fandomhigh | Camp Cooking Essentials; Thursday, Third Period [05/11].

Like quite a few other classes over the summer, Ignis' class would be meeting out of the classroom and into the great outdoors instead, although, considering his roster, as small as it may be, there was a part of him that was wondering if everyone would be better off with this class being held in the danger shop instead of out in the old campground in the preserve.

Well. Fires had been a bit more of a thing around here, lately, so at least the fire department was relatively...warmed up.

He met the students on the edge of the preserve, listening carefully for their arrive, and, when he did hear someone coming up, greeted them with a simple, "Do me a favor and introduce yourself as you arrive. It will be better for me to know when we have everyone if you do."

But it was a thankfully small class, so once everyone had informed him to their presence, he nodded, and go started. "Welcome to Camp Cooking Essentials, a survey in various techniques and equipment to allow one to still manage to make excellent and fulfilling meals even when resources are scarce. For those of you who I've not had the pleasure to meet yet, my name is Ignis Scientia, and my former position as my team's chef required me to often cook in unexpected and inconvenient places, often in very tenuous circumstances, as well. However, even if one does not plan to spend a lot of time out-of-doors, these are all still skills that can be used in every day cooking as well. And with that, let us waste no more time, and we'll get right into it.

"Today will be a simple lesson, familiarizing ourselves with your two main sources of heat for cooking when outdoors: the classic campfire," he gestured toward the empty space where there were divots in the ground for said campfires, "and a portable camp stove," he gestured toward those exact things to his other side. "For our purposes, we have two very nice Coleman^TM Powerhouse Dual Fuel 2-Burner Stoves that we'll be working with because ~~shameless product placement~~ I have always found them to as incredibly dependable and superior in quality.

"We'll start with the campfires, and how to both safely and efficiently start one in the wild, and then we'll move onto the stove, which is much easier, but will be a little different to work with than your traditional kitchen stove. But, since this is a class about working in the field overall, we must first seek out some wood for our campfires. We will set the time at, let's say, five minutes, and when you hear the bell," at this point, he reached for a bell and rang it for demonstration, "you'll return to camp and we'll get started in earnest. Please do not get lost, although if we need to reroute this class to be one that focuses a bit more on search and rescue, then so be it."

That was...mostly...a joke.

"Alright, then. Let's begin."

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In the great outdoors!

Nick Cutter

Beta

Ignis would appreciate you letting him know you're there, but, as far as introductions go, that will be as in depth as he's likely to get. There is just too much to do and so little time to do it in!

“I’m Nick Cutter,” he said and then wondered if he should try and say something else and then after a moments hesitation added, “um …so last time I tried to cook something I ended up nearly destroying my boss’s kitchen,” he revealed, “I … I’m not …um…very good at cooking,” he admitted.

Which may not be the best thing to admit in a cooking class but Cutter couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Well. That was quite a way to introduce yourself, and Ignis was trying very hard to not let any thoughts of previous students inclined toward burning down kitchens bubble up into his thoughts right now. So his smile, as it was, might have come off as a little strained.

"Then I suppose it works to our benefit that this class require no kitchen to destroy, Mr. Cutter," he said. "And that I was already planning on putting quite the emphasis on fire safety and control."

He did, after all, have Beaker in this class, as well.

And now he was thinking perhaps he better move this to a location closer to the shore; if anything, they could all just throw themselves into the water to extinguish themselves, if need be.

"But," and even though he was trying not to think of it, it did seem...an apt reassurance, in this regard, "I have worked with plenty of students who were hardly...natural chefs before, with astonishing results. All I ask is that you dedicate yourself to actually making the effort to learn and improve. I've found that, more times than not, it is merely a matter of one needing to pay attention and be aware of what they're doing. Focus, like with most things, is key."

"I'm Beta," said the girl who sounded about as pale and scrawny as she was, "and I am... trying to learn to find ways to be a more functionally useful human being."

It was weird how most people didn't really need to apply things like advanced geoengineering to their daily lives.

That was certainly a...precise way of putting it, wasn't it? Yet Ignis also found it...oddly relatable, so there may have been the faintest of smiles when he nodded.

"Well, then, Beta," he said, "considering that most people do need food to function in general, I believe we may be on the right path to meeting some of that goal."

After everyone had (hopefully!) returned from gathering some sufficient wood that would meet Ignis's inspection, he launched first into how to use a portable fire extinguisher before launching into his demonstration on how to build your campfire safely, and once everyone seemed (mostly, hopefully) set with that, he would also give brief instructions on the campstoves, as well.

This was something that Cutter could actually do, albeit very slowly with the lack of strength that he had but he had had enough experience being outdoors and camping that he was able to eventually gather enough firewood so that he could start work on his campfire.

It took a while but he did eventually manage to get a fire going.

Yes, Beta had used her Focus to help her figure out what would make the most effective firewood, what of it? She managed a decent and -- she felt -- efficiently constructed fire, and she was... trying to figure out how to construct a campstove out of machine parts, yeah.

Since this was only their first lesson and Ignis suspected that some students might even feel proud to have gotten this far (or to have not caught on fire too much....), he was keeping the recipes for today simple, but, as he explained, ones that could show the diversity involved with these cooking methods.

Sure, anyone could do hot dogs over a campfire, but what about cilantro lime shrimp with the use of foil?

For the camp stove itself, there were so many options that Ignis felt he had to stick with the classic burgers.

And, lastly, for the more intrepid students, there was a potato soup recipe that would utilize both methods of cooking!

And now it was their turn to try one (or all, for the overly ambitious!) of the three recipes themselves! Ignis will happily go over anything again if there are questions, and will undoubtedly be hovering over everyone like a mother hen to carefully listen for any signs of impending disaster, as well.

Cutter was so not good at cooking all and he did try to follow the instructions for the shrimp as best he could he could but all he ended up doing was burning it.

There was a reason that he mostly stuck to Chinese takeout.

Hopefully, he hasn't been spending most of the time just being grateful that he's being spared having to actually see whatever disasters this class might be creating.

Camp Cooking Essentials; Thursday, Third Period [05/11].

Sign In - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Sign In - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Sign In - CCE, 05/11.

Arrive and Listen to the Lecture - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Arrive and Listen to the Lecture - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Arrive and Listen to the Lecture - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Arrive and Listen to the Lecture - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Arrive and Listen to the Lecture - CCE, 05/11.

Class Activity: Make Campfires - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Class Activity: Make Campfires - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Class Activity: Make Campfires - CCE, 05/11.

Class Activity: Cooking - CCE, 05/11.

Re: Class Activity: Cooking - CCE, 05/11.

Talk to the Teacher - CCE, 05/11.

OOC - CCE, 05/11.