[Genteven - Solo] Distractions & Some Comfort Fritters
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 7:45 am
37th of Searing, 4022
After a long day of creeping through the streets of Genteven, Jared couldn’t help but grumble as his stomach felt empty as a bottomless pit. Using magic, planning routes, training one’s body and stealing from various people from all walks of life does make a person hungry and what is a better way to end the day than making some food before washing up and resting for the next day ahead.
Taking a moment to rummage through the various raw materials he had on hand for today. With some leftover fresh fruits such as peaches, apricots and strawberries. Jared couldn’t help but ponder as to what to them. The amber-eyed thief could glaze some peach wedges in honey or a hard coat of glaze with sugar or honey or even make various jams, marmalades, curds or even a fruit butter; all valid & valuable as they tend to have a long shelf and can an excellent addition to someone’s rations.
“I think I can make some spreads. Alistair might enjoy it… I still need to figure out what he enjoys and make a few jars for him to take along for possible travels.”
Pacing back and forward for a moment, figuring out what to do. The idea of making some apple & peach fritters would be a nice treat. Fruit preserves would be a delightful treat as the sweetness and/or tartness of apple pair well with the lighter delicate notes of peaches, that is, if the thief had enough time & resources to make more fruit preserves otherwise, the thief still had a few jars of orange marmalade, peach & apricot jam, lemon curd and a few other fruits that have been preserved such as strawberries, blueberries & quince.
“Okay, seems like we got a plan to work with, and it shouldn’t take too long to make either.”
The first step of the process was to mix up all the dry ingredients, which mainly comprised of salt, flour, and spices such as clove, cinnamon, ginger & nutmeg (If they were available). This was followed by adding the wet ingredients into a separate wooden bowl, which mainly comprised honey, milk & eggs, which Jared would then whisk until the fluids were even distributed.
Once the preparations for the fritter batter were made, the charcoal-haired thief placed a few sheets of cloth over the wooden bowls to prevent insects from landing into the dry & wet mix ingredients.
Meanwhile, it was time to prepare the fruits; Peaches were easy to do as all it took was scoring the underside of the peach with a paring knife with an ‘X’ mark before setting it off to the side while a pot of water reached to a simmer. As for apples, it was a bit harder to handle as Jared recalled that if you were to cut the fruit and leave it exposed for a short period, the inner flesh of pome would begin to turn brown.
While it does not affect the flavour, the appearance of dark brown markings would be off-putting to the eye; so it was essential to prepare the sliced apple wedges first to make the fritters appear delicious.
A way to circumvent this problem was by adding the fruits to boiling water for a short period. From what Jared recalled, this particular cooking technique was called blanching or parboiling based on overhearing some cooks discussing how to prepare a specific stock of vegetables back at Valtoria.
The process is relatively short as it only took about a minute or two before removing the fruits and placing them in a cold water bath. This quick & straightforward process of briefly cooking the fruits allows the development of additional sweetness & flavours. At the same time, the cooling section stops the fruits from overcooking as the flesh would become softer as the residual heat continues to alter the fruit’s taste, texture, and nutritional profile.
Once the fruits could cool down, the slightly-excited rogue took a few minutes to pick up the scored peaches, flipping them to the underside where the scratched ‘X’ was. It was generally a good sign that the parboiling did its job when the skin of the peaches was peeling back slightly, enough to grab between the thumb and index finger or, in Jared’s case, using the spine of the paring knife & gently pull the skin away from the peach’s flesh.
With a few naked white & yellow peaches and apple wedges left, It wouldn’t take much time to finish the preparations as all that was left to dice the fruits into small cubes and have the fruit be folded into the fritter batter. Combining the wet & dry ingredients in a large wooden bowl, giving the mixture a few goods stirs until Jared formed the batter, slowly incorporating the fruit pieces into the batter until it was ready to be cooked.
Taking a moment to recollect himself. The rogue walked over to the hearth, taking a moment to pile a few sizable logs and tinder to start a fire using some flint & steel, being careful to tend the smouldering embers, feeding the flames until it was a sizeable blaze for cooking purposes.
Coating a frying pan with a small about of butter, Jared allowed the pan to heat up so the butter would melt and begin to bubble and spit. From there, Jared started scooping up the batter and placed pikelet-sized batter on the pan, listening to the soft sizzling noise of the melted fat caramelizing with the fruity batter.
With the air carrying the slight fruity & floral aromas, Jared takes a moment to breathe in and out, elated by the warmth of the hearth. One of the few times in the day, the petty thief didn’t need to put his guard up. The few memories of sharing some fritter with a few other thieves after a rough day of work and briefly laughing to cope with the struggles of living in desolated conditions.
Pulling his focus back to reality, Jared takes a moment to flip the fritters onto the other side, which reveals a light, golden brown crusty skin which would give a notable crunch based on the appearance alone.
