Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Vhalar 21, Arc 721

On the 21st of Vhalar, Devin Thorn, High Priest of Delroth, medical genius in progress and unexpected Baron (He’d just wanted Alyssia to have the job, but Saoire had given him one third of it!) was standing in the kitchen of Smooglenuff Manor, dressed in a most eye-catching and utterly fashionable outfit. He was wearing an olive-green suit that was embroidered with emerald-green bamboo leaves and matching olive-green shoes with a small heel to make himself look taller, even though he was already pretty tall. His socks were neon green and yellow, and on his head was a hairband with little panda ears that were made of velvet.

Everybody wanted to be like Bao this cycle, and Devin was no exception. Bao was great!

He wasn’t just standing in the kitchen and wearing a couple of the newest fashion trends at the same time in order to show them off though. He was actually here because of a very important project. He wanted to have a party later this cycle, and he had decided that it was time to start planning the meal more seriously. When he had visited Haven Farm the cycle before, he had decided to order goat cheese from them and serve canapés with goat cheese, bacon and olives. He’d also decided that he wanted beer – that had been one of the reasons for his deciding to solve the beer crisis - but beer and goat cheese canapés alone were hardly enough.

At least not when you wanted to have a party that people would talk about for arcs to come!

For that reason, his guests would get a minimum of ten different dishes and ten different drinks. There would be sweet food and spicy food, and food that was both sweet and spicy at the same time, and then there would of course be a couple of vegetarian options because the people from the Spirit’s Rest Oasis that he wanted to collect donations for during his party didn’t approve of killing animals and eating them.

Devin already had plenty of ideas that he wanted to realize – including, of course, glowing breaded chicken and other glowing breaded things and rainbow-colored whipped cream.

The Cadouri that he had cooked for once had loved that kind of food, so it made sense to make it again!

Devin considered himself to be pretty great absolutely awesome, in at least a dozen - no, a hundred different ways, but he had never planned a meal of that scale before or thought that he would, and he wanted everything to go perfectly. So, he’d decided to ask the head cook who had just left in order to get some things they would need for advice and discuss his ideas with her to see how feasible they were and how much work would be involved. His party guests shouldn’t have to wait for half a break or more before they finally got something to eat. He wanted happy guests.

He wanted absolutely and indubitably impressed guests!

Now, ten different foods and ten different drinks didn’t sound like a lot, especially if you wanted to have a party that people would talk about for arcs to come, but each food would consist of several different parts, and there would be special effects upon special effects upon …

“Special effects!” Devin told Ada, the head cook, a human woman of approximately thirty arcs of age that had just entered the kitchen in an almost overly enthusiastic tone of voice. “I want the food that we’ll serve at the party to have a lot of special effects – and the drinks, too.”

“I don’t just want to have food that glows. I also want pink bread and rice that tastes like strawberries and little chocolate balls that are coated with nuts and edible flowers and that are liquid inside. Do you think that we can make such things, Mrs. Adams?” he asked.

Ada set the large basket with various vegetables and fruit that she had gotten from the storage cellar down on the large table in the center of the kitchen and turned to face the young Baron, raising an eyebrow slightly upon noticing his fake little panda ears in particular.

There were some people that disapproved of Devin’s fashion choices or thought that they were a little crazy; she liked how creative his clothes were though, and she sometimes found herself wondering what he would wear this time. All those colors brightened her mood!

“Pink bread is relatively easy to make by adding a bit of food-coloring. Chocolate balls with a liquid core are a bit trickier, but definitely manageable, especially since we’ll be able to make them well in advance. I agree that we want to serve the people that attend the first party at the manor something special!” she replied with a smile.

“Why do you want rice that tastes like strawberries though, my lord?” she wanted to know and looked at him questioningly. She thought that Devin’s idea was a bit peculiar, to be honest, but he was a fairly competent cook himself, and thus she wanted to hear what he had in mind.

“I ate filet mignon with balsamic strawberries once, and it was really good, so I thought we could make that – and make the rice pink as well!” Devin proclaimed and grinned. “And there’ll have to be cake of course because I promised Saoire that I’d bake a cake for her when she attended our barony meeting in Hopetoun!”

