Why do you do what you do? (was Re: SC - Re: Substitution VERY LONG (Balthazar comments)
grizly at mindspring.com
grizly at mindspring.com
Fri Apr 21 08:48:54 PDT 2000
Greeting Rayne, Balthazar and ayone else interested in my humble words.
I sure misses this 'Aoife's list thing'! I quite reading this thread, and it took a new direction from simply substitutions, it appears <g>
I offer simple words to you today. Do what you love. Do it simply and humbly with an eye toward improvement and you will live a long and satisfying life. If you decide you are going to do what you do according to someone else's expectations or 'rules' then you should expect not to be able to do it by your own rules. Speak simply, graciously, honestly and realize that any word you speak could at any time be wrong or misinformed.
If you prepare an entry for an A&S competition, you will be playing by 'their rules'. Go in with your eyes open and listen with humility to what is said in feedback. Remember that you do not make the rules for THAT game. IF you decide you don't like the rules for that game, then find another venue for your passions and craft....there are so many ways to share your gifts with people.
I look at crtitique, suggestion and feedback much like a slaughtered animla (go with me here). Each person may find a differnet part prized and prefered. Take from the beast that which is useful to you today. Then, either preserve the rest for later consideration of use, or give it away to someone else. It is that simple. If you don't want a part, simply do not use it. No sense is wailing and gnashing teeth that their is stuff in your comments that you do not agree with or cannot use. Take what you need and move on in jubilation that you got a jewel to add to your treasure trove.
We all come to that point in the road at some point, questioning why we are doing it (whatever IT is) anymore. It is at that point that one shows one's mettle. Where you go at that juncture tells you and others what it is that drives your passions and your needs. Everyone comes to these crossroads. Everyone. Some come to more than others. It is that which is strongest in your heart and spirit that will lead you where you need to go. Everyone runs into challenges to one's 'convenient picture of how the world is'. How you manage that challenge will be what people will remember you for, not what your picture looked like in the first place (unless it was rather Dali-esque, then you'll be remembered for both).
Know why you do what you do and be able to explain simply and honestly why you made the choices you made. In cooking, love, relationships, driving to a campgrounds, whatever. Make no excuse or justification. Listen to what feedback you can get....and get all you can whenever you can. Keep what is useful, throw out what is not useful, and make the next choice. Repeat.
I wise, gentle man recently counseled me to: 'start with yourself (you have a good enough internal compass to know when you've accomplished that), make it right with the Lady you love, and work your way outwards". It was a specific situation to which he spoke, but the power of that message resonnated to me into a basic way of living in the wolrd.
I did go on, so I'll stop now. Remember that the farther you go from what you can definitely point right at and touch, the greater your chance of being in error. Explaining making a cameline sauce with ground pheasant beak will take lots more effort than explaining using cassia <g>. Either could be a fun experiment, not expressly documented, but one is an easier explanation than the other and I may never convince anyone that either is RIGHT.
pacem et bonum,
niccolo
sca-cooks at ansteorra.org (Rayne and Balthazar)wrote:
* _ I _ have no trouble placing you on this list. You are the person that
makes very intelligent comments, who enjoys cooking and "plays" in the SCA... <<<SNIP>>> (Balthazar)On the one hand, I would love nothing more than to stoke the fires,
make the cheese, burp and scratch myself in the feast hall, but on the other
hand, I firmly believe that medieval cooks readily substituted what they
couldn't find with what they had on hand. The idea of discarding an
otherwise delicious and appropriate recipe on the simple basis of not being
able to obtain one ingredient is, somehow, appalling to me. I cannot, in my
wildest imaginings, believe that this was ever done in medieval times.
* And, although I can't "prove" how medieval cooks made substitutions, I
agree with you. I can't prove a lot of things I believe in, but I still
believe in them.
Even more so, I cannot grasp the concept that, after having dedicated so
much
time and energy into the (very impressive) research of medieval cooking,
certain cooks on this list are satisfied with stopping at the written word.
Extrapolation and deduction are the rewards of a lifetime of scholarly
research. I do understand that certain people are, for the sake of absolute
(and admirable) authenticity, unwilling to make these assumptions for fear
of
heading down the wrong path, or producing a recipe with a hint of cinnamon
which does not belong. But the book and volume of human experience tells
us,
with crystal clarity, that such assumptions were made. Modern cooking
styles
evolved from same.
