Gaslight Gathering: Saturday Tea and Port of Call

Saturday at Gaslight Gathering was a very hectic day. Like at most cons, it was the busiest day, so lots of people came through the Observation Lounge looking for a beverage or light snack. We also were responsible for an afternoon tea in another part of the building, plus two special events in the Lounge itself.

This is the third year we have run the steampunk Saturday tea. This year, in keeping with the nautical theme of the convention, each table was named for a famous shipwreck or ghost ship of the 19th or early 20th century. We got to do the center pieces. Each table had general nautical ephemera, plus photos or paintings of the ship. Each table also had place cards with the name of the ship, and a unique trivia question about the ship inside. Everyone also got a goodie bag, containing a handmade medal, some white chocolate sea shells, and a card with nautical knots and some cord to practice with.

For entertainment, we went intimate this year. We had a magician, Dino Staats, doing close up magic, and a couple of friends as sea hags, telling fortunes. From all accounts, both acts were marvelously entertaining.

After getting the room set up and everyone seated, I rushed back to the Observation Lounge to supervise the Port of Call. The port of call for Saturday was the Island of Santorini. To celebrate that, I made a lemon chicken rice soup, and a ricotta honey pie. I made the little cheesecakes as individual one bite desserts. They have a pine nut crust. Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the food from this event. If  you are willing to let me use, let me know.

Finally, in the evening, we had a birthday party for the Artist Guest of Honor, Brian Kesinger. We had cake, including a lovely one with the head of Boba Fett, made by another fan.

Recipes

Lemon Chicken Rice Soup

12 cups chicken stock
1 cup lemon juice
1 bunch celery, finely diced
1 1/2 lbs. carrots, finely diced
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
4 lbs. precooked chicken, diced
3 cups cooked rice
salt to taste

Place stock and lemon juice in a crock pot. Simmer on high for one hour. Add garlic, celery, and carrots. Let simmer one more hour, or until vegetables are tender but not mushy. Ten minutes before serving, stir in chicken and rice. Add salt, and additional lemon juice as needed.

Ricotta Honey Cheesecake with Pinenut Crust

For the crust:

8 oz. by wt. pine nuts
1/3 cup sugar
16 oz. by wt. all purpose flour
8 oz. by wt. butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch salt

In a heavy skillet, toast pine nuts over medium heat. Transfer to a food processor. Pulse several times. Add flour, sugar, and salt, process until nuts are finely ground.

Transfer nut mixture to a mixing bowl. Add butter, egg, and vanilla. Work by hand until ingredients are well mixed. Divide into balls, wrap balls in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least ten minutes.

One ball is enough crust for one batch of cheesecake.

For the cheesecake:

4 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. all purpose flour
16 oz. by wt. ricotta cheese
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, minced
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, mix together ricotta and thyme, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Slowly beat in flour, sugar, and salt until eggs are medium stiff peaks. Beat in honey, until fully incorporated. Fold ricotta into egg whites until well blended, with no lumps of egg white or ricotta remaining.

Line mini-muffin pan with paper cups. Place about 1 teaspoon of pinenut dough in the bottom of each cup, pressing it down to form a thin layer on the bottom of the cup. Spoon in batter to about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until cheesecakes are resilient to the touch, and lightly browned.

Remove from oven. Lightly dust with cinnamon powder. Place on cooling rack to cool. Refrigerate until serving time.

One batch makes about 35 miniature cheesecakes.

Happy Eating!

Gaslight Gathering: Friday Port of Call

Last weekend was Gaslight Gathering, a major steampunk event in San Diego. The spouse and I, with another couple, were in charge of running the hospitality suite and one of the teas. The four of us, along with all our staff, were responsible for providing food and drink for the attendees, who probably numbered around 1200.

We kept the bathtub full of sodas and bottled water on ice, provided coffee and hot water for chocolate and tea, and kept up an array of snacks, including chips, veggies, dips, humus, cookies, and candies.

One thing I very much like about this convention is that it explicitly contains a LARPish element. The conceit is that the convention takes place on a giant luxury airship, the Gaslight. In keeping with that theme, we like to refer to the hospitality suite as the Observation Lounge. We also do various 'ports of call', were we say the airship is docked at some city, and we are providing a taste of the local cuisine.

This year, we wanted to keep to the nautical theme, so went with two very different islands. Friday's port of call was Rapa Nui (Easter Island). For that, I made a Polynesian pulled pork, and a fruit pudding called po'e. The pork was slow cooked with liquid smoke and sea salt. The pudding was made from banana, mango, and papaya, and served with a dollop of coconut cream and a sprinkling of brown sugar. To make my life easier, I made little individual puddings in mini-muffin liners, rather than a big pudding that would have to be shared out.

