More Catholics in Manga and Anime

Okay...this is definitely getting weird. Coming in May from ADV Manga, it's Chrono Crusade. It's the Roaring Twenties in New York City, and all that stands between Western civilization and the powers of evil is one young exorcist...Sister Rosette Christopher. (Yup, that's right, a pre-VII nun doing exorcisms. With a magic bullets, though, so no worries about female ordination.) Anyway, the female branch of the Magdalen order apparently is very fond of slit skirts and long, uncut hair under wimples, and a pink and blue color scheme. Her partner in the exorcism biz is a de-horned demon named Chrno, who is cooperating with Sr. Rosette in exchange for using her spiritual energy for survival in the hard cruel material world. (Or something like that.)

There's also an anime, which will be coming out sometime in the future from ADV Films (there's a surprise). Here's a review -- and not a very kind one. I'm a bit troubled by the costuming, or lack thereof; but OTOH, it's not some kind of weird gnostic attack on the Church, either. I'd say it looks mostly harmless and mostly worthless -- a sort of cut-rate Bureau 13 version of spiritual warfare, with a side order of ripping off Hellboy.

Catholic schoolgirls get their turn in Saint Marie: "...A manga like no other, filled with teenage angst and telekinesis -- a deadly combination! Dah-In Hyun is an ordinary student at Saint Marie's private school. Before she knows it, Dah-In finds herself caught in a battle between good and evil being waged on the school grounds. Through the death of her best friend, Dah-In learns that she has been chosen as one of the soldiers in this battle -- a battle which could result in her own death as well."

However, it's not exactly manga. Note the name of the girl. Also, the mangaka in this case is Yang Ygo-Jin. Yup, it's more South Korean comics for your delectation -- "manwha" instead of manga. So you can expect an entirely different set of artist's issues! I couldn't find any fansites to tell me what the issues were, though, so we'll just have to wait and see.

By Special Bequest

St. Meinrad's is in the money, as two women leave the monastery/school/retreat center $13 million each.

Lent Cuisine

Lent's almost over, so of course I only now post links to Lenten food! Ah, well. Someday I'll be organized.

Tart in Ymbre Day is a sort of quiche suitable for the Ember Days. This paper includes a redaction of the original recipe and an account of the reasoning behind it. Here is another redaction of the same recipe, and here's Cariadoc's version.

Tart de Brymlent is a sort of savory fruit and fish tart.

Fake fish is a subtlety: apple pie shaped like a fish. And check this out -- "split nuns" are a really good sort of cinnamon devilled eggs. Mmmmmmmmm! (But of course they wouldn't work for medieval Lent. All animal products were out, including eggs, until later in the period.)

Lente Foyles is a vegetable dish...but there's also raisins and almond milk and other goodies included. Ryse of Fysche Day is suitable for medieval Fridays.

Doucets are a dessert tart. The recipe here is not for medieval Lent, as all dairy products (lacticinia) were part of abstinence back then; but replacing the cream with almond milk would make it work as a Lenten dish. Here are some recipes from Cariadoc's page which demonstrate this common medieval substitution: "To Make Blamaunger in Lenten" and "Vyande de Cyprys in Lent", and "Cress in Lent with Milk of Almonds".

Lente Frytoures are really old school apple fritters.

The Shire of Hart Stone must kick butt, because they actually put together a Lent page. Woohoo! Education!

What, you want more than medieval food? How about simnel cake?

Or Mexican Lent foods? Hmmm, that explains why nopalitos were 99 cents a jar at Kroger.... Pipián sauce sounds good. Here are two recipes for fruit empanadas, and here is one for capirotada. (Pan dulce is not "sweetbreads"; it's bread that is sweet. Just a hint. Here's a different recipe that starts with plain bread, and another. This version comes with pictures of someone's grandma making it, so you know it's authentic.... This one has cheese in it, too.

Happy Palm Sunday!