[Sca-cooks] Re: Commitments, Contracts, Costs and Committees, was: Re: Feast stewart at the crossroads

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> In the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, where Selene and I live, if
> you could -find- a 2.75 acre parcel (unlikely), with such a house and
> barn, you could expect to pay over $2,000,000!

I can believe it. Keep in mind, that I'm aware of civilization, I just don't
like to live there. Rob and Margali live basicly in the middle of nowhere,
for this area, and prices are still (in my mind) awfully high.

Site fee and feast fee for the feast I
> >cooked in February was roughly $26,
> >
> Site fee + feast for our 12th Night was $20, so I guess we're doing all
> right.

This was a special thing- considering the weather, and that it was an
overnight event (drinking- get cross-eyed, but don't drive- it's a tavern,
after all ;-), we got a site that could sleep quite a few people, although,
as it was, I gave my bed to Andrea when she decided to stay, and slept on
the floor of the pantry- but, I had come prepared with an egg crate pad.
Sure surprised the couple who had taken over the kitchen floor, though, when
I wandered out next morning... >:D

But, the weekend camping event I'm going to tomorrow, site fee is $21, and
Feast is $15.

> The hall for next 12th Night is costing the Barony of the Angels
> $2,200, and the dining hall apparently only seats around 150-180.

Not sure what the site fee was, but my budget was $800 for both dayboard and
feast. We came close to it, but, thanks to Andrea, we didn't go over. I
think at the time, I said that from what I had learned about local food
sources, I could have saved maybe $20-$30, and I think since then, with a
couple of things I've discovered, I could save another $50. But, hey, live
and learn ;-)

> It's weird:  I had such trouble last year with our Baron wanting veto
> power on the feast menu (the man wouldn't know a period recipe if it bit
> him in the....), and I thought this one was going to be a piece of cake,
> because 2001's 12th Night in the same Barony went so easily.  They gave
> us a number we could run with and turned us loose!
>
> [sigh]

Yeah, Northpass people are basicly good people, but they wanted to have
their input into the feast, in areas, quite frankly, where they didn't
belong. I could live with their request for honey butter- they were OK, when
I explained that I didn't feel it was appropriate, there having been no
documentation for it as a condiment at all in period, let alone in the
German cookbooks I was working with, and I did back down on the suckling
pig, in part because of their reluctance, but they didn't need to be getting
into my staffing problem, since that was strictly an internal kitchen
matter. But, they're good folks, and just starting to get to know me ;-)

> There's going to be a change in Baron and Baroness in Angels in
> September, and that couple becomes Reeve and Reevess on Sunday (sort of
> Baron/ess in Training), and they thought the autocrat had cleared
> everything with Selene, so didn't comment when the changes were announced.

Well, misunderstandings do occur, and that's the sort of thing you need to
negotiate on a situation by situation basis. But, changing your agreement
without discussion and expecting the Cook to go along with the program is
just plain unacceptable.

> (Oh well, at least it's not like when I went to the butcher to pick up
> the Cornish hens for my first feast as feastmaster, planning to stuff
> them, and found 'em frozen and split, because the butcher thought that's
> how they were supposed to be served.  We thawed 'em out, pinned 'em
> together with toothpicks, and stuffed 'em anyway!)
>
> Jared

Yeah. The first time I cooked with Adamantius, he'd ordered the roasts
prepared a certain way, so that they'd marinate right, and set me to firing
up the grill, which I timed so that the coals would be ready when the meat
came out of the marinade. Unfortunately, the butcher hadn't trimmed the
roasts properly, so while they were supposed to be marinating, Adamantius
was franticly cutting them properly while the coals burned merrily away.
Whoever had gotten the charcoal had gotten (accidently, I think) the bare
minimum to cook the meat if the timing was just right, so he had to stuff
them in the convection oven to finish them. That, btw, was the event when he
got his Burdened Tiger, an award for coming through when everything goes
wrong- well deserved, considering the roasts were the least of the problems
he had to deal with that day ;-)

I dunno- sometimes, I wonder if it's all worth it, then pull something off
despite all expectations, and figure, maybe it is....

But, Jared, you guys decide what you want to do. The pressure you get from
them ain't gonna be nothing compared to the chewing you'll get from me, if
you let yourselves be abused. Just wish I was closer, so I could stop in and
help, if you decide to go ahead.

Phlip

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....