Indeed - just a short bike ride away. If I rode further in there are a string of parks going up the canyon, including a very popular one with a waterfall. One of these days...

I creep along very slowly, but I'm not giving up. Even with modern gear and limited time I can still go out and do picnics on my lunch break in the canyon close to my office, so that's what I did today. Here's a view from my lunch spot looking toward the motorway. There's car noise but the trees lea...

I love these pictures!

Hi Jack, I was going to greet you in your introduction thread - I live in Utah myself. I like reading about the pan de campo. I love seeing how a basic theme of food comes out in variations. I completely understand how toast would fail to satisfy after.

720 ought to do.

Eofor wrote: ↑Mon Apr 18, 2022 3:41 am Thanks for the tip. I suspect the reason I've not looked into maize before is due to its absence from the historical period i portray, I never considered it for Middle Earth cooking.

Yeah, that makes sense: harder to justify than potatoes.

Parched grain, eaten plain or ground into flour, seems like it could fit quite well as provisions for travelers in Gondor. One of my favorite hiking foods for the past five years is tsampa: toasted barley flour. I was going to get some pictures of me preparing and eating it but I'm just going to wri...

That's cool.

I'm reminded of how, even though we might associate a certain garment shape strongly with a time and place, there are forms that are simple and could easily be imagined among just about any culture with basic levels of technology and skill.

Elleth, these costume ideas are lovely, and I think something like them could be within my reach before too long. I think I'll start with a three-season kit before worrying too much about winter layers. I appreciate the thoughts about hats. I guess a chin strap would help. One of these days I'll put...

Thanks for the encouragement mellyn. I've been thinking about those foothills of the White Mountains: seems like it could resemble the Piedmont or other subalpine parts of Italy, or northern Spain. The climate in those regions should at least have colder winters than Pinnath Gelin and especially Anf...

I don't do much woodworking beyond making walking sticks, but I'm enjoying this discussion. And Eofor, I'd be interested in that link for the fan edit too.

A bit of a different method, but there are also hoecakes/johnnycakes you can make from ground maize.

Try it! The longer you cook the little chunks the more pleasant they are to chew. Almost like big noodles. If I get around to making pemmican I'll try making pemmican-hardtack soup. Meanwhile I'll try putting jerky or dried sausage in. I bought some South African droewors but I ate it all before I c...

Excellent, Cimrandir! I look forward to seeing what you come up with too. It will be slow going for me I expect, but if I keep it simple it should be doable.

Today I played around with names and for the time being I have my persona coming from the Celos Vale in northern Lebennin.

Those are some lovely-looking cakes. This is a fun thread and I'll help myself to reviving it. I've been experimenting with travel foods lately. I used to find Sailor Boy Pilot Bread at one of our local grocery stores and my daughters loved that variety of "cram," but the store stopped car...

Yes, try again, don't give up! We had a grape vine die in our garden but the next one is thriving so far. Plant another tree and keep us posted! This earth needs more trees.