[The Tidepool Bar]Of Life and Blades

by **Moritz Craven** on August 31st, 2021, 1:40 am

73 Summer 521

Working at a restaurant and bar, Moritz was finding, was different than he had expected. Of course before arriving in Syka his experience with restaurants had been the few times he had gotten food in the Outpost. Oddly enough he had never been to one in Lhavit, though thinking on it he assumed there were restaurants there.

Being a grazer he had either eaten raw food, things and supplies from the kitchen, or occasionally a meal someone in the household had made. But for the most part he had just eaten basic and simple things. Vegetables and the like from the ingredients, seeing as he did not partake of animals. Not that he had a problem with others doing so, not after a lengthy discussion with a mountain which who had blessed him with her magic eyes and had explained the topic to him.

Which was a good thing in retrospect, Moritz was finding, as quite a bit of animal products were used in the bar and restaurant. Things from animals like milk and cheese. And even things of animals, like meat and such. He had even seen entire animals cut up and butchered.

So far he had not had to butcher any animals, Stu apparently- for good reason- not trusting him enough with a blade to do such a complex task. Instead he had been busing dishes from tables, helping clean, bringing out food and drinks, and when in the kitchen helping with prep work rather than actually making the final dish.

At the moment Stu had him cutting and dicing up some vegetables for a dish called "salsa" Moritz was not familiar with, in between regular runs in and out to bring out food and bring back empty cups and plates.

He had also learned that not all peppers were so bland as the ones he had seen before, according to Stu these were spicy peppers. Along with that he had to cut up some tomatoes, onions, and garlic.

Beginning his work on this Moritz took one of the tomato to a cutting board and rinsed off the plant in some clean water. Then taking a knife he cut off the top with the stem poking out which he assumed would not be edible. Most stems were not in his experience, and where instead thrown away.

In the background he could hear sizzling, indicating Stu was working on some dish involving water or oil.

With the stem off Moritz cut the tomato in half, then halved it again. He was careful about how he held the blade, different from how he would a weapon seeing as no one was trying to knock it out of his hand. He held it looser but tried to get better control, since more finesse was needed for cutting food than stabbing someone.

With it in quarters Moritz tried to dice the remaining bits, moving along the section in a straight line so as to chop it evenly. Once this was done he turned the blade, working in the opposite direction until the section was well diced. Or as well as he could manage, seeing as he still managed to leave odd chunks and such throughout. Perhaps, Moritz reasoned, it was how he was holding the blade? Thinking on this he began work on cutting the next section, chopping away and trying to identify where he was going wrong.

WC: 566

by **Moritz Craven** on September 19th, 2021, 4:02 pm

As Moritz pondered the errors of his chopping Stu, in his normal calm demeanor as if he had just risen from a good nap, called for Moritz.

"Moritz, these are done, bring these dishes out to two."

For some reason Moritz found the mans calm nature nice, as if nothing even including the world ending could break through the mans chill nature, nor that he could be startled or frightened. He had heard the man laugh on occasion, so he did seem to have humor and joy in his repertoire, but had not seen him exhibit the more negative emotions.

With a small sound of recognition Moritz stopped his thinking and chopping and moved over to the dishes. Grabbing a tray Moritz loaded the two plates, the prepared dishes, and headed out. He kept the tray about waist level, low enough to not block his view but high enough to avoid running into his knees as he moved. He was still working on the best method of holding a tray, improving his technique through trial and error, but he still had much to learn on this as well.

Dropping off the plates at the patrons at the table Moritz took a moment to inspect them, but did not recognize the two men. Of course this could be because he had simply not met them, or because they were visitors from some passing vessel or staying for a short time and were not residents.

With a nod Moritz headed back to the kitchen with the tray. As he entered Stu paused in his work and headed over to where Mortiz had been chopping. Motioning for Moritz to come watch Stu took a small knife, a paring knife, and with a quick and smooth motion cut out the core stem and all. Pulling this out Stu set the rest of the tomato aside, and then with a larger knife cut the tomato in half. Holding his hand on the edge of the blade to guide it he then quickly chopped through the half of tomato in short order, before turning and doing the same in the other direction. This left the entire half diced finely and cleanly with relatively uniform sizes. Moritz watched as the man repeated this with the other half, Stu chopping at a speed Moritz was confident he could not match.

