When I'm not bursting with my own ideas to blog about, I usually take a look at the blogs I follow - only that they seem to be in spring quiet (spring tiredness?), too!

There's one very interesting post about printing designs on cloth in the 14th century, though. The text is German, but you can look at the pictures (there are plenty) over here.

Otherwise, not much new hereabouts - spring is going on, work is still piled high, stuff is happening albeit not fast enough. I think I might add a second cool superpower to my wishlist - writing really good papers in an incredibly short time, and possibly several of them parallel. (The first one on my list, in case you want to know, is being able to read, understand and speak every language there is.)

Any more suggestions for really cool and useful superpowers, while I'm making that list?

It's the time of the year when the first events come closer and closer, and with them the flurry of activity for preparation. We bought a new pot last year, for instance, and spent an hour on Sunday afternoon preparing it for use.

I was taught that iron cookware, whether cast iron or sheet iron, needs seasoning or breaking in ("frying in", the Germans call it) before use. This, of course, does not apply to stainless steel... but iron? It will definitely win by this.

The seasoning is done by frying potato in fat (I used sunflower seed oil) with salt, after previously cleaning the new pan or pot with hot water and some dish soap or other suitable detergent. The goal is to coat the small irregularities in the surface - and that can be done with polymerised fat and carbon black. There are instructions on the internet to use potatoes cut into slices, but you can just as well use potato peels for the frying, and then use your freshly seasoned thing to have some nice fried potatoes.

And in case you want them right here, right now, the short instructions for doing it: Heat up the clean pan, adding the fat (should be fat suitable to high temperatures!). Heat the fat until a potato peel dropped into it starts to sizzle; then add in all the peels and a generous amount of salt (which acts as a scrubbing agent). Move the stuff around in the pan, going on until all the potato is nice and black, and ideally, the bottom of your pan or pot should be darkened, too. That's all there is to it! The internet, of course, knows of a gazillion additional ways to do it, but that's the method I use, and it works well enough for me.

Plus I always get to remember that one time I was at a medieval market, and I went past the camp where a friend was... he hollered me and asked me if I would like to have some potato stew, they had plenty left over. Now, that group is one that usually cooks medieval-ish, so potatos were really surprising me. It must have shown on my face, as I was promptly told that a whole bunch of folks from that group had bought new frying pans on the market, and had wanted to break them in right away, for which they needed... potato peels. Which did explain the unexpected potato stew, since they ended up with a lot of peeled potatoes that way. (Very tasty, by the way.)

Oh, and once your thing is fit for use, clean the pan by wiping it with a rag or rinsing it with water. If there's stuff stuck to it, you can also salt it down: Heat a handful of salt in the pan, moving it around until it is brown and your pan is clean. That are the preferred cleaning methods for seasoned iron that I know.
You can use soap or dish soap if really necessary, but use it sparingly - it will take away from the seasoning. And use? Makes your cookware better. So bring on these fried foods...

I'm still sewing (a lot), and I'm still behind on what I had intended to keep as a schedule (mostly due to a much-needed desk day, taking care of some paperwork stuff inbetween). There is progress... but not yet enough to make me breathe freely again.

It was clear from the beginning that this project would be a tight schedule, so at least I'm not surprised. The therefore also unsurprising lack of photos which I promised you, repeatedly, is to blame on the lack of time that I have. Taking photos doesn't take long, basically - but usually turns out to take longer than intended, and I currently don't feel like taking that "risk".

While I am sewing happily along, I'm listening to stuff. To be more precise: to podcasts. Especially nice, in my opinion: I get to listen to stories, in addition to listening to all that other stuff that I have (from Kickstarters, for example) and never gotten around to immersing myself into it. If you are looking for stories, you might want to check out EscapePod and PodCastle, both posting stories every week or so. I'm also thinking about checking out one or a few knitting podcasts, but haven't gotten around to checking these out yet.

For those of you more interested in medieval cooking, two cookbooks (the oldest ones in Britain so far) are mentioned over on the Medieval Manuscripts blog (the catalogue is updated again).

I am really looking forward to having this project all off my hands some time around Easter - the next sewing project in line comes, fortunately, with a kinder schedule, and I will have some time inbetween to take care of the other (not less exciting things) that are piling up here. (There will be hand-made needles in my shop, some day in the future. And beautiful, carbon-steel scissors without the ubiquitous nickel-plating, and closely resembling medieval finds in their shape.)

Back when I was studying, I hung out a lot with folks in German studies - to be precise, with those studying Middle High German. We did a lot of weird and fun things (such as translate modern songs into MHG), and I learned oodles about the old form of German.

