I happened to mention to somebody - I think it was Mother Huggen - that 1 August used to be celebrated as Lammas, or 'Loaf Mass'. It was a thanksgiving/celebration of the first bread made from the summer wheat harvest. In no time at all this story was all around the island, and you know how they like any excuse for a festival. Today, while Yorkshire celebrates Yorkshire Day and a few English villages nod in the direction of Lammas, Mistmantle animals have been setting up tables around the Tower and sharing bread.
If the otters made it, it probably has seaweed in it. This tastes better than it sounds, and because it was made by otters it may have a faint taste of fish. Hedgehogs - to be honest it's not always wise to ask what they put in it, but it tastes fantastic, and Needle and her family make the most delicious bread with berries in. Moles eat pretty well anything, and mole made bread is fine if you don't mind the earthy taste. The squirrels are best, as squirrel cooks have a real understanding of nuts and grains. Some of you will remember Urchin taking walnut bread to Crispin. To those two, walnut bread is the absolute best, but Sepia prefers hazelnut. Crackle puts red berries in with it. 'Bread' includes oatcakes, flatbreads, and all those other breads that don't go in the oven.
Did you ever make a 'damper'? We used to do it when I was a Guide. You make a kind of yeast-free bread dough, (mostly flour and water, I think, but I can't remember), wrap it round a stick, and cook it over the campfire. A damper, if it doesn't drop off into the fire, is best with butter and jam, if you have any, otherwise it just tastes of smoky stick. There is nothing to recommend it except that you made it yourself. And you have to be careful what kind of stick it is. One that won't poison you or catch fire is a good idea. Cold dampers are revolting, hot ones are edible, but it's one of those things where cooking it is more fun than eating it. That's why Fingal is supervising a lot of eager little animals, already stuffed to the gills with with Mistmantle bread, sitting round a campfire trying not to drop dampers into it.
3 comments:
Yay! Mistmantle!
What if Mistmantle was facing a new threat...you could always 'continue' the adventurs on your blog...just an idea....Oh, and you may or may not know this, but you can make money with your blog, too. You seem to have good traffic to it. You'd have more if it was to be advertised (don't know if this is the righ word) elsewhere on the internet. Just a suggustion... :) You know, to incress pageveiwers.
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