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Medieval foods:

TO SEETH FRESH SALMON

"To seeth Fresh Salmon. Take a little water, and as much Beere and salt, and put
therto Parsley, Time and Rosemarie, and let all these boyle togethere. Then put
in your Salmon, and make your broth Sharpe with some Vinigar."

1 cup water
1 cup beer or ale
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. parsley flakes
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. rosemary leaves
4 Salmon steaks (or any variety of fish

Combine all ingredients except fish in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Place fish in a shallow baking dish, then add enough of the beer mixture to immerse 2/3 of the fish. Cover baking dish, then place in a 400° F oven for approx. 15-20 minutes, or until fish becomes tender and flakes with a
fork when pierced. Remove fish from baking dish & serve.

This recipe is from a website on medieval huntings weapons and practices. There's directions on the site for making some medieval hunting weapons and descriptions of others. And there are a few recipes for game. Go to:

www.medievalhunting.f2s.com

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GLOSSARY

I have had requests for definitions of some of the words I use in the text. The identification behind each word in parentheses indicates either the word is derived from a similar word in an older language, or that the word is used today in that language. Also, there are some words in the book that I just plain made up out of my head- (identified as "mine.") If you want to know about a certain word, please email me at clovenstone@aol.com, or look it up in your dictionary.

novice hlsynaner: one who is studying the skill (telepathy) at the first level.

obelisk: (Greek) tapering 4-sided monolith with pyramid point

occult: (Latin) referring to alchemy, magic, astrology, and other arts using divination, incantation, magical formulae, etc.

osier (or sally): (Medieval Latin) willow (for weaving baskets, wickerwork, weirs, wattle and daub)

overseer: in Kildonan, the commune job assignment of overseeing (supervising) all the work/activites of the commune.

panoply: (Greek) full set of armor or other magnificent covering

patrol: in Kildonan, 9 sudeours

philtre, philter: (Latin) love potion

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Literary Notes

QUEST

In the dictionary, "quest" means (n) a search or a hunt (v) to search or hunt. A simple definition for a word that carries within itself dreams and determination, icy mountains, roiling seas, and enchanted forests. It does give as a second definition, "an expedition of knights." Ah, yes. Knights were always searching for dragons, the Holy Grail, or a fair maiden. Or in the case of Sir Gawain from King Arthur's Round Table, he searched for a green man who talked from his head after it had been cut from his body. Unsual quest.

Remember "Johnny Quest," the cartoon character whose father traveled the world and outer space on scientific quests? The cartoon was filled with adventures. Drawings were awful and the storyline predictable, but my kids loved it. Watership Down is a quest novel. The characters in a quest novel have an object/objective they're seeking that is central to the plot of the book. In Watership Down, a band of rabbits skirt danger at every turn as they seek a safe home for themselves. Clovenstone is a quest novel. In Clovenstone, the immediate goal is...Clovenstone!...and possession of its powers for the good of tthe land of Kildonan.

Ahab sought the white whale, Indiana Jones sought the Lost Ark, Bilbo Baggins sought (reluctantly) the dragon. Quests are tales of danger and high adventure. They spark the imagination and raise the adrenaline. They're fun!

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HERBS

In my discussions of herbs in all the issues of Kildonan Times, I present only general information. It is not intended to be a guide for the use of the herbs. If you wish to use any of the herbs described in Kildonan Times, consult an herbalist or a definitive guide book to using herbs.

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beech: Beech trees, one of the most common trees around, has been useful to man practically since man began to walk around. Well, maybe not that far back, but at least by 1000 BC. Beech mast, the nuts/husks on the ground, is best known as animal feed, particularly for pigs. It is fatty, nutritious, and easy to get. Beech timber is used for all kinds of woodworking. These are the best known uses of beech. But, of course, there are others.

The nuts can be roasted and ground for a coffee substitute, or used in breads. They are 20 percent oil, so pressing the nuts yields an odorless edible oil that can be used like olive oil. It is also a good fat for making soap. In medieval times, the sap was fermented for a wine or ale.

There's enough oil in beech mast (mashed or ground nuts) to oil furniture...only it will temporarily stain the furniture green.

Lust doesn't list any medical uses for beech, but both Cadfael and Bremer agree that a wash made from beech leaves is good for burns, rashes, and swelling. A tar is made from distilling the branches, which is also used to treat skin diseases.

And lastly, the young leaves are used to give liqueurs a vibrant green color.

