Quests & Challenges

[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=37266362] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/372664/37266362_350.png[/img] [/url] As Crow was still recovering from the fiasco of yesterday (and no, he most definitely was NOT sulking over the fact that the judge hadn't even gotten to taste his dish, thank you very much), a new Snapper had been sent in his place- the clan had gotten wind of the ingredients required in today's dish, and had wisely thought that someone with more experience in baking should enter the competition today. And indeed, with as comfortable in the kitchen as Mora was, she could hardly contain herself at the thought of proving herself in a cooking competition. Everyone said that her pastries were some of the best around, after all, but now she had the chance to try and wow a judge with them! And if the critique given was less than stellar, well...she would just have to take it and learn how to do better for next time! No matter what this competition sent her way, it was a chance to learn, a chance to better herself for the future. And she absolutely couldn't wait to get started. Her eyes skimmed over the ingredients given- all flowers. Well, this presented a unique dilemma. There was nothing here that really required any sort of baking...unless...of course! She knew first hand that Blue Roses just so happened to taste like blueberries, and her blueberry pie was among the sweets that were most requested by the dragons of her clan. Why not make it, but with a clever twist? Resolved on the direction that she was going to take now, Mora was quick to grab other necessary ingredients and bring them back to her workspace with her. [b]Sugar[/b], [b]cornstarch[/b], [b]salt[/b], [b]cinnamon[/b], a [b]pie crust [/b]produced from her own bag full of ingredients, and [b]butter[/b] were added to the flowers that were already present, carefully measured into the appropriate amounts with the precision of one who was quite comfortable working in the kitchen. Letting a small fire build slowly within the oven that she had been relegated to, Mora set to work, artfully blending the [b]Blue Roses[/b] together to create a kind of paste while the sugar, salt, cornstarch and cinnamon were mixed in a separate bowl, courtesy of her familiar- hey, no one had said that assistants weren't allowed, and the little xotol could somehow mix even faster than she could! What to do with the [b]Winterbelle[/b], however, was another matter entirely. Mora knew that the scent they produced was quite alluring- perhaps the fluid found inside could yield the same result! It was a new ingredient to her, but one that she was willing to try all the same. Taking a few of the blossoms in her teeth, she gently squeezed each petal to draw out the fluids within, letting it drizzle onto the mixture that she had already created before adding the blended Blue Roses in. Looking over the mixture with a critical eye, Mora accepted the fact that this was a new challenge, a new risk to take- but hopefully it would have a promising result, and in any case she couldn't afford to spend time on worrying over such a thing now. Snatching a pastry pan from one of the unattended stations, Mora was quick to line it with the [b]pie crust[/b] that she had brought, pouring the berry mixture in soon afterwards while being careful to make sure that it was spread evenly throughout the pie. After dotting the surface of the mixture with the [b]butter[/b] stick that she had procured earlier, she cut the pastry that was left over into thin strips to cover the surface of the pie, neatly arranging the edges to make the classic shape of a pie crust before sliding the entire pan into an oven to bake. Several moments later, after checking to make sure that the crust was the lovely golden brown color that she desired, Mora slid the pie out of the oven, leaving it to cool sufficiently before taking one bloom of [b]Heart Rose[/b] and adding it to the corner of the pie, as a type of garnish that could be eaten if one desired. Smiling at the absolutely gorgeous creation that she had managed to pull off, the Snapper was quick to grab the pan and make her way over to the judge's table, presenting it with a humble dip of her head. "Blue Rose Pie! A specialty of mine, but with a twist." A pause, and then she hurriedly tacked a sentence onto it. "Please don't feel obligated to eat the entire thing, dearie. There's more than enough to go around, if it's suitably delicious."

