Coronet wrap-up

After cleaning up Hurricane Mochi, I showered, called Gwenhwyfaer to let her know I was on the way and got on the road, with a stop at 99 Ranch for some manju, a hami melon, strawberries and cherries. Man, their produce is cheaper than Safeway, might be worth a weekly pilgrimage.....

Made decent time up until I took a road which Google Maps had recommended as more direct - without any indication it was a seasonal road. I found myself face to face with an unbroken pile of snow where the plows had stopped - and had to backtrack all the way back to Oroville. Needless detour cost me at least an hour and a half. I stopped in town long enough to top off my gas tank and call G's cell and leave a message to let her know I wasn't at the bottom of the creek. Finally got to site, got set up, did dinner with G in town at a nice little place called Sweet Lorraine's, then back to site to crash out in my sleeping bag, 'cause it was pretty cold and there was snow on the mountains surrounding the meadow we were in.

Edward and Aidan didn't arrive until I was due to attend Their Highnesses from 9 to noon on Saturday morning, and G was motelling it and hadn't gotten to site yet, so I never made breakfast.  Both TH are both fairly low maintenance, though Himself has a tendency to forget to eat or drink if not reminded. Part of my duty included mounted escort across the list field with stick horses. At altitude on uneven ground I must've been outta my mind, but I made it safely and it was actually quite fun. The hobby horses would not get to play again until Sunday morning, when there were several races. It rained much of the day, so I made up the breakfast scramble for my campmates' lunch instead. . Yukiko-hime, who I hadn't realized had studied in the Urasenke school, performed a tea ceremony demonstration in the royal pavilion during the afternoon. I teased her about her plum blossom scroll causing the unseasonably chilly weather. She did a lovely job and we traded some book titles afterward. 

His Highness came to me and said, "I have something I need you to do for me." "Of course, Denka-sama, what is it?" "You have to keep up with me at tonight's party." "Uh, ok." He likes his sake, he does. I failed in the end, even though he'd glance over from time to time and gesture with his cup and make sure I drank something. Honestly, I was pretty busy serving people - and keeping his cup filled. We served the Sho Chiku Bai Classic and Sho Chiku Bai Tokubetsu warmed. (Katherine was heating tokkuri in a pot on a stove, then ferrying it out to me.) It being May in the Sierras, warm sake was much appreciated. And Himself insisted on escorting me back to my tent at the end of the evening.

Susan's mochi brownies were AMAZING! Recipe can be found here. (I'm looking at you, danabren .) We had other treats for folks and I managed to move quite a bit of sake and all the umeshu, not to mention a goodly amount of the onigiri I made on site. I need to get Siobhan's cookie recipe. It was a simple sugar cookie, but the crispness was the best part. I wasn't the only one raving.

Tourney was on Sunday - I had the noon to three shift attending, which mostly consisted of watching the tourney with Her Highness. Achilles won for Esmeralda - they'll make fun royalty, I think. Aurora and I bore the Lord-and-Lady-Of-The-Swan circlets out to the field, which was actually kind of cool.

Attended evening court from the cheap seats, which meant I could witness the traditional performance of Hosiery Theatre. As is also traditional, the "prince" and "princess" puppets were presented to their Royal Counterparts at the end of the routine - which was where things got out of control. Takeshi-no-miya conducted an officer changeover via his puppet, breaking His Princess, Gwenhwyfaer (who was heralding for him), and most of the assemblage in the process, (Sora-no-miya had to turn her back on the populace and wipe her eyes she was laughing so hard.)  Fortunately the hatamoto (Mari, Gunther and some of the other DeGrendelus crew) rushed into court crying "Imposter, imposter!" seized the puppet, bashed in his sock head with a rock and returned momentarily parading him on a rattan pole.
(I don't suppose anyone got video.....)

Made most of the sake and leftovers from Saturday go away by circulating among the audience (and keeping His Highness' cup filled) during the bardic, though I did get to sit with Micah, Susan, Hikaru and the children out back by the fire for a bit both before and after. Micah had found a sake called Hannya. It tasted rather like the Choya umeshu at first sip, then stabbed me in the back of the throat with its horns - turns out it also contains some sort of chili pepper.

The tea on Monday morning went very well. We had an Imperial Craptonne of food. Most of it was store-bought and Not Particularly Medieval (TM), but we managed to arrange it attractively on trays and plates, there was fruit to offer an alternative to the baked goods and we had plenty to serve our guests. (My mochi hadn't traveled very well and I'm not sure if it was the cold or the dry air during the non-rainy portions of the weekend or just being two days old.  The rosepetal remained the best, probably because the syrup had kept it moist). Brian set up a stove for hot water and I spent the entire morning brewing and serving from the pots of sencha and Lapsang Souchong I had going. The third teapot someone had lent was a cute but awkward shape with an absurdly narrow opening. After struggling to steep some Assam through a strainer I gave up on it. I did whisk up a couple bowls of matcha for people to taste, although Micah and Susan sorta bogarted one bowl between them. Sciath couldn't get enough of the Lapsang Souchong, so I'll have to try to remember to pick some more up at Lhasa Karnak for her. At $2.50/ounce, it's impossible to go wrong.

Packed up all my dirty dishes in my reusable shopping bags, tore down my tent and helped Ed and Ginni get theirs down, convoyed to the Applebys in Oroville for dinner and got home a little after 9 PM.

Really tired, facing a mountain of dishwashing and not quite sure how I'll get through taiko tonight, but I had a good time.