Quests & Challenges

[Color=#F48FB1]"Italian... wait, Italian? Oh! Isn't that the little island that looks a bit like a boot between the Starfall isles and the coast where the Lightning territories are? Oh, my."[/color] The Coatl from before was quick to take off her apron, passing it to her husband- but not before spoonfeeding him another bite of her delectable entries that were certainly sitting out in open air past the safe timeframe they should be. By the time she looked to him, though, he'd already changed into an apron of his own, alongside a belt of slicing utensils and spices- as well as a covering for his tail. [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/330267/33026653_350.png[/img] [Color=#D81B60]"Donnatella is an Italian name, you know. When we first met I couldn't pronounce- [emoji=music note size=1][emoji=music notes size=1][emoji=music notes size=1][emoji=music notes size=1][emoji=music note size=1][emoji=music notes size=1] since I could only speak common Sornieth and she could only speak the Coatl dialects. But I renamed her myself- and my own name is Diavolo for the record. Watch, and swoon, for the most authentic Italian-Sornieth cuisine you'll ever see."[/color] And oh, did his bride swoon. Granted, she was now singing a song of her people that would be positively grating to all present save coatl, husband and oblivious Fae, but she was certainly swooning! [Quote=Diavolo's Appetizer][br] Begin by making a bread. You will require an oven, not a kiln, in order to correctly control the temperature for baking. You must learn to speak quietly, if the dough is startled it will collapse and your bread will become hard and... unpalatable. In order to craft a genuine Italian breadstick, you'll require 5x [item=Dark Creeper] Dark Creeper Vines, 13-17x [item=Manaweed] Manaweeds, 6x [item=Pond Plates] Pond Plates, and 1x [item=Blue-Footed Eggull] Blue-Footed Eggull egg. If your dough is used to make noodles rather than make bread, use the egg of one [item=eggull] Eggull. The first step in any cooking recipe is to wash your hands and thoroughly sanitize the area. When you've correctly completed that step, gather your utensils. You require a bowl, whisk, clean countertop and a pan. Firstly, begin with the Creeper vines. You'll want to cut the leaves off first and express the liquid within the stems. The leaves themselves can be used as a garnish or even ingredient in other dishes. Add your Manaweeds next, sure to crush the whole plant into a fine powder. Slowly pour in the water from the pond plates and stir. Crack and add the egg of your Eggull egg, only adding the innards and not the shell. Quickly whisk the mixture in your bowl then let it rest in a cool, quiet area. For bread, make an ovular shape before scoring it diagonally. Do not cut the whole of the dough into pieces. Do not score the entire surface. Bake in an oven at [item=blazing slash] Blazing Slash heat. Remove after eleven to thirteen minutes. You've made bread.[/quote] [Quote=Fra Diavolo From Diavolo][br] Sauce? I'll teach you the spice that bites. Begin by placing the whole bud of a [item=Manyleaves] Manyleaves flower into a large pot. Boil this for six minutes and then strain out all solids. This coats the water with tack and spark to force the other ingredients to bind to it. Next, remove all spines from an [item=Irradiated Pear] Irradiated Pear. Be careful and wear gloves if not dextrous, the pears must be chopped carefully to remove all seeds, placing the chunks in the water. A little skin is fine, but the less there is, the better you'll feel. The fruit will soften and break down, causing your water to thicken. Put it back on the heat and scorch it. I mean it- scorch it until it would be cinders. When it's a bubbling white froth, toss in petals of a [item=Smolderpetal] Smoulderpetal. When the pot gives off smoke that's colored a deep brown, yank it off the heat again and add diced [item=Golden Pepper] Golden Peppers and one [item=acid widow] Acid Widow. The secretions will cause the sauce to go from a near solid paste into a runny liquid once more. Place the concoction on low heat one last time and simmer with chopped [item=Coiled Burnserpent] Coiled Burnserpent. Your sauce is ready with a heat of eight of ten with this modified recipe once you've made the sauce come to a bubbling boil once more. [/quote] [Color=#F48FB1]"But my love, what of the wine and the olive oil?"[/color] She had heard of the extra pieces as the maw of the Wildclaw curled in disgust. [Color=#D81B60]"Olives are an import and don't grow naturally in either Starfall or the coast of the Expanse. They're from Nature's providence and require absurd amounts of water and sun to upkeep. It's fake Italian food. As for the wine- you just ferment a plant of some sort with sugar in a bottle out of the sun for a while and let yeast do the work. You could make wine out of any old fruit. But I can't exactly demonstrate a process that lengthy for the judges here."[/color] The aggressively Italian dragon sighed as he turned to his wife, murmuring this and that in a dissonant set of sing-songed chords. Her cooking may have been atrocious, but his was not. And- of course he made some noodles live while giving the explanations. That means pasta, sauce, bread and raw fruits suspended in a bottle of liquid or "Not-Yet-Wine" as he would so submit it.

