One Saturday in May several of us gathered for a fun event called “The Half Century Holiday”. This event was sponsored by our Barony and was held as a birthday celebration in honor of Her Grace, Anne Marie. There was fighting, classes, A&S and everything typical of an SCA Event. I had the honor of being asked to help host the luncheon that would be the feast for the day. I’m posting today, as I fondly remember this experience, as, again, it’s her birthday today. 🙂
Being the Landed Baroness of the hosting group for the event — AND running the feast — was somewhat of a challenge. But with some trusted friends, it was all managed successfully. My good friends, the Ladies Ilse and Helena, helped me to plan and cook all of these items. We had all done several lunch taverns together, but never a full feast. This was a good learning experience because being a luncheon feast, it could be on a smaller scale than a typical feast. I took the lead role planning the menu and budgeting. We then broke out each of the items into things that we could handle to cook in advance at our own homes, and those items that we would cook the day before and onsite.
I recall a very old friend who was an excellent ‘feast-o-cart’ held pre-feasts prior to her large feasts, where she would test run the full menu to select group of guests. We all decided this would be an excellent idea. I’m grateful of this decision, because we ended up cutting a dish due to the amount of food and labor that was involved. We had originally had a beef roulade (a roasted beef rolled with pickles) that was to be served with a mustard sauce. We ended up serving this dish just to the head table. Anne Marie loves mustard, so it was a pleasure to show off my mustard making skills for this event..and just to head table made it even more special! Many of the other dishes were selected by Her Grace, such as the honey butter (which her husband, Dag, loves) and the roasted squash soup, of which she had tasted at another event and asked for the recipe.
A Birthday Celebration Luncheon Feast
In honor of Her Grace, Anne Marie
May 14, 20011
Starter
Fresh cheese with herbs and garlic
Honey butter
Newly baked breads
Roasted squash soup (vegetarian)
Lunch
Salat (A green salad made with a variety of lettuces, fennel, and herbs)
Saugee (Chicken with a sage and egg sauce, served cold)
Savory Onion Tart (vegetarian)
Sweets
Char de Crabb (A baked apple tart)
Shortbread fluer di lis
Golden Gingerbread
It was a fun event and a great experience. Though, I felt bad for being seated at head table instead of helping in the kitchen to plate and serve. Alas, the duties of a Baroness. Her Grace felt it would be better for me to be seated with them at as an honor rather than serving. So, I of course complied. This didn’t leave me with any of day of meal time plating and serving experience…but, I have since learned that through other events!
This was the first feast where I made soft cheese. I think I’ve made it at least ten times since then — and learned quite a bit. It was very well received and makes a great starter. There were a few things that I would have done differently — but that’s what learning experiences are all about — and I was grateful for the opportunity and to be able to work with my friends.
(there are unfortunately no photos from the feast for this event)