Ada furrowed her brow a bit as she thought about it before she decided, “It would be a good idea to have a trial run and prepare all the dishes in the near future so that we’ll have enough time to make changes and fine-tune things if need be. May I also suggest a few more conventional options for the less adventurous guests though?” she asked.

Devin was about to tell her that he was not sure about conventional options because he wanted his party to be extraordinary, and conventional equaled boring in his opinion, but then he reluctantly conceded that she had a point. He wanted everybody to be happy, even the boring unadventurous people. And besides, he had just had a great idea.

(He always had a lot of great ideas!)

“Bamboo sprouts!” he told her. “Pandas are in fashion this cycle, and pandas eat bamboo sprouts. So, we could make a relatively simple dish with bamboo sprouts. What do you think of that, Mrs. Adams? We just need to find a merchant that sells them somehow”, he realized – he had no idea where he was supposed to get bamboo sprouts from yet.

He’d find it out though!

“You said that you wanted vegetarian options”, Ada remarked once Devin had talked about his plans for the party in a bit more detail. “We could actually use the bamboo sprouts for that, provided that we'll manage to get some. I would suggest a stir-fry with bamboo sprouts, mushrooms and long beans, for example, and then there could be a salad. I got these here from the storage cellar because I wanted to show you something”, she said and proceeded to remove three big and ripe looking mangoes as well as a Sunburst Fruit from the basket.

Bell peppers and red onions followed in quick succession, and then Ada got basil and cilantro from one of the pots with herbs that stood on a windowsill. “I thought that we could make a dish or two now and sample them before we do a proper trial run. I’d like to know what you think of the taste of this salad”, she said and handed him the mangoes to peel and slice while she worked on the dressing that consisted of oil lime juice, sugar, red pepper flakes and salt, among other things.

“I’ve been making it for arcs. My son Anthony loves it”, Ada told Devin while she expertly removed the central part of the Sunburst Fruit, the sunsphere, and cut it into thin slices as well. Following that, she put everything into a bowl, and then she mixed it with the vinaigrette and handed a fork to Devin so that he could give the salad a taste.

The young man took a bite and furrowed his brow for a moment before a smile spread across his entire face and he asked, “What about a second dish with Sunburst Fruit? This is …”

“... divine?” Ada finished and chuckled before she removed another Sunburst Fruit from her basket and briefly talked to one of her assistants that was just working on that trial's lunch. A moment later, she returned with a plate with a fried fish filet on it. For the next little while, she worked on the Sunburst Fruit, preparing all three parts and placing them on the plate before she handed it to Devin.

“Sunburst Fruit is an excellent side dish for white fish”, she explained and grinned as Devin sampled what she had just prepared, only for his eyes to widen so much that they threatened to drop out of their sockets. There was a sudden and unexpected explosion of warmth in his mouth!

“I’d suggest combining all three parts of the Sunburst Fruit for maximum effect. This will give our guests an experience like no other!” Ada said and grabbed a bite as well because she couldn’t resist. “This is something that can only be done by the most skilled of cooks, but …”, she told him when he reached for the last Sunburst Fruit in the basket.

“… fortunately, I have such an incredibly skilled cook!” Devin finished the sentence. He didn’t only say so in order to give her a compliment and make her feel valued – which was an important thing for a leader to do in his opinion – but because it was true. Ada was awesome!

“I was going to say that I might eventually be able to show you how to do it, but that works as well! Thank you, my lord”, Ada said, curtsied and blushed slightly before she removed the rest of the fruit and vegetables from her basket, and they continued to discuss the food.

When they finally parted ways, they had come up with a long list (with notes in brackets, courtesy of Devin) – and fourteen dishes instead of ten. The young Baron had really wanted to include that fish with Sunburst Fruit as well as Faldrass Potatoes because there should be at least one dish that was mainly made with ingredients from Faldrass in his opinion.

He wanted to highlight the local cuisine as well!