[columns][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/69737385][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/697374/69737385.png[/img] [/url][nextcol][b]ITALIAN DISH: MUSHROOM LASAGNA[/b][/columns] Wasting no time, Finch plucks a handful of the [gamedb item=5171]growing from under the skin on her side and begins dicing. "It might be cheating," she rasps, "but they didn't say anything about not using home-grown ingredients." (Note: check with producer about validity of loopholes.) "Besides, there's nothing more fresh than dragon-fed produce," she jokes wryly, throwing the [b]mushrooms into a mixing bowl with cream, alongside a pinch of lemon zest. After mixing together this thick sauce[/b] (bonus: making a sauce from scratch), she slathers it between layers of pasta in a deep pan and carries it carefully to the oven. Finch is NOT going to be the contestant who drops the food and has to have an underdog arc. But her work isn't done with the lasagna cooking- she turns to her barrel of grapes and hops right in, getting straight to work mashing them under her claws. A few mushrooms fall into the mix as she gets carried away- but this happens [i]whenever[/i] Finch cooks. She'll just have to try and hide the fact that this is [gamedb item=46442][b]wine[/b] (bonus: talon-pressed wine). Seeing the unsanitary disaster unfolding before their eyes, A NEW CONTESTANT ENTERS THE RING. [columns][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/69737385][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/697374/69737386.png[/img] [/url][nextcol][b]ITALIAN DISH: BREAD WITH OLIVE OIL AND VINEGAR[/b][/columns] Tanager is determined to pretend not to be related to Finch as she feeds the judges pieces of herself... but they should still help their sister out. They prepare their oven as they wait for their dough to rise, trying not to watch the mushroom-related atrocities being committed by their- uh, the dragon they've definitely never seen before in their life. As soon as their steaming rolls have baked to perfection, [gamedb item=51989]seeds are tossed on top to garnish the bread. And who could have [b]pumpkin-seed bread[/b] (bonus: companion bread to the main dish) without some topping? [gamedb item=163][b]vinegar and olive oil[/b] (bonus: olive oil) seem like a fitting combination of dipping options. The sound of Finch crowing in triumph catches Tanager's attention, and they warily look back over at her station. She's stained with grape juice and utterly disheveled... But her fresh-baked [b][gamedb item=5171]lasagna[/b] doesn't [i]smell[/i] like a war crime, at least.

