fandomhigh | Intro to the 21st Century, Tuesday, Second Period

Cindy was quite pleased that her lesson today didn't involve either books or movies, as the island had made both options completely untenable. She was already not a fan of the upcoming holiday--two spectacularly failed marriages will do that to you--and the island's insistence on playing it up was already getting on her nerves.

Which might have been why she was a little short today when everyone filed into the Danger Shop. "Today, we'll be looking at ways to keep from starving to death, no matter how lousy you are at cooking," she said. "First and foremost, the best way to keep yourself fed and fed well is to have an extensive number of local restaurants and delis and the like programmed into your cell-phone. Many places deliver, which means they bring the food directly to your home in exchange for a slight fee or tip to the delivery person; and still others allow the pick-up option, where they will prepare your meal to go, and you can bring it back to your home where you can eat in peace and with a minimum of socialization."

Sometimes, a lack of socialization was exactly what someone was looking for, okay? "But eating out every night can get expensive. While a fast food chain might offer a meal for just a few dollars, even lower-end chain restaurants charge close to $10 for a single meal, which, if you remember from last week, is more than you made in an hour. Fortunately, there are other options. These options are slightly more expensive than buying ingredients to make a similar meal from scratch, but they do have the benefit of being faster, easier, and more difficult--though not impossible--to mess up."

With a touch of a button, they were in the freezer section of a grocery store. "Many stores offer premade meals that can be stored in your freezer until you're ready to eat them. There is a large variety of possible meals: vegetarian, vegan, low-fat, low-carb...While there are not frozen foods to fit every diet, they do try to fit the most common ones. Many of these meals can be cooked in an oven, a microwave, or a toaster oven." Beckoning the students over a few aisles, Cindy pointed to a small area where several of the named appliances stood, waiting to be used. "Today, I want you to find a few meals you think you could eat--and feel free to look around the store, there are plenty of quick foods you can find beyond the freezer section--" Like Ramen! And Easy-Mac! "--and then try your hand at making some of them. See if you can find a brand or a dish that's new to you, but that you like. Also, keep an eye on the prices of things and figure out how they could fit into your personal budget."

[OCD ready to go!]

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Eating!

Rilla Blythe

Elphaba Thropp

Cally

Warren Worthington III

Yes, your teacher is extolling the wonders of the frozen food aisle. Cindy doesn't like to cook, all right?

The freezer section alone has different kinds of ethnic cuisine, frozen pizzas, Hot Pockets, and other meals of all stripes including breakfast. But as Cindy said, there's lots of quick meals all over the place, so feel free to wander around and find several different options.

A few of these, Cally had seen in the common room cupboards, but that thing that looked like a baking tin with a handle was definitely new.

She studied the picture and had no trouble recognizing the popped corn that was such a favourite in the dorms, but that was something you made in a bag in the microwave. What was this supposed to be -- a popcorn pie?

[Try to tell me Jiffy-Pop is not a meal. TRY.]

Oh, instant food. How very familiar with you Warren was...

He contemplated the shelves for a short while, and then settled on one of those Campbell's soup microwaveable things. They had a sirloin burger one that wasn't too terrible, if you didn't think too hard about the tiny discs of reconstituted meat.

Make sure to read the instructions and you'll be fine...right?

Rilla was giving the slice and bake cookies another try!

She was determined to get cookie-shaped cookies out of this round.

"You look very focused," Cindy noted, coming around to check up on Rilla.

"I tried to make cookies yesterday and they didn't turn out as well as I would like," Rilla admitted.

Elphaba, for her part, simply gathered some vegetables and started to prepare a salad.

She might have been missing some of the point.

Cindy noticed that with a grin as she wandered over. "A salad," she said, with a small smile. "A very good choice, though probably not one that's particularly new to you, is it?"

"To be honest, the idea of eating something that has just been unfrozen seems odd," Elphaba said. "Though I'm sure it's far more common here. "

"They may seem weird," Cindy said gently, "but the point of this class--the entire class, not just this singular instance--is to get you acclimated to new things, including things that seem weird at first glance."

Elphaba nodded. "This seemed the safest option in order to not violate my diet, admittedly," she said. "I've been trying to keep strict vegan ever since I came to learn certain things about Earth's food industry."

"Every meal is required, by law, to include a list of all ingredients," Cindy said. "So you can check the listings to make sure the food you're eating contains no honey, eggs, dairy, or animal by-products. Also, there are certain vegan offerings that you can also try. It's illegal to make false claims about what your food is, so if there's something claiming to be vegan, it will be vegan."

Fortunately, since they were already in the produce section, they were close to where all many of the vegan options were, including the different tofu types and the various meat-alternatives.

"It takes a little more effort and work on your part," Cindy said, picking up a box of black bean 'burgers' and handing them over. "But you can find plenty of things to eat beyond a salad."

Cally followed the directions closely on her container of Jiffy-Pop (once she found them by pulling the circular insert out), even if it did make her feel a bit silly to stand over the heating unit shaking a pie tin by its flimsy wire handle. Also, it was taking forever; this popcorn pie thing had better be worth the effort.

Right about then would be when the noises started, and right after that, the foil cover began to rise. And rise... And rise....

"Stand back - I think it's going to explode!"

Dinner should not explode.

Edited 2011-02-08 21:35 (UTC)

Cindy couldn't help but chuckle a bit at that. "Probably not," she said, "at least, not if you remove it from the heat in time."

She eyed the container. "Now might be a good idea."

Having taken her own advice, it took Cally a moment to reach the stove again and snatch the pan off the burner by the (still cool, thankfully, idiot) handle. She was left staring dubiously at the giant puff of foil, not entirely certain she believed it wouldn't go boom in her her face.

"You're sure it's safe?"

"I'm sure," Cindy said, lips twitching in a smile. "But you'll want a bowl to catch everything in. And watch out for escaping steam--that could hurt you."

Soup. Microwave. Ding.

Really, this was kind of like old hat, for Warren. He hadn't been able to get out much, and dinner growing up had generally been whatever he could scrounge together while his dad was out on business.

He kind of felt like he was cheating, in this class. But at least the soup wasn't awful.

Hi, Jaime

She's recoiling in horror from the Easy Mac display.

I have no shame. I lived on Easy Mac in college.

Intro to the 21st Century, Tuesday, Second Period

Sign in (Week 6)

Re: Sign in (Week 6)

Re: Sign in (Week 6)

Re: Sign in (Week 6)

Re: Sign in (Week 6)

Listen to the Lecture

Wander the Store

Re: Wander the Store

Re: Wander the Store

Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Re: Prepare Your Meal!

Talk to the TA

Talk to "Professor Perrault"

OOC