[Genteven - Solo] Frigid Nights over the Hearth
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2022 1:11 pm
39th of Frost, 4622
Alone in the rural districts of Genteven, with a moonless night and winds strong & cold enough to cause windburns to expose skin. It was on this particular night in the season of Frost that the amber-eyed thief was by the hearth which bubbles & toils a mysterious plot of liquid, lost in thought as he was attempting to interpret the various contents within the stolen books that contained a vast amount of alchemical formulations.
Majority of the text didn’t make much sense to the thief in question as he was not well-versed nor has he even done any sort of alchemical progresses but from what he could at least gather based on the countless nights he spent was that he was very much a novice.
Whoever used the hap-hazard alchemical lab that he pilfered during the season of Ash was well-versed and have taken a quite bit of detail when it came to understanding a vast selection of materials to create various effects into concentrated vessels such as potions, unguents, plasters & other sort of unimaginable things that the apprentice thief could ever think of.
“Huh… Grind up a small bundle of Waterbloom and allow the solution to simmer overnight and the solution should turn a viscous green colour… Urhhhh! This is already too complicated… Why does making a stupid ass potion have to be this complicated!”
Closing the leather-bound tome loudly, Jared immediately placed the book to a nearby wooden table as his brain felt like it was straining beyond his usual comfort. For the past couple of days that Jared spent recovering from his wounds from previous seasons of aggressively pursuing his path on improving his skills as a thief and nightfallen magus; the toll on his body soon caught up, resulting in needing to rest for quite sometime and anything too strenuous could aggravate his current condition.
Trying to stand up was already putting strain on his lungs but at the very least his condition has not deteriorated since the past couple of weeks; in fact, his condition in relation to Mageblight has been improving somewhat as the strain on his soul & body has lifted albeit minor.
Making his way over to the bubbling cauldron, the dressed-down thief was currently wearing a basic beige, linen tunic with slightly earthy green baggy pants with none of his accessories to hide his facial feature such as his hood or black cloth that would drape across the lower half of his face.
Taking a moment to look over the contents of his mysterious brew, the apprentice-skilled vagabond takes a moment to insert a wooden ladle, collecting a small amount of the fluid before tasting it. Pausing for a moment as he was assessing what needed to be done & potential methods that would be needed to correct any inconsistencies.
“The broth is a little bit more sour than I would like it. I might need to add some cream, milk, butter, sugar or honey… Too many opinions to consider but I am planning to only make an Estofado De Rez a la Catalana… Majority of the recipe is done but I should make a few more Pilota and I should have enough vegetables to make the stuffing for it as well.”
Taking a moment to move over to his workstation where Jared would usually prepare all of his raw ingredients. A habit that Jared had was that he would often designate a particular spot he liked and make it his workstation, often getting rather irritated if someone was using his so-called favorite spot. Many of his associates would call him weird for having a favorite spot but that the Alistian thief couldn’t care less after all, he was already an oddball by his own standards but it could be his own perception of himself.
Nevertheless, Jared had a lot of things that needed to be done. Making up the Pilota which was pretty much a large meatball that is spiced with garlic and parsley which is stuffed with vegetables such as celery, cabbage, carrots & depending on the season, botifarra (a type of sausage that is used in Catalan cuisine) or other kinds of meat from such as rabbit, beef or pork to name a few kinds of meats available in the season.
Taking a moment to wash up some of the stored root vegetables that the amber-eyed thief had acquired back in Ash. Jared took a moment to inspect his usual knife which consisted mainly of an iron chef’s blade that was about seven inches long. A chef’s knife in general was enough to get the job done on most kitchen preparations such as dicing vegetables, slicing meat, smashing garlic cloves and chopping herbs & nuts.
Taking a couple of minutes to make some rolling cuts of carrots, slicing celery stalks in paysanne style & dicing potatoes in large cubes. The citrine-eyed chef would mix the vegetables together in a large bowl before setting it off to the side. In regards to the filling for the meatball, the expert-skilled chef would take out some salted rabbit meat and lay it on his workstation.
Briefly rummaging through his kitchen in search of a particular knife, it would take a minute or two until the desired knife was found in the form of a butcher’s cleaver as the blade’s intended purpose was to split up large pieces of soft bones and slashing through thick pieces of meat and in this case, slicing through rabbit flesh was needed and the wider blade length would also help in the mincing process as well.
Once all the preparations was done for mincing process, the Alistian cook begins his act of whittling down his chunk of salted rabbit meat by slicing through in semi-thick horizontal cuts about 1-2cm wide and bundling the strips of meat to the side before thinly slicing the meat until the thief had thin, square pieces of flesh.
