Creative Cooking 2.0

[Megan Sims]

Megan Sims walked into her class room, her hair was piled up on top of her hair in a messy bun with what looked like chop-sticks holding it in place, she was dressed in casual pants under a white chef jacket.

Orange Chicken Stir-fry

Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Total Time: 42 minutes

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• 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 Cups mixed vegetables

Marinade:

• 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Sauce:

• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon chile paste
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 slice ginger, minced
• Oil for stir-frying, as needed

Preparation:

• Place the cubed chicken in a bowl, and add the marinade ingredients. Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes.
• While the chicken is marinating, prepare the sauce ingredients and the garlic and ginger.
• Heat the wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until aromatic.
• Add the chicken and stir-fry until it changes colour. Add vegetables fry for 3 minutes. Push up to the sides of the wok, making a well in the middle. Add the sauce.
• Combine the sauce and the chicken. Stir-fry for another minute and serve hot.

[/ul][/font][/blockquote]
After placing two recipe sheets on each work station, she headed back to her work station, waiting for the first of her students to arrive. She was please with the outcome of the previous class and she couldn't wait for them to get to work with today's. Sure, the recipe included rice wine, but there wasn't enough alcohol in the small bottles to actually be a problem, even if the students tried drinking it from the bottle.

The fact that her class had doubled in size made the woman happy, and the fact that there were two male participants made her even happier - she just hoped that they wouldn't mind too much that they would be working with one of their female classmates.[/b][/font]

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney bounced along the hall as she headed toward creative cooking! Out of all the classes she took, this one had to be her favourite - something she had decided after the completion of the last lesson when she ate a mouthful of the food her and Miranda had created - and she couldn't wait to work with Mir again.

"Hey Ms S." She greeted with a grin as she bounced through the door. She then walked over to the station she was working at in the last class. She had thoroughly enjoyed working with Miranda in their last class and was pleased to see that the teacher hadn't decided to pair them up at random - as some teachers were known for doing.

She placed her recipe folder onto the table before she picked up that day's paper and read through it with her eyebrows raised. It didn't look too hard and she loved the idea of frying up things. She already had ideas running through her head on how to divide the chores between herself and whomever she worked with, though she secretly hoped that Miranda would want to work with her again

[Peter Holden]

Peter really enjoyed his Creative Cooking class, especially since he didn't get a lot of chances to experiment with his food now that he was at Blue Ridge. He was eager to find out what they would be making today. Last class he hadn't been able to cook anything, so he was hoping that this class would be a success. When he got to the room, he smiled in greeting to his teacher as well as the other girl in the room, and made his way over to one of the work stations to check out what today's recipe would be while waiting for the class to start.

Reading over the recipe, he was pleased, as he was sure that it would end up being delicious. It didn't look as if it would be too hard, and he just hoped that his partner would feel the same way. He could only hope that they had at least some background in cooking, but he didn't suspect that there would be an issue. Signing up for the class, he'd known that he'd most likely be one of the only guys, but it didn't bother him too much since he'd been around girls a lot back home because of his riding. He didn't know whether or not there would be another male in the class, but he didn't really mind either way.

[Deleted]

Carlos enjoyed cooking, he really did. It was something that he used to do with his grandmother back home across the ocean, a type of 'bonding time' for the two of them. Since coming to Blue Ridge, though, he didn't get to cook, as all meals were premade in the cafeteria...

He'd already had one cooking class, but to his chagrin, he had arrived too late to do any cooking and hadn't been able to do much besides taste the food, which was good, if not a little different than he was used to. He hoped that they'd be cooking again today, but if they weren't and were just going over safety techniques and stuff, he'd be ok with that too.

The teen walked inside the classroom, holding his light grey and blue binder and a lead pencil, which he set down on the closest station to the door. Since it was a hands-on cooking class, he didn't need to be near the front. He took a moment to glance around, giving the oter students and the teacher a nod of greeting before he picked up the recipe, his grin widening. It looked like they would be cooking today, after-all... He began to scan through the recipe, waiting for the class to begin.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda left her last class and slung her backpack over both shoulders, smiling to herself as she headed towards the Creative Cooking classroom. She enjoyed the class, both because she was actually learning something, and because she usually got to work with Cortney. She pushed open the door to the classroom carefully and entered, smiling briefly at Ms. Sims before she scanned the room. Seeing Cortney, Miranda walked over to her, looking for any indication that she couldn't work with her friend again. Finding nothing, Miranda smiled at Cortney, "How's your day been so far?" She pulled her recipe binder out of her backpack, then pushed the bag under the counter, that no one would trip over it.