[center][b]Day 2: Monday Theme!... I Hate Mondays...[/b] [Columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/70780058][Img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/707801/70780058p.png[/img][/url] [item=Vegetable Oil][nextcol]"Italian food, eh? …for a feline? Pasta?" Nighti skimmed through his notes on pasta dishes, pasta sauces and cheeses that goes on pasta. “Well, I can bake a scrumptious [b]Garlic Confit Toast, the Companion bread to the main dish[/b]. Garlic confit requires a lot of [b]Olive oil[/b], plus we can even use the oil to make a pasta [b]and a sauce from scratch[/b].” He smiled at Stroh, the Tundra. “You’re the best saucier I know! I can leave the pasta and the sauce up to you.”[/columns] ----- [Columns]"I can make a spicy sauce using [gamedb item=45]with some [gamedb item=21364]for sweetness. The bulbs, I can boil them and roll into Sweet Potato pasta. Stuff them with cheese." He turned to his other teammate, the tiny Veilspun. “I will be busy today, but do not worry, I will talon-press the wine for you. Pick the ingredients you think is best. The cheese too.” [item=Rusted Iron Pot][item=Ashfall Prickler][item=Sweet Potato Vine][nextcol][left][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/73619971][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/736200/73619971p.png[/img][/left][/columns] ----- [Columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/73074809][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/730749/73074809p.png[/img] [item=Sunbeam Fig][nextcol]"Nah, do not worry about me!” Minju grinned. “I can handle the wine, trust me. The judges mentioned something about an orange cat. So I was thinking about a nice [gamedb item=19155]Wine? Ripe figs are soft and squishy, should be easy for me to [b]Talon-Pressed[/b] it.” “And as for the cheese?” She pondered. “Well, the cheese and the wine need to pair well together, so why don’t we sample some cheeses with the figs, and see what works?” Her friends knew her well enough to know that Minju was just looking for an excuse to snack, (and that, as the clan’s expert when it comes to fermentation she would already know the answer) but they, too, did not want to miss the opportunity to sample a variety of cheeses. [/columns] ----- [center][b]Day 2’s Italian Dish:[/b] Ricotta Stuffed Sweet Potato Pasta in a Spicy Ashfall Sauce, with a glass of Sunbeam Fig wine.[/center]

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/90043855][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/900439/90043855_350.png[/img][/url][/center] [center][b]Yellowfever[/b] has entered the kitchen![/center] ----------------------------------- [left]Making a fine [b]hand-made[/b] Fettuccine Alfredo with creamy Alfredo sauce, [b]talon-pressed Seaberry wine[/b], and [b]olive-oil[/b] glazed garlic breadsticks![/left] ----------------------------------------- Yellowfever greedily rummaged through the piles of leftovers and discarded ingredients from yesterday's competition, tossed out into a landfill-like heap outside the kitchens. At their feet, a tablecloth bundle of soggy bread, half-empty olive oil, greasy two-week expired seaberries, melted butter, moldy cheese, a singular stale clove of garlic, and several crushed stalks of parsley lay in puddle of rainwater. A bucket of squashed, foul-smelling grapes was suspended above the smelly heap by their twin tails. "Why not a meat dish?" They asked themselves, throwing aside a perfectly fine cutlet of lamb. "Because it would be too obvious! We need food all of them can eat! Of course! We're so smart!" Plucking another stick of fly-ridden butter from the trash, both heads examined it closely, before licking some of the insects off and tossing it in with the rest of the loot. They gathered up the mess in their filthy, definitely-washed-with-water-and-not-alleyway-puddle-scum talons and hauled the leaking tablecloth into the kitchens, tracking grime across the pristine floors and filling their station with the putrid scent of garbage, trash, and more garbage. "Perfect! So perfect!" Yellowfever crowed, throwing together the butter (flies included), cheese (that mold spot was small, it's fine), garlic (we wiped off the oil), and parsley (talon-crushed, just not by us) into a bowl and letting the strange shiny electric box mix it together. "We can cook just fine! We're so good at this! This corpse works just as good as any!" As they said this, a finger fell from their rotting hand and into the sauce. The aberration(?) fished it out before it could get blended, but the black residue ended up mixed in anyways. They just shrugged and turned to the pasta. "How long? How hot?" Yellowfever asked themselves, cranking up the burners under several pots of water and dumping the old, boxed pasta inside each without measuring a thing. The stiff noodles cracked and broke into many pieces as they clattered against the metal rim. "Who knows! It'll still be eat-able!" Now as for the [i]wine...[/i] Yellowfever brought the bucket around and shoved both feet in, mashing up the seaberries and vinegar themselves, just as asked. They stamped around, wings flapping and tails flailing, broad rotten-toothed grins spread across their faces as they danced in place. Blue juice and pulp splashed onto the floors and splattered the cooking station like a gruesome crime scene, but they hardly noticed, with how much fun they were having. Such fun! Such exercise! Yes, yes, this body was holding up fine! When the pasta boiled over, the aberration(?) unplugged the stove and spilled the still-boiling pot into the sink, pasta and all. They gathered up the steaming noodles with their hands and portioned them out into bowls, before getting the far-too-finely mixed sauce from the machine and pouring healthy portions over the pasta, not caring if it spilled over. They finished the plates with soggy garlic-and-oil-soaked bread, just barely toasted as an afterthought, and glasses of... wine. Pulpy, foul-smelling, acidic blue wine. Perhaps someone shouldn't have allowed a dragon(?) named "Yellowfever" into a cooking competition. At least they seem to be having fun...

