Unend Departure Dinner

Celebrating the maiden voyage of the Ship

Courtesy of Chef Quino Del Belsaban (chef) and sous-chefs Voro and Mikelord

We will tonight celebrate the commencement of the journey, and it’s our pleasure this evening to treat you all to a very special and unique singular meal, compliments of the Cosmological Consortium’s Highest Light subcommittee.

We begin with ephemera of mineralflower enclosing lavenderwater-infused mirrorhawk mousse, dusted with riftgrass pollen, nestled on a sprouted microbloom tuft, crowned with edible Serapha Nebulaflorum.

And of course our signature cocktail tonight the Aurora Prismatica, exquisite Empyrean lavender and silk cordial, layered with zephyr of eldermanflower, misted with Alpinian plume of Verdure and lightly smoked with charcoal of Sequestrian hacklethorn. I personally recommend you enjoy it on the rocks – perhaps unorthodox, but just trust us on this one.

Buloga pearl caviar tartare, accompanied by shaved roast of sloe, crowned with frosted Ebonreef truffle, drizzled with 100-traversal-aged prang syrup and garnished with chinchona leaf. Enjoy.

The palate-cleansing salad is up next. My friends, a medley of crisp frisée, tender mini prunus hearts, and heirloom rubus misted with essence of blackened citrus of elderthief, sprinkled with delicious and nutritious high-altitude breadmoss and garnished with greens from the gardens of Gloria. Please enjoy.

Our main entree, my friends: sovereign spice-seared filet of Vildefeluvian lake grouper, ladled with reduction of burk buranah, brushed with crushed pistachio and golden salt, served atop a bed of rare black macrograin sourced from the marshes of Ackute. Dig in.

Miravette Reserve, an aromatic honeylight wine from the Highest Light? Quite delicate, notes of straw and almond, very well-balanced, very intriguing

And for our grand finale, exquisite bombe of blonded and blued chocolate mother-of-mica, encased in a delicate wind-woven sugar dome, decorated with self-caramelizing tufted sugar frond, rosewater foam, and edible silverleaf confetti, and finished of course with a touch of our most rare and fine melt-velvet orchid extract. It’s been our pleasure to serve you this evening everyone. Thank you so much.

Ingredients (by request)

Hors d'oeuvre (Un inspired)

Ephemera of mineralflower - phyllo pastry blossoms lightly brushed with strawberry syrup and sprinkled with gold decorator sugar “minerals”.

Lavenderwater-infused mirrorhawk mousse - salmon cream-cheese mousse (go very easy on the lemon juice) with chili flakes, and smoked paprika, partially lavender tinted

Riftgrass pollen - paprika and a hint of turmeric, edible glitter mica

Sprouted microbloom tuft - ball of sprouts, local wildflower micro blossoms

Serapha Nebulaflorum - Rosemary blossoms, saffron, cornflower petals, and marigold petals

Cocktail (Fold inspired)

Empyrean lavender and silk cordial -

lychee mogu mogu drink(as base silk cordial - can be blended smooth if needed), strong chilled butterfly pea flower tea (as lavender cordial - spoon gently over appears lavender/indigo in basic conditions)

Zephyr of eldermanflower - small amount of Plum Soju spooned gently on top (mildly acidic, turns top of butterfly tea magenta/violet) substitute a tiny amount of white peach or other clear fruit juice of your choice for a non-alcohol version

Alpinian plume of Verdure - Blossoming heather sprig)

Charcoal of Sequestrian hacklethorn - torched cinnamon (not recommended, maybe a cherry wood? smoking not essential for how sweet and floral this cocktail is)

On the rocks - giant ice cubes

Appetizer (Fold inspired)

Buloga pearl caviar tartare - chia caviar with butterfly-tea dyed tapioca pearls served on a base of crème fraîche (alternatively could try black lumpfish caviar too, if available)

Shaved roast of sloe - if sloe = slow thinly shaved oil and sea-salt roast purple potato, if sloe = the gin plum, sliced and roasted umeboshi red plum for garnish (both plum and potato used)

Frosted Ebonreef truffle - crunchy dried shiitake snack mushroom frosted with silver edible mica glitter,

100-traversal-aged prang syrup - balsamic vinegar, fresh raspberry and apricot jam reduction with a touch of soy sauce (strained)

Chinchona leaf - shiso leaf

Salad (Un inspired)

Medley of crisp frisée - a base of curly endive and pea shoots

Tender mini prunus hearts - almonds and dried apricot cut into hearts (both in prunus family),

Heirloom rubus - raspberries and blackberries

Essence of blackened citrus of elderthief - sugared and caramelized blood orange and mini clementine slices, scant raspberry balsamic vinaigrette

High-altitude breadmoss - French bread triangles brushed with olive oil and coated with dried parsley and dill (needs work to become more tasty - try garlic bread triangles and a lighter dusting of herbs)

Greens from the gardens of Gloria - parsley and “spring mix” greens.

