Roman Food Evening

Well, another victory for the Romans. On Monday I was involved in a Roman Food Evening at Elgin Museum that turned out to be rather a success.

Tickets for the event had sold out some time before the night, making me rather nervous to say the least. And, unlike the brilliant Museum Curator, David, I am not in the habit of speaking in front of an audience. Hence this rabbit-in-the-headlights picture of me taken by my lovely husband just before the event began.


I think I only put one person to sleep during my talk and everyone seemed to enjoy the food tasting afterward. Shona, the chef from the Beach Bar in Lossiemouth, had done a magnificent job with completely unfamiliar recipes and some unusual ingredients.

All in all, a successful event, although I doubt this is the beginning of my worldwide lecture tour.

Baking of Bread

Oh, how neglectful I have been. And it's not just my blog that has been pushed aside by the more mundane aspects of daily life. The list of things needed for our Roman weekends hasn't gotten any shorter either.

I am now in panic mode, with a weekend at Archaeolink in less than 6 days and no progress made on additional items for my wardrobe or cooking practice completed. So it seems that this week I'll have to neglect everything else in an effort to prepare for Saturday and Sunday. Out will come my list, to be divided into things that can be accomplished in less than a week and the "you've got to be joking" tasks. At least today I can say I have made a start on the cooking practice. The photo below is my attempt at Hapalos Artos (Soft Bread) taken from Mark Grant's book, Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens. Although the recipe called for baking in a tin, in future I will go for a simple round version. It, at least, has a thumbs up from my son, who tested it out for lunch (before I remembered to take photos).



After reading up on Roman recipes, I think my cooking at Archaeolink will initially be a case of sticking to simple foods that can either be prepared in advance or cooked in a pot over the fire. After all, we are an army camp not a noble house in the middle of Rome.

Press [Bead] to Start

After all that journal inspiration on Sunday I have spent the rest of the week without any. I just haven't had anything to say. And worse than actually saying nothing is using lots of words to say nothing.

Today I did what I should have done at the beginning - get cooking! I use cook in the sense of concocting or inventing rather than preparing food, although it did involve the use of an oven. Yes, I've been making beads again, but it is amazing how one creative process seems to spark everything else off. Somehow in making that handful of beads I feel refreshed and awakened. I feel like I have something to contribute and, although that contribution might be slightly dodgy looking lentil beads, it's a start.


And we all have to start somewhere. Today some beads, tomorrow the world?