[center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=37981698] [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=171&bodygene=10&breed=6&element=5&gender=0&tert=44&tertgene=5&winggene=2&wings=105&auth=675f0c7c02a8d76a231a6a6ef3ace86bf2c739b3&dummyext=prev.png[/img] [/url] [size=2](Shhhh just pretend he's already all gened up nice!)[/size] [item=heart rose][item=winterbelle][item=blue rose] [item=grassland grain][item=sunflower seeds][item=strawberry][item=honeycomb fragment][item=honeycrisp apple] [b]Honey Flower & Fruit Muffins[/b][/center] Ville landed in front of the tent, huffing from his rapid flight across the Plateau. After a few last minute mishaps, [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=26170826]Hemlock,[/url] who was supposed to return for another year of competition couldn't make it. Ville volunteered instead. And now here he was! He gathered up the ingredients and immediately set to work. He couldn't make jam like that coatl liked, but he [i]could[/i] make muffins to go with the jam! Ville first made a quick muffin base using some grassland grain flour (and whatever else you put in muffin mixes) before chopping up some strawberries, apples, the [b]blue and heart roses[/b] and the [b]winterbelles[/b]. He added the bits into the muffin mix, tossing in some sunflower seeds -might as well, right?- and heated up the oven. Once the oven was at the right temperature, Ville quickly put the mix into muffin tins and put it in the oven. He set the timer and waited. And waited. And then got bored and wandered off to go talk to some other contestants. Luckily, he could smell the muffins baking from a few tents away. Once they smelled like they were about finished, he rushed back over and pulled them out. They looked amazing, at least to Ville. All that they needed was some honey! He generously drizzled the honey on them while they were still hot. Ville waited for the muffins to cool a bit before gathering them together in a basket and taking them to be judged. While waiting, he sneaked one to try on his own though. Blueberry, strawberry, apple and honey! A very fruity flavored muffin if not a bit odd. He'd have to write the recipe down soon so he could make these again. Ville loved the muffins. Now to see if the judge did too.

[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=36605656] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/366057/36605656_350.png[/img] [/url] Lup had arrived at the Jamboree late this year, a cluster of undead Faes keeping her from meeting up with the rest of the Paradox delegation. But as she arrived, she immediately caught the scent of baked goods. She grinned when she saw the sign for the cooking contest. "Heck yeah!" she said, surveying the ingredients before her. "'Cha girl's gonna make macarons!" To start, she placed a few roses of each variety in a bowl of water. She then began mashing and boiling raspberries for her jam, setting the Winterbelle petals to simmer with it. She squeezed some lemon juice in as well. Once the mixture had boiled, Lup took it off the stove to cool. She rummaged through the Lightning appliances until she found a mixing bowl, whisk, and food processor. She levitated them back to her area, remembering as she did so to preheat her oven. She took a second to wipe her brow- she missed having her brother around. It was his recipe that she was adapting, and she was sure that he would have loved to be her partner in the challenge. She sighed and began to crack open eggs, separating out the whites. Once she had enough, she added sugar and whisked them all together for several minutes. Then, she turned to her food processor and threw in almond meal and powdered sugar. After a brief hesitation, she also added some of the Heart Rose petals, to add a little bit of color. Once it was all mixed together, she poured her dry materials into the meringue. Then, she vigorously folded it together about twenty times. Her batter complete, she moved it to a pastry bag and piped it out onto her baking tray, making about twenty circular cookies. She left them out by her station- if she focused her magic, she could make sure that they dried out at just the right time. She filtered the rose petals out of her water at this point, and added it to the buttercream she was whipping together. Checking back on the meringue cookies, they seemed to be ready. She grabbed the tray and put them in the oven for about 15 minutes. Lup pulled the cookies out of the oven and let them cool, checking back to her jam. It seemed to be about ready. She began to assemble the pastries, squeezing a small circle of buttercream onto a cookie, filling that circle with jam, and then sandwiching another on top. Once they were all done, she stood back and looked over her work. It wasn't quite the same as when she made them with Taako, but they looked pretty good to her. She arranged them into a loose pyramid and garnished the plate with her leftover flowers and raspberries. <I am sorry, I don't actually know how to make macarons I was adapting it from various recipes I found online. Also, may I please be added to the pinglist?>

