S2-M4 Keep Your Eyes On The Q

[Kachina Filitov]

[The Q House-Kitchens]
"I like your thinking Powers." Alyssa replied. "I have an idea."

Quinton had called for Alyssa's team to go. Alyssa sprinted for the pantry, shoving those on Team Awen who were still heading back to their stations out of her way. If Quinton wanted them to play his game, she would full heatedly oblige.

The pantry was huge, much bigger than Alyssa had expected. The refrigerators had meat from several different worlds: Flanks from Earth, Gagh from Qo'nos, etc. She opened the sliding glass door and grabbed two chicken breasts and put them in her basket. She grabbed some dough from the non-meat fridge, flinging it beside the breast. She collected produce, cheese, and barbaque sauce. She loved herself a good barbaque chicken pizza, but eating it and making it were two different things. This wouldn't be just any pizza, it would be the strangest concoction that she had ever made.

When Quinton called for the cooking to start, Alyssa turned to her team. "Filitov, start working on your Strogonoff. Let me know when it's almost done. Protheus, grill the meats, all of them. Powers, work on the produce. Calandra and I will work on the garnish. Let's make it happen.

The Q House-Kitchens

Katcha nodded and went over to a empty stove top. There she got a pan and added some oil before putting it on the heat along with second pan of water that she put on to boil. Taking the two onions she had managed to grab, she roughly diced them and added them to the now sizzling oil. She then added the little bit of garlic she had found before adding some butter. While this was cooking, she chopped up some mushrooms. She kept stirring the mixture to prevent sticking. Putting the rice in to soak, she then added the chopped mushrooms to the pan and kept stirring until the mushrooms were soft before adding salt and pepper. Tipping the mixture onto a plate, she put the flour into a bowl with more salt and pepper before coating the diced beef. She then added the flour coated beef to the pan along with a splash of oil and quickly fried the beef. She then tipped the mushrooms and onions back into the pan and added the sour cream. While this was doing, she added the rice to the now boiling water with a large pinch of salt. Turning the heat down on the Stroganoff mix, she kept stirring it until the rice was cooked.

She then turned to Alyssa.

"Ze Stroganoff is almost done!" She said.

[Kalro Zolarim]

The Q House-Kitchens

Kalro decided that he did not like Venessa.

No, he did not like her, not one bit.

Not from the blade of her back to the tip of her-

The Captain interrupted his train of thought by assigning him to Kinley for dessert and sides.

Hmm.  His gaze drifted over to the Yams, then to the sugar.

"I think I remember that sugars melt in a process you call caramellization, and can be used to coat foods with a sweet casing." He said to Kinley, "Do you think these yams can be combined with melted sugar in such a fashion?"

[Leela Kaz]

"Alright, everyone will help with prep, but our main cooks will be Kinley, Leela, and Dan. The three of you tell the rest of us what you need and what we can assist with. We'll need the meat to be cooked enough, but not done too early otherwise it'll be cold. Kalro, why don't you assist Kinley...Vanessa (NPC) can assist Leela, and I'll assist Daniel. Leela's group will be working on the meat, Kinley's on possibly a dessert or sides, and Daniel's on sauces and garnish," Awen said loud enough for her team to hear but not the others. Normally she wouldn't have addressed them by first name, but time was working against them.

[Q House - Kitchen]

"Aye sir." Leela said stepping away from the group with Vanessa in tow. She pulled a skillet from a wide array of options hanging over her head and placed it onto the stove top and quickly twisted a knob turning the heat to medium high. Looking around, Leela located some kind of cooking oil. "Vanessa, add a cap full of this to the pan." She added turning to locate 2 knives. Leela quickly took the knife and started to trim the meat with expert precision. "It's like riding a bike." She said loudly towards the group with a slight chuckle. Small bits of excess fat started to flop onto the cutting board as Leela ran her knife over the large cut of meat. "Thank you Nivro." She muttered as she set the now trimmed meat onto the cutting board. Slicing the meat into two pieces she set half on a second cutting board. "We're going to gut it into small medallions, approximately 50 grams. It'll cook quicker this way."

Vanessa was obviously uneasy in the handling the rudimentary food preparation device. Leela demonstrated with a few slow cuts on the meet. "Like this." Leela said.

