Tag: blogging about our blog

Two of my favorite things together in one web site

A few weeks ago my friend Teri sent me a link to something she thought would interest me – A Cozinha Mediaeval, or in English – the Medieval Kitchen.  I can’t believe I hadn’t discovered it sooner – a web site that combines two of my favorite things: Portuguese cuisine and medieval history.  Yet another reason for me to keep working on my Portuguese language skills, which are quite poor, sadly.

I have not yet had the chance to try any of the recipes that are on the site, but there are so many that look absolutely delicious: carne estufada (called stewed beef but actually a beef rib dish); and arroz frutado (a rice dish with fruit and almonds) are two of my favorites so far.  And the site doesn’t stop with just recipes.  There is a wealth of other information as well, such as senhor Djalma’s excellent essay on the myths of medieval cuisine and his review of a 15th century Portuguese cookbook that was reprinted in 1963 by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture.

Enjoy!

-Geoff

Refusing to learn from experience

Sometimes, there is some wisdom in doing something yourself so you can actually understand it.  Regarding the winter weather debacle in Georgia, this is NOT one of those times.   This is not the sort of thing you want to figure out for yourself, any more than you want your architect to forget about silly things like plans so you can just “play it by ear”.  Learn from the wisdom and experience of others.  Hell, learn from your own experience, Atlanta.   It’s been only 3 years since your last winter storm nightmare.  Besides, your traffic is gridlocked in perfect weather on a normal day.  I have been there, I know.  Whenever I was driving to Macon for the weekend, I avoided Atlanta completely.  What made you think having everyone go home at the same time during a snowstorm was a good idea?

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A quick note on history and food in ASOIAF

As I mentioned before, I have been doing a lot of experimenting with medieval recipes in recent years.  And this includes trying many of the delicious-sounding foods from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.  Thanks to the diligent work of Chelsea and Sariann, we ASOIAF fans have a fantastic resource to explore our foodie sides.  Everything I have made from their website and their book has been delicious, so seriously, try making some of their recipes.

Recently, I noticed something about George’s books that I had not noticed before: an utter lack of potatoes, Irish or sweet.  Now, at first glance this would seem to make sense, because they are both “New World” foods that would have been unknown to medieval Europe, which is the historical basis of much of Martin’s writing.  Potatoes would not be introduced to Europe until the 16th century, when the Spanish brought them over.  So no potatoes in Westeros, right?  Makes sense, right?

Yes, it would… except that there are plenty of examples of other New World foods that are present in Westeros.   So why include them but not potatoes?

Continue reading “A quick note on history and food in ASOIAF”

Winter is Coming

It may not be a winter that lasts for years, as it has been known to do in Westeros, but this winter has come a little early here in Boston this week, with temperatures not getting out of the 40s during the day and dropping into the 20s at night.  We had to turn on the heat for the first time in a good while.  And of course all the animals start getting a bit more cuddly at night, except for Rerun, who wants to be on the bed but otherwise gets a little grumpy if you invade his space.

Hopefully we will get back into the habit of more regular posts now, at least that is my intent.  I think I will try to talk a bit more about some of the more interesting cooking I am doing this season.

-Geoff

Dear Internet: You are weird

One of the most fascinating things about having a blog is seeing what it is that brings people here.  The other day a *really* strange search term popped up in our list of “why people come to KellyandGeoff.com.”

It was just too weird.  So, in honor of the truly strange corners of the internet (and The Bloggess who had this idea first), I’ve gone back through the list and picked out some of the strangest, funniest, most terrifying and sometimes offensive search terms that brought you people to this blog.  Granted, since I’m writing about them it’ll probably bring more of you here, but that’s OK.  What is that they say about any publicity being good publicity?  Yeah, that.  I think.

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Sorry for the radio silence

I realized today that we haven’t posted here since the end of February.  We’re going to try to not let that happen again.  Sometimes life just gets in the way.

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Sometimes the posts just write themselves

This is our 500th post here at KellyandGeoff.com.  Geoff and I were wondering what to write.  Perhaps we should observe the occasion with something special?

Then we came across these links and realized that we had to share them with the world.  Sometimes, you just have to go with what finds you.  Thank you, internet.

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Somebody read my mind

I’m sure it’s not unusual to dream of having a house with secret passages in it.  I know that I had that dream all the time when I was a little girl.  Apparently there are other people who did as well.

Now some of them actually live in them.

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2012 in review

It’s that time again.  WordPress has helpfully provided us with all kinds of cool stats on our blog.  There are also nifty graphics and fun details about where all of you kindly readers came from, what you liked to read about, and what you searched for.

I can tell you from experience that we get a lot of people coming here looking for words like “disturbing” “sexist women”  and “women comparison”.  I find that a little disturbing, but if you stay for a read I suppose it’s not a bad thing?

Enjoy the WordPress report and have a safe and healthy celebration tonight.  I’ll be here at home working on Etsy, enjoying an honest-to-God day off, and relaxing with the kids.

Happy New Year!

~Kelly

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Points to the right side of the page –>

I added a new page to our site today.  It has pretty things on it, though I’m not terribly impressed with my photos.  You should check it out.  I’ve finally started making enough jewelry to sell.  No, I don’t have an Etsy shop.  Yet.  But I’m going in baby steps.

Email me or comment on the new page if you want to buy a pretty.

~Kelly