[Ansteorra-announce] 30th Annual 12th NIght Feast Bid Announcement

[David L. Cox]

30th Annual 12th Night Feast Bid Guidelines

Before there was Ansteorra, there was a Steppes 12th Night. 
Step back into our proud past with us.
Come For A Night Of Fun, Feast, Excitement and The Pageantry Of Court.

Greetings Unto The Learned Populace of The Stellar Kingdom of Ansteorra, and those beyond our borders who hear these humble words:

On behalf of their Most Gracious Excellencies the Baron and Baroness of the Steppes, Qadi Abd al-Mahdi Jamal ibn Hakim and, Contessa Valeria Richila Navarro, I am very pleased to announce the opening of bids for feast steward for the 30th Annual 12th Night Celebration of the Barony of The Steppes:

Date			: 07 January 2006 CE
Where			: Sokol Activity Center (aka. Sokol K.H.B. Ennis Texas)
			Ennis, Texas 75119-1431
Theme			: 12th Night In The Hampton Court With Henry VIII 
Year			: 1530 CE 
Feast Bid		: Opened 12 July 2005 by posting to Ansteorra Announce
Bid Due Date		: On or before 5:00 PM CDT Friday, 12 August 2005 to Autocrat 
Bid Delivery		: Autocrat coxdl at gte.net 

BID RULES
The feast steward (s) will be determined by a written ?bid? system this year. Prospective feast stewards who wish to do this 12th Night Feast event first must create a bid and send it to the 12 Night Autocrat. They (Autocrat, Baron and Baroness of The Steppes) will then select and approve the most qualified bid for the 12th Night Event. The bid may be in electronic format via email, MS Word is preferred (ZIP format acceptable). The Winner will be announced at Populace on Friday August 26, 2005.

The Barony will only advance and reimburse funds to cover feast costs for the feast at this 12th Night Event when the below feast guidelines are followed. 

While an autocrat/feast steward?s requests for exceptions to this policy will be considered (and may be allowed), they must be submitted and approved in writing by the Baronial Financial Committee before they are implemented and before any costs are incurred. Non-approved expenditures will not be reimbursed.

THE 12th NIGHT FEAST! 
?A feast for two hundred fifty adults (250) and thirty five (35) children for a total of two hundred seventy five (275) will be offered for $8.00 per adult and $4.00 per child. Paid feast reservations must be received no later than 15 DAYS BEFORE EVENT (Thursday 23 December 2005), and include the names of the feasters, whether child or adult, and a check/money order made out to SCA/Barony of The Steppes. Send reservations to will be sent to the reservation head, Mona Gerita Del Mare.  There is a fee for returned checks. Some feasts (forty five) will be available for purchase at troll. Paid reservations may be transferred if the person with the reservation AND the person using it appear together at the troll asking for the reassignment. Reservations that are not picked up two hours before the start of the feast at 2:00 PM CDT will be resold. A list will be kept at Gate (Troll) of those waiting feast after all tickets are sold or released. ?

A. Style, Content or Theme of Feast 
The feast bid should explain the following: 
?	Name(s) of the feast steward/cooks (SCA and mundane) and contact information, 
SCA Name:
Modern Name:
Street Address:
Town/State/Zip:
Telephone:
Email Address:
?	The proposed menu with ingredients, and courses
?	Recipes and related documentation references
?	Time line for preparation, staging, and meal service
?	A spreadsheet of the required materials, quantity, unit cost and extended costs for all foodstuffs
?	Explanation of how the menu applies to the theme of the feast (if applicable) 

Feast stewards are encouraged to plan to make ingredients available upon the web site at least thirty (30) days prior to the event date, and to provide a menu notation when meat, pork, nuts, and/or alcohol are used. There is no requirement that alternative menu selections be provided. 

B. Maximum Number Of Feasters 
The bid must provide a Maximum Number Of Feasters. This may be an estimate of the expected number of feasters, OR the maximum number of feasters that the feast steward is willing to feed. 

C. Working Out The Feast Cost 
The following costs must be estimated and provided in the event bid: Per-Person Cost: A reasonable estimate of the Per-Person Cost for the feast must be provided. The per-person cost may not exceed $7 per person including all taxes. 

Estimated Total Cost of the Feast: The total feast cost must be stated in the bid. This is computed as: Per-Person Cost MULTIPLIED BY Maximum Number Of Feasters PLUS One Time Cost of Kitchen/equipment/Supplies MULTIPLIED BY 1.10.

The ?Estimated Total Cost of the Feast? computed here, or the superceding ?Estimated Total Cost of the Feast? computed 15 days before the event, is the maximum dollar amount that the Baronial Financial Committee will advance or reimburse to the feast steward for the feast. Feast stewards must be aware of this maximum when spending advanced funds, or monies they intend to ask that the Barony reimburse. 