[url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/56050724][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/560508/56050724_350.png[/img][/url] Zolin grinned widely at the judges' praise. Whilst she wasn't a fan of cooking, she was good at it - an odd irony. Her grin widened further as they announced the next theme. She knew just what to make for this one, a massive pasta dish that would satisfy anyone from massive obelisks to hungry felines - the ravioli lasagna/casserole that had been originally thought up by her own mother. First, the sauces. The primary sauce of this was always tomato sauce, but that she'd just work with store-bought for - it was much faster, and she tended to like it better. But she'd add alfredo to this one, sandwiched between layers, and that she'd maker herself. She melted butter in a pan, then added minced garlic until it started to smell - then slowly added flour to create a roux. Next was the milk, added in parts while stirring it in until the sauce was thick and creamy. Then the grated Pamesan cheese and a few Italian spices, to make the perfect [b]homemade alfredo sauce[/b] (sauce from scratch!). Next was making the casserole itself, simultaneously an easy and difficult prospect - she'd decided to use store-bought cheese raviolis, too, just to make things easier (and to her mind, they never tasted much different than the ones made by claw!) First she cooked the raviolis, then drained them. In a large casserole dish, she stacked a layer of raviolis, then a layer of ricotta cheese, then a layer of raviolis, then her homemade alfredo, then a final layer of raviolis and the tomato sauce poured overtop, with a finishing touch of mozzarella sprinkled thickly on it. That went into the oven to slowly bake. Next were[b] pesto rolls[/b] (bread!) - she made croissant dough, slowly rolling and re-rolling butter into it, before making several final rectangles and adding pesto to the ends before rolling them up. These, too, went into the oven to bake, above the raviolis (though for a much shorter time!) She looked into the oven, thinking. Well... that would be a nice meal, but... hm. No one ever said "no" to more bread. She made another [b]bread loaf for mopping up sauce, substituting olive oil[/b] (olive oil!) for the butter to make the flavors mesh even better when served alongside the rest of the Italian meal. She left it to rise a bit, pulling the pesto rolls out before they burnt and setting them to cool. She nodded to herself. Now there was just the refreshments. She wouldn't necessarily call herself much of a vintner, but she'd dabbled in winemaking before - she had her clan send a few bottles she'd made to her, wines made last year in the fall and then aged in oak barrels. These should be a woody and spicy [b]red wine[/b] (homemade wine!) - the perfect combination for a cheesy dish with tomato sauce. Finally, she put the olive oil loaf into bake, removing it and the ravioli casserole when they were finished. She served all of them on the large table - the raviolis she left in their casserole dish, while the pesto rolls were stacked on a large plate beside it, and the bread loaf was cut and then covered and placed next to the casserole dish. She uncorked the wine bottles to give them some time to breathe before the judges came by. (A couple notes - a) yea I know bread takes a lot longer than this to rise. b) all of this (except probably the wine) can be easily made with store-bought ingredients! My family usually does the casserole entirely store-bought, and the pesto rolls are a really simple one that usually uses those pop tubes of easy croissants and store-bought pesto. I do recommend roux alfredo if you've never made it before, it doesn't break like cream-based alfredo often does!)

