[Sca-cooks] Procrastinators 2011: Feast Obstacles and Profuse Thanks

[Gaylin Walli]

Hmm. I thought I had, but perhaps I did not in the rush because I was asked
at the very last minute to do this feast (keep in mind that the very last
minute means "roughly at Pennsic" for me). I posted the tentative menu
elsewhere at least and the final menu only varied a little:

http://iasmindecordoba.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/tentative-menu-for-the-october-1st-procrastinators-ball-feast/

The changes in the above linked menu were small:

   - I did not serve *Rumman* (pomegranate) and *Bittikh* (melon) for the
   first course. The vendor who said they might have pomegranate had none and
   the melons at the market all showed how much they had suffered in the bad
   Michigan growing season. The Inab (grapes) however were utterly outstanding
   and I bought FAR more than I had a right to. My second in command an I both
   took the excess home and are still coveting them they were so good.
   - The *Tafshil *(beans and rice porridge) in the second course did not
   have lentils because my local source for them was out. I added some leftover
   barley I had from another feast and radish seeds for color so that it wasn't
   this big lump of brown. I also cooked it more like a rice salad than a
   porridge (my personal bias on texture).
   - *Tal* (dates poached in a mustard sauce) didn't happen because of time
   constraints. We sent out dried figs instead of the dates and precious few of
   those came back from the tables. I had hoped to send fresh figs to head
   table from my very own fig tree, but the weather was fickle and they all
   ripened too soon. Happily, they were very yummy when I ate them myself two
   weeks prior (roasted with pancetta, blue cheese, and aged balsamic in case
   you were wondering).
   - The *Janb mubazzar *(spiced ribs) were not served on rice as originally
   intended. When I found out about all the power issues the site had, I made a
   last minute decision to use couscous. Thank heavens for that choices. Hot
   water at least was available. Cooking time not so much.

On the whole, I was largely successful in sourcing almost everything from
local farmers. The nuts and nut oils, of course, and the spices (not the
herbs) were from non-local sources. Most of the grains were grown locally.
I'm pleased with how local everything was to be honest.

I hope to spend some time this weekend writing up some of the recipes so I
can start posting them online for those people who've requested them. I have
to say that for all that did go wrong and could have gone wrong, I still had
a great deal of fun with this feast. Ultimately I'm just happy everyone
enjoyed the food. Questions? Please feel free to let me know.

Cheers,

Iasmin

Urtatim wrote:

>
> What a story! Now, i don't recall if you posted the menu. I'd love to know
> what you served.
>