[Sca-cooks] What would you do?

[Sue Clemenger]

Assuming I'm the cook? I would have quit.  Don't know if this was taken 
from an actual example, in which case some of the money issues could be 
attributed to IKA, but anyone around here who treated a cook like that 
would be lucky if they were just drawn and quartered.  What on earth 
would be the point of having pre-paid feast reservations if one were 
holding on to the money until the last minute?
But to play along, and assume I'm stuck making the feast, I can see 
doing the following:
-Borrowing some of the money from fellow shire/baronial members who have 
more fundage than I.  This would allow me to do some of the prep 
cooking--perhaps making the meat dishes in advance and freezing them, 
buying flour and yeast for the bread, etc.  I'd be trying to get as much 
done *before* the day-before disbursal of funds as possible in any case, 
but it might be especially important if this were for a lot of people, 
rather than a small event.  Fresh ingredients (salads, vegetables, 
fruits, etc.) should be purchased at a local market or farmers' market 
the day before if possible anyway.  If the dessert is simple enough, it 
wouldn't be hard to make the day of the event.
-Possibly talking to local suppliers and getting supplies in advance, or 
donated because of our non-profit status (my group doesn't do this, but 
I know of groups that do)
-Seeing what I could make in advance from group stores (our group keeps 
a pretty good supply of basic supplies), probably supplemented with what 
I (as cook) and friends have at home.
-Arrange to have it catered (with a post-dated check, possibly? dunno 
about catering reality, personally)

If I were planning a menu of simple foods like this, what with summer 
coming on, I think I'd do Andalusian, or maybe Roman.....
(no, no, noooooo, I am *NOT* getting the jones to do another feast, no 
I'm NOT! aaackkk!)
--maire



Patricia Collum wrote:
> Recently a simple feast was planned for an event. The feast was to include
> bread butters and fruits, salad and two veggie dishes, one casserole type
> meat dish, another meat dish and a very simple dessert. The menu was printed
> and pre-paid feast reservations were made. For some reason the cook was not
> given any money to shop with until the the day before the feast (and did not
> have the money to pay for the food themselves and wait for reimbursement.)
> My question is, what would you do if you found yourself in this
> circumstance? (It's like one of those impossible situations from combat
> pilot training.)