[Sca-cooks] small numbers ... large areas (long)

[Stefan li Rous]

Malkin answered me with:

<<< Stefan queried:  Meaning that by that time folks are too tired of
winter to eat "seasonal" foods?

HMN ... seasonal ... yes ...   I have seen snow in Otherhill every
month of the year (different years of course).  >>>

Snow? What's that? Perhaps you mean this?
  snow-msg          (10K)  5/18/06    “Snow”, a white, creamy  
confection often
                                        served with wafers.

<<< Stefan postulated:  There must not be that many groups in Artemisia
then.

We have 5 Baronies, 13 Shires and 2 Incipient Shires for a total of 20
groups.  Artemisia consists of Utah, Montana, southern Idaho and the  
parts
of Colorado and Wyoming that are west of the Continental Divide.  >>>

As a comparison and to give some background for some of my comments,  
Ansteorra shows 41 groups in the latest BlackStar with 12 of these  
being baronies. Ansteorra covers all of Oklahoma and all of Texas,  
except the El Paso area.


<<< Stefan tallied:  It would be impossible for the Crown to visit every
group
within a single reign, probably not even with the Queen and King
going to
separate events or having the Crown Prince attend a third event each
weekend.

Our numbers combined with the fact that our royalty completely, totally,
absolutely without a doubt ... ROCK ... means we are truly and
absolutely
blessed.  Often our Royalty split just as you describe, which makes
fun for
retainers (and you can guess how I know that), >>>

How about writing an article on how to be a good retainer for the  
Florilegium?

<<< but also makes for a really cohesive kingdom.>>>


<<< And Stefan further tallied:  Shires only get one calendar event and
Baronies only get two.

Starting this year ... everybody gets one SHOWCASE event that the group
really wants to shine out for.  It is this ONE that the royalty tries to
attend.  No two Showcases can schedule on the same day and we have a
calendar meeting to decide who gets which weekend for their showcase.>>>

Two groups can't have two calendar events on the same weekend if they  
are in the same region. Although I'm not sure if that is a  
requirement or just a goal. Baronies do get one reserved date each year.


Stefan asked:  With a head count that low (20-30) it would seem to be
difficult to comp many extra meals.

<<< and the leftovers can come to my house and be consumed by my
children (AWE MOM  Lentils and Barley AGAIN?), with a clear  
conscience.>>>

I think I'd agree with your kids. at least for that dish. :-)


Stefan then asked:  Do a number of people attend your events and not eat
feast?

<<< The 20-30 count is folks attending and feasting.  For the last
several years
we hold the mid-winter feast (whatever it was called) at Sir Sig's
house.
It kept costs down if we didn't have to rent a hall and Sir Sig's
house has
a manor-sized living room.  It is generally the equivalent of a holiday
party and BYOB social gathering.  Likely not the optimum, but it  
works. >>>

We've probably got at least 20% who don't eat the feast. And since  
some events have limited numbers of feast reservations, say 150 out  
of 250 attendees, in some cases it is higher.



<<< That being
said, I am
having some research trouble with PERIOD Ukrainian foods, >>>

Perhaps these Florilegium files might be of use:
fd-Russia-msg     (59K)  7/ 2/05    Russian food. Russian cookbooks.
Rus-Handbook-art  (97K)  9/ 2/99    Rus' Handbook from the Eoforwic  
Novogrod
                                        event AS 24. Edited by  
Nicolaa de Bracton
Russia-bib         (8K)  7/20/94    Bibliography on Russian history.
Russia-msg        (72K)  1/10/03    Russian and Kievian Culture and  
language.
Rus-women-art     (14K) 12/12/95    Lecture notes on 16c. Russian women.
CaRussia-art      (11K)  7/20/94    11th century Constantinople and  
Russia.
    (Maybe too far to the east, though)
Russ-law-art      (12K)  7/25/94    Law code of the Kievian Rus'.
St-Nicholas-art   (11K)  7/18/94    Article on the St. Nicholas  
traditions.

<<< I did ask Their Majesties if they had a preference
   and the response was “Meat
   meat is good”, so meat will figure heavily in the production.
Perhaps this will be, instead, a MEAT feast.    HMN >>>

Well, there is a whole section in the Florilegium on meat dishes. But  
I'm not sure your Royalty had this in mind. :-)
blood-dishes-msg  (27K) 10/20/04    Use of blood in period foods.  
Recipes.
eels-msg          (26K) 10/11/04    Eel dishes. Getting and cleaning  
eels.
exotic-meats-msg  (96K)  6/11/06    Period and SCA exotic meats.  
Swans, ostrich,
                                        crawfish, dormice, cat.
frogs-msg         (20K)  4/29/06    Medieval and period frog recipes.  
References
snails-msg        (13K)  8/30/00    Eating of snails in period. Recipes.
whale-meat-msg     (7K)  6/26/05    Use of whale and porpoise meat in  
period.
                                        Recipes. Substitutions.

And since we were talking about these in another thread...
meatballs-msg     (13K) 10/17/04    Period dishes with meatballs.

<<<    I HAVE done a
vegetarian feast (one February 14th long ago). >>>

How well did this feast go over? Was there any significance to the  
fact that it was on Valentines Day?

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****