She watched carefully as Vanessa took her first few uneasy strokes of the blade. "Like this?" Vanessa asked.

"You got it!" Leela added with a smile.

After they finished cutting the meat Leela quickly scooped it into the skillet using her knife. The sizzling permeated the room as the fat began to cook. "We've got meat in the pan, Sir." She said to Awen without looking away from the skillet.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Q House, Kitchens, Day 1, 0950]

Awen listened as her teammates spoke up with their ideas and surveyed the food items they'd brought. They needed to get started on the actual cooking portion of the competition - some foods would take longer to cook than others. Knowing she needed to take charge, she considered what each person said they could do and came up with a plan.

"Alright, everyone will help with prep, but our main cooks will be Kinley, Leela, and Dan. The three of you tell the rest of us what you need and what we can assist with. We'll need the meat to be cooked enough, but not done too early otherwise it'll be cold. Kalro, why don't you assist Kinley...Vanessa (NPC) can assist Leela, and I'll assist Daniel. Leela's group will be working on the meat, Kinley's on possibly a dessert or sides, and Daniel's on sauces and garnish," Awen said loud enough for her team to hear but not the others. Normally she wouldn't have addressed them by their first names, but time was working against them.

Hearing Kinley call for a baking sheet, Awen's dark eyes surveyed the kitchen until she found a thin cabinet. Smiling slightly, she pulled out two baking sheets and took them to Kinley, "Here you go... Do you think cupcakes would be done in time? If not, you may want to choose something else. Daniel and I may be able to help as well, once we get the sauces sorted."

Awen saw Daniel was close by and extended her hand, "We don't have much time for pleasantries right now, but glad to have you with us. Did you have anything in mind? Perhaps we could use the sauce I found and add in some wine, maybe citrus, or something else to improve it? We'll need to get started regardless...and perhaps we can assist Kinley's group if we're in a good position with what we're doing."

The Bajoran was doing her best to appear confident, but truthfully she wasn't sure how this competition would play out. It was certainly a way to get to know her new crew better, in a sense, though she wasn't sure how often cooking would come into play. Perhaps it was part of what Quinton wanted from them though - teamwork. It was difficult to say at this point, but they needed to get moving.

OFF: Tag Team Awen! (slightly more specific tags to Kinley & Daniel, but the whole team has been tagged)

The Q House-Kitchens

Kalro decided that he did not like Venessa.

No, he did not like her, not one bit.

Not from the blade of her back to the tip of her-

The Captain interrupted his train of thought by assigning him to Kinley for dessert and sides.

Hmm.  His gaze drifted over to the Yams, then to the sugar.

"I think I remember that sugars melt in a process you call caramelization, and can be used to coat foods with a sweet casing." He said to Kinley, "Do you think these yams can be combined with melted sugar in such a fashion?"

[Q mansion Á¢â,¬"œ Kitchen]
Kinley nodded as she took the cookie sheet gratefully. "I have no idea, but it shouldn't take that long, I think.' She said as she laid out the haul in front of her and began slicing the mushroom caps up into thin slices for the "bacon'. "That sounds actually rather tasty. I think it would work. I've caramelized some sugar for an experiment. That is before it caught on fire. Go for it."

She finished up the slicing and began arranging it, drizzling the olive oil and soy sauce onto the mushrooms, before running to get the cupcake mix. "I hate to be honest with you, a lot of the things I make tend to catch on fire or get undercooked. Need any help with those yams?"

[Rennan Protheus]

[The Q House-Kitchens]
"I like your thinking Powers." Alyssa replied. "I have an idea."

Quinton had called for Alyssa's team to go. Alyssa sprinted for the pantry, shoving those on Team Awen who were still heading back to their stations out of her way. If Quinton wanted them to play his game, she would full heatedly oblige.

The pantry was huge, much bigger than Alyssa had expected. The refrigerators had meat from several different worlds: Flanks from Earth, Gagh from Qo'nos, etc. She opened the sliding glass door and grabbed two chicken breasts and put them in her basket. She grabbed some dough from the non-meat fridge, flinging it beside the breast. She collected produce, cheese, and barbaque sauce. She loved herself a good barbaque chicken pizza, but eating it and making it were two different things. This wouldn't be just any pizza, it would be the strangest concoction that she had ever made.

