THE GENESSIA WORLD COOKING CHAMPIONSHIP

[poshture]

WHO: Whitley Schnee, all of the contestants and judges who signed up, and anyone who wishes to spectate!
WHAT: The moment of truth has arrived! Who's makes the best entree? The best dessert? How many judges will go home with food poisoning unrelated to Chara totally not using actual buttercups in their pie? Let's find out!
WHEN: November 20th, Early evening
WHERE: Genessia City

===

[ Once all contestants and judges are at the venue, and enough time has passed for the audience to settle into place, Whitley takes center stage with a broad smile and a polite bow. ]

Good evening, culinary enthusiasts, and welcome to the Genessia World Cooking Championship! We have an impressive lineup of contestants ready to show us what they're capable of - but first, allow me to introduce our panel of judges.

[ He lifts one hand to gesture to a table at one end of the room, where the five judges are seated, with an extra seat remaining for Whitley himself. As he introduces each he allows a moment for them to stand and wave to the crowd, should they so desire: ]

Shinjiro Aragaki, Alice Nakiri, Gwen Stacy, Aeslyn Blackrose, and Demyx - as well as myself, of course! A truly diverse array of palettes if ever there was one, but we'll see which entries are superb enough to wow us all. We'll begin first with the entrees, then allow a short intermission before moving onto the desserts.

[ He claps his hands together in front of himself, nodding sharpy. ]

I don't think there's any need to say more, and truth be told I'm famished, so without further ado - will all chefs making entrees please find your stations!


(( OOC: First and foremost, thank you everyone who signed up! As you may have noticed we had exactly five people sign up to be judges, so EVERYONE WHO SIGNED UP TO BE A JUDGE IS IN! As for how the contest will work now, there will be headers below for each entry with the chef's name, their dish, and their meta score from the random number generator plus their experience bonus. Chefs may comment in those threads to describe their process and what may have gone right or wrong, while judges are free to react as if they are tasting the dish!

That should about cover things, but if there are any questions feel free to shoot me a PM!

p.s. yes these are seriously the numbers I rolled so make of that what you will ))

Comments

ENTREES

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MINAKO AINO

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Curry

SCORE: 65

Re: MINAKO AINO

[sailor_v]

[Say what you will about Minako's low skill level in cooking. You'd be perfectly justified to be scathing, or even insulting. But as soon as the timer starts, her natural athleticism gives her a big boost of energy as she darts from place to place, frantically dicing onions, cubing the chicken, sizzling oil and curry powder in a pan before throwing in the ingredients.]

[A big tower of flame goes straight up, nearly singing her face. But once it dies back down, bam! Flash-cooked chicken! Well...it's not burned, so she'll take it. Into the pot it goes, with the potatoes, carrots, and...hey, do water chestnuts belong in curry? THEY DO NOW.]

[She scrapes in some more spices, seasoning it liberally with cumin, salt, and pepper...basically the things that she thinks smell good. And since there was garlic available, she's adding some of that too.]

[But the rice is coming out of a rice cooker because she's basic like that and she's not taking any chances.]

[The results are...questionable. She happily serves up a big platter that's bubbling with a steady 'plurp blop plurp' even though it's...not hot. In fact, parts of it are a little icy in the middle. Why? Because she was worried she might burn Whitley's tongue if she just served it straight from the pot so she added ice cubes to make it a better temperature. Apparently, that dilutes some of the stronger spices to make it palatable, even pleasant.]

[But it's anyone's guess as to how it's bubbling like that if it isn't that hot. What the hell, Minako.]

[She stands with her eyes shining and way too big, eagerly clasping her hands together. It's good, right? She worked really hard on this!]

MOBIUS

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Sole meunière

SCORE: 33

JAUNE ARC

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Ultimate Chicken Nuggets - Jaune will be making chicken nuggets drizzled in barbecue sauce, some buffalo style nuggets, and attempt (and fail) to fry chicken nuggets in chocolate and caramel.

SCORE: 61

BARRY ALLEN

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Nora Allen's Famous Chicken Pot Pie.

SCORE: 78

[commanderspecs]

[Barry has his sleeves rolled up and moves with precise practice. He has been making this dish ever since he was old enough to help Nora around the kitchen. He even hums to himself as he prepares the dish, calling in every precise measurement and fond and warm memory of his mother. He counts himself as lucky that the ingredients he needs are available and that he recognizes the ovens here. It's not scientifically measurable but the secret ingredient, as his mother always explained, is love. He finds his thoughts drifting to Iris. How he's made it for her whenever she felt ill.