(I have no idea how to cook in real life! This should be fun. Also, pinglist please?) [center][columns][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=35870985] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/358710/35870985.png[/img] [/url][nextcol][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=31547477] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/315475/31547477.png[/img] [/url][/columns][/center] Calore leans in to sniff the provided flowers, then promptly falls on her back and starts to cackle. Behind her, Rubato the tundra observes this behaviour with clinical detachment. “I assume that you have a plan?” Calore’s laughter gradually dies off. She clambers back to her feet. “Ha. Yes. [i]Let’s go.”[/i] “I’m still not sure why you wanted me to be here,” says Rubato. Calore grabs a Heart Rose and starts stripping off the petals. “Because you’re the alchemist. Alchemy, cooking, what’s the difference? Help me with this, won’t you?” Rubato reluctantly starts stripping the flower petals. Calore immediately abandons the task and starts darting around to examine the cooking appliances. “Just like home.” She wriggles her claws and turns a few knobs at random, noting the increase in temperature, and punches the air. “Yes! It works!” She sets two empty saucepans on the stove and starts a kettle boiling. Rubato is still pulling the flowers apart. “Just how many of these petals do you need?” Calore waves at him dismissively. “Just keep going. Don’t get any fur in there.” In a flash she’s at his side. “I need a measuring cup. You have one in your coat, right?” “You can’t use alchemy equipment for cooking,” says Rubato, scandalized. “You could poison someone.” Calore decides that he’s unlikely to be cooperative and proceeds to pickpocket him for a few beakers and flasks. “You washed them, it’s fine.” Returning to the stove, she measures equal parts sugar and water into a saucepan and lets it simmer, stirring occasionally, into a syrup. Another trip back to Rubato’s workspace, where she measures out Blue Rose petals and adds them to the still-simmering syrup. “Remind me in half an hour,” she tells Rubato. “You’re being somewhat safety-conscious about this,” he notes, “and yet are entirely nonchalant about the prospect of [i]poisoning someone[/i].” Ignoring that comment, she dumps a bowl of eggs and a bowl of sugar at his side. “Brush the Heart Rose petals with egg white, dip them in sugar, and put them on the rack over there to dry.” Begrudgingly, he obeys, beginning to candy the petals. Calore now takes half a cup of Winterbelle petals and crushes them in a bowl. Setting that aside, she gathers eggs, sugar, cream, and milk. She whisks the eggs and sugar in a bowl and heats the cream and milk in the remaining saucepan, eventually adding the pureed Winterbelle petals to that saucepan as well. During this time the teakettle makes an alarming sound; she takes it off the heat. Adding Heart Rose petals to a teapot, she transfers the hot kettle water into the pot and leaves it to steep into tea. Returning to the stove, she slowly pours the eggs and sugar mixture she just created into the saucepan containing the hot cream and milk, stirring all the while. “It’s been thirty minutes,” Rubato says, sending a curious look her way. With a curse she takes a break from the stirring to rescue her syrup saucepan from the heat. She pours the syrup into a pilfered lab flask, then drags both that flask and the teapot over to him. He’s mostly finished with the petals. “Add the syrup to the tea,” she says, “then put it somewhere cold.” She surveys the area. “I bet there’s Eternal Snow somewhere around her. Anyways, do that.” “How much syrup do I add?” “As much as you have to!” she calls back to him as she returns to the stove. She cooks the saucepan mixture for a bit longer, then takes it off the heat and strains it into a bowl. Rubato has in fact managed to find Eternal Snow; after querying him as to the location, she lodges her bowl of egg-milk mix in a pile of the stuff to cool. “Wonder if it’s here…” she mutters, on the search for a piece of equipment again. “Aha!” Triumphantly, she pulls out an ice cream machine. She investigates a bit further. “And it’s electric!” “Aha,” echoes Rubato, watching her. “Are you certain it’s the correct season for that?” Calore points at him. “It’s always the right season for ice cream. And don’t you pretend you’re cold, not with that coat of yours. Now come help me with the machine.” After some fiddling, they pour the now-cooled egg-milk mixture into one part of the machine and fill the other part with ice and salt. Calore leaves Rubato to feed the machine electricity or hand-churn as necessary. Some of the syrup, per her instructions, has been mixed with the tea in the pot, and the pot's been placed in snow to chill. Rubato’s left some actual cups next to it; Calore ignores them in a fit of contrariness and pours some of the sweet rose tea into a beaker to taste. Hmm. Not bad; she adds a bit of lemon and honey. Once the [b]Winterbelle[/b] ice cream’s properly thickened by the churning, Calore starts putting scoops of it into beakers of rose tea, stirring just a little. She drizzles the leftover [b]Blue Rose[/b] syrup over the floral ice cream floats, then finds the [b]Heart Rose[/b] petals she had Rubato candy earlier and sprinkles them on the floats as decoration. She puts straws into the beakers. Finally, she stands back to admire her work. Calore looks sidelong at Rubato. “Well? What do you think?” “Where did you get those beakers?” he asks suspiciously. Then, the realization hitting him, “I refuse to eat anything made by you ever again.” "Your loss," she says, and grabs an ice cream float beaker for herself, leaving the rest for judgment. Rubato only rolls his eyes instead of trying to stop her, so she presumes that the beakers were safe after all and the tundra's just being uptight. That's good. She'd hate to poison the judge.