“Pastas, sauces, cheeses,” Calianth repeats. “And a kitchen only for the strong! I like the sound of it!” He’s been learning a lot about actually preparing food ever since a [item=Battle Chef] qualified chef took a liking to his philosophies on the subject. Not, however, enough for this. He turns to the other two dragons who’ve come to see what he was up to. “What’s pasta?” “Noodles!” the Guardian replies with all the confidence in the world. “I’ve heard about this kind of thing. Pasta means noodles. They’re a type of snake.” Selrath just stares at both her partners in silence for several moments. Right. She’s the only one here who can’t eat any form of meat. The few others in their clan like this haven’t been learning cooking techniques, so… she should expect about this much from everyone today. “Don’t… don’t mind that, you two. There’s a lot else that’s got to go in this. You can help with crushing things for the sauce and wine.” “Of course!” Crushing things sounds easy enough and very much like it’s their shared skillset in general. Not having any idea what kind of food this is or what exactly he’s supposed to be doing is not going to stop Calianth from putting everything he’s got into this. What luck both his partners are here to help today. More quietly, he turns to Nerith to ask, “What’s wine?” “Berry juice mixed with mimic powder.” Nerith is quick to respond and brimming with boundless confidence, as ever. She’s [i]heard of[/i] these things before. Somewhat. Probably. That’s good enough, right? At least there’s one actual chef around to help her… Selrath has the sinking feeling that this would all go far worse if there wasn’t. She can hear what her partners are saying even if they’re trying to keep it away from her, after all. “Yes. Well. You two just handle that. I’m sure you’ll do a good job.” They [i]are[/i] helpful for dragging a few large barrels over. Selrath sets [item=Horn of Plenty] a container of tomatoes down next to it. “Take the tomatoes. Put them in the barrel. Crush them.” She’s giving strict instructions just to make sure they don’t somehow mess this one up. She’s seen what both of them consider culinary masterpieces. Once she’s sure they’ve both got the right thing and crushing is going appropriately well, she returns to where she’d been setting up a counter. There’s not much [i]need[/i] for flour on a day to day basis, but it’s nice to have around, especially once she’s been learning more about what can be done with it. So far she’s been able to turn [item=Oats][item=Quinoa][item=White Quinoa][item=Woodland Acorn] a few different plants into flour, which has been nice. Today she’ll work with all of them. She adds water, eggs, and oil and kneads it into a dough, then cuts it into neat strips and puts it on pans to go on top of the forge Calianth keeps insisting is a portable cooking device. There. That should be pasta, eventually. Not very neat pasta, but it’ll taste fine. The tomatoes have been thoroughly pureed by the time she gets done with that. The full force of two dragons who consider heavy iron gauntlets proper cooking apparel was more than sufficient for the job. It took so little time in comparison that Calianth and Nerith washed their paws off and decided to go ahead and help making wine. Nerith wasn’t sure what kind of berry should go in it or if it really mattered, so they decided to toss in every berry they could find on the basis that all berries were good berries and went well together. [item=Blackberry][item=Blueberries][item=Raspberry][item=Strawberry]… [item=Winter’s Delight][item=Seaberry]… and then they’d gotten through crushing all the relatively normal ones into juice and gotten [i]creative[/i]. [item=Charged Duneberry] proved tasty when eaten, so they tossed it in, and then of course gone and gotten the very experimental [item=Engineered Superberry]. By the time Selrath gets around to paying attention to them again, the