Practicing Cooking

by **Taylani** on November 8th, 2013, 2:28 pm

Time Stamp 50 Fall 513

The last time Taylani found herself in the cooking area of the Windchaser pavilion was when she was cooking a breakfast. This time it would be a dinner, and that somehow made her even more nervous because now surely they would come in famished from a hard day doing their various works. She remembered well her father's appetite after he had spent a grueling twelve hours at the forge, and her mother's own pleasure at seeing him eat his meal with the enthusiasm a man in the desert would drink a glass of water. She would get none of that pleasure, at least she hoped not, getting pleasure of any kind out here in Endrykas came with it's own double edge of pain and torment.

The family meal had been placed in the corner, but before she went to inspect it, Taylani went to the water barrel and dipped several scoops of water into a basin. She then grabbed a small lumpy bar of soap and thrust it into the water to wet both it and her hands before scrubbing her digits and knuckles with rough abandon. It was therapeutic to wash her hands, almost as if she could wash off the invisible layer of grime that she felt no matter how much she washed. The grime of being slowly broken, and seeing the signs without even being able to do anything about it. Knowing that certain feelings were wrong but unable to help them, to keep them out. Without even thinking she thrust her soap hands in the basin fiercely sloshing water over the sides, and onto the ground.

Taking a steadying breath Taylani shakes her hands to rid them of excess of water before picking up a towel and drying her hands. The next thing was to walk over to the pack in the corner and see what was left for her to bungle into a meal. It seemed that the Drykas people felt that certain things were best to learn by trial and error...like their silly language. However she had been allowed, encouraged..okay maybe even given no option but to watch the women of the Pavilion whenever they took turns cooking. So she had at least seen some of what was being prepared.

Opening the pack, she withdrew a bag of roots that were orange perhaps carrots, and another bag of some sort of peas. Then she pulled out a paper wrapped hunk of meat, and a small pouch of flour. Instantly she smiled. she had cooked something with her mother that she could reciprocate here. She grabbed a large knife and grabbed the vegetables from the pack. Laying them together she turned and found a large kettle and once more hung it over the fire. Next she fed the fire two more dried ...substance that she really tried hard not to think of what it was but she went and scrubbed her hands again after doing so. Then she dipped many ladles of water into the large kettle to start to boil.

by **Taylani** on November 8th, 2013, 2:45 pm

Once that was started she turned back to the vegetables, and takes one of the long orange roots. Laying it on its side, Taylani cuts off the leafy green top and pushes it aside. Her fingers were not skilled, and often times she trembled not from fear but from the effort to try and make her knife cutting precise. Slowly she cut the carrots into discs, some were large discs and others were thinner, which would make them cook unevenly. She repeated the actions with another carrot, and then another, and as the pile of orange discs grew Taylani's frustration over her situation lessened. Apparently the act of chopping vegetables helped to release the annoyances and anger.

On the last carrot, her inexperience with the knife saw blood being let. She brought the knife down too fast, and moved her hand that was holding the carrot too slow. Fortunately it was a grazing cut, and not one that was full on the tip otherwise she might have lost the tip. Instead she inhaled at the sharp bite of the blade biting into her finger, and dropped the knife quickly. Red blood welled on her finger, running down her pale flesh but Taylani was no stranger to mishaps, one did not work with the degree she did with her body without seeing injury. She dipped the finger into the basin of water, sucking in her lip against the sting of the soap within the water against the wound. Pulling it back out she went to the strips of cloth she knew the family kept just for this occasion and wound one around her finger tightly, tying it off with her teeth. It was nothing major, she had no healing experience but she couldn't imagine anyone her age not knowing how to bandage a very simple wound.

Next she went back to the knife, the carrot she had been cutting was beyond salvaging and she tossed that onto the pile relegated for disposal. The rest of the discs are quickly scooped up and deposited in the water that was not yet boiling. The next thing she picked up was the dried peas, these she didn't need to cut so she dumped them directly into the water as well.

She picked up the water basin and carried it outside of the pavilion to dump out, since she had washed her bloody finger in it she didn't think it was sanitary to continue to wash her hands in it. Coming back into the kitchen she ladled more water into the basin, and then picked up the knife and begin to scrub it well, washing it so that she could begin to work on the meat. Once that was done she washes her hands again, being thorough and careful of the sodden bandage on her finger.

She then unwrapped the meat and laid it on the board, looking at it carefully. It was a meat that was rich in fat, she could see the marbling through out the red meat. However, she thinks that might be a good thing, though she isn't sure. One of these days she must ask Fallan what sort of meat that his family preferred just so she knew...but then again maybe she was better off not knowing.

by **Taylani** on November 8th, 2013, 3:14 pm

She lifted the hunk of meat, looked it over carefully before laying it back down. Taking the knife again -assuming that one knife was as good as any other for cutting though in reality it does make a difference with what knife you use- she begins to saw into the meat. It was hard going, the meat not being particularly tough really but the veins of fat that ran through the red meat hung up and snagged the knife. Sometimes she had to use brute strength to tear through the fat, which she didn't remember her mother nor the women of this pavilion struggling so hard to cut meat. It didn't occur to her to try and use a different knife to do this.

The chunks of meat were ragged and uneven, some were thick and short, others were longer and thinner. None looked great, all looked smashed and over worked. However she resolutely dumped the mess into the pot along with the water, carrots and peas. She didn't have any regular onions, however there were some spring onions that she had plucked from the ground.

Washing these in the basin she didn't bother trying to cut the tiny white bulbs, Instead she stood over the kettle and tore the green stalks with the white bulb attached into small pieces dropping each into the pot. Occasionally picking up a wooden spoon to stir the contents, watching as the greens of the peas float amid the oranges of the carrots and the reds of the meat. One thing that Taylani had forgotten that her mother had told her about stew...it takes many hours simmering on the fire to be ready.

It didn't occur to her that it wouldn't be done by the time the Windchaser family was ready to eat. So she continues to happily put together the stew that her mother had shown her how to make only a couple short years ago. While the stew perked on the fire, Taylani pulls out the skillet and puts a little dallop of lard in it. Not a large amount, just enough to flavor. She waited until it started to sizzle over the fire before using the wooden spoon to ladle just a little of the stew water from the kettle into the stove. Then she went over to the flour pouch, and began to add the flour to the pouch a little at a time.

A pinch, stir, another pinch, stir again, and another..so forth and so on she slowly added flour to the skillet. Until finally she had the consistency she was looking for. Now she simply stirs the concoction of lard, flour, and stew water over the fire constantly. She never stops stirring, so it takes a little while before the paste-like substance started to thicken and sizzle. She stirred a little more before she picked up the towel and took off the skillet from the fire. Tilting it over, she dumps the now-brown gravy like substance into the kettle, stirring it gently. This stew might not be as good as her mothers but it will fill bellies.

It never occurred to Taylani that she should have thought to start the stew either in the morning which would have been difficult thanks to the nomadic nature of the Drykas, or the evening before. Not until the women of the pavilion entered the cooking area and realized what she was doing. Some were amused at the turn of events, others were dismayed and annoyed but together the women threw together something to feed their men though it was meager thanks to the stew. The next evening they might have a good meal..if the stew came out as well as Taylani hoped.

by **Magpie** on January 5th, 2014, 10:14 pm

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Taylani :

Notes :

If you have any questions or concerns about what was awarded, please don't hesitate to PM me.

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Solo Practicing Cooking