#medieval cheese

[thejoyofseax]

you mentioned you have a theory about british cheese, and i have to say, i'm deeply curious.

It's not a particularly complex theory. In essence: through the later medieval era and into the early modern in Britain, cheese was not a favoured food. It was what you ate with food, or when there was nothing else to eat (and this attitude is reflected in US foodways today; those attitudes came across with English people of the time). Whereas in other areas of Europe, and in Ireland in particular, cheese was regarded as very definitely food. In Irish history, there's a term best translated as "white-meats" which refers to dairy products in general; they were valued at least as much if not more than meat itself.

It takes time to work out how your local cheese works, and it's intensely variable, the more so in the absence of sterile or easily seal containers. Cheese made a few kilometres down the river, or in the next valley over, can be very different indeed because the local microbiological culture is very varied. The necessary microbiomes for some cheeses take hundreds of years to really develop.

And Britain has had successive waves of invasions which, as distinct from other places (particularly Ireland) where only the rulers were replaced, involved new populations arriving. Not so much the Romans, but the Anglo-Saxons and all their ilk, and then the Normans. In each of these waves, local cheesemaking knowledge was probably lost, and the new people had to start over with cheese that was not from local knowledge in their new place, nor from local knowledge in the place they came from - because that didn't apply any more.

Meantime, Ireland had changes of rulership every so often, but mostly the farming - and cheese-making - populations just stayed where they were, using dairy as they had for centuries, and by the time the Vikings and then the Normans arrived, probably millenia.

So British cheese was just not great, and Irish cheese, we assume, was fantastic stuff. Right up, perhaps, to the ealy 20th century, when modernisation, scientificism, and a huge focus in dairy on butter for export almost killed off the Irish cheese industry. We're starting to fix that, but there's really only about 50 years of farm-level varied cheesemaking in Ireland as yet. Given that some of that cheese is superb, I'm looking forward to what starts to be produced in the next few decades.

[lemonbubble]

me, eating a pile of nuts, cheese, and apple: mmmm tasty

the medieval peasant in my head watching me eat: thou knowst what would MAKETH this meal? dried fruits.

me, getting out the raisins: god damn, etheldred, you are SO right

the medieval peasant in my head: yet thou art still not heeding mine words regarding the blasphemy

[baelarys]

Thérèse

Aemond targaryen x Reader Niece velaryon

word count : 1180

Warning : angust, Insest , Suicide, death of a minor,Mention of blood and cheese ,Delicate and explicit topics

Author's note : I born to be the mother of a girl.

Thérèse pt2

She was your everything, the reason for your joy, your greatest treasure. When Alysa was born, the happiness you felt was indescribable. She looked so much like you: her brown hair and dark eyes were a reflection of yours, and it filled you with an even deeper love.

Every day since her birth, you felt blessed. You watched each of her small gestures, her smile that lit up the room, and each babbling that made you laugh. Alysa had not only inherited your physical traits, but also your spirit, your energy, and your joy for life.

“Can you say mom?” you asked softly to the baby you held in your arms. “Mom,” you repeated in a warm, encouraging voice as you rocked Alysa back and forth.

Her big dark eyes looked at you curiously, her small mouth forming a soft smile. Each attempt of her to imitate you was another step in her development, and it filled you with indescribable pride.

“Come on, little girl, you can do it,” you whispered, bringing her face closer to yours so he could see you better. Alysa babbled something unintelligible, but to you, it was like music.

“Mommy,” you repeated once again, continuing to rock her. Alysa looked at you with those curious eyes, and even though she couldn't form the word yet, you knew she would soon.

The doors to your room suddenly opened, interrupting the moment of peace. You turned to see who it was, and found Aemond standing in the doorway. He looked visibly upset.

“My mother invited you to have lunch with her,” he said, approaching you with a firm step. "You did not go."

“I was taking care of Alysa,” you replied, without much interest, as you continued rocking the baby.

Aemond frowned, his gaze stern. “You know how important your presence at these events is to her. You can’t just ignore their invitations.”

“I'm not ignoring her,” you replied, staying calm. “My priority is Alysa. She needed my attention.”

Aemond took a deep breath, trying to control his frustration. He approached you and looked at the little girl in your arms. His expression softened as he saw his daughter, his eyes filling with tenderness.

Without saying a word, he stretched out his arms to support Alysa. Carefully, you moved her from your arms to him. Aemond cradled her gently, his fingers gently stroking her brown hair. Alysa looked at him curiously, her small fingers trying to grab a strand of her father's hair.

“Look who's here, Alysa,” Aemond said in a warm voice he rarely used, reserved only for his daughter. "Is Dad."