[img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/201128/20112748.png?mtime=VwysdQAASdw.png[/img] [right][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/400597/40059665.png?mtime=Wri0LAAARp8.png[/img][/right] Gelos tries his best not to be discouraged by his failure in yesterday's challenge - [i]ratios[/i], it's always the ratios! He's no good at math! But the fact that Soteria seems to have abandoned him does not bode well. "She didn't [i]abandon [/i]you," protests Philophrosyne when he voices the thought. "She loves Mistral Jamboree, everyone knows that! She can't spend the whole week at the cooking contest! Besides, she sent [i]me[/i]! And between you and me, I definitely know more about food than her." "More than nothing isn't saying much," Gelos says glumly. "And you're a Fae, you eat bugs. All three of today's ingredients are flowers. All of them!" "Oh, come on, Gelos. You'll never forgive yourself if you let one failure tank the whole week, and the clock's ticking!" "What?! We're allowed to start? Why didn't you say so!?" He immediately bends to squint over his mother's old cookbook, pessimism forgotten, and his companion settles in for an... interesting day. ~~~ After fifteen minutes of intense scrutiny, Gelos waves his cookbook in the air triumphantly. "Yes! I knew it was in here somewhere!" "You knew [i]what [/i]was in there somewhere?" Philophrosyne responded patiently, pushing a pan away from the counter's edge so as to prevent it from being sent flying by the cook's enthusiasm. Soteria had been exhausted by him yesterday, and had had to ask Phi - the single kindest and most patient dragon in the clan - to accompany him instead. Phi was now starting to understand why he shouldn't be sent alone. "Turkish delight!" "What's [i]turkish[/i]?" "Ah, how should I know? It's just what the book calls it. It doesn't matter, anyway, it's really good, and it can be flavored with flowers! Most commonly roses, but any flowers with a sweet taste can be used - and what's sweeter than winterbelle? Yes, I shall make three different flavors of turkish delight!" "And what will we need for that?" asked Phi, ready to fetch the ingredients. ~~~ Gelos is very pleased with his creation. Three small dishes sit on a larger platter. He has decorated and dyed each batch of sweets to distinguish them from one another; those flavored with heart rose have been colored with a dark pink, and the blue roses with, well blue - both colors were dyed using the rose petals themselves, so as to match the shades as closely as possible. The winterbelle-flavored ones have been left white. Gelos arranged the unused flowers around the platter - this contest may not be graded for presentation, but darn it all, if his food wasn't pretty than what was even the point? "Hear, hear," said Philophrosyne, and Gelos realized that he must have said that aloud. "I can't eat it, but I sure like to look at it." Gelos managed a smile, but as he waited for judgement, his stomach began to tie itself in knots. He prayed to any deity who'd listen that he hadn't miscalculated his ingredients again. That would just be embarrassing. ((I wanted to do Turkish Delight but Sornieth doesn't have Turkey. I decided to ignore this, because once I got the idea in my head I kept making Narnia jokes to myself. Sure it's tasty, Edmund, but is it sell-out-your-whole-family-to-a-dictator tasty?))

