[Sca-cooks] maintenance questions -- feast gear

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/29/2003 10:50:48 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net writes:

<<- what kind of marker works best on aluminum/steel trays and bowls>>

Dremel.  Any ink we've ever tried washes off, especially if you use 
industrial dishwashers.  All of Silver Rylle's metal stuff has "SR" dremeled on it 
somewhere.  Meredith did it for us - I'm sure she'd be willing to help you.

<<- do you have a favorite grease-cutting dish soap (I now know the one we
used at our last event didn't work, ick)?>>

Dawn.  The problem may have been that they didn't change the wash water 
frequently enough...no detergent can stand up to hundreds of greasy dishes.

<<- should wooden bowls with a finish on them be oiled?>>

I never oiled any of ours, so I don't know.

<<- anybody have a good cheap source for those composite wood bowls or some
other substitute for soup-sized and butter-sized wooden or cheap plastic
bowls?>>

I wouldn't go with the composite ones.  I found, dealing with our stuff over 
the years, that they tend to delaminate and get splintery bits with frequent 
washing.  Generally, a good cheap source for stuff is any of the "Dollar" store 
variants - Dollar General, Dollar Tree, etc.  Different stores will 
frequently have different stuff at any given time, so it pays to take a day and visit 
all the ones near you.

<<- anybody have a good idea what proportion of large to small bowls one
should have for feastgear?>>

In my experience, larger ones get used for starches, salads,  or stews, 
whereas smaller ones get used mostly for vegetables or sometimes sauces.  I'd check 
what proportion of each your menus have an buy accordingly.  Always better to 
have more large ones, even if the small amount of veggie looks silly in them 
- you really can't squeeze the stew into a small one.

Brangwayna