[Sca-cooks] thank you presents for staff members

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Stefan li Rous wrote:

> makes me wonder what other such gifts have you made for or given to 
> the staff members who have helped you at an event? Or if you have 
> worked as a member of an event staff, what kinds of things would you 
> like to recieve, other than at least a "thank you". 

I was given a meter-long wooden spoon, painted upon the bowl with a 
stocky, brown-haired Angel [resembling myself, says my lord] and on the 
back of the bowl with the name and year of the Twelfth Night whose feast 
I captained.  What could I do upon presentation but drop into perfect 
form and start throwing rising snaps with it?  Many of the fighters in 
the hall fell over laughing at that point.  See, I understand fighters!

This spoon remains a treasured keepsake and hangs in my kitchen, never 
to be used for stirring.

However, sometimes the small tokens mean the most.  A lady gave me a 
finger-ring of carven bone when I ran the "Viking Brunch Bar" at a 
Scandinavian-themed Twelfth Night.  She was Swedish by birth and said 
that the rice pudding with lingonberries* took her straight back to her 
childhood, it was =just= the way her mother made it.  What higher praise 
is there?  I treasure this tiny item as well, which says "I did it right."  

Selene Colfox


* Not to be a spoon tease:  just a basic pud of white rice, whole milk 
and sugar, cooked for a long, long time until thick and mildly 
caramelized.  Sprinkled with a little cinnamon and a little cardamom.   
The secret ingredient, as usual, is TIME.