EREBOS

Energized by the praise, by the compliments, flowing from the turkey’s mouth, the young colt was once more galvanized into the traditions of challenges and rivalries: tempted and goaded further into the task at hand (a side glance given to the egg, a warm hymn pulsing from his lips). While the fowl feasted upon the prior dish, the lithe colt had to puzzle over what to construct next. A main course should have something hearty about it, filling, rich, mouth-watering, and as he peered over his ingredients, added bonuses of asparagus and rice, he mulled over the pieces, the fragments, of what he could scrape together. Perhaps he could combine the latter into something tasty…

Carefully, he collected his materials and puttered to a nearby spring, gathering bountiful amounts of water (wishing he’d had some ample amounts of chicken broth, but thinking it over, wondered if the turkey would be offended at sipping and pecking at a beast of her species), and washed the asparagus and rice. With his long rapier, he cut the asparagus into various lengths, furrowing his brow in deep concentration, milling and brewing until he believed he’d forged just the right composition for his task. Thereafter, he returned back to his boiling, bubbling, frothing, foaming fire pit, allowing the water to simmer and poach under the reign of the powerful inferno. Once it maintained a firm boil, he added the rice, gingerly, softly, and watched as they churned over and over again, stirring it every so often with his helpful horn. His gaze locked onto it for several moments at a time, hoping as he stirred that the consistency would become creamy, especially after he added the dry white wine, and when it was deemed satisfactory, he dropped in the asparagus and some cheese he’d found from the appetizer, stirring all the more. His neck and cranium felt awkward, stiff, and sore, but once he’d finished, Erebos believed the texture came out all right. Now, all he needed to do was add the final touches, the zest, the relish, of a true chef.

The turkey had wanted something noted from the animal kingdom, and as he stared at his new concoction, it reminded him of peat bogs, leaping, croaking frogs hiding under the layers of greenery, one wrong move sending one’s body spiraling down into a mess of moss and marsh; a lost, lingering quagmire. Carefully, intricately, he grabbed the olive oil, and sticking his tongue out in the intense focus, drew little frogs out of the liquid, and positioned several longer pieces of asparagus to look like fallen logs, stones, or places for the amphibians to rest. Underneath, bearing the plate distinction, was a patchwork of soft, earthy mud (he presumed she wouldn't mind; turkeys likely embarked on many travels, routes, and paths lined with the things). Stepping back, the lithe lad smiled, and wandered back towards the gathered group to present his dish. Loud, wild, and exuberant all the more (and excited – he truly yearned to see what she thought), he submitted his attempt. “For your main course, I prepared an asparagus risotto. I was inspired by its image of a peat bog, and because it houses common amphibians, I drew little frogs out of olive oil and gave them asparagus logs to climb upon.” Beaming, he nudged the plate closer, and subsequently sidled to and fro, earnest and vibrant.

[Additional ingredients brought in: olive oil and dry white wine

Made: Asparagus risotto – presented as a bright, vibrant green. Olive oil frogs and asparagus “sticks and logs” have been thrown in to represent a peat bog and its many amphibians. To add to the peat bog exterior, its been plated in a soft circlet of mud.

Wishlist - Would like a Kitsune. No prior refusals.

Erebos will be bringing: mint, milk, sugar, flour, ginger, cinnamon, and peaches.]