I forgot to mention this... the feast!



Dafydd's lovely homemade raviolis.



One of the big time consumers for me this spring was my involvement with Harrowgate Heath’s Border Spat 2012 event.  Dafydd and I agreed to help Emelote execute a highly ambitious (read: slightly nuts) but very tantalizing feast for the day. The theme was Italian Renaissance.  Her plan was to serve 30 dishes (menu PDF) to celebrate the 30 years that Skraeling Althing has been a barony in the SCA.

We spent months preparing, with a huge crunch in April and the beginning of May to firm up the details, do the test cooking and pre-cooking, and get coordinated.  Then, on May 12 the day arrived and we were in Cornwall at the site and rolling.  I spent the whole day in the kitchen on my feet doing the day-of food preparation.  The day went by in a blur.  Then, at dinner time, I moved to the hall to stage the food and get it to the servers.  

The evening was certainly a learning experience for me.  Just coordinating all that food and the timing, the servers, the equipment.  It was overwhelming at first but with support from everyone I think most things came together by the end of the night.  Getting food to the hall from the kitchen, and the dirty dishes back again was agony.  I wouldn’t do that again, I think, without some more dedicated help.  It was a pain we didn’t need.

Now, all this to say, we’ve gotten nothing but praise from those who sat the feast.  From royalty to populace, everybody waddled away stuffed to the brim.  Some said it was the best feast they’ve had in a long career in the SCA.  How flattering.  I’m pleased to hear it.

We survived with most dignity intact.  Excellent!