(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

In terms of current events, I note that today is an Ember Day, a day of fasting and prayer considered specially suitable for ordination and, therefore for praying for those who are going to be ordained or vocations. They occur on a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday four times a year "Fasting days and Emberings be/ Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie.")

On a less churchy note, there used to be special cheese flans called Ember Tarts eaten on these days; they sound rather good, and I might have a crack at making one for tea on Friday or Saturday. Have a recipe.

Comments

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I have the ingredients at home to make a medieval Tarte for an Ember Daie? (goes off to Google...)

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I swear I made that comment *before* noticing your second paragraph. (Off to check link...)

[tree_and_leaf]

I'm not entirely sure about the sage, but in for a penny....

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

That recipe is very similar to the ones I have tried. It is very good, but then I love sage so much that I have on occasion made sage tea.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh for Arthurian banquets past...

(Parrot_Knight, who is not logging in at work)

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

Lucie??

[tree_and_leaf]

St Lucy's Day (13.12), as in the Donne poem "Tis the year's midnight, and it is the days/ Lucie, who scarce her self seven hours unmasks")

Except it isn't the shortest day any more, because of calendar reform (also, seven hours? I don't know what the soft southerner was complaining about!)

"Holyrood" is of course the Invention of the Cross, 13.9, and nothing to do with the terms of the Scottish parliament...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

As in St Lucia, whose feast day is widely celebrated as a festival of light in Scandinavia.

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

I was St Lucia in a school Christmas-around-the-world play, once, but was not allowed lighted candles on my head. Fair enough, really.

[tree_and_leaf]

Spoilsports. Or maybe it was just as well....

[tree_and_leaf]

At a time where it is desperately needed!

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

I've saved that one and will probably have a crack at it myself. I think the sage sounds rather intersting myself.

[tree_and_leaf]

Sage tends to remind me of cold cures. Of course, in the circumstances...

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

I associate it with stuffing it up a chickens bum! I've not really heard of it as a cold cure myself.

[tree_and_leaf]

I dunno, all German cough sweets seem to have it in them. Of course, it may be a mistranslation ;)

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Ember Day tarts are yummy! You really try them - they're excellent both hot and cold.

[tree_and_leaf]

That will be something fun to do on Friday evening, then!

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

I helped make an Ember Tart the last time I played the Mystery in the Abbey Cluedo meets The Name of the Rose game; though it wasn't an Ember Day and we chose it for the general medieval-ness. The recipe was, I think, the same one that you link to, and it was very tasty (but then I do like sage).

We did put some saffron in as well, since that was mentioned in the original recipe the book printed before giving a modern equivalent - it began along the lines of 'make a coffyn of flowre...' and that worked well. Hope you enjoy yours!

[tree_and_leaf]

I shall have a crack at it and report... it's a good mediaeval recipe, at any rate (putting cinnamon and cheese in the same dish strikes me as very mediaeval!)

[wychwood]

That sounds tasty.

I'd heard of the Ember Days (naughty people in Charlotte Yonge books don't celebrate them when young men of their families are about to be ordained! oh noes!), but I didn't realise they were still observed.

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, the degree to which they're observed varies - I gather that the Catholic church has abolished them as fasts, and fasting in the Anglican Communion was always a matter of individual conscience, anyway. But the days are still in our calendar, though I'm not sure how much notice is taken of them, other than the timing of ordinations and a few lines at the intercessions...

[wychwood]

We've abolished all our fasts, pretty much! I think it's only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday left. Not that it would make a huge difference to me anyway - I'm vegetarian, so I don't have to do anything to be technically in compliance (though I do try to eat less luxuriously, as it were, on fast days).

PS: I have a friend whose wife is currently studying towards ordination at St Stephen's House. I think it quite possible that you will already have encountered her, but if you would like any sort of introduction, I would be more than willing to broker it - they are both most delightful people, and exceptionally nice, in the active rather than passive sense. (Her name is Jo, incidentally; I don't want to provide too many RL details in an open LJ post *g*, but if you're interested...)

[tree_and_leaf]

The name doesn't ring a bell - most of the ordinands I know are at Cuddesdon, as it happens. (I must admit that while I know perfectly well that Staggers has been taking women for years, I'm always vaguely surprsied to be reminded of it).

And thank you, it would be good if you could.

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Huh. medieval quiche. I'd try it out, but we have too much delicious cake in the house.

Same applies for "Why I'm not going to fast today".

[em-h.livejournal.com]

Isn't next week Ember Week, not this week? I hope so, cause otherwise I'm totally not observing it, circumstances being what they are ...

[tree_and_leaf]

Dunno - it is in the English calendar, but i gather there may be regional variation.

I am afraid I'm not observing it, at least as the fasting goes; I'm falling back pathetically on "I need meat, I'm ill!" - though I did have ethically sound and organic chicken this lunchtime, so I suppose it could be worse....

[em-h.livejournal.com]

I never eat meat anyway, and for various reasons of health and history can't really restrict my food intake significantly, so I'm not a one for the fasting; I still need to come up with a good equivalent of fasting that'll work for my circumstances. But eating only ethically sound meat sounds like a reasonable modified-fast practice.

[em-h.livejournal.com]

I thought so; my Ordo definitely says it's next week.

Not that one cannot make Ember Tarts pre-emptively, of course.

[tree_and_leaf]

Huh. Must be a regional thing, because both the C of E lectionary and the Oxford University diary (which is obviously Never Wrong!) think this is an ember day

[em-h.livejournal.com]

How curious. I suppose your lectionary is assuming that it's before Lucy rather than after, or "closest to" Lucy, whereas mine is assuming that it's always after Lucy and/or always between Advent III and Advent IV. Guess it is a regional thing.

Not that it's a vastly pressing issue either way. But I rather like next Wednesday being an Ember Day because I'm going up to the convent to meet a possible new spiritual director, and that just seems like a good omen. So I'm glad the Canadian church organizes it the way they do.

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

Oh, that looks yummy! I'll have to try it. I think I'm going to make a New Year's Resolution to try more interesting old recipes. I've never made a New Year's Resolution before, and this seems suitably unimportant. I have a Jane Austen cookbook, but I haven't been brave enough to try anything from it yet.

[tree_and_leaf]

I quite like trying out strange recipes myself There ought to be an lj group for old recipes, if there isn't one already...)

And that sounds like a suitably trivial but enriching New Year's Resolution (I have made many, and broken them all rapidly. They tended to involve keeping a diary, but I never have the attention span for a paper diary. I think that as introverts go, I'm oddly extroverted!

recipe

[camillofan.livejournal.com]

Do you (or will you) use the optional raisins? I'm just not sure about them...

Re: recipe

[tree_and_leaf]

I've never actually cooked this, but I too am dubious about the raisins. On the other hand, cheese can be beautiful with fruitcake (why yes, I do have family in the North of England!), so it might work. I also once made an apple pie with cheese in it, for St Wilfred's Day (allegedly a trad Yorkshire recipe). That was quite good cold with ham...