Eulogy for Camp Ocala

Camp Ocala for me has been the foundation of my time in the SCA. Many sites have changed, but so far in my life there has only ever been one kingdom site. I find it fitting that at the last event I was able to cook in the kitchen and serve feast one last time, which made my weekend all the more sweet. I have a bunch of fond memories of this site, but there are two right now that I'd like to record for my own sake. I hope you enjoy this small trip with me down memory lane.

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 My first kingdom event was TMT, Mideon and Rose were the crown at the time and my friend Ever had someone convinced me to call out of work for 3 days of the hottest weekend in the year to camp. I sat and watched my first crown Lyst that weekend, I fell in love with the contest and have tried to see every crown lyst I can ever since. I remember I sat under the An Crosaire pavilion, next to Ever and she told me a bit about each fighter. I later got up and helped her with waterbearing, which got me up close to the action.

At that first TMT, Ever had managed to get me into the retaining schedule. She and I had talked about it before hand and I thought it would be a great time, this was also the first time I would meet my now friend Kristin. She gave me a once over and asked if I wouldn't mind doing "party detail" for His Majesty that night. At the time I thought this was just dandy, because party detail seemed pretty simple. Inhad one major task beyond the usual retainer duties: make sure His Majeaty did not have an empty cup.

As we traveled to the first party, His Majesty requested a drink from the "bar" in his mug and I happily had the beverage poured. I did one of my favorite activities (people-watching) while keeping an eye on His Majesty and the mug. As the liquid got lower I started to eye all the bar and figure out how to refill the glass, but the King had other plans. He had tried a sip of the drink from another individual and changed his mind to wanting that. He asked that I fill his mug with the new drink, and I asked him where I should pour out the last of his old drink. He gave me a laugh and told me to just "kill it quick" and top him off, so I finished the last of the drink and refilled his mug.

Little did I know this would be the normal situation, and party detail quickly became a challenge as we both got more and more drunk into the night.

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This was the first site that I took Sarah to,  when we started dating. I took her to MMM, another Crown Lyst, and we had a blast. Seeing the event through her eyes as she experienced it was a joy, and making sure she met Ever and all my other friends was vital. She helped set up a pavilion (Brenna and Kro's in fact), she began to scribe with Lana for the first time and we both got to bear water together while my friends Jake and Karou fenced under the big oak tree.

My favorite moment of that was late in the night, walking along the waterline and is sharing a kiss and some quiet time. The sounds of laughter, the smells of fire wafted, but for a few moments it was just the two of us. It was the first time that I really felt a lasting connection with Sarah, that maybe this relationship would be different from any other I had in the past.

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I have so many wonderful memories from the site, and I'm sure I'll post more stories as I feel inspired. But these were two things that stood out to me today in reflection.

Reflections on a Feast - TMT 2015

AndBefore I begin, I want to emphasize to any of my readers that the purpose of this blog is for me. It is a place I can reflect on my experiences and share my works, but most importantly it is a place for me to be brutally honest about what I do so I can learn. It helps me to explore why things work or don't, and give me things to look back on.

For starters, this was a very rough feast for me.

I'm not saying this was a bad feast, in many ways it was a success. Food was good, plenty of noms for folks, the shtick was lovely and everyone dining had a great time. Most people never really saw the cracks in the foundation either, which is also a success. This feast, by many standards of measurement, was a success and thus was a good feast. But this doesn't make it smooth or less than rough.

1) Feast Planning - My first stumbling blocks were at the very beginning with my feast planning. Now I had plenty of work into this, many test feasts and culinary food runs helped me plan this one out months before. I had a good firm foundation of planning, but things distracted me towards the end. The stress and strain of my job, combined with the stress and strain that this began to put on my relationships, distracted me.

What this caused was me to make a quite dramatic mathematical error in planning my shopping. While shopping for dry goods it wasn't too obvious, but as the food numbers began to add up with the produce and meat I was suddenly made quite aware. This was a rocky start to my weekend, which I had to scramble to correct. It also became difficult because I had purchased many dry ingredients slowly over the weeks and in many ways I overbought on too much.

As well, in the hustle and bustle many small items got left. My feast box had many pieces missing that I forgot to account for, and some really vital equipment didn't make it to site. This made me have to shuffle around to deal with site equipment, and more often than not I did not have everything I needed to provide to my volunteers.

