SC - Re: Returned mail: User unknown

[Marian Rosenberg]

> Subject: Re : SC - Food @ A&S Competitions
> Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 22:59:25 -0500
> From: Marian Rosenberg <Brucianna at washcoll.edu>
> To: sca-coojs at ansteorra.org
>
> > Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 11:39:13 -0500
> > From: "Peters, Rise J."
> > Subject: RE: SC - Food at A&S Competitions
> >
> > There were a number of food exhibits at the recent Atlantia Kingdom A&S
> > event.  One gentleman is working on translating and redacting period spanish
> > cookbooks.  He had four items -- two mustards, a baked custard, and a
> > yogurt-like spread.  He brought cooked pork cubes and toothpicks to try the
> > mustards on, forks and napkins for the cooked custard, and a nice brown
> > bread for the spread.  He also had the original texts he was working from,
> > his translations and redactions, so you could (a) taste the product, (b) see
> > where it came from and (c) see how he got from the original text to what was
> > in your mouth.  Very nicely done.
> >
> > Similarly, there was a display next over of items from a recent coronation
> > feast.  There were several items -- a chicken pie, a fig pastry, and some
> > gingerbread.  Each item had suitable utensils and there were napkins.  The
> > display included the original recipe text, translation, and redaction.
> > Again, you could taste the product, see the original source, and see how the
> > displayer got from one to the other.
> >
> > Note that this was a display, not a competition.
> >
>
>   And an absolutely wonderful display at that.  Though to add into the
> discussion we had been having recently about feast tokens, feast
> crashers, and the occasional just plain rude SCAdian, I bring an example
> -
>
>   As I walked up to the first table a woman was getting a slice of
> cheese from the far edge of the display.  I got a piece of gingerbrede
> and was chewing it when I was told by my boyfriend that I absolutely
> *must* taste this wonderful delicate yogurt spread.  Since the ginger
> flavor was quite good and quiet overpowering and the pork cubes looked
> to be fairly unspiced I snagged a piece to clear my palate.  At the same
> time this woman snagged a piece of just the meat.  Both of us were told
> "I'm trying to show off the mustard, not the meat."  The spread and the
> bread were wonderful and the spread was a very delicate flavor that I
> would not have tasted through the ginger.  While I was digesting this,
> the same woman snagged another slice of cheese from the neighboring
> table and wandered back here to get a bit of the bread to go with it.
> Later on when this woman grabbed another piece of meat as the gentleman
> was talking to another gentleman about cooking I told her "the meat is
> for dipping in the sauce, he's trying to show off the mustard."  She
> replied to this with "oh I know, but those are too hot for me and I
> don't like mustard much."  When she came back for her third piece of
> custard the gentleman had to inform her that this was a display, not a
> free lunch table.  "But I don't like the things they have for lunch."
> She then used a toothpick to pick up another piece of meat, got another
> fig pastry from the neighboring table and left.
>   Later on when I passed by this display again, the gentleman had cut
> his custard into square single-serve portions, and the lady near him had
> small plates with single servings of her chicken pie.
>
>  Considering what she had said about his mustard, before leaving his
> table, I told the gentle "I don't like mustard much either.  In fact I
> hardly like mustard at all.  However, both of your mustards were very
> enjoyable and quite pleasant."
>
> ---
>
>   Before ending this message, was anyone else who went to that event
> sorely disappointed?  I skipped out on court as the spectacle of loud
> adults in a high school cafeteria trying to be heard was far too close a
> memory for me to enjoy it even if the loud adults were being listened to
> by quieter adults.  It seemed that little or no attempt was taken to
> make the place look peri-oid and the pointed hats with soda cans didn't
> help. ( I have found that with very little effort I can hide a soda can
> inside the sleeve of my chemise and appear to be spending a lot of time
> wiping my nose on my sleeve rather than blatantly wandering about can in
> hand.)