Laying her binder on the counter, Miranda picked up the second recipe sheet of the day and glanced over it, grimacing, "Alrighty, boss, what am I doing?" She smiled over at Cortney, more than willing to do what she was assigned, as she didn't have the experience cooking that the younger girl did. No doubt Cortney already knew what she wanted to do, as had been the case the last time that they had worked together, and the result had turned out more than wonderfully.

[Deleted]

Cello snorted slightly to himself as he walked in his cool like fashion through the hallway. His old school never had any sort of elective as to cook, or at least, he’d never taken one before. He certainly wasn’t a chef by any means, but he could do pretty well with easy bake packets. Still, it was something new and exciting and he’d take it. Besides, the class would leave him stomach hopefully full and satisfied if he cooked properly. The thought of food sent the boy into a dimpled grin. Yes, food certainly could bait him into nearly anything. Cello loved food.

Sometimes, he wished he lived in Italy for their delicious gelatos as well. Spain had many delectable tastes as well, but Cello was more of an experimental guy. He preferred to taste new sorts of things of all different places. Speeding up his pace a bit as the hallways began to clear out some more, the brunette walked a tidbit faster. He winced slightly as the sunlight hit him spot on his eyes, but continued on at the same pace. By the time he got to the electives hallway, the boy was happy to find he wasn’t that late. 

To his immediate surprise as well, there were already two other boys there. He would’ve figure boys in a cooking class would be nearly nonexistent. Then, Cello chided himself for thinking in sexist ways figuring his mother would slap him. He offered all of the students a grand smile before moving up to the teacher. It looked as if people were going to work in pairs, and this was his first class in cooking anyways. “Hola. I am Marcello Savoy? I am new. I wanted to know if our partners are assigned?” he asked carefully, knowing he’d made a mistake before to go join a group of his own in the past.

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne strode through the hallways, dressed for the weather outside wearing a long coat. She turned to walked through the door of the creative cooking class, but then jumped backward as she almost walked into the back of a bulky male. She sniffed disdainfully as she brushed her jacket down before she unbuttoned it, in preparation for being in a much warmer classroom that would only gain heat as they started working, and followed the male into the room and over to where the teacher was sitting behind one of the work station. After a quick assessment of the room however, it was easy to see that this woman's work area was different than the ones the students worked at.

Once the boy, Marcello, had spoken, she stepped forward and looked the female teacher in the eye. "Good morning, Miss. My name is Jayne Doe, I am joining your class. I would like to reiterate the question just asked." She then stepped back and waited to hear the woman's response. She knew that she was straight-forward, she also knew she was a spoiled brat, but why stop what was working for her.

She shrugged her jacket off to reveal the coral sleeveless belted baby doll dress she was wearing, with a black long-sleeve ballet tee and a pair of black super-skinny jeans underneath.

[Megan Sims]

Megan watched as her class began to fill up. She smiled in reply to Cortney's greeting and remained silent as the other students entered and began to talk amongst themselves as they read through that day's recipe.

She gave a warm smile as a male approached her desk, with a smaller female a few steps behind him. Her smiled deepened as Marcello introduced himself. "Hola, Marcello." She greeted him. Before she could say anything else to his question, though, the girl stepped forward and introduced herself. Megs raised her eyebrows at the teen's straight-forwardness. "Welcome to the Academy, Jayne." She said. "No, there are no assigned partners today. You both need to find someone to work with, find a workstation, put an apron on and follow the instructions."

Once she heard the tardi bell sound, she cleared her throat to draw the attention of the class to her. "Welcome to Creative Cooking. I am not assigning partners, as I feel you are all mature enough to find your own workmate. As we have an uneven number of students in this class, there will be one group of three, but that is only when your other classmates show up." She paused a moment as she picked up the recipe card. "As you would have read, you will be making a chicken stir-fry today. All of the ingredients you will need, you will find in the pantry, fridge and freezer. You have fourty-five minutes to have your meals done, starting now." She raised her voice slightly to be heard over the noise of the students getting things sorted. "You will be marked on the following: following the recipe, creativity and the presentation of your food."

