Day at the Middle East

[isabelladangelo]

It was a lot of fun. I should probably explain that for the past three weeks I've been trying to explain to Mom what "feast" means. She gets it now. As we were going home she said "Okay, I've got to tell Dad that when Sissy says 'feast' she means feast" Yes, Mommy, you will NOT go home hungry unless you want too.
Originally, we weren't sure if we could stay for feast. Turns out my Uncle and Aunt that were supposed to be coming up for the baptism tomorrow are both sick (flu, the same one I had probably). This meant that Mom didn't have to be home early and that we could stay and eat all the yummy olives we could find.
Mom tells me half way to the event that she hasn't eaten yet today. I told her not to worry, there would be food when we got there. So, the first thing we did (after troll) was go get in line. The problem was there was nowhere to sit down so we ended up standing in the back of the room. (If it had been just me, I would have just plopped down somewhere at someone's table and not really worried. But with two people, it's harder to find space)
After eating some yummy fried bread, I went to show Mom the merchants. One lady had GORGEOUS pretty shiny things. I later ended up buying a couple of pairs of earrings because they were only $3 each. (And I cannot resist aquamarine stones set on gold. I can't. I also got a lovely red pair of danglies. I'll end up wearing those next year.) I was so happy that the spice merchant was there. I really wanted to get to an event with Mom where he'd show up because she LOVES spices. She ended up with Vanilla Beans (for a dessert), orange oil (not for cooking but for cleaning), and rose oil.
The rose oil was because, at some time before court, a lady (I can't remember her name but she had the lovely blackwork on her sleeve and was wearing a red dress) came walking by my Mom and myself with a platter of yummy stuff called snow. We both tried it and it was super yummy. It apparently contained rose water as one of the ingredients. I need to find the recipe for the entire thing for Mom. Anyway, it was good.
So, back to the event. I should probably point out I was wearing my Italian/Turkish garb with a black velvet hat and pretties. The black velvet hat was the crown to a straw hat I took apart last year for Pennsic. If you take the crown out of the straw hat, you end up with the straw "ring" to pull your hair through and look something like the ladies sunbathing their hair in Italy. (I hope that makes sense!) Anyway, I covered the straw crown with black velvet scraps on Thursday night. I then took a piece of red linen and wrapped it around the base. I secured that with a big green brooch. I took one of my linen veils and slipped it through the back of the red linen strap to have it hanging down the back.
I also had on a pale blue silk scarf around my waist with a gold chain/coin belt on over that. (In a lot of the readings I found, the European men said they saw the Turkish women wear silk scarves with gold belts over them. My idea was to go as an Italian trying to wear what she thought would be "normal" for Turkey.) I also had on a pearl necklace (very Italian) and a gold chain necklace with coins on it (when my Aunt Sissy passed away, Uncle Madden gave my Dad a lot of her jewelry to give to me. This included the coin belt and necklace).
So, Mom has on her pretty chemise and coat (it ended up not fitting exactly right. I'll take it back apart and fix it) and I had on my stuff. While Mom went out to the car to talk to my aunt who is sick and couldn't come for the baptism, I went inside and found molly_world and when she found out I'm an Italian trying to look Turkish, she took me over to chargirlgenius who was waiting in line for food. (FOOD! Yum! Just give me the olives and no one gets hurt...) Through this, I got entered into the A&S competition. You see, when I first got there, I thought it was way to late to enter (it was 12:30) so I didn't bother to ask but brought the documentation in case any one wanted to know what I or my Mom was dressed as. I also brought the first 22 pages of one of the sources I used because I used it a lot in my documentations and I wasn't sure how many people knew about it.
So, by the time Mom came back in I told her to sit down at the A & S table because we were now on exhibit. :-) This was really a lot of fun. It may sound boring to just sit there but when you are just sitting there and talking to random people that come up to you about costuming, listening to music, and listening to everything else going on around you, it's really a lot of fun. (BTW, dawnhutchings, if you would like, I'll probably end up at one of the colonial markets again soon and I'd be happy to pick up one of the bone awls for you. I <3 mine and it makes awesome lacing holes. Mine is carved and has little hearts at the top of it. I think it was about $4 or so. It's still as sharp as when I got it two years ago too.)
molly_world wants me to try this gown for next year. That should be amusing.
I got a lot of really great comments from all the judges (and a lot of other people too!) There was one sweet lady whose name escapes me at 3:30 in the morning (she was wearing a lot of green and was one of the pointy hats. She was sitting at the A&S table during feast and stood up to give one of the toasts.) Anyway, she gave me one of her bracelets because she really loved the work I did with my outfit. I was really, truly, surprised that anyone really liked it. I was looking at it more from a technical point of view, I guess... The bracelet is beautiful and that really was just so sweet.
A lot of people wanted copies of my documentation (I'll post it up on my website later). oonaghsown's website on her Turkish coat was a big help. (Thanks!) It also helped that I have seen this painting in person a few million times. :-)
Well, to make a short story long, I didn't win the "European's Point of View" competition BUT I did win the "From the skin out" competition. :-) My Mom was so happy she got to see that. I guess everyone really REALLY liked my outfit.
orlacarey made a stunning lace edged handkerchief that was just beautiful. It had pretty blue beads on each of the corners that looked similar to the "evil eye" beads you see all over Turkey today. It really was just fabulous.
Feast was really yummy. I didn't care for the stuffed grape leaves but I loved the lentils and lamb. (Lentils tasted like black eyed peas but without the ham hocks or green peppers) The chicken was pretty good too. Mom was stuffed by the second dish. She kept telling me "Wait, you mean there is more food?"
We did get up and leave a bit early (I'll explain in the next post) but I did want to say thank you to everyone. I had fun and Mom said she wants to come back next year (woohoo! Dress up Mommy again!).

Comments

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

One lady had GORGEOUS pretty shiny things. I later ended up buying a couple of pairs of earrings because they were only $3 each. (And I cannot resist aquamarine stones set on gold. I can't. I also got a lovely red pair of danglies. I'll end up wearing those next year.)

Ooh, can you take pictures?

It sounds like you had a great time! I wish I could have been there to scarf olives, too. I love olives so much.

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

Pretty shinies are both here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jubileel/2373946158/) and here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jubileel/2373946006/). The pictures aren't that great because my camera has issues with taking detailed pictures inside. (Outside is fine but inside? Forget it) However, the colors are correct and you can see that there is some detailing on the earrings. I might wear the blue and gold ones to church today...hmmm...

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Ah, those are so pretty. They should really pop against your hair, especially the blue ones.

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

:-) Thanks! I have a thing for pretties. It's a good thing that most of the pretties I find are cheap!

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

I do believe the lady in green you are talking about was Duchess Simone.

You both looked lovely and LLT and I were happy to see you win.

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

How many times did you get called into court? Three? :-) I love seeing people I know get called up.

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

Two specifically - the hankie and the award. Plus the Order of the Pearl being called in for Ethelfleda.