Tuesday 24 September 2013

A Hobbit Lunch

This past Sunday, 22 September, was Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday, now more commonly known as Hobbit Day. I wanted to have a second breakfast party to celebrate - well, I wanted a Hobbit second breakfast and this was a good excuse…  Now, we always go to church on Sundays, so it wasn’t a good day. Tobias and I decided to have it on 21 September instead, which is not a bad day either, as The Hobbit, or There and Back Again was published on that date in 1937. 

Plums, scones and pickled gherkin.

We invited some friends, two families with one little child each, but due to other commitments amongst all, we decided to make it a lunch instead, which also worked better with all our young children’s nap times.

Anders and his family. Our camera didn’t co-operate, so nearly all pictures are from them. 
I’m very grateful, as this post would otherwise have been very dull.

My Hobbit bodice was finished, and the skirt was almost done as well, but not enough for them to be worn. We all improvised Hobbit-y clothing (I wore my livkjol), and looked rather well. 

Tobias and I looking very tired: he’d been helping a friend to 
move all the coming winter’s wood supply before lunch, and I’d been 
whirling around trying to finish the last food and make everything look nice.

My hair turned out in quite satisfactory curls (except for the hair in front), and for me, who have very straight hair, usually refusing all sorts of attempts to be curled, that’s saying something.

An attempt at Hobbit hair.
The only picture I've taken, and you might 
tell from the quality our camera is on it's last legs.

The party was Dutch treat, and we all made food we thought might suit a Hobbit lunch table. I made a field mushroom pie (with tomato, sweet pepper, leek and cream), rösti/hashed brown potatoes, some nicely decorated carrot bread and small cookies, and provided butter, whipped cream and raspberry cordial.

Carrot bread.

The others brought apple pie, three different kinds of sausages, jams and jellies, mustard, butter fried chanterelles with shallots, apples, plums, tomatoes, sweet scones, home made apple juice, cheese, dried bacon rand and pickled gherkin. 

Sausages and cheese.

The table groaned, and we almost did the same after the meal was finished.

In the foreground: home made apple juice, 
mustard, mushroom pie, apples and rösti.

It was a delightful little party, of a kind that we’re sure to host again. The only thing that I found to complain about was that it’s really too late in the year to go barefoot - it was rather chilly. 

The second mushroom dish; butter fried chanterelles with shallots.
You can't have a Hobbit party without mushrooms. 

I guess we just have to arrange a Lithe party. Lithe is the three Summer days outside the Shire calendar between the months of June and July, that were - together with the two Yule days between December and January - the “chief holidays and times of feasting” (The Return of the King, appendix D), an altogether much pleasanter time of year to go barefoot here in the North, and with the added advantage of being able to have it outside, which would be a much more suitable location than our flat.

8 comments:

  1. What an absolutely gorgeous party! The food all sounds and looks delicious - especially the mushroom pie! - and the sausages and cheese - oh my. You all looked perfectly hobbity too. I love how your hair came out!

    Next year I hope we can have guests for ours. This year fell rather flat due to being sick, but I like your idea of having an early summer celebration.

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  2. Thank you! I was rather pleased with my hair, but it was a nightmare to comb out all the tangles after I washed it :P This is probably not a hairstyle I'll wear other than when dressing up as a Hobbit, or I'll end up loosing half my hair.

    I wanted a second breakfast last year, but we had recently moved here then, and wasn't sure anyone would be interested. As it turned out, several friends living too far away would have liked to come, so I might have to make a longer guest list for my planned Lithe party...

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  3. This looks like so much fun! Really, the Hobbits know how to hold a feast and the table has to sigh under the weight of the lunch!!! And happy faces have to gather around the groaning and sighing table.
    Your veggie pie looks very yummy, would you mind sharing the recipe?

    Looking forward to seeing more of your Hobbit adventures :)

    Sabine

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  4. Thank you - it's not difficult at all:

    - Use your favourite pie crust recipe.

    - Make a filling by frying field mushrooms, onions, leek and sweet pepper (or the mushrooms and veggies of your choice) in butter. Add a dash of cream, and season with salt and black pepper (or any other spices you might like). I added a little sirup to make the taste a bit rounder. Let simmer untill it thickens somewhat.

    - Prebake the crust according to your recipe.

    - Add the filling, and a dough lid or lattice, and bake untill a nice colour.

    - Serve with some fresh vegetables. Enjoy!

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  5. This looks like the perfect hobbit day!! The carrot bread looks delicious. What a feast!

    I love your hair too, and know exactly what you mean with "very straight hair"! ;-)
    Have you ever tried hair rollers made of cotton strips? I made mine 24*9cm in size, put one cotton pad in the middle, fold the cotton up, wrap your hair around and tie up the ends. This is working best on nearly dried hair!!! I love the result and it´s so easy!

    best, eva

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  6. Thank you! Yes, I've tried rag curls, but as my hair is so long it takes forever to dry, and usually ends up rather tangled. I tried a different variety of rag curls for this, maybe I should do a post on it?

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  7. That party seems to have been absolutely lovely (and your dress looks very promising). I hope that we will find some hobbits in our own neighbourhood, so that my husband and I might one day be as jolly.
    Please say hello to Anders and Anna-Maria from Christian and me, and tell them that we miss them!
    Have a lovely day

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