The young Alistian man would wait for a couple more minutes until both sides of the fritters were to his liking as a golden brown pikelet, and to ensure that the patty was correctly cooked, Jared would poke the centre of the fritter with his paring knife & examine if any raw batter sticks to the blade and if so; place the fritters back onto the pan to cook a little bit longer to ensure that no batter would stick to the knife.
Jared repeated the process until the remaining fruit batter was depleted. Jared had a sizable amount of fritters that he could indulge.
“Well, that is now over. Let's eat; Nothing like a sweet treat after a rough day.”
Jared couldn’t help but smile as he took a moment to remove the black cloth covering his face's lower half. Then, grabbing a piping hot fritter with his callous hands, the thief couldn’t help but wince a little as the fruit pikelet was still too hot to handle. Quickly placing the cooked disc back onto the plate, the young scoundrel waves his hands in the air to release some of the heat transferred by the freshly cooked fritter.
“Haha… I might have made too much. Remember Jared, you are on your own now, and you don’t have the guys back at home to feed.”
Getting a hold of a nearby stool, the amber-eyed thief sighed and moved his gaze to a nearby window. The feeling of not knowing anything here in Genteven other than one acquaintance he is currently sharing residency with until Jared could find a place within Genteven to call home for a time. He did miss the feeling of his group of ‘friends’, but living as a scoundrel doesn’t offer much comfort in various forms. From meaningful moments to physical pleasure, things that most people would experience in there day to day lives.
Solitude does take its toll, whether big or small; It slowly chips away at one’s resolve, and Jared was none the wiser about it. Cooking, training & practising many skills was his way of coping with it all, but it only alleviated the build-up of pent-up emotions for a time. The fact that Jared was cooking more often was a sign of his anxiety & woes creeping out from the depths of his mind.
Shaking his head as his mind begins to cross over a line he knows would spoil the mood for the rest of the day. Jared takes a moment to stretch his arms wide and clear his throat.
“Come on now, Jared. No need to ponder about the past! You are here now and breathing; that is what matters!”
Trying his best to hide his bouts of sorrow from himself. Jared quickly grabs his apple & peach fritter, briefly drizzling a fair amount of honey before consuming it. Savouring the fruity & sweet taste and slightly crunchy texture the meal offered while the meal was fulfilling & slightly comforting as he reminisced on the fun moments of his life.
It was only a matter of time before Jared would need to confront his emotional baggage, and no amount of distractions would stop that from happening, but for now, a minor distraction and some comfort food were needed for a tough day and maybe more soon.
Taking a moment to rummage through the various raw materials he had on hand for today. With some leftover fresh fruits such as peaches, apricots and strawberries. Jared couldn’t help but ponder as to what to them. The amber-eyed thief could glaze some peach wedges in honey or a hard coat of glaze with sugar or honey or even make various jams, marmalades, curds or even a fruit butter; all valid & valuable as they tend to have a long shelf and can an excellent addition to someone’s rations.
“I think I can make some spreads. Alistair might enjoy it… I still need to figure out what he enjoys and make a few jars for him to take along for possible travels.”
Pacing back and forward for a moment, figuring out what to do. The idea of making some apple & peach fritters would be a nice treat. Fruit preserves would be a delightful treat as the sweetness and/or tartness of apple pair well with the lighter delicate notes of peaches, that is, if the thief had enough time & resources to make more fruit preserves otherwise, the thief still had a few jars of orange marmalade, peach & apricot jam, lemon curd and a few other fruits that have been preserved such as strawberries, blueberries & quince.
“Okay, seems like we got a plan to work with, and it shouldn’t take too long to make either.”
The first step of the process was to mix up all the dry ingredients, which mainly comprised of salt, flour, and spices such as clove, cinnamon, ginger & nutmeg (If they were available). This was followed by adding the wet ingredients into a separate wooden bowl, which mainly comprised honey, milk & eggs, which Jared would then whisk until the fluids were even distributed.
Once the preparations for the fritter batter were made, the charcoal-haired thief placed a few sheets of cloth over the wooden bowls to prevent insects from landing into the dry & wet mix ingredients.
Meanwhile, it was time to prepare the fruits; Peaches were easy to do as all it took was scoring the underside of the peach with a paring knife with an ‘X’ mark before setting it off to the side while a pot of water reached to a simmer. As for apples, it was a bit harder to handle as Jared recalled that if you were to cut the fruit and leave it exposed for a short period, the inner flesh of pome would begin to turn brown.
While it does not affect the flavour, the appearance of dark brown markings would be off-putting to the eye; so it was essential to prepare the sliced apple wedges first to make the fritters appear delicious.