I'd acquired a fancy for that old form of German back in school, when we did the obligatory bit about language history and had to learn a poem by good old Walther von der Vogelweide by heart. For someone interested in clothing, the medieval epics are also interesting as a source, since descriptions of garments are quite frequent and can give glimpses on how things were worn, and what the aesthetic ideals were. So I learned MHG until I was passable at understanding it, and was involved in a few things and events of the German studies folks, and attended a few of their seminars.

This also meant that I heard about stuff like concerts, readings, or plays (performed in MHG, of course) - and that was how I came into contact with Eberhard Kummer, who performs those small works like, oh, the Nibelungenlied. Not just some odd bits and pieces of it, mind you - he's done the whole thing. Twice. (At least twice.)

I was in the happy situation to hear, live, a lot of the second full performance (I missed two evenings, and I'm still sad about that). Ever since, I have longed to have a recording of this - last times I tried to find them, none were available. And yesterday, half by chance, I found out that the first performance is actually available as mp3 files, and at a very, very reasonable price.

My copy is currently downloading (30 hours' worth of musical reading do take their time), and I am looking forward to sitting in the sun, sewing, and having the Song to listen to. For those of you who prefer Middle English or Early Modern English (two languages that I am not very good in), The Chaucer Studio has lots of this as well. If you are interested in sung pieces - a performance that will be as close as possible to the original performing of medieval epics - the stuff done by Eberhard Kummer is the thing.

I have to wait only ten more minutes for my download to finish. Praised be the Internet for (almost) instant gratification!

Books can hide plenty of things - and they can also hide old paper in their bindings. Or, as in the case of this old book, pieces of manuscripts and charters. The library is welcoming input on these manuscript fragments, so your ideas and feedback are welcome.

Gillian (my co-conspirator on the book project we lovingly call "the Beast") is doing an Open Question week on her journal. Just in case you want to pester her with weird questions.

Digital Intellectuals writes about scholarly communication on the web.

There's a really cool frequency comic over at XCKD.

And now I shall go back to my normally scheduled work...

The cat is sleeping beside me, and I am working my way through a gazillion and a half of (nice) emails, the sun is shining, I have Chai and chocolate cake for breakfast. There is gorgeous cloth waiting for me to work on a little later, preferably while sitting in the sunny wintergarden. Can a work week start in a nicer way?

While I am nicely swamped in work, you will get some links.

Here is a blog post about the adventures of an archaeological artefact after excavation. 

Oberösterreich (in Austria, obviously) has a database of archaeological sites, partly with find lists, which is still expanding. I'm hoping they will eventually include individual finds too.

If "Catal Höyük" rings a bell for you, the blog "Castles and Coprolites" might not only amuse you with its title, but also with the poem "Lady of the höyük".

Finally, a really amazing modern fashion dress, showing an old painting recreated as embroidery: Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach, painted in the early 16th century.

I stumbled across a blogpost yesterday that really, really touched me... written by Pat Rothfuss, and concerning charity, and why he does so much for charity.

Personally, I try to be a positive human being, and I try to believe in the good of others. I am generally very, very content about the many good things in my life; and I can sleep comfortably at night in a proper warm bed, unafraid of getting up tomorrow with no money, no home, no friends and no chances. That is a big thing, and more than enough to get a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
I also believe that if life were fair, there would be no hunger in the world and no utter poorness, my friends and family would never fall nastily ill (nobody cares for a cold or a small nuisance now and then), and everyone who was working honestly for a living should be able to lead a reasonably comfortable life off their income.

Unfortunately, life is not fair. There were illnesses and diagnoses of illnesses and deaths aplenty last year in the circles I move in, and there's nothing one can do against it but try to encourage and support those that live and remember, fondly, those that have stopped living. There's also war, and poverty, and misery, and lots more stuff going on in the world that I don't even really want to know about in detail, because it will mean I get a bellyache and become frustrated with how unfair the world is and lose sleep for a week. (It's a good thing there are petitions against a lot of political things in this flavour, and that these actually turn out to do some good. Much relieves my frustration and accompanying symptoms.)

I also know that I am not enough to change these big things. I can't make everyone become healthy, wealthy, and friendly to their fellow human beings. I am not the person who will develop a cure for cancer, or ring in world peace, or end all misery on the planet.

However, I've long tried to lead my life so that I can leave the world a little better. I try to be friendly to my fellow human beings, try to pay fair prices for crafts (and make others pay them, too!), spread the word about good things, and I believe that sometimes small acts can make a big difference - especially when there are more people involved.

So what Pat writes in his blog... really touched me. There you have someone trying to make the world a better place, and using his fanbase to help him do so. Thanks, Pat.