Solo [Alluvion Academy]A Chop a Mix II

[Moritz Craven]

10 Spring 521

As Moritz headed to his cooking class the young kelvic was surprised to see his instructor leaving the room. Sometimes he did not arrive until classes began, but he had not seen his instructor leave the room just before it began and so found this odd.

"Moritz, we'll having a special class today. There's a note on the board. We're heading out front. Here, carry this."

Taking the proffered package, something bulky but not too heavy, Moritz turned about and headed after the man. A few other students for the class ran into them on their way, those who did not would have to backtrack once they saw the note. Eventually they were back outside, and Mortiz found his instructor leading the group off to the side of the front entrance. This was an area he was somewhat familiar with, as he had explored it while training with Julan. Or playing as the ghost tended to refer to it as.

As they rounded the doorway a large number of objects came into view which had not been there when Moritz had entered school that morning. Boxes, crates, containers, sacks, and all manner of things for holding other things. More distinctly though he noticed a large number of open fire pits, each ringed with a layer of stone, above which a metal tripod held a pot.

Once he had set his package down with the others Moritz inspected one of the pots, seeing it was filled with... Water. He was curious what they were doing, but figured his instructor would explain it once everyone arrived.

In the mean time he and other students had began setting up small collapsible tables, upon which cutting boards were placed. So they would be doing something involving pots of water over a fire, and cutting something.

That task done there was nothing much left to do until everyone had arrived. Eventually they did and their instructor took that as time to begin his explanation.

"Alright class, set up next to a pot and with a cutting table. You'll need your apron, a knife, and a ladle. Today we will be making something very simple, something you can make with about any ingredients at hand. Stew. These can have various vegetables, some with or without meat, fruit, basically anything edible can be thrown in. The hot water will cook all of the ingredients over time, though some things you'll want to throw in earlier or later due to how fast or slow they cook."

"There is nothing fancy about stew. No complex preparations. You just ready your ingredients, throw them in, and let it cook. I'll be coming around to assist as needed. Begin."

Looking around Moritz quickly located the needed tools, tying on an apron, carefully taking a knife to his cutting board, and setting aside a ladle for later use. Then heading over to the raw ingredients Moritz saw a box of potatoes. These he knew how to deal with, and could see by looking they were clean. Setting one down on the board Moritz began to make a careful cut. An incision along the top to lop off the top and provide a flat surface to cut the rest with.

WC: 537

[Moritz Craven]

Having made the first cut Mortiz continued on, turning the potato and beginning to slice off the peal. He was doing slightly better than the time before, but still was not too skilled with a blade for cutting food. First he cut off the new top, leveling off the other side. Then he began cutting strips along the edges, slowly turning the potato as he worked.

If nothing else Moritz felt he finished much faster than before, even if he did little better at the actual task.

With that done Moritz cut the potato innards in half, and laid out each half on the board. Slicing lengthwise Moritz worked his way through each half, a flat side on the bottom, turning from one to the other. Then he chopped this up further long ways, turning the short strips into numerous squarish pieces.

Setting aside the knife Moritz inspected this for any remnants of peel, before picking up the cutting board and sweeping the lot into the water. It was a low heat but he could see now the water was boiling slowly, and bits of hot water splashed up with a few drips landing on his arm as the potato went in. By instinct he jerked back his limb, but by then the cutting board was clean and empty.

Moving about Moritz inspected the other food in the boxes, seeing various people doing various things. Once more someone had, somehow, managed to catch their work on fire, leaving Moritz to wonder what was so flammable about a container of boiling water.

He saw various items within, some plants and some not. There were a box of eggs, wrapped to avoid breaking when moved. Some dried strips of meat which looked ready to be dropped into a pot... And other plants he was less familiar with, or at least had not used before in cooking. Large green plants with a round of sorts shape, or at least more rounded than square while being an overall square sort of shape. It had a stem at one end, and seemed to suck up underneath on the bottom.

Their instructor, walking by and seeing Moritz puzzling over one he had picked up, spoke. "Its a green pepper Moritz. Not spicy really, but a good additive al the same. Not like other spicier peppers, red and the like. Chile peppers, as well. Spicy. Why not try some peppers?"

Moving over to inspect Moritz work he seemed to question some choice Moritz had made, but did not just then say anything. Instead he left the kelvic to continue his work, shouting off one final tip.

"And they aren't like potato. You don't need to peal them, all right? Carrots, those orange long things, and potato you peal. Peppers you don't but you'll need to watch for the seeds and avoid getting those inside in your food."

