After Smooglenuff Wine: The Beginning.
Vhalar 15, Arc 721
On the 15th of Vhalar, Devin Thorn, High Priest of Delroth, Baron von Smooglenuff and medical genius in progress was standing in the kitchen of the manor yet again. He was standing in the kitchen a lot because he absolutely loved cooking, and that hadn't changed since he had become rich and famous and a couple of other pleasant things. This time, he was standing in the kitchen in an emerald green apron with neon green polka dots rather than his usual frilly white apron though because green was in fashion that season, and he was standing there alone.
About two or three breaks later, the cooks would start to prepare lunch, but for the time being, he had the entire kitchen to himself which was something that he absolutely loved!
On the counter in front of him was a gigantic cookbook that was bound in fine deep brown leather - because he wanted to try to make something that he had never tried to make before. The following trial, the first couple of trainees from Cally's would arrive. They would help with the work on the future Smooglenuff vineyard, and Devin wanted to receive them appropriately, with food - food that had been made with grapes, to be exact. He hoped that seeing the fruits of their future labour (Literally! Grapes were actually fruit!) would inspire them; and besides, he loved showing off his cooking skills.
He was a great cook!
"First, let's wash the grapes", he sang, mostly off-key, but with obvious and nearly overwhelming enthusiasm as he removed the grapes in question that were a beautiful shade of blue and purple from a huge paper bag (One of the servants had brought them back from a trip to Scalvoris Town), dumped them into a bucket full of fresh water and started cleaning them thoroughly so that there was not a grain of dirt left on them because using dirty fruit was disgusting and probably bad for your health, too.
Normally, he disliked cleaning and left it to the servants, but he made an exception where cooking was concerned because cooking was a lot of fun!
"And now let's remove the stems", he continued, trying to make his voice that was already pretty deep sound even deeper which didn't exactly improve the quality of his song. "Why don't they just sell grapes without stems and other superfluous appendages?" he asked, momentarily forgetting to sing because he found that a bit annoying, to be honest - and because he had just had a great idea. You could probably make a lot of money if you sold grapes without stems, cherries without stones and meat without bones!
Most people probably hated having to get rid of those things before they could start cooking. He'd just have to hire a stone, stem and bone remover person first, because he certainly didn't want to remove the stones from cherries, the stems from grapes and the bones from meat himself!
Unless he could just create grapes without stems and cherries without stones? He pondered the possibility of creating new kinds of fruit, conveniently overlooking the fact that he knew next to nothing about gardening, while he put the grapes in a kettle, crushed them, added water, covered them and brought them to a boil. After a few moments, he reduced the heat and let the grapes simmer. Finally, he extracted the juice. He wasn’t just making juice though. No, the juice was only the main ingredient for what he wanted to make.
He wanted to make grape jelly!
The juice needed to be stored in a cool place overnight to prevent the formations of crystals in the jelly according to the cookbook. Devin wasn’t sure how sticking it into the basement or a similar place was supposed to prevent the formation of crystals or why crystals were a problem (He liked crystals! They were pretty!). Normally, he questioned everything, but this time, he decided to do exactly what the cookbook said because he wanted the jelly for the trainees to be perfect.
Once he had taken care of the juice, he walked upstairs, into his room, past a couple of servants that bowed to him (He bowed right back!), plopped down on his couch, put his feet on the low table that stood in front of the couch, opened a bottle of red wine and poured himself a glass. Wine was made from grapes, too, so rewarding himself for his work in the kitchen by drinking some was highly appropriate in his opinion.
And what more, it was delicious!
Vhalar 15, Arc 721
On the 15th of Vhalar, Devin Thorn, High Priest of Delroth, Baron von Smooglenuff and medical genius in progress was standing in the kitchen of the manor yet again. He was standing in the kitchen a lot because he absolutely loved cooking, and that hadn't changed since he had become rich and famous and a couple of other pleasant things. This time, he was standing in the kitchen in an emerald green apron with neon green polka dots rather than his usual frilly white apron though because green was in fashion that season, and he was standing there alone.
About two or three breaks later, the cooks would start to prepare lunch, but for the time being, he had the entire kitchen to himself which was something that he absolutely loved!
On the counter in front of him was a gigantic cookbook that was bound in fine deep brown leather - because he wanted to try to make something that he had never tried to make before. The following trial, the first couple of trainees from Cally's would arrive. They would help with the work on the future Smooglenuff vineyard, and Devin wanted to receive them appropriately, with food - food that had been made with grapes, to be exact. He hoped that seeing the fruits of their future labour (Literally! Grapes were actually fruit!) would inspire them; and besides, he loved showing off his cooking skills.
He was a great cook!
"First, let's wash the grapes", he sang, mostly off-key, but with obvious and nearly overwhelming enthusiasm as he removed the grapes in question that were a beautiful shade of blue and purple from a huge paper bag (One of the servants had brought them back from a trip to Scalvoris Town), dumped them into a bucket full of fresh water and started cleaning them thoroughly so that there was not a grain of dirt left on them because using dirty fruit was disgusting and probably bad for your health, too.
Normally, he disliked cleaning and left it to the servants, but he made an exception where cooking was concerned because cooking was a lot of fun!
"And now let's remove the stems", he continued, trying to make his voice that was already pretty deep sound even deeper which didn't exactly improve the quality of his song. "Why don't they just sell grapes without stems and other superfluous appendages?" he asked, momentarily forgetting to sing because he found that a bit annoying, to be honest - and because he had just had a great idea. You could probably make a lot of money if you sold grapes without stems, cherries without stones and meat without bones!
Most people probably hated having to get rid of those things before they could start cooking. He'd just have to hire a stone, stem and bone remover person first, because he certainly didn't want to remove the stones from cherries, the stems from grapes and the bones from meat himself!
Unless he could just create grapes without stems and cherries without stones? He pondered the possibility of creating new kinds of fruit, conveniently overlooking the fact that he knew next to nothing about gardening, while he put the grapes in a kettle, crushed them, added water, covered them and brought them to a boil. After a few moments, he reduced the heat and let the grapes simmer. Finally, he extracted the juice. He wasn’t just making juice though. No, the juice was only the main ingredient for what he wanted to make.
He wanted to make grape jelly!
The juice needed to be stored in a cool place overnight to prevent the formations of crystals in the jelly according to the cookbook. Devin wasn’t sure how sticking it into the basement or a similar place was supposed to prevent the formation of crystals or why crystals were a problem (He liked crystals! They were pretty!). Normally, he questioned everything, but this time, he decided to do exactly what the cookbook said because he wanted the jelly for the trainees to be perfect.
Once he had taken care of the juice, he walked upstairs, into his room, past a couple of servants that bowed to him (He bowed right back!), plopped down on his couch, put his feet on the low table that stood in front of the couch, opened a bottle of red wine and poured himself a glass. Wine was made from grapes, too, so rewarding himself for his work in the kitchen by drinking some was highly appropriate in his opinion.
And what more, it was delicious!
