SC - feast disasters and recovery

[RichSCA at aol.com]

Sorry, but I am LOL with this one.  It is SO CLOSE to something that happened 
at an event years ago in Meridies (actual groups, people and places altered 
to protect the guilty and innocent).  :-)

I had just joined a group who was having an event.  The cook had moved out of 
the Kingdom, but promised that they would be back to prepare the feast.  They 
mailed a "shopping list" of ingredients to the autocrat.  No recipes, no 
dishes named, no comments, just a list of what to purchase.  They said they 
would be on site at about 5:00 Saturday morning.  I was the breakfast cook.  
At 5:00 I was there cooking - no one else.  I was serving breakfast at 7:00am 
- - still no feast cook.  Contacted the autocrat who called the feast cook.  
Guess what???  You guessed right - he/she wasn't coming.  The autocrat sent 
word to all the experienced cooks on site. A Lady showed up (can't remember 
her name) with her "household, kitchen staff, etc." and immediately had a 
"Closed" kitchen (can't blame her at all).  I pulled out the shopping list, 
gave it to her and was promptly ushered out the door.  They brought no 
cookbooks with them - but the ideas inside their heads.  The feast turned out 
well.  None of the guests (populace) were the wiser and lessons were learned. 
 And yes, when I got ready to cook breakfast Sunday morning I had a TON of 
unused food to select from.  :-)  I put it into baggies and placed it on the 
counter for people to take home with them.  

Rayne


In a message dated 4/12/00 9:06:18 AM Central Daylight Time, 
ekoogler at chesapeake.net writes:

<< 
 I think that the worst disaster I've ever encountered was the First 
Investiture of the
 Barony of Black Diamond (Atlantia), longer ago that most of us want to 
admit.  The
 group had hired a threesome of young ladies who had never cooked a feast 
before.  They
 looked through some magazines, found pictures of some dishes they liked and 
when out
 and purchased the necessary ingredients (no pre-cook, definitely NOT 
period).  Also,
 they agreed with the site owners that the kitchen would not be available 
until 3:00.
 The day of the event the three young ladies were nowhere to be found...they 
had
 panicked and refused to cook the feast.
 
 So.  Several of us who were experienced were called in to try to sort things 
out.  We
 were able to use most of the ingredients they had purchased, but had to 
augment them
 with additional purchases (I still have fond memories of my lord trying to 
find Brie
 in Blackburg, VA.)  We were able to come up with a feast, not all from 
period recipes,
 but at least "periodoid"...and one that folks seemed to enjoy!
 
 Whew!!!!!!
 
 Kiri
  >>