When Quinton called for the cooking to start, Alyssa turned to her team. "Filitov, start working on your Strogonoff. Let me know when it's almost done. Protheus, grill the meats, all of them. Powers, work on the produce. Calandra and I will work on the garnish. Let's make it happen.

[The Q House, kitchen]

Rennan laughed sarcastically as the Commander directed him to his job, the last time he'd done anything like this was during medical training when he'd learnt how to cauterise during a training exercise. Barbaric procedure. He started looking in the vast draws for the right implement, a pan to be exact. His fiancé had cooked properly, many years ago, but she'd never imparted any knowledge to him.

Eventually he found what looked to be the right pans, confident with his selection he placed them on to the counter and started working out how to turn on the stove. He played with a nob that seemed to correspond to the ring he was trying to use, but try as he might failed to see how to ignite the flame. At this point he was reluctant to engage with the others, he still didn't feel amazing and so was happy to keep his head down as they worked this joke.

He looked behind carefully, the rest of the team appeared to engrosssed in their task except a security crewman. She was new to the fleet clearly, Rennan didn't particularly want to play this game, but it would probably help if he got someone onside, given that he'd annoyed most of the team before hand. He did wonder if he should suggest that they all ignored the being, of none of them listened then surely he'd give up?

Rennan stared at the woman for a brief moment before reaching out with his mind. "Hey Creman, come here. How the hell do you work this thing?" He didn't want to give people excuse to think him stupid.

[Calandra Trilarck]

[ Q House - Kitchen - Pocket Dimension ]
Day 1 - 1 0 0 5 hours...

Although Lieutenat Kaz was kind enough to regard the sunkissed haired officer with respect as she instructed her how to cut up the meat in the shape of a medallion, Vanessa couldn't help but make loud, obnoxious gagging noises as she appeared to be swallowing wretch that threatened to spill out. She coughed back another gargle and with red eyes filled with tears, cried out,"This is exactly why I'm a vegetarian. Just imagine this poor little cow, mooing in a field, totally unsuspecting until he's snatched up and slaughtered. It's barbaric. Poor little moo-moo," she nicknamed the cut of beef as she continued to slice off the fat in the fashion that Leela had showed her. With another slice into the pink flesh, she stifled her sobs and uttered a gentle 'moo' underneath her breath.

With a swift pat on the back that felt closer to a shove, the Q dismissed her question and she made her way back to the group. Meadows had begun giving her directives and the counselor noted how well the rank of command suited her. How she had managed to assess the group so quickly and give efficient orders was a skill that she had obviously honed during her times in SickBay. Calandra nodded affirmatively and turned to the shelves, gathering a handful of spices, dressings, condiments that could be used to make garnishes. Satisfied, she collected some greens and vegetables, throwing them into a large salad bowl. She turned on the faucet and held the bowl as she washed them. Although she appeared calm, her nerves were wracking on the inside. The Haliian had only really approached from from the perspective of sustenance. The thought that she could be made a fool of due her lack of domestic skills was daunting.

After flipping the bowl over and keeping her hand pressed against the lettuce to drain the excess water, she turned around and made her way back to a prep table. From across the room, she spotted Vanessa who was in the midst of chopping up an asparagus. "Did you know that asparagus is an..." and with a satisfying THWACK!, the knife came down on the tip of the asparagus and wedged itself into the cutting board, "aphrodisiac?!" Looking up at the group, Ensign Leighton blew her bang out of her face and went back to assaulting the vegetable.

The counselor made note that Vanessa was definitely some sort of menace to society and snarled as she went back to chopping up the head of lettuce. Filitov's voice chimed through, announcing that her recreation of her native dish was finished. Stroganoff, which sounded like some sort of Russian count, she mused with a smirk. Dicing the tomatoes, she used her hands to slide the tomatoes from the side of knife onto the salad. Then, came the cucumbers.  Finally, she shaved a handful of carrots before setting the bowl into the middle of the table. That would be her sole contribution and if it meant her elimination, so be it. Turning swiftly on her heel, she made her way to Filitov's neck of the woods.

The counselor slipped on a pair of mittens she found in a drawer and grabbed the finished stroganoff. It's hearty smell wafted to her ears and she set it down in the middle island. Using a ladle, she delicately set it down over a bed of rice and placed a small cilantro twig. She lifted up to show the flight officer before calling out to the Doctor. "First dish plated!"

