The Morning After

Ariana, in a bubbly mood and fully recovered, rose at the crack of dawn the following day and made breakfast for everyone. She was careful not to wake anyone as she snuck out of bed.

She purchased some speckled eggs to work with that had deep amber, almost red yolks. Along with this, she grabbed some more of that elven grain flour, some beet sugar, some syrup supposedly made from the amber, some various elven herbs and spices that reminded her of rosemary, sage, garlic, and thyme, a type of nettle that tasted like cabbage to her, some cheese that she was told came from a local creature (some combination of sloth and goat by the look of it), and some sea salt imported from Farbour. She also took the time to summon some potatoes. 

Since they had a whole cart now, she also took the liberty of buying quite a few pots, pans, bowls, spoons, forks, whisks, a mortar and pestle set, and anything she could think of to cook with.  The thing she was most excited for, though, was trying on a new apron she bought. 

She tucked her head into the loop and tied the strands around the back. She looked herself over, admiring the pastel green leaf patterns and intricate lace. She did a little twirl in place and giggled. She hadn't felt this cute in ages! 

Satisfied, Ariana set the stove warming with a pot of water and a pan of oil. She had borrowed the kitchen of the inn.

The first order of business was washing and dicing the potatoes. When finished with a scrub, she took up one of the many new knives and casually gave about six of them a loose small dice. She deposited the cubes into a bowl of salted water each time she finished a chop. "Salty like the sea," she whispered playfully to herself. 

Cleansing the knife, she took all of the herbs and the nettle and rolled her wrist into the cuts to slice them into neat ribbons, then tossed the nettle into the boiling pot. While they blanched, she retrieved water from the potatoes, drying them completely with magic. She also managed to set the excess starch aside, a surprise tool for later, she thought to herself in jest. 

She tossed the potatoes into the pan, and they sizzled. Once the nettles had greened enough, she fetched them and tossed them into a bowl of chilled water. They looked vibrantly verdant and plump. She then retrieved them and added them to the pan with the potatoes. The sizzle was quite loud. She gave this all a sauté, just a quick shuffle, shimmy, and jump. 

She cracked a few eggs, taking care to separate the whites and yolks. The whites she whipped up with the beet sugar and amber syrup. Once the mix held a firm, swirly shape, she carefully folded this mix into a bit of the elven flour. She set these into some ramekins and placed them into the oven beneath the stove to bake. 

With the yolks, she set up a little breading operation. Next to the bowl of yolks, she had another bowl with a mix of the elven flour, the extra potato starch, and some salt. She took the sautéed potatoes and nettles and shuffled them into the egg. She quickly added more oil to the pan to let it heat again. 

With her left hand, she shifted the veggies around in the egg and tossed them into the flour mix. With her right hand, she coated and tossed it in the flour, then returned it to the egg. With another round of egg and a final round of the flour mix, she had some rough pucks. She set them carefully away into the oil, and it sizzled up immediately. 

She still had a bit of the cured boar. She cut it into roughly quarter-inch slices, gave them a quick breading as well with just the flour mix, then settled them into the pan to fry alongside the veggie pucks. 

The blanching water had reduced significantly since she started cooking, so she decided to make a quick white gravy. She took the flour left over from breading and scooped it into the remaining water. She added the herbs and spices, then let the sauce simmer for a while. 

While that was going on, she checked on the little baked items. It seemed that they were nearly done, but not quite. She cracked a few more eggs while she was waiting and whisked them together. 

Shortly after she finished whisking the eggs, she checked on the veggie pucks. They were done, so she set them aside on a serving plate, adjusted the breaded boar more to one side, then poured the egg into the other half. She gave it a quick scramble to fluff it up as she poured, then let it rest and fill back out like a proper omelette. When it was nearly set, she broke up some of the elven sloth/goat cheese onto it along with the remaining herbs, then gave it a fold. 

The omelet was cooked quickly and added to the serving plate. She had made sure previously that the serving plate was on a warm spot of the stove, no sense in letting breakfast get cold before it can be eaten!

She checked on the baked items again; they were almost done, then she had an idea. She took some of the beet sugar and poured it into the mortar. She set to grinding it as finely as she could with the pestle. Once it was a fine powder, she added it to some water and syrup. It made for a delightful frosting. 

She pulled the baked items from the oven and freed them from their ramekins with a knife, then set them on a seperate serving plate to cool, but not before drizzling them with the frosting. 

By this time, the fried boar steaks were done, so she pulled them from the pan and set them on the hot serving plate with the omelette and the veggie pucks. 

She looked at the spread, nodded, and went about setting the table. 

The others woke shortly and arrived in the dining room. 

Sophie stood there, marveling at the display while Ellie and Hayden took their places at the table. "Woah!"

Ariana laughed. "Go on, eat as you like!"

Sophie smiled wide and took a seat. 

Ariana joined them shortly. 

As they enjoyed her cooking, she realized that she hadn't done anything like this since back in her original life. She had been invited to be part of meals with her neighbors back in Loomholm, but she hadn't been the one to serve all of the food in a long time, and it was never a small gathering like this. 

She missed these moments deeply.