Barry's brow creases as he works, concentrating and silent and methodical just like everything else he's done. When he's finished, he presents and wipes the sweat at his brow, hands and cheek dusted with flour.]

AKIRA KURUSU

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Sojiro Sakura's Famous Curry

SCORE: 44

DAVID FORD

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Spaghetti bolognese

SCORE: 34

[xlvii]

Why did he come. Why did he sign up for this. 47 has never had a problem with cooking, but with all these people (and possibly cameras) watching, it's different; he's never liked having a lot of attention. Thus, the retired assassin is at the mercy of the most unlikely stumbling block: Stage fright.

Not that he'll ever show that; he stuffs his emotions deep down, and goes through the motions of the memorized recipe. He makes good use of the fresh ingredients, and makes as much as he can from scratch, given the time limit. Through it all, though, his expression never changes from the slight scowl that serves as 47's neutral face, and his motions are robotic, even mechanical.

When it's all over, there's not really any technical flaws with his dish (though it might be a bit spicy for the tastes of some of the judges), but it's not super amazing, either. There's no passion or emotion in it, no evidence of having gone the extra mile to make sure everything was just right. Rather, as he moved and cooked like a machine... it probably tastes like it was made by a machine.

He barely stands around long enough to present his dish to the judges, turning away almost immediately; he doesn't care what score he gets (as long as it's neither the worst or the best, both of which would bring him even more attention), he just wants out of there as soon as possible.

DESSERTS

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ORIHIME INOUE

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DISH BEING ENTERED: The Cake Town Special - Layers of yellow cake alternating with crisp puff pastry, sandwiching sweet bean paste and sliced bananas, with a rich chocolate ganache drizzle over the whole thing.

SCORE: 54

oh nooooooooooooooo

[leekspins]

[The cake that Orihime presents is not quite what she had in mind, and there's a pink flush of embarrassment in her cheeks. She didn't remember to ask for phyllo dough as an available ingredient, thinking it might just be there in pre-made fashion. It isn't. And she has no idea how to make it from scratch, either.]

[This left her with a big dilemma on her hands: make what she promised to make, the Cake Town Special; or, substitute something else for the phyllo dough? It seems unfair to change her recipe in the middle of the competition, and she's pretty sure it's against the rules. But there's nothing else she can use as a substitute. If only she'd learned how to make phyllo dough by hand in advance!]

[She does what she can, baking up a thin pie crust while mixing up the cake batter, then frying it with a little cinnamon and sugar while the cake layers bake. The rest is pretty much the same: yellow cake, bananas, sweet bean paste, and a rich chocolate ganache she whipped up by hand. Pie crust, though...it's just not quite right. She tries to sweeten it with a drizzle of honey, but she's still not that happy with the results.]

[Orihime bows low as the cake is presented to the judges, shooting Shinjiro a somewhat guilty look before glancing away. His score might not even count, since it could be considered biased. He's pretty much obligated to give her fewer points than other entries just because they run their business together.]

[Still, she says nothing, and remains bowing as she awaits the results.]

CHARA

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie

SCORE: 18

small child cries over pie

[corruptedsave]

[Oh they thought they were ready for this, heck they even practiced making the pie just so they wouldn't mess it up. But practice doesn't make perfect here, as well...

Chara tried to make too many parts of the recipe at once, just so then it would all be easier to finish it up. Of course this haste means that they messed up the butterscotch, it turned out grainy, the crust got burned and they put too much cinnamon in it.

So once it comes time to have the food judged? Chara is doing their darnest to not look upset about the whole thing.]

RAPUNZEL

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Apple pie

SCORE: 116

[ivegotadream]

[Rapunzel rolled up her sleeves and put on a rather cute and frilly apron. She was ready for this, she had been nervous, to say the least since she didn't exactly share her cooking with others much, but she also found it to be relaxing once she started and focused.

Rapunzel knew the recipe like the back of her hand as she smoothly goes through it, being precise in her measurements, taking care when it came to the pastry and making it from scratch. She made sure she put her all into making sure this was the best apple pie she could make, even if she felt like it was the more... simple dish compared to the others.

But sometimes the most simple can be the most delicious. Once the pie had finally been finished Rapunzel had her hands on her waist, happy with the result of the hard work. Now all that was left was to see what others might have thought of it.]

