Open Cooking for the Potluck (Open to anyone!)

[Leila]

DisclaimerBy joining this open thread, you are agreeing to a few rules (in addition to those of Mizahar and Zeltiva of course). There is a posting order, you will always reply after the same person, unless a new person jumps in, then they are added to that spot in the posting order list. Now, I'm not going to add a hard amount of time you need to reply, but please keep it reasonable, I don't want anyone waiting unduly. If you disappear for too long, I will skip over you. Keep in mind that the more people that join the thread, the shorter the reply time becomes, just to be fair and reasonable to everyone here. Respect these rules, your fellow writers, and most importantly, have fun! Timestamp: Summer 1, 513 AV Time: Midday Location: Leila's Soothing Salves and Clinic Leila was sitting at the counter in her new shop, a piece of paper in front of her. She was planning out the food she wanted to make for this evening's potluck. She left the front door to her shop unlocked, as people who were helping were coming and going freely. She'd been thinking for days of which foods she wanted to make. The first she'd have to start making was the clam chowder. She started scribbling the recipe from memory of how her mom used to make it, though she had tweaked over the years. "Zeltivan Clam Chowder One basket of fresh clams, quahogs preferred One bag of potatoes One pound of butter One bag of onions One bag of celery One bag of flour One gallon of cream" She also had several spices and herbs on hand that she would add as needed. Everything else was a bit more simple. "Sweetpea salad One basket of sweetpeas One dozen eggs One block of yellow cheese One bottle of vinegar One lemon One bottle of olive oil One jar of pickled cucumbers Mustard seasoning Fried Cod fillet Five Medium Codfish One small bag of baking powder Fried calimari Five medium squids, cleaned One bag of cornflour Kelp Fritters Five lengths of kelp Gingerbread One small pouch nutmeg One small pouch cloves One small pouch cinnamon One small pouch ginger One bag brown sugar" Leila looked over her list several times, knowing the meal would be mildly costly, but it would all be worth it. Happy customers were returning customers. She'd have to go buy some new kitchen ware as well, but she wanted to do that personally. Today had already been busy, and there was much more to go, but Leila couldn't be more content. She smiled and sighed as she looked out over her new shop, wondering who the next person to walk in would be.

[Sain Kayun]

1st of Summer, 513AV Midday Sain looked despondently at the ingredients in front set out on his table that he had barely managed to find in his cottage. He was planning to go to the potluck at the new herbalism store later in the evening, having gotten a rare day off work at the infirmary, for Sain had wanted to meet the herbalist Leila since news of her opening a herbalism store reached his ears, and this was the perfect time. But here he faced a situation of utmost gravity: what to cook for the potluck. "What to make, what to make..." Sain pondered as he looked at the pitiful collection of ingredients at hand: a half empty sackful of flour, a little container of salt, a pitcher of water, and the herbal wine he had made the previous spring for a patient... who recovered just when Sain finished making the wine. Add to that the only cooking ware he had was a metal pot used more for philtering than actual cooking, a small wooden bowl, and a crude rolling pin that he didn't even know he had until today. By all looks of it, he was hopeless. Sain was a doctor, not a cook. "Limited ingredients, limited tools... this will be interesting." Sain thought to himself humorously. As long as he brought something to the potluck, he'll be fine. Taking the sack of flour in his right and the salt in his left, Sain tried to recall far memories of his mother's cooking from his childhood... before she had passed away. He tried to stay clear of memories of the day she died, because now was not the time to brood. After several minutes of standing motionless deep in reminiscing, his eyes closed and eyebrows tightly furrowed, Sain set down the ingredients on the table, a determined gaze in his eyes. "Dumplings... dumplings!" Sain beamed at the idea. That would definitely work, since all dumplings needed was dough made of flour, slat, and water along with filling- Sain's smile dropped when he realized he needed filling. "No filling, oh no... wait!" Sain rushed to the other side of the cottage, where hanging upside down by the windows were several bunches of herbs he had collected. Yarrow, sage, wild garlic, thyme... Sain smiled in relief, "There's my filling." These were not going to be your average dumplings, they were going to be herbal dumplings. Taking the herbs, he set to one of the most daunting jobs he had faced yet: making dumplings. Dumping the flour, salt, water and some herbal wine indiscriminately into his bowl on the table, he began kneading the ingredients together for what seemed like forever until he pulled out a lumpy chunk of dumpling dough unto the now flour covered table, barely pulling his hands free from the sticky dough. "Now, to making the actual dumpling shells..." Sain reached for the rolling pin. This was going to take a while...