The Iokath Cookbook

[Varindar Asyt]

-----------------------------------

ATTN: [member="Riamah"]

For the release of the Iokath Cookbook, I invite you to the Daoba Hotel on Corellia, where you can eat any meal in the Iokath Cookbook, at any of the on-site five-star restaurants. In addition, you may also get a discount on any of the rooms of the hotel if you decide to stay at the Daoba Hotel for the night of your meal, with a free copy of the Iokath Cookbook if you elect to stay a night at the hotel and eat a meal as well.

P.S.: If you're a Force-user, you may also learn pyrokinesis and cryokinesis at no additional cost.

Varindar Asyt
Owner, Daoba Hotel

-----------------------------------

The Iokath Cookbook was a book containing dozens of recipes made by various staff members of the Daoba Hotel, as used in the hotel itself to prepare all the various meals served in the on-site restaurants. It was the pet project of the chief pâtissier of the hotel, Joliver, before he goes out to start a pastry shop on Iokath, hoping that his cut of the sales revenue from the cookbook would allow him to provide the seed money for getting the shop started. Apparently the market for premium pastries on Iokath was rather underserved, as he hoped to capture anywhere from 22 to 30% of the market. Yet Varindar didn't fret: she'd think that someone like Riamah, whom she only heard about in passing, would come here and learn pyro/cryo as well as eat at the relevant restaurant. And, if her past experience with Force-using guests is any indication, she would need to eat with the guest as well. But she was about to start a new shift in the kitchen because a chef called in sick tonight, and lately she didn't have to do so as much as she had when she only ran one hotel on Trandosha.

 

[Ra'a'mah]

Cooking wasn't something Ra had done for a long time. At least not on her own. Living with Josh, they shared cooking duty and both of them prepared food for the family. So this offer was unexpected and she figured it would give her a chance to surprise Josh with something.

This would also give her an opportunity to learn something new and knowledge was something she always wanted. Part of the reason she had kept such a large library at Bast. Luckily much of that had been moved before the Sith had taken it from her. As much as could have been moved, was now held in the lab Josh had built for her.

Packing up a bag, she decided if training took longer than expected, then she would stay the night. Money wasn't an issue, but the discount would be appreciated. She carried her bag and walked into the hotel. It was taken from by one of the workers and put onto a cart as she walked up to the counter.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Welcome to the Daoba Hotel, what can I do for you today?"

Due to Iokath market research being a bit inadequate, Joliver estimated that the market could range anywhere from 450,000 to 600,000 premium pastries. That seemed to be a bit small to her, even considering the size of Iokath's organic population. But two locations on Iokath charging vastly different rent? It would be of interest to her only if she wanted to open another hotel on Iokath. But once the guest of the day, [member="Riamah"], arrived at the front desk, she was wondering what she would like to eat, so that Varindar would know in which of these five-star restaurants she would cook in for the night. With Riamah's bag on a cart, she only needed to know what the guest would be eating so that she could guide her to the appropriate restaurant and its kitchen thereof.

"Oh and the cookbook will be given to you at the end of the meal"

 

[Ra'a'mah]

"I am Ra'a'mah Numare and here for the cooking lesson, dinner and cookbook."

It wasn't asked what she wanted to eat so that was not stated. Nodding when she was told the book would be given to her at the meal. All that was needed to know was what she needed to do.

"Are there planned meals?"

Many places had a limited menu and Ra didn't know if this one was or not.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Please take a look at the room service menu: it's a complete list of all the restaurant menus as sold here. While it's technically limited, it contains a wide array of meals" she told Ra while handing the guest the room service menu.

[member="Riamah"] would get a comprehensive list of all the meals served at the restaurants of the hotel, which, in turn was just the table of contents of the Iokath Cookbook with the page numbers replaced with meal prices. Why is this cookbook even called the Iokath Cookbook, when it's all the recipes of the Daoba Hotel on Corellia that are in the book? Joliver is a pastry chef and he would use the pastry recipes, but not the entire shebang, once he opens the pastry shop on Iokath, she thought, while thinking of what Ra could potentially want to eat. Then again, the availability of tables was limited at best, at this time of the day. May she pray that there would be a table available for them once the cooking lesson is over... but she still gave Ra some time to comb through the menu to choose for courses to the meal.

"May I take your order please?"

 

[Ra'a'mah]

Accepting the menu, Ra looked through the items offered. Most of them were common things found across the galaxy, like nerf steaks, but there were some others that she had never heard of. She was here to learn something new so she may as well also try something she had never had before.

"I would like the duck, tubers and just some water."

Deciding to not get something exotic to drink, she figured it would be best to learn without any alcohol in her in her system. Not much of a drinker, she could do it in social settings. This wasn't one though.

"Unless you can suggest something else that might be better?"