His presentation over Stu smiled and nodded to Moritz before heading back out front.

Taking up the paring knife Moritz made his attempt on the tomato, inserting it around the stem and trying to cut the core. He slowly turned the tomato as he had seen Stu do, but when he was done he was left with a somewhat odd non-circular chunk of tomato around the core rather than the clean cut Stu had done with no excess. Moritz then tried to pull out the core as he had seen Stu do, but in his case the cutting had not freed the core. Frowning in concentration he tried to work out why as he slowly continued cutting at the plant.

WC: 512

by **Moritz Craven** on September 19th, 2021, 7:02 pm

After cutting for several moments more Moritz finally managed to loose the core of the tomato. However where Stu's had been clean and without wasted tomato Moritz was... Not. He was unsure why though, as he felt he had done the same thing Stu had done, but with a different result. Clearly he was missing some aspect of the motion Stu had taken, logic allowed no other reasoning, but what that difference was Moritz found beyond him.

With a sigh he instead took up the remaining pieces of tomato and traded his paring knife for a larger chefs cutting knife. Using the now stem free top as a surface Moritz pressed down, the sharp blade easily cutting into the material. With two halves- somehow not even, Moritz then turned one on its side as he had seen with Stu and holding the blade against the edge of his hand as a guide tried to quickly chop up the tomato into long strips. However he did so more slowly than Stu had, and Moritz found his cuts were no where as even as Stu's had been.

Changing the angle Moritz then began cutting in the other direction, effectively X-ing over the entire thing and in theory chunking and dicing the entire tomato into bits. This time he was just as slow, but he thought he was getting a better grasp of the spacing he needed to use for the tomato when he was cutting them, ending up with slightly better spaced cuts than his first try. Except somehow one wide slice which was even wider than any of his first attempts, the rest though seemed improved somewhat.

As Stu exhaled- making Moritz tense as he had been so focused on his work he had not noticed the man return- he picked up another vegetable and began demonstrating while Moritz emptied the board into a large bowl. As always he seemed full of patience, even for Moritz odd rumblings and failures in the kitchen, willing to teach so long as Moritz tried to improve and kept at it.

"Onions are next, their a bit easier Less squishy and juicy than a tomato, which makes it easier to cut as its more or less solid. Just pull off the outer layer like this, and then..." Finishing with words Stu began showing Moritz how to cut the onion, placing it in a bowl of water and then cutting them up. It was done similar Moritz found to a tomato, halving and then dicing across several times. He was unclear why though the water was needed, and was unsure he could cut as well on the odd surface.

"Take those drinks to table one, and then cut a few onions."

Moritz nodded and gave a grunt of acknowledgement before taking up the tray. On it where three drinks of varying hues and shades. Moritz was unsure what any of it was, he assumed some kind of alcohol, but as he did not drink he was left to wonder. Taking the drinks out on a tray he quickly set them down at the table, before racing back into the kitchen with an empty tray.

WC: 528

by **Moritz Craven** on September 19th, 2021, 8:29 pm

Back in the kitchen Moritz began his work on the onions, taking a look over them he shrugged and set one on the cutting board. Using his fingers he easily ripped off the outer layer, before taking up the knife and beginning to half and slice it. First he cut it long ways, giving him a large half of an onion. Then he began to cut long ways forming long strips.. As he began to cut and chop though something began to irritate his eyes...

For the moment Moritz ignored this, continuing on till he had cut in one direction through the entire onion half in strips. Turning the blade and coming at it at an angle so as to X across and dice the entire thing Moritz continued, turning the strips into small chunks.

By this point his eyes were seriously watering, and his nose was running. It was also then that Stu came back into the kitchen from some errand. Seeing Moritz and his watering eyes the man shook his head and smiled.

"Moritz, man, you have to cut them under water like I did. Otherwise it affects your eyes. Onions bite, okay?"

Tears freely dropping by now, running down his face, Moritz leaned back to avoid getting any into the food.

"Yes... I saw... but... I... Can't cut... In a bowl..."

The tears making it appear Moritz was hysterical, Stu simply smiled and shook his head. Heading over to some pots and pans Stu dug around before finally pulling out a long flat bottomed pan.

