[Sca-cooks] Sugar Plate/Paste; Stained Glass Sugar

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

ONE
Thanks to all for hints on Sugar Plate/Paste and Stained Glass Sugar
and coloring.

Obviously i'll need to experiment before trying this for the feast.
Good to know it will keep, though, just in case something turns out
well :-)

TWO
I was asked, "Will people be eating these?"
Short Answer: I don't know.

First let me say that i haven't been to many feasts in my 2-1/2
years, so i've seen few sotilities. There are only Kingdom level
feasts each year, at the Spring and Fall Collegia which i attend
(usually teaching something...). The Principality i'm in has two
feasts each year, one at each Investiture, and i've attended all
three in the past year and a half, since i got a car.

But most of the feasts in the "Central West" are done by Shires and
Baronies, especially (but not limited to) between Thanksgiving and
mid-January, and i haven't made it to any yet. So if other local
groups do things differently, i've missed them.

I do know that here in the West we don't usually serve High Table
anything any different from the populace, unless a Royal has a food
allergy/issue/etc. Occasionally the food will be arranged a bit more
nicely, but no special stuff, different dishes, etc. We're pretty
egalitarian - the Middle Ages "as they should have been", i guess...

As for the Compleat Anachronist on food coloring - i paid my dues
about 2 months late that year, so i think i missed it, since i do
have the ones before and after. It has been discussed on this list
and sounds like something essential for my library.

Back to "will it be eaten?" Since i don't know, i would prefer to use
edible coloring, just in case...

Hmmm, in re-reading this message i just got a twisted idea... So, the
sugar plate sotiltie(s) are brought out, shown first to the High
Table, then to the populace, then when approaching the High Table
again they are dropped "accidentally on purpose" - and then fed to
everyone... just a silly idea.

Oh, and another one - show to High Table and populace - then a maniac
with a mallet runs in and smashes them - and everyone gets to eat
it...

I suppose i ought to take photos first, if they don't look too awful.

THREE
I will doubtless have more questions once i move into my apartment at
the end of the month (after over 5 months of "homelessness - hurray
for SCA friends!) and have my own kitchen to experiment in.

Making sugar plate will be strange, as i don't eat much sugar (a
one-pound box will last for *several years* in my house)[not counting
feasts] and i don't have a sweet tooth.

Anahita