2) On Site Prep (Friday/Saturday) - Friday was a long day. Yes I completed every task I needed to, but I poorly scheduled out many items. I was so focused on accomplishing prep goals on Friday that i overloaded myself on tiny tasks to get done. There were several small things that I should had done earlier in the week to make my life easier (see previous mention of former job stress being a distraction) that instead I tried to cram into the event and clogged me quite a bit.

Another thing that really hurt me was injuring myself. Yes I have hurt myself before (and probably will in the future), but the severity of this injury shook my confidence and really wrecked me. I was being cocky, cutting too much too quickly, and took a nice chunk out of my pinky. It bled for 2 hours, the wound gaped open and by all rights I should have simply gotten stitches. But I didn't, on reflection a poor choice. This made me go a bit unhinged and took the wind out of my sails.

What I mean by this is that while I normally have a great confidence in my ability, after 2 hours of being stuck and bleeding I started to second guess everything I did. I got nervous, uncomfortable and unsure. Dishes I had been practicing for months I wanted to suddenly change, I was unsure of portion control. Thank the gods I had my Laurel and one of my best cooking friends in the kitchen for me, to sometimes even smack me around when I needed it.

When I get nervous and uncomfortable, I start to get very micromanagie. I want my hands on everything, to grab and hold it tight when I don't feel I'm in control. More times than not this weekend I was in total control, but because I did not feel it I caused nothing but issues. There were times Madhavi had to force me away from a thing, because I just didn't need to be involved in what was going on.

3) Clean-up/departure - With my original clean-up plans falling through several times, having grabbed someone to cover the food replacement plan was nice. I still had issues here, because now that nerves were over I wasn't as focused on clean-up as I should have been. I don't feel I was polite to my fellow Cook and I felt like I did not set her up for success as much as I'd like to. I tried to get my things out as early as I could muster, but I know I was still muchly in her way.

As far as food removal, I feel I was less than stellar. I know I grabbed my leftovers that I knew were staged, but I know for a fact I left dry goods by accident on site. I fear I may have left more, and hopefully a good beat down from Wolfmom will better help me correct myself in the future. 

I know that there is a lot of things I did well, a lot of kitchen wizardry I pulled from my hood to make some magic happen. The food tasted great, the portions worked and every guest had an amazing time. But I feel it's important to recognize not just my successes, but my mistakes. It's how I learn, it's how I grow as a person and an apprentice. 

Next post will be much more positive, as well as a discussion of my favorite moments. But for today, I acknowledge my mistakes and am happy to have the learning experience.

Preparations of a Feast - Part 1

Coming up this Labor Day weekend will be my third, and most ambitious, kingdom feast yet. I am doing a period Early Edo feast, inspired by the feast the Emperor of Japan hosted to celebrate the second Shogun of the Edo Period. There are so many facets to this feast that I need to discuss, not just the food but the culture around the food, and my Laurel found the best way to do this would be a series of blogs. She is right, as per normal on things, so I'm starting a multi-part discussion on my feast and my process.

I wanna start this off by discussing Japan as a culture, how it got to this point and what we can glean from the food. One of the things I find fascinating is I can learn so much from a culture based on what/how they eat! In studying the food and meal preparation of this feast I have learned a great deal about Japanese culture and I feel enriched like never before.

The first thing to understanding this feast was for me to wrap my head around the time period this took place. This is just after the end of the greatest Japanese civil war, the Sengoku Jidai or Waring States Period. It was a time of great strife that lasted decades, with clans rising and falling and the whole social structure receiving a massive overhaul by the end going into the Edo period. What we know from that time is that with life in so much turmoil for the populous, many traditions were held tightly to the chest and ritual habits of everyday life became sacred and gained great importance. People NEEDED some stability in their lives, it's a human trait, and that's evidenced by many of the cultural shifts and changes. This also applies to their food.

Beginning in what in Europe would be referred to as the 14th century, the Honzen-ryōri (I'll use just Hozen for short) is a style of meal designed to structure and organize the new warrior culture that arose in the period just before the Waring States. The meal would organize and "tame" the new samurai class of nobility, and into the Edo period this would become THE meal of the nobility. The traditional Honzen would begin with 3 rounds of drinks, and be followed with three round last of food with 7/5/3 courses going down. 