After all of that work was done, it was then than Jared would begin to pulverize the cut tissue into a chucky paste by placing the tip of the butcher’s cleaver into the cutting board while lifting the blade up into a upward, diagonal direction before quickly, essentially doing a rock-chop as this method of cutting is better designed for mincing.
Making short work of making minced rabbit, it was time to start forming the meatball by scooping a sizable chunk of the minced meat before stuffing it with the root vegetable stuffing, rolling up in the palm of his hands until it was semi-circular albeit some turning to more oblong shapes which had to be reshaped back into roundish balls.
While all of this was being prepared for the final cook, the amber-eyed thief couldn’t help but feel anxious in some sort of way… After all, the now 30-year-old thief had recently gone through a lot of trials and tribulations yet has been able to resolve his own inner demons, actively choosing to repress the trauma both physically & mentally to avoid a possible meltdown. Jared couldn’t express his inner turmoil to others as in his own mind, expressing such emotions could take a toil on others; that was the last thing he wanted to impart on people.
Freezing for a moment as he places the last meatball down onto a nearby bowl, it would be for a moment that Jared flinched as the rattling wind caused the nearby windows to creak & groan. Quickly turning to the windows, his tense muscles begin to relax once more as his brain registers that there was no threat currently present in his temporary home.
“It's okay Jared… You’re just stressed from what just happened recently…”
Holding onto the bowl of meatballs tightly until his knuckles turned bare-bone white. Jared would make his way over to the cauldron of simmering broth. Dumping the rabbit & vegetable stuffed meatballs into the pot, the amber-eyed chef would quickly move over to one of the many pantries to find some long-grain rice, adding a couple of cups fill into the pot to add more bulk to the dish starting clean up his workstation as essentially his dinner for the next couple of days has been set.
Stopping for a moment as he gazes into his own reflection in the bucket of well-water that he extracted prior to all of the cooking. Jared could see that he had recently gained some dark circles under his eyes and that his skin looks paler than usual. Not admitting to himself that for the past couple of weeks, that his mind, body & soul has been heavily affected by the lack of sleep and paranoia that has been inflicted on him but trying to shoulder the burden on himself.
“Pull it together Jared… You will need to support yourself soon before the season ends… Take it one step at a time…”
Once the thief was finished cleaning up his workstation, the amber-eyed nightfallen merely places his back against the cold, cobblestone wall; sliding down slowly until he had one of his legs laying flat while the other arching up before placing his forehead on his knee and quietly shakes as he begins to quietly sob alone in the cold & unforgiving days within Frost and the only sounds within his household was the bubbling stew & crackling of firewood giving way to the blaze that homes the hearth.
Majority of the text didn’t make much sense to the thief in question as he was not well-versed nor has he even done any sort of alchemical progresses but from what he could at least gather based on the countless nights he spent was that he was very much a novice.
Whoever used the hap-hazard alchemical lab that he pilfered during the season of Ash was well-versed and have taken a quite bit of detail when it came to understanding a vast selection of materials to create various effects into concentrated vessels such as potions, unguents, plasters & other sort of unimaginable things that the apprentice thief could ever think of.
“Huh… Grind up a small bundle of Waterbloom and allow the solution to simmer overnight and the solution should turn a viscous green colour… Urhhhh! This is already too complicated… Why does making a stupid ass potion have to be this complicated!”
Closing the leather-bound tome loudly, Jared immediately placed the book to a nearby wooden table as his brain felt like it was straining beyond his usual comfort. For the past couple of days that Jared spent recovering from his wounds from previous seasons of aggressively pursuing his path on improving his skills as a thief and nightfallen magus; the toll on his body soon caught up, resulting in needing to rest for quite sometime and anything too strenuous could aggravate his current condition.
Trying to stand up was already putting strain on his lungs but at the very least his condition has not deteriorated since the past couple of weeks; in fact, his condition in relation to Mageblight has been improving somewhat as the strain on his soul & body has lifted albeit minor.
Making his way over to the bubbling cauldron, the dressed-down thief was currently wearing a basic beige, linen tunic with slightly earthy green baggy pants with none of his accessories to hide his facial feature such as his hood or black cloth that would drape across the lower half of his face.
Taking a moment to look over the contents of his mysterious brew, the apprentice-skilled vagabond takes a moment to insert a wooden ladle, collecting a small amount of the fluid before tasting it. Pausing for a moment as he was assessing what needed to be done & potential methods that would be needed to correct any inconsistencies.
“The broth is a little bit more sour than I would like it. I might need to add some cream, milk, butter, sugar or honey… Too many opinions to consider but I am planning to only make an Estofado De Rez a la Catalana… Majority of the recipe is done but I should make a few more Pilota and I should have enough vegetables to make the stuffing for it as well.”
