fandomhigh | International Cuisine

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International Cuisine | Friday, 3rd period

Class today still met at Portalocity; it wasn't as if a potential hurricane tomorrow was going to stop them from going anywhere else today, after all. It just meant that Hannibal was in a very stylish raincoat.

"We're heading to Morocco today," he told the students. "It will be rather warm, so you'll want to leave your raingear here." As he was. "We haven't yet been to Africa this term, and I thought it might be time to change that."

He led them through the portal and into a bustling street surrounded by stalls. "Marrakech, Morocco," he explained. "Morocco has been a hub of trade for centuries, and its spices and cuisine reflect that. Mediterranean and Arabic cuisines are the strongest influences, and olive oil, fruits, grains, and a number of meats, including lamb, are common."

He led them further down the street. "Today we will be eating at Dar Cherifa, a restaurant meant as a calm oasis in the midst of the souks - the markets. It features a fairly traditional and varied menu. As usual, I will order a number of things for us, and you're welcome to order your own as well."

He nodded at the waiter as they were led to their table. "The predominant languages here are Arabic and Berber, but most people will also speak French, and some will know Spanish or English. Please don't hesitate to ask should you have any questions.

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Spicily!

Peridot

Kaylin Neya

Summer Smith

Peebee

Look around the souks as you head to the restaurant. Please don't get lost.

Peridot had no idea what most of the things she was looking at even were. But it was all fairly fascinating, so it was entirely possible that she was going to get distracted perusing stalls before they even got to the restaurant.

The fact that most of her 'what is THAT' questioning was met with blank looks by people who spoke a different language didn't seem to dissuade her from asking at every other stall.

Well, it wasn't as though they had reservations for a set time. Hannibal walked a little more slowly and started answering her questions. "A rug - a covering for hard floors. Raw spices - that one is ginger. You would grate it or dry it to use it to flavor foods. Beads - decorations to wear."

It was rather endearing, really, her incessant curiosity.

"To wear?" Peridot said, blinking. "Like... appearance modifiers?"

She really, really super liked appearance modifiers.

Amused, Hannibal answered, "Yes; you'll find quite a few appearance modifiers here - beads, jewelry, clothing. Also many things I suppose you could say are appearance modifiers for a habitat, like the rugs."

"Like the rugs," Peridot echoed, leaning up to get a better look at the beads. "How are these... worn?"

Worn was the word, right?

It was indeed.

"Any way you like," Hannibal said. "The simplest way is to loop them about your neck, but they can also be looped several times around an arm or perhaps a leg, draped around your head," probably even better Peridot's than many others, "or your waist if the strand is long enough, or pinned to clothing."

Peridot kind of awkwardly scratched at her cheek as she looked the beads over.

"I don't really have much clothing," she noted. "Some items that I learned how to darn on in Home Ec."

She fidgeted a little.

"They require money in exchange for these goods, don't they?"

"They do," Hannibal answered. "And you can always buy more clothes, should you wish to."

He glanced over the beads and reached up to snag a long strand of polished dark blue with gold flecks, the dropped it around Peridot's neck and let her enjoy it while he briefly haggled with the shop owner in French.

And Peridot missed most of the French, not that she could speak it, staring down kind of in awe at the length of blue that had been placed on her.

"It's lapis," she murmured to herself. "The stone, not the..."

Well. Obviously not the Gem. She had never really encountered much in the way of non-Gem gems, before.

Hannibal finished haggling and handed over the agreed-upon price, then looked down at Peridot. "Do you like it? Do your people make much use of non-sentient rocks or gems?"

Peridot shook her head a little.

"Not this way," she replied. "We have tools that make use of non-sentient minerals and metals, but we don't wear them this way."

She kind of toyed awkwardly with one of the beads on the string.

"This is completely new to me. But... I do like it."

"I'm pleased to hear it," Hannibal said, giving her a little bow. "It's yours now; you'll have to decide what you want to do with it."

Peridot blinked up from the bead she was inspecting at Hannibal, looking... kind of at a loss, mostly.

"I..." And then she looked back at the beads again. "I..."

Hannibal was only the third person to ever give her a gift this way. She still wasn't sure what to do about it. Except...

"Wow, thanks."

"You are very welcome," Hannibal said. "It's a pleasure to present a gift to someone so appreciative of it.

"If you would like money from time to time," he suggested, "you are welcome to drop by my office or home, and I can find errands for you to run or tasks to perform in exchange for pay."

He wouldn't make her mow the lawn; he liked her and the flamingos too much to want to see that confrontation.

Probably.

Peridot tilted her head a little at that.

"Errands?"

She was intrigued, now. She'd had a job at Stark's, but adhering to a human schedule based seemingly arbitrarily around the position of the sun in relation to the Earth had been tricky. She was getting better at it, now. It took some doing.

Hannibal shrugged. "Sometimes I might want a package taken to the post office, or some help in cleaning the house. You could help me, and I could answer any questions you might have about the process or other things about humanity, and I would pay you money."

"That sounds..." Peridot paused to consider. "It sounds useful. Sensible. I believe I will take advantage of this offer, thank you."

"You are very welcome," Hannibal said. "In the meantime," he added with a grin, "let me teach you how to haggle; I believe you'll enjoy it."

For a girl like Summer, shopping had its appeal no matter the culture, so it took a significant effort for her to fight the distraction and stay on track. But there were so many neat things! Authentic! Pretty!

Focus, Summer. Chill out, it's not like you brought money, anyway, but didn't they barter a lo--

No. Food. No shop. Bad Summer.

Between Summer's distraction and Peridot's questions, Hannibal finally chuckled and said, "If you would like, we can spend some time here before we head back to Fandom. However, you'll have to stay with the group; these streets are a labyrinth, and it would be easy to get lost."

"Could we?" Simmer asked. "I mean, I probably shouldn't buy anything anyway," not with all the money she blew on ice cream for tomorrow, "but...it's just so nice here. It's nice to get my mind off the storm back at school, you know? Do you think...does portalocity require electricity? If it got really bad, couldn't we all just... voop , go somewhere safe until it all blew over?"

"We certainly can, and the hurricane is not scheduled to arrive until tomorrow," Hannibal assured her. "If Portalocity is required to shut down early, I have been assured they will inform us first."

Summer's head bobbed a little. "Good. Cool. Thank you. It's....really neat here."

Because it wasn't potentially disaster looming over their heads, not that Summer was getting worried or anything, OF COURSE.

"These souks have a widespread reputation for their shopping," Hannibal said.

And probably for fleecing tourists, but that was neither here nor there.

Or not. Hannibal isn't going to presume.

He's here, of course. Enjoying the food himself.

This is what happens when you have class entirely written up and then discover your random country...is a Very Bad Place to be taking people for dinner at the moment. Oops.

Where were we going?

Ethiopia. Then this morning's news had a big story about countries sending millions of dollars of famine relief aid there.

Granted, Hannibal is probably unconcerned enough to go there anyway, but it seemed just a bit tacky at the moment.

Probably true!

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International Cuisine | Friday, 3rd period

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Eat the food!

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