The little girl giggled, her little face lighting up with joy. Aemond smiled, his eyes softening further as he looked at his daughter. It was a side of him that very few saw, a vulnerability that only Alysa could bring out.

––––––––

The last few days had been crazy. Aegon's proclamation as king had shaken the foundations of the Seven Kingdoms. The news of Lucerys' death and the looming possibility of war kept everyone in a constant state of anxiety.

In the midst of the political storm, you tried to remain calm, taking refuge in the tranquility and peace that Alysa provided you.

Every morning when you woke up, you heard the whispers of the servants and the worried murmurs that spread through the hallways. The atmosphere in the Red Keep was tense, with furtive glances and hushed conversations dominating the day. Aemond, for his part, found himself increasingly involved in court intrigues, forced to take an active role in his brother's new administration.

Despite everything, your priority was still Alysa. In their small world, politics and wars had no place. Her days were filled with laughter, games and discoveries, and you tried hard to keep that oasis of happiness intact.

You spent hours with her, reading old stories, singing lullabies, and observing each of her small accomplishments with wonder and pride.

One afternoon, while Aemond was away at a council meeting, you took Alysa to the castle gardens. The sun was shining brightly, and the air was filled with the scent of summer flowers. Sitting on the grass, you allowed Alysa to crawl around as she pleased, her giggles filling the space around you.

“You're growing up so fast, my princess,” you whispered to her, watching her reach for a butterfly flying nearby. “I wish I could keep you this happy forever, away from all the chaos that surrounds us.”

Just then, you felt a presence behind you. You turned and saw Aemond approaching, his expression a mix of tiredness and concern. Seeing you and Alysa, his face softened a little. He joined you on the grass, setting aside the concerns of the kingdom for a moment.

“I needed this,” Aemond said, taking Alysa into his arms and laughing softly when she tugged at his hair. “A moment of peace in the midst of so much disorder.”

“I know,” you nodded, touching his arm affectionately. “Here, in the gardens, everything seems so distant. We can forget for a moment what is happening out there.”

Aemond nodded, looking at his daughter lovingly. “I would like to be able to offer you a better future, one without wars and conflicts. But these are difficult times.”

“We will,” you said. “We will find a way to protect her and give her a happy life.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden, enjoying the sun and the warm breeze. The garden became their refuge, a place where they could escape the worries of the outside world and simply be a family. Alysa laughed with every movement, her happiness was contagious and filled the air with pure and simple joy.

When night fell, you found yourself in Alysa's room, filled with toys scattered on the floor. The soft light of a couple of candles was the only thing that illuminated the gloom, creating dancing shadows on the walls. You watched Alysa sleep peacefully in her crib while you carefully folded some of her little dresses.

The silence was comforting, a pause in the tumult of the day. The candles flickered softly, casting a warm, welcoming light that made the room even more intimate. Alysa's every calm breath was a melody to your ears.

You hadn't sensed the presence of the two men who had entered the room until one of them collided with the small tower of blocks near the door. The sudden noise made you turn around quickly. At first, you thought it might be one of the wet nurses, but when you looked, you saw the faces of two men you didn't recognize.

"Who are you?" you asked, instinctively placing yourself in front of Alysa's crib. You tried to sound strong and authoritative, but your heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to burst out of your chest.

The men exchanged a quick look. One of them, a tall man with a scar on his cheek. “Who is she?” He asked his companion.

“The one-eyed prince's wife,” one of the men murmured with a sneer on his face. You clung tighter to the crib behind you, feeling the urge to protect Alysa. Both men looked dirty, like rat catchers, but you knew they hadn't come just to catch rats.

“You can go,” you said firmly, noticing how the men approached you, murmuring something about Aemond under their breath. Fear hit you, but you forced yourself to maintain your composure. You decided to turn to take Alysa in your arms and escape, but at that same moment, you felt one of the men grab you by the hair, pulling you back, while a small cold knife was placed on your throat.

Terror washed over you, but you tried to stay calm. Alysa continued sleeping, oblivious to the danger. “Let me go,” you whispered, your voice shaking, your eyes locked with your captor's.

"Give us the child and we will not harm you," said the tallest, most robust man.

"No...no" you responded, trying to get away from the smaller man who was still holding you tightly.

You saw the robust man approach Alysa's crib and you felt as if your heart was going to explode "wait... I have jewelry, gold, I will give you anything, even double what they gave you for coming here" tears fell down your face. cheeks as he removed some gold rings from your fingers and extended them towards the men.

