fandomhigh | Flavors, Food Choices, and Menu Planning

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Flavors, Food Choices, and Menu Planning - Friday, 4th period

Hanna waited for the students to file in and get seated, then nodded to them and began.

"I hope you all enjoyed the film last week. So, now we return to cooking. Salt," she said, and uncovered the dishes on the counter. "Throughout the world, salt is the most widely-used ingredient in food. It is also one of the oldest. Long before refrigeration, salt curing was used to preserve foods. Salt pulls moisture from food and inhibits bacterial growth."

She passed around a bit of home-made jerky. "In addition, it affects many of the chemical reactions involved in cooking. Because it helps protein gelatinzation and alters the rate of fermentation, it affects the texture of meats, breads, cheeses - most things in which it's used." Bread and sausage were passed around next.

"Also, it affects other flavors. In small amounts, it can enhance sweetness - hence the salt you may find in fruit dishes and candies - and cut bitterness - hence its being used in pickling like the olives we had in our bitter foods class." Next were more of those olives, and some salted caramels to taste.

"The key with salt is using the right amount, and the right kind. You should at all costs avoid common table salt; it has additives to help it to pour, and iodine. Neither will do your dishes any favors. It melts too fast, behaves unsavorily," pun totally intended, "and offers no benefits other than easy access. Instead, you can use kosher salt or sea salt."

There were several tiny bowls put out now. "Kosher salt tends to have larger crystals, so can add its own texture to a dish. It has fewer mineral notes than sea salt. It's a good choice especially when adding salt early in the cooking process.

"Sea salt comes in many forms - coarse, flakes, and so on - and there are a number of varieties." Including the grey, pink, and black ones she set out next. "The minerals in the area they come from offer subtle differences that can enhance a dish."

She looked around for any questions, then nodded. "So. Taste these, then make something of your own. Preferably that makes good use of at least one of them."

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Sholeh was just going to sit there and stare at her teacher. She definitely hadn't been expecting this when she'd come to class today.

Nor had Hanna been expecting her. "Hello; are you sitting in for someone, or did you wish to speak with me?"

Sholeh looked up at Hannibal curiously. "I--what? Dr. Lecter, I don't understand."

It was Friday, right? And time for class?

She glanced around, making sure that everything else was the same. Students, check. Typical classroom, check. Delicious food, check. Dr Lecter, unexpectedly female, but still check.

"...I'm here for class."

As she had been every week. For the last two semesters.

Hanna raised an eyebrow. "Apparently so, but you are not in my roster, Ms...?"

"Sholeh?" Sholeh replied, completely confused. "Sholeh a Zeela?"

This had to be some kind of crazy island thing. Like maybe Dr. Lecter had turned into a girl and also lost a bunch of memories?

"Err...is this some kind of joke, si--ma'am? Some kind of joke, ma'am? I mean, it's me."

That got her a very raised eyebrow. "Sholeh Zeela a Zahar has been in my class for several semesters now. You are not her."

Hanna stopped and sighed. "This is some strange island thing, isn't it? It's decided to change your face for some reason?"

"Change my face?" Sholeh was at a loss now, entirely. "No? I look the same as I always do. Don't I?"

She pulled a lock of hair over her shoulder to examine it. Yup, still red. Her hands were still freckled. She didn't have a mirror, but her face still felt like hers.

"I do agree that something is wrong here," she said carefully, NOT mentioning the fact that Dr. Lecter was suddenly a woman. "There's no a Zhahar on my name, for one. It's just Sholeh a Zeela."

Hanna frowned. For once, her perfect memory was rather a liability, as she hadn't ever bothered bringing in a roll sheet. Who would have thought she'd have to prove a student's own name to her?

Fandom, honestly. Just when she thought she was getting used to it...

She shook her head. "Very well, never mind. Far be it from me to deny anyone who wishes to learn." Hopefully this would clear itself up by the end of Spring Break. So long as Sholeh didn't burn anything down in the meantime, it wouldn't be a problem.

Sholeh wouldn't burn anything down! She'd been his TA last semester, even!

"Uhh, thank you?" she said. "For, umm, letting me stay in class, I mean."

You know. The one she'd signed up for. La.

Sholeh was right there on the list of people getting a weird, kind of confused side-eye from Sparkle today.

"Uh... your sisters get fed up with your cooking skills and decide you needed a go at... Um..." Sparkle glanced at Hanna. "... Dr. Lecter's class, Sho?"

"Huh?" No, seriously, what was with people today? "What are you talking about?"