[Casey Power]

[The Q House-Kitchens]

When Quinton called for the cooking to start, Alyssa turned to her team. "Filitov, start working on your Strogonoff. Let me know when it's almost done. Protheus, grill the meats, all of them. Powers, work on the produce. Calandra and I will work on the garnish. Let's make it happen.

For a few moments Casey stood in the kitchen, watching as her team jumped to action like a well-oiled machine under Meadows' guidance. She pursed her mouth and narrowed her eyes, looking around the organised chaos. Produce, produce... What to do with produce? She could prepare, she supposed, wash, chop, cut and move them on down the line. Sticking out from a block she saw an array of large, sharp knives. Kitchen utensils in this instance, but still knives nonetheless. She liked those.

[The Q House, kitchen]

Rennan stared at the woman for a brief moment before reaching out with his mind. "Hey Creman, come here. How the hell do you work this thing?" He didn't want to give people excuse to think him stupid.

Her head snapped around, searching for the source of the voice in her head. It wasn't a sensation she was unfamiliar with; one of her fellow grunts back on Mars had been a Betazoid, and they'd enjoyed a lot of success when paired together for drills due to his abilities. Yet while the feeling of someone speaking to her in her mind was not an uncomfortable one, in this case she found it a tad... rude.

Do I look like I have Michelin stars pinned to this uniform? She thought as she stepped toward the Lieutenant to get a closer look at the equipment. Her eyes glanced over the oven, taking in the hob and its controls. Ah, oldschool. She recalled her grandmother having a similar set up in her kitchen. 'Child-safe', she'd called it. Though even as a young one herself Casey had to question the intelligence of any child who couldn't emulate a simple action after seeing it completed once.  She shouldered her way slightly in front of the officer, leaning in so she could access the control panel.

With one finger she pressed and held the small igniter button that was situated to the right of the dials, and with her other hand she pushed in a knob and turned. The hob made a couple of satisfying clicking noises before one of the rings burst into a blue flame. Once she released the button she turned the knob to a medium heat and let go.

"I give you fire, Lieutenant." Her tone was wry but she was grinning. She moved away and grabbed a particularly long and bulky knife from the wooden block and began beheading the vegetables that he'd collected and left discarded on the counter.

[Leela Kaz]

Although Lieutenat Kaz was kind enough to regard the sunkissed haired officer with respect as she instructed her how to cut up the meat in the shape of a medallion, Vanessa couldn't help but make loud, obnoxious gagging noises as she appeared to be swallowing wretch that threatened to spill out. She coughed back another gargle and with red eyes filled with tears, cried out,"This is exactly why I'm a vegetarian. Just imagine this poor little cow, mooing in a field, totally unsuspecting until he's snatched up and slaughtered. It's barbaric. Poor little moo-moo," she nicknamed the cut of beef as she continued to slice off the fat in the fashion that Leela had showed her. With another slice into the pink flesh, she stifled her sobs and uttered a gentle 'moo' underneath her breath.

"Moomoo?" Leela muttered under her breathe. She chalked it up to a cultural difference. "No you have to appreciate the time this came from. Working with real meat instead of that replicated stuff we're used to.... There is something magical." Leela said as she plated the first bits of meat. "We've got the first serving plated Captain." Leela said loudly. 

[Fala Awen]

[Q House, Kitchens, 1025]

Awen had split her attention slightly - mostly concentrating on the task at hand, but also checking to see how the rest of her team was doing. The Bajoran was generally ignoring what Alyssa's team was doing; it would only serve as a distraction. Her eyes moved around the kitchen as she took in where they were at as far as the food. It looked like everyone was wrapped up and all they really needed to do was plate. Although she really wasn't a culinary expert, she had tasted each item and to her everything tasted rather good.

Glancing over at Daniel, she said, "I think we're pretty much ready. Go ahead and finish it up, then bring it over to where we're putting everything together. I'll get what we need to plate and have everyone join me." Awen was a bit nervous and she glanced at the large clock Quinton had put up for them. Only five minutes left.

