Porthos

Ducks: Drake is a male, hen is a female. Being able to identify both species and gender while in flight is something duck hunters have to know how to do to stay within the law and the law (at least back when I still hunted ducks) specified gender as well as species for bag limits. (at least for the state in the USA where I have resided.) Edited for geographical clarification.

I just found 2 separate websites that support the statements that tempered glass is stronger than non-tempered glass (one suggesting that the increase of strength is in the range of 4X to 5X) and that the result of the tempering process yields a glass that shatters into small roundish bits rather than sharp-edged shards. It is also more heat-resistant. Since my understanding is that my counter-protecting "cutting board" is made of tempered glass by definition it meets has those qualities. That hardness is not knife-edge-friendly. As an aside from the cutting board issue I do have tempered glass pot lids in my ren faire kitchens and do not fear them.

One thing that glass "cutting boards" have going for them is rubber feet. I have been slowly replacing my poly cutting boards with boards that have non-slip edges or bumps. I quit buying wood boards a long time ago since they don't tolerate being run through the dishwasher. I would buy one, use it once or twice, get annoyed with having to hand-wash it, have is sit unused for a year or two and then get given away. After about three cycles of that I realized that for me they were a waste of money.

Same here.

I never realized how boring my cooking is. I can't think of a single thing that I do special.

Great as counter protectors, never as a cutting board, as in never.

This trailer does not travel with me. It is dedicated to this one faire and is moved to a storage area there after it have been collapsed (roofing removed, walls folded down, cooking area raised up like closing a truck tailgate, the the whole thing swaddled in tarps. The kitchen stove is stored where the pantry shelves are now,). The refrigerator belongs to the commercial venture Tea With The Queen and it travels with the rest of their equipment. The wire pantry shelving gets disassembled. The shelving on the walls and the brackets for them get taken down. The equipment on the shelves and such are divided up and packed/taken away. There is the Tea With The Queen stuff that is kept together and goes into a trailer so that it can come to the other faire where this is done. My equipment get packed into my Ford Expedition and hauled home. The balance of the stuff gets stored in Rubbermaid Rugged Totes and stored on-site in the same area the trailer gets moved to in a portable building we have. The basic divide is the serving pieces (many, many pieces) stay there and the cooking and prep equipment come home with me since I own that stuff and use it at both faires I work. Hope that helps.

Pictures of the Kitchen. These were taken Saturday evening when we were prepping to have "Taco Night" dinner for participants. This is the kitchen stove and refrigerator side of the cooking area: ... and this is the camp stove side of the cooking area. That is my bride of 36 years making refried beans. Turning around from the cooking area and looking at the prep area. To the left of this view (not in sight) is a small 3-shelf unit where the oils and seasonings we need day-in and day-out are kept so that they are near the stoves. The right hand side is the "stage side" as in the other side of the wall in in the public view. The door is a dutch door and that is where the food is passed through from the kitchen to the on-stage dining area. The left-hand side has the pantry shelves and down the counter you will see a sink: And lastly a view of the spices and knives, just because. Aoubt a 1/3 of the knives were in use. On the refrigerator in the cooking area is a small knife block just for paring knives. We refer to those as our "pokers" since we use them to test to doneness of veggies we are cooking.

Coolers are not the problem. I own way too many. Space in my Corolla with 3 adults and their stuff along with the food is what I am dealing with. I have changed course. We cook large batches of rice, portion it and freeze it on a regular basis. With that in mind i am going to put the finished rice into Ziploc bags and freeze them. That way they will take up less space than if in pans and also provide more "Ice packs" in the cooler.

I will be making a vegan rice dish using the ingredients listed below. After cooling it will be put into disposable foil 2-pans and refrigerated. I will need to transport them along with other food items on a six hour car trip. Since cooler space is at a premium I would prefer not to put them into a cooler. They will go back on ice at the destination and be reheated in the oven before service. Can I safely transport them without being kept cold? 6 Cup long grain rice Olive oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pot 18 or more cloves of garlic 12 Cups hot water 2 Large onions, halved and very thinly sliced 6 Cubes Knorr Vegetable bouillon 1 Can tomato paste

Convict Lake is a beautiful place. I would have loved to have your engine-roasted meal there.

Drinking at faire? Never! Well, hardly ever.

I could be mistaken but I believe that Sir Francis Drake brought potatoes back from his travels. Since Queen Elizabeth is coming to our village as part of her current progress, and she may dine with us, it is remotely possible that she would have some of this strange new delicacy with her. After all she is the Queen.