Even though it wasn't exactly a question, her tone ended it as one.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Naboo duck confit it is then"

Duck confit. Varindar started guiding [member="Riamah"] towards the kitchen of the restaurant that usually cooked the duck confit, usually served from duck fat that has been removed before they are marinated. Speaking of the duck fat, she put all of the fat she could get from the duck legs, thighs and wings in a pan. Yes, tubers were a common side dish served with duck confit, just that the légumier was to take care of that portion. And, in the Iokath Cookbook, there was an entire section for side dishes. If Ra was to learn to cook, it was fine and dandy, just that pyro/cryo was to be prioritized over cooking under this lesson plan.

"Before we begin, let's start with pyrokinesis. It's about making molecules dance, with the dancing tempo being the temperature. Oh and you will realize at times that temperature is not increasing for a while, and then rises again: usually, when that happens, the item being heated will be in a different phase once the temperature increases again"

 

[Ra'a'mah]

She followed Varindar where the kitchen was where the food would be prepared. Ra didn't know how much preparation she was going to need to do for the meal itself, but hoped the plucking of feathers wasn't involved or even going to kill the animal. Since this was a kitchen, she assumed all of that would already be done.

Listening to the advice that was given, Ra nodded. When she was in Bast, she had a science laboratory there and Josh had another built for her in their home. She had a clear understanding of the science behind what was said to her.

"Understood."

It was all she said, if she had any questions as the lesson advanced, she would ask them.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Now that the fat has been removed from the duck's parts you will be given, you can attempt making the fat molecules in the pan dance"

Yes, [member="Riamah"] would get a chance to practice pyro on the duck fat, just that Varindar had to make sure she isn't hogging stove time from other cooks since it was, in fact, rush hour at this hotel's restaurants. Better the duck fat for a first attempt at pyro/cryo than the duck proper, she thought, while realizing that duck farms on Corellia didn't seem to produce anywhere near as good duck meat as the Naboo ones, or even planets such as H'ratth. Speaking of H'ratth, it was where the next batch of duck would come from. Half the price of the Naboo duck, and also faster to get to Corellia than the Naboo duck. Meanwhile, the tubers were almost ready, the hard part would be the duck, and that was why she even wanted Ra to choose the meal for herself: the guest of the day would cook it.

 

[Ra'a'mah]

"Of course."

Noticing it was rush hour, Ra did not take up much room for herself. Since she wasn't going to be needing the stove, she went to find a corner to practice in. Unless Varindar stopped her, she would look for a counter to work on that was out of the way of everybody else.

The fat was room temperature and rather cloudy looking. However, she could see the particles of it and worked at getting them to move around with the Force. A simple task it seemed, but it took an amount of focus to get them moving since they were so small. Within a few minutes, though, the fat was taking on a more yellow and clear look as things heated up.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Now that you can use pyrokinesis to heat up the fat, just gently spread the resulting fat on the duck on this platter" she told Ra while handing her a kitchen brush.

With the fat now looking more clear, it's ready to be spread on the duck, and [member="Riamah"] was able to get the first step right, with another opportunity for the guest to practice it coming soon after the hot fat is spread over the duck. Why is it that so many Jedi would never even think of using pyro/cryo for cooking? Yes, I get that relying too much on the Force can be a liability but I feel that, despite the ceiling of skill at any given power being lower the more you know, I'd rather use pyro/cryo for non-combat uses, such as in a kitchen, than to restrict its use to battle, she thought, while the tubers were already on the plate earmarked for Ra. However, the actual table that they will be eating on won't be determined until after the duck is ready, in which case it will be placed under a cloche. Meanwhile, Varindar realizes she has yet to place an order for anything, but whatever she does order, will be counted against her paycheck. And also accrue on her loyalty card balance.

"Once you're finished spreading the fat on the duck, you can attempt using pyrokinesis on the duck"

 

[Ra'a'mah]

Cooking was something Ra enjoyed very much. She took the brush from Varindar and proceeded to cover the duck with the fat she had just heated up with pyrokinesis. It wasn't she wouldn't think of using this for cooking, but it would certainly be an option now.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she considered how best to go about cooking the duck. In order to get a uniform heating all the way through, she figured out the center portion would be best to heat up first. Since it had more meat involved, it would stay warm longer than the rest of it.

She hoped if she was making any mistakes, her guide would correct her. Once she felt the duck had been heated properly in the breast area, Ra moved to its thighs and legs. Lastly she finished off with the wings and looked at the golden brown hue of the now cooked duck.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"You should consider yourself lucky to learn pyrokinesis from an executive chef that cooks in a five-star restaurant: most of the other practitioners would never use exercises of finesse to teach pyro, such as the duck confit"

The main difference between using pyrokinesis to heat up duck fat and the duck it was taken from was that [member="Riamah"] needed more finesse in using pyro on the duck than on its fat. Now that the duck was golden-brown in hue, the chef knew it was close to well-done. Meanwhile, Varindar did the same with the red wine mushroom gravy she knew not only Ra's duck would be served with, but also other meat dishes such as karkan ribenes, nerf steaks, to name those that were commonly ordered at this restaurant. Flour, red wine, mushrooms, fine herbs were ingredients she knew were crucial to ensure the gravy would taste good enough for the guests to be satisfied with the gravy. Any restaurateur that operatd a five-star restaurant would also know that, the higher-rated the restaurant, the harder the guests were to please, and it was a question of making sure the guests would get their money's worth. Because often food was only part of the equation when one ran a five-star restaurant and it was not uncommon for guests to say that they had at least as good food from a 2-3-star restaurant as they had from a 5-star one. Yet, Varindar didn't place an order yet...

