Quests & Challenges

[center][font=georgia][size=6][b]-Day 5-[/b][/size] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/91713710][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=16&bodygene=247&breed=24&element=2&eyetype=12&gender=1&tert=64&tertgene=244&winggene=279&wings=47&auth=bbab59fd03d8e473c5c3978f708d54789dc77e92&dummyext=prev.png[/img][/url][/center][rule][font=georgia] Sherburst nodded to the judges and gathered her materials. [center][font=georgia][item=cricket][item=pumpkinseed sunfish][item=brussels sprouts] Cricket / Pumpkinseed Sunfish / Brussels Sprouts[/center][font=georgia] She looked exhausted today as she placed the Sunfish in a pan, letting it sizzle over the fire. She sprinkled on seasoning, then put in some crickets for a crunch. The auraboa unceremoniously dumped the Sunfish on a plate and spooned in some roasted Brussels Sprouts, using the flavored oil from the pan to give it a little garnish as well as some extra crickets on top. "[b]Crunchy Sunfish[/b], enjoy." She mumbled, smiling.

[center][b]Thursday[/b] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/25580][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/256/25580_350.png[/img][/url][/center] Quinlan wrinkled his snout. He much preferred seafood in this case. He decided to keep it as simple as possible. First the brussel sprouts needed to be rinsed and dressed in oil. He set them over low heat with a generous covering of salt and garlic. The fish sunfish was quickly deboned and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic. They were set to sizzling over the hot fire, Quinlan keeping an eye on them. He wanted the outsides crispy and salty, while the insides of the cubes were still rich and tender. With one eye on the fish and the other stirring up an alfredo sauce, Quinlan had all claws busy while he worked quickly. Plating, at least, was quick. Noodles on the plate, tossed with the alfredo. The fish removed from the heat, drenched with a quick squeeze of lemon, and onto the bed of noodles. The brussel sprouts were golden and crispy-crunchy, the perfect side dish. Last of all, he crumbled dried crickets over the pasta and fish. Perfect. A meal fit for any pearlcatcher.

[center][b]Day 5[/b] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/26488133][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/264882/26488133.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/38327411][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/383275/38327411.png[/img][/url][/center] A young Imperial slowly picks her way through the crowd of people, careful not to drop any of the items in her arms. [center][item=coral grouse][item=cricket][item=pumpkinseed sunfish][/center] [i]Tasty...[/i] Keone drools at the delicious smell coming from the coral grouse in particular. [i]If only I could sink my teeth into that thick, fatty, meat...[/i] People stare at her as she briefly goes comatose on the spot. Keone snaps herself out of it as she feels a familiar presence beside her and she glances to her right. "Grandma Kiki!" An old Mirror smiles at her, taking some of the ingredients from her. "I could see you salivating from all the way over there, child." The Imperial pouts. "Can't help the fact that I like meat. If I was the one "cooking", my version of comfort food would be raw grouse! Who has time to make fancy dishes these days?" Keitha chuckles as Keone's loud proclamation draws a few pointed stares at her and she shrinks a little. "Now, now, let's not insult the passion people have for their craft. In fact, why don't we make something that takes time to prepare?" The Imperial grumbled a bit. "Like what?" "[b]Hot pot[/b]." Keone sighed internally, hot pot wasn't hard to do, but it required a lot of prep work. She could feel herself getting a bit agitated at the thought of having to spend hours chopping. They had reached their work station at this point. Keitha layed out the food in front of them and frowned. "Were there no plants on the display?" "I don't like brussel sprouts." Keone mumbled. The Mirror only shook her head. "No matter, we need to use more ingredients than these three." She rummaged through her bag, pulling out more items. "These should do the trick." [center][item=jumbo shrimp][item=spotted goat][item=rolly polly][item=gradish][/center] A knife and cutting board were placed in front of Keone and she begrudingly began to slice the gradish. Meanwhile, Keitha diced the fish, placing it into a mortar along with some of the shrimp and all of the crickets. She proceeded to smash the meat into a paste, only stopping to add starch and seasoning to the mix. Keone glanced at her. "Grandma Kiki, why don't you use that food processor-machine thing mister Alun gave you? Wouldn't that make it much easier?" Keitha paused from rolling out the paste into little balls. "It would, yes. But I like doing it by hand, it reminds me of the person who taught me this recipe." Keone doesn't stop slicing the meat as she asks: "Were they some sort of chef?" The Mirror hums. "I'm not sure actually. No one really knew much about them, at least no one who was alive did." "Geez, that's ominous." Keitha laughs, dumping the grouse bones into a pot of water for the stock. "They were ancient by the time I crossed paths with them and I had just moved into my previous clan. From what I know, they had no survivng family left and had this bad habit of throwing rocks at anyone who wandered too close to their house, but I guess they liked me enough to tolerate my pressence." She taps her chin, lost in thought. "Maybe it was because I threw it right back at them?" Keone snorts at the image of a young Keitha bashing the skull of the crotchety person with a rock. "Anyways, ever since then, they'd let me eat meals with them and boy did they make a mean noodle soup- kept me coming back for years! And they always had these litle fish balls in them." The stock was poured into a smaller pot, one with a divider in the middle. "Eventually, I got so curious I asked them to teach me how to make it. They walloped me upside the head real hard! Said it was rude to ask for their secret recipe." Slices of various meats and veggies were fanned across a plate. "But from then on, they would let me help them make fish balls." Keitha placed the pot on top of a portable flame. "They're long gone now, but a part of them still lives on through the process of making this food." Keone stared at the bowl of fish balls waiting to be cooked like the rest of the ingredients. "I guess taking the time to do things makes you appreciate it even more." The Mirror smiles at the Imperial, thankful she got the message. "Now, how about we bring these over to the judges and chat over a nice meal?"