Looking at the typical portions and type of food for the Hozen also reflects aspects of the culture. Nothing on the trays were larger than what a pair of chopsticks could reasonably hold, the soup was mostly thin to allow ease of sipping and almost every dish had an illusion or imagery attached. Ingredients were vegetable, rice (a staple), noodles, fish/marine life and water fowel. Sauces were few and far between, and most food was eaten "fresh" in some form or fashion. 

Knowing this, what can I gleam from the culture based on the food? Their main source of protein being fish, we can see that the Japanese culture will focus heavily on water and will have many myths/cultural stigma involved in such. Fishermen will be well respected, and you can imagine that there is predominately fresh food served to everyone. With each bite of food no larger than what chopsticks can reasonably hold, eating to excess or with great gutso is not a thing easily done. The Japanese developed a cultural stigma with shoveling food, and the Hozen has strict rules on how much to eat of each course before you move onto the next. The lack of sauces imply that the culture honors purity, enjoying and relishing the pure taste of the dish instead of an altered flavor profile. This again is evidence in Japanese culture, an almost isolationism that promotes Japan over all. Fresh food being served regularly is a sign of this purity as well. The over use of illusion food, of artistic presentation being almost more important to amount/quality of the food highlights a culture striving for high arts and trying to separate itself from what it may feel are barbaric roots.

Studying the food nets the same result as studying the culture, a proud people who strove for ideological purity especially after decades of devastating war. A culture which clung to the ideals of its society, and while very expressive in the medium given is rather isolated from much influence at this time. This is a culture that honors art, and struggles to find its humanity admits the warrior struggles of the noble class. This is a people who want to be better, but on their own terms.

Next time, we will discuss more specifically what food will be served, some of its history in Japanese culture and tackling several Japanese food myths.

War Journal of Christopher Köch Day 9

This last entry has taken several days to pen, as I rest from my wounds and try to adjust my mind from the mindset of war to the mindset of peace. It is a difficult adjustment, having been on campaign so long and experienced so much in a short time. I am changed because of it, for the better I feel but only time will tell.

What would become our last day of the campaign began far earlier than most of us would have liked. There was great feasting and drinking the night before, celebrating our retaking of the fortrss from the Ansteorran forces, and many of us awoke roughly that day still feeling thepounding  of the wine and beer. Our King commanded us to muster however, so muster we did. It was time to push the remainder of our enemy forces from the land and free it from the grip of the Black Star, and a great offensive of the entire army would occur. I armored up, tried to ignore my pounding head and fell into ranks with my fellow soldiers.

We met at the edge of the ravine, circling around the Ansteorran forces to cut off their escape. Our numbers were mighty and our blades freshly sharpened, but even the experienced fighters amongst us were not prepared for the sight across the way. Barely numbering a third of our forces, the remaining soldiers and allies of Ansteorra could see the writing on the wall and knew that this day would be their last. In the face of such bravery and acceptance of fate, but refusal to yeild, my heart was moved at the display. I felt pity for what our King asked us to do, and looked around and saw a similar look on many in the allied army. So moved, the generals of the Northshield and East armies approached our own and proclaimed that they could not allow these brave men to stand alone. Our general, tied by loyalty to our crown, could not let the Ansteorran forces pass without engagement but allowed out allies to fight for honor and chivalry against us for he too was moved by the Ansteorran display. Hands were clasped and patches of brotherhood sworn, and I stood by and watched as our noble allies offered their own lives to help the brave soldiers leave.

Soon, the most grueling and painful battle of my life began. Our forces poured into the ravine, determined to cut off the advance and escape of our foes, and the Ansteorran forces met us with the ferocity  of a cornered lion. Time and time again we crashed upon their advancing line, and all of our best efforts could not do more than slow down their escape. For every man that died two more took his place in a bid for freedom, and as the hour passed on they pushed and fought through our defenses. Seeing that they would fight to the last, and not wanting to risk any more Trimarian dead, our general called a halt to our battle and allowed them to pass. Will this come back and hurt us in the future, only God will know.

Wounded, I struggled back to camp before collapsing in our wagon. My wounds were tended to, I was redressed and soon rather sleepily we pulled away from the campaign. Our King had declared an end to combat and hostilities in the sake of peace talks, and with myself and Alexander the Plump wounded and exhausted from a week of fighting we took to the long trail back to Trimarian lands. I lay half asleep as the ladies around us spoke of adventures and shared stories, and I was lulled to sleep by the gentle embrace of my own loving wife.

