[Sca-cooks] estrella siege cooking

[Kathleen A Roberts]

what a misbegotten adventure for myself!

dear heart went to the mtn view med center (30 miles away 
from site) with pnuemonia on thursday and stayed until 
about 9 a.m. on monday.   rain for two days, 3 inches of 
caliche-like mud and closed roads and portapotties not 
serviced for similar time.  ick!  i stayed in the tent 
with the two wolfhounds and saw the big, wide world for 
walkies twice a day.  SIGH!!!!

cooking competition went well, although i (as captain) was 
a bit distracted having sent husband to ER that a.m. 
 nothing to be done...  life goes on. just wait to call 
and see what was going on.  he's doing better altho i have 
taken this week off to make sure he doesn't do himself a 
mischief home alone in a two-story with pussacats and 
wolfies to knock him off his tenuous feet.  didn't get to 
meet any body.   bummer.  no shopping either.

the outlands was defeated in their third year by mistress 
kasmira and her outstanding team from artemesia.  i am 
told it was by one point (as i couldn't attend the judging 
as the pups were going ape-s(&^ without daddy).  we 
mounted a very good, albeit not entirely italian, feast.

lets see what i remember we got:  venison we thought was 
elk, lamb we thought was pork (i knew it wasn't pork but 
had no idea what else it would be) and cornish hens, red 
onions, scallions, garlic, fava beans, dandelion greens, 
red wine, blood oranges, lemons, crimini mushies, cream, 
milk, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, green olives, 
spring salad mix, walnuts, figs, raisins, asst fresh and 
dried herbs, salt, parmesan, flour, eggs, three color 
pepppercorns, honey, raw sugar, rice.... that's all i 
remember but i am sure something is missing.

some of our offerings included a salad of spring greens 
with walnuts, figs, parmesan curls and olive/garlic 
tapenade, focaccia and home made butter, pan fried venison 
strips with four sauces (cammeline, black pepper/vinegar 
(fierce!), red wine citrus, and sour cream (lemon juice 
and cream), lamb (we thougth pork) ragout with fava beans 
and wilted dandelion greens, cornish hens with red 
wine/blood orange/bay/thyme baste and  ravioli with mushie 
topping and parmesan, and dessert of traneroast (sp), rice 
pudding w/ lemon zest and a plate of blood oranges and 
figs.  we also served a warm mint/vinegar drink and honey 
drink.

we were way out of our experience with italian, so we 
focused on medieval highlighting the citrus, red wine and 
spring greens.  we cooked our focaccia, cornish hens and 
traneroast in the period ovens.  my fave item was the rice 
pudding... the way the lemon zest just bloomed in the 
mouth at room temp.

it was fun.  i was honored to pass the laurels to my good 
friend mistress kasmira and her team.  after all, the fun 
is in the competition and not always in the winning. 
 after two straight wins, it was good to see someone else 
win.

however, only the outlands and artemesia played, something 
that dissappointed all involved.  we had hoped at least 
caid would mount a teama, aten being involved in putting 
the whole thing on and all and therefore busy. 8)

i dunno... we may take a vacation from estrella next year. 
 this one was a personal bummer what with the illness and 
all.

cailte


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which 
sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
W. B. Yeats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathleen Roberts
Coordinator of Freshman Admissions
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
505-277-2447
FASTINFOrmation at your fingertips - 
http://fastinfo.unm.edu/