[Deleted]

Math and calculus itself was a hard subject to grasp for many. Although it had never really happened before Belle just couldn’t wrap her hand around the content of today’s class. Staying after to ask a few questions, the eighteen year old knew that she would be late or cutting it close to her next class. Unfortunately it was creative cooking, which was one of her favorite classes next to math. Asking for a pass before she left the classroom, Belle headed towards the bathroom. Ms. Sims didn’t exactly enjoy students forgetting to wash their hands before class and she had expressed that almost the first class.

Not going to make that mistake the blond quickly threw her hair up into a ponytail and washed her hands thoroughly. Walking almost running to class, Belle’s heart raced. She wasn’t one to draw attention to herself when it was unneeded and she really didn’t want to see the reaction that would be on Ms. Sims’s face. Entering the room, the bell had rung as the eighteen year old made her way down the hallway. Taking a deep breath as she entered the classroom she saw the class had already started. ”Sorry I was late, Mr. Mattock kept me after.” Extending her hand with the note Belle waited for the teacher to take it. She hadn't made up her mind about who she was going to work with.

[Cortney Smit]

While she was waiting for anyone else to show up, which didn't end up being that long, the girl scribbled onto a spare sheet of paper the ingredients, then pumped some hand sanitizer onto her hands, rubbed them together and took one of the black aprons off the hook on the side of the pantry and put it over her head.

She jumped as there was a girl standing there when she had the strap over her head and pulled the fabric down. "Hey Mir." She replied with a huge smile as she tied the string into a neat bow behind her back. "It's been a bit this and that. How's your day been?" She walked back up to the bench and sanitized her hands once more before she read through the recipe again as she waited for class to start.

She tuned into what the teacher was saying, nodding her head to the woman's words. When told they could start, she grinned at her partner. "If it's alright with you, I'll throw the sauce together and you can do the chicken." It was a statement, not a question, which was Cortney's polite way of taking charge of the situation. "Then when you combine the meat and marinade, I could put a pot on and we could boil some water and cook rice to go with the chicken and vegetables?" That part was a question. She loved that this class was so relaxed about what they did as long as they pretty much followed the recipe.

With the paper in hand, she walked to the pantry and pulled out the items she needed to make the sauce and took them back to the bench - working on the far side so that Miranda had room for cutting up the chicken. She took a large glass bowl from the drawer under the bench-top elements. "What vegetables should we cut up?" She asked as she began to combine the ingredients to make the sauce.

Taking a saucer out of another drawer, she minced the garlic and and ginger onto that and covered them with another saucer and placed it into the fridge to keep them fresh while they waited for the chicken to marinate.

Removing a large pot from the cupboard under the bench they were working on, she half filled it with water and put it onto the back element so that it could start heating. "Rice or rice noodles?" She had seen the rice noodles in the pantry when she had pulled out everything else she needed. She even already had plans on how they could present their dishes, but that could wait until it was time to dish up.

[Peter Holden]

Peter was glad when the class was called to order, but not so thrilled about how they would have to choose their own partners. He didn't really know anyone in this class. One of the boys, Carlos, was his roommate of course, but they never really spoke. Would it just be more awkward if they worker together? Maybe. The social situation was less bleak here than it had been at home, but really only because of Avery.

Shaking his head the slightest, he took a breath and walked over to another boy that he sort of recognized. If he remembered correctly, his name was Cello, which Peter had found very interesting. "Hello," he greeted him, "Would you like to work together?" That was the hardest part, he guessed, and the rest he suspected he'd probably be at ease with. Finding all of the ingredients, he placed them out so that they would be easy to find before washing his hands.

"I can marinate the chicken if you'd like to do the sauce," he suggested, "And what vegetables do you think we should use?" As he talked he began to work, cutting the chicken into cubes and placing it in a bowl before washing his hands again. He then combined the rice wine and corn starch in the bowl with the chicken and checked the time so that he would know when it had been marinating for 30 minutes.

[Deleted]

Cello smiled at the teacher’s soft answer, and nodded with ultimate confidence. Finding people to pair up with was never really difficult for him and his rather forwardness, though he figured he’d wait a bit to see if anyone wanted to work with him first. Offering a thank you to the teacher, he walked forward before coming up to a boy that looked a bit younger than him. He raised a brow slightly, turning over the English words a bit before realizing the boy asking him if he wanted to be partners. Cello nodded with a grin. “Si, let us make something tasty.” He looked hungrily at the ingredients.

