[Class] Culinary Arts: Feast Like Kings Out In The Field

[Keiji]

[spoilername="Preperation"]The Academy awaited, the agreements on his tenure as a teacher had started and he wanted to commit to his first class right away.
He was eager to get the show started, and he hoped that there were students that had signed up for his class. He packed his bags and made his way out of the inn, waved to the innkeeper and continued down his path to the Academy grounds.
It was still early, so early the sun hadn't even come up yet, it was so early that everyone was practically about to go to sleep, the whole place was empty, but he had an agreement with one of the janitors to meet him at the gates to let him in.
"Oooy!" He waved as he got close to the gates and he saw a tired old man resting on his broom by the gate entrance, yawning as his eyes perked up as he heard the yelling from Tetsuo.
The old man seemed tired and beat, and as Tetsuo got close he seemed like he had barely any time to drink his morning coffee, or tea, depending on his preference.

Within a split second the old man turned to him holding up his broom and banged Tetsuo right on his shoulder, the reaction was straight and he held his position just smiling "By Raiden you bastard! I thought that letter was a prank!"
"Sorry my old friend, it was real enough, I'm back again" he replied as the man put the broom back down, he seemed to get emotional as the janitor began searching in his pockets for the keys. "I never thought I'd see your face back here again, you rascal.." he muttered as a smile crept upon his lips.
"Saito really pulled in all his old contacts it seems, at least the ones he could. I'm glad to see you're still around though" He said soothing as he patted the old man on his back.
"You're such a sucker with those compliments, you know that?" Tetsuo only smiled in return as the doors opened up.
"Here, I need to go and catch a little bit more sleep, there hasn't been much changes to the academy since you went away, so you should be able to find your way around" He handed Tetsuo a set of teacher keys to the classrooms and most of the academy grounds.
"Thanks I think it'll be an interesting class." "Let's hope the students think so." The Janitor replied mockingly. "When you're done, come find me, I'll make us some tea and we'll talk" The Janitor smiled at Tetsuo and then turned around and walked across the street to his house.
"Sure thing!" Tetsuo replied as he began making his way onto the grounds.

The gates were open behind him and he made his way into the Academy looking at the different pictures of old students, finding the awards the students had won in different fields, he looked specifically for one field of specialty, cooking. The Annual cooking contest.. It hadn't seem like the school had made any progress at all, they had several golden awards in the halls, but those were many years ago, and today they are all dusty and no one really paid much attention to them, well except for the Janitor of course. A few first place awards were all locked inside of a glass cabinet all stamped with the name "Hayamachi" He looked upon them fondly and with a smile, then continued down further the halls and found a dusty old door, only one of the older keys worked for it.
The door creaked and croaked like it hadn't been used for years, spider webs had kept it shut for a long time.
Tetsuo felt it necessary to cover his mouth from all the dust. He looked across the room, wide and spacey, it had everything a kitchen would need, several stoves, fridges, still working and functional, empty though, so he had to fix that. He slid his finger across one of the counter tops the dust was thick and dry, thankfully no excessive amount of moisture had settled, meaning no risk of mold contamination.. It seemed like all it needed was a good spring cleaning.
All the power was still functional, and even the ventilation seemed to work..
"No time like the present!" He screamed to himself, as he pulled off his jacket and set it aside, then pulling forth a handkerchief across his forehead and another around his mouth.
Going to the Janitor's deposit he found all the necessary supplies and began cleaning every nook and cranny in the kitchen he could find and what he could access, every pot and pan he came across was promptly cleaned dried and placed back in their right place.
After several hours of continually cleaning, he walked out of the academy to go shopping at the market, bringing his stashed money from his service to buy all the necessary groceries, everything from garlic to potatoes and even meat, some of the market vendors seemed stoked by the pure amount of shopping he was doing, a few of the daughters and sons of the vendors even helped carry everything back to the kitchen at the Academy. It was all ready. The room was ready, the food was ready, the teacher was.. ZZzzz.. Hey! Hey! No sleeping!.. ZZzzzz Tetsuo had fallen asleep before the narrator had completed his sentence. Understandable though, since he had spent about 4 hours cleaning and buying ingredients. He had about an hour to sleep through till the students should be arriving.

He had fallen asleep on one of the chairs drooling on his papers that he had prepared for the class. Waking up as the sunlight had reached just the right angle to strike his face through the windows. "Brrbrllrggrl!" He reacted with. With a tired arm he reached up and wiped his face, then looking at his clock, he straightened his face, straightened his body, stretched it all up, and groaned like a tired old crooked toad. "Time for everything to start" he told himself out loud. He straightened his clothes and bundles his papers.[/spoilername]
Placing a sign he had prepared from the night before on the front of the door "Culinary Lab Class initiation entrance" with his name and a small sketch of his face underneath. He sat himself at the chair by the table behind the door. So when the students open the door the first thing they'll see is a sprinkling clean and beautiful kitchen and then see him at the far bottom left corner of their eyes.
When a student entered and they had noticed him, he'd tell them "Please take a seat by one of the counters."

The kitchen was large, there was a set of 4 counters, each with 2 sets of stoves and 1 large sink on each there was a large counter space besides each of the stoves for cutting and preparing any meal. Underneath the counters were closed closets filled with pots and pans, and ingredients from all across the country, at the far left side behind Tetsuo were 4 large fridges and at the far right corner were a door leading into a large cold storage filled with all the meat. Inside of the fridges were all the diary products and many of the fruits and vegetables. And hanging above all the counters were the air ventilation, and all the necessary tools for cutting, scooping, and grabbing whilst cooking. At the counters there were 4 sets of chairs, meaning there were 16 chairs all in all.
He was ready. Tired, but ready.

