Taco's Kitchen Mishaps, With Love from Japan

Chiffon Cake + Notes from Secret Witches Exhibition

Happy (or not so happy) Monday! I hope you had a good start to the week! Anyway, I went for my first baking class yesterday, and we made a grapefruit chiffon cake.

And with this lesson, I’ve confirmed (not that I needed to), that I have no arm strength. I got so tired whipping the cream by hand :p Oh, and did anyone know that for chiffon cake cream, you put some sour cream in as well? I totally didn’t know that, but it tastes SO GOOD

And a closeup. 

And +Whitney Yee  here are my notes! They’re really disjointed, but I hope there’s an interesting fact or two in them 😀

Secret Witches Exhibition Notes
– Mummy’s were used as medicine during the middle ages and were mixed into medicines/used as ointments (for more information: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/?no-ist)

– The Pentagram came from ancient Greece and could often be found in cradles and other household furniture because it was considered a protective charm against witches and demons

– Schergräber (amulet of forefoot of mole), believed to help eyesight. The mole’s teeth was supposed to be good for toothache.

(I hope I spelled the name right. Also, when I googled, it seems like the forefoot helped with Toothache too? So I may have mistranslated)

– The persecution of withes started in the 16th Century, when perception of witches changed drastically.

– Between the 14th to 19th Century, there was a “little ice age” where the even the summers weren’t very warm, and was devastating to the farming community.

– The Zacharias blessing was used against あらゆる災厄、ペストや魔術、悪天候 (all manner of misfortune, pestilence, magic, bad weather.)

– Exhibit included a double headed calf and cat

– Image/Characteristics of witches:
1. Contract with the devil
2. Serve the devil
3. Flies
4. Participates in Sabat
5. Uses black magic to do evil

– Witches were seen as an inversion of Christianity.

– Rebecca Lamp (1590), accused of being a witch. Letter to husband still remains. (Her account was translated as an exhibit)

– The use of torture charts with stings is disputed among historians

– Friedrich Spree opposed the witch trials

– Executioners wore iron masks to stay clean

– Countries which killed the most witches: Germany (by far)>France>Poland, Switzerland> Belgium/Luxembourg, Italy>England>Denmark>Hungary>Czech>Austria

– 平維茂戸隠山鬼女伊治之図(たいらのこれもちとがくしやまときじょいじのず)- this is some Edo period Ukiyo-e that was shown. Caught my attention because the exhibit is 99% focused on Europe, except for the last section.

(Last part)

– In Japan, witches don’t have such a negative background because they don’t have the Christian legacy.

– Fairy Tale’s mangaka drew a picture and gave a comment for this exhibition. There were other manga stills too

What do you think?