sheep_game | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

WHO: anyone
WHERE: Daffodil's front lawn
WHEN: Day 32, mid-morningish

[ at some point mid-morning, a pasturewide cubecall goes out: ]

I'm holding lessons in Daffodil's pasture. Come if you want to, don't if you don't.

[ yeah, that's it. that's the whole thing. BUT if you do show up, the apothecary cat has set up several stations outside of her little workshop/cathouse: a makeshift firepit with a wooden drying rack, several large pots of varying sizes, and is currently in the process of chopping up a pygmidillo. and I do mean chopping. we are cleaving through bone here.

* For those who would notice, the ribbons in her hair are now Daffodil-yellow, but her collar is still black. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ she nods, waving her off

whenever she returns, Maomao has started a small fire for the drying rack. ]

[She comes back with a couple of decently sized fishies, wrapped up in some paper.]

Here we go!

Excellent. Over here.

[ she beckons; she has put the pygmidillo pieces away for now, and cleaned up the cutting area.

she still has that cleaver though. ]

[the cleaver makes her at least a little nervous still, but she sets the fish down for maomao o_o]

So first, you need to remove the scales--

[ she also has a bowl of water; she's using the cleaver to scrape off the scales off with surprising deftness despite the size of the thing ]

--and then rinse. You can do it after, but it's easier to do it before you start breaking it down.

[she's watching very patiently and she's very focused, ok.]

... Oh, that's why Zenith thought I messed it up. This looks a lot better than anything I was doing already.

There's a difference in texture. You can use that to tell--here.

[ she holds out the descaled fish for Ruby to touch. do it. ]

[she's at least been trying to butcher her own fish enough to where she's not weirded out so she DOES!!!!]

Mm—okay, I see what you mean.

[ after allowing Lyra the chance to test, she takes the fish back and then, with two quick whacks, removes the head and the tail, before cutting a slit down its belly. ]

You'll want to remove these parts first. They can be saved for soups, if you like. And then the viscera.

Something like—making a good brother or something, right? Okay. We can wrap them back up and I'll put them in the freezer.

[ she nods ]

There's decent meat on the heads, too. So it's wisest to save them if you can. And now--

[ she's going to demonstrate washing out the inner cavity of the fish, and then switching to filleting the sides to slice up. Penjie on youtube has shown that you can do this even with a big ol' cleaver, so that's what's happening here. ]

. . . I didn't know that knife could do that. It's so big and clunky compared to all the other knives we have.

[nothing beats chinese chefs and their reckless abandon with a cleaver tbh]

[ THEY'RE WILD TBH ]

It's the sort that I learned with. If you have something you're more comfortable with, that's fine. As long as you have control of the blade, it's fairly simple.

[ she holds the cleaver out if Lyra wants to take it ]

[honestly due to her general lack of kitchen knowledge she was doing shit like using a steak knife to butcher a fish so uh. yeah.

she takes it a little warily, hefting it around to get used to it. she's only ever used it to get rid of the head and stuff.]

I was using a waaaay smaller knife, but I can try to use this too! I just... don't have a lot of kitchen knowledge. Enough to make basic things.

[ ftr, edited in after the fact, Maomao's hair ribbons are yellow now! but her collar is still black ]

Ah... I told Caster I would teach her how to cook as well. Would you like to learn with her?

Edited 2023-09-16 00:52 (UTC)

[tbh she just assumed maomao was daffodil's anyway since crois likes her so much and she's always over there-]

I wouldn't mind... I can do the easy stuff and I can make easy curries and all that, but I could stand to get better.

It's a good skill to have. Here.

[ she does not take the cleaver back, but she does start adjusting Lyra's grip on it, so that it's more secure ]

For finer work, as long as you have the blade pinched in your fingers, that will help your control.

[ty for ur help maomao]

I guess it works the same for all knives? Just—a little different if it's a small blade?

Exactly. As long as you have a grip on the blade here, you're much less likely to slip and cut yourself.

Mm... it sounds easy enough. Okay.

It's just big and a little scary.

It is very difficult to severely injure yourself while chopping things.

But if you do, I am versed in first aid.

Is... it...

Well. I'll give it a shot. Should I try to do what you did with the other fish?

Yes.

Don't worry about going fast. That comes with practice.

... Right.

[She takes a deep breath... and then slams the cleaver down on the neck of the fish to sever the head.

But it's not near as hard as she needs to because she's a baby and figuring it out and she doesn't know how much force she needs. The second attempt is much cleaner, and the tail goes better for it. ]

Better.

[ she says that after the second attempt. her expression is mostly deadpan as always, but her tone is lighter, more encouraging. ]

If you're not opposed to using those today, I can show Caster how to make a stew with the pieces.