So I surprised myself...

[guenievre]

For the first time, my KASF Pentathlon in Persona entry... actually got done!!! (This was somewhat surprising, really, given last year's flood, etc - I to some degree didn't really think I'd get done). And it was a near thing - I took the day off on Friday (due to a difference in tenure at our jobs, I have more vacation time than N this year, so I might as well use it for something) and STILL didn't sleep.

The sieve project had to be shelved, due to the sheer length of time naalbinding at that scale takes, though I did show a few people the work-in-progress and they went ooh-ahh so I'm definitely going to have to finish it. (Also need to figure out a way to rig a loom, so that I can compare the length of time the naalbinding takes with how long a woven one would take, and compare the sturdiness of the two...)

So my entries turned out to be:

• A research paper - the translation of Le Recuil de Riom
• A comparison of three Cameline sauces (from Le Recuil, Le Menagier, and Chiquart)
• A lamb-and-parsley stew (Haricot de Mouton) from same
• A subtlety - a Golden Chicken (boneless, gilded)
• A calligraphed copy of the same (in the original French, I don't trust my translation enough yet to want it immortalized in calligraphy

Actually, that's approximately the same order of the scores I got - the first three things did REALLY well, the last 2 needed a little more work. Not surprising, really - I'm a cook and research geek, not quite as good at making things pretty - and the chicken was a little more of a documentation stretch. And calligraphy? Well, that I'm just new at - this is the first project I've actually finished.

Anyway, I had lots of fabulous conversations, though I didn't really get to leave my table and thus I didn't really see anyone else's stuff. ::pout:: This makes me sad, as I *heard* about lots of fabulous stuff I didn't see.

I didn't win the Pentathlon... but! Their Majesties gave me a Silver Nautilus because, to quote His Majesty, I "had people stacked three deep around my table to taste stuff all day." Which is pretty near true, actually - thus the lack of wandering around. I don't mind though - for whatever reason, people just won't try stuff without someone there to explain what it is, even if there's PLENTY for both judging and random samples. (Is there any way to fix that? I'm planning on entering food in A&S at Crown, and well, am NOT planning on staying with it...)

So...now I have to get everything up on my website. Though I'm thinking about a site redesign in the meantime... and tonight? I'm digging out my armor and going to Buckston practice for the first time this year. Yay!

Edit: Photo taken by the lovely pinkleader, who was much more intelligent than I and actually took her camera OUT of her bag...