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Viking Age Research Cruise!

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Ken and Cynthia are going on a cruise! It is called “28-Day Legendary Solar Eclipse With Greenland & Scotland”. Yes, this is amazing. We are truly grateful to be able to do this. Yes, you may be a tiny bit envious. I mean come on, who would not want to go on this cruise? We want to share as much as we can about this experience! Since this page is called Nordik Xperience and is an educational page, we are using it as a learning experience! Cynthia is going to try to tease out the Scandinavian and Viking Age connections to each port we’ll be stopping at. Scandinavian stops should be (hopefully) relatively easy! Norway, Iceland and Greenland, can do. Cynthia hasn't researched Faroe Islands, Scotland and Britain much. Who know if we will find anything at all about Rotterdam in the Netherlands at all, in connection to the Viking Age or Scandinavia! If you know, let US know so we can share that with others! #vikingageinspiration #vikingage #norse #NordikXperience #scandinavian #educa...
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More to do!

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We've been busy for a while. First it was the experiments, then Pennsic, then we got on a boat and traveled from Boston to Montreal and back. We are finally home for a while, but Cynthia wants to enter an SCA Arts and Science Competition, so has a deadline to get that together. In addition, since we got married, while at Pennsic, there's all sorts of name changing stuff to do! So Cynthia needs to decides the format of the submission. We've decided to bring the pots, the two querns we have, a "faux" barley bundle from our kit. The pots as well as the imitation barley are obvious, but why two querns?  Amazon purchased quern The Amazon purchased quern, showing how many times grain needs to be ground to become flour. At top left, is the whole grain hulled barley. Then, left to right has been passed through the quern, once to five time to become finer. Just below the fifth, is the sixth, which is a reasonable flour. Also pictured is a bone spoon. I also have a reproduc...
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Outside Cooking today!

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One more time! It's not pouring and I am getting down to the wire with having enough time to cook, so cook we will today! Today's plan is to use the pots IN the fire, rather than use the trivets. The fire was start 7:40 AM. I cheated again and used charcoal. Based on the last experience and conversation with my fellow student Nicola, two hours to get cooking coals is common! It's 57F and 79% humidity. I was able to get pans on by 8:06 AM.   By 8:15 AM, I decided I had rushed and didn't wait long enough to get a decent base of coals!   I moved the pots around to heat the soapstone more. The fire seemed hotter towards the middle. I'd also like to thank Ken. He's making me more coals. He's my hero! \     By 8:52 AM, I decided it actually takes two people to cook. Once person needs to focus on the fire and the other can prep and cook. I had prepped everything in advance, so that was minimal, but removing lids, stirring, and ro...
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No outside cooking today- Boo!

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Well, I was greeted with this, when I made my first trip down to the fire pit... I am not going to be able to cook in the pit today. Time to pivot! I had LOTS of leftover barley. Time for plan B - to make barley cakes! First I got out the slab I was going to use, got off the label and sticky feet! 🤣.  It was a charcuterie board I got at Ollie's, a discount store. Got it on the grill and was looking at it. It has a crack! Since I want to use it in a few weeks as an actual  charcuterie board, I am not going to risk heating it and having it crack in two. On to plan C. I got out the griddle that goes with the grill. Not very period other than testing ingredients. I mashed up the barley with ham and onions and butter.  Made balls about the size of a walnut and flattened the to small cakes. I still have lots left. So the next batch I'll add an egg. Got them on the grill. They aren't sti...
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First Outdoor Cooking!

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  Last night, Tuesday 15 July 2025, as I had stated, I made some preparations! Ham stock boiled for a bit: Measured out 5 1/3 Tablespoons butter (75g) Chopped onion. Sautéed the onion in the butter.   About to go to bed  and looked at the pot!   Oops, forgot to treat the pots! I covered the soapstone and the ceramic in linseed, aka flax seed oil and left overnight. The metal pot, I washed since it's been kicking around the house for a while.  Wednesday 16 July 2025   Two different weather reports were checked before 7 AM. We are a GO for cooking this morning! We started preparations at 7:30 AM. We had to bring down a table, all the pots, fire equipment (thanks mom!), the food, citronella candle. bug spray, cutting board and knife to chop the ham. Oops, forgot to turn on the water. Oops, forgot the heat gun. Where are my leather gloves? Ken brought me a different pair.              At 8:15 AM we finally were able to start t...
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