Philosophy of Food, 3rd period

[sharp_man]

Class today met in the Danger Shop, which had been made to look like a very nice dining room, with a gourmet kitchen at one end in case anybody needed to make any last-minute adjustments to their offerings.

"Welcome to our final class," Hannibal greeted them with a smile. "I hope you've all brought your signature items. Today we'll be eating them. There will be no judging, only sharing these things and our stories about why these things are important to us and what meaning they may have."

He waved at his own offering. "I have made croque monsieur. My parents passed away when I was young, and I lived in an orphanage for some time. When my uncle adopted me and moved me to Paris, one of the first things I was given to eat was this. It's a kind of comfort food - a sandwich with ham and gruyère cheese, on good bread, with a béchamel sauce poured over it. Not terribly glamorous, but it held great significance to me."

He sat and nodded at them to do the same, then waited for their dishes and explanations.

Comments

Re: Class activity

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana was there. With a dish. She had actually spent a great deal of time debating between two meals, but of the two, there was only one that a) she actually knew how to make, and b) could be made with ingredients she could find on Earth.

So she came to class today with six individual ramekins, each holding a pretty dessert. She would understand if you all assumed she had made Ignis make it for her.

"This is a lavender honey posset," she said, wearing an amused smile. "It was my brother's favorite dessert. We didn't have much refined sugar and whatnot growing up; our overall country had been left in shambles and my father's...prefecture? county? there doesn't seem to be an exact English equivalent...had been fighting off an invading army since we were children. So, most of our desserts were flavored with honey or beet sugar. I preferred tarter, sweeter flavors, like berries, but my brother preferred florals--and he was the heir. This is one of the very few dishes I ever bothered to learn to make." She laughed, light and airy. "Probably because it was so easy. I made some anytime his battalion was in the area. Lavender is a common healing herb, so my clerical order had it in spades. Hung up in every sickroom." She paused, like she hadn't anticipated saying that, and then shrugged and laughed again. "Made it easy to steal a few stems whenever I needed to."

She passed a ramekin to everyone, leaving the last in front of herself, smile turning wicked. "Now, the real question, do any of you trust what I made enough to try it?"

Re: Class activity

[chef_chocobro]

"I," said Ignis, and it was funny, really. If you didn't know any better, you might almost think he was practically holding Liliana's gaze when he spoke, an amused drawl with the faint smirk to accompany it, as he accepted his ramekin, "have been eager to try this ever since I discovered you were making something for today, my darling, and I have full confidence that, should I perish in the attempt, at least I'll leave this earth having at least made things a bit awkward for the party tomorrow."

And, if in all of that, before taking up a spoon, his other hand dropped to brush against hers, who was to say why?

Re: Class activity

[deathsmajesty]

Well, certainly she wasn't one to say it, either.

"It's with that kind of spite that you won my heart," Liliana said, fluttering her eyelashes at him with very over-the-top coquetry.

Her ramekin sat untouched in front of her.

Re: Class activity

[sharp_man]

Hannibal smiled as he took a bite onto a spoon and toasted her with it. "I have undoubtedly eaten worse." And if she were going to kill him, she wouldn't need to do it with poison.

"Did you enjoy this as well, or did you only learn to make it for his sake?" he asked as he ate that bite.

Re: Class activity

[deathsmajesty]

Incredibly true. Why go to all of the trouble when she had much more direct and thorough methods at her disposal?

"Oh, I enjoyed it well enough," Liliana said, though she had not yet picked up her spoon to try it and showed no intentions of doing so. "I have always had an irrepressible sweet tooth, darling."

The dessert was fairly decent. Not particularly inspired, none of the touches that Hannibal would expect from someone with a true love of the kitchen, but it was something easy that had clearly been made many times before. A competent, if not terribly inspired, offering.