So, I had a fantastic time at Crossroads Faire. I wasn’t originally planning on going, but two things combined to convince me to go. It was absolutely worth it.
Click the link to read the whole tale.
So, as I said, I wasn’t originally planning on going but then two things happened.
First, the site was not even a block away from the Framingham Public Library, which I was planning on going to that morning for their monthly Book Sale. Second, I went to SCA dance practice a couple of wednesdays ago, while Brandeis was on break. While I was there I started chatting with one of the cute girls I’ve spent a little event time around before. She was running the cleanup crew, and wanted volounteers. So I did. I mean, There was no dancing at the event, and I wasn’t involved in the music, so I was a free agent, so to speak.
So Yesterday morning I slept late (being slightly sleep deprived), got up and took my time about getting ready. Dressed, threw my garb and feast gear into a bag, and headed out. Went to the book sale, and because it was later than I usually go, there was no crowd in the bag room, and less of one in the regular racks. It was nice because I could relax and take my time and not feel like I was in anyone’s way. Unfortunately, I didn’t find too much. It’s been like that the past few times. It really doesn’t bother me too much, as I have plenty of books, so it’s ok to only alter that number slowly.
Then I grabbed my bag from the car and headed off to the event. I registered, donated, and checked where I was in the feast. Although my money had been received, I was number 15 on the waitlist. I wasn’t concerned because by that point they’d already had 13 cancellations, so I was only a few away. Turns out everyone who had been waitlisted ahead of time was able to get in, and even a few people who turned up at the door wanting to eat at the feast. By the way, it was so worth the $10 I paid for it, especially as there was no other event fees, jsut the donation which I willingly gave.
I went down to the basement and the changing areas and changed into garb, then headed out to check out the layout of the place. It was themed around a set of Embassies for different cultures, which I thought to be an interesting showcase, poarticularly useful for people who might not have knowledge of some of the cultures and times that were being showcased. I’m pretty sure I missed an embassy or two, but htat’s my own fault, and I’m ok with it. You’ll see. So I went up to the top floor, where the early Irish embassy was still putting themselves together a bit. Went in to the Indian embassy and watched a little bit of a lecture on hand gestures and communication in song/dance. Saw Swana, someone I know vaguely, but would like to get to know more. Also saw Jducouer and Gwen, and said hi to them. I drifted over to the Viking embassy and chatted with Gunthorm a bit. He was working on some really interesting jewelry making using looped metal wire. He called it the embroidery of metalworking, and explained how after making the loops, he draw them through a special plate a few times and it turns into this rather interesting and flexible metal rope, because everything has been pulled along the diagonal.
Then I went down to the main floor where they had a few others and some merchants. I wasn’t there to shop, so I didn’t pay too much attention. Ran into the cute girl mentioned above, flirted briefly, made sure she knew I was around to help out, then I went to the French embassy, and sat for a little while Alessandro regaled us with one of the many entertaining passages from Orlando Furioso (mental note, get a copy). Afterwards I drifted back upstairs to the Florentine embassy long enough to catch the tail end of a lecture on glass bead making. All in all, all good stuff.
Having wandered around a touch, I started looking for something to attend or a group of people to sit and chat with.
And found myself in the kitchen.
I’ve never really gone into the kitchens during an event before. I’ve not before been interested in doing the work, honestly, when I could be out and about dancing or flirting or doing something else. But for some reason, I was in there, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because there was activity in there and I was curious. Anyhow, I go in and before long I find myself volunteering. But it wasn’t a bad thing. Right from the bat I got a very good feeling simply by being useful, and helping to make somehting as large and wonderful as a feast happen. I’m no chef, but I do know a thing or two about cooking, and Jacob Simon *is* a chef. And it was nice to not actually be the one making decisions, but to simply take a task and carry it out, or to find a task and do it.
I thought Arawen makes a lot of food at times… we were feeding a multi-course meal for over 100 people.
So I started by going right to the hottest part of the kitchen: in front of the stove. It was a very large kitchen, with restaurant size ovens and stove, and they were all firing, so you can imagine how much heat was in there… Anyhow, my first task was to reach into a giant (8 gallon?) pot and stir a large chunk of bacon with a large metal slotted spoon. I was soon sweating. But as soon as it was brown and crispy, we added anough sliced apples and onions to fill the entire pot. No way to stir it with that spoon, so we ended up using a huge wooden…. well, more or less, an oar.
Memories from the kitchen:
pouring the apple-bacon mix onto two full sheets and dropping them in the oven.
scrubbing the giant pot only to put it back on the heat and start stirring up some more bacon for a leek dish.
moving the bacon to a larger (yes, larger) pot (10 gallon? 12?) to make room for all the leeks. Stirring with force. Rowing is not a far off description. The leeks cooked down quite a bit as they softened up and lost water. What started as a potful came to around half, and the stirring was easier.
chopping a pound of parsley and mint.
melting a pound of butter to be mixed with 50 eggs and three pounds of breadcrumbs.
actually having enough time to go and eat the food I was helping with, that was really nice!
cleaning small cups on a priorty route so they could be reused for the next dish
getting called in the middle of cleaning to go infront of the high table and be recognized along with the rest of the kitchen staff, and to recieve a little glass jar of vanilla-sugar, yum! Thanks!
putting 17 chicken carcasses into gallon sized ziplock.
Spooning huge quantities of other foods into baggies, including rice pudding, another yummy rice concoction, barley and braised carrots, and more. The whole menu was yummy, and we were able to get rid of all the leftovers…. uh-oh, did we leave the chickens outside where we put them? Crap!
Washing and drying scores of pitchers, tens of platters, masses of pots, pans, bowls, oil pourers, and more.
So I spent almost the entire day in the kitchen area, and I had a blast. We were even so good as to have the entire kitchen area cleaned and ready to go within a half hour of the feast (and therefore event) actually being closed. I was wicked impressed. All the while I had a great time getting things done, keeping things running smoothly, and flirting with the cute girl while telling her not to stress out.
And then there was the post-revel. Damn, this post is already so long, let’s see if I can keep this short.
It was at Jack and Laura’s, which, surprisingly, I had never actually been to. (Oh yes, some others live there too, including Troy, but I’m thinking of it as Jack and Laura’s) It wasn’t hard to find, despite the one way streets at the difficult parking arrangements. I walked in and a bunch (12?) were playing Cranium, while a number of others (including an Melissa, an old friend (and ex GF)) were watching and chatting. Their living room seems designed to hold large numbers of people sitting around and chatting. Perfect. In the past I haven’t gone to post-revels, but a few things led me to this time. 1) the event was over at 8, and I had no objections to staying out later than that. 2) Laura’s been a friend for a while now, so it was about time I hung out with her outside of the SCA, and saw her place. 3) I knew Cute Girl was going to be there. Noticing a trend? Yeah…
So to make a long story short, there was a lot of good talking, and a lot of good cuddling, and a lot of good friending.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go call a girl… *grin*