[Opening for all Academy and Genin students let the class commence!]
[You have until the 4th of November to join the class]

 

[Tsuyoshi Takeo]

Cooking class… what was a kid who could barely afford to buy rice supposed to get from a cooking class? Well, a free meal, for starters. Hell, if the other students screwed up their food, Takeo wouldn’t mind eating their mistakes too. Besides, the fact that the class was so early in the morning meant that he got to sneak off before his uncle woke up. The fat bastard was usually passed out in a drunken stupor until at least noon most days anyway. So it was that Takeo donned his usual outfit of worn-out blue jeans, dirty, scuffed-up tennis shoes, and a light grey t-shirt underneath a dark grey hoodie, and headed out to the Academy.

Since he’d started receiving his weekly stipend of money for living expenses from the Village, he had finally been able to go to the grocery store and buy some food. Granted, once his uncle took his cut for, how he eloquently put it, ‘Letting your lazy ass live under my roof’, there wasn’t a whole lot of money left. Between the rigorous physical training at the Academy every day and the light rations, Takeo was looking even more gaunt than before; though, now, his wiry muscles had started to take shape and tone up.

At this time in the morning the streets were still relatively empty, save for the odd shopkeeper sweeping off their front step or some random day laborers heading off towards some construction site or another. Takeo was used to the solitude. It wasn’t very often that he was in the company of others. His short time at the Academy had even proven quite lonely. All the kids were in their own little cliques, and more often than not he caught them staring and pointing at him while whispering furtively behind cupped hands. Granted, Takeo didn’t do a whole lot to help his situation. He always sat at the back of the class and didn’t speak much to anyone. On the few occasions when someone would try to strike up a conversation with him, usually about whatever subject the sensei was mindlessly droning on about that particular day, he would answer with a shrug and a grunt. That was usually enough to deter any more attempts at conversation.

When he finally reached the Academy, the hallways were as silent and still as the streets of the Village. The only person he encountered en route to the culinary arts lab was the Janitor. Takeo greeted him with a smile and a wave that the old man eagerly returned. Takeo liked the Janitor. He was quiet and kind, and always seemed to be happy with his lot in life; except when the more raucous student pulled pranks that inevitably left a mess. Though, Takeo suspected that the old coot even enjoyed the antics of the little rapscallions. He often found the man smiling as he cleaned up the wreckage of their last endeavor, as if remembering something fondly from the distant past.

Takeo finally found and entered the classroom, passing the teacher as he came in. He gave the man a once-over as he entered, mumbling something that might’ve been a muffled “Good morning, Sensei,” or some sort of profanity. He then made his way to his customary seat at the back, left-hand corner of the classroom. There he would sit, quietly observing the room and those who entered it.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

It was time for the laziest shinobi in Kumo to do something no one would ever expect him to do. Something that is so bizarre, so abnormal for such a person to do, that it may even cause the people he knew well to stand with their mouths agape as they witness this once in a lifetime event. This event, as some may already know, is attending a class without actually needing to. Ri has been a genin for years, which meant that he would have no reason to attend a class likely meant for academy students. It may even end up scaring some of them, seeing a 6'6 giant attending the same class as them. Perhaps they'll think it's some strange assessment, perhaps they'll be too distracted by the man attending class with them, that they won't be able to pay attention to the lesson. But the reason that Ri is attending this class, is not for the reason of scaring or confusing the children of the village. No, his reason was an entirely different one, one that actually made a little more sense if he was attending a cooking class.

The boy would've been surprised about the invitation to the class, if it hadn't come from his little sister, who was still excited and motivated about becoming a shinobi. She said his eating habits were awful, that visiting some random shop on his way to the forest at noon was unhealthy. Event though the fact that his little sister was bossing him around, his father decided to step in as well. Not really "step in," actually, just gave him a look. Ri knew what the look meant, and felt it would've been annoying to argue, so that's where he would have to go. It may not be too bad, learning to cook would mean he didn't have to take the chance of picking a bad store and feeling like crap for the rest of the day due to bad ingredients or taste. It would also decrease the time it takes to start doing nothing. Stop by the store, pick up some ingredients, cook and eat them, sleep. Should be much easier.

Aurora was much smaller than the shinobi remembered it.. Maybe because he was a couple feet shorter the last time he set foot in the damn place, but everything was clearly made for children of average height, not teenagers standing at such a height that it forced them to duck in order to get through some doorways. As the boy walked through the halls, there were several teachers or janitors that recognized his outfit, and shot him a small smile or gave a slight wave. Sadly, his attempts to stay hidden during the years he attended the academy appeared to have failed, and trying to turn back out of frustration would just lead to more frustration stemming from a scolding from his sister. So the only solution was to adjust his rice hat so that it covered his eyes and continue walking.

