[Sca-cooks] Honey-Roasted Beets

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Sep 4, 2006, at 12:35 PM, Tom Vincent wrote:

> There were no presumptions to begin with, so no assumptions should be
> made.
>
> I simply found what I thought to be a nice beet recipe suitable for a
> feast and, like other posts I've made, it was met with accusations,
> insults, undermining, usurpation, self-promotion and, of course, no
> thanks.  I didn't make any claims about it, just presented it to be
> helpful and sharing.

I'm sorry. Didn't you say:

"Usually aren't too many beet recipes that could be served at a feast" ?

...before posting the other recipe?

And did I not say that the recipe you posted was a good one, and  
indicate that the only issue I had with it was that there are, in  
fact, plenty of period beet recipes that aren't inherently more  
difficult to do for feasts or inherently less popular at them than  
the modern one?

I am not proceeding from a confrontatory position here; I'm taking my  
time to let you in on some info you may be unaware of, but have, in  
the past, expressed interest in. So was Johnna.

> May I suggest that if you don't care for it, simply
> do what I did with the recent dozens and dozens of frivolous  
> marshmallow
> posts and delete them. Speaking only for myself, if I wanted to  
> present
> a Med/Renn recipe and my redaction for it, that's exactly what I would
> have done.
>
> I'm not interested in arguing with you or anyone else. I just disagree
> with your claims and conclusions.

Well, like what? Help me out, here. Everything I've ever said?  
Something in particular that I've said that you ain't buying? Can you  
give me a hint? Disagreeing often involves some effort to make a  
case, but it doesn't have to be unfriendly or unpleasant. It's also  
perfectly possible to note that Position A and Position B exist on a  
given issue without having it become a referendum or an argument.

>   Please don't, as others have done,
> take one word or phrase out of context and bitch about it or blow  
> it out
> of proportion.

I don't believe I'm doing that. I would think it was fairly obvious  
that over the last few months I've put a fair amount of effort into  
understanding your position(s), and am not on any kind of pogrom. If  
I have disagreed with you, I don't think I've been been unfair,  
closed-minded or rude.

On the other hand, it does seem like you've frequently posted  
statements or questions inviting comment, and immediately responded  
to those comments with the equivalent of, "Well, that's where you're  
wrong, me bucko..." Like it's some sort of test and we all flubbed  
the trick question.

As for the marshmallow posts, it should be noted that marshmallow  
lozenges, as in candies made from the mucilaginous juice of the marsh  
mallow, do appear in late period and early post-period, and they do  
have some historical significance. As for all the s'more crap, well,  
we're SCA Cooks, not Period Cooks. This doesn't mean we're interested  
in period food only, by any means (obviously), but we do tend to try  
to draw the line between the period and non-period stuff we discuss.  
We're interested in all kinds of junk. Twinkies. S'mores. Mario  
Nebbits. Leche lombard in its 14th versus 15th century incarnations.  
The trick is to be sure we're not suggesting Mario Nebbits lived in  
the 15th century, or that s'mores are a period dish.

If you had simply said, "I haven't yet found any period beet recipes  
I like, but I did find this modern peri-oid recipe that looks good.  
Here it is, I hope you like it, and I'm wondering if anyone has a  
reasonably close period equivalent..." Or whatever, something along  
those lines, I'm sure nobody would have batted an eye, and many  
people would simply have said to themselves, "Oh, cool, that looks  
like a nice recipe."

In fact (and here's where I get myself in trouble), I can't easily  
explain, but why am I left with the suspicion that there are lots of  
people here on this list who are _more_ interested in your modern  
beet recipe than you are in seeing, for example, Platina's warm  
roasted root vegetable salad recipe -- which is pretty much the polar  
opposite of what you appear to be a little miffed at? Perhaps I'm  
misreading the signs and doing you an injustice, in which case I  
apologize.

I think there's an underlying philosophical difference at work here  
-- it's unclear to me just what it is, but what I'm certain of is  
that it isn't just a bunch of list old-timers enjoying Being Mean To  
Duriel Week.

Adamantius, distressed at what is going on here, unsure of the solution