[Sca-cooks] re: Lemon Syrup

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> I think the original point is being lost here, somewhere. There _will_ _be_
> people who _need_ more protein - diabetics and hypoglycemics being the
> two I can think of after a second or so; and if all you offer is eggs and
> cheese, those will go very, very quickly. . .

Which is why I am careful to offer the cheese in small portions at a time,
so everyone can have some. If people aren't taking a pound of cheese at a
time back to their seating area, then throwing it away, 35 lbs of cheese
goes further. 35 (Thirty-five) dozen small eggs don't go as fast. We will
not run out, even if people get bored. If I offer meat, no matter how
carefully I ration it, 100 lbs goes out the door as fast as people queue
up. There will also be butter and herbed cheese.

>Yes, I know people with
> dietary restrictions should be careful about bringing their own food; but,
> still, people are also fallible, and forget, or don't bring enough, or you'll
> have out-of-town guests who won't be able to, or some such. If you can
> possible get some more, even for behind-the-counter diabetics-only
> emergency use, it'd help.
> (Set up a donation bowl? And schedule a run or two into the nearest
> grocery store for nuts and such? 75cents/head is, what, one bag of
> M&M's?)

I.e., one person's serving of M&M's and they'd better eat it damn fast
before it melts at War Camp! ;) Nuts are expensive, here, and they are a
luxury item. Emergency sugar supplies-- in the form of oranges & orange
juice-- for diabetics and hypoglycemics are available, in addition to what
the chirugeons pack as far as sugar tabs.

Alban, this is a war camp. The site is convenient to modern conveniences,
though: there is a diner 4 blocks away, you drive through a small town
with a convenience store on the way in to site.  Because NO FEAST IS
OFFERED, people are either planning to eat out offsite or cook on site; or
they will be buying Ukranian sausage, cabbage rolls and pirogi at 5 pm.

A bunch of fighters don't eat until after they stop fighting (3-4
o'clock). Some people nibble all day. Food is provided at the archery
field as well as at the heavy list field (the people tending troll, MOL
and the embroidery Pentathalon get trays; herald's point, thank
goodness, says they can get their own damn food). About 3 pm, I start to
get worried and grab a bowl of oranges and roam the field pressing oranges
(and sometimes pickles) upon people.

After 7 years, people who aren't aware of what's going to be offered
generally aren't aware there IS a dayboard, and are startled to see
someone feed them. The only complaint we've ever had was when we skimped
on the cheese.

If someone needs different protein than the dayboard supplies, they can
hop in their car or borrow a car and get some less than five minutes away.
Yes, I'm being a bit of a hard-ass. You can't please all the people all of
the time, I'm afraid. People are not baby birds, I and my three helpers
can't make little balls of food and individually push it through their bar
grilles! *grin*

> >At Crown Tourney, we offered a separate serving of beef and cheese cubes
> >(in addition to the chicken soup, lentil soup, eggs, and savory toasted
> >cheese) at the quarterfinals of Crown because the fighters complained that
> >they didn't want to eat until they were finished fighting and the protein
> >was generally all gone. That serving (about 10 lbs meat, 10 lbs cheese)
> >was finished in 10 minutes flat, and I'm fairly sure most of the fighters
> >never moved from their positions at the ropes of the finals list. ;)
> See? Get more protein, and everyone'll be in love with you! <grin>

I think you missed the point.  Fighters said they wanted food after they
finished fighting. Most of them, even when informed of the food, didn't go
get it: the small number of people who did (probably 20 or less), glommed
about about $20 worth of beef in 10 minutes.

> 75 cents a head?

Yup. And it buys impressive amounts of food-- when we buy inexpensive
food.

Remember: my dayboard/courtboard staff for this event is whatever pages we
can press-gang  ('volunteer or you don't get to do youth tourney later')
and a few adults, and whatever spare hands other people can turn to.
The more things we have that have to be precooked and moved in and out of
refrigeration, the more work it is.

*grin* After court, I plan to jump in the shower (mountain spring water,
ice cold), change clothes, and flee to McDonalds and sit in the
airconditioning, drinking cold soda and reading a book until I feel human
again. THEN I'll go back to site and start drinking.

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net OR jenne at tulgey.browser.net OR jahb at lehigh.edu
"Are you finished? If you're finished, you'll have to put down the spoon."