Finding a shelf full of plates, bowls, and other serving vessels, she quickly selected a few options and brought them back to a clear area of the counter. Awen arranged their options and, after taking a deep breath, addressed her team, "Alright everybody, bring what you've made over here so we can plate. We only have a couple minutes left, so let's finish it."

Awen waited for the others, nervous energy building. Outwardly she remained calm with an unreadable expression on her face. This was it. Other than presentation, there was little else they could do at this point. After that it would simply be up to Quinton and she wasn't sure what exactly his criteria would be... The competitive part of her wanted to win and it would give her a chance to remain with the crew who were still undergoing Quinton's game, but Awen had to admit a small part of her wanted to get back to the ship. The former was winning out by a large margin however.

OFF: Tag Team Awen

[Kalro Zolarim]

Q Kitchen

"Don't feel bad about that," Kalro said encouragingly to his cooking partner, "In fact, if incinerating organics is a skillset, you may have a future in Security."  He winked at her as he loaded some sugar into a saucepan and began to heat it on the stove.

"The closest I have ever come to cooking involved experiments with burners in my chemistry class.  Usually mixing toxic compounds.  So... I suppose I can be glad that our dinner guest is immortal."

Once the sugar was melted, Kalro but the saucepan on a low burn and hunted for a way to open the can of Yams.  Eventually, he found a stout knife in one of the drawers and used it to hack and pry the lid of the can open.  Miraculously, he managed not to cut himself.  Then he poured the Yams onto a platter- unheated- and grabbed the saucepan to pour the melted sugar over them.

"I suppose this will be sweet, at least," he opined, and then picked up the platter to look at the mass of yams covered in a brown sugary sauce.  It didn't look particularly appetizing.

"Do you think we should do something to enhance the appearance of the plate?"

[Michael Ferdinand]

[Q kitchen]
Alyssa nodded at Filitov and grabbed the pan used to make her dish. Alyssa had rolled out the dough and grabbed the freshly cut veggies. She grabbed a ladle and spooned the stroganoff over the dough as a base. It left a rich yet goopy sludge that seemed to slowly roll off the dough.

Alyssa looked to Rennan and saw that the meat wasn't ready. 'God damn it, Rennan.' she thought to herself. He might have just sent her home, whether he did so intentionally or unintentionally was still up for  debate. She was going to have to  have a talk with him about  timeliness when this was over.

Alyssa grabbed the cut veggies from the other side of the kitchen and dashed back to her dough. She covered the base in cheese before strategically placing some veggies over it.

She took the dough and threw it into the oven. When seven minutes had elapsed, Alyssa opened the oven door and took it out. She scrunched her face. It didn't look particularly appetizing to hee, but it smelled good. She hoped it would taste as good as it smelled her she would be going home.

[Non-Playing Character 2]

[Q kitchen]
44....45. Quinton's watch struck forty-five minutes and gave a buzz that echoed throughout the kitchen. Quinton clapped his hands together and brought them to his chest. "Time's up. Drop what you're doing and step away from your dishes."

He watched as the Shran crew did as he said. Quinton decided that it felt good to be in charge. He would have made a fine Starfleet Captain. "Here's how this will work. Both teams will present me one dish. The best one will win the challenge. The losing team, well, I'm sorry to say, but since we are really pressed for time, the entire losing team will be going home."  Quinton winced when he dropped that bombshell. He didn't want to see the crew's reaction, nor did he want to see the anticipated looks of betrayal on their faces. He was the host after all. What he said was law here. "Team Awen, let's start with you."

[Daniel Howell]

[Q House, Kitchens, 1025]

Awen had split her attention slightly - mostly concentrating on the task at hand, but also checking to see how the rest of her team was doing. The Bajoran was generally ignoring what Alyssa's team was doing; it would only serve as a distraction. Her eyes moved around the kitchen as she took in where they were at as far as the food. It looked like everyone was wrapped up and all they really needed to do was plate. Although she really wasn't a culinary expert, she had tasted each item and to her everything tasted rather good.

Glancing over at Daniel, she said, "I think we're pretty much ready. Go ahead and finish it up, then bring it over to where we're putting everything together. I'll get what we need to plate and have everyone join me." Awen was a bit nervous and she glanced at the large clock Quinton had put up for them. Only five minutes left.

