The Cooking Competition

[wisteriasnow]

WHO: You!
WHAT: The cooking contest!
WHEN: Monday (Round 1), Wednesday (Round 2) and Friday (Round 3)
WHERE: The Home Ec Cooking Room
Warnings: well it's a cooking competition in Yogen so I'm predicting some food crimes. 

Mid-way through Monday's festivities, an announcement over the intercom declares that it's time for participants to get ready for the cooking contest. For those working their class or club's booth, their entries will qualify so long as they submit the entry before the stated time limit. Contestants will one-by-one make their way into the home ec room. The room is large, with enough individual counters to fit multiple contestants.

 

Each contestant will have access to the stove, oven, a microwave, and the fridge, guarded by a member of the cooking club for contestants' peace of mind. There's a much larger amount of food available, from fresh produce and meats- ... even the hope meat- to noodles, rice, and all kinds of seasonings, all waiting to be used. Each station also has an abundance of tasting spoons and sample dishes, for nosy people and contestants testing their dishes alike. Throughout the day, spectators can come and observe, but towards the front of the room is a table and three chairs, where one can find Helena Adams, Lucifer, and... Who? 

 

Students of class 2-A will recognize our host, who happily stands as the counters fill up and, as if she's got a microphone and camera on her, begins talking. 

 

"Good afternoon, everyone! My name is Yuki Fujimori, a member of the cooking club, and, alongside the wonderful Helena Adams and Lucifer, we will be your judges overseeing the competition over the week!"

 

Lucifer remains sitting, arms crossed as he sits upright and proper. When he speaks, it’s not a friendly hello or anything of the sort, but a warning.

 

"If I catch one of you using the human meat, I'll kill you. Don't think you can hide it, either — I know what it tastes like."

 

… It- it’s probably fine, one of his pact bearers knows better now. But Yuki is clearly side-eyeing him for a brief moment before she slips back into character.

 

And as much of a somber atmosphere as Lucifer may have introduced, it’s countered by the judge on the other side of Yuki, who stands and bows slightly, straightening and beaming at the competitors. 

 

“Thank you so much for joining us! We’re very excited to see what you’ll be coming up with, and to get to partake in your more edible skills!”

 

With an enthusiastic clap, Yuki nods cheerfully. “There you have it! Now, let me explain the premise.

 

"Over the course of three days, contestants will prepare an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert! We've chosen to spread it out to give everyone enough time to engage in other parts of the festival as well! Helena-san, Lucifer-san and I will judge all three courses.

 

“Every day will have an individual winner, and the third day will end with an overall winner based on our decisions. There will also be a people's choice bracket, based on spectator votes as they come in and watch the competition. Contestants will have four opportunities to win overall. 

 

Getting caught cheating will result in immediate disqualification for all three days. This can include tampering with others’ dishes, cutting off their equipment or utilities, or contamination of others’ submissions or stations.

 

 

Now, let the competition begin!”

 

 

Contestant, please submit your entries all together in one comment under the ENTRIES comment! Submissions close on the 14th, JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT EST! Be sure to note what each dish is, how well the contestant did and anything else of note! 

 

Voting will open on the 14th and end on the 17th! 

 

Players are free to treat this as a bit of a mingle otherwise! Spectate, harass competitors, do whatever! This log/competition is not part of the TDM however. 

Comments

QUESTIONS?

[wisteriasnow]

How were Lucifer and Helena chosen as judges? They volunteered!

And Yuki? the cooking club made her do it

Is my character allowed to recognize Yuki? Class 2-A and anyone in the cooking club will know her by name, but others will be probably less aware of her. She's tried very hard to not interact with the transfers, you see. And now she is being forced to.

Wow, rude. Why? yall are freaks

Where's Nene? Do to like, everything, she is unable to host and does not have the spoons for it. She's helping in other ways backstage, so to speak.

Something else. Just comment below!

[dereban]

A few questions as this will impact certain things potentially:

1) do entrants all have to be solo or can we have group/partnered entrants?
2) given that the statement is "cheating isn't allowed if they get caught" would it be possible for characters to cheat if they don't get caught doing so?

[wisteriasnow]

The limit is two people per entry! Groups of three or more are not allowed!

Ding ding ding! Correct, but you have to be sneaky! The cooking club, Yuki and Lucifer are watching like hawks and Helena's got great ears. That said, poisoning our judges is probably a terrible idea, all things considered.

