[Sca-cooks] A Feast I observed

[Susan]

Wow, that sounds incredible!  Any (before) pictures of the dishes?

Susan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Terri Morgan" <online2much at cox.net>
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 11:43 PM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] A Feast I observed


This is just one of those "I was so proud!" sort of messages. A friend
cooked her first "real" feast (she's cooked many times in the past but
always in a nice relaxed 'camping event' sort of setting with no need for a
High Table or 'fancy stuff' - her food always made me regret that she wasn't
interested in  doing 'regular' feasts but I SURE understood the
reluctance!).

So. Anyway. Here's this event that gets set up, on the calendar for months,
and then the church where it was to be held schedules a wedding on that day.
Change of date. Date change causes cook to back out. New cook is found.
(Whew!) Church throws a new curve just weeks before the event, a new date,
and now it is on Rosh Hashanah (did I mention that second cook AND autocrat
are observant Jews?). So. Autocrat, in a fit of duty, sacrifices her holy
day. Cook can't - has obligations. New cook needed. So my friend steps up...
for an event whose theme is "Heraldry".

Kind of a challenge, eh?

It was stunning. The soft cheeses and butters started the meal - they were
moulded in forms that reflected our Baron and Baroness' private arms (Sun in
Splendour, a rabbit). Then there was a hot green soup with daisies in it
(our colours are green, white, blue). "Emerald Velvet soup". I've never
heard of it but it sure was tasty. Chicken (white meat, you know?) followed
along with - and this is what sent us all laughing - a big dish of green
beans arranged like a lovely field with little drop spindles of carrots
scattered on there like flowers and a hard-boiled egg shaped like a bunny in
the middle (our Baroness' arms!!) We laughed. We giggled. We all
superstitiously refused to eat the little bunny. (The beans disappeared in a
trice.) There were a few other dishes - I remember a huge serving of
shredded pork (that other white meat) that was tasty and quite moist, but by
then I was totally out of room. I thought. Because then came what I thought
must be the crowning glory - the platter of green broccoli/blue dyed
cauliflower arranged like our baronial coat of arms with Savoury Toasted
cheese as the centre white area and a toasted 'trident' on it for the bread
crumbs. But then that was followed by the little flowers made of shortcake
drizzled with honey and sprinkled with saffron flowers, each with it's own
little marzipan honeybee (the baron's badge) perched atop it.

You know, that was pretty dang impressive for someone who swore she'd hate
to do a 'fancy' feast. Everything was hot, in sufficient portions, and
beautifully plated. So I thought I'd say so on this List, in case her (new,
or 'to-be') Laurel was lurking.

(The cook was Lady Magdalena La Rosa, the event was Marinus' Baronial
Birthday, just held this weekend.)


Hrothny
--
Dame Hróðny Rognvaldsdottir, OP, OL
Great Dark Horde, Barony of Marinus
Misericordia Fortitudo Suprema Est
online2much at cox.net


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