Over the last few days I've had time to reflect on this campaign i undertook, and all that it means. This is not the first war I've traveled alongside, but it was my first fighting war. I will remember those I stood beside, and those who stood for me. I will remember all the new experiences and hold them close to my heart. Combat...satisfied something deep inside. My soul yearns for my art, my heart takes joy at my service, but there was something carnal and truly physical in pleasure to be fighting for my King. It will push me to become better, train harder so I can better satisfy my own needs. 

Until then, I am back to work. My wagon is in need of repair, my kitchen work calls to me and my heart yearns for the quiet solace of art.

But I will not forget the sounds and sights of war anytime soon.

War Journal of Christopher Köch Day 8

Today has been a day of great triumph for Trimaris, and a day worthy of praise! Vivat!

My lady wife went to continue her study of glass work, I feel that I may soon have a new craft for her to entertain herself with in our humble home. I don't mind, I enjoy beading and am happy to have the opportunity to play with it myself, so I went to study various coffees before the great battles of the day. Some light shopping with Lady Kolfinna followed by a brief construction project to help a fellow Trimarian. I heard the drums of war ringing out and quickly moved to the ridge to watch the battles begin.

Trimaris, fueled by the knighting of Syr Cherish and love of our Queen and King charged towards the Ansteorran bridge. The enemy, normally fearless, in the face of such a charge began to tremble at the sound of our fury. The Trimarian forces crashed upon the Ansteorran shields like waves upon the shore, and eroded the defenses of our foes with the same lethal efficiency of the sea water to the sand. Our fighters pushed hard and fast, and in just a few short hours we had claimed the bridge. The rapier fighters were ordered to guard the bridge and ravine incase of escaping Ansteorran forces, and rotating guard shifts have been ordered by the Generals.

A brief rest was ordered by the King for the army before the next battle. The next one was a huge battle for us, the fortress was an ancestral building for our kingdom which had been stolen from us by the Ansteorrans and claimed as their own. It is our house, and we would reclaim it. The sun was high in the air as our siege of the castle began. Batista fired, archers shot with perfection and the Trimarian war machine slammed into the gates. The Ansteorran forces had the advantage by defending the sturdy gates, but in the end their forces were not prepared. We claimed the fortress, but then the remainder of te Ansteorran army arrived. The army which had beaten us at the field had made the long travel around the bridge to attack us just as we claimed the fortress. Ballista fired now on us, and our men had to face the fury of an angry army. We fought for hours, holding our gates and in the end there was only one option; victory. The Ansteorran forces yielded the fortrss to ourselves, opting to save lives instead of senselessly throw them at our unyielding shield walls. We reclaim the fortress, vivat!

Tonight a grand celebration for all the Knowne World is planned, to proclaim the triumph of our Caesar and our Trimarian forces. There will be drinking and merry-making, and I hope to find myself well into cups. Tomorrow will be another day of war and God willing it will be our last.

War Journal of Christopher Köch Day 7

The fighting was fierce today on every field, and yet we continue on with this seemingly endless campaign. When Ansteorra will finally yield is unknown, but it is known that Trimaris will fight every day for every inch. Vivat!

Once again I awoke in the embrace of my wife and to the smell of camp fire and smoking meats in the air. If there is a better way to awaken, I have yet to find it. 

As an aside, I neglected to finish this entry before I went celebrating our victories with my companions so the beer prevented me from writing on time. My apologies.

My duties were to one of my dear friends, an Italian name I have trouble pronouncing but we have nicknamed Crissy, who needed assistance throwing a luncheon for our Pharaoh. It was a great delight to cook for friends, as always, though I did have a small mishap with the fire. Due to wind and poor kindling collections I was unable to start a flame to grill the meats needed, thank goodness the caravan hailing from the Middle East had set down and started a fire pit earlier that week. I bartered my service to the men of Al Mahala and was able to collect a pot of coals to rush back and ignite my own fire with. The rest of the luncheon went off smoothly as each of the various kingdoms hosted a champions tournament for sport.