Taking a moment to move over to his workstation where Jared would usually prepare all of his raw ingredients. A habit that Jared had was that he would often designate a particular spot he liked and make it his workstation, often getting rather irritated if someone was using his so-called favorite spot. Many of his associates would call him weird for having a favorite spot but that the Alistian thief couldn’t care less after all, he was already an oddball by his own standards but it could be his own perception of himself.
Nevertheless, Jared had a lot of things that needed to be done. Making up the Pilota which was pretty much a large meatball that is spiced with garlic and parsley which is stuffed with vegetables such as celery, cabbage, carrots & depending on the season, botifarra (a type of sausage that is used in Catalan cuisine) or other kinds of meat from such as rabbit, beef or pork to name a few kinds of meats available in the season.
Taking a moment to wash up some of the stored root vegetables that the amber-eyed thief had acquired back in Ash. Jared took a moment to inspect his usual knife which consisted mainly of an iron chef’s blade that was about seven inches long. A chef’s knife in general was enough to get the job done on most kitchen preparations such as dicing vegetables, slicing meat, smashing garlic cloves and chopping herbs & nuts.
Taking a couple of minutes to make some rolling cuts of carrots, slicing celery stalks in paysanne style & dicing potatoes in large cubes. The citrine-eyed chef would mix the vegetables together in a large bowl before setting it off to the side. In regards to the filling for the meatball, the expert-skilled chef would take out some salted rabbit meat and lay it on his workstation.
Briefly rummaging through his kitchen in search of a particular knife, it would take a minute or two until the desired knife was found in the form of a butcher’s cleaver as the blade’s intended purpose was to split up large pieces of soft bones and slashing through thick pieces of meat and in this case, slicing through rabbit flesh was needed and the wider blade length would also help in the mincing process as well.
Once all the preparations was done for mincing process, the Alistian cook begins his act of whittling down his chunk of salted rabbit meat by slicing through in semi-thick horizontal cuts about 1-2cm wide and bundling the strips of meat to the side before thinly slicing the meat until the thief had thin, square pieces of flesh.
After all of that work was done, it was then than Jared would begin to pulverize the cut tissue into a chucky paste by placing the tip of the butcher’s cleaver into the cutting board while lifting the blade up into a upward, diagonal direction before quickly, essentially doing a rock-chop as this method of cutting is better designed for mincing.
Making short work of making minced rabbit, it was time to start forming the meatball by scooping a sizable chunk of the minced meat before stuffing it with the root vegetable stuffing, rolling up in the palm of his hands until it was semi-circular albeit some turning to more oblong shapes which had to be reshaped back into roundish balls.
While all of this was being prepared for the final cook, the amber-eyed thief couldn’t help but feel anxious in some sort of way… After all, the now 30-year-old thief had recently gone through a lot of trials and tribulations yet has been able to resolve his own inner demons, actively choosing to repress the trauma both physically & mentally to avoid a possible meltdown. Jared couldn’t express his inner turmoil to others as in his own mind, expressing such emotions could take a toil on others; that was the last thing he wanted to impart on people.
Freezing for a moment as he places the last meatball down onto a nearby bowl, it would be for a moment that Jared flinched as the rattling wind caused the nearby windows to creak & groan. Quickly turning to the windows, his tense muscles begin to relax once more as his brain registers that there was no threat currently present in his temporary home.
“It's okay Jared… You’re just stressed from what just happened recently…”
Holding onto the bowl of meatballs tightly until his knuckles turned bare-bone white. Jared would make his way over to the cauldron of simmering broth. Dumping the rabbit & vegetable stuffed meatballs into the pot, the amber-eyed chef would quickly move over to one of the many pantries to find some long-grain rice, adding a couple of cups fill into the pot to add more bulk to the dish starting clean up his workstation as essentially his dinner for the next couple of days has been set.
Stopping for a moment as he gazes into his own reflection in the bucket of well-water that he extracted prior to all of the cooking. Jared could see that he had recently gained some dark circles under his eyes and that his skin looks paler than usual. Not admitting to himself that for the past couple of weeks, that his mind, body & soul has been heavily affected by the lack of sleep and paranoia that has been inflicted on him but trying to shoulder the burden on himself.
“Pull it together Jared… You will need to support yourself soon before the season ends… Take it one step at a time…”
Once the thief was finished cleaning up his workstation, the amber-eyed nightfallen merely places his back against the cold, cobblestone wall; sliding down slowly until he had one of his legs laying flat while the other arching up before placing his forehead on his knee and quietly shakes as he begins to quietly sob alone in the cold & unforgiving days within Frost and the only sounds within his household was the bubbling stew & crackling of firewood giving way to the blaze that homes the hearth.