515 AV
52nd of Summer
52nd of Summer
Violet fingered through the pages of her recipe book, the dawning sun just creeping over the horizon, sending orange and pink rays in through the wide windows that kept the kitchen cool, or at least as cool as it could be with a roaring fire in the large pit centered in the room. She was still getting used to Sylrian cuisine, which was much more varied than what she grew up with in Avanthal. Having so many different cultures in one place, there was a veritable plethora of culinary tastes to choose from, and an equally large number of challenges to overcome and habits to pick up.
Satisfied that she had all the ingredients she needed laid out on the table, she slid a long, thin piece of canvas into the page, closing the book as she set about cleaning the fish. Carefully shaving the medium-sized haddock with her filleting knife, she scaled the fish, from tail to head, the flakes spraying across the cutting board. Setting it to the left, she moved on to the next one, scaling nine more.
Fish. That was definitely something new to Violet. Nevertheless, with the help of her recipe book, intuition and trail-and-error, she had managed to get the basics fairly quickly. She wasn't exactly swift yet, but it was simple enough to do, certainly one of the easiest animals to clean. Plus, being near the Suvan Sea, fish was cheap, and with food being one of the least-often purchased items at the Herald's Arms, the owners didn't tend to splurge on ingredients. Violet had to make due with getting what she got. Of course, therein lied the true value of a chef. At least with the frequency of fish, Violet could get lots of practice preparing the meat, as well as trying out all kinds of different recipes without having to spend too much time mastering how to prepare several different kinds of meat.
Violet cleaned the scales off her cutting board and the table, then rinsed off each one of the haddocks off in a small bowl, just barely large enough to hold half of the fish underwater. Rinsing all of them off, as well as her knife, she set about gutting the first one. Slicing into the tail end, she carefully cut a slit up towards the head, removing the guts and tossing them into the grub bucket on the floor. She sliced off the tip of the tail, keeping as much of the meat as possible, as well as the fins and head, tossing them into the bucket as well. After doing the same with all ten of the fish, she set about washing them in a larger bowl, dumping the dirty water into the grub bucket at the end.
With fish being rather cheap, Violet was able to fillet the fish without worrying about the waste. She sliced the body lengthwise, close to the bones, then sliced the other fillet away from the rib cage. Not yet an expert at it, she always had to go back and pick out a few residual bones with her fingers, sometimes her knife if it was especially stubborn or deep, and depending on the size of the fish. After finally filleting all the fish, she grabbed a pile of 4 large baking pans to cook the fish in. Having already spent quite a lot of time on the fish, she didn't have the time to remove the skin, but a fish fillet was already a pretty fancy meal for the Herald, especially for the price the customers paid.
Pouring enough water to cover the fillets about 2/3, she placed them on the grill over the open fire, carefully poking them every minute and watching them like a hawk. Fish cooked fast, and she was determined to make this meal worthy of praise. One by one, she removed the fillets and placed them on the table as each one finished cooking just a few seconds apart from each other. She drained the fish, piling the twenty fillets on a large wooden plate, then moving quickly to chop up an equally large pile of onions on her vegetable cutting board. The skins were tossed into a compost pail. The Herald would use vegetable waste to nourish their own small garden behind the kitchen. Finishing the onions, Violet checked the recipe book, selecting the appropriate measurement of sugar, wine vinegar, pepper and other spices combining all of them into a large saucepan and boiling it over the fire, then pulling it to the edge of the pit to cool to a simmer as the onions softened. As the sauce simmered, she fried the fish in a pan with oil, flipping the fillets with her trusty wooden scraper to brown the outsides, then placed the fillets hot out of the pan into a large serving cauldron, pouring over the sweet and sour sauce and tossing gently to mix.
Violet leaned over, taking a deep whiff of her dish, smiling at the pleasant aroma. Setting the cauldron on the table, she set about cleaning up, washing all the knives, boards, utensils and pans. She took the compost and sprinkled it over the garden, and set the grub bucket on a high hook in the back of the building and ringing a bell. One of the nearby residents raised pigs, and would offer a discount on pork in return for the meat remains to use in pig feed. Ducking back into the kitchen, Violet washed off her hands, dipping a finger into the finished sauce and fish mixture to ensure it's quality. Perfect. Though after cooking for so long, she had gotten pretty hungry, and her tastebuds were just about ready for anything, but it was certainly not bad.
Violet put the lid over the cauldron, untying her ramie bandana and ruffling up her hair to give it a messy look. She usually kept her stained chef's apron on, which she had convinced the owner, Nathan, would help assuage the male customers constantly hitting on her. It was his own fault he didn't hire enough waitresses, and she had to constantly pull double-duty. Today, though, it was rather quiet, especially as it was still early in the morning, barely a bell past opening, and one of the girls had promised to show her some tips on makeup before it got too busy. Of course, it came with a catch: Violet had to wear the makeup all day, and her best outfit. The girls were always playful and teasing like that, especially as Violet was so tender and naive, the perfect target.
As much as she had protested loudly, she had secretly gone to the market late in the day the previous evening to pick out a brand new set of clothing, and had planned her meals ahead of time so there would be no hot cooking for supper. Being that food was so rarely ordered at the Herald, Violet only had to cook two meals a day, and on the rare occasion that anyone showed up before the noon bell, much less ordered something to eat, it was usually made on the spot, and rather simple.
Grabbing her backpack with her brand new set of clothes, she opened the door to the mostly empty common area, nervously walking up the set of stairs to the second floor. She had never actually been anywhere other than the main floor before, and the smell of perfume and incense was both strong yet pleasant, as the rooms were still freshly cleaned, the smell of sweat and sex not yet permeated through the entire floor as it would end up being by the day's end. She knocked tentatively on one of the private room doors, and a young girl, looking barely of age, opened the door and beckoned her in.
Violet unpacked her new set of clothes. The pants were simple, loose, black linen, with a little angled mini-skirt overlapping the waist. The top was an elaborate blouse she had managed to find used that matched the pants, or rather, after finding and falling in love with the blouse, she had spent nearly all afternoon and evening long trying to find a pair of pants that matched the faded black of the top. It was an elaborately lace-trimmed black top, cut short, giving a generous exposure of the hips and stomach, with a low-cut back tied with string. After looking at it a second time, Violet realized she had liked the look of it a lot more than she liked the idea of actually wearing it. Gulping down her fears, she removed her clothes and donned the rather skimpy crop-top and pants, the other girl giggling in glee and teasing her mercilessly at her bold but tasteful choice of attire.
When the girl had finally finished torturing poor Violet, she turned to shuffle through her drawer for the makeup, allowing Violet's brilliant red face to cool off a little before she started. Being quite skilled, the girl took only half a bell to apply a simple, dark shading and lining to her eyes, and a bit of coverup on Violet's few blemishes. As she turned away to put her tools and brushes back, Violet sighed, already getting jittery just at the thought of going back downstairs looking like a...well, fellow companion.
It wasn't as if she would be completely indistinguishable from the other entertainers. All the companions wore a distinct, brightly colored sash, not only to differentiate themselves from other employees, but also to ensure that the female customers (and the more handsome, lithe men) who occasionally visited were not themselves confused for companions. As well, many of the "regulars" had gotten to know her quite well. It was simply that being unkempt and boyish had always been a form of self-defence for her, especially as she was loathe to provoke the attraction of men.
Yet for reasons beyond her comprehension, here she was, of her own free will, standing in the common area of the Herald's Arms, adorned with a rather provocative wardrobe, her eyes and lashes lined with bold black makeup, and trying her best not to melt into a quivering pile of nerves. She silently prayed to the gods above it would be the quietest day in the Herald's history.
