Congrats;;;;Re: SC - RE: Feast Report

[Seton1355@aol.com]

Oops!  Got snitched off before I could post anything!  Thanks, Anahita!

I won the Silver Spoon competition (principality-level cooking award) with
my version of Lady Brighid's peach pits.  My redaction didn't come out quite
the same as hers -- I ended up with a 1:1 almond to sugar ratio, about the
same amount of cinnamon and a smaller amount of saunders.  I made the peach
pit molds out of Sculpey.  The best part, as far as I was concerned, was
watching people _look_ at the peach pits before eating them.  "They look
like peach pits!"  "Duh," says I, "if they looked like white wall tires, it
wouldn't work!"  By the end of the day, though, I think some people were
convinced I had carved each pit by hand.  A lot of people simply couldn't
believe they had been molded.  I should have displayed the molds along with
the candies.  Lady Brighid, thank you so much for posting these recipe
translations.  I've been making sure that people know how much work you're
doing, but if there is anything you want in return, just ask.

The feast was a disappointment.  The first course consisted of sweet
baguettes with cheddar and monterey jack cheese, butter with apricot jam,
shrimp cocktail, hard-boiled eggs, mixed nuts and potato soup.  Originally
it was supposed to have been tomato soup, but it was announced at the start
of the course that, since tomatoes were considered poisonous during the 14th
century, potato soup was being served instead.  The second course was roast
cornish game hens with saffron rice and broccoli.  I suspect it was
food-colored rice, since it was screamingly bright yellow, but I could
neither smell nor taste any saffron.  Of course, I did have a head cold.
This was followed by the shepherd's pie, and finally by ham served with
couscous and green beans.  I never made it to the dessert table.

However, I will confess that by the end of this feast, I had assembled a
crack commando squad to take over the Spring Investiture feast next May.
Anahita, I can't remember if you were in on the planning, but I want you on
the team, if you'll be available.  Anyway, we're going to put together a
feast based on humoral (sp?) theory, with, hopefully, the appropriate
carving and serving process.  It's still in the early planning stages, and
I've got to sit down and write up a plan and a menu, but I think it'll work.
We're going to aim for two courses and a dessert, and during the day we'll
have roving physicians who will do consultations so people can determine
their temperaments and order their foods appropriately.  It'll be especially
fun if we can get a couple of people to seek out second opinions.

Rose