The tall man removed the thin veil that covered Alysa's crib, you suppressed a scream. Trying not to wake the baby who was still sleeping.

“guards…” you tried to scream but the man pressed the knife harder on your throat, you cried, you didn't know what else to do, you started to panic.

The tears began to fall faster when you saw how the man took your little Alysa by her arms and reached for her, causing small moans of pain from the baby.

"No!" You tried to get out of the man's grip on you but you couldn't, you felt the smaller man hit your head with the butt of the knife and threw you towards the wall which caused you to hit your head with it.

You heard Alysa crying, the sound of flesh being pierced accompanied by the sound of blood running on the floor, your stomach turned, you felt like everything was happening in slow motion, Alysa's crying stopped followed by the rough sound of a small body falling against the floor.

The man took the baby's head to put it in a small sack to leave the room followed by the smaller man.

You looked at the scene without knowing what to do until you saw the headless body of your daughter and a large pool of blood accompanying it, you crawled towards her.

“no…no…no” you repeated desperately, your throat hurt, your heart hurt and the tears came out without stopping, clouding your vision, you took the small body in your arms, bathing your fine dress in blood.

A heartbreaking scream came from your throat, your Alysa, your little and dear daughter, has been taken from you in such a cruel and inhuman way

The sound of the footsteps of some guards entering the room didn't even make you look away from the puddle that your baby's body was releasing.

“Y/N” Aemond called but you didn't turn around, you drowned in your own tears, wishing for nothing more than your own death you couldn't protect her, you were a shame. A small scream came from your throat, clinging more and more to the body you held in your arms.

–––––––––––

The night cold insinuated itself through the cracks of the window, cooling the already gloomy atmosphere of the room. A Week had passed since Alysa had left, leaving a palpable emptiness that expanded with each beat of your heart. The pain, far from diminishing with time, seemed to cling more tightly to your soul, as if the passing of the days did nothing but revive the memories of that fateful night.

In the oppressive silence of your room, the absence of words and human contact was a conscious choice. You had chosen withdrawal, seeking refuge in solitude to face the emotional whirlwind that enveloped you. Not even Aemond, your husband, had managed to penetrate the wall of your pain. Every time he tried to get closer, you retreated a little further, wrapped in a blanket of silence and memories.

One of the maids silently entered the room, carrying with her a tray of food that she knew beforehand you wouldn't touch. With a respectful but concerned gesture, she placed the tray on a small table next to the bed, discreetly removing the morning tray that was still intact.

"Dinner, your highness," she announced quietly, as if afraid to disturb the fragile balance of your silent contemplation. Her eyes reflected a mixture of understanding and regret at your persistent refusal to feed yourself properly.

Nodding barely perceptibly, you acknowledged the delivery with a gesture while you watched her leave with soft and discreet steps watched him leave with soft and discreet steps. Dinner remained in front of you.

Your gaze fell on the small knife next to the butter, an almost insignificant detail in the composition of the tray. You watched it for a long moment, feeling ideas swirl and fade in your tumultuous mind. Among them all, a single idea persisted, firm as a beacon in the midst of the emotional storm that enveloped you.

With trembling but determined hands, you took the knife and headed to your bed, delicately passing the sharp object across your wrist watching as blood began to flow.

You were surprised not to feel anything, you laid down carefully feeling how the liquid wet the sheet beneath you while your eyelids became heavy you didn't fight to stay awake the only thing you wanted now was just to rest.

[the-merry-otter]

Medieval Mac and Cheese recipe

(As demanded by yall)

Macrows

“Take and make a thin foil of dowh, and kerve it on peces, and cast hem on boiling water and seeth it wele. Take chese and grate it and butter cast bynethen and above and losyns. and serve forth.”

-> from the ‘Forme of Cury’ p. 46, compiled about A. D. 1390.

The more readable interpretation as set down in Cariadoc’s Miscellany is as follows:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

⅔ cups cold water (approx)

3 cups grated cheese (approx). They used swiss and parmesan.

4 tablespoons butter (approx).

Knead flour and cold water into a smooth, elastic dough. Roll it out thin and cut into broad strips (1”-2” wide). Boil it about 5-10 minutes (until tender). Put it in a dish, layered with grated cheese and butter. You may want to heat it briefly in an oven (although the recipe does not say to do so).

Happy cooking!

[handweavers]

ok enough from me about yankeeland. i am in the fabric mines preparing to sell my work at a market next week

[grandmawitch]

[taski-guru]

Cheese, please

(ych sketch)

[astriiformes]

Experimented with putting some smoked paprika in tonight's latkes and they turned out incredibly delicious. I love that holidays get me cooking properly.

