranger in a strange land

I've long since determined that my introduction to Avacal was rocky at best. I happened to arrive at the height of my SCA activity and figured I could just relocate and keep things rolling along just like they had been. This was a faulty assumption. I have since learned a little bit about what NOT to do when moving into a new group, and I am applying that knowledge to try a different tactic here.

( thoughts on the politics of moving in the SCA )

In an effort to get more involved, this weekend I've decided to haul out the pavilion even though I have no intention of camping, setting up a table with snacks on it and a bunch of chairs and seeing if I can get anyone to come and sit with me and hang out and get to know the locals. I posted my intention to the baronial e-mail list saying I was hoping to meet the local A&S community and anyone else who cares to come out and socialize and make friends, and so far I've gotten a lot of positive responses and people saying "sounds like fun, I'll see you there". I figure you can't go too far wrong if you offer food.

I've never done this before, nor have I really seen it done anywhere outside a vigil... so I'm not sure exactly what I should put out or how much. On one hand I'd like to go with medieval fare as that would go with my whole "trying to integrate myself into the A&S community" thing, but on the other hand, I'd also like to try cheap, easy and finger-foody. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Non-period offerings:
- Veggies (carrots, celery and green pepper because they're cheap) and dip (mum's recipe)
- Pita wedges and hummus
- chewy trail mix/breakfast bar things (go to Second Cup and order the square that looks like it's made of corn flakes, I've figured out how to make those and they're damn good and tonight's batch was especially good)

Period ideas:
- Grapes if I can find some on sale
- maybe some sliced cheese? I'm not sure about this one as cheese isn't cheap and probably not the best thing to leave out in the Texas heat either.

Tonight I also experimented with a plausibly medieval recipe and made "Shrewsbury cakes" per the recipe listed here. Interestingly, their source was the Florilegium and their technique was completely different. I combined flour, sugar and nutmeg per their instructions and cut in the butter, while the original source recipe suggested creaming the butter and sugar, adding the rose water to that and blending the flour and nutmeg together and then combining the two. Since I did not use a food processor (don't own one and don't want one either) I probably should have gone with the original recipe's method. I also added a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract and a quarter teaspoon or so of cinnamon, just 'cause (the first recipe used those as substitutions, I figured why not add them too). And because it wasn't looking very dough-y I also threw in another tablespoon of rosewater. Finally, instead of cutting them into circles (boooring, and I don't have a circle cookie cutter, yes I know a glass will suffice, but where's the fun in that) I cut them into hearts, flowers and 5-pointed Texas stars (see, look, I really am trying to fit in). The end result was VERY CRISPY and rather sweet. The spices were quite subtle, but that may have been because I chose to test them with chai. Jason liked them well enough to eat two and thought they were a perfect pairing with the chai.

I'm currently poking around Goode Cookery to see if I can find anything else I have the ingredients on-hand to try. Mostly looking at hand-held desserts, so that knocks out all the cakes, tarts and puddings, which doesn't leave a whole lot. If I try something really good I'll report my findings. If you've tried something that worked out really well, please let me know!

As a host, is it my responsibility to supply plates of some sort and maybe napkins, or should people know well enough to bring their own feast gear if they want to put food on a plate? I don't have nearly enough feast gear to share with everyone, but I'm also not really into the whole paper plate thing as it spoils the ambiance, costs money, and isn't too hot for the environment. Also, this is meant to be nibbles, not a free lunch, so providing plates might send the wrong message. Would you provide plates or napkins?

I'm also wondering if I should bring my mosquito mesh to hang from the rafters and cover the table. It would keep the flies off the food (lots of bugs in Texas), but it might also look inhospitable and unwelcoming to human visitors. No, I don't own any of those neat little plate-covering mesh dome things, so that's not an option. Thoughts?