Forum Activity for @tatiana-dokuchic

[AoR] Fruit Drinks and Juices

AoR Resources

New Fruit Drinks and Juices just in time for summer!

• Fruit Drinks:
  • Grape drink
  • Lemon drink
  • Orange drink
  • Strawberry drink

Fizzy and refreshing these fruit drinks are made in the Butter Churn and are extra healthy as they are made with whey.

• Fruit Juices
  • Lemon juice
  • Orange juice (both an ingredient and a drink)
  • Grape juice

With the exception of grape juice, the fruit juices are made with the [AoR] Juicer.

 

Speaking of juicers or lemon squeezers, I was lucky enough to stumble across: A KUTAHYA POTTERY LEMON-SQUEEZER, OTTOMAN TURKEY, 18TH CENTURY

 

To quote from Wikipedia :

The oldest known lemon squeezers were found in Kütahya, Turkey and date to the first quarter of the 18th century. These ceramic presses are in the traditional style of Turkish pottery of the 18th century and have a superficial resemblance to today's press equipment with cones, though they are designed differently. These examples were individually made, and specially designed for making the then popular citrus drink sorbet. Lemons are not native to northern Turkey, though during the 17th and 18th centuries they were imported in bulk to Constantinople.

 

Our new juicer looks suspicious similar!

 

See  Recipes  for exact ingredients with quantities.

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 24 Apr 2024 04:53:38PM

[AoR] Cheesemaking

AoR Resources

Varieties of Cheese:

• Soft cheese (Level 1):
  • Cheese (The generic cheese we currently produce like mozzarella or farm cheese.)
  • Brie

 

• Medium cheese (Level 2):
  • Cheddar

 

• Hard cheese (Level 3):
  • Parmesan

This list will be updated as more varieties become available.

Products made from Whey:

• Fruit Drinks:
  • Grape drink
  • Lemon drink
  • Orange drink
  • Strawberry drink

Fizzy and refreshing these fruit drinks are made in the Butter Churn

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 24 Apr 2024 03:32:08AM

[AoR] Cheesemaking

AoR Resources

I’m delighted to introduce the new [AoR] cheesemaking process!  Cheesemaking was an important part of 18 ^th century life so it’s exciting to have a bit more realistic process for our active roleplay. 

These activities are performed by a cheesemaker (or fromager as we say here in Provence) and are listed from start to finish.

Cheese curds

Ingredients:

• Milk
• Rennet (Bought from Myriam. In RL is made from flowers or the stomach lining of a calf)
• Salt

Crafter:

• Cast iron pot

 

Raw Cheese

Ingredients:

• Cheese curds
• May eventually have other ingredients for “fancy” cheese such as Garlic & Herb

Crafter:

• Cheese press

Cheese presses are readily available in the communities but are not sold individually.

Once the process is complete the cheesemaker directs the raw cheese to fill a cheesebox for aging.

 

Whey

A byproduct of the cheese press which sends it directly to the cheesemaker’s basket.

Whey will be used as an ingredient in current/future recipes.

 

Cheese

Ingredients

• Raw cheese directly from the cheese press

Cheese Types (with examples):

• Soft cheese (Level 1):
  • Cheese (The generic cheese we currently produce like mozzarella or farm cheese.)
  • Brie

• Medium cheese (Level 2):
  • Cheddar

• Hard cheese (Level 3):
  • Parmesan

 

Soft cheese is aged for one day (RL 2 to 4 weeks), medium cheese for two days (RL 2 to 3 months), and hard cheese for three days (RL 10 to 24 months).

Aging concentrates flavour and makes a drier cheese.  It is also necessary to allow good bacteria to overwhelm any bad bacteria in the raw milk.

Crafter:

• Cheesebox

A cheesebox is made by a cooper and has a maximum of 10 uses and can only be used by their owner.  Banjo has been hard at work preparing cheeseboxes for sale in the Market.  Thanks Banjo!

All aged cheese is delivered directly to the cheesemakers basket.

 

Branded Cheese

A cheesemaker my brand their cheese by affixing their own label.

Crafter:

• Labelling Tool

 

As always, see Recipes for exact quantities.

 

Many thanks to Sere and Banjo for their collaboration on this project!

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 22 Apr 2024 03:41:40AM

18th Century cheesemaking

Historical Research

Another interesting read is: 

A History of British Cheese, part 2: Pre 20th Century Cheese-making Practices

18th Century cheesemaking

Historical Research

Deanna Berkemeier, from Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford, NY, walks us through the process of making cheese from scratch.

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 21 Apr 2024 01:30:25PM

[AoR] News ~ April 19, 2024

News & Events

It’s spring in Provence!  Such a wonderful time of year full of possibilities as we return to our gardens, orchards, and fields with renewed vitality.

Bienvenue

It’s a pleasure to welcome two new members, Ralph Adrian Verney (Nazeem) and Georgina Rowley.

We also welcome Banjo to his new role as Cooper.  Check out his barrels now for sale in the Market.

 

Household Challenge (HHC)

The Household Challenge saw an update to the daily menu and the addition of a new monthly challenge. Also see Tips & Tricks written over a year of real-life playing time.

