I am not a Laurel, Pelican, or Peer of any type nor do I play one on TV. I have held these classes out of love of the subjects, and usually because at least 3 people have come to me and said “Would you teach me that thing?” As the years have gone by and access to more/better/translated sources have become available, I have changed my notes. Where I have done so I have noted it inline and in the bibliographies. I have been lucky enough in my life to have been able to handle and see primary sources quite often, and where I have done so, I will have noted it as my own observation.
My classes tend to be informal, for a highschool senior to freshman college level audience.
In my classes for children, I do not necessarily “dumb it down”- for example I use the same language in a children’s cooking class as for adults, but I will do more demonstration and explanation of terms and utensils with more oversight than I would do for an adult class.
For my cooking classes, I introduce the subject and the ingredients, what we will be using, how to use it, where to find out more about it.. and then we get hands-on and play with food while we continue the discussion.
My more information-based classes lean hard toward open discussion where I present the subject matter and encourage questions while fostering individual study.
Handouts for most of these will be linked (eventually.. sorry, I’m working on it!), and are usually outlines with a bibliography.
Aphrodisiacs; herbal lore, nutritional theory, medicine
– as Everyday Medicine (Therapeutic)
– for the Pleasure (Non-Therapeutic)
– Ethnopharmacology of Love
– Food and Sex in Early Middle Ages Medicine
– Food and Sex in High Middle Ages Medicine
– Food and Sex in Late Middle Ages Medicine
– Food and Sex in Renaissance Medicine
Women’s Health & Family Planning in pre-modern Europe
– Barrier Birth Control
– Chemical Birth Control
– Magical/Spiritual Birth Control
– History of Contraceptives in Europe pre-1600
– The Trotula, focus on women’s health aspects
– Contraceptives, fertility, and childbirth in Europe pre-1600, a brief overview
– Miscarriage and Abortion in pre-modern Europe
– Women’s Libido and Fertility in Europe pre-1600
– STIs in pre-1600’s Europe
Women Physicians, Midwives, and Healers: Mini lectures/discussions on the persons listed below
– Trota of Salerno
– Hildegard of Bingen
– Dorotea Bucca
– Mercuriade
– Rebecca de Guarna
– Jacqueline Felice de Almania
– Isabiau la Mergesse
– Adelmota of Carrara
– Loredana Marcello
– Elinor Sneshell
– Leoparda
– Marcella
Sex and Love Pre-Modern Europe
– Courtly love: a primer and demo
– Courting Success and the Illusion of Love
– Flirting Then and Now
– Chivalry Then and Now
– “Loving Nobly” as a Literary Fiction
– Courts of Love, the basis of SCA culture
– History of European Prostitution pre-1600
– Sexual Subjects and the SCA
– All t3h pr0n: erotic art in history
– SCA Courtesans: Who, What, Why
– Sponsors, Patrons, Tullians in the KWC: Who, What, Why
– Considering a Courtesan Persona?
– Discussions on portraying a period sex worker
– A Peek Under the Veil: Sex Workers in Pre-Modern Europe
– Prostitution and Women’s Agency in period
KITCHEN WITCHERY
Life is short- eat dessert first!
– Sugared violets
– Sugared citrus peels
– All the Marchpane! (Marzipan, marzapan, massepain etc)
– Anis bon bon
– Saint Agatha’s Breasts
Just a taste – Stuzzichini! Because finger foods are fancy!
Aphrodisiacs for Fitness & Fun
The Features – main dishes
Rabbit Food! Cleanse Your Palate
Drink Up – Hoist yer glass and toast Their Majesties or yourself!
– Fruit Meads for Beginners
Accommodating food allergies, sensitivities, and just damn picky eaters, a semi-educational rant
Some of my feast menus – a list
<there will be links here one day…>
On Using..or Attempting to Use.. Period Cookery Implements
Introduction to Starting Period Cookery
Intermediate Period Cookery- Let’s REDACT!
Period & Periodish Cooking in Camp
Modern Food Safety (I touch on this in EVERY cooking class)
Food as Medicine
Aphrodisiacs
Poisons
Redacting Recipes from Primary Sources
Feasting and Food for Newcomers
Beginning Camp Cookery
Planning a War Kitchen
Feastocrat 101
OTHER CLASSES/DISCUSSIONS/ROUNDTABLES/DEMOS
⋅Getting Started in the SCA, or What to Do Now That You Have Been to A Meeting or Event
⋅Congratulations! You Are Now The Welcome Wagon! or Oh crap I’m the Chatelaine what do I do?
⋅I Went To Get Pizza And Now I’m The Seneschal, wut even..!
⋅But When Do I Wear? Garbing for the Overwhelmed
·Heliumhandosis- But I Wanna Help! Finding your comfort zone behind the scenes
·Volunterrorism and Burnout in the SCA- Ask your physicker for a heliumhandectomy today!
⋅Cotehardies for Fame and Fortune
⋅Venetian Women’s Fashion in the mid-1500s
⋅How do I Pee While I’m Wearing This and other garment issues
⋅Newcomer’s General SCA/Garb Guidance With Lady Ciana
⋅Newcomer’s First Feast Event
⋅Newcomer’s First SCA Camping Event – Overview
⋅New to the Round Table – Sit With Auntie Ciana and Chat About the Fun of Historical Recreation Not Re-Creation