two have decided the barrel full of squashed fruits, seeds, and juice isn’t sweet enough and have started squeezing honey into it. She stares at this… [i]concoction[/i] for several long moments before sighing. At least they’ve made something all the hatchlings will like. “Yes, thank you, that’s… that’ll be good for wine. Don’t add anything else, it’ll be good as it is. If you want to… do anything else to it, please do it to your own individual servings so the hatchlings can drink this one safely.” “Oh, that’s so smart.” Nerith beams over at her without any concern for how Selrath absolutely knew her next step was going to be to upend a fanged treasure chest over this barrel and shake it for a while. [color=BF40BF]“There! We made good wine, then. What next?”[/color] (Bonus: talon-pressed wine) Selrath stares at the… increasingly creative results so far and does her best not to sigh again. “We’ll need olive oil. Why don’t you two go beat up a golem?”??“Right! Olive… so a rock golem!” Nerith is pretty sure that olive is a type of vegetable anyway. Maybe they can beat up both giant golems to make sure. “We’ll stop by the volcano to beat up a rock hydra too, then. Maybe several times.” A hydra… oh, dear. Selrath has a feeling she’s not going to like whatever Nerith is about to do and that Calianth is going to have far too good of a time with it. How [i]does[/i] their clan function some days. “Dare I ask what you’re doing with the hydra?”?? “It regenerates a lot,” Nerith explains, completely seriously. “So we’ll be able to get a lot of noodles. You know, for the pasta. It’s the strongest snake around so must be the highest quality!”? “… Yyyyeeesss. Yes. Why don’t you two go do and do that for a while.” While her partners are off doing things they’re actually good at, [color=BF40BF]Selrath gets to work on finishing the sauce.[/color] She has tomato puree so now she can add spices, which admittedly is just random dried herbs because she can’t remember which are supposed to go into this. It’ll be fine. [item=Ancient Mushroom] Mushrooms are much more deliberately added. She puts the barrel in the forge for a moment while she goes to fetch the more esoteric ingredients. (Bonus: Made sauce from scratch) Their chef brought yeast and cheese with him when he joined and he’s been in charge of keeping those stocked ever since because it sounds like nonsense or magic beyond their comprehension whenever he talks about it too much. She’s the one who knows magic, so that’s really saying a lot. She brings back what he assures her are sufficient quantities and gets to work layering a pan with strips of pasta, cheese, and sauce. That pan goes back in the forge from whence the sauce came. Next… flour, more flour, yeast, water, not too much salt, and beating the results into dough, then beating the dough into submission until it becomes ready to cook. She’s not as good at that as her partners are but she also doesn’t have sharp claws that often result in stabbing any kind of dough. There. She shoves that mass of dough into the forge unceremoniously, musing that they might want to consider getting actual cooking equipment in the future… and then considering that her partners would probably end up breaking it. Maybe a forge and lava are fine after all. She’s got enough healing spells to make it work. By the time Calianth and Nerith get back from their hunting trip, everything is pretty much ready to go. Pasta dish. [color=BF40BF]Bread.[/color] Something Selrath will be insisting is wine lest her partners try to do anything else to it. [color=BF40BF]And a large container of [item=Vegetable Oil] olive oil,[/color] which they’re all fairly certain comes primarily from beating up giant golems. The hydra meat will not be starring in today’s pasta dish, but it will be skewered and grilled on the side, and there’s enough sauce to go around if you want to dunk it. (Bonuses: Companion bread, olive oil)

