Cooking in the Kitchen
kitchen.jpg

Xanadu Weyr - Kitchens

As you enter this room from outside, good smells assail you from everywhere. Two large hearths, and three baking ovens are going full bore 12 hours of the day, while the nighttime hours bring the smaller hearth beside the door to the main hall into use. This is where you find late night meals of stew and soup simmering in pots, and pitchers of klah and tea set close enough to the fire to be kept warm. Large windows take up the entire of the western wall, generally open wide to the mountainous landscape beyond, and the coolness of the breezes that tunnel in to keep the kitchen's temperature to a desirable level. Tables, cabinets, and counters take up the remaining spaces and walls. It is here the majority of the work is done, and spices, herbs, and other foodstuffs found.
Beside the night hearth in the western wall is the door that leads out into the living cavern.


The kitchens are lively, full of the cooks and the candidates. The cooks are monitoring the trouble-cookers and the candidates who just plain can't cook, making sure that no fires spew forth to destroy the kitchen. Zevida, she's busy mixing things together, spices and herbs. Occasionally, she takes a taste, looking for the right flavor before adding a little more spice.

Kamari is peeling a whole mess of root vegetables in a corner, being watched over by one of the cooks, although she hasn't sliced a finger off yet! Gotta love all the prep work.

Myra may not be working as a chef at the moment, but once a chef always a chef. She enters the kitchen near-dragging Trian in by the sleeve of his shirt. "/Trust me/, you'll do fine!" she assures the lad, as she leads him to a free counter, gathering various supplies as he stands there staring at it blankly. "It's just a cake, you can do cakes, can't you?" Myra chatters as she brings Trian things, to distract from the candidate's shock perhaps?

Zevida peeks over at Kamari, watching the girl peel for a moment. Rather than flash a smile of reassurance she just turns her head to eye Myra and the candidate she drags in. A blank look besides the quirk of her brow, "Not going to force h-h-h-him are you?" She stutters out, flushing an angry shade of red before returning to her dish with more vigor behind her actions, she's pracitcally beating those spices together.

Kamari watches the other candidates with interest, then goes back to peeling, the *schick* of the knife creating a background rythym to the rest of the activity in the kitchen. She raises an eyebrow as Zevida stutters, then shrugs.
Myra blinks a little at Zevida's words, stopping dead in her tracks and turning to look at the candidate. Trian notices this, and keeps his head down, clumsily breaking a couple of eggs into a bowl, with more than a little shell thrown in, and beating them messily. See, he's busy, he's happy, everything's fine! Myra manages a weak smile, and a sheepish shake of her head, "Ah, no, not forcing him… He's just … shy." That's it, he's shy! "Doesn't cook well, needs encouragement." she notes, smiling briefly at Kamari. Nothing to see here!

Zevida finishes with her spices, slowly moving to gather a few bits of meat and beans that she's been cooking for awhile now. Her cheeks are still that odd shade of red, even as she begins to beat on the meat and beans, only growing redder. "S'y? Odd boy, t'en, being s'y and needing encouragement to cook." Grumble, another beat on the meat before she's grinding it roughly together.

Kamari watches Zevida with interest for a minute. "What're you making?" she asks curiously, as she moves to chopping tubers and putting them into a pot to boil. "You look like you really know what you're doing.." she frowns and points at her tubers. "Me, I'm not quite sure where this is going.." she says, then looks over at Trian and Myra with a grin. "Glad someone's making something desserty."

Trian is quite sloppily cooking, now adding flour and milk to his goopy and slightly crunchy half-beaten egg mixture. Ugh. He adds a little too much flour to begin with, and it soon becomes impossible to stir, so he adds a little too much /milk/, and sloshes half the mixture over the counter when he gets back to stirring. "Yep. Shy." Myra says simply, arms folded across her chest as she leans against a wall and watches Trian, eyelids narrowing on occasion, as though she /really/ wants to help. "Ah, desserty. Not my speciality personally, but I'm not the one entering. Should be … sweet." she notes to Kamari, as she spots Trian pouring quite a bit of sugar in.

Zevida gives Kamari a look, "going to be a mountain." She states, chuckling to herself before continuing to grind the meat and beans, still with a furious pattern. "I am a cook…" Trailing off, she gives Myra and the candidate a look, blankly. "Odd.. Making 'im make cakes." A shake of her head before she's continuing a brutal mashing.

Kamari smiles at Zevida and raises an eyebrow. "A mountain?" she asks, then looks over at Trian. "I guess so!" she says as she notes the amounts being added, then turns back to her tubers, now bubbling away at one of the hearths. After watching them for a moment, she starts chopping the other vegetables and adding them to another pan, placing them on low heat to start to cook, with a little oil added, as she starts chopping raw wherry.