Being the usual Cello he was, the boy nearly forgot to wash his hands, but corrected himself as he saw the other boy doing so. He chuckled slightly, scrubbing at his hands – that were covered in bruises and small cuts from past minor sport injuries. He looked up to see the boy ask him on what to do. Cello nodded, happy to do whatever so long as he knew what to do. He wasn’t exactly a chef, but he knew enough. “Sounds good.” The brunette frowned slightly as the boy asked him what to do for vegetables and looked at the ingredients “We have mixed vegetable cups, no?” he asked curiously. 

The brunette began taking all the ingredients for the sauce and the measuring cups before grabbing a bowl. He measured out the orange juice before pouring into the bowl and making a small face. Orange juice in sauce? It seemed interesting… Cello grinned before adding in the soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar and chili paste. There were only two things he needed to mince and he grabbed a cutting board and cut the garlic clove and ginger slice into tiny, tiny pieces. Cello looked at his fingers in amazement, he actually managed to not cut himself this time. The boy added those in and stirred; his nose caught pangs of all different smells and he looked over at his partner. “Sauce is complete; what shall we do now?” He looked down at the dark colored liquid a bit proudly; he had made sauce without anything terrible happening – Cello felt amazing.

[Deleted]

Carlos glanced around at the other students as the instructor spoke, indecisive as to which one he wanted to pair with, though, as he watched, others were already making pairs. with a sigh, the reserved teen moved away from where he stood and headed towards one of the two unpaired students, a blonde girl who'd came in shortly after he himself had. If Carlos remembered correctly, she'd said her name was Jayne something-or-other.

He approached her cautiously, giving her a small smile in greeting and inclining his head. "I suppose we will work together, then." He stated, grabbing an apron and washing his hands before picking up the recipe and looking it over once more. "I am Carlos." He studied the recipe once more before looking at the girl. "If you want, I can work on the chicken and el adobo... marinade... if you want to work on the sauce. It does not matter to me which one I do." He said to her, silently giving her the lead.

He really didn't mind and would rather it if she took charge, that way he would know he wasn't upsetting her by assuming which she'd want to work on. Carlos wasn't really a 'take charge' type of person in general and he tended to get nervous when people looked to him for direction.

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne looked around the classroom, trying to find someone who hadn't yet paired up. She smiled as she looked up through her lashes as she was approached by a rather nice looking boy. "I would be my pleasure." She all but purred as she followed him over to a working station. Following suit, she washed her hands and donned an apron, deftly tying it behind her back. "I'm Jayne."

She looked at the recipe and nodded her head, glad they weren't working with red meat. "I can do the sauce and then cut up the vegetables." She replied, more than happy to give him the job of cubing the chicken. She wasn't a complete vegetarian, but she couldn't handle touching raw meat - and blatantly refused to touch red meat, raw or otherwise.

Walking to the pantry, she pulled out the dark soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar and chilli paste. Then out of the fridge she grabbed the orange juice - surely the teacher didn't expect them to actually squeeze oranges to get the measurement? She then found a glass bowl in the cupboard under the benchtop elements and began measuring out the ingredients for the sauce. "Are there any vegetables you don't like Carlos?" She asked as she stirred the sauce with a wooden spoon. She'd had a good look at the vegetable selection in the refrigerator when she'd got the juice out, and was already working through the ones that would go well with the chicken, ginger and garlic, and also the ones that would need to wait until the last minute before they were sliced up to save them from wilting.

[Deleted]

After being told to go to a station as another student should have been arriving soon enough, the girl did as she was told. Seeing that everyone had been moving towards partners it felt a bit odd that she was moving away from them. Even so, she went to work pulling out her recipe book she looked at the sheet that listed the procedure and ingredients needed. chicken, vegetables, rice wine, cornstarch, orange juice... reading down the list of ingredients she went to work collecting them. Belle didn't know who the other student was and really didn't want to start anything before he or she got here. Hoping that they would arrive soon so that she didn't look even more stupid than she already felt.

Walking into the pantry, she put her index finger to lip and scanned the labels looking for what she could bring out. dark soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, chile paste. The eighteen year old listed off in her head as she piled them carefully into her arms and walked back to her station. Figuring that she could get started on marinade for the chicken, Belle read over the two ingredients and set off to find them, which she did quickly and found her way back to her station. Sitting the wine and cornstarch down she read the directions to herself and started with the chicken and began cutting them into squares.