[Steppes] Food Collegium today

[AlKudsi at aol.com]

I think I speak for all the participants today, and those who came to learn, 
in offering an enormous vote of graditude to Lady Nuala the Fair and HL 
Vincenzo for the magnificent job they did in picking up the ball on this, and 
putting it together -- well -- in less than a week.  We had some wonderful classes 
and demos, ate some great food for lunch, and had some incredibly fascinating 
discussions on many topics concerning available period foods, herbs, recipe 
reconstructions, and planning both feasts and vigil spreads.  And HL Lete gets 
kudos for finding such a lovely site with a decent kitchen and table areas.  

I also wanted to express my appreciation to those who managed to stay awake 
and actually learn something from my class in Food Safety, and much appreciated 
the comments and evaluations they filled out, since it was my first time to 
present the material.  Just remember, Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to 
you....!

[In case you are wondering, most of us do not properly wash our hands, 
especially for food handling.  To reduce the danger of contamination, is is 
necessary to scrub the hands and under the fingernails -- and up the forearms, too -- 
for at least 20 seconds to be even marginally effective.  Singing the Happy 
Birthday jingle twice takes approximately 20 seconds...]

Perhaps the participants DID learn from the Food Safety course...the kitchen 
dishes were kept washed by Nuala, the kitchen was kept clean, and we did such 
a good job of cleanup that they returned our deposit!

Thanks again, Nuala and Vinnie!

HL Saqra