Thursday / Day 5 [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/7173591][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/71736/7173591_350.png[/img][/url][/center] Comfort foods! Looking over the ingredients, Chess knew exactly what he wanted to make... [b]Entry:[/b] Chess Mix! [i]Required Ingredients:[/i] [item=Cricket] [item=Pumpkinseed Sunfish] [item=Brussels Sprouts] [i]Additional Ingredients:[/i] [item=oats] [item=mire chestnuts] [item=woodland acorn] [item=sugarbee] [item=plantain] Roasted and salted was the way to go this round! Cricket, check. Pumpkinseed Sunfish, check. Brussel sprout [i]leaves[/i], check - this ensured that they got nice and crispy. Let's see what else... nuts for sure - Mire Chestnuts and Woodland Acorns would be a good addition. He also made some small oat squares for some more crunch. Hmm what was missing? A little sweetness - so he added roasted sugarbees into to the mix as well. Plantain chips would work well here too. The beauty of this recipe was that it was pretty easy to substitute ingredients and mix and match. He added some spices for flavor and presented the crowd with a bowl of Chess Mix!

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/46596][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/466/46596_350.png[/img][/url][/center] [center][b][font="Century Gothic"][size=7][color="#898d8f"]Mistral Meals - Day 5[/color][/size][/font][/b][/center] Felnyr drooped his frills a little sheepishly as he entered the Mistral Meals challenge area today. Yesterday, the sun had long gone down before he'd remembered that he had technically flown off with event materials for a boating day. Er. Well. He couldn't quite say that he was [i]remorseful[/i] because it had been very fun, but he was at least a little sorry that he hadn't made a dish like he'd implicitly agreed to. Today's spread involved some ingredients that Felnyr had seen with reasonable frequency before during meals in his own Lair. [center][item=Coral Grouse][item=Cricket][item=Pumpkinseed Sunfish][item=Brussels Sprouts][/center] Felnyr had a thought, and he browsed through his beginner cookbook to confirm it. Sure enough, there were separate recipes for deep-fried grouse, crickets, and fish. He couldn't find a deep-frying recipe for Brussels Sprouts, but he decided to give it a try anyway. Today would be deep-frying day! Felnyr had heard Elmylshal's rambles about appropriate deep-frying ingredients enough to internalize two details: one, that Elmylshal swore by Vegetable Oil for frying, and two, that Elmylshal's favorite seasoning for batter was Cindermint. So, of course, Felnyr acquired these ingredients. He also knew that he needed milled grains. [center][item=Heavy Grainbasket][item=Vegetable Oil][item=Cindermint][/center] Felnyr found a Heavy Grainbasket, but he didn't manage to catch sight of any of the already-milled stuff. How convenient that he was in the Wind domain, though! A quick trip to the Millmeadows would suffice... with the caveat that he should not, absolutely not, get tempted to hang around in the Millmeadows and watch the windmills spin all day instead... or glide around and let the wind carry him... or... Spending the whole day in the Millmeadows was starting to sound too appealing, so Felnyr cut his imaginings short. He refused to make the same