When he finally reached the classroom which was conveniently labeled "Culinary Class," the shinobi let out one final sigh before opening the door and entering the room. The cleanliness of the kitchen nearly blinded him, but the dull appearance of his soon-to-be sensei allowed him to recover before the problem got any worse. His sensei gave him the instruction to find a place to sit, and the boy already knew where he'd go, so he turned to start going towa- Before he could take another step, his eyes locked with the boy's in the back of the room. "Bastard stole my spot..." he mumbled. Although it had been years since the last time he was in this place, he just assumed he was the outlier. Not many kids didn't like being noticed, to him it actually seemed like most wanted to be a star or something. Sadly though, he wasn't about to embarrass himself by ordering a child to choose a different seat, and he would have to be the one to deal with another one.

If the back left corner was taken, he would just need to take the back right. It worked just as well for not being noticed, but not quite as well for sneaking out of the classroom if he got bored. Not that he would be able to sneak out though.. Not with the curse that was placed upon him by his freak genes. His parents weren't even that tall, just him... Guess that just meant that even his own body was against him, so there's another thing for him to complain about in his free time. For now, he would simply sleep and refrain from glaring at the kid who unknowingly took his seat. He would get in less trouble with whoever may take offense to that, and would get some extra sleep since he had to wake at an ungodly hour.

 

[Akiyama Kasumi]

While walking down the corridor Kasumi came across, a sign on a classroom door caught her attention, her curiosity piqued she turned her attention towards it. 'Culinary Lab Class Initiation entrance' which had a small sketch of a man's face and his name.
Kasumi blinked, then smirked 'Sounds interesting and I don't have anything to at the moment, maybe this will be a change from the boring usual routine'
Then her smirk and went into a frown 'but.... I won't know what father will say that my first class to become a shinobi was a cooking one..'
She then shrugged and walked in, looking over the class and noticing that the classroom was squeaky clean as if it was recently done. She gave her teacher a nod and a greeting as she walked past him, taking her time to reach the middle chair, before giving the class a look over, her narrowed eyes sweeping from left to right.
At the back left corner she noticed a rather tall, older man, who seemed out of place.
'Cool' she thought 'I wonder if I'll be able to be that tall, it would be amusing to scare the other students more than I already can' That brought a huge grin to her face. Kasumi was usually taller than most of her fellow students which, some to her joy, found intimidating.
Her eyes also came across a scrawny looking boy at the back, maybe the same age as Kasumi, who seemed to be wanting to avoid talking with anyone and judging by his worn out clothes, she could guess why.
She then turned her attention back towards the teacher, wondering what sort of challenge cooking would be.
'maybe they would make an exploding pie, now that would be amazing' she thought with a dreaming look in her eye

 

[Sashine]

The soft creak of her bed opened 4 pairs of eyes instantly yet her sibling's heads didn't turn, they remained still like any good shinobi, pretending to be asleep as they focused on the sound and waited for the follow-up noise to hear what was going on detail by detail using deduction and a single sense. Sashine stood up from her bed and stretched, ignoring the fact that every movement of hers was being traced and the room had fallen silent, the cute snoring and warm exhales having stopped completely. She put on a pastel pink and white fluffy dress adorned with bows, white socks and red cloth shoes with red bows in the back. There were red outlines in her outfit to match and a red ribbon necklace with a charm hanging on it. She brushed her head slowly into the mirror, ignoring the wandering eyes that had turned to look at her, some in disdain for waking them so early and others in a mix of boredom and curiosity. Every time the siblings looked at their sister, it was like remembering they had a cute adornment on their room that had gotten lost under bundles of clothes. A few seconds of appreciation followed by putting it back in its place and forgetting about it until it was found under another bundle of clothing.

Sashine had grown complacent with this feeling and there was even a twinge of joy from being noticed. She tied the back of her hair up in two pigtails, the ribbon tied into big bows. She wouldn't be the best fighter, the deadliest shinobi but at the very least, she'd be the cutest one. If there was one positive thing from lacking the bloodlust of a killer needed for this line of work, it was that while most students spent their allowances on weapons, gear and training equipment, she could just buy clothes and work twice as hard to keep up or leave it up to luck. Luck always favoured the beautiful, right?

She lightly treaded the wooden floor of the hallway, being sure that those in the adjacent rooms had also opened their eyes, remaining still at the sudden uncommon movement in the house. That was the level of tension. Any move made everyone alert to their surroundings, any word could be interpreted as a threat to your position, your power. Being outside, the tension dropped yet in this world, until you were dead, tension was a constant that you needed to adapt to. Once the school was in sight, Sashine began to speed up her pace, realizing that she hadn't checked the time before leaving and didn't know whether she'd arrive on time or not. Pushing the doors open and heading to the goal right up ahead that read: 'Culinary Lab Class initiation entrance'.

Spoiler

The kitchen looked clean, sure but wasn't every kitchen supposed to be? Otherwise, food wouldn't be hygienic. What caught her attention instead was the large boy who stuck out like a thumb. She was used to seeming younger than the rest of her classmates but this boy... or man just made it much more apparent.

"I think you're making it hard on your child to gain responsibility by being a helicopter parent.", she directed at the tall boy, smiling and giving a short bow to the two other kids. She pondered on sitting down on the counter with the boy in rags, what was his name? Cinderaikou? Raikeo Takou? Sashine obviously didn't care about the whole seclusion loner vibe but since he seemed like he was very possessive about food, Sashine was not about to have a food fight. Instead, she took a seat next to the tall girl who looked like she thought this was a knife sharpening class. Sashine swung her legs back and forth under the counter, making herself comfortable.

"Mornin' sensei. How is your day going?", the question lacking any concern for the teacher's well-being and instead, intending only to seem polite.

---------------------------------------
WC: 667

 

[Akiyama Kasumi]

While Kasumi was daydreaming about an exploding pie, she noticed a presence next to her. Tilting her head to the side she noticed another girl who really seemed to like the color pink sitting next to her and was really small compared to her, this made her smirk.
However much to Kasumi's disappointment she wasn't really intimidated in the slightest.
'That takes the fun out of it' thought Kasumi with a slight huff, but she focused more closely on the small, pink girl seeming to take everything in. She seemed confident with the way she addressed the other students in the class and with way she dresses it was if she wanted to try and standout. Compared to Kasumi's clothing which was just the standard clothing in a dark blue, with her hand's bandaged and wearing a grey scarf for the cold winds, which she wore for practicality.
Kasumi shuddered at the thought the last time she was forced to wear a dress was by her grandmother, who was a demon in disguise, just thinking about made Kasumi go on edge.
Kasumi turned back round to the girl and held out her hand in greeting "Hey, my name's Akiyama Kasumi and this is my first time at the academy" Hey eyes gleamed in interest.

 

[Sashine]

She looked the girl up and down. It wasn't really until now that she noticed the height difference. The giant just made everyone seem smaller than they were. There was something very classical about her look. Sashine could imagine this girl being a random ninja in an animation, kicking ass in the background but her hair color didn't qualify her as a main character unless it was one of those really gory, sad animations where no one had any emotions.

"Howdy, Akiyama-chaaaaan~", the held out word emphasizing the way Sashine had chosen to refer to the stranger. There was nothing particularly cutesy about the girl but Sashine felt it was a compliment that would likely rub the girl the wrong way. Sashine would not be at fault because it was an honorific that was complementary, especially within groups of women but Kasumi didn't seem like the kind of girl to relate to the feminine aspects of life. The younger girl's intent wasn't to be rude but merely test to see where boundaries were set and how far she could step beyond them.

"I'm Ueno Sashine. I like your eyes, they're very pretty. If we work together, we can easily stomp the boys, don't you think?", if Sashine had gambled correctly, some sort of competition would flare up and make the girl work harder while from what she could gather, Cinderaikou would take a while to be comfortable in the area and if there was any partnerwork, he'd take another while. This gave the girls an advantage in this potential scenario and Sashine was all for thinking ahead.

She turned back to the boys and stuck her tongue out between their two separate counters to direct it at both of them childishly. They couldn't fault her for her childish behavior since it would make them look bad to counteract with anything rude to such a cutesy innocent child. At least that's what Sashine thought in her mind.

------------------------------
WC: 326

 

[Akiyama Kasumi]

She felt the smaller girl look her up and down but said nothing on it, as that was what she did a few moments ago. However at the 'Akiyama-chaaaaan' Kasumi could feel her eye twitch. She wasn't sure if this young girl meant it out of courtesy but by the way she held out the word 'chan' it was more likely in a mocking way to try and get a reaction from Kasumi.
'Just Akiyama, would be fine' replied Kasumi trying to control her twitch.
'Ueno Sashine' nothing really came to mind when Kasumi heard that name but that may be because she would zone out when her father and two older brothers would try and brief her about name's of families who had bloodlines and who were important.
At the mention of some sort of alliance, to try and stomp out competition brought a spark into Kasumi's eyes and a huge menacing grin to her face. She loved a challenge.

Spoiler

She turned and observed the two boys at the back again, looking for their strengths and weaknesses, so many ideas and many scenarios started to run through her head, making her blood boil in excitement.
'Sounds like fun Ueno-san' replied Kasumi while cracking her knuckles.

 

[Keiji]

Looks like it's about time.. The students had begun entering the room, steadily but surely, one at a time, they introduced themselves and Tetsuo would nod with approval of their appearance whether they'd be properly dressed or not *cough*
After everyone had entered, and the door had slammed shut before the timer had been reached. He stood up and began counting the students, individually he look them in the eyes, moved his index finger, then proceeded to the next, as he was pointing at them they'd feel an energy surge through them, like the prick of a needle, they're eyes were examined, by a Sharingan. It would only be for a split second, but for every time he moved his index his eyes would activate, then deactivate.. The purpose of this was to read their chakra, their movements, and their strength, presumably none of them would be prepared for anything, heck none of them seemed to even have the basics of cooking in their soul.

After he had concluded the counting, he thought to himself This is what I got to deal with eh? a short breath, he turned around leaning down he grabbed a bag he had brought with him filled with paper, printed on them were recipes, hints, tricks and knowledge from all across the world. Knowledge of cooking techniques and how-when-why regarding all the essentials of cooking.
He placed the stack of papers on the small table by the door, and then turned around again.

"First off, WELCOME!" He raised his hand in excitement and pointed to the ceiling "WELCOME to your first COOKING CLASS!" He lowered his hand again with reluctance, as if he wanted to hold his hand up there for the rest of the day out of excitement.
"During this class, and the rest of this semester, I will be teaching you advanced skills within the culinary arts that maybe not everyone might think of. As a Shinobi of Kumogakure you are expected to be the master of amazing feats and be able to achieve the impossible. What you master yourself in, is completely up to the individual student. There are chances and opportunities behind every door, this class is for those that want to survive and I'm not talking about surviving in war, or in a personal battle face to face. I'm talking the general struggle to survive, be it out in the wilds, out in the field, or here at home in the village. Your diet, and being knowledgeable about your diet and the food you have at your disposal is just as crucial and essential in your life as it is to learn to fight, to use a weapon, and to kill your opponent or target."
He took a short breath before continuing.
"When you are out in the field on a tracking mission, your supplies are low, and you must survive to complete your assigned mission, you have to be able to know what to eat, where to find it and how to digest it and still be able to fight the next day. And have a great time doing it too!"

"I have prepared notes for all of you, on most of the eatable plants and the calling signs of them, including how to prepare them the best way, even going so far as to provide methods of concealing your fire when cooking.
But before we go through all of that, there are many books in this room as well, detailing all manner of cooking techniques and skills. Which you are all free to look through any time of the day.
Today. I will have you all cook a simple meal for me, and yourselves. You'll be preparing a Braised Beef Bourgogne! All the necessary ingredients and cooking method will be written in the notes you can come here and pick up on the table" He tapped the table with his hand.
"But, here's the kicker, you have to braise the beef within half an hour! Feel free to look through the ingredients listed within the papers I have included among the recipe."

"Please proceed up here and pick your papers, and grab a partner. This assignment is done in pairs."

He stood aside the table and let the students walk up to grab their papers.
In his mind he concluded "They'll have to research each ingredient carefully to understand their properties, it might take them time to figure it out, but there are specific notes to certain elements from nature that is right here in this room that can serve that exact purpose. I'm eager to see which group figures it out first.."

The question remained..

Spoiler

[OOC: Welcome to the class all of you, Takeo, Rirakkusu, Kasumi, and Sashine. I hope you have fun, and enjoy the challenge that is set forth in front of you. Good luck!]
[Google is your friend and ally in this challenge. But I'll be nice since I just recently came upon a small gallery of some neat cooking advice on Imgur http://imgur.com/gallery/UAK6h ]
[You have until the 13th of November]

 

[Tsuyoshi Takeo]

Well… this seemed like it was going to be a fun class… Shortly after Takeo took his seat, some tall scrawny guy with a sword came in. He must’ve been nearly an adult, leading the young student to the conclusion that he must be at least a genin if not a chuunin; though he could see no forehead protector. Just as the bean-pole samurai entered, he turned and locked eyes with Takeo. He could have sworn he heard something about a stolen seat being mumbled under the big bastards breath, but it wasn’t quite loud enough to be completely audible. Either way, the big guy ended up taking the back seat on the opposite side of the room; so, no harm, no foul.

Next entered a girl about his own age. Damn! Was everyone taller than he was? After a brief greeting to the sensei, the girl took a seat near the center of the classroom. Time trickled by at a snails pace, and Takeo wondered if anyone else was going to show up. Just as he thought he was going to die of boredom, the bright-pink ball of crazy that was Sashine popped through the door. She might’ve been the only one smaller than he was, but she had the largest personality so far. Sashine immediately spouted an insult towards the giant sleeping in the back of the room before taking a seat next to the tall, brooding girl and striking up an animated conversation about teaming up against the guys for a cooking contest.

Takeo had come to a decision on Sashine: she was painful. The bright, vivid colors she wore hurt the eyes; the loud, mouthy comments hurt the ears; and her entire demeanor gave him a headache. If nothing else, she could always annoy an enemy combatant to death.

Finally, the lesson began. Their sensei stood and shouted a vigorous welcome before diving into the lesson plan for the day. Takeo sighed with exacerbation as the man prattled on about how culinary expertise was some sort of survival skill. What was worse, they were required to do the assignment in pairs. Getting dejectedly out of his seat, he meandered over to the giant and spoke.

”Hey, I’m Takeo. Looks like we’re going to have to work together; the girls seem pretty intent on teaming up against us.” His tone was very nonchalant, and his manner laid-back. A moment was given to allow a response. ”Well, I hope you’re better at this cooking thing than I am. I can make rice and instant noodles; otherwise, I usually just heat something up out of a can.” Another moment given in consideration. ”I guess I’ll head up there and grab a recipe or two. Hope he’s got a dictionary; I have no idea what the hell “Braised Beef Bourgogne” is. How are we supposed to learn advanced cooking techniques if we haven’t been taught the basics?” Takeo went up to the front table and began browsing for something that looked like a recipe. He found one that didn’t look too difficult, and also seemed to stay within the time limits. Returning to the table, he showed it to his partner.

”What do you think? Looks simple enough; we’ve just got to follow the directions step-by-step and we should be fine.” He gave him a moment to look the recipe over before he spoke again. ”I’ll go grab the ingredients if you want to get all the pots and pans ready, and stuff.” This time, Takeo didn’t even bother to wait for a response. He jotted down a list of the ingredients before turning on his heel and making his way over to the walk-in refrigerator and picking out the necessary foodstuffs. There were spices and oils over by the cooking station, so he didn’t grab any of those from the pantry on his way back, but did pick up the dry goods. The station his partner was sitting at seemed to be a good place to do the actual cooking, so Takeo laid out all the ingredients on the neighboring station where he had previously sat.

”I’ll cut everything up and work on the side dish if you want to go ahead and cook the meat. The choice is yours.”

[MFT: 711 WC]

[OOC: Recipe to be used has been PMed to Tetsuo and Ri.]

 

[Sashine]

She was pretty sure she signed up to a beginner class. At least, that's what she thought it was classified as unless you counted the gorilla at the corner of the classroom but the instructor said they would be learning advanced cooking. She was only nine years old, she might be able to slice someone's throat if they stayed still and let her but she didn't know she knew enough about cooking appliances to not burn a kitchen down. Sashine mentally shrugged. There was always time to experiment. A first time to burn a kitchen down or the first time making an edible meal, who knew what would happen today. She understood the concept of having to know how to cook if she had to be in the wilderness or needed to pack lightly and there was nothing wrong with cooking something that wouldn't kill you but might actually taste good and not make being in the wilderness so depressing. The fact that they had a bunch of information available and would virtually not be able to access any of it beforehand was dumb. Was the teacher stupid? Sashine thought so. Unless this was like a pop quiz to see how much knowledge they knew to start things off, it didn't make much sense at all. As the man talked, Sashine felt it'd be really cute if she held a cooking tool so she reached for a meat knife on a wood block and picked it up, swaying it back and forth like it was a pencil and teacher had been ranting for hours about hokages and historical events. Though in reality it looked dangerous to have such a dumb and young-looking child swinging a knife around midway in the air. "I'll get the stuff, no worries, Akiyama-chaaaan~." Sashine felt it looked cute and so she kept the knife in her hand as she stood up and headed toward the teacher's table. She didn't understand the difficulty of cooking meat in 30 minutes and she wasn't sure what braising even was but she was sure the teacher wasn't stupid enough to exclude that information.

With the stack of papers in hand, Sashine returned, trying not to wave the knife too close to the boys. Even with her big mouth, if she pissed off either of them, she was sure they could cut her down in a second. They were so much older and she had already seen Taekwondo get angry before. Sashine plopped down to start reading the papers, telling her partner what to go pick up as she read along. Sashine had appointed herself the head of the project, surprisingly. The boys seemed to be super secretive about what they were doing which seemed dumb to her. Sure it was a competition of sorts but it wasn't life or death, it was just a taste bud challenge combined with a skimming information test as well as innate ability. "Garlic powder, onion, beef, carrots, potatoes, bread, butter, milk, mushrooms, oil... mmm whatever broth is.", she looked through the papers, crumpling some pieces of paper completely and ripping out pieces of information that was important to narrow out information that wasn't relevant. "...pepper, parsley, thyme? Bayleaf? Leek? Terragon? Celeriac? What are all these words? I don't know. bring 'em."

As Sashine began to brainstorm, she began to chop what seemed to be the most satisfactory, meat. "Peel 3 potatoes while I look for the stuff and chop some damn vegetables, woman!", she told her sous chef. She looked for the pot that seemed to make the most sense as she reached for a pressure cooker. That's what the notes had described at least. It looked like a normal pot but someone had put the top on backwards and smashed it down. Next she got a normal pot with no lid and a bowl, moving it all to the counter. She made sure to turn up the oven to whatever the highest setting was.

"'Kay, I need you to make something heavy like mashed potatoes, I'll take care of the rest." Sashine added three parts broth and one white wine to the bottom of the pressure cooker as she cut the meat into large cubes. She tied all of the green stick vegetables like thyme, bayleaf, leek, parsley, terragon and celeriac in the rubber band that held the bread together and dumped it in with the wine and broth. While she waited, a few minutes, she diced the bread into quadrants, putting butter and garlic powder on them before putting it into a mini oven. and toning it down to 300 degrees.

Sashine was aware that the traditional recipe called for red wine but there was nothing traditional in Sashine's kitchen. She made sure to add black pepper onto the broth and alcohol to balance out the light flavors with a spice that was strong. She put the meat cubes into the liquid mix and let it sit, adding in the potatoes and carrots that were hopefully sliced by then. It was about time to take out the bread. It only really needed to be toasted on one side, Sashine prefered that the garlic bread wasn't super crunchy, after all the entire palette of the meal was meat to be soft from the braising. After sauteing some mushrooms really quickly, she got a bowl out and started to see the decoration in her head. The broth inside with vegetables at the base, three cuts of meat on the center. It was meant to be a simple meal so that was where she'd stop. On a small dessert plate, she'd set two pieces of garlic bread, the toasted side facing outward with a decorative piece of parsley? Bayleaf? Who knew. One of those green decorative pieces to just lay next to it.

Once that was done, Sashine would add the mushrooms inside the broth to keep them from getting too soggy and maintaining a fresher taste. This would also let them stay on top of the meal to line the light yellow liquid with white mushrooms. Adding a dose of black pepper on top would look super cute so she decided it would be a great addition as well. With the meal put together, Sashine was ready to present! Hopefully the man wouldn't die of food poisoning, if so, it fell on him for placing a child on a kitchen. Albeit, the smartest child, like, ever.

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WC: 1073

 

[Akiyama Kasumi]

Kasumi jumped out of her seat a little when the teacher shouted welcome and kind of sweat dropped at the amount of excitement her seemed to be having. While the teacher talked she understood now the importance of cooking in and out of the field.
'Maybe I should have listened to grandmother, when she tried to teach me to cook and be more girly and stuff'
At the mention of the assignment Kasumi felt the most lost she had in her entire life, so she was hoping Sashine would know more on what to do and follow her lead. She looked over at the small pink girl as she mentioned getting the stuff while dangerously waving around a knife. Kasumi looked over at the boys at the back and noticed how secretive they were being about what they were cooking, she started to feel that they might have something up their sleeve but she couldn't tell what they were doing.
When Sashine came back and started to bark orders at kasumi, she was a bit stunned but that then morphed into amusement. She couldn't help but try and bite back her grin as her interest in the small girl was increasing. She decided that if Sashine wanted to be in charge she wouldn't stop her, anyway Kasumi wasn't much for leading anyway.
"Yes, head chief" Kasumi said almost sarcastically while saluting Sashine.
She collected the ingredients that the pink head chief had listed and started on her new orders on peeling potato's, which Kasumi found relatively easy because to her it was like sharpening a sword, using swift, clean motions. However Kasumi's favorite part was chopping the vegetables, she didn't know why but she got a deep satisfaction doing so.
Next Kasumi tidied up her work-space and started on the mashed potatoes. Kasumi and never really cooked before so this was all new to her but she felt the usual thrill coursing through her body at a new challenge to try and overcome. So many scenarios started to run through her head on what to do to make the mash potatoes more interesting.
Kasumi started to search for ingredieant's and picked up white wine, olive oil and sea salt. She started to heat the olive oil at a medium temperature in what she assumed was a skillet, while adding in onion's and salt, and stirring until the onions looked golden brown. Then she added half a cup of white wine, while putting the potatoes in and reducing the temperature slightly.
Kasumi could hardly hear what was going around her as she was completely focused on completing this task, which was rare for Kasumi to get such involved in something that wasn't training or strategic in anyway. Kasumi stirred and seasoned until the dish looked like potatoes submerged into a thick sauce. She was stuck for a moment on how to decide if the potatoes were cooked or not but then decided to stick a fork into it to see how soft it was, as she had remembered her grandmother doing something similar. Ounce satisfied it was cook she started to mash the potatoes, to her great pleasure and glee, only till it was clumpy so it stayed heavy. She then carefully put her dish into a bowl sprinkling parsley and adding a bit of butter before giving to Sashine to look over.
"What do you think head chief" she asked with a slight smirk and a salute. She then looked over to the boys and grinned at them, standing a little straighter.

 

[Keiji]

-I'll be skipping Shita, and assuming he just sat there, and did nothing, and Takeo continued on his own and finished the whole plating-​

The guys didn't seem to have the most ideal teamwork. The majority of the workload went to Takeo-kun. And frankly Tetsuo thought that it was perfect that way, since Takeo did his work pretty much perfectly.
The girls on the other hand actually had teamwork, and lots of spirit. He noted they'd practically be screaming ther orders to one another. The smallest took charge like a fired up corn, ready to explode into a popcorn.
'Team Leader potential', he noted in his small book, for reports to Ayumu regarding Sashine.

Every single one them seemed just the right way to game the question, and took a fairly simple approach. It made sense. Cut the meat up, minimize the size of the tenderloin pieces, makes the cooking process much faster. Easy peasy. Shouldn't take long than a maybe 20 minutes in an oven or even shorter on a pan. It made Tetsuo smile a little bit, almost deviously from the right angle. During the cooking process Tetsuo sat down on his seat, and watched, with a pen in hand, and his notebook in front of him. He took note whenever an order was shouted, and whenever an ingredient was added, or a temperature was adjusted. He noted all of their techniques, methods and their usage of the ingredients.

Once everything was done. The food was ready and the plating was set up, he urged the two groups to come to the table and place the food on the table in front of him as he sat the notebook aside.
Once the plates were in front of him, he looked them over, assessing their colors, their placements, the sauce, and the usage of the other ingredients, like onions, and whatnot.
"Interesting.." He commented as grabbed a knife and a fork.

Sashine & Kasumi
He cut a piece of the tenderloin, and added some of the mashed potatoes and then dipped it all in the sauce.
Taking it all in his mouth, he chewed, slowly, letting all the different tastes and succulent meat reach of the tastebuds inside of his mouth.
Swallowed, then sat the fork and knife down.
With his hand, he took one of the breads, and took a firm bite from it, chewing, then swallowing with a satisfied look upon his face.
He calmly looked upwards at the ceiling thinking deeply.
"8 out of 10."
"I liked the plating, great use of ingredients, the side dish fit nicely, and added some well needed change from a broth, and a sauce, overall detailed work, and great teamwork. Good job on taking charge like a boss Sashine. You get my personal reccomendation for effort!"

Takeo (& Shita)
Grabbing the fork and knife again, he gently sliced a piece of meat from the dish, including a mushroom, and some mashed potato. The dishes seemed very much alike. But they each had a slightly different variant use of the meat and spices.
After chewing and swallowing, he nabbed a potato and some of the fruits in the side dish, and gulped it down so as to let the sensation fit with the meat he had just chewed through.
He set the knife and fork aside again, did some passionate thinking, and licked his lips.
"The fruits add a nice change of pace when compared to the meaty juices from the beef, and the simplicity in the plating makes it pleasant on the eyes."
"It's fine work indeed, and even accomplishing it all on your own is very admirable. I can safely say you'll be in my recommendation as well. In the end, very well made, a definite 7/10!"

He wiped his mouth and settled back in his chair.
"Now, to finalize this dish preperation we'll now sit, eat and then we'll go over the basics."
"You all did well in your test and I commend every one of you. Following orders, to a tea, and while also adding in your own little flavor is very commendable as well" he adds as he looks to Kasumi.

