How to Survive Your Own Cooking [Class 1]

[mistressofblack.livejournal.com]

"Hello, everyone," Lulu said, smiling softly, as the students came in to the home ec room. "Welcome to How to Survive Your Own Cooking. For those who don't know me, my name is Lulu; you may call me Professor if you wish, but my name will also suffice. I'd also like to take this opportunity to introduce my teaching assistant, Liir."

As people settled in, Lulu passed around the class syllabus. "Today, we're going to start with something rather simple," she said. "First, introductions; it's best that we learn about each other if we're going to be spending a semester together. I'd like you all to share your name, where you're from, and what kind of experience you have cooking."

After the introductions had finished, Lulu gestured to the different food stations. "As you can see," she said, "there are seven stations set up today. At each station, you will find a large salad bowl and a package of romaine lettuce. Divide yourselves into groups of two; each group is responsible for preparing one salad. Instructions on preparing the lettuce are on each package. You should use three different moddable vegetables, a protein, such as bacon or boiled eggs, and a salad dressing, all of which you can find at the front of the room. Dice the vegetables before adding them to the salad -- that means to cut them into square chunks, like this." Lulu grabbed a green pepper from the selection and demonstrated how to dice it, resulting in fairly large chunks. "In some cases, I would recommend saving the pips, the seeds of the pepper, to use in the recipe, but in the case of salads you should discard them.

"Most of all," Lulu continued, as the students divided themselves up, "try to have fun. If you have any questions, feel free to ask."

At the end of the class, as the students tidied up, Lulu said, "Over the course of the next week, I'd like you each to make a salad and share it with one other person. This will be your perfectly handwaveable homework each week -- to make and share what you've made in class. When you come in next week, be prepared to tell us what ingredients you used, and how it was received by the person you shared it with."

[Please to be waiting for OCD is up!]

Comments

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[snow-white-boy.livejournal.com]

"Okay then," Haku nodded slowly and looked around at the ingredients that they had to choose from. His style had a decidedly asian flair as he choose chicken, green onions, mandarin slices and wonton crisps.

"How does this look?"

No, Haku had no idea that he'd just put together Chinese Chicken Salad.

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I've never seen some of those," he said honestly, "but it all smells right together. Do you want to chop half and I'll chop half?"

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[snow-white-boy.livejournal.com]

"I thought it should," he nodded proudly. "You do the lettuce and I'll get the chicken and onions?"

Though, being skilled with blades, Haku made very quick work of them and the madarin slices and wontons didn't need to be cut.

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir wasn't familiar with lettuce, but he'd done his share of cabbage and with a much duller blade. The work went relatively fast, certainly not as fast as Haku's.

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[snow-white-boy.livejournal.com]

Haku honestly had more experience with cabbage too, and thought it tasted better.

"Okay, I think we dump everything in the bowl and toss it together."

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"All right," he said, putting the lettuce on the bottom. There was the most of it, so he figured that should look right.

"Did we pick a dressing?"

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[snow-white-boy.livejournal.com]

"Oh..." Haku paused and blushed faintly. "No.. let's do that. Why don't you choose this one?"

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He nodded and looked at the assorted bottles, picking up one that sounded about right (http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Products/ProductInfoDisplay.htm?SiteId=1&Product=2100065476).

"What do you think about this?"

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[snow-white-boy.livejournal.com]

"That sounds good," Haku nodded with a smile. "I don't know what red wine taste like, but it all sounds good."

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Well, wine's made from grapes and we've put those oranges in," he reasoned. "They're both fruits, so I thought it might blend well."

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[snow-white-boy.livejournal.com]

"Does it taste like grapes though? I was fairly sure that wine was alcaholic."

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't know. We could taste it and see before we decide."

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[snow-white-boy.livejournal.com]

"I don't see where it would hurt," Haku reasoned as he opened the dressing and tasted it.

"It's not sweet," he blinked after a moment and handed teh bottle to Liir. "Not really sweet at all."

Re: Assignment: Salad [Class 1]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He tasted it himself before taking a small piece of lettuce, a wonton crunch, and a small bit of mandarin they had left and tasting them together.

"But it tastes all right all together. The mandarin is sweet enough for it."