[Sca-cooks] My "Roman Meal" display at A and S
Kathleen A Roberts
karobert at unm.edu
Mon Nov 23 08:56:28 PST 2009
Well, I had a pretty good day Saturday. It was Baronial
Arts and Sciences Champion competition. There were
categories for 'champion' 'individual area' and 'display'.
I had intended to go for champion, but the computer
wouldn't release two of my documentations, so i just went
for domestic sciences, then entry I had already printed.
So, it was "A Roman Meal", and it included:
Canteloupe with a dressing of pennyroyal, wine, vinegar,
oil, honey and fish sauce
Pork with figs, bay leaves and honey
Lentils with cardamon
Flatbread.
Fresh cheese with honey and pomegranite seeds
Dates stuffed with ground pine nuts, honey and pepper
Dried apricots stuffed with honey, ground almonds and
pepper.
I also put out a plate of oil cured olives and marinated
calamata olives to play against the sweetness of the
canteloupe and lentils. Those were purchased from Whole
Foods, and had the saving grace of not looking like they
came out of a can.
It went over very well, with boo-koo compliments. The
food was deemed very approachable and very tasty. The
display was complimented on as well.
I must admit, I was using the competition as a testing
ground for the food, as my husband and I were thinking
about submitting a bid for our Midwinter 2010. If people
liked the food at the A and S display, then perhaps it
would not be considered too odd. We had submitted the
proposal to the previous B and B, and thought we might try
it again with the current B and B. They were impressed
with the food, and we will be submitting that bid again.
The pork was delicious and well worth the trouble. I did
the adaptation of fish sauce from Sally Grainger's
"Cooking Apicius". The combination of reduced white
grape juice and fish sauce was interesting but not my cup
of tea. I used it very lightly.
The cheese was my first attempt at cheese making and
turned out very well. Of course, I spent a fair amount of
time Friday peering into the pot of milk and buttermilk
like a little pussycat, waiting and wondering what I was
supposed to see happen when the 'curds and whey seperate',
but fortunately, it was quite recognizable. The addition
of the scattered pomegranite seeds really made the cheese
pop.
So all in all, a good day. Now on to tweeking that old
proposal.
Cailte
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which
sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
W. B. Yeats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathleen Roberts
Coordinator, Student Admissions
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
505-277-8900
FASTINFOrmation at your fingertips -
http://fastinfo.unm.edu/
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