[center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=61218726][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/612188/61218726.png[/img][/url][/center] [font=book antiqua][size=4]Emma didn't really consider herself much of a cook - she initially only came to check out what all the craze around this competition was about under her girlfriend's insistence. Once the judges announced the day's theme though, how could she pass up the chance to give it a try? She had definitely read a good amount of cookbooks in her lifetime, and now was the perfect opportunity to make one of her favorites. The Skydancer started out with delicately preparing the pasta sheets, rolling them out and setting them aside. Preparing the sauce was the main event - ragu was always a treat for both herself and Mira. Aside from a good talonful of fresh tomatoes, Emma tossed in some [gamedb item=831] petals for extra coloring and flavor. The original recipe called for meat, but considering the couple's natural diet of insects, she substituted the traditional beef with [gamedb item=12728] instead. Given her experience, it didn't take too long to layer all the sheets lathered in delicious red sauce, and soon enough the lasagna was baking in the oven, the tantalizing smell wafting out and making their mouths water. [b][bonus: making sauce from scratch][/b] While the main dish was still cooking, Emma worked on a side salad that even her usually non-plant eating girlfriend grew to enjoy. She cut up a healthy serving of [gamedb item=25754] and added them to a bowl with some [gamedb item=61] on top, alongside a sprinkle of parmesan and croutons. With a final drizzling of olive oil, she set the carefully prepared salad on the table, before turning to pull the now perfectly baked lasagna out of the oven. Emma could hardly resist the urge to eat some herself (and she did eat some for the taste test), and she could only hope the judges shared her sentiment. [b][bonus: olive oil][/b] [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=82668710][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/826688/82668710.png[/img][/url][/center] [font=book antiqua][size=4]While her girlfriend was a pretty proficient chef when she put her mind to it, Mira was not as gifted. Her clumsiness certainly did not help, and Emma usually takes charge of all their home cooked meals. However, she had her own tricks up her sleeve - Mira might not be good at cooking, but she had some admirable baking skills that she was going to put to use today! So as Emma baked their delicious homemade lasagna, Mira started pouring flour made of [gamedb item=51957] into a mixing bowl and cracking some eggs from a [gamedb item=50775] into it. After adding baking powder and a good amount of sugar, she started kneading the dough, a task made easy by her strength. It didn't take long before the bread roll was in the oven, and Mira even got a generous serving of [gamedb item=51955] to go along with it. Oh, just imagining the savory taste of the pasta sauce on the soft bread was doing wonders for her appetite. The judges would soon be tasting her favorite meal she enjoyed sharing with her girlfriend on lazy days! [b][bonus: companion bread][/b] The completed meal table looked fancy enough, yet also the right amount of homely that Emma and Mira both shared a hug at the sight. They even had a bottle of wine ready with the matching wine glasses, a lovely talon-pressed [gamedb item=97] mix with a lovely blue hue (courtesy of Mira and her large, strong paws). What could be more comforting than a hearty meal shared with your beloved? [b][bonus: talon-pressed wine][/b]