mistake two days in a row! No getting distracted and wandering off to an unrelated place for hours today. He would go there, and come right back. To Felnyr's credit, that's exactly what he did. Somehow, he'd managed. The windmills were indeed rather tempting, though. But! He was here, back at the Mistral Meals venue, with his nice, freshly-milled grains. Perfect. He crushed generous amounts of Cindermint into it for good measure. Following the book's recipe closely, Felnyr began to heat up the oil while he cleaned and prepared the grouse, crickets, and fish. He decided to batter up the grouse first, as according to the recipe, cooking it would take the longest. When the oil was hot enough, Felnyr began to fry! In went the Coral Grouse. He left it cooking until the batter turned golden brown as instructed. Then he wasn't sure if it was actually golden brown. Was it? What if he pulled it out early? The recipe had warned him not to undercook, as eating raw grouse could upset some dragons' stomachs. While Felnyr spent time unsure of whether the batter had turned the correct color or not, it became distinctly [i]not[/i] golden brown. Now it looked just brown. Actually, there were some black bits forming... Felnyr quickly removed the grouse from the hot oil and left it aside to cool. For some reason, the batter continued to grow an even darker shade. The skin was still bubbling with oil and making sizzling noises - oh. The physics of the situation explained the reason for the darkening to Felnyr, but it was a bit too late to strain the oil now. Oops. Oh well. Onto the next ingredient! Felnyr battered and fried the Pumpkinseed Sunfish next. He did a considerably better job with it this time. Yay! Then, Felnyr decided to try frying the Brussels Sprouts. He coated the leaves with batter and tossed a bunch of sprouts in. Alas, his attention lapsed for but a moment - surprisingly, only a moment - and he could already smell the telltale signs of Carbon? Oh... Er. By the time Felnyr removed the unfortunate vegetables from the pan, they were already no longer recognizable as vegetables. ...Perhaps he could market them as fancy decorative materials...? Well, no use dwelling on the past. It was time to fry Felnyr's most-anticipated ingredient! Into the pan the tasty insects went. Crickets were so much smaller and drier than the first two ingredients that they browned very very quickly. Learning from the now-carbonified-Brussels-Sprouts, Felnyr rescued them from the oil without spending too much time worrying about whether they were the correct color or not. His decision turned out to be correct temperature-wise; the crickets had fried nicely! But when he tasted one, he crinkled his nose. Felnyr wasn't too picky with food, but these crickets tasted far less pleasant than expected. They smelled like fish...? Maybe he should've changed the oil for each ingredient. Darn. Felnyr hadn't eaten fish before, but he hoped that this... smelly flavor... wasn't all that there was to fish. That would be so very sad for his Seafood-loving lairmates. Hm. Well, Felnyr couldn't say that the food he'd prepared today was delicious, by any means, but he'd completed his preparations properly today! He allowed himself some pride and self-praise. Perhaps positive reinforcement would help him to form desirable habits.

