escordvi | November open log

Who: Zhao and you

Status: Open

Where: Bopping around everywhere

What: Zhao settling into the corsair life and how one exactly begins a restaurant empire...

Warnings: Zhao's cursing for now

People watching and planning

[On the isle of Eltrut, Zhao is chilling with a beer during a fine afternoon. He seems to be daydreaming, staring off into space, but is also periodically jotting something down in a notebook ~~that he probably stole~~.

He waves if you approach.]

Hey, what's up?

Cat training

[Zhao hadn't had any pets growing up, but as part of running the Liumang, he did run a restaurant with a tiger. It'd been his job to train it when he'd been small. Training a much more manageable feline didn't seem so bad. Plus, who the fuck wouldn't want a cat named Cobrastrike?]

Okay, Cobra. We gotta train your ass if you're going to hang with me. I'm gonna move this barrel and something's going to crawl out, so get ready!

[The brown tomcat looks like he'd been in a few fights, but he lashes his tail. Zhao takes that as an encouraging sign.]

Gallows Humor

[In the quest for getting funds and clout together for a business venture, Zhao knows he's gotta hustle. Even if it means breaking into prison with whoever's been unfortunate enough to be stuck with him.]

So, can't say I've broken into a prison before. You got a plan or are we winging this shit?

Or whatever else you want to plan, Zhao's your man Just hit me up at draculabackwards on plurk if you want to plot!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Try this.

[Daqiang has ignored the fact that everyone is supposed to stay at their own stations. He has traveled from his to Zhao's - passing three others on the way - to shove a bowl of steaming, cloudy water that might be an attempt at broth, but for some reason has flower petals floating limply on the surface.

If Zhao does try it, it's.... it's bad. The honey Daqiang added did nothing to curb the otherwise bitter flavor of various flowers that should have been mixed together with onions and garlic.]

Oh God.

[He drinks and coughs, not prepared for the unusual combination of flavors. Then he kind of looks at the bowl of flowers and honey and what is all this?]

You might start a religious argument if you serve this. Let me help you out. So...what were you trying to make here?

Flower soup.

[Hense the flower petals.

He ~~pouted~~ frowned and crossed his arms.]

The little flower demon's master used to make it for her. She once showed this venerable one how to make it.

[It's the only recipe he's ever learned and he's terrible at it.]

Flower soup? Uhhh....I might have to think about that one. Maybe we just start with whatever ingredients you have and I can work from there.

[Never mind that this guy is 1000 years old or whatever, that soup was a war crime. So he strolls over with Moon Supreme to his cooking station to see what he can salvage.]

[Based on the consistancy of the 'soup', the cloudiness, and the state of ingredients at his station, flower soup was probably a broth 'soup' in the same way as miso soup. A variety of edible flowers had been stripped of their petals and a decent amount of them had been ground up. Others had been set to the side to add as garnish. There were bowls of aromatics and, of course, the honey.

There was also a list of the ingredients written out, the steps and order of when to combine and heat them. But there were no clear proportions listed.]

This is what she used to make it.

[The problem being she did it from memory and had a sense of proportions and he'd only watched her make it and had no experience cooking. He didn't realize 'one handful' for one person might be the equivalent of 'two handfuls' if done by another.]

Oh, so you copied how someone did and tried to do it yourself.

[He's seen how trying to learn a recipe could get corrupted even though you were right there taking notes. Zhao had learned a lot of his cooking from the elders of the gang and nothing was ever exact.]

Using edible flowers is a little unusual. I think I know of one recipe that uses flowers but it's going to be different from your recipe. We'd be able to salvage whatever you started if ya want.

She uses flowers in much of her cooking. It is also common in this venerable one's world.

[It not being the same recipe was frustrating. But perhaps if he mastered a different one, he could revisit Orchid's.]

This venerable one is willing to learn. Please teach this venerable one well.

Okay. So we'll put your recipe aside for a moment. I'm curious what it's supposed to be and maybe if I mess around with it enough I can get close.

But you do have some lily root here and I can make something outta that. Just need some pork and chicken powder, some beans and a few other things. Try to find that and we can go from there.

[Pork. Chicken powder. Beans.

Daqiang inclined his head and moved off from the cooking station to the tables where ingredients had been laid out. Many of which were entirely plundered, leaving gaps that had not yet been filled - and might not be at this stage of the competition. It meant he had to search a bit to find anything reasonably familiar.

When he came back, he laid down a plate with pork cuts, chicken cuts, and mung beans.]

This venerable could not find powdered chicken. There was chicken stock that this venerable one can retrieve.

Okay, so the first thing about recipes is that you should try to follow them at first. Once you've cooked it a few times and gained some confidence, that's when you can experiment a bit.

So I have most, but not everything I need.

[Zhao might look like a shady bastard but he did know how to cook and he was reasonable in teaching.]

I'll write this all down for you, but as long as you help me, we should make something decent.

[With the combined effort, Zhao's cooked up some lily flower soup. He offers Daqiang the first taste.]

[Though the final dish looked and smelled very, very different from anything that Orchid had cooked for him, it was not so very different from some of the common soups of Cangyanhai. And considering that he had help Zhao make it, he was confident enough there wasn't any intentional poisoning to worry about. His own poor skills in the area of cooking had taught him enough about unintentional poisoning that he couldn't be quite as confident on that end. However, Zhao clearly understood how to cook far better than Daqiang did.

So Daqiang accepted the offer to have the first taste. He lifted a tentative spoonful to his lips and gave it a careful sip. When the broth proved to be good, he took a bite of the noodles and lily flowers with much more confidence.]

It's very good. It is nothing like the little flower demon's soup, but it is good.

[He inclined his head toward Zhao.]

This venerable one will practice this recipe to become experienced with it.

[The first dozen attempts on his own will not be pretty. RIP to the grass he's gonna pour it out on.]

[Pour one out for the grass. But Zhao nods at him.]

Well, we all gotta start somewhere.

[He borrows some pen and paper and writes out an approximation of the recipe he'd memorized so Daqiang can give it a try himself.]

Here you go. Gotta get back to my own stuff, but happy cooking~

[Daqiang accepts the recipe, gives it a quick read through and inclines his head to Zhao.]

You may leave first.

[Said with all the formality of a man holding court and the closest Daqiang was going to get to offering a 'thank you'. Still, it was done with a noticeably pleased tone and an almost-smile on his lips which was something of an achievement in and of itself.]

November open log

Elrut Cookoff

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject