For You, Chef Van Rouge! [SOLO]

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Ame had heard of a banquet that would be held and she had heard of it late! She wanted to prepare as many dishes as she could for this, Chef Van Rouge, but she had so little time to do it. It would take her nearly a dog's age to create it, but she wiped the dust off of her shoulders and nodded her head, pulling up her sleeves. She had to get to work to have everything finished in time. She would start on the lesser of the items. The things that required the least amount of work. She headed up to Snowdonia to gather the ingredients to make her sorbet. When she returned home. She got started. She washed the strawberries and put them aside to dry after removing the stems. Then, in medium sized pot, she boiled water and sugar, whisking it every once in a while to check the consistency. She waited for a bit and then set it aside. She crushed up the strawberries and then poured the heated mixture in. Then she added a few cups of the Snowdonia snow into it, and as it melted, she whisked it hard together until the mixture was formed together. She blew out a breath after whisking for so long and then put it in the fridge to set. While it was setting, she took out five small plates, five dessert bowls, a mint stalk and five more strawberries. She would use these to garnish the plate as a true chef would.

Word Count: 255
Progress: 1%

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She set out all five of the plates and then set the bowls on each. As she waited, she washed and cut the strawberries into quarters, setting them aside. She sat for a moment and wondered what sort of person this chef Van Rouge was. Was he a decent man? Who was this banquet going to be for? Would he like the dishes that she made for him? She bit her lip and sighed. Maybe she should have invited someone over to sit and chat with her while she made all of these plates of food. Then she shook her head. No, she loved her friends dearly, but she knew she was easily distracted and she needed to focus to get all of this work done in time. She only had about 20 days to create food enough for, well, for a whole lot of people! She wondered if she could do it. Wondered if she could complete what she wanted to accomplish. When it came to food, Ame was a pusher. She wanted to push the flavors, push her limits of being a chef class. She wanted to push to create beautiful dishes every time she cooked for someone, but most of all, she wanted to push for people to be happy while they filled their mouths with her delectable food! Really, what chef wouldn't want that? She couldn't recall every meeting someone who called themselves a chef that didn't have a passion for wanting to create something beautiful and delicious! Food was an art in itself!

Word Count: 258
Progress: 2%

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She kicked her feet as she sat at the table. She had to wait so long for the sorbet to set, to become the perfect consistency, and she knew that, but it didn't make her any less patient. She sighed and stood up. She washed the leaves of the mint and picked them off of the stalks, setting the aside, like the strawberries, to dry. She couldn't wait until the sorbet was finished, even though she still had a lot of a way to go before she reached her goal. She looked at the paper of everything she wanted to make for the chef and his guests. She wondered again, if she would have enough time, but she slapped a fist into her other hand and nodded her head. She would have enough time! She considered herself a master, even though she wasn't a level 90 yet, and she couldn't doubt her ability to get it done for herself! She would conquer this quest as she had conquered the others before. Somehow, though, she felt as this task was harder than any other she had faced. Well, perhaps not harder, but definitely more tedious. Even still, she would conquer! She hadn't always been like that, but since she had entered Elder Tale, she had forced herself to complete any task that she took on for her own, and this was one she could enjoy doing more so than any other, as, of course, it was her crafting class! It was the chef in her wanting so badly to do this quest!

Word Count: 261
Progress: 3%

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Soon, the sorbet was just about set. Ame took the mixture out of the fridge, smelling the sweet scent of strawberries as she took the bowl from the cooling box. It looked delicious! She grabbed a spoon and took a small spoonful, stuffing it into her mouth. She smiled as her face turned pink, a delighted smile reached from ear to ear and she happily sighed to the bowl. "Just about finished!" It tasted good, but it wasn't quite set. She put it back in the fridge and let it sit a little longer. While she waited, she washed the dishes she had used and set them aside, as she would have to use them again. In fact, she would have to use them over and over again throughout the day, but she was happy to do so! She had spent alot of time trying to perfect her cooking skills, though she had never really had a problem cooking in the first place. She had, of course, chosen the class because of her skills in the real world, though they weren't as good as she had become in this world. She wondered if that's what she should have been doing instead of computer programming. She loved computers, but she had a sentimental feeling towards cooking, especially when it was for others. To her, there was nothing like seeing the happy face of someone who had eaten her food! She felt so gratified when she made someone happy. Though thinking of that, made her think about her time at the beach and caused a blush to take over her face.

Word Counter: 269
Progress: 4%

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After another little while, she took the sorbet back out of the fridge and tasted it again to make sure the texture was right. It was perfect! She set it on the counter and got a ladle. In each bowl, she put a large scoop into it, making sure it rounded itself, putting the flat side down. Once each bowl had a decent, hefty amount of the sorbet, she took two leaves of the mint and placed them just off to the side of the sorbet and then laid down each of the quarters of the strawberries. She smiled at her creation. The mint leaves looked like leaves on a flower and the strawberries completed it by looking like the flower. She clapped her hands happily and went to the next bowl. She placed the mint leaves down, then the strawberries. She completed each step on each of the bowls until all five were completed. She stared at them again with a large smile and stuffed them into her inventory. She had left over strawberry sorbet so she put it into the fridge in a smaller container and washed the bowls. Even though she only had one goal in her list of goals completed, she felt satisfied with herself, but she knew she still had a long way to go. No matter, with one complete, she felt as though she would have the rest done with ease and couldn't wait to complete each and every dish she would have to prepare. It was going to be a long process, but she would work hard over the next few days and get each of her recipes complete!

Word Count: 277
Progress: 5%

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With the strawberry sorbet complete, she moved onto her next sorbet. She did like she had before and boiled the water and sugar mixture. This time, the flavor of the sorbet would be blueberries! She washed the blueberries and did as before, setting them aside to dry as she worked on whisking the water and sugar mixture. She decided that the she would have the same sort of garnish as before, only with each of the sorbet dishes, making the pattern consistent with each. She wanted to add an air of spring to the dessert dish, since it was, indeed the season! She loved spring. The flowers blooming, the fresh scent in the air, the beauty of nature growing as it came out of the cold season of winter. She wasn't fond of the cold, but she also found beauty in the winter. The snow covering the ground and the crisp air blowing. Even still, she much preferred the warmth to the cold. She shook her head, bringing her thoughts back to the boiling water and sugar mixture. It was just as she had done before. She removed it from the heat and turned off the stove, setting it aside as she put the blueberries into a bowl. Before she crushed them, however, she took out six blueberries for each dish, setting aside a total of thirty blueberries. These would become apart of the garnish for the dishes, just as the strawberries had before. She smiled as she put them to the side. She hoped that this sorbet turned out just as well as the other had.

Word Count: 267
Progress: 6%

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She crushed the blueberries in the bowl until they were soft enough and then added in the familiar water and sugar mixture. She added in the Snowdonia snow and mixed them together rapidly for a long while. She wished that there was such a thing as a blender or a food processor and vowed to ask Saber to find a mechanic to help him build one. He was the only black smith she knew but he still couldn't build a motor, maybe? She set the thought aside and pushed it into the part of her brain that kept her mental notes in tact and went back to whisking fiercely. Once the mixture was whisked to her own personal perfection, she set the bowl in the fridge. It was the waiting period now. That was probably the one thing she didn't like, was waiting. She knew she could do multiple dishes at once, but because she had decided to make so many at once, she wanted to do them completely separate as to not cause her any confusion. She often found herself doing far too much at once and didn't want to put too much pressure on herself as it usually would end in her failing, or at least, that's how it had been back in the other world that she had originally come from. That world seemed so far away now and she really hadn't put much thought towards it. Not that she didn't love where she had come from, but, it felt like a distant memory because she had been in this world for so long now.

Word Count: 268
Progress: 7%

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As she waited, she prepared the same set up that she had before. She gathered five small plates, five dessert bowls and prepared the mint and blueberry garnish. The blueberries had already been washed and set aside but they didn't need any more than that. There was no cutting involved with them as that would take away from their, already small, size and she didn't want to ruin the grace of the plate. Plus, blueberries were rather in expensive so really, it didn't matter the amount of which she used. To her, the more the merrier! In fact, all of the food in Londinuim seemed quite inexpensive if she was to compare it to her real world experiences. She had been a student though, and only working part- time, so her money situation wasn't the greatest, even with her foster parents helping her in the funds department. The thought led her to think of her sister. How was she doing, she wondered. She was younger, and inexperienced with life, though more experienced than Ame had been back when that was her home. She wondered if they were surviving without her. Of course they were, they had before she came and they could now that she was gone, though, she didn't really even know it she was gone. For all she knew, she was walking around like a soulless zombie or something. She blew out a breath and pushed the thought aside. Now wasn't the time to think about that anyways.

Word Count: 250
Progress: 8%

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Ame tapped a beat on the counter with her fingernails, waiting for the time to go by. Why did time seem to move so slowly when you were paying attention, waiting for something. When you weren't, it went by in an instance. She blew out a breath and let out a long stretch. She got up and walked to the fridge, opening the door and pulling out the bowl of sorbet. She took a small bit out with a spoon and put it in her mouth, swirling it with her tongue. She bite her lip and gasp. "Oh so good!" The sorbet was nearly finished. She supposed it would take the same amount of time that it would with each sorbet, or so she hoped as it was already a long enough wait, but she placed the sorbet back into the fridge, and as she had done before, washed the dishes she had used that were no longer in use to prepare them for the next dish. Though it was taking longer than she had expected, she hoped she would get everything she planned to, finished before the dead line. She still had a long while, but there were still other things to do between now and then and thought she wanted to focus all of her attention on this one thing, she knew she couldn't. She would have to work double time in order to get everything done here, as well as the other things that would pop up along her journeys, while still keeping in close contact with the friends she had made.

Word Count: 267
Progress: 9%

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After a while longer, just like before, so took her sorbet out of the fridge, taste tested it and set it on the counter. She grabbed the ladle she had used, and washed, for the strawberry sorbet and scooped a nice, hefty portion, the same as the strawberries, flat side down into each of the five bowls. Such similar steps for each of the dishes, but each one would have a different taste and look and even texture. Of course each of the dishes wouldn't feel the same as each of the fruits used were so different from each other. She took two leaves from the mint stalk that she had already washed and let to dry and laid them down on the sorbet, directly on top, but facing away from each other. Taking six of the thirty blueberries, she laid one in the center of the sorbet and laid out the other five, surrounding the middle one, again, making a flower shape out of the fruit. She smiled down and the formed flower and mint leaves and side stepped tot he next bowl. She laid the mint leaves down and the the blueberries, just as she had the last one and repeated the process until all five of the sorbet dishes were complete. She clapped her hands again, staring down at the dishes, and sent them into her inventory. She took a deep breath and washed the remaining dirty dishes, again, setting the remaining sorbet in the fridge in a smaller container. Two down, a lot more to go!

Word Count: 260
Progress: 10%

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As it had been before, Ame started by boiling sugar and water in her washed pot. She had almost completed the sorbet, but she knew that she had much more to go and she really didn't have a lot of time. She was now down to ten days to complete what she had set out to do and she needed to use her time sparingly. With that said, she began preparing the next fruit to be made into the next sorbet. Currently she had blueberry and strawberry, both very delicious, but this next one was probably going to cause her some issues as it was a lot juicier than either of the two before it. This time, the special ingredient would be peaches! She took a knife to the skins of four out of the six she had purchased and slide the knife along until all of the fruit was peeled. She then cut down the middle, bringing the knife all the way around until she could pull the two halves apart. With this step complete, she pitted each of the fruits and cut them into slices and the cut the slices into halves. These would be crushed and whisked to make the sorbet. She took a deep breath and set the chunks on a towel, allowing it to soak some of the juices. She couldn't risk the sorbet becoming watery and falling apart before it was introduced to the Chef. Draining the water early on would cause less problems for her.

Words: 252
Progress: 11%

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Once the water and sugar mix was ready, she took the semi dried out peaches and put them into her mixing bowl. She poured over the water and sugar mixture and mashed the products together. Once it was all consistant, she took the snowdonia snow and plopped it in, letting it all form together, mixing it more roughly than before. Her stomach growled and she could only let out a soft giggle. Now wasn't the time to fill her own belly, she needed to work on feeding a lot of other hungry people. She wondered then, if she was going to be able to go to the banquet as well. It would be a fun event if she were allowed, but no matter if she were allowed to attend or not, she wouldn't let the guests starve because of her greedy stomach. She bit her lip at that moment, holding in the want to eat the peaches and continued to whisk. Once she was happy with the blend, she stuck it into the freezer. Now was the worst part again. Waiting. Always waiting it seemed. She sighed and began to wash the left over peaches that would be used for the decoration of the top of the sorbet. Once they were washed of any excess dirt, she set them to the side to dry out, much like the other peaches, but the juice in this one would remain, as the consistancy didn't mater for the whole peach slices, or so she hoped.

Words: 252
Progress: 12%

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Once the peaches were dried off, she took one of them in her hand. She wouldn't peel these two, no, only the ones in the sorbet would be peeled. The skin was a high source of nutrients and she didn't want to take away from the sensation of the peach skin. It added a separate texture, one that was unlike any of the other dishes that would be prepared, out of the sorbet anyways. She took the knife to the peach, doing the same as before and cutting all the way around it until she could pop off one side or the other. Then she took out the core and tossed it into the garbage, laying down each of the halves on her cutting board. She cut the peach into semi thin slices and laid them aside. They would be dried out a little, but the juices would remain in them. She continued to slice until the whole peach was in bits and then she took six of the slices and cut them in half. These smaller pieces would be used in the middle of the peach flower garnish. She took the next peach and did the same thing, cutting it in half and coring it, then slicing it and cutting some of the slices into halves. She laid them aside as well, as she would have to wait for the sorbet to harden. She hadn't realized how much work she had made for herself, but she wasn't about to quit. No, she would continue and reach the goal she had set for herself.

Words: 264
Progress: 13%

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Once the peaches were cut and set aside, Ame grabbed the set of small plates, five to be exact, and five dessert bowls. Just like before, these would hold the sorbet and topped with the freshly cut fruit, now, she just had to check the sorbet. She opened the fridge and pulled out the bowl, grabbing her spoon, she took a spoonful and stuck it into her mouth. She moaned happily at the taste and texture and nodded. It was ready to be plated. She scooped out a spoonful with her ladle and laid it down into the bowl, flat side down, just as before. She moved to the next bowl and did the same thing. She smiled at the light orange color and the small bits of orange that popped out slightly. She loved peaches so much, could eat them all day. She made a mental note to prepare a peach dish for herself and maybe invite some friends over to share it with her, but that would come later, right now, she had a job to do! She scooped out the remaining three portions into the bowls and then the remaining sorbet into a smaller bowl, after taking a few spoon fulls for herself. It was delicious and she just couldn't resist! She set the smaller bowl in the fridge with the rest of the left overs and went back to the counter where the peach slices lay in wait. Now was the fun part, creating art with fruit!

Words: 251
Progress: 14%

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Ame took two leaves of mint as she had done before, washed them and dried them and laid them out across from each other at the top of the sorbet. She then took the full peach slices and laid them out in a circle over the top. They were each on a slight angle, overlapping one another a tiny bit. Once that was complete, she took the half pieces and stuck them in the middle, the flat of the half down and the tip sticking upwards. Once she had placed them so that she was happy with the finished product, she followed the same procedure with the other four. Mint, full peach slices in a circle around and half peach slices sticking up in the middle. She nodded as she finished the last one and stuffed the five finished sorbet creations into her inventory. She set out, then, to wash all of the dishes she had used and would use again for the last set of sorbet. She was nearly finished with goal number one, but she still had one more dish to make. She could do it, she just needed to stay focused on her deadline and her goals and she knew that she could accomplish anything. She wouldn't back down, wouldn't let hungry people remain hungry! That was her duty as a chef just as keeping her team in check and healthy in battle was her job as a cleric! She didn't want to let anyone down and with this as her true goal, she knew she could succeed!

Words: 261
Progress: 15%

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This was it. It was time for her last and final sorbet. Completing this last recipe just meant that she was that one step closer to completing her over all goal! She had thought that maybe she had doubted her skill, but having done so much in such a sort time, perhaps she was stronger than she thought she was. She wondered how everything else for the banquet was coming along. Would everyone finish in time for the banquet to be a success? She knew she couldn't worry about the others, she had to remain focused on her task, focus on completing her own goal, then maybe, she could set her sights on others. She was good at lifting spirits, but how could she if she hadn't completed her own process? No, now wasn't the time. She measured out the water, then the sugar, putting them both on the heat. She would do what she had to do to finish her goal, and she was making progress! This last sorbet, she hoped it would turn out. She hadn't made something like it before, never even worked with the fruit, but she didn't care, she would prove herself a worthy chef! Her last sorbet would be a test of her skill, far above the skills needed for the peach sorbet, no, now she was dealing with something far, far more difficult. This dish required the utmost of focus. She had to make sure it was just right. Her next dish would be, Kiwi Sorbet!

Words: 253
Progress: 16%

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Ame peeled the skin off of the kiwi she would use in the sorbet, leaving the others to dry after she washed them. She sliced the kiwi in half and then sliced each half in half so that there were four quarters. She scraped away as many of the seeds as she could as to not have them over power the look of the kiwi in the sorbet and then tossed each of the quarters into the bowl. She repeated the process with the second kiwi and then the third until she found that she had the right amount. Once she had finished, she noticed that the pot of water and sugar was boiling so she mashed the kiwi a little more and then added the sugar and water mixture into it. She whisked hard at it. Her right arm felt like jello by this point, as she had been whisking so much over the last few dishes and she kept going. She couldn't stop and she wouldn't have to really whisk much else other than the sorbet that was already completed, so she pushed through the pain until she whisked the mix into what she thought was a good texture. She added in the Snowdonia snow, whisked a small bit more and then put the mixture into the fridge. She stretched her arm, rotating it to adjust her shoulder. Her body was beginning to feel stiff, but it was nothing that she couldn't handle. It was all because she was working hard, after all.

Words: 255
Progress: 17%

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She grabbed the two kiwi's that were left and checked them to make sure they had dried. Once she realized that they had, she cut them into slices, much like she had with the peaches. She washed the mint and left the sliced kiwi to the side. It wasn't nearly as juicy as the peaches had been, but even still, she had her worries about the juice mixing the wrong way with the sorbet. It was better to take the chance than to ruin the dish and because she didn't know the true effect it would have, it was better for her to be safe, rather than sorry. She sat down on one of the stools surrounding the island counter and placed her elbows on the counter and then her chin in her hands. She looked at the fridge and then at the kiwi on the counter. This truly was the hardest part. She wouldn't have to wait nearly as long for everything else and really, she probably could have handled doing multiple things at once, but again, she would rather be safe than sorry. She couldn't bring a faulty dish to a chef, not after claiming that she was one, though she really doubted she would have any problems. Even still, she would wait it out and keep waiting it out until everything was perfect. She wouldn't put herself in the position for failure, not after failing so often in the other world. She never wanted to go back to that Ame, would never go back!

Words: 257
Progress: 18%

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She thought about everything she had been through, thought about how far she had come since she had entered this world. She wondered how long it had actually been since she had been thrown into this game world, then again, could she even really call it that now? She had met so many people, taken others on as a art of her family here. She did miss her other family, the ones back in that place, but she was nothing there. Here, she knew so many people, had them count on her and counted on others. She had spent time and money building herself up to this point. She had met someone that she cared dearly for, though it had cost her a friendship she would have liked to continue. She had so much more here than she did back there. She let out a soft sigh and tapped her fingers on her cheeks. She wondered if this world were to ever collapse and each adventurer returned to their other homes, what would that be like? She had vowed that if she ever returned there, she would change, make a difference, if only for herself, but could she really do it? Could she be the person that she was here? She shook the thoughts out of her head. How long had she been sitting there? She went to the fridge and checked on the sorbet. It still wasn't quite ready, she would have to wait just a little bit more.

Words: 250
Progress: 19%

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As she waited for the sorbet to become a sorbet, she brought down five small plates and the five dessert bowls, placing them out so that they were ready when the sorbet was. In the mean time, she took that opportunity to wash all of the dishes she would no longer need. A lot of the things she had out wouldn't be used for the next set of plates so there was really no point to leave them out. It was better to have as little space taken up as possible and washing the dishes as she finished them off kept her kitchen nice and tidy, which she was proud of. If there was anything she hated, it was clutter. She had even switched her subclass to match her slight obsessive cleaning behavior. She had switched it with animal trainer, which she missed every now and again, but she still had her two pets, the darlings. They were much for combat anyways and preferred to remain in the house. She let out a soft giggle as she thought about it, but then went to the fridge. Taking a spoonful of the sorbet in her mouth, she sighed as the taste of kiwi burst on her palate. She smiled and took it out, grabbing the ladle. As before, she laid a ladle full amount in each bowl and then topped it with the mint, this time in a 'V' shape around the bottom of the sorbet. She laid out the kiwi to look sort of like a tulip and then stuffed it into her inventory. Step one was now complete!

Words: 269
Progress: 20%