Main (Fold inspired)

Sovereign spice-seared filet of Vildefeluvian lake grouper - pacific cod with salt, pepper and old bay, pan seared in vegetable oil and basted with butter

Reduction of burk buranah - supposed to be a cab-sav beurre blanc, but used a Béarnaise instead

Crushed pistachio - crushed pistachio (blanched to remove brown hulls) Golden salt - golden decorator sugar because it looked pretty, but could also try a turmeric-ginger-garlic golden salt,

Rare black macrograin sourced from the marshes of Ackute - black rice

Wine (Un inspired)

Miravette Reserve - 2020 Gérard Bertrand Orange Gold (clean and citrusy, good with fish)

Dessert (Un inspired)

Exquisite bombe of blonded and blued chocolate mother-of-mica - Mirrorhawk pearl of white chocolate strawberry Lindt rolled in blue/yellow cake sprinkles, on a split lemon madeleine shell with blue and yellow chocolate button and crème fraîche ganache

Delicate wind-woven sugar dome - blue cotton candy

Self-caramelizing tufted sugar frond - punished and caramelized marshmallows on a strawberry pocky stem with strawberry syrup and golden sugar embellishments

Rosewater foam - pink lychee gel foam

Edible silverleaf confetti - oregano leaves dusted with silver edible mica glitter

Melt-velvet orchid extract - strawberry vanilla syrup

Enjoy!

Hey! Are there blacksmiths in your story? I'm a hobbyist blacksmith and I'm here to help!

Blacksmithing is one of those things that a lot of people get wrong because they don't realize it stuck around past the advent of the assembly line. Here's a list of some common misconceptions I see and what to do instead!

Not all blacksmiths are gigantic terrifying muscly guys with beards and deep voices. I am 5'8, skinny as a twig, have the muscle mass of wet bread, and exist on Tumblr. Anybody who is strong enough to pick up a hammer and understands fire safety can be a blacksmith.

You can make more than just swords with blacksmithing. Though swords are undeniably practical, they're not the only things that can be made. I've made candle holders, wall hooks, kebab skewers, fire pokers, and more. Look up things other people have made, it's really amazing what can be done.

"Red-hot" is actually not that hot by blacksmith terms. when heated up, the metal goes from black, to red, to orange, to yellow, to white. (for temperature reference, I got a second degree burn from picking up a piece of metal on black heat) The ideal color to work with the metal is yellow. White is not ideal at all, because the metal starts sparking and gets all weird and lumpy when it cools. (At no point in this process does the metal get even close to melting. It gets soft enough to work with, but I have never once seen metal become a liquid.)

Blacksmithing takes fucking forever. Not even taking into account starting the forge, selecting and preparing metal, etc. etc. it takes me around an hour to make one (1) fancy skewer. The metals blacksmiths work with heat up and cool down incredibly fast. When the forge is going good, it only takes like 20 seconds to get your metal hot enough to work with, but it takes about the same time for it to cool down, sometimes even less.

As long as you are careful, it is actually stupidly easy to not get hurt while blacksmithing. When I picked up this hobby I was like "okay, cool! I'm gonna make stuff, and I'm gonna end up in the hospital at some point!" Thus far, the latter has yet to occur. I've been doing this for nearly a year. I have earned myself a new scar from the aforementioned second degree burn, and one singe mark on my jeans. I don't even wear gloves half the time. Literally just eye protection, common sense, and fast reflexes and you'll probably be fine. (Accidents still happen of course, but I have found adequate safety weirdly easy to achieve with this hobby)

A forge is not a fire. The forge is the thing blacksmiths put their metal in to heat it up. It starts as a small fire, usually with newspaper or something else that's relatively small and burns easily, which we then put in the forge itself, which is sort of a fireplace-esque thing (there's a lot of different types of forge, look into it and try to figure out what sort of forge would make the most sense for the context you're writing about) and we cover it with coal, which then catches fire and heats up. The forge gets really hot, and sometimes really bright. Sometimes when I stare at the forge for too long it's like staring into the sun. The forge is also not a waterfall of lava, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Welding and blacksmithing are not the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand, but you cannot connected two pieces of metal with traditional blacksmithing alone. There is something called forge welding, where you heat your metal, sprinkle borax (or the in-universe equivalent) on it to prevent the metal from oxidizing/being non-weldable, and hammer the pieces together very quickly. Forge welding also sends sparks flying everywhere, and if you're working in a small space with other blacksmiths, you usually want to announce that you're welding before you do, so that everyone in a five-foot radius can get out of that five-foot radius. You also cannot just stuck some random pebbles into the forge and get a decent piece of metal that you can actually make something with, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Anvils are really fucking heavy. Nothing else to add here.

Making jewelry is not a blacksmithing thing unless you want jewelry made of steel. And it will be very ugly if you try. Blacksmithing wasn't invented to make small things.

If there's anything here I didn't mention, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

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drakethog

1 year ago

The Vassal And The Veil

Beginning and end version