A way to circumvent this problem was by adding the fruits to boiling water for a short period. From what Jared recalled, this particular cooking technique was called blanching or parboiling based on overhearing some cooks discussing how to prepare a specific stock of vegetables back at Valtoria.
The process is relatively short as it only took about a minute or two before removing the fruits and placing them in a cold water bath. This quick & straightforward process of briefly cooking the fruits allows the development of additional sweetness & flavours. At the same time, the cooling section stops the fruits from overcooking as the flesh would become softer as the residual heat continues to alter the fruit’s taste, texture, and nutritional profile.
Once the fruits could cool down, the slightly-excited rogue took a few minutes to pick up the scored peaches, flipping them to the underside where the scratched ‘X’ was. It was generally a good sign that the parboiling did its job when the skin of the peaches was peeling back slightly, enough to grab between the thumb and index finger or, in Jared’s case, using the spine of the paring knife & gently pull the skin away from the peach’s flesh.
With a few naked white & yellow peaches and apple wedges left, It wouldn’t take much time to finish the preparations as all that was left to dice the fruits into small cubes and have the fruit be folded into the fritter batter. Combining the wet & dry ingredients in a large wooden bowl, giving the mixture a few goods stirs until Jared formed the batter, slowly incorporating the fruit pieces into the batter until it was ready to be cooked.
Taking a moment to recollect himself. The rogue walked over to the hearth, taking a moment to pile a few sizable logs and tinder to start a fire using some flint & steel, being careful to tend the smouldering embers, feeding the flames until it was a sizeable blaze for cooking purposes.
Coating a frying pan with a small about of butter, Jared allowed the pan to heat up so the butter would melt and begin to bubble and spit. From there, Jared started scooping up the batter and placed pikelet-sized batter on the pan, listening to the soft sizzling noise of the melted fat caramelizing with the fruity batter.
With the air carrying the slight fruity & floral aromas, Jared takes a moment to breathe in and out, elated by the warmth of the hearth. One of the few times in the day, the petty thief didn’t need to put his guard up. The few memories of sharing some fritter with a few other thieves after a rough day of work and briefly laughing to cope with the struggles of living in desolated conditions.
Pulling his focus back to reality, Jared takes a moment to flip the fritters onto the other side, which reveals a light, golden brown crusty skin which would give a notable crunch based on the appearance alone.
The young Alistian man would wait for a couple more minutes until both sides of the fritters were to his liking as a golden brown pikelet, and to ensure that the patty was correctly cooked, Jared would poke the centre of the fritter with his paring knife & examine if any raw batter sticks to the blade and if so; place the fritters back onto the pan to cook a little bit longer to ensure that no batter would stick to the knife.
Jared repeated the process until the remaining fruit batter was depleted. Jared had a sizable amount of fritters that he could indulge.
“Well, that is now over. Let's eat; Nothing like a sweet treat after a rough day.”
Jared couldn’t help but smile as he took a moment to remove the black cloth covering his face's lower half. Then, grabbing a piping hot fritter with his callous hands, the thief couldn’t help but wince a little as the fruit pikelet was still too hot to handle. Quickly placing the cooked disc back onto the plate, the young scoundrel waves his hands in the air to release some of the heat transferred by the freshly cooked fritter.
“Haha… I might have made too much. Remember Jared, you are on your own now, and you don’t have the guys back at home to feed.”
Getting a hold of a nearby stool, the amber-eyed thief sighed and moved his gaze to a nearby window. The feeling of not knowing anything here in Genteven other than one acquaintance he is currently sharing residency with until Jared could find a place within Genteven to call home for a time. He did miss the feeling of his group of ‘friends’, but living as a scoundrel doesn’t offer much comfort in various forms. From meaningful moments to physical pleasure, things that most people would experience in there day to day lives.
Solitude does take its toll, whether big or small; It slowly chips away at one’s resolve, and Jared was none the wiser about it. Cooking, training & practising many skills was his way of coping with it all, but it only alleviated the build-up of pent-up emotions for a time. The fact that Jared was cooking more often was a sign of his anxiety & woes creeping out from the depths of his mind.
Shaking his head as his mind begins to cross over a line he knows would spoil the mood for the rest of the day. Jared takes a moment to stretch his arms wide and clear his throat.
“Come on now, Jared. No need to ponder about the past! You are here now and breathing; that is what matters!”
Trying his best to hide his bouts of sorrow from himself. Jared quickly grabs his apple & peach fritter, briefly drizzling a fair amount of honey before consuming it. Savouring the fruity & sweet taste and slightly crunchy texture the meal offered while the meal was fulfilling & slightly comforting as he reminisced on the fun moments of his life.
It was only a matter of time before Jared would need to confront his emotional baggage, and no amount of distractions would stop that from happening, but for now, a minor distraction and some comfort food were needed for a tough day and maybe more soon.
