An Illustrated Book of Feasts
This event requires some explaining, because it's not something I've seen done in fandom before. It's no secret that a lot of us in the Church are big connoisseurs of food: MB and Sky have practically made their love of food into an avant-garde art form over at hatandowner, and I can't think of a single one of us that doesn't have a fondness for good eating (and yes, nymeria, I AM including your Diet Pepper 70lb ass; maypirate, your notorious non-hatred of Poptarts is noted as well). Recently MB attempted to collect recipes from us all, but it turned out to be a bit of :Failure, mostly because we are food lovers who also happen to be massively lazy.
But I think we can mobilize for greatness, if we are inspired! (And if I pester each and every one of you!) What I am requesting is very, very simple: just one favorite recipe. Only one. It can be of any kind of food, it can even be of Poptarts if that is all you like to eat, but I do ask that you give a loving description of ideal preparation techniques, as well as shopping tips as to how to get the best ingredients. I also ask that you give a brief, one or two paragraph description of why this recipe is so important to you. Perhaps you have a very nostalgic reason for why you love it; perhaps it is your favourite for no good reason at all. But tell us about it: why you like it, or how you discovered it, or your most memorable experience preparing/eating it. Maybe you can simply describe how you usually like to eat: in front of the computer, on the floor, next to the burnt remnants of what used to be a desk… whatever works. But give a little personal story, because this will be YOUR recipe.
[ETA if you feel inspired to share more than one recipe, go right ahead. I will give you an upper limit of five each, however, because anything more than that is just crazy talk and you all know it. :D]
I will ask that you submit these recipes to me via email, to herongale/hotmail (I will let you figure out the details).
I would like to have all of the recipes by December 1st, although if I have not heard from you by then I might seek you out and ask you if you have thought about participating. Obviously, I can't make this mandatory, and wouldn't if I could. Nevertheless, I really hope that everyone contributes, even if you haven't been able to spend a lot of time in the Church recently. You are all precious members, and this project just won't be as satisfying if only a few people participate.
Once I have all the recipes, this is when the fun really starts.
I will post the recipes to this community WITHOUT the identifying stories, or the names of who submitted them, in a separate post. This will be a sort of claims post, but different from the kind of claims post I will do for the fic exchange. Basically, what I am looking for are voluntary submissions of illustrations for any and all of the recipes, by any one of you REGARDLESS of artistic talent. I am not looking for pictures of the recipes themselves, but rather pictures that show various FMA characters getting together and preparing/cooking/eating these dishes. Anyone can claim as many recipes as they like, and there will be no first-come, first-served… you can illustrate any recipe you like, SO LONG AS IT IS NOT YOUR OWN. And although we have many great artists in our group, this is an event for all of us. Even if you can only draw stick figures, you are invited to submit pictures. This is not a serious effort; I will be happy to see well-crafted, really intricate art, but I will be equally happy to see silly throwaway stuff by people who (like me) might not have the most dazzling artistic talent.
When it comes to drawing, I don't expect everyone to contribute. I want the recipes more than the pictures. But please consider drawing something too.
The Claims post will be screened, and I will ask you to submit pictures to me via email as well. Due date for pictures will be December 16th, the day before Elricmas.
And this is my plan, once this is all complete: I will first publish in the Elricmas comm all of the recipes WITH the accompanying illustrations (some recipes may not be illustrated, but since no one will know whose recipe is whose, I don't want this to be the source of hard feelings… some foods are more inspiring for art than others, that is all!). It will be instant gratification, and hopefully a lot of fun for all of you.
But if the response is good, the next step that I am hoping to accomplish is this: to put all of the recipes and pictures together into a little booklet, and publish a small run of copies, and send one out to each and every one of you who contributes. I might have to consult with Sky for this, but I plan on managing the costs on this myself, and I want this to be something we do as an Elricmas gift to each other.
I know it sounds ambitious, because there are several steps that require participation from many people to success. It might not work out, and that's okay. But I want to try it, because I think it will be fun. I hope you think so too!
But I think we can mobilize for greatness, if we are inspired! (And if I pester each and every one of you!) What I am requesting is very, very simple: just one favorite recipe. Only one. It can be of any kind of food, it can even be of Poptarts if that is all you like to eat, but I do ask that you give a loving description of ideal preparation techniques, as well as shopping tips as to how to get the best ingredients. I also ask that you give a brief, one or two paragraph description of why this recipe is so important to you. Perhaps you have a very nostalgic reason for why you love it; perhaps it is your favourite for no good reason at all. But tell us about it: why you like it, or how you discovered it, or your most memorable experience preparing/eating it. Maybe you can simply describe how you usually like to eat: in front of the computer, on the floor, next to the burnt remnants of what used to be a desk… whatever works. But give a little personal story, because this will be YOUR recipe.
[ETA if you feel inspired to share more than one recipe, go right ahead. I will give you an upper limit of five each, however, because anything more than that is just crazy talk and you all know it. :D]
I will ask that you submit these recipes to me via email, to herongale/hotmail (I will let you figure out the details).
I would like to have all of the recipes by December 1st, although if I have not heard from you by then I might seek you out and ask you if you have thought about participating. Obviously, I can't make this mandatory, and wouldn't if I could. Nevertheless, I really hope that everyone contributes, even if you haven't been able to spend a lot of time in the Church recently. You are all precious members, and this project just won't be as satisfying if only a few people participate.
Once I have all the recipes, this is when the fun really starts.
I will post the recipes to this community WITHOUT the identifying stories, or the names of who submitted them, in a separate post. This will be a sort of claims post, but different from the kind of claims post I will do for the fic exchange. Basically, what I am looking for are voluntary submissions of illustrations for any and all of the recipes, by any one of you REGARDLESS of artistic talent. I am not looking for pictures of the recipes themselves, but rather pictures that show various FMA characters getting together and preparing/cooking/eating these dishes. Anyone can claim as many recipes as they like, and there will be no first-come, first-served… you can illustrate any recipe you like, SO LONG AS IT IS NOT YOUR OWN. And although we have many great artists in our group, this is an event for all of us. Even if you can only draw stick figures, you are invited to submit pictures. This is not a serious effort; I will be happy to see well-crafted, really intricate art, but I will be equally happy to see silly throwaway stuff by people who (like me) might not have the most dazzling artistic talent.
When it comes to drawing, I don't expect everyone to contribute. I want the recipes more than the pictures. But please consider drawing something too.
The Claims post will be screened, and I will ask you to submit pictures to me via email as well. Due date for pictures will be December 16th, the day before Elricmas.
And this is my plan, once this is all complete: I will first publish in the Elricmas comm all of the recipes WITH the accompanying illustrations (some recipes may not be illustrated, but since no one will know whose recipe is whose, I don't want this to be the source of hard feelings… some foods are more inspiring for art than others, that is all!). It will be instant gratification, and hopefully a lot of fun for all of you.
But if the response is good, the next step that I am hoping to accomplish is this: to put all of the recipes and pictures together into a little booklet, and publish a small run of copies, and send one out to each and every one of you who contributes. I might have to consult with Sky for this, but I plan on managing the costs on this myself, and I want this to be something we do as an Elricmas gift to each other.
I know it sounds ambitious, because there are several steps that require participation from many people to success. It might not work out, and that's okay. But I want to try it, because I think it will be fun. I hope you think so too!