Taking up the knife again Moritz inspected the pepper, wondering on how to cut it. Finally he simply laid it on its side, and cut it in half along its middle section. As he did the pepper seemed to open, revealing the meaty chunk of seeds and things inside.

Looking about Moritz tried to find a spoon or some scoop, something he could get the seeds out with.

WC: 548

[Moritz Craven]

Having opened the pepper, Moritz ran back over to the crates and boxes full of tools, inspecting for something that would be of use. He saw many things he did not know, and some which did not look like it was used for cooking.

There was something like a vice or crushing tool, with two halves meeting in the middle, something Moritz felt would make more sense in building a structure. There were also larger knives, smaller ones as long as his index finger, and a tiny hammer or mallet. Finally looking in yet another case he found some scoops and things, almost a spoon and almost a ladle but more of a... Scoop. Something in between. This seemed suitable for scooping out a chunk of seedy innards, and so Moritz took one of these back to his cutting table.

Ramming in the metal tool Moritz grabbed a chunk of the seeds, dropping them in a pile off to the side. Then moving back in he scooped out another bit, and another, slowly forming a empty pit within the pepper. The more he worked the more he realized the pepper really was little more than the outside, the peel or rind, and had nothing much more inside. Quite different from the solid through potato he had worked with before.

Continuing his scooping Moritz found each attempt was getting less of the bits, until he was left with a few stray remnants throughout the inside. For these Moritz finally used his fingers, digging in and pulling out the little individual bits. A seed here. A stay bit there. A few seeds over on this bit. This took some time was well, with each lesser amount taking progressively longer to remove. Finally though he did manage to get it all out, and was left with two halves of pepper with no seeds within.

Flipping them both over so the flat side was on the bottom Moritz then pondered the best way to cut. Looking the plant over he noticed the stem on the top. Before anything else he put in the knife and cut this section off to give a flatter remaining surface.

This he set aside with the other detritus, such as the innards and seeds. With that out of the way Moritz was still left pondering hot to best cut up the pepper. Finally he decided to try something similar to the potato, though not quite the same.

Cutting it into length or strips in one direction, Moritz began cutting through the material. He kept his one hand on the hilt and the other on the back of the blade, using it to help guide and therefore also keeping it far away from the sharp edge of the knife.

He kept at this slowly and methodically, cutting through the pepper bit by bit until the entire length was sliced in long bits. However it being solid it did not hold up as well as the potato, and many parts seemed to fall over or upon itself. He then turned to the other pepper, beginning to cut its half into strips as well.

WC: 522

[Moritz Craven]

Similar to the first half Moritz worked his way along the pepper half, cutting its side into long strips. As with the first half the material was not as cooperative as potato, and began to fall into a heap nearly as soon as he began. Still he kept at it, watching his hands and keeping anything of import away from the cutting edge. One hand on the hilt, the other to guide and push along on the backside which was flat and not edged.

This reminded Moritz of his own weapon his master Kyra had taught him in. It had parts that were sharp, while other bits where the hand went which were smooth and unedged.

Now dealing with two heaps of cut pepper, Moritz worked on further cutting up the material. He did not doubt it was still too large to cook properly, let along to be eaten. Small bits of a thing throughout a ladled bowl were one thing. Giant chunks hanging over edges were quite another.

Slowly and with care Moritz began to cut the heap, similar to before but know watching the direction everything flowed. His intent was to cut the entire thing into small usable pieces, but he knew if he did things wrong it would still be in overly large chunks or strips.

Turning the blade to put it at odds with the prior cut, Moritz moved to X his way along the length of the previously cut material. Sliding it downward he found the pepper was much easier to cut through, having much less resistance. However due to this it was also easier to go off ones mark, and thus somewhat harder to work than the solid but dependable potato.

With care Moritz worked his way along one half of the sliced pepper, seeing as bits of each slice were bisected in numerous points. But as he worked across it he also saw bits that were missed. There were missing uniformity due to how some bit or other bent or turned, and left it with much large pieces not being cut properly.

Due to this Moritz backtracked, going back over and cutting again to make the cuts finer and to catch these bigger chunks. Once he was done with this he realized he had still missed parts, and so inspected his work to reach a solution. In the end though he realized he simply lacked the experience to work out anything fancier or more well done, and so simply went about cutting each part bit by bit where he saw a large lump of material. He kept at this till the entire half of the pepper was done, cut into small pieces that would go well into the pot.

However Moritz looked over with a sigh, realizing he still needed to cut up the other half. Considering his knife work Moritz paused in his action to work out a plan of action. How should he go about cutting to avoid large gaps like before? What could he do different? The kelvic pondered this for several moments, inspecting his tools and materials to try and reach a logical agreement in terms of a plan.

WC: 530

[Moritz Craven]

Each time Moritz tried his cutting, he slightly altered his method. Slowly trying to find the correct way, the best or most efficient manner of doing things. As it was he felt he was slowly improving and finding new ways, but as he continued cutting he knew he was not there yet.

Slicing and dicing up the last piece he changed his method a bit, but only ended up with a slightly better product. Not that he felt it mattered to much, as he was fairly certain it would cook in this case either way. Though perhaps for eating the difference in size might make a difference in eating.

Once all of that was done Moritz dropped all of his finished products into the pot, and then considered what to do next. When he found a large hand sized run fruit he picked one up and took it to the table.

As before he set it on its side and tried to cut it in half along the middle, but while the skin was thin and the with soft flesh underneath, at the middle of the fruit was a odd core bit that was harder.

Pulling out back his blade Moritz instead set the apple down and began chopping off piece and chunks from above. Focusing on one end he cut off a large chunk skin and all, before turning the apple and cutting again for another oddly shaped chunk. He kept at this for a bit, turning the apple and cutting a new piece part by part, before mostly what was left was the core. Out of the core was a stem, which made sense as it seemed that entire part was not meant for eating.

Regardless he kept at it, and continued shaving off more bits. He did not want to cut into the core, but he did not want to waste a large amount around it. And so he began by shaving off tiny layers, trying to find where the edges of the apple ended and the core began so as to cut off everything else but the core. This was a bit trickier, requiring more precision. Precision, Moritz was beginning to think, he did not actually possess.

When he felt he had gotten as much of the flesh of the apple off, skin included, he pushed these parts aside into a pile. And then with another set of chopping motions he worked his way through the pile bit by bit to cut it into smaller pieces. It was perhaps going to be an odd mix, potato, apple, and pepper, but he was willing to try out his mixture. Once he felt the apple was small enough chunks he picked up the cutting board and setting aside the core fed the remaining bits that had been cut up into the pot.

Feeling mostly done Moritz let out a sigh, looking over his dish and in turn his neighbors. He seemed to be the only one opting out of animal products, but then he did not really feel the need for such things.

WC: 515

[Moritz Craven]

The rest of his work done, Moritz began the process of finishing his work. The water over the fire was boiling, and so that seemed proper. Beyond that he was unsure what else exactly to do. As he looked though he noticed the ingredients within clumping, and looking around saw others sing a large spoon to mix things.

Finding one of his own Moritz settled it into his pot, and began to slowly mix it in a swirling motion. As his utensil cut through the water the chunk of materials within seemed to move about and shift, breaking from their prior congealed blob like form. He was unsure if they would truly stick and glue together, but he felt it was best to avoid that. Plus it did make sense that mixing it would help in distributing things... Along with that he saw other people doing it, and so he assumed a portion of cooking was said mixing. And so he did likewise.

Their instructor coming back he puzzled over Moritz work, but not questioning his choice of ingredients due to the nature of the assignment he simply nodded and walked on. Moritz took that as if nothing else as acceptance, or not denial and outright disagreement at least. He clearly was not doing anything too wrong, though he was still a bit unsure about the stew ingredients he had used.

Continuing his mixing he let the water rest after a bit, feeling the strain in his arms from the constant work of circling again and again. While it was perhaps not a normal work out he could feel the pressure on his arm muscles, and he knew he needed a break. And a work out was a work out all the same, even if it was as simple a task as mixing a pot of water filled with fruits and the like.

Moritz supposed in that regard lifting heavy things could also be considered strength training, or at least a form of working out muscles. Or if nothing else the strain was increasing his stamina by forcing him to exert himself more heavily.

As the others began finishing up Moritz continued watching his pot, mixing occasionally but mainly just seeing if the ingredients visibly changed at all. After awhile he did notice that they became much softer, particularly the harder ones like apple, though Moritz was unsure if this was from absorbing water or the heat of the boiling liquid.

Regardless appearing finished Moritz set his pot aside with some help, taking it off the fire to stop it from heating further. Once he was done his instructor came by and with a scoop filled two bowls with the liquid, making sure to get up some bits and pieces from deep within the pot to fill each bowl.

One of these he gave to Moritz, while he took the other for himself. Moritz assumed this was to taste the food, which the man shortly did. Though, Moritz noticed, he did seem to be making a bit of a face at the bite of stew. Moritz taking a spoonful was unsure what exactly it was, but did not dislike the flavor. Seeing Moritz reaction the man seemed somewhat satisfied, seeing that someone at least- even if only Moritz who had cooked it- did not dislike the dish.

WC: 557