ARELEN

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Old World Chocolate-filled Croissants

SCORE: 83

[savage_nymphxii]

[Arelen was actually quite pleased with the equipment and ingredients that were provided for the contestants. Highest quality it seemed, and considering the attitude of the person running the contest seemed more than familiar (as it usually was with those born into wealth), she wasn't very surprised by this at all.

She took her time with her dish, even if it WAS the easiest for her to make. Only because it wasn't just a quick batch for herself at home- it was a competition.

For money.

Although, once she was invested in her mixing and measuring by eye, there was a smile on her face. She may have even been humming to herself as she eyed the butter, water, milk and other such ingredients.

She did everything in layers, more butter between each layer to add to the natural buttery taste of croissants, utilizing the equipment to refrigerate quickly... although it wasn't the way she would have liked. If she really wanted to make these completely perfect, she would have done it in steps by the day.

Time limits were a thing however, so she had to work with what she had.

As the croissants were placed in the oven, she began making the chocolate sauce from baking chocolate pieces, and more sugar and butter. When it was the perfect consistency, she let it cool just enough to put into a piping bag, take the croissants out, and let them cool.

They weren't as fluffy and airy as she'd have liked, and frowned for most of the finishing parts.

Arelen then filled each one with chocolate and drizzled the remainder on top of them.

At least they LOOKED good.

She was sure they would taste good, but she could have done better if she just had the time to work with the dough more. The fluffier, the better.

Hopefully she would win SOMETHING.

She put a smile back on as she presented them to the judges.]

SAKUYA IZAYOI

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DISH BEING ENTERED: Dacquoise (a type of cake)

SCORE: 97

POST-COMPETITION MINGLING

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[ There's a reception after the contest is concluded, with all manner of refreshments and tables to sit at and the like. Talk to your fellow chefs! Talk to your fellow judges! Throttle the judge for scoring your dish so low because how dare they! ]

[sailor_v]

[On today's episode of Sailor Moon, Mina really gave it her all. Learning a new skill takes time, and patience, and a lot of hard work. No one's born knowing how to cook, or dance, or even play sports. Don't get discouraged if you make a mistake! That's just part of how you learn. Keep it up. With plenty of practice and a little determination, you can be a superstar in no time! Sailor Moon says!]

[sakuya_izayoi]

Sakuya could be found mingling with the various there. At least, a little bit. At first.

Once the initial fanfare was over she could be found sitting down a ways away staring intently at a little red booklet and biting the back of a pen. She's hard to sneak up on but with how focused she was it might be possible. She was going over the recipe she used over and over again.

Clearly she was being much too hard on herself despite getting second place. But something like that was to be expected from someone as obsessed with perfection as she was.

open

[commanderspecs]

[It felt rewarding to see the other competitors and see his own dish do well in the competition. Barry typically stays to the side, at one of the tables toward the edge of the entire reception. He doesn't feel right to socialize but he needs to build a network here, somehow. His thoughts keep drifting to Iris and Ms. Quee--Thea insists that he take his head out of the clouds and perhaps he'd meet people that would make good friends as well]

OPEN

[leekspins]

[Orihime is disappointed, but still a good sport. For while she internally fusses and frets at how her score is going to impact Cake Town's future business, she's all smiles and congratulations for the other contestants. It's not faked either, she's genuinely happy to see them happy, and she has fun talking shop about the recipes that were used.]

[Once the festivities die down and the contestants are subtly shooed away so the event organizers can start cleaning up, Orihime slips away from the crowd, untying her apron, and holding it in her hands.]

[She makes it a few blocks before she lets her back thump against the wall of a brick building, and with a loud sigh, she lets gravity carry her down to sit with her knees close to her chest.]

Haaaaaaaahhhhh...why couldn't I come up with a better substitute? Mou...

[Pie crust, even when thin and fried, just isn't the same. Or maybe the judges just didn't like sweet bean paste? Was the dessert too sweet for their tastes? Should she have tried to cook more traditionally? She tips her head back, steepling her fingers together. Shinjiro and Arelen were probably counting on her to get a good score. The bakery definitely would have profited if she'd managed to be one of the top three. What should she have done different?]

[More importantly, what should she do now? Should she take any preemptive measures? A promotional event is a possibility, but it's so soon after the grand opening, and it might look like an act of desperation, and that could drive off customers. What about an advertisement? People might come in if they're at least curious to see what her dish tasted like, since she knows there's no other place that makes The Cake Town Special.]

[What should she do...?]