Myra really isn't /making/ Trian do anything, honest! Though the candidate does keep glancing her way, as though looking for further instructions. He doesn't seem to receive any, so he keeps stirring the goopy mess. Myra shakes her head at Zevida, "I'm just here for moral support, I'm not making him do anything. I'm a journeyman chef myself, Trian asked me for help. I'm encouraging him." And she is, smiling at the candidate. Bit of an affectionate smile, actually. Trian finally does speak up, looking over at Kamari, "Hope they've got a sweet tooth, out there. They'll need it." and he grins widely, before adding a few more ingredients to his bowl and stirring them in.

Zevida nods her head, "a mountain. You'll see w'en it's finished." She offers pleasantly as she finsihes mashing the meat, she adds in the spices and begins settling it on a platter to cook on. Dumping the contents, she begins to form a mountain, as said. "'mm. I see. T'en t'e boy could use encouragement, if 'e asked for it." A glance over her shoulder and she gives the boy a staredown for a moment.

Kamari nods as she watches Zevida, then turns back to her slimy, gooey raw wherry mess. With a little shudder she chops the rest, then adds it to the now-sizzling pan to brown, washing her hands before stirring it and sprinkling it with a selection of spices which appear to be picked at random from the selection available. To her credit, nothing's burnt, yet.

Trian meets Zevida's stare, and holds it, while apparently trying hard, but not hard enough, not to smirk. Well, there's /something/ he and Myra aren't sharing, he doesn't seem shy at all for one, but they both seem perfectly happy with the way things are at the moment. Even if Myra is now twitching her fingers as though she just wants to take the batter off of Trian and make it /right/. Myra idly tilts her head at Kamari's little shudder, giving a little grimace of her own. She's thinking like a weyrlingmaster now, particularly the fact that squeamish weyrlings tend to have a rough time of it. She's also taking the time to size up the… er, /Trian's/ competition. Just out of idle curiousity, honest!

Zevida contiues the formation of her mountain with gentle care, once finished she begins chopping red peppers and other such spicey red vegetables. It's the smirk Trian releases that has the woman quirking a brow, watching the two closely before she continues with her concotion. Even the spicey smell is becoming evident, like a smack in the face, almost.

Myra eyes Trian, with a slight frown. He'll give /everything/ away, and she can't have that. "Trian, a word?" she says, quietly. Uh-oh, the quiet 'words' are always the worst. Trian blinks, and turns to Myra, then nods slowly. "Ah, let me just… almost there… where's that oven tray?" he mutters, as he looks for it. Finally he finds something suitable, and 'pours' the gluggy goopy mess into it, bunging it in the oven, then eyeing Myra. "Uh, you were saying?" he asks, half-hoping to get away with whatever it is he's in trouble over. Myra just points to the far end of the kitchen, and off the candidate goes, Myra close behind…

Zevida watches the pair leave to the other side with a blank stare for a moment, shrugging, she turns her attention to her concoction, once liquidy enough she takes the mountain she's formed and places it into the oven to cook, make it cooked enough to eat without getting sick.

Kamari continues to stir her wherry and veggie mixture, until the wherry is slightly browned, then adds a paste of spices to the mixture, as well as some creamy liquid, creating a rich golden-brown sauce which lets off a spicy smell. "That's going to be quite the mountain.." she says as it enters the oven, chuckling. "Is it supposed to look like the volcano at Survival Camp?" she asks idly as she stirs her mixture, then turns back to the tubers, draining the water off the pot and starting to mash the tubers together.

Myra scowls, though she's talking too quietly for her words to be made out from the other end of the kitchen, what with all the hustle and bustle of people cooking and chatting and such. Trian nods meekly, looking more than a little confused, then both turn and smile big fake smiles at Zevida and Kamari, talking quietly for a moment longer before heading back. Myra goes back to her wall, and Trian heads over to check on the 'cake' in the oven. Myra's explanation for their little chat? "Lover's quarrel. You know how it is." is what she delivers, in a reasonably conversational tone.

Zevida slightly smiles at Kamari, "well, never really pictured w'at it'd be made after. But, t'at works." She offers with a shrug of her shoulders. "Going to taste good, t'ough.." Trailing off, she eyes Myra and the returning candidate with the fake smiles. Her head tilts but she doesn't point it out, only blinking at the offer of the lover's quarrel. Her cheeks flush a light shade and she turns away, not saying anything more on the subject.

Myra leans forward thoughtfully, nudging Trian just gently in the direction of the oven, lest the cake burn. He wheels around and eyes her, completely misunderstanding her intention, at least, until he sniffs the air. Oh no, smoke! He hastily pulls the cake from the oven, almost dropping it as he forgets to put on his oven mitts. It's just a little black and crispy, it's still good, it's still good… Right? He looks to Zevida and Kamari with big puppy-dog eyes. Help?

Zevida goes to her own oven for the mountain she's cooking, removing it while looking over at the cake. "Seems fine enough." She offers quietly, settling the mountain onto a counter again and slowly pouring in her spicy concoction. A grin forms and she moves to set up the table.

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