SC - Happy Birthday, List!

[Karen]

CONNECT at aol.com wrote, in response to:
> 
> >you should never never
> >never never have to clean up after you have done a feast. >>

with:
 
> Please pardon my jumping in, but where on earth did this expectation come
> from? No one cleans up after me at home when I make a big meal, except me.

All too true, I'm sure. You are fulfilling, and well, too, your
perceived obligations as a hostess. Not everyone perceives their own
obligations as host and/or hostess in this way, though, and there's
surely room for both points of view. 
_Ex-cept_...

Consider that your obligations as a hostess at home are personal
obligations. The obligations of the group/crew running an event are by
definition communal, not personal. You are a cog on the wheel, not the
wheel itself.  
 
> I fully expect, and the other cooks in our barony that I've encountered also
> have this expectation, to clean up after the feast. That's part and parcel of
> doing a feast. One does all the prep work ahead of time, does the cooking the
> day of, and does the cleaning up after. If one doesn't want to do the work of
> cleaning up, one shouldn't do the feast, IMNSHO.
 
My wife and I joke that I became a professional cook so that I would
never have to wash dishes. I actually often do dishes, and even though I
often walk away from a rather dirty kitchen after the last course goes
out, I always, always, always cook in such a way as to minimize the work
for the people who do the cleanup. I will rinse and recycle pots, sheet
pans, etc., as well as usually taking on jobs like scrubbing the
stovetop and the ovens, cleaning and reseasoning the grill for the next
people to use the kitchen, etc.

When I cook a feast, I simply and literally cook until I am ready to
drop. Honestly, I really feel I do enough for my group without washing
every dish I get dirty. Apparently my group and even my King agree.

The simple fact is, that if people didn't cook feasts they are not
personally energetic enough to do the pre-planning, research, associated
paperwork, precooking, shopping, cooking, and organizing service for,
singlehandedly, then we would have very few kitcheners, and I seriously
question the ability of any of the remaining few to handle something
like a large Crown Tourney in this way. Frankly (and I am not referring
to anyone specific here and hope no one takes offense) I really would
wonder where to draw the line between an extremely dedicated cook and a
control freak. I don't use that word lightly, either, because while I
would expect the tyrant of the kitchen (a term applied to various people
since my childhood, originally by my Dad to my Mom) to be very demanding
and exacting about how the cleaning is done and where and how absolutely
everything is to be put away in one's own kitchen, I would definitely
not expect this degree of involvement from the head cook at an SCA
event, unless there simply is no one else to do it. I certainly expect
standards of cleanliness to be maintained and upheld, but I'm not too
choosy about who does this, so long as it is done. 

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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