D. Purchasing
Please assume that all food stuffs, materials, and expendables will be taxable.

Please note that we do not have access for storage in the walk-in on site cooler prior to the event, nor do we have access to the dry good storage area prior to the event. The Steppes storage locker is not suitable or authorized for the storage of dry goods, or related food stuffs. 

There will be very limited space on the rental truck that will be driven from the Steppes storage locker on the Friday prior to the event from Carrollton, TX to the event site in Ennis TX. Prior arrangements must be made to use this space for transport. The site setup/tear down and transport department head is Baron Borek Vitalievich Volkov (bordurea at ansteorra.org). 

Feast stewards will be asked to only purchase supplies and cook for the Maximum Number Of Feasters determined with this computation. They must take into account all known supplies stored in the Steppes locker, a list of which is available from the Steppes Baronial Quartermaster, Lord Alastair MacEogan (Bryan Hanson) email: alasdair at bmhanson.net .

An example of a feast bid, with courses with documentation (not in this period however) would be the 12th Night Feast held by the Barony of the Steppes, in the Kingdom of Ansteorra, January 11th, 1998. Head Cook: Sir Gunthar Jonsson. Assisted by Lady Alys Durivaux, Lady Giuliana, H.L. Muireann, Corwin MacEoian, & HE Robin (http://www.godecookery.com/scafeast/steps12.htm).  
			 

GENERAL COMMENTS
Access to the site for inspection purposes to prepare your bid, if required, should be made thru the autocrat. A list of existing site kitchen fixed equipment, pots, pans, and utensils may be obtained from autocrat, together with information on the applicable food service permits, county inspections, for the site, and state certifications, if any. We have some food preparation equipment, a list of which may be obtained from the Steppes Quartermaster listed at the end of this document. You may assume that all kitchen equipment is in general working order and repair; however, you are cautioned that surprises are possible at the last minute. It may be advisable to have tested and inspected the fixtures in the prior week to the event by special appointment to ensure everything is in working order. Additional volunteer help for kitchen staff may be available from the Steppes populace upon application. 

Event staff access to the site will be from Friday, 06 January 2006 at 8:00 AM to Sunday, 08 January at 3:00 AM. Please assume that you will need to clean and prepare the kitchen area, and equipment prior to use to ensure that it is service ready for the event given the use of the site by other groups prior to this date.  Further, please assume that there will be no capacity to make prior deliveries to the location before the rental period. Site will open for the public at 10:30 AM Saturday. 

SPECIAL SERVICE NOTES
Given this is an anniversary event, we expect to host a number of the former Barons and Baronesses of the Steppes with a number of special SCA guest from inside and outside of the Kingdom of Ansteorra. This means that dinner must be planned to be served promptly at 5:00 PM CST. A short baronial court will be held at 3:30 PM prior to meal service. Following the feast, Royal Court will open at 7:00 PM. Site will close for the populace at 11:00 PM Saturday night. We are planning to have period musical entertainment during the meal. The hall design draping, color scheme, decorations, wall hangings are under the direction of HE Catrin Brynmorgan the former Baroness and HE Fritz der Rothirsch (lighting and sound) Baron of The Steppes.

The feast steward is NOT responsible for feast servers. They will be handled by the head server, Mona Gerita del Mare (hpockets at verion.net).  Feast will be staged from the two existing banks of steam tables into the room immediately adjacent the main hall. We plan to have twenty (20) servers in special tabards for the event. We have the main floor tables arranged in subgroups of eight for logistical purposes. There will be a head table on the stage seating ten to fifteen (10-15) adults [Henry VIII, K, Q, P, P, B, B, plus other honored quests]. Feast service will be in courses to be heralded for each course by the Steppes Herald, Oakenwald Pursuivant, Master Robin of Gilwell (rudin at ev1.net), with special attention paid to the ?threatre of the evening? given the importance of this event. You will need to ensure that your logical timeline and plan supports this feast service approach. Please describe in your bid how you will accomplish this requirement.

Please assume that we will furnish clean, adequate service ware, trays, bowls, plates, and utensils at the site. We will provide plastic industrial fifty (50) gallon trash cans in the kitchen and about the main mail for waste. We have, or will provide, heavy industrial grade plastic bag liners for the food waste. The site is on septic service and does not have a waste grinder, thus all food waste must be bagged. Sink grease traps are limited in capacity. 

THEME BACKGROUND
The Year is 1530 CE, and the House of Tudor rules England in the person of Henry VIII.  In Rome Michelangelo had yet to asked to finish the design of the great cathedral of Saint John, and it is under construction. He is employed to paint the frescos by the Pope, such is the age.