"Good: now I would like some amaretto ice cream"

 

[Ra'a'mah]

She smiled slight at what the other woman said about being luckly. Though she did agree not many others would consider teaching this Force skill through cooking. It was a good thing in its own way that Ra already knew how to cook and how to control the Force as well as she did. This way there was less chance she would make a mistake. Like any skill though, it was something she would need to practice and improve on.

"Thank you for this lesson and opportunity to learn it, Varindar. I greatly appreciate it."

Ra was also aware she would be learning cryokinesis. She assumed that would be dealing with the ice cream that was just ordered.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

It's essentially the reverse of the Force-healing situation: whereas people tended to reserve pyro/cryo for later in the learning process, Jessica and a few of the others preferred to teach Force-healing early, especially when the risk of someone at a high level of power just getting started in Force-healing involves inducing cancers. In the meantime, Varindar was fetching the milk mixture to which the amaretto and almonds were to be mixed: none of this powdered poodoo that was used in fast-food joints for soft ice cream. [member="Riamah"] would, however, find it a little bizarre that Varindar would order a single dish, a dessert. Once the mixture that would, hopefully, become ice cream, was ready, the bowl was placed in front of Ra just before the lesson began. Of course, with another person ordering amaretto ice cream, just as a side dish however, she had to increase the amount of mixture to be frozen before the lesson could actually begin.

"Cryokinesis is the reverse of pyro; here it's about calming molecules down. You can attempt doing it on the cream"

 

[Ra'a'mah]

One thing Ra had never done was work in a restaurant. So what Varindar did was not out of place for her and she didn't question it at all. Ra was here to learn a couple of skills, not run a restaurant.

Accepting the bowl that was placed in front of her, she listened to what the other woman was saying and nodded. Speeding them up before had not been any issue for her and she didn't think this would be either. Looking at the bowl, she touched the Force again lightly and started to slow the molecules down that made the cream the liquid it was.

It did not take as long to cool them more as it had for her to heat the meat earlier. The cream was already chilled and that was a benefit Ra put to use. Once it reached a consistency she liked, she let go of her hold on the Force and waited for any further instruction.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

For a few moments, she watched the amaretto-flavored cream get colder and colder as it was going to freeze by Ra's attempt at cryokinesis. Once she saw the cream in front of [member="Riamah"] take on a consistency that was much like the amaretto gourmet ice cream both the customer and herself ordered, or perhaps what Ra thought she would like out of amaretto ice cream, Varindar knew that Ra could now manipulate temperature in both directions. Now that she was assured of the ice cream's being of the right consistency, she could now serve said ice cream into a pair of frozen cups. One scoop for the customer that ordered the amaretto ice cream, and Varindar was the one left with the leftover ice cream. Yet, she didn't seem to complain about her own serving not being served as a scoop. It was almost time to get to the table and eat then. Meanwhile, Ra's duck confit was in a cloche, with all the side dishes on the plate, awaiting service to her table, as was the ice cream cup in yet another cloche. Said cloches were insulated so that the heat (or cold) won't leak out of the meal before they get to the guest's table.

"It's time to get to your table: our meals will arrive in a cart, under cloches" she told Ra, now that the food was ready for them, and even guiding Ra to the table in question.

 

[Ra'a'mah]

It must have been the fine control Ra had one the Force that allowed her to accomplish this so easily. She was no novice to using the Force, but had never thought of using it to cook food. As long as this allowed her to surprise Josh when the opportunity came up, that is what mattered. Not how she learned it. The abilities of Cyro and Pyrokinesis were something she would use again in the future.

Nodding when Varindar said it was time to get to her table, she stood up from where she had been waiting and working.

"After you."

There wasn't much she could think of to say really and would follow the other woman to her seat.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

In fact, using pyro/cryo for cooking was nothing new to Varindar, but to most other Jedi, or Sith, it was unsettling even for the best Force-using cooks. Even for people as versed in the Force as @Riamah. Sure, some of them could eat at five-star restaurants once or twice, and yet it was just something new to the guest of the day. Especially since Varindar usually ate an entrée before the dessert. But now that the waiter put the cloches in front of them, Ra's duck confit had the cloche removed before Varindar's on the amaretto ice cream. Once both cloches were removed...

"Bon appétit"

 

[Ra'a'mah]

There was a small amount of fanfare around serving the two of them their food. This might be something common in restaurants of this caliber, but it was a surprise to Ra. Thanking the server, she picked up her silverware and started to eat. Giving Varindar a nod as she chewed her first bite of the duck.

"This is really good. Thank you for teaching these skills to me, Miss Asyt."

Being a businesswoman, Ra would almost always address a person in a formal manner. Unless that person requested her to call them by another name.

"Did I do well on the ice cream?"

[member="Varindar Asyt"]