[foeliage]

Girl gone hunting. Going to bring home a big tasty deer to feed her family.

Just a quick doodly scene while I work my way back into doing more ambitious works.

[racefortheironthrone]

Do you think House Butterwell would have owned their herds of cattle directly, or would they divide them up among their vassals? Or both? Given that fresh milk and cream aren’t very portable or storable without refrigeration, would they likely have invested in butter and cheese making operations as well? How important do you think the relative proximity to Kings Landing and it’s half a million potential customers was to Butterwell’s wealth?

Both.

The Butterwells would have owned cattle themselves, but only as many as they could run on the lands they owned directly. When it comes to land held in tenancy by their peasants, the cattle on those lands would most likely be owned by the tenants, although it wasn't unknown for peasants to rent livestock from their landlords.

Whether milk and cream were produced for market would have depended a lot on how close the farms were to towns and other commercial towns - if you were a day or less' travel away from a major population center, then selling milk and cream made economic sense.

However, it's also true that no self-respecting dairy farm would be without churns to make butter, cheese strainers and moulds to make cheese, and so forth. And the dairy farms of House Butterwell would both supply the Whitewalls "buttery," serve as a staple diet of Butterwell tenants, and would be sold on to nearby markets.

[ibijau]

today we're making bread AND carrot cake

they'll bake separately, but if I need to have my oven on, I might as well take full advantage of it, you know?

[fisheadz]

I’ve decided to write more about the SWTD + ISM crossover, because I doubt I’ll ever write any longfics about it, so I like throwing out the plot like wet laundry. Any grass stains or mud splotches get added to the story, because I like them.

I’ve made up my mind about how @milestonekestrel ‘s Caz survives AU happens here. Addair Thing doesn’t show up until after Caz meets the others, but before they realize that there’s been a misunderstanding. In fact, I think that Addair Thing showing up is what reveals it, and they ask Caz and he’s like “wait what did you guys think happened to me?” And it’s a whole thing. (Do not ask me how Addair got to Milton Haven.)

Now, where does the showdown™️ take place? The old quarry is a possibility, likely being completely abandoned after Desmond, Lucas and everyone else popped the lid on Mayers bullshit. Maybe we can pretend Fort Sonder is bigger than it is and make it happen there, idk.

Now obviously the main priority is to keep everything under wraps, and to get rid of it. Things change here, because Caz doesn’t get a chance to rush in, and I think while he’s talking with the others, Suze and Billy catch up, so they know now (after a whole lot of convincing). Meanwhile the Shape is getting impatient, and Addairs going nuts, so they have to act fast to kill him.

Billy, of course, gets chew-toyed by the bastard at some point, but I think with Desmond and Virginias help (I hc that her brother is a nurse, and therefore has taught her a thing or two, and Desmonds obvious) the damage is mitigated somewhat. His arms still fucked, but it’s not as bad as it could be. With more targets, they have to be sneakier, but they can distract him better while someone else does something important.

If this is the old quarry, I think reflooding the pit with Addair trapped in one of those rock cage things is feasible. If it’s Fort Sonder, we can just imagine that there’s some water tanks in there somewhere. Ain’t fanfiction fun?

Once Addairs killed (they possibly find connections between the Shape and AR, along the way. As a treat) they regroup, take the injured to go get uninjured, and live happily ever after. Totally. :D.

Except, no! Because now the Shape lives in all of them! And now I get to talk about my little Shape + Agent Rainbow interaction!

This is going off the theory that it’s a parasite. A really funky, really mindscrewy parasite. That just so happens to have the ability to tap into the Collective Unconscious. I imagine that it wouldn’t get much farther than someone’s personal conscious, but with AR’s help, it can spread more in the weird, barely explained hivemind.

Now imagine this - you got a Shadow, and it sucks. It resides in your personal conscious, though as Desmond proves, that can be accessed through the CU as a whole if you can find the way in. Typically this requires a deeper connection to the CU, you need your personal conscious to have more of an influence on the CU. Desmond has this connection through whatever strain Mayer gave him, or maybe through his brain reacting differently to the chemical. Lucas doesn’t, at least not anymore, either because of the strain, or the dosage, or the circumstance, or his brain, or a combination of the four.

But, that connection also means your Shadow has more of an influence on the CU, more sentience, like Desmond’s Shadow, Agent Rainbow. The others’ Shadows were stuck in their personal conscious - as they should be. Shadows are supposed to stay with the person they belong to. Agent Rainbow the chemical, changes that. As Rosemary points out, it weakens that divide, making it possible to connect to someone via the CU. Communicating from one PC, to another, through the CU as a whole. Like the internet.