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/86799461][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/867995/86799461_350.png[/img][/url] [quote=Day 5]Use at least THREE of the following ingredients in your entry: [item=Coral Grouse] [item=Cricket] [item=Pumpkinseed Sunfish] [item=Brussels Sprouts] [b]Coral Grouse / Cricket / Pumpkinseed Sunfish / Brussels Sprouts[/b] [/quote] [/center] Crazybaby was extremely polite sitting in the back with a little apron tied hastily around his body and drool falling out of his mouth and onto the counter as the chefs brought out the ingredients. Late as he was, he loved to be involved! Snow throwing or cooking, he could do either! He had seen the other dragons put together meals, insect burritos, fish pizza, plant pasta, all sorts of things! Mostly stews though. A lot of chowders and stews. He shakes his heads, bumping into each other loudly with a convienent bird flying right above them. No, no, he needed to focus. He hadn't heard a [i]word[/i] the judges had been saying, but he knows food! He loves it! Yummiest thing in Sornieth! He should have no problem! Food was yummy no matter what you did to it! So, he jolted up from his seat, tumbling down and around to the front to pick up all the options. Well, maybe a little too many of each as the judges reminded him there [i]was[/i] a limited stock of each. But he did need them all! So, with his now much smaller amount of each, he needed to think quick. A stew was easy, but he wanted flourish! Something extra! A paw scratches each head as he thinks and ponders, before both have a stunning revelation! Why not make a pie! It was just like a stew, but with some crust, right? He pulls out pots and pans hastily, clattering a few lids to the ground as he turns up the heat much higher than it really needed. He would need to of course prep the food! Chewing on the Coral Grouse as he clawed apart the Sunfish, tenderizing the meat and slicing it to fine pieces! Of course they weren't all the same size, but that would make it much too professional. This was about something warm and homey :) He toss in a whole stick of butter that quickly turns brown in the bottom of the pot and pours his other ingredients in. Beef broth, Crickets, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Brussel Sprouts, Sprinkles, Carrots, Eel. All of them in there to cook together! He stirs them up around and around until burnt bits are evenly on all of them. He dumps them into a tin (not greased nor does it have a crust inside, by the way), having to scrap with his claws EXTREMELY carefully so as not to burn them. Now to decorate the pie! He checks the fridge and finds a nice, neat homemade top crust and takes it! Luckily he waited until other people would need to do this (because of course they need to cool the top crust... I know a lot about baking ^^) to see if there were extras, and of course there were! Extras were anything he could grab! He delicately layers the thin pie crust on top of the steamy "stew", his claws tearing at the corners he tries to crimp. To make it more his, he drags a claw through it to make 3 lines, a smiley face! How charming, how sweet! =) The oven, of course not preheated, something he so foolishly forgot about, was turned on and he tossed the tin of food into there. He sat and watched it, only getting distracted a handful of times from watching others cook and asking to eat things off their counters! Once he could smell the sweet scent of smoke and much too cooked crickets. He followed the smoke cloud the way anyone would follow a nice warm pie by a window, and he happily made his way back to the oven. He pulls it out delicately with mitts too big for his claws -- maybe for a snapper? -- and gleamed. How wonderful! It smelled of all the ingredients he used, Crickets, Charcoal, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Brussel Sprouts, Sugar, and.. wait a minute. Where was the Coral Grouse? [b]OBJECTIVE FAILED!!![/b] THE FOOD IS DEEMED A HEALTH VIOLATION AND POTENTIALLY LETHAL. Crazybaby enjoys it just fine though! ----- ^_^ i dont know much about baking or cooking, but luckily he doesn't know either!! this was super fun though :D

[center][b]Day 5: Thursday[/b] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/76645321][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/766454/76645321_350.png[/img][/url][/center] Ah, its time for a classic. The crickets are into the pestle like so many other things this week, to meet their fate under the mortar, ground into a protein rich flour. Brussels sprouts are chopped, mixed with the pumpkin(fish)seeds, sauted onions, herbs and sharp salty cheese to make a stuffing. The grouse are dressed and stuffed, and then, its onto the rotisserie. A whole flock of little hens tied up and turning slowly over the coals as MEAT bastes them lovingly with juniper infused butter. Delicious!

[center][b][u]Day 5[/u][/b] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/23111612][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/231117/23111612_350.png[/img][/url] [item=Coral Grouse][item=Cricket][item=Pumpkinseed Sunfish][item=Brussels Sprouts] [i][b]Coral Grouse / Cricket / Pumpkinseed Sunfish / Brussels Sprouts[/b][/i][/center] The theme for today's cooking challenge was "comfort food", and to Snickerdoodle, comfort food meant - well, comfort food normally meant sweets and baked goods to Snickerdoodle, but cakes weren't really possible with today's ingredients. So Snickerdoodle decided to make the next best thing: deliciously greasy fried food. She started by mixing up a large bowl of deep fry beer batter using flour, cornstarch, baking powder, various seasonings, and of course beer. Next, she dipped [b]Coral Grouse[/b] breasts, [b]Pumpkinseed Sunfish[/b] filets, whole [b]Crickets[/b], and [b]Brussels Sprouts[/b] into the batter, making sure that each piece was coated evenly. Then Snickerdoodle deep fried each piece in oil. Once each piece was fully cooked, she placed the deep-fired grouse breasts, sunfish fillets, crickets, and Brussel sprouts on separate plates for each type - that way, all dragons could enjoy some deep-fried comfort food regardless of diet.

