[Sca-cooks] My Roman Banquet

[kingstaste at mindspring.com]

	I have been teaching for a secular homeschool group this year.  Every week,
they have classes at a neighborhood facility for the members of the group
plus other interested parents.  The classes are typically group-based:
Debate Club, Mock Trial, Acting, Swim Team, etc., things they can't do at
home one-on-one with their parents.  I started out the year with "Exploring
the Middle Ages", moved into "Exploring the Renaissance" for the Winter, and
finished up with "Exploring Roman Britain" for the Spring.  I did a food
class in each session, and put on a typical (for us) spread each time.  This
time I went all-out and we had a great time.
	I arranged the table area as I described previously, with two tables on the
floor making a big square, then had everyone bring pads to create the
three-sided dining/lounging area around them.  A tub full of my assorted
decorative cloths covered everything up and made it look pretty good,
cinderblock, vending machines, and foosball tables notwithstanding.  I never
did get that fountain - I tried.  :(
	I actually did it twice, once starting at 9:30AM, and again at 11AM for two
different classes (we had hoped to be able to combine them, but couldn't get
the schedules together).   I had out dice games, a mancala board, and two
Roman Arch sets (I borrowed them from the Mad Science Super Structures
class - 3-d blocks and a base - you assemble the pieces to create an arch
strong enough to stand on).   I think the younger kids really liked the idea
of playing games during dinner.  I'll paste the menu in at the end, but I
served an appetizer course, a vegetable course, a meat course and a sweets
course.  Each seating lasted a little over an hour.   Parents and students
worked with recipes I sent home as well as some from that article on
Pompeii, and brought Moretum and Ricotta Salatta cheese, as well as
home-made Granita Lemone that was a big hit.  We told everyone he had just
ridden into the mountains and returned with fresh snow.  I announced each
course as I served it, and talked about the ingredients, passed around a
mortar and pestle at one point so they could grind some coriander, and asked
questions about what they had learned afterwards to cement some of it in
their brains.
	Several of the Moms jumped in and helped me serve, and we were soon dubbed
the 'Slave Girls'.  The kids thought being served like that was great.  We
had talked a bit about slaves in Rome and so they got a taste of what that
was like, which was an interesting bit of living history I hadn't
anticipated.
	My coolest guest was the father of one of my students, a medieval history
professor and author of numerous books, R. Barton Palmer.  When I first
found out one of my students had a tenured history professor for a father, I
got a bit nervous.  "No pressure here!".  But, it seems he has been really
impressed with my work.  I send home copius handouts each week that they put
into the notebook I start for them, and he really appreciates that I've
managed to get his son excited about the period (something he has never been
able to do, I gather).  He and his wife came today and joined us for the
second seating.  He raved about all the food, and even brought out Cato and
read about planting grape vines first in Latin and then in English, talking
about how they directed the vines to be planted in three rows just like
Roman Soldiers.  I loved it, I'm not sure anyone else was as impressed as I
was.  He loved the liquamen, and even tried it on the melon at the end.  He
said it wasn't too bad.
	A rousing success, I blew the socks off of everyone there.  They just don't
know what they're dealing with when it comes to an SCA-style spread, heh,
heh, heh.  My fellow 'Slave Girls' were fabulous, washed all my dishes for
me and helped me set up and break down the hall.  They even figured out all
the replenishing duties and had it all covered when I came back into the
kitchen each time.  I'd love to have these folks as a team each time I
cooked!
	The only problems were working with my Vehling Apicius (all I have here),
and my nut turn-overs couldn't because they stuck badly to the pans (they
were good anyway).  On the up side, I have all the food I need ready for
lunch at Kingdom A&S this weekend.  Yummy, leftover Roman!
	Christianna
	Having a much better week this week than last...

P.S. I taught my first solo class at Viking yesterday morning, ironically,
the topic was "Foods 	of Italy" ;)
	Tamales in two weeks....