SC - Uses for lavender

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Hi all from Anne-Marie
re: the feast of St George...wow! things are sure different where you come
from...

some basic rules I use when I run a kitchen (take with a grain of salt the
size of the rock of gibraltar. I am very much a type A person).
1. do your own grocery shopping. 
2. presell tickets to feasts, and if you cant do that, get it in writing
from the autocrate that the event will cover the budget no matter what.
PLAN on running out of food...better that than getting stuck with a bunhc
of unpaid for tartes of flesche. Again, ideally, presell tickets to the
feasts so you know how many you're cooking for, PLUS you've already got
their money, so you're not out of any pocket expenses.
3. hardly anyone but me likes oatmeal (go figure!)
4. people at events tend not to eat as much as they would at a sit down
feast (they tend to nibble and graze all day, or else eat a huge, late
breakfast/lunch and so spoil their dinner). I ran into this at my last camp
kitchen. They ate about half of what I would have expected, and that even
took into account the three or so bodies that got fed in other camps,
knowing full well I was holding dinner for them...grrr...
5. do your own grocery shopping. did I say this already? I need to
emphasise it. THis is the ONLY way to control for quality and quantity
(icky beef today...maybe we'll do lamb instead) (egads these onions are the
size of my head! guess we only need two or three instead of the case I had
down) (ack! they dont have any scallions today! what will we sub in???) (oh
looky, leeks are on sale. Too bad we dont need more..no, I dont want three
cases, no matter how cheap they are!) When I have delegated grocery
shopping in the past, I've gotten suprises ("I know you didnt say to get
pineapples, but they were so cheap! I thought you could use them as a
garnish" ack! Pineapples arent appropriate!!)

Next time :) I would suggest:
generate a budget ahead of time. Ask the autocrate to cover the food
expenses up front. Assure her you will keep meticulous records/reciepts.
Buy your own groceries with cash in hand from said autocrate. If you price
at the regular grocery store, and do your real shopping at the
Costco/sales/farmers markets, you'll be under budget and get to hand the
extra back to the happy autocrate along with your meticulous accounting.
The autocrate is likely not a cook. Just as I would not plan on fixing my
own car, I woulndt expect my mechanic to buy my feast ingredients. We all
have learned this the hard way at one time...folks in the SCA (and every
other volunteer group I've ever worked with) are often well meaning, but
sometimes dont come through to our own expectations. I consider this my
problem...if I didnt have such high expectations and standards, I wouldnt
be dissappointed! :)

Plus, as an oft autocrate of many many events, there is NO WAY an autocrate
has time to do the grocery shopping right before Dday. No way, no how. 

hope this helps in some small way...does it help to know that this is
nothing new? nah, I didnt think so...
- --AM
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