* Again - an agreement here.
I guess what my entire rant boils down to is this: Am I going to be
chided and guffawed if, during my A&S entry, It is noticed that I
substituted
Mace for Nutmeg, or prepared a "classic" dish with pork instead of beef?
* Probably - Yes - you are. Because I have noticed that the justification
for substituting items in cooking is not the same for some other
classifications. (Oh, you used cotton to do your embroidery on because you
couldn't find or afford silk - WE understand) But in cooking there seems to
be no justification for using mace for nutmeg (since you could obtain either
fairly easily) and perhaps you should have picked another dish to make if you
had to substitute ground up grasshoppers for the endangered potbellied
rattlin' beetle (which you could not get). So look for the reasons you would
want to enter an A&S competition under those circumstances.
Am I going to be denied my Laurel, my Pelican, my Albatross or what have you?
* First let me say that I am not a Peer, but I feel that the elevation of
Peerages can be subjective for a number of reasons. I like the wording that
Peers are not "made", but are publicly recognized by the members of that
Peerage. I have actually heard (over the last 25 years) Peers say (out-loud,
when they do not notice the "little person" sitting near them) "THAT person
will NEVER be a (pick peerage of your choice) BECAUSE "they do not dress like
a Peer, flirted with my spouse, divorced my best-friend, were "unchivarlous"
XX number of years ago, their children are unruly, etc."
If so, then this is unfair, because it is apparent that these kinds of
substitutions are, indeed, "period".
* Like I tell my children and grandchildren: Life, in all it's aspects, is
NOT fair. There is no such thing as "fair". Live simply IS. And through
the course of life... most things balance out. Yes, the girl may do more
dishes today than her brother did yesterday because yesterday we had take-out
pizza and today I made a seven course meal. But balance it out at the end of
your life - not the end of the week. She may marry a rich man who presents
her with a maid and may never do dishes again. Her brother, on the other
hand, will marry the love of his life who passes away at the age of 60 while
he gets to live on 25 years more without her doing his dishes alone.
Your efforts within the Society will be noticed (good and bad) and in most
cases will "balance out". l
There are too many definitions of the term for a fair and objective
evaluation of my efforts. And rest assured that mine will be a valiant
effort, with freshly made cheeses, hand made breads, and so on.
* Again... look to why you are placing your talents before others to be
"judged".
Are my labors going to be wasted because one or more of my "judges" has a
different definition of "period"?
* Yes, possibly.
In actuality, I care little for SCA awards, and have no real desire to
attain one, but this does illustrate my point.
* Then just have FUN. For this, above all, IS the name of the game. It has
been said: "Man is that he might have joy." I play for the enjoyment of it
and for almost no other reason. I cook because I enjoy it. I cook for
others because they enjoy it.
I cook within the SCA*(and other groups) for the enjoyment I find in the
kitchen and for the enjoyment my meals bring to others.
* I do not agree with some of the viewpoints and comments made on this List,
but I look at the whole. I do not try to convince others that my way is the
"right" way, but spend my time pulling knowledge from them. And this List is
comprised of some of the most knowledgeable people I have "met". Just like
I do went dining, I take what I want and leave the rest. During one of the
first meetings I ever had with the wonderful Lady that is now my Peer, I
proceeded to remove from my mundane salad all the greens that were "funny"
(meaning non-iceberg). A bunch of us were doing the "after the weekly SCA
meeting, let's go eat" thingy. She looked at me and asked what I was doing.
I told her that I had lived in Europe for four years eating "funny" greens
and I was not going to keep on eating them if I had a choice. She just shook
her head.
Balthazar of Blackmoor - who is curious to know where other cooks on this
list would place him on Aoife's top ten, based on his posting history...)
*And here is the crux ... we all have a choice. I may not rank at the top of
Aoife's top ten, but (for now) I am content with my ranking. :-) As for
where do you rank - it is more important if you are comfortable in the
ranking you give yourself.
And in reference to another comment you made in another post: "Yes, this IS
a hard room to work. - People have trouble hearing the inflection in your
voice" BUT I usually get it. :-)
Yours,
Rayne
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