[dereban]

coming up with more questions but like what ingredients do we have to work with for the cooking competition?

are there any specific ingredients that would be difficult to find in particular or any ingredients that the school would be low on because of people making food for culture festival booths?

[wisteriasnow]

given that there's at least one cafe and the cooking club is overseeing a lot of food-related things- and as such are aware of how much is needed- i'm going to say it's like a small grocery store and it's restocked fairly regularly. fruits will be more standard to a japanese grocer's selection as well. there might be some really high quality or rare spices or cuts of meat available, but you'll have to dig around a bit.

now, if you want to, oh say, use up a day's worth of an ingredient and leave none for the rest....

of course, that would be poor sportsmanship.

[devouringdeep]

Very important question! Alongside the ingredients available, is there access to alcohol?

Specifically for cooking, not for drinking. Maybe for a little drinking, but in moderation.

Like let's say one wanted a bit of vodka for pastry purposes. Is this allowed and/or possible to get your hands on?

[wisteriasnow]

consulting ori on outside sources, but from the competition-given ingredients? no, the demographic is kids and childe might get a little side-eyed for asking from his new coworker.

JUDGE'S COMMENTARY

[wisteriasnow]

Day One

[wisteriasnow]

Eh.... that guy with the green hair is kinda struggling, huh? It's like he doesn't quite know what to do exactly...

( what is an appetizer? good question. )

[decrypter]

Which person are you speaking of? Is it that he doesn't know how to cook, or that he looks lost?

[she's got water to sip on while they wait for the appetizers to cook, as well as her notebook to collect her thoughts. she's Ready.]

COME TALK TO THE JUDGES!

[wisteriasnow]

Helena, Yuki and Lucifer are available for questions, or if you just want to chat as a spectator or competitor.

LUCI // makes myself a little nest in here

[carpevinum]

[Come talk to him or don't I'm not your dad]

[dokkans]

[ She's just here to wave! Hi, Lucifer! ]

YUKI ❄

[wisteriasnow]

( she's putting on a cheerful face... but does she really want to be here? )

HELENA

[decrypter]

[genuinely just happy to be here.]

SHIN'S ENTRIES

[notsosou]

[The Council will decide his fate.

He's trying not be nervous but... he knows he phoned in his last entry :' )]

[wisteriasnow]

Soooooo...

( here's where things get a little... who knows, actually. but all things considered... )

Congratulations on submitting all three entries and not, you know, biffing it entirely. We had a few comments and concerns about the past few days though.

(frozen comment) SUBMISSIONS!

[wisteriasnow]

Please submit your three entries in one comment, clearly divided. Be clear on what they prepared, how, and how well they did... or didn't do!

Submissions close November 14th, 12 PM EST.

(frozen comment)

[notsosou]

Appetizer: Shin has about as much idea of what an appetizer is as I do (is it those things on sticks on trays in movies? A mystery) but... you can't go wrong with gyoza, right? You just put mince (not hope mince), garlic and cabbage in the premade dough pouch, pinch it closed and fry it. Easy?

They're pretty clearly an amateur try; the pleats are very You Tried, he didn't wilt the cabbage (though that's optional if you don't mind crunch), there's clear signs of figuring out how much of each thing and in general to put in as he was going along, and some are a little too cooked or not quite fully steamed, but they're not inedible, esp with the dipping soy sauce. If I went around to a friend's house and they were like this I'd eat like, ten.

Main Course: This is where he's both more confident and nervous, because he's been training under Nene for this very moment... it's his time to shine. He's making a cream of vegetable soup, using vegetables grown right here in Yogen!

It's primarily pureed pea and carrot, since that's what been harvestable by this point if google is correct, and thickened by an egg-yolk, onion and cornstarch bechamel (a besamel?). It's warm, thick, creamy, and silky without lumps so all in all extremely good; Shin's keeping some back to have himself or share with CR later and is very pleased by the power to make his favorite kind of food whenever he wants (washing the dishes though...).

Dessert: He's put salt on vanilla icecream and drizzled it with chocolate sauce and added half a banana and called it a day. Take the shot, put him out of his misery.

You all have been spared him trying to grill things on the oven racks, unless you've partnered up with him and are doing that in which case I'm sorry.

