[Sca-cooks] Feast stewart at the crossroads

Fri May 23 04:03:04 PDT 2003

--
I say you're absolutely right. My first feastocrat experience, back in the
misty past, was hell -- because of the autocrat.

She insisted on buying the food, which was actually a good decision,
because she had great wholesale and organic food contacts. (I lived in
Oregon, then.) I made the menu and the shopping list, submitting a second
when the first did not meet her standards.

Less than 24 hours before pre-prep was to begin, she demanded a menu
change. Foolishly, thinking it was my duty, I changed it.

It went downhill from there. It was a small feast, for 100, just a hot,
filling, period meal rather than a feast, really. But I had a grand total
of two hours help in the pre-prep -- and she brought me food that wasn't on
the menu and demanded I fix it, too. As I'd never seen fennel before, I
asked her how to fix it -- she said "like celery", I said, "it's finger
food?" she said yes. I threw away the edible heads, and spent HOURS fixing
the stems "like celery".

I had specifically asked for the stew meat to be chopped, to save time and
labor. She saved two cents if it was whole. I had to chop, by hand, 40
pounds of stew meat, by myself -- I would have gladly given her the money.
I asked for a jar of minced garlic. She gave me a mud brick, in which
stingy, thin bulbs of garlic were encased.

It was a successful event, and on the day, I couldn't have asked more from
my kitchen help. The autocrat's opinion was that my contribution was "no
big deal".

What is happening to Mistress Selene sounds VERY familiar.

On a funny note, since all the produce was organic, and we were having the
event at an organic "commune" (Oregon, remember?), I had saved all the
veggie trash in clean garbage bags to contribute to their compost pile.  On
the day of the event, a "salad" was demanded. I agreed -- the salad was
made of beautiful chard leaves and red cabbage left overs from the stew
pot, carrot "peelings", celery tops, and the chopped fennel hearts, with a
dressing of the lemon and olive oil marinade we were using for the fish.
(Fresh, not the stuff the fish marinated in!)  The kitchen staff was
cackling in glee at our "garbage salad", but we went through two super
bowls of the stuff. Go figure!

Esther
At 08:04 PM 5/22/2003 -0400, you wrote:

>Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...
>
> > No one will remember a feast steward who said 'no thanks' to a halved
> > budget. But, they will remember a fabulous feast, espcially when they
>learn
> > the hardship that was presented to the cooks, if they ever do learn of it.
>
>and
>
> > One final thing:  You comment about "still building your reputation" kind
>of > sets the hair on the back of my neck on end.  You don't build a good
> > reputation by cherry-picking your projects.  You build it by living up to
>your > commitments, working well (or at least working things out) with the
>people > around you and than producing a quality result under whatever
> > circumstances you are handed.
>
>Well, I'm thinking that this is a matter that we need to discuss, one and
>all.
>
>I agree, we don't need to be cherry picking- a low budget feast deserves our
>very best efforts, just as a high budget feast does.
>
>BUT...
>
>I think we also have a responsibility to ourselves and our feasters on the
>matter of commitment.
>
>If I commit to providing a feast for X number of people, for Y dollars, on Z
>theme, and the rules get changed- suddenly I'm expected to provide a feast
>for X times 2 people, for Y divided by 2 dollars, on a completely different
>theme, then my original commitment has been voided. Period.
>
>Now, I may choose to go ahead, or I may choose not to- that's something
>entirely different, but if you change the rules, I'm not required to play
>your new game- and we all know I'm a hard head- I don't care- I can only do
>what I think is right, and I WILL do that, despite any one else's opinion.
>
>I mean, think, guys. If you hire on at $10/hour, to work 40 hours per week,
>guaranteed, and at the end of the first week, the boss says, "Well, we only
>worked you 20 hours this week, and I'm going to only pay you $5 per hour",
>so your paycheck goes from $400 to $100, what are you going to tell that
>boss about working the next week?
>
>Yes, we're volunteers, but that doesn't mean that our time and efforts, or
>our commitments, are any less valuable than they would be in the mundane
>work force.
>
>I feel we have a responsibility to ourselves to value ourselves and our
>time. Volunteering to be a school crossing guard does not mean you
>volunteered to be the target at a turkey shoot.
>
>What say you all?
>
>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....
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Christine Seelye-King" <kingstaste at mindspring.com>
>To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 2:45 PM
>Subject: [Sca-cooks] Feast stewart at the crossroads
>
>
> > One of our mottos 'it's just that simple', and it carries over into my
> > associate's belting ceremony.
> > "...Service and Leadership are nebulous concepts,  and are not easily
> > taught.
> > In the pursuit of those ideals, however, I do wish to teach you the Duty
>of
> > Fealty and commitment, The Art of Chivalric ideas and aesthetics, and the
> > Principals of Hospitality;  To Welcome, Feed, Shelter, and entertain; all
> > while enjoying yourself and making it all look so easy."  Take it in
>stride,
> > don't let on that it's a strain to your diners (the autocrat is another
> > matter ;) and don't moan about how much better it was *going* to have
>been.
> > Olwen had a good point when she pointed out that presentation and
>spectacle
> > are as much of the "Feast Fit For A King" idea as the food itself.  You
> > still want to do delicious, beautiful food, coordinated with spectacle and
> > entertainment.  Concentrate on quality, and cut back on the quantity of
> > dishes - not the quantity of food served, you don't want them to go
>hungry,
> > but don't worry about having so many choices.  Make sure there is good,
> > filling food, even a pottage can be beautifully served.  Then be creative
> > and put your talents to work on a few outrageous things.  With the lead
>time
> > you have, there are several options from nature.  Come up with ideas that
> > your helpers can assist with, gathering peacock feathers for example.  (We
> > garnished a course 'From the Fields' with decorative grains that we
> > scavanged from the entrance plantings at the head cook's subdivision!)
> > Take a few days to put it aside and let the old ideas go.  Then new ideas
> > will start popping into your head and it will be just as grand, if not
> > grander, than your original plans, I guarantee it.
> > Don't forget you have this wonderful list to get ideas, sources, help and
> > support from.
> > Christianna
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> > http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks
> >
> >
>
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>
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