Making a sauce from scratch
-Companion bread to the main dish
-Talon-Pressed Wine
-Olive oil

The obvious answer to Pyre was spaghetti. She'd made it a few times before, although maybe not as well done as she would have liked.

As the noodles started to boil, she stirred a bit of pepper into a strong tomato sauce she'd personally picked out ingredients for from her clan's garden. Strong in several ways, frankly, because the spice from that pepper could knock a dragon out if they weren't careful.(sauce from scratch)

Right as the spaghetti finished, Pyre plopped a bread tray into the oven. Even the yeast was behaving today, as Pyre drained the spaghetti and mixed the sauce in. (Companion bread)

And heck, maybe her clanmates had just given her an appreciation for the finer things in life, but Pyre loved squeezing juice through a filter and adding a nice helping of olive oil to every dish.(talon pressed wine, olive oil)

She took great pride presenting these to the judges, in fact. Each dish would be a reflection of home,

Milch, Kafea, and Phoebe arrived, bringing with them a cart of spices and hand-crafted knives. They rushed to their station, slipping in place beside each other at the counter. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/68315995][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/683160/68315995.png[/img][/url] Milch's Dish: [b]Hand-made[/b] Fettucine Alfredo (Bonus: Making a sauce from scratch) The Coatl cracked a buck-toothed at the nearby judge and said with a thick southern accent, "I'm making one of my mama's best home-made recipes here. My mama was an fiiine chef, so there's no doubt that you're gonna love it." Milch placed a clawful of fettuccine noodles in a boiling pot on the stove before turning to the chopping board. She minced two cloves of garlic fine before shredding a wedge of parmesan cheese. She went again to the stove and set down a pan, heating it on low. She poured in a hearty amount of butter and cream before whisking them together with a mix of spices that she had hand-dried and crushed herself earlier that week. [center][item=Feverfew][item=Hallowed Ivy][item=Blood Spath][/center] She finally tossed in the garlic and the shredded cheese. She stirred until rich and smooth and poured it over the fettuccine. She carefully and artfully (in her opinion) placed a single sprig of parsley on the creamy, garlic-y dish. "Ta-da", she announced. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/66741872][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/667419/66741872.png[/img][/url] Kafea's Dish: Rosemary [b]Olive Oil[/b] [b]Focaccia[/b] (Bonus: Companion bread to the main dish + Olive oil) Meanwhile, Kafea worked on the countertop nearby, combining a variety of ingredients in a mixing bowl, including flour and water. [center][item=Heavy Grainbasket][item=Glass Beaker][/center] She spread out some flour on the counter before kneading out the dough. She let the bread rise, checking on her companions' progress. When she returned, she placed the bread in the pan and drizzled olive oil all over the bread. She topped the bread with chopped rosemary and kneaded the dough once more to work in the olive oil. Once the bread was finished, she took it out of the oven and placed it before the judges. She smiled, admiring her creation. "If you enjoy my bread, I can make you so much more than bread at my coffee shop. Would you like a coupon?" She batted her eyelashes at the judges. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/72048755][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/720488/72048755.png[/img][/url] Phoebe's Dish: [b]Talon-pressed[/b] Pino Grigio (Bonus: Talon-pressed wine) While Phoebe was not a vintner by trade, she had taken a lesson about wine-making once and had [i]some[/i] claws-on experience. As a mixologist, however, she was familiar with all types of fermented drinks, and she was certain this was a multiple-day process. Was she wrong? Anyway, she found a bunch of light-colored grapes in the stores and dumped them into a shallow dragon-sized barrel. [center][item=Rose Harvest Wreath][/center] She took off her apparel items and wrapped gloves around her talons before stepping into the grape barrel. The spiral stomped around, crushing the grapes and squeezing their juice into a connected container. She stomped around with glee until she slipped. Her serpentine body made a huge splat noise against the grapes as she fell into the barrel. She flailed around, trying to get ahold of the edge of the barrel before her talons slipped under her again, leading to a face full of grape juice. Finally, after a long battle with the grapes, she climbed out of the barrel and got a wine glass full of grape juice. The now sticky spiral set the sweet, citrusy wine down on the table next to the plates. "It complements the alfredo", she said simply before running off to find a bathroom.

Day 2: Italian Food! Bonus points for: -Making a sauce from scratch -Companion bread to the main dish -Talon-Pressed Wine -Olive oil ----- [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/89500818][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/895009/89500818_350.png[/img][/url] Italian food! [b]Sauce:[/b] (Making a sauce from scratch) First, Mus Rattus sets some water to boil, adding some salt to the water as well. While waiting for that, he also heats a pan with some [b]olive oil[/b] (olive oil). Adding some grated garlic, red pepper flakes and diced onions to the mix, he cooks until the onions are nice and soft. He then adds some heavy cream, italian seasoning and [item = Mussels] juice, as well as salt and pepper. Finally, he grates some parmesan cheese into the sauce. When the water is boiling, he adds some linguine noodles and lets it boil for around 10 minutes. When the pasta is done, he lets it drain for a bit before adding it to the pan with the sauce. Adding in some spinach and par-boiled broccoli as well as some more cheese and parsley, he presents it with some [b]sourdough bread slices[/b] (Companion bread to the main dish) and a nice [item = seaberry] [b]wine[/b] (Talon-Pressed Wine)! (This is how I cook lol so this was an easy day for me)