Very pleased with Crown
Mar. 30th, 2009 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abendgulesI'm so pleased with this last event, and the shire, that I could burst. :-)
Most of the hard work is over, save the accounting and returning of lost and found.
In the end, we had 98 attendees, which is a fair turnout in Drachenwald, esp with the belt-tightening going on. This was super, because a few weeks before Crown we had 60, and needed 85 to break even, so I was beginning to sweat about losing money on a kingdom event, which would be a bit embarrassing.
The site worked well and was comfortable. The walled garden was a nice not-explicitly-modern enclosure for the tournament, and the permanent marquee was very handy to save all the attendees (except the fighters) from the rain squalls that blew through during the tournament. Fortunately, the 5-minute hailstorm held off til after the tourney!
We ate like kings, all weekend (ok, not like our current king, who now eats very small amounts regularly, but you know what I mean!).
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nusbacher turned out excellent porridge, and the first peas pottage I've ever enjoyed, for Saturday breakfast, but still offered bread, cheese and jam for those who don't enjoy cooked peas for breakfast.
thorngrove generated a fine egg and cheese soup and hot sausages for lunch, very warming after standing in the blustery weather for two hours.
Feast was a great pleasure. The takeup of the Lenten feast was very good; when offered a choice between a splendid short rosary token made bythorngrove , and a paper dispensation (complete with authentic 16th c. wording), all of a sudden the Lenten feast sounded much more appealing. We ran out of Lenten tokens, which I did not anticipate at all - I was thinking 'well, if we have spares we can give them to the Crown as gifts'. No such backup plan needed.
I've never before been so delighted to be served a compound salad. (At the last feast I attended the salad was a token effort of iceburg lettuce and cuke.) The greens in this first course were delicious, rich with chopped herbs and capers, accompanying the green soup on a platter.
The fish dishes, of great concern, turned out beautifully. The fish in saffron was sharp and savoury, the sweet and sour cod were full of 'umami' flavour, and the haddock and fruit pie - honest, it's far tastier than it sounds! and we took the extra pie home for ourselves.
I was delighted to see that there wasn't a great excess that we had to throw out afterward - we had lots of breakfast 'feast-overs', but I thought the proportions were a good match to what was eaten - a difficult match for anyone to judge when feasting.
A great compliment came from Mistress Nadja, of AnTir (newish arrival to D'wald, lives in Harplestane so not often in the south), who told Edith how fabulous the food was - she was full of good words, and commented about how hard it was to find good cooks who could serve timely, hot, well-portioned food in her first homeland - so this feast was a wonderful surprise and pleasure.
This wasedith_hedingham 's first 'full' feast, where she's been the head cook. I think she's at serious risk of continuing to turn out great medieval food, and maintain our local reputuation as keen foodies. :-)
On Sunday morning, Vitus and his family put out leftovers and porridge as we wandered about, somewhat worse for wear after losing an additional hour's sleep with the British Summer Time change.
Aside from loving Crown tourney on principle for its pageantry, its romance, its capacity to draw travellers - I was thrilled with Thamesreach, and with the attendees, for their courtesy and their helpfulness. Kitchen staff and cleaners materialised when asked, and many folks pitched in simply as a matter of course. Cleanup was accomplished quickly and with little drama (my biggest worry) - biggest challenge is figuring out what to do with extra supplies and leftovers.
The site managers were very pleased with our cleanup, upholding the SCA goal of leaving it cleaner than we found it, and the total of our 'damages' to inventory was the loss of one red plastic cup, £2.50 to be added to our invoice.
To me, the event felt smooth and relaxed. I'd worried about entering the tourney, when I was one of the event stewards, but in the end it was manageable, because the people on the event team were well prepared, and made it easy. What snafus we had (mostly planning & communications failures when time ran out) didn't affect the tourney, the feast, or the accommodations. No fire alarms, no floods (except from one shower in one lodge), no transportation issues of note, no food poisonings, hurrah!
Today, Robert and I are having a lazy recuperative day before launching back to (paid!) work.
I've returned the rental car, posted the L&F, have started unpacking
How would T'reachers feel about a post-event review drinks next week, before the next shire meeting?
This doesn't stop us from congratulating ourselves at the meeting, but just gives us a chance to do it twice. :-)
Most of the hard work is over, save the accounting and returning of lost and found.
In the end, we had 98 attendees, which is a fair turnout in Drachenwald, esp with the belt-tightening going on. This was super, because a few weeks before Crown we had 60, and needed 85 to break even, so I was beginning to sweat about losing money on a kingdom event, which would be a bit embarrassing.
The site worked well and was comfortable. The walled garden was a nice not-explicitly-modern enclosure for the tournament, and the permanent marquee was very handy to save all the attendees (except the fighters) from the rain squalls that blew through during the tournament. Fortunately, the 5-minute hailstorm held off til after the tourney!
