SC - Welcome Leslie (long)

[Stefan li Rous]

Leslie Lansdowne said: 
> I am new to the loop---and a youngster, that is if 33 is considered that!
> This is all new to me, I am going to join the SCA and I am going to
> (hopefully) attend my first meeting of the local chapter tonight--depending
> on how well behaved my children are around dinner time!

Good luck! I think most local SCA meetings are a rather poor example of
what goes on in the SCA, though. You really want to attend some events to
get a feel for the SCA. However local guild meetings are often a good
way to meet folks in the SCA as is working along side of them in the
kitchen or at the gate of an event.
 
> I am a cook---well the chief cook in my household anyway, although it is
> also a hobby with me.  I was a line cook for 10 years and while that is no
> great accomplishment, it did prepare me for cooking for large amounts of
> people in a short amount of time and putting out great food in the meantime!
> I need those talents for my brood of 5 kids!

Kids can participate in the SCA much as adults do. Some events have special
programs set up for children. While children can not fight on the combat
fields, mainly due to mundane (ie non-SCA modern) laws, some areas such as
the Kingdom of Ansteorra (Texas and Oklahoma) are experimenting with or
actually doing combat activities for youths.

We have had discussions here before about children helping in the kitchens
at events or serving at feasts. Someday I will get around to creating a
file in my Florilegium on this. In the meantime, take a look at some of
the files in my CHILDREN section. The address for my Florilegium is given
at the end of this message.
 
>  I have always been
> fascinated with the food described in medieval stories and I would really
> like to learn more about it---from the ingredients to the proper cooking
> methods.  I am VERY green here, so please be patient if I ask "stupid"
> questions!

Oh goody! Now Stefan won't be the only one asking the 'stupid' questions.

>  I had a very fine roasted chicken dinner with roasted potatoes and
> cole slaw (was cole slaw around way back when???)

I'm not sure. I'm not sure what is in modern cole slaw. But there may
be some info and recipes for pickled cabbage (saurkraut?) in one of these
two files in the FOOD section of my files:
fd-Germany-msg    (56K)  4/21/99    Medieval and Period German food. Cookbooks.
pickled-food-msg  (73K)  4/ 1/99    Medieval pickled food. recipes.

>  I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have found all this!  For
> years, I thought I was the only person who longed to have been from those
> times---well in some ways anyway.  

I have heard this comment repeated over and over through the years by folks
in the SCA explaining why they joined.
 
> Leslie Lansdowne--who does not yet have a "name"

My recommendation is not to be overly worried about this for awhile. It is
nice to come up with a first name reasonably soon, simply so people won't
get used to calling you by your regular name and then have to switch. But
you don't need a last name for awhile. My first award scroll, given after
about a year and a half in the SCA, says "Stefan of Bryn Gwlad" because
I hadn't picked a name yet. You can change your name later if you wish. it
just may take a while for your friends to get used to calling you by the
new one.

For some name ideas, you might want to glace at some of the files in the
PERSONA or NICOLAA'S ARTICLES section of my files. If you don't know
which cultures you might be interested in there are some articles on
various cultures of the SCA time period in the CULTURES section of my
files. This is by no means a comprehensive list though.

Since you are new, you might also want to look at the files in the
NEWCOMERS section. There is a file there on choosing a name and registering
it if you wish.

Hope this helps and that everyone else doesn't think I've gone on too long.

Stefan
- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:
         http://lg_photo.home.texas.net/florilegium/index.html ****
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