meta rec: 17th century french cuisine

sevenswells has put together a really fun crash-course in French cuisine around the time of The Three Musketeers: http://sevenswells.livejournal.com/132797.html

The only thing wrong with it is she didn't write it five years ago, when I was writing Numenorean and Gondor fics, both of which I tend to model (loosely) on the high middle ages and early middle ages; my Minas Tirith is loosely based on Medici-era Florence and I would have had great fun imagining a Dol Amroth table piled high with tartelette amandines. Yes, even though it's French rather than Italian.

Even if you're not drawn to this period for one reason or another, even if you think Tolkien would have an allergic reaction to all things French (and yeah, he really kind of would), the excitement sevenswells brings to this topic is just infectious. Do check it out. It's fun to read for its own sake, and may be useful depending on what you write these days.