The class continued, and Tetsuo went over the basics after dining the results of the test.
He taught the class how the vapor from water can result in results all the more different. And pointing out how he'd actually have assumed that they all decided to cut the meat up, instead of tenderizing the full tenderloin as per the usual recipes. This method though is what was supposed to be the actual challenge, since that kind of tenderizing takes an hour or even more. And the way you minimize this is by utilizing certain ingredients, like honey which breaks down the enzymes and changes the entire texture of the food, making it almost bounce the fork back when prepared properly, making it incredibly juicy and delicious. At this point his mouth starts to water a little, and then wipes up his mouth again.

At around the end of the day, he ends the class with him preparing the exact same thing that he mentioned before.
The whole class would be given a taste and then the class ended.

OOC: Akiyama Kasumi, Sashine, and Raikou Takeo receives full payment for class participating.
ICly, you can expect that (if your character wishes) your character is participating in the full class during this semester of your Academy life!

The payment request thread can be found here: http://www.ninpocho.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=46388&p=215442#p215442
Please post in it, that you wish to receive your rewards from class participation.
You may now post your exit post after 3 hours of class.

 

[Sashine]

Sashine wiped her face on the little cloth that hung in front of the oven. She wasn't sure what it was for or if it was just for decoration or maybe handling hot stuff but yuck, she hated sweat and needed to get out of here, it was hot and already she felt like she needed a nap once the plating was done. The giant guy did nothing and he seemed like he was taking a nap leaving poor Taekwondo by himself. Literally, poor Taekwondo. Sashine let the old man talk and compliment their work. She bowed at the compliment adding a quick "Thank you."

As the teacher tasted the other plate, Sashine turned to her partner for the meal, smiling "Good job, Kasumi-chan. The boys have nothing on us, especially since the big one only works as a decorative buddha statue. You make a great sous chef! If I ever have to cook again, I'll be sure to give you a call!", she stuck her tongue out at the small joke. It was rare that Sashine didn't make a joke at the expense of whoever she was speaking to which meant Kasumi actually earned enough respect for there to not be a joke about her... for now. Sashine was sure they'd be done immediately, almost ready to bolt out and go home for a nice nap but instead, class proceeded on as only a few minutes had passed since it had started. She groaned audibly at the continuation of class but decided it'd be a good idea to pay attention to class just in case they'd have another cook off and she needed to roast her opponent's asses. She was sure she'd fine broil Takeo's and sautee Kasumi's when the time came and if she was going to do so, she'd need knowledge on where to get those two missing points to get a perfect ten. Even more-so, the extra points to get an eleven and dethrone the teacher so hard that he'd leave the village and Sashine would teach the class next semester. Then again, it was great to dream. Especially now that they waited for the teacher to make the exact same dish they had just made to one up then.

Sashine tried the dish and sure, it was great but... it didn't have the heart and passion! Or maybe, it tasted bitter from her jealousy. Soon enough, he'd be dethroned. The man was old anyway, she could take on an elderly man. With her determination set for the rest of the semester, she waved to her classmates as she skipped home for a well deserved nap followed by some training to work the food down somehow. She'd need to pick up on actual training if she was going to eat like that this semester.

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WC: 468 [Topic Left]

 

[Tsuyoshi Takeo]

What the hell! That big guy literally took a nap the entire time! While Takeo rushed around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to figure out, first of all, what any of these cooking terms meant, the female team worked together flawlessly. Light-hearted jokes and jabs flying back and forth as they brought their recipe to life. Takeo wasn’t quite sure how he finished on time, but he was able to plate his dish at the last second and present it to the senei. However, even though he was down a team member, he only scored one point lower than the females! Finally, the moment he’d been waiting for. He finally got so sit down and try his own food. It smelled great, but that was no indication on how it would taste. He hesitantly placed a forkful in his mouth.

Holy crap! That tasted phenomenal! A smile lit up his face as a wave of pride filled him. He made this, and it was good! Probably the best thing he’d ever eaten in his entire life; although, there wasn’t a whole lot to compare it to. As they all ate their dishes the sensei went over some more cooking techniques. Takeo had a brief though to try and wake up the sleeping giant in the back of the room, but he quickly discounted the idea. It wasn’t his problem if the guy missed out on the class. Besides, he was huge! He would probably try and eat everything Takeo had struggled to make on his own!

By the end of the class, the sensei had made them his version of the dish for them to try. It was fantastic! The meat was far more tender than Takeo’s. When they finished, he returned to his work station to clean up; scrubbing the dishes thoroughly and wiping down the counters before leaving the classroom. On his way out, he bowed to the sensei and thanked him for the lesson. Once he was out and on his own, he would have to invest in a good cookware set.

[TL]

 

[Akiyama Kasumi]

Kasumi breathed a sigh of relief that it was over, she never thought that cooking required that much work and skill. She smirked as she heard they won but couldn't feel a little disappointed that it wasn't a fair match as the smaller one out of the two boys did all the work.
She nodded her head at the little pink girl at her compliment "Well you took over, so most of the credit goes to you"
She barley paid attention as the teacher continued, she was certain that she couldn't tell anyone in her family that her first class was cooking or she would never here the end of it but also her grandmother probably wouldn't leave her alone and blab on about her finally finding her inner femininity. She was glad that she could finally get some food after being surrounded by it all day had made her hungry. She wasn't disappointed it was way better than her grandmother's cooking, which was rare.
She bowed in respect before heading out the classroom and towards the training grounds her hand on her sword and an evil grin in her face.
[T.L]