(frozen comment)

[adsum]

Appetizer: Hikaru and Shin just looking at each other like "what's an appetizer" They end up going with a pickled cucumber salad: cucumbers sliced paper thin that they tried to make it curled so it'll be fancy but doesn't quite manage it but it's okay because when you toss a salad you can't tell anymore anyways. The cucumber is pickled in soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and brown sugar for around half an hour, during which they just sort of wander around and watch everybody else cook. They then return to their stove and toast some white sesame seeds to sprinkle on top of the salad. They also drizzle it with a little bit of sesame oil and a pinch of cilantro, because mom says that a little bit of sesame oil adds fragrance and cilantro adds color, and mom's always right. Overall it's the sort of salad your mom makes a lot but you only tangentially know how to make, where you can reason out the ingredients based on the flavors you remember and you have to taste test every step of the way but they think mom would be proud.

Main course: It's omurice!!! aka the one thing even children know how to make, although it's very simple as a main course. Rice gets made first so it can sit there while they do other stuff, if they can't prepare rice the day before in advance. Next is the egg: instead of scrambling it with the vegetables, their favorite way to make it is by beating eggs with a little bit of water, and pouring it in a pan with hot oil and you don't touch it, you stare at it until it starts to make these huge bubbles and then you sort of move the edges aside and tilt the pan so the raw egg on top flows to the bottom and gets to cook, and you keep moving the edges and tilting the pan until there's no more raw egg and you should end up with one large fluffy omelet that's only very slightly brown and you break them up into large chunks and set aside. This is also very much "I've watched my mom do this a thousand times and I've learned by osmosis." The filling is stir fried peas and carrots, set aside, then the rice is fried and the vegetables added back into it and mixed with soy sauce, and then at the very very end the egg is added and gently folded in so you still have the large pieces. Presentation doesn't matter at home but it does here and they don't trust themselves to be able to wrap the rice inside an omelet without it breaking, so instead they portion out the rice onto the plates and pack it down as best they can and then make another omelet and lay it over the rice like a blanket and tuck the edges in under it at so it at least looks the part. For the ketchup on top they draw little flowers for Yuki, one large heart for Lucifer, and a =^..^= face for Helena except the ketchup starts to spread after a while if she doesn't eat it right away but it's fine because she can't see if it gets all messy.

Dessert: They present it as a "coffee cake" but there's actual coffee in the cake. It's a basic chocolate cake with coffee replacing part of the milk that would typically be used, cut in half to make two layers, with whipped cream flavored with orange juice in between. There was going to be peaches involved because that's their favorite but apparently peaches stopped being in season in September so they settled for sliced poached pears to top the cake instead, arranged in a spiral and drizzle glazed with ginger-sugar syrup. Cake's delish because Nene taught them, but they're a little nervous the cake doesn't taste enough of coffee so they also brew coffee to go along with it, it's straight black coffee but sometimes you need bitter to cut down on the sweet. Lucifer gets an extra large mug of coffee.


Sorry this entire entry is just "I don't typically cook but I've watched mom (and Nene) make this so I got this, probably, I think" Hikaru's a reasonable cook but it's very much homestyle cooking and nothing terribly fancy or outstanding. It's food made with love.

(frozen comment)

[crystallomancy]

Appetizer: Creamy French onion soup! Prepared exactly as you expect it to be, caramelized onions and chicken stock and plenty of butter; the only thing it lacks is probably the wine bit but that's because they're in a high school and they're not allowed it, cooking it out or not. It's topped with mozzarella cheese and two pieces of toasted baguette baked by Natsume himself.

Main Course: A lemon and rosemary roasted chicken, served on a bed of mirepoix (onions, carrots, celery) and with a side of quartered potatoes that were roasted beneath the chicken to impart its delicious flavor on them. It's a lovely, juicy dish, if maybe a little on the rich side, owing to Natsume's more refined rich-boy palette.

Dessert: Chocolate lava cake, served very simply with a dusty of powdered sugar and vanilla ice cream.

In general, they're very good; Natsume considers cooking and baking on the same level as, say, chemistry or alchemy, so he's skilled in it. Thank you chuunibyou. He's also been cooking frequently while in here in Yogen, so he's definitely not been slacking in this area.

(frozen comment) The Dastardly Duo of Childe and Jason

[devouringdeep]

Appetizer: If you look to your left you'll see the two hundred and twenty-five pounds of beef that is Jason Todd, decked out in an apron and prepping what he needs for some papas rellenas. Boiling up some potatoes while he works, Jason makes quick work of dicing up a green bell pepper and mincing some garlic. Chopping an onion brings a bunch of sniffling and other vague reactions from Childe somewhere behind him, and he keeps having to pause to glance over and make sure the ginger isn't dying. Prep work done, some ground beef gets browned within a skillet, then the green pepper and onions are added and cooked until tender. Lots and lots of seasoning. You can never have too much seasoning. Adding some tomato paste, he leaves it to simmer while he drains and mashes up the potatoes. From there its just a matter of shaping the potatoes by hand, filling them with the beef mixture and forming round little balls. Each is dipped into a bowl full of eggs, coated in breadcrumbs, then fried until they reach a nice, crispy golden brown color. Drained from the oil, they are arranged neatly on a plate and are ready for taste testing.

