[Sca-cooks] Late report from Estrella War

[Anne duBosc]

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Wednesday I arrived on site, unloaded, set up my camp, and cooked Gumbo for my Barony, then worked Shuttle duty until 1AM, then gate from about 3 til 6 AM.
I was asked to do the Thursday night dinner.  I'd posted my proposed menu here earlier, but things didn't go according to plan.  There was a wee bit of funny wet stuff that fell, and ruined my plans to use the Community ovens, and my tent partially collapsed the night before, drenching my flour and sugar, and turning over the cooler with the sallat in it....That's when I went up to gate to volunteer for security duty.
There were no complaints about the meal I did serve, though.  As a matter of fact, I got a lot of compliments, and some requests for recipes, especially the compost.  What they got was all from a version of Forme of Curye, except for the bread and dessert.  There were very few leftovers.
On the table:
Round bread loaves, whole grain and a honey nut loaf
Compost
Lombardy Mustard

First course:
Monchelet
Loseynes with cheese

Second Course:
Sawse Madame
Pottage of Pesen

Third Course:
Cormarye
Funges
Aquapatys

Dessert Course was fresh fruit:
Apples, pears, and red and green grapes sliced, with honey drizzled over.
The guests were about an hour late showing up.  Luckily there was nothing planned that would suffer from overcooking, except the loseyns, and I'd planned it to go with the last course, so it was just about right for the first.  I simply switched the order of service, and had the Monchelet and Loseyns first instead of last.  The Sawse Madame was sitting, getting cold, but I simply heated it up again after I served the Monchelet.  None of my promised help arrived, so I wound up doing all the cooking myself.  The kitchen was about 50 yards from the Royal Dining Hall, so I delivered the dishes to the Hall, and Her Majesty's Ladies in Waiting served it from there.  After I'd delivered the final dish, they lingered over the meal for another two hours before allowing me to reclaim the dishes.  And even then, a couple of dishes stayed behind, by request.
The meal was far from as grand as I'd planned, but, considering the circumstances, I'm rather glad my plans were curtailed.
Don't blame my help for not showing...they were rescuing themselves and others from the flood that night. I'd say a good third of the campers had to be evacuated to higher ground, and wound up sleeping in Baronial Pavilions and Royal Pavilions on the high ground.  Word is that when you entered the SunDragon encampment you were told, "Hi, welcome to SunDragon, pull off your clothes."  That's Papa Gunthar's home Barony now...  I knew they were friendly folks...
My tent was not on the highest ground, but I have experience enough that it wasn't in the flooded area.  Tent collapsed, though, from the weight of the rain, and my bed was soaked, along with everything else.  I just covered it with a sheet of film plastic, and a dry blanket and sleeping bag I'd kept in a plastic tub against just such a possiblility.  I slept a tad damp, but warm.
Over the next three days I put in over 48 hours on shuttle duty, and didn't find the time to pull all the wet stuff out to dry after the sun finally came out, so I had it all to load up wet, and dry it out here...I've nearly got all the unpacking and washing and drying and airing out done, at last.  Give me a week, and I'll be ready to do it all over again.  This was the busiest I've ever been at War, and the happiest.  In spite of the fact that I was much too tired to wander from party to party at night, and fell into my damp bed exhausted.
All in all, it was a Great War!
Mordonna



Lady Anne du Bosc
Known as Mordonna The Cook
Atenveldt, Atenveldt
mundanely Pat Griffin
Phoenix, AZ


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