[center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=13027766] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/130278/13027766_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] @Windstrike2O5 Meringue liked making souffles, she just didn't get a chance to make them as frequently as she would prefer due to the general chaos that typically went on in the cooking caverns ([i]organized[/i] chaos but still not the best setting for something as delicate as a souffle). Faux souffle really hit the spot though. Meringue ate probably about half of it before remembering there were still quite a few other entries she had to judge today. "Wish...sauce...finished," she told the Ridgeback after sneaking just one more bite, "Very good...but needed...just a little...something...extra." @changelingstar Ah yes....Meringues' achilies heel rears its ugly head again as she stares into the eager eyes of the young Snapper. [i]She's so cute![/i] "You...make...yourself?" She asked, genuinely impressed once she is informed of the situation that Topaz is the assistant rather than the other way around, "Is...lovely! Decorations...hard...even...pros...trouble sometimes." However, while the cake was gorgeous on the outside, the inside needed a bit more attention. "Bake...too short. Slightly...runny...in middle. Need be...firmer. But flavors...good! Just need...more practice. Don't forget...basic techniques...important." While Topaz isn't looking but before the two head out, Meringue sneaks Prim the last of the tea cakes she'd snuck for herself earlier. "For....research," she informs the hatchling with a wink. ((I hear you all to well on the beating. I don't know what I'm going to do when I no longer have my current roomie's amazing Kitchen-aid at my disposal! *overdramatic sigh*)) @ArcticFire Meringue nodded approvingly at the latest dish. It seemed the bad string of luck that had started off the day was finally starting to turn around in a consistent way. "Frosting...bit thick," she commented as she helped herself to a second cupcake, "But that...personal taste...not...major problem. Nice done. Good batter...to use with other...jam types." @BirdyMe The fae family's entry was a pleasant break from the previous entries. Light and simple, it was the perfect treat to take a few minutes and just relax. "Tea...perfect blend. Would like to...request recipe...if you share?" she asked before continuing on, "Shortbread...bit dry...even for...type. But is good...if dunked...in tea," she pointed out, demonstrating just that before taking another bite. @Toranne Once again faced with a pair that was half coatl half not, Meringue debated on which language to go with. Unlike before, it appeared the Skydancer was the main creator of the entry rather than the work split between them, so she decided to be polite and go with Common. "Ambitious...doing...full meal," she remarks, "More ways...thing go...wrong." She pointed first at the lemonade, "Too sweet," (which was probably not at all what Seraphin was expecting a critique on after the pepper incident), then to the wafers: "Overdone." Then she got to the creme brulee itself and seemed to struggle hard to find the right words before caving and switching to the coatl tongue and addressed Indie. [i]"I appologize, but do you mind translating for me? Could you inform your partner that the brulee is absolutely perfect? I don't know if it's the rose flavors or the heart shapes, but I feel like this is something I would serve to several of my friends back home if they wanted a candlelit dinner date with their mates."[/i]

Aw, I missed the one with the spearmint... well, lemme know if Ursus comes up as a judge I suppose. xwx