Unfortunately, I did not get any good pictures of the food at the ports of call either day. If anyone else did, and would be willing to let me use them, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Recipes

Polynesian Pulled Pork

20 lbs boneless pork shoulder
1/2 cup coarse sea salt
1/4 cup liquid smoke
1/2 banana, split lengthwise

Trim excess fat from pork. Thoroughly rub liquid smoke over entire surface of pork shoulder. Do the same with the sea salt. Place pork in a crock pot. Lay banana half on top, cover. Turn on to high, until pot comes up to temperature, about 3 hours. Turn to low, cook another 16 hours. An hour before service, remove banana. Shred pork, return to crock pot. Let cook in the juice uncovered for one more hour.

Po'e (Tahitian Fruit Pudding)

4 cups banana puree
3 cups mango puree
1 cup papaya puree
1cup brown sugar
4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups corn starch
1 cup coconut milk
brown sugar to garnish

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Mix together fruit purees, sugar, vanilla, and corn starch. whisk thoroughly to remove any lumps of cornstarch.

Line a mini-muffin tin with paper liners. Carefully fill liners about 2/3 full with pudding mix. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until pudding is firm and springy to the touch.

Remove to a cooling rack. Let cool, refrigerate until serving.

To serve, poor a little coconut cream over each pudding. Sprinkle lightly with brown sugar.

One batch makes about 70 individual puddings.

Happy eating!

Chefs Fire Up The Iron Horse Event

This weekend I helped, along with a lot of the other students in the Grossmont College culinary program, at a culinary event. This event, titled Chefs Fire Up the Iron Horse, was a co-operation between The Chefs de Cuisine Association of San Diego, the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association, and the Southern California Vintner's Alliance. It was a food and wine tasting out at the Campo Depot of the museum.

We did preparation for the event Friday morning. We gathered at the school, and made the salads. We made a Caprese salad, potato salad, Caesar salad, seafood salad, and ceviche. I originally was assigned to do the Caprese salad with another student. We washed grape and cherry tomatoes, and did a chiffonade of a tub of basil. We mixed the tomatoes and basil with mozzarella balls, olive oil, and black pepper. We finished quickly, and helped cut up romaine lettuce for the Caesar salad, and cut up more basil for the seafood salad.

Saturday, we met at the school early, and worked out carpool arrangements for the drive to Campo. The reception was held in a large hanger full of engines and cars. The food and alcohol booths were set up along either side of the central walkway, with tables in the middle.

There were stations for salad, seafood, sushi, carved meats, grilled sausage, and desserts. There were tables from a number of wineries in the San Diego and Temecula areas.

There was a mess car with a coal fired stove. The oven was used to braise pork belly in beer, and bake ham. Chili was cooked on the stove top.

We set up a grilling area out back. That's where I got assigned to work. We had to grill a lot of sausages.

The day was perfect. Sunny, a little warm, but with a cool breeze. We got there around ten, and helped set up. We worked cooking and serving most of the day. We did get breaks toward the end. That gave us a chance to try the food, and check out the wineries.

It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun, too. And, it counts as extra credit for my culinary class.

Feeding Fen

This weekend, I was part of the team running the hospitality suite for the Condor Science Fiction Convention. We've been running the hospitality suite for the convention since 2002. Hard to believe it has been that long.

Mostly we provide water, soda, and snacks. We generally have commercial, pre-packaged foods. We make a few things ourselves, most notably hummus and sunshine spread (cream cheese with bacon bits and orange marmalade).

We had the opportunity to load in our stuff Thursday night. Last year was the first time a hotel let us do that, and it was really helpful. However, this year the suite flooded out due to the rain, and we spent the morning Friday in an emergency re-location to the suite on a higher floor. The bell staff was wonderful, helping schlep all the food and gear, but everything became scrambled in the move, so we had to reorganize all over again. This delayed our opening by two hours.

We did eventually get set up.  Our con Guest of Honor was Connie Willis, whose latest novels were about time travellers going back to the blitz in London in World War II. In honor of that, we decorated the suit along the theme of a air raid bunker. I found and had printed a number WWII posters, and another member of the team brought a lot of army surplus gear to dress the room.

Friday we had a cake and ice cream social in honor of Ms. Willis. One of the cakes we ordered had a dinosaur on it, which she loved. She was a delight, staying well beyond the mandatory time to chat with attendees.

Things were a bit hectic Saturday, as two of the team had a conflicting event out of town that they had to attend. We were able to get several volunteers to help. They worked very hard, and did a marvelous job. It was still, however, more difficult without people you have worked with for a decade, and who don't need any supervision.

Saturday afternoon, we had a special event. We had a 'tea' in the afternoon that we dubbed the 'Ration-ali-Tea'. The idea was that it was a tea during wartime. Everyone that came got a little scone. I used the recipe from my pastry class, but just plain. There is a war on, you know.

We also provided some little tea sandwiches. We had spam, ground groundnut(peanut butter), and American cheese. We also had some biscuits (cookies for you Yanks). The spouse made the cutest little ration books with the menu for the tea. I think people got a kick out of it, even if some didn't understand what we were doing with the theme.

I enjoy doing it, but it left me a little tired. The additional burden of the time change Sunday did not help. I was groggier and less alert than usual in class today.