[Sca-cooks] Dayboards?

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> I love this idea! Can you give me an idea of when dayboards start usually
> and how they are arranged? I love to do weird things around here... maybe
> I'll do a dayboard for Fighter's Collegium....

Rule of thumb: don't bother with anything but coffee (if you serve coffee)
before 11, 'cos at camping events most people won't be awake enough and at
day events most people won't be _there_. At least in the East.

Dayboards can be very simple, or very elaborate. Hrim Schola in the East
has a dayboard that includes lots of tiny pastries, pies, mini-hedgehogs,
etc. I did one for an embroidery schola that centered around cheese, beef,
chicken and bread with multicolored sauces
(http://www.lehigh.edu/~jahb/jadwiga/A&S/thimble1.html if you want to see
the menu). I also do a big one-- the one for war camp-- that's just fruit,
pickles & pretzels, bread and stuff-to-go-on-bread, cheese and veggies
(Stefan has a file about that).  The dayboard for Sword and Chrysanthemum,
a Japanese event,
(done by a talented local cook, Lady Rowan of Meikledale) is going to
have a noodle bar with soup and stuff to put in it:
http://www.geocities.com/anne_liese_w/Japanese/japfeast.htm

I keep meaning to write an article about dayboards. One of the most
important things-- if you have a big dayboard with a lot of people and
want it to last a couple of hours- is portion control. Don't put all the
food out at once. You can make 45 pounds of cheese last 5 hours at an
event with 750 people if you put it out in soup-sized bowls so people feel
guilty taking a double handful!

You can put stuff out either in a fancy way or just stick it in bowls on
the table-- but dayboards are a great chance to set up a buffet-style
table that looks really nice (as long as you aren't trying to feed the
hordes...)

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net OR jenne at tulgey.browser.net OR jahb at lehigh.edu
"I used to be one of them. Now I rather think I'm one of me." -- Terry
Prachett, _Thief of Time_