"Here, use this. Fill it with water, and you'll have a flat surface to cut on. But first go outside for a bit and wash your face, okay?"

Moritz nodded, setting aside his tools and washing off his hands before splashing some onto his face. Then grabbing a clean rag he wet the material before heading out the back. Taking a few deep breaths Moritz exhaled heavily and then slapped the wet rag on his face. Rubbing it in he found the air and wetness was helping, but his eyes were still irritated. He kept at this for a chime or so before he felt most of the stinging had gone away. Blowing his still running nose Moritz did his best to clean his face and remove any danger of anything getting into the food, before heading back inside. He quickly put the rag with the dirty used ones, and then washed his hands before returning to work.

As Stu had recommended Moritz took the long metal pan and filled it with water. Then grabbing the remaining half of the onion Moritz began his work. With the long knife he began cutting lengthwise through the onion, using his hand to guide it in quick motions. Or at least quicker motions seeing as Moritz was still rather slow in his work and and no where near as fast as Stu had been.

But still as with most things he felt a slow increase in his general skill and understanding, the inexorable march towards greatness taken tip toe step at a time but perhaps eventually reaching that great height.

WC: 525

by **Moritz Craven** on September 19th, 2021, 8:48 pm

Having finished a few onions and tomato, Moritz now pressed on to the next task. Garlic. But before that Stu returned and finished making some drinks, sending Moritz out with them.

Moritz, some drinks for table one.

With a nod and a grunt Moritz headed out, grabbing the drinks and placing them on the tray before hefting the entire thing up. This time he tried holding it a bit higher, closer to his shoulders height, rather than around mid chest. This Moritz found was a bit trickier to copy, as having a different build from Stu he could not simply copy his motions in regard to carrying things on trays.

He had one hand flat and open on the middle of the bottom of the tray, while his other hand held the edge and kept it balanced. Once he reached the table he used that to help balance, then using the balancing hand to move the drinks over.

This seemed to work better than other things he had tried, though it still - he felt- needed work. But while things could always be improved, he felt his technique already had improved since he had begun.

Dropping off the drinks Moritz returned to the back and his task, working on some garlic. Seeing Moritz return Stu paused and came over to give a demonstration.

As before Stu began by taking off the skin, though this time once the skin was removed it revealed several smaller parts instead of one big central piece. Taking one of those parts Stu then crushed the piece below the flat side of the blade, before peeling off another layer from this. A second skin?

With that removed Stu finished by chopping the pieces into ever finer bits, slightly different than before where thin strips where formed where this seemed to turn into... Flakes? Chunks? Moritz was unsure on the terminology, but felt it was somewhat fitting the way he worded it.

After it was flaked or chunked he then continued in the more normal fashion, which seemed to cut it into fine little piece like with the tomato or onion.

Moritz nodded before taking another head of garlic. Beginning as Stu had he ripped at the outer layer or skin, revealing the smaller sub pieces within. That done Moritz set the inner pieces aside and then grabbed one of the chunks.

As he had seen Stu do Moritz began cutting, trying to create the large flakes of onion he had seen. Then once they were all flaked he began cutting and dicing more finely, moving back and forth with the blade till he was left with tiny pieces. He felt he had done it the same way as Stu, but somehow he was still left with odd and large pieces where as his had been completely and finely diced up.

With a sigh Moritz turned to the next piece of garlic, repeating the process one piece at a time. Flaking, cutting, dicing, repeating. Careful to remove any waste Moritz finally dumped the lot into the large bowl along with the tomato and onions cut earlier.

WC: 518
Total WC: 2,649

by **Rohka** on December 15th, 2021, 8:56 pm

GRADES

Moritz Craven

XP

LORES:

Additional Notes:
Did I just read the detailed description of learning how to cut tomatoes, onions, and garlic for salsa? I'm craving it now!

If I missed rewarding any XP or LORES, please let me know.

If you have any concerns over this grade, don't hesitate to send me a message on either Discord or Miz. Also, please be sure to EDIT any posts in the grading queue to 'Graded'. Enjoy!

-Rohka ❤

Solo [The Tidepool Bar]Of Life and Blades