Game of Thrones Party Photos!

I'm happy to report that the evening was mostly successful! Aside from two parking tickets, one tray of burnt bacon, and my inability to prepare caramel in time before the show started, plans went off well. Here are some of the best photos from the evening:

Preparing everything before the guests arrived:


A last minute addition to the drink menu- Game of Thrones blonde ale! Not for everyone's taste, but for a light beer it was pretty good.


Rolling and shaping pastry dough for pies...


The finished Tarts in Ymbre Day (cheese and onion pies) fresh from the oven. To make these a bit cheesier than the last ones, I cubed the cheese instead of grating it.


Pre-baking pastry shells...


Preparing the filling for twelve Fruit Tarts with Raisins, Apples, and Pine Nuts


Icing some delicious Elizabethan Lemon Cakes


Jeannine trusses a chicken while Brendan and Sven look on... *special thanks to Sven and Jeannine for helping us set up!*


The trussed chicken, stuffed with fruits, ready for the oven. #notvegetarian

Let The Feast Begin:


Setting up the dessert trays in the living room.


There's a lot of red in the dining room... perhaps we're in Lannisport?


...And perhaps these are Cersei's grapes? *steals some*


Part 1 of the food spread. I wish I'd been able to photograph it before the "Martell speared boar" (bacon) tray was massacred, but you know how it is. Also pictured are the honeyed chickens, and some Salad from Castle Black


A closeup of one of the cooked chickens.


Part 2 of the food spread, with one of the cheese and onion pies, some fresh Spent Grain Bread, and grapes.


Some Pease Porridge emerges on the right, in front of some warming Buttered Carrots and Parsnips.


"Let the feast begin!"

The rest of the night went by in a flash. Immediately after dinner we all grabbed some floor space (and pillows) in the basement and watched the season premiere. It definitely didn't feel like an hour had gone by after the show was over, but it was a good opener, setting up lots of events that will unfold in season 3.

The Aftermath


The buttered carrots are all gone...


So long, salad...


Where the bread once stood, only crumbs remain...


Goodbye, sweet pie...

Hope everyone had a good time! :)

EDIT: Remember, most of the recipes here are from A Feast of Ice and Fire, the Game of Thrones companion cookbook... so pick one up! Also, go to the tag Medieval March to see all the prep work we did for the party this month.

PopChartLab: The Various Varieties of Vegetables

I had nothing to do with the creation of this graphic, but my friend Cassie shared it with me and it's too cool not to repost here:



Get The Various Varieties of Vegetables by PopChartLab as a print via their website. I hadn't heard of some of these varieties of fruits and veg before seeing the chart, and it's given me some new items to look out for as Spring approaches.

Brussels Sprout Wand

My foodie side recognizes these as sprouts and wants to cook them... however my fantasy artist side thinks this is some kind of goblin club.

Apples and Avocado

Yesterday's one hour oil paint warm up.

While I'm fixated on color— I found a really excellent food photo set on Whole Living called Eat The Rainbow, featuring whole foods of different colors and accompanied by their common nutrients. Definitely go check that out, as well as the rest of Christopher Baker's food portfolio. Yum.

Baking Cups and Close-ups

No new recipes today. Just playing around with my camera while making a new batch of whole grain raisin muffins and hard-boiling some eggs.



I think food always looks just a bit tastier when photographed in natural daylight- something my townhouse doesn't have a lot of in the Winter months. So tasty that I had to start eating the props...

Eggplant and Onions

Last year, I decided to get back to my roots in two ways: 1. I started doing more oil painting, and 2. I started intentionally discovering and re-discovering how to use whole, fresh fruits and vegetables in cooking.


Eggplant & Onions. One of my food paintings, Summer 2012

I felt really rusty at both. But cultivating any skill takes practice, and time, and patience, and more practice.

I began to note around this time that cooking is about more than just making flavors work together. By painting still life food paintings (food portraits?) like this one, I was unintentionally learning to connect a little better with my ingredients.