((Last batch for the night! [s]Also rollover is going to hit soon and I'm going to be quite annoyed if I finish this post and then loose it due to being booted off the site. [/s] Depending on how early I get up I might try to get some more knocked out after posting Day 3 but before I head into work, but we'll see. [b]ANYONE WHO HAS POSTED UP TO HERE REQUESTING TO BE ADDED TO THE PINGLIST HAS BEEN ADDED SO REST ASSURED EVEN IF I HAVE NOT GOTTEN TO YOUR DAY 2 ENTRY YET YOU WILL GET THE NOTIFICATION FOR DAY 3![/b] [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=13027766] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/130278/13027766_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] @Oranitha Another pleasant surprise. Turkish delight was more in Ursus' line of work, but he hardly ever made it because not too many dragons in the clan liked it all that much and Kakigori had her doubts that it would sell on her trade routes. Meringue was one of the ones that wasn't a huge fan of them, but after trying the ones that the Tundra twosome offered up to sample, she thought maybe she could be convinced they could be yummy. The recipe they used would need some tweaking (she was pretty sure turkish delight wasn't supposed to be quite so wobbly), but the flavors were solid (the use of juniper was [i]genius[/i] so it was a surprisingly good start. ((No worries on the extra item names ^_^ So long as I can recognize the three required ingredients it makes no difference to me if the others are accurate, or even exist on the site)) @Sidegrinder Meringue was jinxed. Not the judge, though she did appreciate the irony in it, but rather so far every meringue based dish that had been presented was undercooked and still a bit squishy in the center even if it seemed solid on the outside. Hannibal's was no exception, even if it wasn't quite so obvious as the others. "Personally...don't mind...little under..." Meringue explained as she took another bite of pavlova, making sure to get a heaping amount of compote and whipped cream with the meringue. "Can't...even tell...eaten...together. Only separate." @queenmedusozoa ((I know for a fact that at least a few clans discovered during this contest they had previously unknown chefs in their midst. Maybe you'll find yours?)) Meringue loved when contestants deviated from the obvious. It was one of the reasons she and a few other judges decided to go less crazy with the ingredients this year. Sure, the contestants might think it was better for them, but for some it would be even harder to avoid coming up with dishes similar to everyone else's. She chuckled at the young wildclaw's attempt at coatl tongue, but it was out of amusement rather than mocking him. Taking it as an invitation that she could speak normaly, she went through her remarks a bit slower than usual, allowing Trey to jump in and let her know if he didn't understand what she was saying. [i]"I don't think I know anyone who's considered doing rose tea eggs before. You normaly see them as a more smokey or savory flavor rather than floral so I was surprised with how good they tasted! The jam is nicely done too...but your main flaw with this entry is pairing them together. Even with the rose flavors in both of them, I just don't think they were meant to be eaten as a single dish."[/i] ((Also HECK YES TEA EGGS!! ^_^ Sorry for my over-exuberance, but tea eggs were what I entered in my first Flight Rising cooking contest back in the day, resulting in me winning Bloodstone which was the trigger for my flight rising cooking obsession to cascade into what it is today (including Mistral Meals))) @Tomata The coatl is absolutely delighted at seeing Nami's dish in action. She'd never seen such a trick before, and knew she'd have to find out to pass along to Ursus (who she was quite sure didn't know how to do it otherwise he'd be pulling it off every other dinner...he was all about the gimmicky foods that one). However the taste, while not bad by a long shot, does seem to be rather lackluster after the original presentation. "Flavors...needs...something..." This time rather than thinking carefully about what to say, Meringine appeared to be speaking slowly while pondering what the dish needed more of. "Crisp? More sweet? No...too much. Something...light? Should...play with more."

[quote]It's hard for me to remember specific posts from year to year but I seem to recall there were quite a few close calls with accidental food poisoning at the time.[/quote] "LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALLA...."

@IngeniousSpark @Perrydotto @L1BR4 @JinxMoonstone @ArcticFire @Tomata @Cheshly @Lonefox @SilverQuark @Daemonengrau @LiveSky @browncoatparadox @riseandshine

Day 3 is live!