Main Course: Ya boi Childe has been waiting for an opportunity to unleash his personal borsch onto anyone that wants to try it, and he's jumped at the chance to present it now. Pork sausage has been crumbled up and browned, then added to a big pot of water to boil. In the pot is also some carrots and beets that have been thoroughly, somewhat violently peeled and shredded. Joining them are a few cubed potatoes and some cabbage that has been treated the same way as the beets and carrots.

Have you ever seen a grown man with tears streaming down his face while he's chopping up onions? Congratulations, you have now. Childe doesn't cry normally - hasn't since he was fourteen - but cutting onions gets the best of him, clearly. Even impaired his aim with the knife is fairly decent, and after he's finished with the onion he spends a good three minutes with his head in the sink, borderline waterboarding himself until he doesn't have to stumble around blindly anymore. Once recovered, the onion bits get cooked up on a pan with some tomato paste and a bit of water, the resulting sauce then dumped into the big pot. Mincing garlic goes along easier than the onions had, and they too are added in to the soup base alongside some salt, pepper, and sugar. From there, its ladeled into bowls and topped with a dollop of sour cream, garnished with some sprinkling of dill and parsley on top of the cream. The placement of the parsley leaves is purposefully deliberate, and he's cut them to look like a more geometrically simplistic version of his Riptide mark.

Dessert: It's a pie! A spiced cherry pie, to be exact. Which is fairly self explanatory in how its done, as it's pretty hard to screw up a pie. The lattice work on top is custom and it's clear they had a lot of fun just messing around and trying to find a unique design; it comes out looking a little like this. The crust itself is also handmade, and there's a brief, blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment where Childe sleight-of-hand slips a small amount of liquid into the dough before kneading it in. It's definitely not roughly a fourth of a cup of vodka that he's received from an unknown donor, and even if it was the taste will bake off and not be detectable once finished. After the pie is filled and the lattice work is done, it's given a little bit of an egg wash and sprinkled with sugar on top. Once baked, the slices are served with a bit of frozen whipped cream that has been spooned out of the container and layered on top.

Technically speaking, they started on the pie first considering it's the item that takes the longest to bake in the oven, and Childe absolutely chucked a handful of flour at the back of Jason's head, which in turn prompted a mini war that was quickly over once it began. The both of them then proceeded to finish the rest of their dishes while covered in flour, because they're rowdy frat boys when placed in a room together. It's also safe to say that they spent the rest of their time poking and punching and pinching at each other to try and get the other to mess up on one thing or another. All the while carrying on conversations about literally nothing in the slightest.

They're loud. They're children. They're both enablers. I'm sorry.

(frozen comment)

[dokkans]

Appetizers: Sure, she could use effort, but why? The best thing to do is to do something cute and skate by on that! So, time for the easiest thing she can think of. Which is grabbing a couple apples and cutting them into a nice little platter of bunnies, some red and some green. In the middle's a small dipping bowl of caramel. The apples themselves are immaculate, down mostly to Bonnie surprisingly, being pretty good with a knife.

Main Course: Well, okay. Snacks and such are her speciality, but actual food? That's a bit trickier! But she's got to do her best so she figures the best option is to figure out how to put together a good stew! Which means carrots, potatoes and some kinda meat. Maybe a few sauces too? What she winds up going with is whatever beef she can find, which takes some doing. The beef broth isn't going to be made herself though, and while everything's cut super well, at best the meal can be described as "okay."

Incidentally, searching for ingredients was harder than she thought, and she might've gotten a bit confused. Which might lead to a few mixups, like her shifting spices into the the wrong place, putting some of the worse slices of meat on top of the more pristine cuts, and, maybe accidentally breaking a few veggies. It's not intentional of course! Why would it be? She's a good girl.

Dessert: Everyone likes cookies, right? Bonnie's decided to get some cookies made for dessert, which are pretty much just sugar cookies. It's not so much the cookies that're going to win her the prize here, but her decorations! Some are decorated with frosting designed to look like daisies, some that're cut in the shape of a butterfly, but most seem to be decorated with little cartoon wolf faces with a chocolate chip as a nose and... well, "X"es over the eyes. They taste a little bland otherwise, so she's hoping the style pulls its weight!