Henry VIII at 39 has been on the throne for just over 12 years. Pope Clement VII is on the Throne of St. Peter in Rome, and it is the middle of the Italian Renaissance.  Henry?s Queen is his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.  His one surviving child - Princess Mary, is now 14 and a visible part of Hampton Court. Henry VIII is considered by many court observers to be most handsome prince in all of Europe, and reputed to be in the eye of many of the Ladies of the Court. Future history will come to show just how accurate these most human observations will come to be.

The evening?s 12th Night feast circa 1530 is set in the original Court Hall at the venerable Hampton Court. This hall would be razed in 1532 by Henry VIII to make the now famous Great Hall. This Court Hall had two functions. First, to provide a great communal dining room for members of the Court, and secondly, to provide a magnificent entrance to the State Apartments that lay beyond. We shall dine in that most elegant setting.

The first hall, from many historical sources, had a splendid hammer-beam roof, richly decorated with carved and painted pendants, royal arms and badges and a series of heads. Originally the whole ceiling would have been painted with blue, red and gold. So we will recreate the setting for our 12th Night Feast, much has Henry VIII did that night, in January 1530. We will festoon the ceiling in drapes, the walls in banners, and coats of arms, and the Court Stage will be draped in the colors of the Kingdom, appropriate for the season. To add to the air of the night, we will place hundreds of miniature electric lights to the sides of the great ceiling drapes, dimmed, to suggest the great candles that must have lit the hall night for the Royal Court. 

Our celebration is also of great importance, for Henry has received that prior day in His Royal Court a most wealthy visiting Arabic Sheik, Qadi Abd al-Mahdi Jamal ibn Hakim and his head wife, Contessa Valeria Richila Navarro. Trade routes controlled by Qadi Mahdi carry an estimated 75% of all goods to and from the Middle East. That they are independent of those few routes controlled by Church of Rome has become of great importance to Henry, to ensure that wealth continues to flow into his empire. Government Ministers from much of Europe are there this evening, to ensure that nothing Henry does goes unanswered. Court intrigue is rife this night. We will suggest that due to the setting of the Holiday Night, our guest consider wearing of their very best clothes to Feast and Court. 

LOCATION INFORMATION
The site building is located on top of a small hill, with a ravine to the south (TX State Highway 34). The slopes fall down ward to the east, and west. The site is a level slope to the north to a large grassy field. Side building lie to the north of the main building for maintenance and storage purposes and are not part of the rental package for the site. 

Access to the kitchen is via a large paved concrete pad to the east of the building. The main building is a single story, steel and concrete block structure built approximately 15 years ago. The main hall was designed and built as a full size regulation basketball court (50? x 94?) in a multifunctional mode, secondary to a volleyball court. The dropped ceiling has a uniform height of 21?0? from the floor. The overall room size is 70? x 120?.

The attached side room is tri angular in shape, approximately 45? x 35? in size. The full commercial grade kitchen is approximately 45? x 35? excluding the walk-in cooler, bathroom, and janitor?s room.  The building(s) site on a five acre site. The main building is approximately 15,000 square feet including the attached lounge and kitchen faculties. The site does not have a loading dock. All deliveries must be at ground level.

The rated inside building occupancy of the site is 500, per present State Fire Codes.  The main building is available for rental. Side and rear building are not for rental use, and are off limits for any purpose.

The potable site water is supplied from the City of Ennis, TX. The source of the supply is Lake Bardwell, a US Army Corp of Engineers project. There are indoor showers in the interior restroom pair the west side of the building. The kitchen hot water is supplied by forty (40) gallon tanks, natural gas heated. The building hot water tanks are on electric timers for energy conservation.

The site has a commercial trash dumpster to the rear on the east side of the building, adjacent to the commercial kitchen. It is picked up by Waste Management on Mondays. All trash must be bagged. Boxes and cartons must be flattened before being placed in the dumpster. Pickup of bakery racks, and trays used in the kitchen must be left to the rear north east door for mid week truck service runs. The attached lounge has small forty gallon plastic trash cans which are not to be used for rental event waste.  

There are two (Male/Female) handicapped rest rooms inside the building, which afford accessibility to Texas state standards in effect in 1992. The building entrance is has a slopped driveway, to allow mobility impaired access. The building entrances are at grade level, with no steps; threshold offer little resistance for mobility impaired access. Parking lot is mixed gravel and dirt.

Per the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission (TABC), it is illegal to bring alcohol on site, since the site has licensed bar, ALL liquor served to the public on the site must be sold by the holder of that license. Further, no liquor served may leave the premise in ANY open container in any manner what so ever under Texas State Law. A cash bar will be available from noon until 11:00 pm. This does not preclude the use of spirits in any meal item, however.

I Remain,

Respectfully Submitted In Service To The Dream, 
Lord David ben Leon, Event Autocrat
+1 214 714 5951 (Cell)
(mka David L. Cox) coxld at verizon.net