[Sca-cooks] Grand Tournament of the Unicorn Feast Review - Long Post

[Avelyn Grene]

I've been mulling this over for a couple of days now, trying to decide 
exactly how I feel things went.

In general, this feast has given me a huge headache for months now, not 
because of the research or planning, but because of constrictions by the 
group.  After all this though, I think it turned out really well.
 
Background for those who are not aware, I had no kitchen on site to cook 
in, only a hallway (that led to site bathrooms) to serve out of.  Some 
food was made and put in the freezer ahead of time (sausage and bread), 
most of it was prepped/made in a professional catering kitchen less than 
a mile from site, and the rest of it (mostly little stuff) was 
made/prepped in a small cabin with a kitchen which is walking distance 
from site.

Menu:
The food itself was really well received.  I was complimented on the 
balance of all the food within it and within the course. 

First Course:
Cold items were put on the tables before guests came to sit, and the two 
hot dishes were served when Their Majesties were settled in.  I had a 
bit a trouble getting the cold dishes on the table though, which was the 
result of two simultaneous problems: one of my kitchen staff, and my 
hall steward (more on this later).  The sausage was very well received, 
as well as the pasta.  People were not really sure what to do with the 
salat of apples and onions.  The flavors blend beautifully, but I think 
it worried a lot of people.
 
Entrement:
The entrement went over really well, which was good.  Their Majesties 
seemed to have a good time throwing grapes at paper boats.  They also 
took it upon themselves to "shoot" the server, who was a great sport and 
fell over and played dead.
 
Second Course:
Cold dishes were plated before feast began, so that helped alot.  We had 
no trouble getting the hot food plated and sent out.  The shrimp and 
rice went over very well, so that was exciting.  Head table received 
their rice in individual blind-baked crusts, since it is a bit messy. 

Third Course:  The marzipan torte was well received, which is good 
because making them was tedious - the marzipan was pressed into a dragon 
mold I made, we colored the rosewater that was sprinkled on top green, 
and it was garnished with a raspberry syrup to make a pale - 
yay heraldic food.  They were individually plated, which meant 
serving trays were needed.  This caused some confusion, as the servers 
apparently did not receive proper instructions on pairing up to deliver 
the food.  It worked out in the end though.  Also, the comfits were well 
received... I had people sneaking in after feast to grab some.
 
Entertainment:
Originally the entertainment line up was  the entrement after the first 
course, and our local comedia troupe, I Scandali, to perform during the 
third course, which was, I thought, a nice balance, and not overdoing 
it.  However, the autocrat decided to add a bardic performance the day 
before the event, and she did not come to ask when to perform until 
feast was starting, she performed during the second course.  Also, Her 
Majesty had requested a local night to sing a song for her, which he 
told me after feast started, and he performed before the entrement.  I 
think it all worked out okay, though it did make things (like serving) 
take longer than it probably should have.

Clean up:
This was atrocious.  Generally people volunteer to help clean up after 
events.  Not at this one.  We had tubs set up to wash some things as we 
went (like utensils, as we were short), which worked out reasonably 
well.  We put a tub out in the hall after feast for people to wash feast 
gear.  Our water supply was cut off half way through feast, which meant 
running to the cabin for more water, ugh.  The lack of help amazed me.  
Ultimately we ended up packing stuff up dirty to take home to clean.  If 
TE Helewyse and Thumper had not helped, we would have been there all 
night.  I also didn't receive any help from the other event staff to 
carry and load equipment into vehicles.
 

What worked (planning/food):
The Brain (tm).  Couldn't have done it without it. I had two copies of 
all recipes, menus, etc (one for me at the catering place, and one at 
the cabin).  I had previously laid out what was being done and where.  I 
figured out where tables were going to go during plating before the 
event.  Pre-marking which plates were being used for what dishes, and 
having them counted out.  Having garnishes ready to put with food.  
Separating food items by course where they were being stored.
-Having a designated area on the staging table for the food for head table.

What can be changed/added (planning/food):
-Minor kitchen help issues, at least with one person, who happened to be 
in charge of the cabin since Doc was doing the royalty lunch.  
Ultimately she did a good job, but she seemed to drop the ball a bit in 
a few places. 
-Having the posted menu include the dishes as well as what garnish/plate 
goes with which dish - in large font.  The one we had was a bit small.
-I want to get those plastic breakdown-able shelves, mark them by 
course, and sort/store everything for that course on the shelves.  Even 
when things were separated out on the tables, things were getting mixed 
up due to people setting stuff down, or pick things up they didn't need to.

Outside factors that affected feast:
 -A number of things were left at the cabin, and had to be fetched.  The 
hazards of working out of multiple places, and people overlooking 
things...  while I understand these things will happen, there were 
multiple trips made back to the cabin to retrieve items.  It was 
frustrating.  Especially since my staff should have been plating instead 
of searching for things.
-Court being pushed back half an hour, and my not being informed of 
it. Had I known,  I would have brought hot food from the catering 
kitchen over later.  This way my sternos on my chafers would not be 
going out when feast started.
-It took forever for people to get settled in.  I had planned on feast 
beg ginning around 6:30-6:45.  It started at 7:45.  It ended at 9:15.
-Troll did not have a sign up sheet for feast.  This resulted in 
confusion over how many seats had been sold.  After counting, they were 
a few under, and decided not to sell it out or create a waiting list.  
Ultimately they did not sell 7 seats (I planned for 80 seats).
-Four servers did not show up.  So, when servers needed organized to put 
the first course on the tables, my hall steward was frantically looking 
for more servers.
-Our feast hall is underneith a campus dining hall, and they graciously 
supply our water for the event for fighters and for feast.   The dining 
hall employees leave and lock up at 8pm, which means we can't get water 
after 8.  Since feast started at 7:45 this was a bit of an issue. We 
filled the containers (2 5gal jugs) before they closed, but ended up 
having to ration drinks toward the end (We did not completely run out 
though!).  We were also lacking easy access to more water for dish washing.
 
Sorry for the length and possibly too many details - my brain just kept 
running.
 
Any thoughts or opinions are graciously accepted.
 
YIS,
Avelyn

-- 
Lady Avelyn Grene
Apprentice to Master Edouard Halidai
Chronicler and Historian for Barony Flaming Gryphon

The Commonplace Boke of Lady Avelyn Grene
www.greneboke.com <http://www.greneboke.com/>