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Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques | Tuesday, 1st period

This week, the class had received ~~handwavy~~ e-mail messages to meet at Portalocity. When they got there, Hannibal greeted them and handed out a list of fruits and vegetables. "Today, we will be covering selecting good produce. The first lesson to buying decent fruits and vegetables is, whenever possible, to buy things which are organic, grown locally, and currently in season. It's healthier and tastes much better. That said, I realize that you may not always have that option. There are some foods that buying organic is more important for than others, due to the amount of chemicals they retain or the types used."

He nodded at the paper. "In addition, as you will see, there are certain times in Baltimore during which very little is in season. Therefore, we will be traveling to Baltimore in August, so as to actually find something more than apples."

He held up the list. "I've included some simple reminders about how to choose the best of each; I will go into more detail once we arrive, and feel free to take notes. As our class activity today, instead of cooking, you will be choosing your own produce to bring back from a local farmers' market. At this particular market, most things are grown organically, and should be marked as such. Stay close and pay attention while I orient you, and then find the produce I assign."

He smirked. "It's in your best interest to perform well; once you've completed the assignment, you are welcome to relax in the August weather. If you need help, I will be pleased to answer any questions. You may also ask the farmers, but please remember that we aren't on the island; they may not be used to much strangeness."

He waited to see if there were any current questions, then nodded them through the portal.

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Warmly!

Maria DeLuca

Lottie Grote

Raven Queen

Dante

Cosette Fauchelevent

Eric Bittle

Xanthippe Voorhees

Mabel Pines

Ask questions, cheer about going to August...

"Those of you who have not had this class before," Hannibal said, "I would like you to pick out one head of spinach, one bunch of grapes, one eggplant, several tomatoes, a few onions, several apples, a couple of parsnips, and one other item of your choice."

Which was...most of them, for once. "Mademoiselle," he told Cosette, "please choose at least six different vegetables that will make a dish together, and two fruits."

Dante spent more time wandering around and staring at the list (... and at funnily-shaped vegetables) than actually picking anything.

"The fuck's a parsnip," he muttered to himself.

"A vegetable," Hannibal answered over his shoulder, smirking. "Slightly sweet. It looks rather like a white carrot."

. . . it was entirely possible that Cosette got carried away, again, and ended up with about ten different vegetables, because she was going for a nice variety of textures and colors. She stuck to the two fruits, though, opting for figs and peaches.

Hannibal smiled as he looked over her choices. "You seem to have plans for this, Mademoiselle. What will you be making?"

"Oh, I thought I might try some sort of vegetable stew," Cosette said lightly. "It seemed appealing, seeing as it's still winter at home. I managed to find nearly all of them in an organic variety, as well."

"Very good," Hannibal praised her. "I hope your father appreciates it."

Raven actually enjoyed cooking and took her time selecting choice examples of the fruits and vegetables. For her final item she picked blueberries because they looked so tasty she wanted to eat some then and there.

Hannibal nodded at her selection. "You enjoy berries?"

"Well, apples are my favorite," Raven said, patting the the little basket of organic ones she'd picked, "but I like blueberries and strawberries, too."

"Will you cook with these?" Hannibal asked. "Or simply eat them?"

Raven smiled. "I will definitely make apple tarts with the apples," she said. "And with the blueberries...is pie too obvious?"

"You could make a crisp or cobbler, or even a salad, if you'd rather," Hannibal suggested.

"Cobbler!" Raven declared. "That's what I'll make."

"Good." Hannibal nodded at her. "You'll have to let me know if you need any help, and how it turns out."

"What, you don't subject yourself to taste-testing your students' creations?" Raven teased. "I promise, my apple tarts are wonderful. I haven't poisoned anyone!"

"We won't have time to cook today," Hannibal said. "But if you make them in a future class, I promise to taste them. And I appreciate the lack of poison," he added with a smile.

It was going to be so refreshing to have people willing to sample what she made. Raven was almost giddy.

"I'll do my best," she promised. "I haven't had much of a chance to cook for other people before, but I think I do a pretty good job."

"And hopefully you'll learn a few new things and be even better after this class," Hannibal told her.

Honestly, he rather enjoyed people being willing to eat his food, too.

This was Eric's first time in any of Hannibal's classes, yes, but not exactly his first time selecting food for cooking. So, he took his time... perhaps getting a little too friendly with some of the peaches.

When you've all chosen your produce, Hannibal will grade you on your choices, and then you can all relax in the August sun!

He'll let you taste what you chose, what he chose, and some of the same items of produce he picked at random from the non-organic, non-local supermarket. (Feel free to not taste a difference and make him feel sorry for you!)

In the end, just about everything Eric had chosen had an organic label- with the exception of the eggplant.

As for the peaches? He'd been tempted by some that had been grown in Georgia, but had eventually settled on locally-grown, mostly to see how they differed in taste from those back home in Madison.

Hannibal nodded his approval at the organic bent of Eric's choices. "Do you have any particular plans for these?"

He's here!

We have messy snow now. Can I go back to August, too?

Oooh, thanks for reminding me I meant to make something with Swiss chard this week.

Hee! Glad I could help!

What do you make with Swiss chard, apart from just cooked greens?

Ha, nothing too fancy -- I usually just do a sort of soup with ground beef, onions, beef stock, and a whole bunch of red chard, then have that over rice. It's pretty simple and makes for a few days' worth of meals.

. . . and by "a whole bunch" I actually mean two or three bunches. *cough*

Edited 2016-01-12 17:59 (UTC)

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Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques | Tuesday, 1st period

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Listen to the lecture!

Choose your produce!

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Discuss and relax!

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Talk to Hannibal!

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