Medieval Banquet

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We did it.  After almost twelve weeks of preparation and work, and feeling like we would simply never be ready, the day of the banquet arrived.  It went well, really well.  The children did their presentations and answered our guest’s questions fairly intelligently.  The food was remarkably good, considering we used authentic medieval recipes and everyone played their part perfectly.  We couldn’t have had better guests.  Thanks Andy and Nik for all your encouragement and your enthusiasm and for joining in with such aplomb!

We had spent most of the day preparing food and laying the table.  I have to admit to more extravagant plans concerning the décor, but the illness which has been making the rounds in our home has been a particularly virulent one and to be honest all of those recovering lacked the energy to carry it off, whilst those currently suffering just wanted to be in bed.  A mantra oft heard in the last week or so by every member of this family is KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid.  Stupid is a disallowed word in our family, so the children kept giggling each time it was said, but it had an important effect.  In order to pull off the feast and to feel like we had done the last twelve weeks justice, we really did need to keep it simple.

So we ignored the artistic pleadings off our hearts to recreate an indoor medieval castle and focused instead on a beautiful table, spread to the brim with L11’s tasty food.

The table was laid with white table cloths, trenchers, wooden spoons, goblets, candles and greenery from the garden:

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L11 picked the greenery from our garden, whilst C12 poured out the ginger ale, which we used in place of beer.
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A selection of bread rolls in a basket provided us with some carbohydrates, which felt lacking due to potatoes not having been discovered yet
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L10 made her own herb butter by mixing some of her brother’s herbs in with some fresh butter and remodelling it into a barrel shape

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Once the table was done and the food was all merrily cooking away, everyone turned their attention to their costumes, with older ones helping younger ones:

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The three older ones look a little nervous as their presentation time approaches
The three older ones look a little nervous as their presentation time approaches
Here they all are, killing some times awaiting their guests
Here they all are, killing some time before their presentations

And sure enough the guests began to arrive, all dressed in their own version of medieval costume.  I was so grateful to Nik for taking the whole thing so seriously.  As her boys are adopted she has requested no photos are put up of her sons, so I have done my best with the photos I have which were just of the adults or my family.

Lovely Nik with B3 and A5
Lovely Nik with B3 and A5

It had been decided that L11 would give her presentation just before the feasting began, outlining medieval banqueting etiquette and expressing what would be expected from our guests:

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She did a great job and at the end of her speech/presentation she led her guests to the banqueting table to be seated.

Once seated, the servants (AKA Gary and I) began to bring out the food:

Gary offered the rolls
Gary offered the rolls..
...whilst I put out the duck into one of the serving dishes L11 had previously decorated
…whilst I put out the goose into one of the serving dishes L11 had previously decorated, piling in the vegetables around it
And brought it to the table
And brought it to the table

 

Gary attacked it with his carving knife.
Gary attacked it with his carving knife.

None of us had tasted Goose before, and it was gorgeous.  Although the bird had been 8 kg, a large percentage of that was fat, so there really wasn’t a huge amount of meat.  Next time I would get an even bigger goose.

Whilst Gary was carving the goose, the banquetors were washing their hands in some prepared apple blossom water:

C11, washing her hands.  She really doesn't look well does she?
C11, washing her hands. She really doesn’t look well does she?

In addition to the goose, there were many different types of vegetables, a pork and sultana pie (home-made by L11 and absolutely delicious) and a lamb pie, which was going to be a lamb stew.  This was less popular.  Trenchers were filled with all the feasting foods available and gravy poured over:

A3 with her trencher
A3 with her trencher

The trenchers were the biggest surprise of the evening.  The children were concerned in case they went soggy with the gravy and were badgering me to put plates underneath.  As we were attempting as much authenticity as possible I declined.  These medieval people knew what they were doing though, as there was absolutely no sign of the trenchers going soggy, and they were as hard at the end of the meal as they had been at the start:

A trencher filled with food
A trencher filled with food

L11, in her presentation, had invited the guests to give toasts whenever the fancy took them.  Nik did so with alacrity!

Nik proposing a toast
Nik proposing a toast

 

And the response
And the response

DSC_0320banAfter the main course was completed, everyone was invited to move away from the table, into the living room, to watch C11 and her presentation on medieval fashions.  I was so proud of her, because she really wasn’t well and probably should have been in bed.  She did a grand job in between sniffles and coughs:

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C11 had decided to be one of the fasion house (which probably didn't exist -  a bit of artistic license was called for here)  Her presentation was basically about advertising her dresses.
C11 had decided to be the proprietor of a medieval fashion house (which probably didn’t exist – a bit of artistic license was called for here) Her presentation was basically an advertisement of her dresses.

 

Then she swapped over sides to advertise her ladies wear
First she addressed the peasants of the audience (basically me), encouraging me to ‘look no further for the latest peasant fashions!’, then she moved onto the ladies of the audience, persuading them that her fashion house was THE place to be.

Afterwards she passed her dolls around and answered questions Nik had for her.

Whilst she was finishing answering questions, Gary and I were re-laying the table with the desserts course.  L11 had talked about the subtleties and these were brought out as well:

Cherry pottage, swan subtleties, apple strudel and apple pie
Cherry pottage, swan subtleties, apple strudel and apple pie
Whites swans with red coulis to represent the red and white roses of the two sides of the war of the roses
Whites swans with red coulis to represent the red and white roses of the two sides of the war of the roses
Ginger ale (in lieu of beer), cherry pottage and pine nut candy
Ginger ale (in lieu of beer), cherry pottage and pine nut candy
A photo showing all the deserts including the pear in red wine sauce
A photo showing all the desserts including the pears in red wine sauce

After the dessert course it was T12’s turn to present the War of the Roses.  T12 had been a little nervous about this.  He had pretty much done all the work himself and thus had invested a big part of himself into his play and film.

 

He used the map of Britain we made last year to show the positions of each battle fought during the war of the roses, illustrating which side won
He used the map of Britain we made last year to show the positions of each battle fought during the war of the roses, illustrating which side won

As you can see (above), he used PowerPoint for his presentation, bringing it up on our TV screen.  He also showed his film using our TV:

A clip of his film
A clip of his film

If anyone knows how to put a film up on a blog, I’d be happy to share it.  I just don’t have the requisite skills to do so.  He had done an amazing job pasting the various scenes together to create a fairly seamless film.  He also had title music and credits music, which played as the credits rolled:

Credits rolling
Credits rolling

I was very proud of my three older children and I realised yet again, that next time I needed to include A5.  She is so ready to do her own presentation.

New term begins tomorrow, with new projects, new goals and new ideas for presentations.  It is always pretty exciting to finish a topic, but even more exciting to start a new one!

Home school is kind of cool, don’t you think?

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