[url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/53785539][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/537856/53785539_350.png[/img][/url] [B][i]Day 5[/i][/b] Millie covered her mouth to hide laughter as the two hosts all but wrestled on stage. When they finally got their act together she listened intently then hurried over to the reveal table to grab her key ingredients. Comfort food was the name of the game today; maybe finally she could cook something with confidence! [I]Coral grouse. [Url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/51672651]Petal[/url] and [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/64160675]Amber[/url] always insisted that it was delicious but she never cared for it. She did however know how to roast one to perfection. Crickets, a crunchy favorite of insectivores. She was less familiar with these, but she had been tackling bugs all week. Pumpkinseed sunfish. She could eat these by the barrel full. Brussels sprouts, bitter leafy little balls. She'd heard they were good with lots of sugar.[/i] She set the grouse in a big pan and tossed it in the oven to roast. Then she focused on the fish, cutting it up into strips. Frying the strips with crickets, she made them nice and crispy. She sprinkled some salt on them then turned to the Brussel sprouts. She needed to make them taste actually kinda good… or did she? Maybe she just needed to use a tiny bit. She tossed a few of them into a blender, then added some sage, thyme, and rosemary. Next went in some balsamic vinegar and on went the lid. She started the blender and watched it all pulse around. The spinning particles were mesmerizing. She turned off the blender and poured in some olive oil, then mixed gently. To bring it all together, she grabbed some bread. Two thick slices laid out on the board got spread with the vinaigrette. Then she pulled out the grouse and sliced into it. She piled the meat high on the bread and placed the other slice on top. The crispy fried fish and bug went on the side of the plate. She bounced as she brought her meal over to the hosts. “Here you go! A grouse sandwich with balsamic sprout dressing and fishy crickets fries.”

[center][b]Day 5[/b] [b]Dish:[/b] Sweet & Salty Snack Mix [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/498870/49886956.png[/img][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/456979/45697842.png[/img] [item=coral grouse ][item=cricket][item=pumpkinseed sunfish][item=brussels sprouts] [item=edamame][item=sunflower seeds][item=centaur nut mix][item=heavy grainbasket][item=sugarbee][/center] Today's ingredients are more obvious to Delta. She occasionally samples the food whenever dragons make snacks in the kitchen, so she's tried all of these except the grouse. They all go wonderfully roasted, salted, and otherwise seasoned for a quick bite! So, she announces to Anaconda as they enter their cooking station, "I think we should make a snack mix!" Anaconda's eyes light up and she starts to rifle through the cabinets, bringing out any ingredients that seem like they would fit the purpose. "Great idea!" Delta joins her and soon they have an interesting array of items laid out on the counter. After rejecting a few that would be too flavorful or sour, they end up with their original four ingredients, some edamame, sunflower seeds, assorted nuts, assorted grains, and some sugarbees- all foodstuffs that fit the sweet and salty theme they are going for! The prep for this meal, much like the other days, is relatively simple. Delta grabs the brussels sprouts, sugarbees, and a few handfuls of nuts that will be roasted and then candied with sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Meanwhile, Anaconda takes the sunfish and crickets to roast quickly in the oven and sets the edamame and grouse to pan-fry just above. Once all of the individual parts are done, Delta sprinkles some more salt onto them and throws them into a large bowl with the grains and remaining nuts. She tosses them around, making sure to mix them thoroughly, and then pours them into smaller bowls for the judges and the two of them. Anaconda takes the first taste, scooping up a handful from hers and shoving it into her mouth. She gives it a thumbs-up. "This is great!" she tries to say, but with the snack mix in her mouth, it comes out a little less elegantly. Delta's laughter can probably be heard from the judges' tent.