Finding a shelf full of plates, bowls, and other serving vessels, she quickly selected a few options and brought them back to a clear area of the counter. Awen arranged their options and, after taking a deep breath, addressed her team, "Alright everybody, bring what you've made over here so we can plate. We only have a couple minutes left, so let's finish it."

Awen waited for the others, nervous energy building. Outwardly she remained calm with an unreadable expression on her face. This was it. Other than presentation, there was little else they could do at this point. After that it would simply be up to Quinton and she wasn't sure what exactly his criteria would be... The competitive part of her wanted to win and it would give her a chance to remain with the crew who were still undergoing Quinton's game, but Awen had to admit a small part of her wanted to get back to the ship. The former was winning out by a large margin however.

OFF: Tag Team Awen

House Kitchens
Dan had been paired with the Captain during this first task of cooking. It was something among few, things he enjoyed and was partially good at. He'd been tasked with making a sauce as well as garnish to go with some meat that they'd found in the pantry. He turned to face the captain to explain his idea "Ok, so I think we should go with a makeshift Piquillo pepper salsa. It's a traditional spicy, fiery Spanish sauce to dress mainly pork, but I'd imagine it would go well with what ever meat that is. We'll need some chilli peppers, Tomatoes, Red Onion and some parsley. Cut and dice, mix with some preferably olive oil, and some vinegar."

He removed his jacket, throwing it onto a chair in the other room and set to work on bringing the sauce to life with the ingredients that he readily had. With the help of the Captain the sauce slowly started to take shape as he adjusted certain ingredients and scattered to add and reduce mixes to correct the flavour. "Captain, why don't you start on the garnish. Get some leafy vegetables, some fresh veg, mix it together, throw on some of this dressing and mix it up a bit." He dictated, passing some kind of salad dressing. A few corrections and a final test later, he was happy with the blend. "Aye Captain." He replied to her directions before transferring the sauce into a boat dish and passing it to her. Calling "Sauce up!"

[Leela Kaz]

Awen waited for the others, nervous energy building. Outwardly she remained calm with an unreadable expression on her face. This was it. Other than presentation, there was little else they could do at this point. After that it would simply be up to Quinton and she wasn't sure what exactly his criteria would be... The competitive part of her wanted to win and it would give her a chance to remain with the crew who were still undergoing Quinton's game, but Awen had to admit a small part of her wanted to get back to the ship. The former was winning out by a large margin however.

[Q House - Kitchen]

Leela rushed to get the meet to the Captain before the time ran out. She set the meat in front of the Captain as the clock ran out. "Hurry hurry!" She said as she rushed to get it onto a plate. With the announcement of the expiration of their time Leela dropped the knife onto the counter. "That was close." She said softly, looking to the Captain.

[Kinley Garrison]

Q Kitchen

"Don't feel bad about that," Kalro said encouragingly to his cooking partner, "In fact, if incinerating organics is a skillset, you may have a future in Security."  He winked at her as he loaded some sugar into a saucepan and began to heat it on the stove.

"The closest I have ever come to cooking involved experiments with burners in my chemistry class.  Usually mixing toxic compounds.  So... I suppose I can be glad that our dinner guest is immortal."

Once the sugar was melted, Kalro but the saucepan on a low burn and hunted for a way to open the can of Yams.  Eventually, he found a stout knife in one of the drawers and used it to hack and pry the lid of the can open.  Miraculously, he managed not to cut himself.  Then he poured the Yams onto a platter- unheated- and grabbed the saucepan to pour the melted sugar over them.

"I suppose this will be sweet, at least," he opined, and then picked up the platter to look at the mass of yams covered in a brown sugary sauce.  It didn't look particularly appetizing.

"Do you think we should do something to enhance the appearance of the plate?"

[Q Kitchen]

Kinley gave a slight giggle while she raced around and put the now -finished cupcakes and mushrooms in the oven. "now that's an idea. Remind me later to work with you on some weapons enhancements after we get
back
Kinley began tossing together a salad for the bacon. It was very difficult to ruin a salad, thankfully. Taking out the baking sheet with the mushrooms, she began sprinkling them on top "Let's get plating!"she said as she rushed around the kitchen to check the cupcakes. They weren't done yet, and she was worrying. "They're not done, Kalro" she said as she cranked up the temperature. Maybe that would fix the problem. Suddenly, a buzzer rang. Oh crap.