SC - contests, cooking, and music

[Philip & Susan Troy]

david friedman wrote:

> 1. One way of avoiding this problem is to do the whole feast as a rehearsal
> dinner for about eight people--say one table. Diners consist of the cooks
> and the autocrat and anyone else you feel like. It gives you some feel for
> where problems are likely to appear in cooking the feast, although the
> scale difference conceals some potential problems. It gives you a chance to
> see how the dishes go together. And it gives you a signal of serious errors
> in quantity--if one thing vanishes and another has lots of leftovers, not
> because people don't like it but because they don't like it in the quantity
> you thought they would, you can alter your plans accordingly.

I really enjoy doing 'test' dinners.  I will usually invite friends in
the SCA i know are sometimes 'finicky' eaters.  I have been surprised at
the dishes that are enjoyed and those that are ignored.  On the other
side of the fence....Many people I fed were surpised that all the dishes
I served were 'period'.  At a local feast (cooked by Baroness Clarissa),
I enjoyed watching people wolf down her Armoured turnips.  I think the
populace was surprised THEY were wolfing down turnips!
> 
> 2. "Remove" is not the period term for course, SCA usage to the contrary.
> "Course" is the period term for course.
> 
Thank you for this clarification!  

meadhbh