Starting to wish I had gone looking for a larger hall

Last year, when I ran Norrskensfesten and the first Norrskensbard competition, we had about 70 people register, a few of whom didn't make it at the last minute, but there were at least 65 people on site. This year we already have 82 people registered and it is still four weeks to the the event (well, technically four weeks till the day the event ends, but close enough). I just played with the drawing program, and if I add some more tables to the ring and put a high table on the stage then we can seat 86 and still have the space in the middle for dancing and the bardic performances. It will work out, I am certain. But part of me wants to say "no more registrations" now, and part of me wants my other friends who haven't registered yet to do so...

Sadly, I really don't know of any sites which have a larger hall, and a decent kitchen. This is one of the biggest I have personally been to up here.

Edited to add: decided on an event cap of 95 and then put people on a waiting list. Said so on FB, and by the time I was ready to put the computer down and get ready for bed the number of people who had tried to register was 99.

so yummy I have to make a record of it

I have made a lot of yummy variations of Green Spaghetti Sauce over the years, and they are usually wonderful, but I am particularly happy with the one I did on Saturday, so I am going to write it down before I forget.

Green Spaghetti (gluten free)

1 spaghetti squash
3 small heads of home-grown garlic (each one is one big round clove each--they didn't separate into individual cloves)
260 grams fresh spinach (it comes in 65 gram bags here)
1/2 cup previously chopped, steamed, and then frozen home-grown silverbeet
1 can artichoke bottoms, drained
1/4 cup canned chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 T flax seeds
dash each of pepper, dried rosemary, onion salt
1 T butter

Stab a hole in the squash with a sharp knife and set it into a pan in the oven to roast at 150 C for an hour. Poke holes in the garlic skin and put them into the oven to roast as well. It should be done in 20 to 30 minutes--pull it out when it is soft, and leave the squash to keep roasting. (Note: failure to poke the hole in the garlic will cause one of them to explode all over the inside of the oven, which is why only three, instead of the four I had planed to use, made it into the sauce. I do not recommend repeating this experiment unless you do so in a covered roasting pan, it turns out to be very difficult to remove the garlic on the oven roof behind the burner, even when the oven is cool.)

Take the silverbeet out of the freezer and set it into a microwave safe bowl and use the microwave to thaw it.

Steam the spinach till darker and wilted.

Put the thawed silverbeet, spinach, roasted garlic (after removing the peeling), seeds, chickpeas, and spices into a food processor and process till well blended. If needed add a small amount of the water from steaming the spinach to give it a more sauce like consistency. Transfer the sauce to a microwave safe bowl and give it a couple of minutes in the microwave at full power, stir, and it you would like it hotter yet, give it another couple of minutes. Repeat till it seems hot enough.

By now the squash should be about ready. When it is cooked through cut it in half, scrape the squash "noodles" out into a large bowl, stir in some butter (or other oil of choice if you don't do dairy) and stir in the sauce.

Notes:

*If you don't happen to have silverbeet from your garden in the freezer you can substitute fresh or frozen greens of your choice. In the latter case, steam them, too.

*If you can't get spaghetti squash just now, feel free to substitute any kind of pasta you enjoy

acroyoga, aerial silks, and my jester costume in progress

My photographer friend returned to Phire practice on Friday, which inspired us to get back on the aerial silks and do lots of acroyoga. He has posted lots of his photos from that evening here and here.

Here is one from a new trick we are learning (you can tell, we actually have a spotter):




This one is just elegant:



The evening was also a great excuse to give a test run to my jester costume, now that I have the under tunic done. Sadly, the linen of that tunic is a bit see-through, so I borrowed C's vest to cover up, since I had no idea how much things would show in the photos, so you can't really see how it came out.

When I decided to make this, it was with the acrobatic performances in mind. Therefore, I needed something fitted and supportive without a bra, yet, very, very comfortable with lots of range of motion for the arms. Therefore I tried adapting the Finnish Eura dress pattern, using techniques from later period fitted patterns (e.g. Greenland finds) for the torso, but sleeves that go from the neck to the wrists for the arms, mostly like the Eura dress interpretation.

However, I opted to do the sleeves so that one edge is the fabric selvage, the other bias cut, and the under arm triangle gores are also one edge straight cut, the other bias cut, so that I could always sew a bias to a straight. I finished the under layer the other day and wore it to practice (along with my Thorsberg trousers)and was really pleased with how much movement and flexibility I have with it. The fabric doesn't mind if I stand on my hands or do any other extreme movement with my arms.

Here is one photo he got that kinda shows the outfit. I look forward to getting the wool over-layer done too. It was cut in the same pattern.