[Sca-cooks] Harvest Day / TOC feast...and then some

Ginny Beatty ginbeatty at gmail.com
Mon Sep 7 09:53:22 PDT 2009


So Friday, I get on site to the camp to prep for the event. The van is
heavily laden with the ingredients, equipment, etc. I pick up Alexis
(my 2nd in command for the feast) in Dayton and head north.
The van is unloaded, perishables are stored, and Alexis, Katarina,
Akira and I get to scouring the kitchen. It was grimy, so we sanitized
every surface and washed every piece of equipment we were using. Thank
Heaven for a Hobart dish tank. (point of Trivia, the Hobart and
Kitchen aid factories are not far from the site ;)).
After about 4 hours of serious sanitation engineering, we took a
dinner break and went to supper at Buffalo Jack's - a local
establishment that serves wild game. mmm
We get back from dinner and begin the Friday night tasks. I put the
task chart on giant poster sized Post-it Notes and pasted them to the
refrigerators. Volunteers come in to play (as they are wont to do) to
make salad of cold hen, roll out pie crust, shred and chop carrots.
Off to Bed about midnight.

I get up bright and early, get in my kitchen togs (linen shift, clogs,
bandanna, chef pants, Ohio State apron) because I want to get my head
together for the day's tasks. So, I make the coffee and meditate in
the kitchen to get in the Zone. My crew rolls in about 930 or so to
get started on the veggie prep. I review the task charts with the crew
(Team Anubis) so we're literally *on* the same page.

Well...I'm so very glad I had the feast plan documented down to the
task level and the each recipe on its own sheet (standard ops for me).
Because there was this Morning Court...Giles fitz Alan is placed on
laurel vigil (as Helewyse previously mentioned), we Laurels go up, and
he's whisked off to his vigil tent.  I head to the back of court with
the crew. Some are getting a bit antsy, because we have Work to Do.
Then, the Pelicans are called up to swear fealty. Alexis MacAlister
(who was my Laurel and also a Pelican), sticks around after they're
dismissed. She addresses the populace:
"Today, I want to speak of butterflies..."
Now, my coat of arms have butterflies on them, so from this moment on
I am officially Gobsmacked. My apprentice Malachai literally has my
back now, because my knees just turned to Jello. Aasa, my other
cooking partner in crime, is right next to him. Baron Durr escorts me
up to the dais where TRM Eikbrandr and  Runa place me on vigil for the
Pelican.

I am whisked away to my vigil and am banned from the Kitchen. This was
probably the *only* thing that was going to keep me out of my own
kitchen. Fortunately, I brought other clothes for the day packed
anyway (which I was going to wear after feast), and Alexis managed to
kidnap a dress that she borrowed from me for Pennsic, so I had spiff
Evening Wear too.
I passed the Ohio State apron to Malachai and the Anubis pendant to
Aasa. They were now In Charge.
I was distressed that my senior apprentice Baroness Artemisia Grimaldi
wasn't there, as she was in Meridies helping out with a feast there
(Crimson River's Black Rose), but someone reassured me that she was
told and I called her.

My mother was also notified of this occasion, so she drove up from
Cincinnati to be there for the ceremony. She helped me with my first
feast about 26 years ago and I was proud to introduce her to the
Populace at the feast.

My vigil reception was right outside the kitchen in a nice day shade
near the lake. It seemed... fitting.
I sat vigil during the day, and Mal, Francesca, and Aasa occasionally
popped in asked me questions (and tell me the score of the Ohio
State/Navy game). They and the rest of the team did me very proud. Let
me tell you, it's very surreal seeing someone else execute your
vision. But they did it perfectly.

The Worthies who spoke for me at  Court were Duke Edmund of Hertford,
Ser Nickolas Gregorovich Petrov, Mistress Iasmin de Cordoba, and Sir
Robert of Griffonholme.

 I love my friends.
Gwyneth Banfhidhleir, OL and now OP



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