[AoR] Household Management Challenge - Age Of Reason | livinghistoryvw.com

 

Brewery

A new, smaller barrel (holds 16 units) is now available for the aging of ale & beer.  As the smaller barrel costs less, this will increase the profits for the brewer. 

  [AoR] Brewery - Age Of Reason | livinghistoryvw.com

 

Hot Trades (Baker, Brewer, Cook, Cooper, Chandler)

The following crafted products are needed for the HHC providing the perfect chance to develop your own trade.  These products can be purchased from Myriam but it would be preferable to cut her supply in favour of our own merchants. 

Please comment below or contact Tatiana to have this list updated to avoid duplication.

• Bread
• Butter
• Cheese
• Sugar
• Potatoes – sold by Tatiana
• Tea Leaves Dried – sold by Tatiana
• Small beer & Brown ale – sold by Mikhail
• Beeswax Candles
  • Beeswax – sold by Candace
  • Beeswax Candles in bulk form
• Castile soap
  • Olive oil – sold by Banjo
  • Castile soap - sold by Chez

 

April Monthly Challenge:

• 1 (8 units) Roast Ham – sold by Summer
• 1 (8 units) Onion Soup – sold by Summer
• 1 (8 units) Strawberry Pie – sold by Summer
• 1 (8 units) Tea – sold by Chez
• 1 (16 units) Sugar
• 1 (5 units) Cinsault – sold by Tatiana

Please contact me if you are interested in producing Bread, Butter, Cheese, Sugar, or Beeswax Candles in bulk and I will help facilitate crafting & packaging. These bulk items are all needed for the HHC Families.

 

Cheesemaking *Coming Soon *

IT'S HERE!

Cheesemaking is being upgraded to better reflect the real-life process.  Testing is underway with more news to follow very soon.

In the meantime, the Cheese recipe has been removed from the Cast iron pot.  Cheese can still be purchased from Myriam and retrieved from your basket.  This new version can be labelled.

 

Whew!  There’s lots to keep us busy this spring and if you have any ideas for other activities we would love to hear them. 

Enjoy!

Tat

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 22 Apr 2024 05:16:41AM

[AoR] Brewery

AoR Resources

 

It does!  The cooper can now make smaller barrels. Half the materials and half the cost for the small barrel.

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 15 Apr 2024 11:10:12AM

[AoR] Brewery

AoR Resources

Updates to the Brewery

Smaller Barrel:

A new, smaller barrel (holds 16 units) is now available for the aging of ale & beer.  As the smaller barrel costs less this will increase the profits for the brewer.  

The smaller barrel should not be used to age wine as it cannot hold the full 30 units produced by the wine press.  It will age 16 units but the other 14 will be discarded.

Household Challenge:

Beer and Ale are now staples in the Household Challenge replacing Apple Cider.

[AoR] Household Management Challenge

News & Events

Tips & Tricks

Whether you are playing at the Individual or Family Level (not to mention the Estate Level which hasn’t been attempted yet) this challenge is hard!  After a year in real-life playing time here are a few personal observations.

 

A cash crop or craft is required:

You literally can’t grow/craft it all.  Even if you wanted to some items, raw chicken for example, must be purchased from Myriam. This means that you must have some source, however small, of coin-generating income.

 

Focus your skills & labour:

This challenge is based on real-life family requirements, and it does a good job of illustrating just how labour intensive running an 18^th century household can be. The variety of skills and quantities of time necessary to craft all the household items on a weekly basis is not only daunting but can become a drag.

Being a Capricorn, I am destined to be a “jack of all traders and master of none” but even I find the weekly grind to be too much work and not enough fun so I’m now concentrating on one master skill to pay the bills.

As my income allows, I will be purchasing more from the marketplace. I will also continue to enjoy dabbling in many of the crafts for the sheer pleasure of just doing.

 

Spending is good!

As the song says, “Money makes the world go round” and spreading your coins throughout the AoR economy is one of the best ways to encourage our active roleplay.

I must keep reminding myself of this as it is one of my hardest lessons.  Like Smaug the dragon, I instinctively want to sit on my pile of gold and treasures.  Go figure!

Instead of racking up coins and goods that sit unused and unseen in my inventory I am converting them into HHC points and basking in the warm glow of a challenge well met and a community well served.

 

Go At Your Own Pace:

Worth repeating! The only expectations are those you set for yourself.  If once a week is just way too much work, you can participate as often as feels like fun for you.  The monthly challenge is, of course, optional.  Some players may wish to skip it while others will ignore weekly and just play monthly.  It’s all good!

[AoR] Packer

AoR Resources

Packer

A tool that is used to package units from your basket into bulk-sized containers. Currently it can create a crate of 35 Beeswax candles (perfect for the HHC) as well as 640 units of milk into one large churn.

Perfect for selling bulk quantities via vendors, these units can easily be loaded into the customers basket.

Other bulk-sized containers, especially those useful for the HHC, will be made available as required so if you have any preferences just yell.

The Packer can be acquired from Helene.