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<DIV>
<DIV> Ah, the memories this brings back...
Manymany years ago I cooked a Twelfth Night feast in Bakhail, in the East
Kingdom. One week before the feast, we had 90 "reservations", half of them
paid. Over 200 people arrived at our door expecting to be fed. The
Chief Troll did check with the head cook (me) at every 10 or 15 people, and I
foolishly thought we could do it. Only 15 more? Ya, sure, we can do
it. NOT! And I did this EVERY TIME! Can anyone say "brain
dead"? </DIV>
<DIV> This after an oven fire destroyed half our Pies of
Parys the night before. We were doing roast lamb, in honor of our King
(His Grace, Sir Cariadoc of the Bow), and had a 20-lb lamb in the oven.
Let me tell you all, 20 lb of lamb doesn't go anywhere NEAR as far as 20 lb of
roast pig! And although we made lots more sausage (much of it never saw
casings), we didn't come close to feeding the starving hordes.</DIV>
<DIV> At any rate, as head of the Kingdom Cooks Guild, I made
it official policy that at any event involving the Guild, a phoned reservation
wasn't worth the paper it was written on, and if the reservation didn't come
complete with check, it wasn't a real reservation. By the time this got
published in Pikestaff (the next issue), I was Crown Princess, so it had a
LOT of weight behind it, and became kingdom policy for many years. It
might be a good idea to re-institute it; we do well with it in Ostgardr, right,
Master A?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Regards,</DIV>
<DIV>Brekke (older than dirt)</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>From:</B> <A
href="mailto:mem@rialto.org">Mary Morman</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:SCA-Cooks@ansteorra.org">SCA-Cooks</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, July 01, 2003 5:13
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Sca-cooks] Aten Policy</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>My thanks to Johnna for sending me the text in a form I could
read.<BR><BR>I'll start by saying that - having cooked in the East kingdom,
albeit <BR>many years ago - I understand where Brangwayna and AdamAnt are
coming <BR>from. To them the policy seems very restrictive.
However, after twelve <BR>years in the Outlands - an Aten rite kingdom - I
think I have a clearer <BR>idea about what problems the rules are trying to
fix.<BR><BR>The policy clearly states the number of people who are allowed to
be <BR>comped. That's vital. I have cooked way too many feasts
over the past <BR>ten years where as many as 16 people - NOT including servers
- are <BR>expected to be fed out of the monies expended per head for the rest
of <BR>the hall, and this can be the same whether the feast is for 80 or for
<BR>180. I would REJOICE at having the Aten limitations adopted and
<BR>enforced as policy in my kingdom.<BR><BR>While the $ per head limit does
seem a little low, I don't find it <BR>unreasonable. Especially if it is
indeed PER HEAD rather than the <BR>amount for only the paying customers with
more than a dozen "freebies" <BR>expected at no additonal cost.<BR><BR>I would
be overjoyed to see an official kingdom policy that made the <BR>only real
reservation a paid reservation. That's the way I learned to <BR>cook SCA
feasts in the East and Atlantia. It is NOT the way things are <BR>done
out here. There is absolutely no expectation of any paid
<BR>reservations, and autocrats tend to feel privileged if they get some
<BR>number of unpaid reservations. If you are living where the
expectation <BR>is to somehow cook for as many people as may come, and where a
place <BR>WILL be made for as many people as show up with the cook being told
to <BR>cook a bit more soup or head down to the grocery store for some of
those <BR>barbequeued chickens to stretch the feast - well then, this kind of
<BR>policy seems a welcome relief rather than an imposition.<BR><BR>All in
all, while the policies are definitely very bureaucratic, I <BR>percieve them
as an attempt to fix a problem, and think that, if <BR>enforced, they will
probably succeed. If they do succeed then people <BR>will learn
different behaviors and in a couple of years, perhaps the <BR>need for the
policy will no longer exist.<BR><BR>Elaina<BR><BR>-- <BR>To be humble to
superiors is duty,<BR> to equals courtesy,<BR> to inferiors
nobleness.<BR>
Benjamin
Franklin<BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Sca-cooks
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