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bracken (fiddlehead) fern: There are many, many kinds of ferns, but the best known, what I think of when I think of "fern," is the bracken fern. The northern woods are carpeted with them from Seattle to Scotland and beyond. When we hiked through the woods or sat around the campfire, we used bracken ferns as sweeps to keep the noxious biting bugs away. When we were young we even thought that the ferns themselves had a bug-chasing quality, and would stick them in our hats and belts and tramp down the trail looking like the Green Man. When I taught survival and living with the land, we made lean-to shelters roofed with bracken ferns, which worked very well as long as it didn't rain torrents. They provided more protection that you would suppose.

But the real attraction of bracken ferns are the fiddleheads. The immature ferns, in the spring, are coiled like fiddleheads before the fronds spread themselves. These are eminently edible. Wonderful, even. Their flavor is something like asparagus, but still their own. Cooked gently, served with butter or vinegar, they are a gourmet treat. We used to gather them ourselves. When we started spending our summers in Maine, we could buy them along the road in the spring, picked fresh that day. They know how to appreciate fiddleheads, up there. Even better, I had a friend, Wanda, who used to bring us back fresh-from-the-woods fiddleheads when she went to visit her parents in The County (Northern Maine.) They are also very good pickled. I have a jar of pickled fiddleheads in the frig right now. You can buy them canned at the supermarket, but canned is always a poor second to the fresh vegetable.

In medieval times, bracken roots were boiled in oil to produce an ointment for healing wounds.

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My basic herb reference books for the herbs I use either for food or medicine in Clovenstone and Stones Seven are: The Herb Book by John Lust (Bantam Books), Brother Cadfael's Herb Garden by Robin Whitman (Bullfinch Press) and Herbs by Lesley Bremness (DK Publishing).

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A FEW THOUGHTS FROM THE EDITOR (me, Ruth)

I'm sitting at a desk in my daughter's living room in Ohio, watching a light rain falling like a veil that makes shadows out of the trees. We drove up here from Florida last week, camping along the way. My husband likes to drive, I like to ride. So we have that all worked out nicely. While I ride, I tap away on my laptop computer and watch the scenery flow by.

We take the back roads when we travel, where America lives. We drive slowly through the small towns and villages, drinking in the homes, the old stores, the people, the ambiance. Villages in particular have personalities you can identify as you pass through them. Outside of the towns are farms, woods, rolling hills or flat patchwork landscapes. Cornfields, cotton fields, pecan groves. and vegetable gardens decorate the way. We stop a produce stands and local Ma and Pa restaurants, talk to the people, buy fresh green peppers. We absorb, we learn, we enrich our lives.

I'm well into the sequel to Clovenstone, and having a good time. That's what I'm writing as we cruise along. Right now the Nonesuch Players have returned to the chamber of the five chests under Gretton Grove and...but I'm not going to tell you. I can hardly wait myself to see how it's going to come out.

I've had so many people comment that they "don't know how I can imagine" the characters and settings of a fantasy novel, as if I picked them out of the pure blue. I don't create from air, I rumble around in the backroads of my mind. Over the years experiences, scenery, villages, fields and folklore have been stored there. The more you " ...walk abroad among his fellow men and travel far and wide..." (C. Dickens), the more you have tucked away on those back roads.

I read a lot as a youngster. Some things in Clovenstone can be traced to similarities in John Carter of Mars or Treasure Island. I loved to climb trees and to sit up in trees and read. The tree culture of Lóthir came from that. For many years I explored wild caves, so Clovenstone characters spend time in caves. As we drive the back roads of the land, I see gnarly trees, homey cottages, junk-strewn hovels, winding streams, place and street names. These impressions go into the back roads of my mind.

Explore the backroads of your mind. I personally find that a long walk jars memories loose for me. You may want to lie back in your recliner and daydream. Think about things you've done and places you've been. You'll be surprised at how much you have stored on those winding roads. You could probably write a book!

R

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WEBSITES TO EXPLORE

This month's site is an online store called the "Shetland Piper." I have the link set up to take your to their Celtic dragon items and their history of the Celtic dragon page. It's a tongue-in-cheek history, clever and fun reading. When you're done with Celtic dragons, go to Shetland Piper's Home page and explore other departments in the store. There's some beautiful and unusual items in jewelry, clothing, and home decor.


Dragons in Celtic Mythology, History and Sales

http://www.shetlandpiper.com/Dragon/a_dragon.html

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And, as always, tell your aunts, uncles, cousins and friends about Clovenstone. Give them an adventure!

Good Fate Be Yours —
Ruth

All art work and text © copyrighted by Ruth McIntyre-Williams.