SC - What's the oldest thing in your fringe

[Kekilpenny@aol.com]

DeeWolff at aol.com wrote:
 
> After competing in a competion this weekend, you now have another believer in
> this. No more competitions for me. Three months of research and two months of
> prep cause too much drain on the wits and psyche. I provided a fully
> documentable late period menu. I only wish I had provided chocolate and
> alcohol, I may have won.

Welcome to the lofty status of the Avignon Popes, the New York Mets, Al
Gore, etc., and while it has become a silly cliché to many, in this case
it really _doesn't_ matter whether you win or lose, but how you played
the game. Andrea, you played it well, scored considerably better than I
did, I assume, and there is _nobody_ involved in this entire project
that has anything to be ashamed of. Even the judges, with whom some
might disagree, if they cared to, were simply being what they are:
essentially, courtiers who know what they like. Unfortunately, if we
were looking for truly competent judges, we would have had to look,
probably, within the competition rather than outside it, and frankly we
were all too busy. I'm sure any foibles of the judges were unilaterally
applied, however, so to some extent any weaknesses on their part were
negated in a simple scoring system. I don't know how I would have judged
it, had I been in that position.

Observations: 

The displays were breathtaking. In their own, different ways, all were
pretty amazing. My own entry was judged as suffering pretty badly in
comparison to the others, but I think this is less a quality issue than
simply the result of playing a somewhat different game, one which some
of the judges simply failed to comprehend. "Oh, a huge fruitcake. Very
nice. No, thanks." Direct quote. Certainly my single, not very elaborate
subtlety didn't function as well as the other entries as an Elizabethan
banquet display, but then neither did my early-period garb meet the
criteria for Elizabethan, either. None of this is a problem for me,
though; I yam what I yam, to Their Eastern Majesties' occasional consternation.

Obviously a great deal of work went into every entry. From what I saw of
each, Lady Oksana did a lovely tableful of fancifully varied stuff, with
a large arch of what appeared to be feathers from where I was standing,
little soldiers (marzipan?) with baronial banners (SOMEBODY _ATE_
OSTGARDR!!!), and a selection of various tarts and other dishes. It
definitely caught the eye, was attractive, and obviously a lot of work
went into it. I wasn't able to taste any of it, but it was clearly a
noble effort.

Baron Joram did what appeared to be a sort of treasure-chest theme, with
an assortment of boxes, jars and urns containing various dishes, some
gilded sugar-plate, etc. From what I could tell, Baron Joram's display
was designed, to some extent, to provide a more-or-less full meal; the
variety of dishes was such that you could sup off it, with beverages,
etc. Again, a magnificent display, and Baron Joram was awarded the First
Prize. Perhaps he can tell us more about it; I know he's here on the List.

I was next... I had intended to build three ships, each of a different
pastry, with three fillings. Between time, storage, budgetary, and sheer
quality concerns, however, I finally did one ship, just under three feet
long, sailing between small islands made of single-serving cakes of the
same Digby fruitcake. Yes, Anne-Marie, that fruitcake. Did you know
Digby's uncut recipe just fits into a hand-made ship-shaped cake pan
just under three feet long? (We need to talk about that ale-yeast, BTW ;
 )  ) Unfortunately, it also weighs about fifteen pounds and is an
absolute monstrous bear to maneuver... Anyway, I did the cake, coated it
with a basic Digby marzipan to keep it moist and provide some extra
detail, then iced it with an uncooked version of the Digby-suggested
icing: in short, royal icing. Sails and rigging were wood and cloth, a
mainsail and bowsprit banner painted with the arms and badge of the
East, respectively, with ropes consisting of threaded golden raisins. I
think of all of it, the most questions were asked about where I got, and
what I intended to do, subsequently, with the strings of amber nuggets.
I told them they were raisins and I'd thought about eating them with
bran flakes...

Anyway, if I have any dissatisfaction with the judges, it is only that
not all of them even tried the cake, when it was cut into. How they
managed to judge it, I couldn't say. However, I expect my judgement
criteria might be viewed as flawed by others, too, so this is no big
deal for me. I got a number of lovely comments on the performance art
aspect of my display; it arrived on site as a big fruitcake, and looked
absolutely nothing like a ship, except for the bare shape, until shortly
before judging began. My main problem was that people would insist on
hip-checking the tables and generally sticking their faces into the
displays before they were ready. The 60-foot screen promised us in order
to prevent this never materialized, or rather, it was appropriated by a
troupe of performers to serve as their backstage area. So, we had a lot
of people whose general attitude suggested that their "right" to check
out the sotelties as they were being assembled superceded our right to
prepare and assemble them. Only when one lady began to run a track with
her finger along the length of my royal icing (normally chocolate
buttercream is more appropriate for this type of behavior)  was I
anything but courteous; she honestly didn't seem to realize why I was
telling her I was going to simply pull her finger off rather than use
any of the many sharp knives in my possession.   

Lady Andrea MacIntyre did another truly magnificent display, focused on
the spice trade and the Age of Exploration. Had I been judging, I would
_seriously_ have considered giving her the first prize. I believe the
scores must have been very close indeed. She also did a huge number of
dishes, all from period or eartly-post-period sources, with
documentation for every dish, and all surmounted by a gigantic SHIP!!!
It was decorated with the arms and badge of the Kingdom!!! No, we didn't
wear the same dress or anything, but these coincidences do happen. Okay,
her ship was layered gingerbread (real gingebrede, that is), and was
smaller than mine, but actually far more decorative. As mentioned, she
put in huge amounts of research and planning, began preserving her
various comfits and such months in advance, and put on an almost
unspeakably lovely display. Unfortunately, only one can win in a
competition of this type, and there'll always be some way to disagree
with the decisions of a bunch of non-fruitcake-tasters ;  ).

I would advise any one of the no people who have asked for my advice on
this subject, to concentrate on meeting and exceeding your own best
standards, and not worry about what others do, least of all the judges.
Especially non-fruitcake-tasters. All in all, competitions aren't my
favorite venue for achievement or, for that matter, recognition, but as
with anything else, they are what they are and can be dealt with
provided you go into them with no preconceived expectations, and
therefore, no disappointments.            

Actually, the event went rather well, all in all. I actually have some
general news about it, but I'll save that for another post later in the
day. I see my teacup is empty.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com