Sisters?

"You know? Like, Zhari? She not feeling okay today or something? Sudden case of the shy? Just get fed up with me being the teacher's pet?"

Sparkle was wearing a crooked smile, because, come on, what else could there be, here?

"...Who?"

Sholeh had no idea what Sparkle was jabbering on about. Of course, that wasn't entirely new, since Sparkle often jabbered on about things she didn't understand. Asking about some random girl was pretty tame, comparatively.

"Um..." Sparkle squinted a little, now. "Your sister? Zhahar. Because, you know, she's the one in this class? She was TA along with me last semester and everything. Hates my stupid face? Made cookies? For Valentine's? She didn't give me the burned ones!"

That was a big deal!

=Did he just fuck up my name?= Zee demanded. =Let him know I'm going to kick his ass for that.=

::I think he's just messing with me?:: she offered. ::But I'll pass that along anyway.::

"Okaaaaay, so I'm pretty sure this is one of your incomprehensible jokes," Sholeh said, eyeing Sparkle. "That or my sister Zee will end up kicking your butt for forgetting her name."

Sholeh had one sister. And she was most certainly not the cooking class type.

"What? No, I didn't forget Zeela's name," Sparkle replied, throwing his arms in the air. "Sho, you're starting to kind of freak me out, here. Like, you don't joke about this sort of shit, okay? Where the hell is Zhari? I don't even really like Zhari, but this isn't okay."

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing, Sparkle, but I'm not in the mood for it," Sholeh retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not the one making stupid jokes right now." That was all on him. "There's just me and Zee and you know that, so whatever elaborate prank you're trying to pull, you can just stop it, okay?"

Sparkle fell silent, just staring hard at Sholeh's expression, hoping to find some sort of telltale in her eyes that said she was lying. Anything.

He couldn't. And it made his heart twist in his chest and his mouth go dry and he stared at her, long and hard, wringing the bottom of his shirt in his hand.

"Yeah. Yeah, right. The fuck was I even thinking, three for the price of two, like, shit, I must be getting greedy or something. And I didn't even have you going, like, at all. God. What kind of weird Charlie's Angels bullshit would that be, a blonde and a redhead and a brunette just all chilling out there like no big fucking deal and... and... Did you, like, eat her or is she just way the fuck down there and just not coming out because this is all wrong, Sho. You're three. That's what you are."

"Shhh!" Sholeh said, looking around wildly, making sure no one else overheard. "Sparkle, that's a secret! Zee and I trust you not to talk about that!"

Leaning in closer, she hissed in his ear. "Dyad, Sparkle. Dyad means two. Not three, two. So stop it, okay?"

"Tryad," he hissed back, hands clenched by his sides, trying not to shake. "Three! Sholeh, there's been three, there's been three since we met and three since I wound up taking care of a puppy and a deer and badgerface there and it was her that woke up naked at the foot of my bed, three when I turned into a fucking vampire and killed you and you ran and they just went on hating me, you told Ulrik and I together and I swear to fucking God it's been three! How don't you remember, why the fuck don't you remember, you don't just forget something like that!"

Sholeh wasn't the intellectual aspect for nothing. After a moment of confused gaping, she finally put the pieces together. "Oh," she exclaimed. "This must be some kind of Fandom thing."

Oh, god. Yes. Yes yes yes maybe she was getting it, maybe people weren't losing their minds here, maybe the island was just fucking around with them.

"Fandom thing!" Sparkle clung to that idea like a drowning man grasping for a lifeline. "Oh, fuck, god, yes. This has got to be a Fandom thing. Fucking island'll just put this all right in, like, the morning anyhow. What the hell, right?"

Because people didn't just stop existing, that was not okay.

Sholeh reached over and patted his hand. "I'm sorry I thought you were just making some incredibly tasteless joke. It's all just a weird island thing, probably getting a jump on the weekend or something."

Because that was when the island liked to mess with people's head especially.

"Tomorrow or, worst case, Monday, you'll wake up and remember reality correctly. Don't worry, Sparks. You'll be back to normal really soon. And Zee and I will take you out for ice cream to show you no hard feelings, okay?"

Sparkle was pretty sure he was going to throw up. That seemed like pretty much the only option, since the world was twisting around his head and breathing wasn't really going to be happening with the way she'd just punched him in the fucking guts and all.

"Monday," he echoed. "Monday, yeah. Everything'll be just great on Monday."

He didn't sound terribly convinced. At all.

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Flavors, Food Choices, and Menu Planning - Friday, 4th period

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