Leksand medieval fair

 Over Ascension day it was the Medieval fair in Leksand and me and my 16th century group in Dalarna were there. For the first time my husband also joined us and slept in a tent. I didn't bring any new clothes, instead this year the focus was on getting the interior of the tent more practical.

This is one half of the tent. The new addition was that I had bought a big basket, where you could put your clothes when undressing, that way they were all in the same spot instead of being spread all over the floor.

The other part of the tent and I am so happy with my new pantry/food storage.

It started out as this bathroom shelf (Råggrund from IKEA). I then covered the sides in a linen curtain. In the shelves I could have everything in plastic containers with good lids to keep bugs and other stuff out. The top pegs in the corners also worked great to hang aprons and handkerchiefs from. It's not historically correct in any way, more of a LARP standard, but it worked and I'm happy with it. I can't do carpentry work, but I am good at assembing IKEA furniture and sewing, so I used the skills I have to make something that cleared up a lot of floor space in the tent and that felt a lot more hygienic.

I was so happy that my husband enjoyed the experience, and he said that he slept like a baby. One thing is sure as much as I like my friend Emma, who I usually share the bed with, it was nice to have a husband (and a lot of wool blankets) to snuggle up to when the temperature dropped to around 4 degrees in the night. The trick to keep the heat was one duvet, four wool blankets a hot water bottle between us, and to sleep in a modern but warm hoodie and flanell trousers set.

Much of my time was spent cooking food. I usually use Leksand to try some medieval recipes that I've made in my modern kitchen, before I make them in a larger scale in Visby. This time there were some success - my homemade gnocchi, chicken in cumin sauce and the fish stew, and some total failures - when I tried to make cheese with rennet and it refused to curdle. 

Keep an eye out on my historical food blog for more information about the food.