We ate like kings, all weekend (ok, not like our current king, who now eats very small amounts regularly, but you know what I mean!).
nusbacher turned out excellent porridge, and the first peas pottage I've ever enjoyed, for Saturday breakfast, but still offered bread, cheese and jam for those who don't enjoy cooked peas for breakfast.thorngrove generated a fine egg and cheese soup and hot sausages for lunch, very warming after standing in the blustery weather for two hours.Feast was a great pleasure. The takeup of the Lenten feast was very good; when offered a choice between a splendid short rosary token made by
thorngrove , and a paper dispensation (complete with authentic 16th c. wording), all of a sudden the Lenten feast sounded much more appealing. We ran out of Lenten tokens, which I did not anticipate at all - I was thinking 'well, if we have spares we can give them to the Crown as gifts'. No such backup plan needed. I've never before been so delighted to be served a compound salad. (At the last feast I attended the salad was a token effort of iceburg lettuce and cuke.) The greens in this first course were delicious, rich with chopped herbs and capers, accompanying the green soup on a platter.
The fish dishes, of great concern, turned out beautifully. The fish in saffron was sharp and savoury, the sweet and sour cod were full of 'umami' flavour, and the haddock and fruit pie - honest, it's far tastier than it sounds! and we took the extra pie home for ourselves.
I was delighted to see that there wasn't a great excess that we had to throw out afterward - we had lots of breakfast 'feast-overs', but I thought the proportions were a good match to what was eaten - a difficult match for anyone to judge when feasting.
A great compliment came from Mistress Nadja, of AnTir (newish arrival to D'wald, lives in Harplestane so not often in the south), who told Edith how fabulous the food was - she was full of good words, and commented about how hard it was to find good cooks who could serve timely, hot, well-portioned food in her first homeland - so this feast was a wonderful surprise and pleasure.
This was
edith_hedingham 's first 'full' feast, where she's been the head cook. I think she's at serious risk of continuing to turn out great medieval food, and maintain our local reputuation as keen foodies. :-)On Sunday morning, Vitus and his family put out leftovers and porridge as we wandered about, somewhat worse for wear after losing an additional hour's sleep with the British Summer Time change.
Aside from loving Crown tourney on principle for its pageantry, its romance, its capacity to draw travellers - I was thrilled with Thamesreach, and with the attendees, for their courtesy and their helpfulness. Kitchen staff and cleaners materialised when asked, and many folks pitched in simply as a matter of course. Cleanup was accomplished quickly and with little drama (my biggest worry) - biggest challenge is figuring out what to do with extra supplies and leftovers.
The site managers were very pleased with our cleanup, upholding the SCA goal of leaving it cleaner than we found it, and the total of our 'damages' to inventory was the loss of one red plastic cup, £2.50 to be added to our invoice.
To me, the event felt smooth and relaxed. I'd worried about entering the tourney, when I was one of the event stewards, but in the end it was manageable, because the people on the event team were well prepared, and made it easy. What snafus we had (mostly planning & communications failures when time ran out) didn't affect the tourney, the feast, or the accommodations. No fire alarms, no floods (except from one shower in one lodge), no transportation issues of note, no food poisonings, hurrah!
Today, Robert and I are having a lazy recuperative day before launching back to (paid!) work.
I've returned the rental car, posted the L&F, have started unpacking
How would T'reachers feel about a post-event review drinks next week, before the next shire meeting?
This doesn't stop us from congratulating ourselves at the meeting, but just gives us a chance to do it twice. :-)
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 05:59 pm (UTC)Sadly, Mistress Nadja and Sir Liam will be leaving this summer after 4 years (or so?) over here...
no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 09:47 am (UTC)Definitely wish they were closer - they're lovely folk.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 06:47 pm (UTC)Well done to you all.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 09:57 am (UTC)Theirs was a happy reign, by many accounts - they had the pleasure of being crowned at Caerphilly castle in Wales, and elevating the first native Scottish knight, Sir Michael de Brad, at a castle in his own homeland.
Gerhardt is now heir with his lady wife, Judith, who is well known at Pennsic for running *dozens* of dance classes and organising one of the dance-mavin's balls.
Judith has a restless nature, and is something of a compulsive dancer; should be interesting seeing her obligated to sit *still* in court - though she may turn the tables on us and oblige the populace to stand through court, or process in in a pavane, or something. :-)
Could be a great motivator for short and sweet courts.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 09:18 pm (UTC)Did a lot of running commentary.
Appears to be good fun at parties.
Well-dressed Significant Other.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 09:04 pm (UTC)Now, I just need to get hold of that recipe for the sweet and sour cod....it was my favourite surprise dish of the entire event!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 05:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 09:50 am (UTC)I thought the meal was well balanced (quantity and range of dishes), well-served, and well-paced, all of which is a great accomplishment for you and your staff.
I'd include a description of the tokens (can provide photos and text of dispensation), to illustrate the theme, and how it was supported by TRM; to my mind, this was a successful approach to a potentially touchy 'religious' topic in the SCA.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 11:59 pm (UTC)Now, tell me... are you hosting the pilgrimage again and when?