AR the Shadow could mess around in other PC’s, interacting with the environment. This is especially obvious when he changes a whole ass corridor in Max’s tape, letting Desmond walk through it with nothing in his way when, once AR changes it back to normal, there’s clearly no straight way through without getting hurt. AR doesn’t have complete control, not by a long shot, but he has enough to really fuck with things. Not enough to prevent Desmond from defeating the Shadows, but still. A Shadow having this much influence over a different PC is clearly bad, given a Shadows nature. Which is why it’s very important that they stay in their PC, where they’re supposed to be.

The Shape, this parasite that spreads through peoples PC and the CU? That screws with peoples heads to the point of driving them insane? AR weakened the divide between the CU and ones PC. The Shape breaks it entirely. It enters someone’s PC, messes with them, and once that Shadow is at its strongest, the person having completely given up on fighting it (however subconscious that fight is), it uses that weakness to destroy the PC, opening it to the CU completely, and spreading out to the CU. This releases the Shadow, and while it isn’t as freethinking and Desmonds Shadow, it’s still very destructive.

It can affect other PCs to an extent, and can royally fuck up those more open PCs I mentioned, the ones like Desmond’s that are somewhat merged with the CU. This is how it spreads, at least in a way. It destroys your mind utterly and irreparably, allowing it to take you over, so it can spread in a more physical manner. It destroys you mentally, so that it can destroy you physically, so that it can infect more people, so that it can repeat the process however many times it needs to.

Does this mean that it’s completely indestructible? Yeah, pretty much. Does this mean that you can’t stop it from spreading? Not really. If you can stop it from breaking the PC, then its mental spread stops there. It still weakens the PC, of course. It leaves the person more vulnerable, but it doesn’t get out into the CU, and it can’t infect more PCs. It can only mentally spread to people who are already infected physically, so as long as the person isn’t taken over physically, the spread stops with them.

Does ANY of this make sense. Fuck no! Like I said, the CU isn’t very explained, so we can theorize and headcanon it to oblivion. And in this universe that also has the Shape, which is also not explained, we are Gods at our thrones, pushing around little wooden figures to make an aesthetically pleasing visual. Or something poetic like that, idk.

And now, with the ISM group infected, the Shape is a greater threat than ever. Especially with Desmond, whose PC, as I mentioned before, is very exposed to the CU. In a sense, he’s a doorway to other PCs, though this is limited to a few people. And the Shape happens to be an opportunist.

Now they have an extremely volatile time bomb on their hands, in the form of their cell former therapist, and his former patients, who have all had their PCs weaken by AR the chemical, and Caz and Suze and Billy, have to find a way to keep it from spreading further within the CU. Because they don’t know if anyone else was infected by the Shape. It’s been a long time between Caz getting off the rig, and Addair coming for him, he could have infected anybody between then!

That arc, however, is to be elaborated on more at a different time. I is so very tired at the moment :<. It’s 1am, and it’s been a long day.

Oh my gosh this is awesome tho! I feel powerful, Shaping (heh) this mini plot like silly putty. I’m still working on my wip ISM fic, but between my rapid-fire bursts of motivation, I like thinking about this crossover. There’s so much that I can do with the Shape and AR, it’s giving me headaches. Or I’m just dehydrated, whatever.

[citrlet]

bread + cheese like if u agree

[miaoqing]

binghe is literally just whiny, dramatic, and lazy. like. the abyss is a BREEZE compared to going grocery shopping

[schwazombie]

Dionysianass typea meal

[girddlepatchilles]

I get why everyone finds the tendency for the showrunners of HoTD to go "it was an accident" annoying. But I don't even think a lot of what call an "accident" is truly an accident.

Like, yeah, Alicent mishearing Viserys talk about the prophesy and think it's about Aegon? It's a ham-handed way to get Alicent on the King Aegon train. Kinda goofy, but it's forgivable.

Luke's death? Aemond may not have intended for Vhagar to go chomp, but he chased after his nephew with an apex predator and thought he could control it when everything in their bond was probably going "kill, kill, kill!". All we get from Aemond is his "oh fuck what have I done" face at the end of S1, and as of now he seems to have implied to people he did it on purpose. I

Blood and Cheese wasn't an accident. Blood and Cheese wasn't a mistake. Blood and Cheese was "I want a son for a son. Ideally you're going to kill Aemond." It is not stated on screen, but Blood and Cheese aren't stupid. They know Daemon will accept the child. Yeah, they end up going for Jaehaerys because he's easily available, but that makes sense.