Andie, were all of the foods donated to the group who did the cooking? I remember a story from my childhood where a man comes into a village and declares he can make soup from a stone. As different people come by he says the soup is good but would be better of it had carrots or potatoes or onions or whatever, telling each person a different item that they would then contribute, thinking that their contribution was the only one. That is how he made soup from the stone and the villagers were none the wiser.

We don't serve a strictly period feast. Potatoes that have been chunked do not stand out.

I have talked with my guild mistress and she has re-confirmed that organic produce is not a requirement. I am going to remove these 2 root vegetables from her shopping list and move them to the Costco shopping list. That is where the used to come from and that is where they will start coming from again. Thank you all for you insight and comments.

Yes, I do cook for a guild. I've only visited one SCA event, the Las Vegas faire held in October. Even though this faire has guilds, one of its charms for me is the sense of community - of family. Sadly, because of health issues I don't know how many more seasons I will be able to to. Traveling the 350 miles is becoming more painful and having to go up and down steps carrying things is getting increasingly more difficult. The spring faire I do in southern California is only 30 miles away and is on level ground. We eat the meal "on stage", that meaning our dining area is just off of the path through this area of the faire. There is a platform with the head table where the Lord Mayor, a traveling Bishop and other persons of importance eat. There are more tables on ground level where the rest of our guild eats. We do not do period foods per se. We used to avoid foods that stuck out like a sore thumb such as corn, bell peppers and tomatoes but bell peppers and tomatoes have become everyday dishes. I would still like to not serve them since I think they take away from the show. Of the three I dislike corn on the cob the most because it is the most obvious. I may work backstage but I'm still all about the show.

No power over the person doing the purchasing. Not my money going for the supplies. This is a "fight" that gets better for a while then escalates again. This week she is out of the loop completely so I will get what I am requesting. There is no requirement for organic, it is a preference of this person.

We have a "custom built" kitchen built on an 18' trailer frame. The tail section folds down to provide an additional 6' cooking area. The main section is configured as a galley-style kitchen. Looking forward from the cooking area to the right you will see a Dutch door that opens out to our dining area which is meant to be seen by the audience. Over the counter beyond the door is the longest counter. Between the door and a window pretty far down are two 10" deep shelves over the counter. The area under the counter is divided into large cubbyholes. Looking to the left you will see the 6' high 4' wide chrome shelving which is our pantry. On the floor in front of the pantry is a 165 qt cooler that we keep our dairy items in. Then begins a 4 foot stretch of counter, the sink, and then about 6' more counter. there are cubbyholes under this also. In the largest cubby is the 120 qt cooler for meats. at the end of the aisle between the counters is the other 165 qt cooler for fruits and veggies. There are 2 10" deep shelves above the sink/counter on the left that are about 8' long. In the cooking area We have a regular home kitchen stove set to run on propane. Next to it is a commercial pizza-prep style refrigerator that is used for the commercial venture which is Tea With The Queen. The equipment for that is kept separate from our equipment since they sell to the public and have to meet county health codes and inspection. Over all of this is a shelf for the pots we use. Across the back end of the cooking area are pegs to hang the pans from. Across from the refrigerator is a free-stand 3 burner camp stove, each burner being 30K BTUs. Over the camp stove is another shelf where we keep tea kettles and such. Outside we have a small 6 burner event grill. In a screened in area we have a 3-compartment sink. Since we have to have a 3-compartment sink for the commercial side we share the sink for all of the dishwashing, only doing our dishes or Tea With The Queen dishes at any given time to there is no question of mixing our and their stuff at the same time. This should keep the health inspector satisfied. Most of the cookware comes is mine. There are 2 14" saute pans, a 6 1/2 qt chef's pan and a few smaller pans. There are 2 12 qt 3-piece pasta pots that are used for steamers and a separate 8 qt 3-piece steamer. I have two 8 qt covered Dutch ovens. Those are dedicated to the barley and beans we cook. There are a few other random pots. I hope to post pictures to illustrate the kitchen after this coming weekend.

She has a base recipe in her head that she adapts for the chosen pudding. Hard top publish her head. The majority of people come in modern clothing. Some work very hard at looking like 16th century England. Some just wear costumes they like. There are a lot of people who don't know that the 3 Musketeers are 200 years down the road and come as musketeers. All are welcome. This is meant to be a fun place to play for a day. I still remember the 15-year-old who came wrapped in aluminum foil for his armour. I loved it. We've had Star Trek characters show up. I've seen a guy come as an American Indian wearing only a loin cloth covering just the front and back.