(frozen comment)

[miirai]

If the judges are paying close attention while Rika is cooking, they'll notice that she'll be singing a rather peculiar song to herself in a rather childish manner. She is also absolutely doing the cooking in her Duchess costume as well.

They will also notice that she seems rather well-practiced in cooking, not panicking in the slightest bit.

As for what she is cooking -

When she presents the food, she'll introduce her meals as the Flavors of Fall, nipah~☆

Her appetizer seems to be yudofu, her main course is a mille feuille nabe and her dessert is a sweet potato pie. On top of that, she's made sure to courteously give some black tea (or coffee, whichever the judges prefer!) for everyone to drink. The tea is poured in a practiced manner, as if she's done so in front of others in a rather professional manner. As for the taste: there aren't any oddities in her meals and it tastes... well, what you'd expect for those kinds of meals! There's something about it that seems almost homely to it as well, too.

WINNERS AND PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENTS!

[wisteriasnow]

After the last entry has been submitted and tried, the cooking room closes and if you linger at the door, you can hear impassioned debates, including “Lucifer-san, your bias is showing”, which comes up a lot. At some point, Lucifer is ushered out for a moment, but he returns to the room shortly with something awkwardly large but hidden in his arms.

Several hours later, all contestants are called back to the cooking room, where Yuki, Helena and Lucifer stand behind their judge’s table.

Yuki starts with a clap of her hands, standing up. “Welcome back, everyone! It’s been a great few days with all of you. Everyone did really well-” this is a bold-faced, bright-smiled lie. “And the competition was close!”

“And because it was so close, we have decided to acknowledge not just who impressed us, but who won the hearts of the people as well.” Helena stands next, smiling gently at the competitors before she proceeds to announce the audience’s choices. Rika and Natsume tied for day one,
Natsume for day two, and Natsume and Hikaru tied for day three. All are allowed to collect a small plushie of their choice to go along with their new fabulous keychain(s). For the overall choice, it’s Childe and Jason, who are handed matching plushies, and also this.

“We’d like to take this moment to also give our wholehearted thanks to the sewing club, whose generosity in donating prizes for the event and whose skills with fabric and thread are equally unmatched. Thank you, each and every one of you.”

Lucifer offers a cheerful smile, gaze travelling toward Hikaru as he announces, “Our honourable mention is Hikaru. Here is your prize.” He holds out a little creature for Hikaru to take, or, rather, a large creature because Lucifer was told to pick a medium stuffed animal and Lucifer decided to pick a large one because Hikaru is baby. “It’s Baphomet, or a recreation of him.”

Of course it is.

Once Hikaru grabs their prize, Lucifer manages to look somehow less pleased? Because he’s not talking about Hikaru?? But either way, he pulls out… an easy-bake oven! Wow! And managing a smile that’s less enthused than his earlier one, announces, “In third place is Rika. Your prize is a toy meant for children your age. I hope it pleases you.”

He does not actually care if it does or doesn’t. Let it be known that he really wanted to give Natsume third place though so that Natsume could have this.

“Second place goes to one of our audience favorites, Sakasaki Natsume!” Helena gives her own applause - she definitely wasn’t bothered at all to announce this tier of winner, and gestures that he can move forward to collect his prize. “For his work, we would like to award him a standing mixer! May it serve him well in further culinary pursuits.”

“And finally, coming in first place with an all-around spectacular performance… we have the dynamic duo, Childe and Jason!” Yuki grins, perhaps genuinely for once, before setting a thin but heavy box on the table. With a dramatic flair, she whips off the sheet covering it- the box is still closed, with a black diamond-shaped lock on the hatch. Detailed on the lock is a white wisteria tree. When Yuki goes to open it, she freezes, eyes wide and smile dropped, before she forces herself to continue, revealing a beautiful set of chef’s knives.

“For our winners today we have a set of hand-forged chef knives from a prestigious smith! These knives are durable, razor sharp and in the right hands can handle even bones like butter! We encourage you to use them well!”

You get the feeling she doesn’t mean just in cooking- or that the donator doesn’t, anyways.

As everyone gets ready to leave with their spoils, Yuki stands at the door and happily pins a ribbon to the contestants’ lapels- the winners are certainly fancier than the rest, with gold charms hanging from the center as well, but they’re all made with love.