Before long, word was given that the army was to muster. The Knights would take the field and those of us wielding rapier would sweep the remains of Ansteorra from the town once and for all. The Ansteorran forces did outnumber us as many Knights left to fight with our King, but we held true. Our generals led us as one strike force, focused and determined to shatter the black star foes before us; and shatter them we did. We forced the enemy to abandon the town and freed them. We followed orders and post haste made to guard the ravine for our King.

Our Knights has a greater challenge ahead, to fully remove the Ansteorran forces from the outlaying fields. Our King led our forces valiantly, and two passes through the field saw us victorious. As we prepared for a third pass we saw that the Ansteorran forces had increased in size as well as added siege engines. Our King, seeing that his men's lives were now in danger, brought out our secret weapon; a siege device called a tank. The King of Northshield had made friends with an inventor named Da Vinci, and had commissioned a siege weapon of great power. This moveable take could fire great cannonballs over long distance, and was so shielded only the greatest of trebuchet could smash it. As it rolled onto the field the Black Star trembled in fear, and it wrecked through their lines. It was not enough however, and King Kurn saw that the risk to Trimarian lives was greater than ever. Unwilling to risk any more of his men, Kurn commanded the army to retreat and yeild the field to the Ansterorrans. The army pulled back to the bridge, now penned in both sides but ready to fight the next day.

The King wanted to raise the spirits of his army, so he and Pharaoh held a great court for the Trimarian army. Many awards were given, words of praise offered and soon the spirit of every Trimarian was elevated. Of special note is my good friend Crissy, who for her long term service to the crown and our kingdom was awarded a Court Barony from the King himself. Not a dry eye in the seats was able to be seen and it was a wonderful end of our day. 

Tonight there are many parties and celebrations springing up around the campaign field, and I will be joining them. Tomorrow the battle for the fortress begins and we will reclaim our house

War Journal of Christopher Köch Day 6

I live to face another day, and another day of War has come upon us.

Last evening I upset both my sister and wife, this led to me volunteering for a guard duty shift to appease them and calm their fury. I sadly spent most of my morning guarding the edges of our encampment, bored and left swinging my legs as the hours rocked by. Once my shift was complete I dashed away, to prepare for the days battle. On my way to my camp I ran into Lady Kolfinna who was in quite a state.

Her Majesty, our Pharaoh, had gone missing. There was no sight of her, and as Lady Kolfinna was supposed to watch her next to escort her through the merchants and guard her there was obvious concern. We searched high and low over the entire camp and town, unable to locate her. It seems she was as quick-footed as they say and had slipped us durin the day in her own private game of hide-and-seek. Much relief was had when she was finally located and I was able to prepare for battle.

The Knights and archers took to the ravine, to avenge our fallen comrades and clear the Ansteorran forces from the location. The battle was a rousing success, with Trimaris able to push them out of the ravine and back towards the field to gather their forces and lick their wounds. Of special note were our Atlantian allies who held a defensive position and refused to yield the floor to te enemy. The Trimarian forces pushed the Ansteorran forces out of the ravine and back onto the field before the town itself.

Soon after, I received the orders to marshal onto the field and prepare to engage the Ansteorran forces. I was nervous and scared I will admit, this was my first true battle and my fellow men at arms to my left and right depended on me. I was blessed that in our first pass on the field I had Jarl Ari by my side, his courage and calm was infectious in the times of stress. Finally our general called for a forward march, and the bloodshed began.

The Trimarian force had a simple stance: hold the center ground and do not die. Our allies on our flanks were to crush in on the left and the right, and we the anvil would be te surface ok which we broke them. I was scared, but as soon as our enemies were before us I had a sudden rush of purpose. I knew what I had to do, not die and hold this spot, and by God I would do just that. I parryed and blocked, defended my allies and even managed to kill two Ansteorrans. I was wounded, and lost use temporarily of my right arm from the pain, but I battled on and did not yield the ground. Three passes the enemy made at us, and in all three we captured them on our anvil and shattered them. We held the field that day, and I have never felt so alive.

I have heard that some of the Ansteorran forces have tried to retake the town while our forces were harried outside it. We will lead the charge in to retake it, while the bulk of the Trimarian forces finish off the Ansteorrans on the field.

My day after that was tiring but fantastic. I have eaten much, drank much, eaten much and danced till my feet hurt. Goodnight world, my life has gone amazing and I hope that it continues. I am well into my cups, thanks to a fantastic celebration of our victories. Vivat!