To put this as politely as I can with respect to that person: She is a very strong personality who doesn't much care for being told no. I like to describe her as someone who has trouble coloring between the lines. When I brought up the issue of the potatoes her answer was, "They're organic. They don't spray them." Translated: "it's just the way it is - deal with it." That typical attitude makes for a less than symbiotic relationship. Also I should have noted organic farmers market versus supermarket. My bad for that. Her push is that the veggies are organic.

I have no control over where they are purchased if we get the organic ones. I live about 350 miles from this faire site so others do the shopping. I am going to have a conversation with our guild mistress tonight about alterimg the sourcing of those 2 items. I know of a specific option that she can take care of.

My wife has stepped out of the kitchen this year. She is scheduled for surgery on her left hand next month. The right hand will be done later. She is bone-on-bone in her carpal-metacarpal joints (lowest part of the thumb.) What she is doing instead is caring for our 6-monthj-old grandson while my daughter works in the kitchen. Her husband is a stage manager at this faire. My wife makes the bread puddings in the evening during the week. She also made the triple-ginger gingerbread another evening. During the week I make the brownies and the vegan tea cookies based upon a recipe from Anna N that is from one of her relatives. At this faire others are responsible for the shopping. The faire I do in the spring, refereed to below, is the one where I do all of my own shopping. The bread is baked by a guild member who enjoys baking. Think of a faire as immersion theater. You are part of the theater, walking through it instead of viewing from a distancew. Faires offer a variety of stage shows, have food courts, merchants, games of skill, and of course The Joust. The original Renaissance Pleasure Faire, founded by Phillis and Ron Patterson, had hand-crafted-items vendors. The items had to be made by the vendors themselves. There was no re-selling of other's works at faire. I think that is still mainly the case. There are period-costume clothiers, handblown glass makers, a pewter foundry, stained glasss artists, Jewelers (we have our favorite jeweler that we know well enough we even know how he met his wife), pottery, knives and swords, wooden good and more things I can't think of. I am very fond of the wooden drinking vessels made by the Madera Cup Company and, before that, Goodly Woods. Here is part of my collection. One that is not pictured, a beautiful walnet one, I my coffee mug for work when I am employed. I can't really publicly discuss the financial end of things but I can say that I am not the one putting out the money. If you want to peruse the pages of the website of faire I am currently doing here is, with no promotional intent, the link: http://www.norcalrenfaire.com/

Which is why I own one. Don't think I try hauling it up 350 miles from here to clean veggies, though. My 8-burner event grill and the grease build-up on it is why I bought it to begin with. If you want to try it and post about it ...

The person who does the purchasing of most of the veggies used in the Ren Faire kitchen of which I am the leader of right now prefers to go to an "organic" farmers market for the produce. (More about the feast here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/149513-what-we-cook-in-my-fall-ren-faire-kitchen/) Part of what I asked for for this past weekend was 12 pounds of carrots and 40 pounds of red potatoes. The carrots have a very different texture than those I am used to purchasing through supermarkets. They have irregular circular crevices intermittently run down the carrot. These crevices do a marvelous job of holding on to dirt. I had to hand-wash each carrot before being able to slice it. It took me over a half hour yesterday to process 4 pounds. Given that we as the kitchen staff have 4 hours to prepare all of the food being served to 80-90 people that is way too much time to devote to one veggie. The red potatoes all had many eyes sprouting. We prepare the potatoes skin-on. That meant in addition to the regular hand-washing (about a 5 minute job for 10-12 lbs of potatoes) each potato had to be hand-trimmed to get the eyes removed from the surface of the potatoes, about an extra 15 minutes. The Brussels Sprouts, onions, melons, red and yellow peppers, celery, grapes, broad beans, mushrooms beets and tomatoes were all fine. Since I personally don't give a rip about organic produce to begin with this added time impacts getting our feast out on time. We do cook from fresh foods except for four items: store-bought dinner rolls, prepared meatballs from Costco and prepared sauces used in 2 dishes. If you are an advocate of organic please do not try to convince me of the value of organic, I have my viewpoint and reasons and AM NOT looking for yet more people to tell me I'm wrong, mis-informed, etc. Are there other eGullerters who find that dealing with quantities of organic produce sometimes trying?