[Sca-cooks] Event Report (long)

[CLdyroz at aol.com]

I've tried writing this before, several times. Each time, something goes 
ker-fluu-ee.
There is a new rule at work-do not touch my computer unless I am there. 
Hopefully, this one (at home) will behave itself...yeah, right....

Anyway-Magna Faire

Bought the food Friday, and managed to squeeze almost all of it out of the 
budget. The final menu was;
Cormarye
Rice
Roasted Carrots
Asparagus

I did get a bit of beef, due to some folks who do not eat pork for allergy 
and religious reasons.

I found whole pork loin, with the bone, for $1.29 a pound. 2 whole loins was 
40 lbs of meat, which made 12 nice-sized roasts.

Everything came out fairly well. I had a delightful kitchen assistant-12 
year-old Darcy, daughter of our B&B. She is still at the 'eager-to-learn-and-help' 
stage and hopefully will stay that way for a while, yet. She spent the day in 
the kitchen, and was a very welcome pair of hands. There was a very helpful 
protege that came and stayed for a while, till it came time to set up the 
Hall-Simon the Wanderer. Excellent carrot preparer, lifter and toter. I do need to 
find out who he is belted to....

I will make a few comments on some things, though;

Wine stinks. (I bought a 3 liter bottle of Rossi Burgundy to marinate the 
Pork. I do not cook with wine. between the smell and the stains on my good 
kitchen apron-ick!)

Garlic-I used 2 heads. One never has enough....:) 

Cooking rice in the oven-It works nicely, as long as the oven cooperates. It 
took 2 hours, not one. 

Next time, I will pull the roasts earlier. They were just at the point of 
almost overdone. Also, when dividing the roast between the two pans, put all of 
the biggest ones on one pan, not the big ones in the back, and the little ones 
to the front. :P
(they were pulled, wrapped in foil and put in a foil-lined cooler. They were 
still steaming hot when they were pulled for plating)

A Kitchen, in the plating stage, is a study in semi-controled chaos. Just as 
you send out one course, you have a space of two breaths, and then the madness 
starts again. Flying platters, greenery and serving ware-Fun!

Having someone in charge of each course does work. It was like a ballet all 
day-we met, talked cooking times, appliances needed and worked well together. 
Each was given a good amount of space to do our work, and we all had the right 
amount of help-and we helped each other. It went very well, having 4 cooks in 
one kitchen. No fights, no throwing cleavers....

The Feast was very well accepted by the Crown and Populace. We were called 
forth by the Crown, and the next thing we knew, we got a standing ovation!!! 
How cool is that?

Teenagers make good servers, but you have to almost sit on them to make them 
be quiet. Chatterboxes, especially if there are boys around....

Now, here is how I managed to get the 'Meat-on-a-stick" that was wanted....

I took skewers, and on the blunt end, I put red seedless grapes. each roast 
had at least 5, in a line. On one side, was the rice. On the other, was the 
carrots. To the rear, was the asparagus, lying in reserve.
Under the line of grapes, was placed a line of 5 miniature shields, with the 
populace badges on them. For the Head table, there was His Majesty's Shield.
In other words, the point was to 'create' a Shield Wall.... The red grapes 
were to represent the thrusting tips of spears, the carrots were cut long ways, 
to create carrot spears and the asparagus spears were in reserve and the rice 
came with their own points....

So, that is how it went...I survived, and was home by 11. With the wear and 
tear, I think that I do not want to have the full responsibility of a Feast. I 
will Co, but it will be a long cold day somewhere before I will do a full 
one....

though, I do have the research started.... Is there a recovery program for 
this?

Helen
The back and feet have stopped throbbing and I am almost caught up on my 
sleep....