Posted by Civilian Char’les Harv (Officer’s Mess Chef) in side - sim: Keeping My Word

Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in side - sim: Keeping My Word

Posted by Civilian Char’les Harv (Officer’s Mess Chef) in side - sim: Keeping My Word
Posted by… suppressed (19) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Per her agreement with Alex, Shedda was headed to the officer’s mess for a meal and to check on their fugitive chef. She didn’t eat every meal there, her schedule didn’t allow for that. And she felt it was good to be seen in the lounge as often as possible as well, mixing with the enlisted crew as well. She was the XO, for everyone and it was important to her to be approachable. She wouldn’t admit it, but that also saved her from having to see Harv 3 times a day. She dreaded these meals, but she agreed, so there she was walking into the Officer’s mess for dinner at the end of her shift. It had been a long day, and she had hoped there would be a letter from the judge, but there wasn’t. Shedda sat down at a table and waited. There was no point in ordering from the replicator or asking for what she wanted. Harv was going to serve her whatever it was he wanted to.

Mal’athar, XO

It was few minutes before the door slid open and the chef came out, fresh baked bread and butter on a small plate. He walked over to the table, set the bread down, and looked at Shedda. “I guess the lofty need to slum it times, huh? So? Whadda ya want?”

Harv

Shedda wondered how many times she would have to count to 10 during this meal. She would not rise to the bait, she was the XO she would act like it. What was it about Harv that set her nerves on edge? Credit where credit was due....more flies with honey than vinegar and all that. He was asking her what she wanted, being nice, she could be too. “I would hardly call your mess a slum. Pasta salad?” Yes there were many types, but if he actually had any made she would not be picky about the type. Even if it has fish in it.

Shedda

“You avoid it like a slum.” Harv grunted and turned away without another word and walked back to the kitchen. It was not ten minutes later that he came back with a large bowl filled with muti-colored pasta spirals and wheels, assorted diced vegetables, and a very white meat-like something cubed up and mixed in. The aroma was heady, herbal, and citrus-esque. The bowl was frosted, obviously chilled, and Harv set the bowl down with a thunk. “Pasta salad. Hope it meets your highness’s refined palate.” and the Bajoran chef turned and began walking away.

Harv

Avoid it? Hardly, though she did tend to avoid Harv like the plague. Refined palate? Hardly. Shedda grew up on a very poor colony, a slum mostly. Except that the people there worked hard to make the best of it. If anything, Harv’s food was too fancy to what she was used to. She also didn’t require nutrition in food format, or not as much as other species. Of course she wasn’t getting nearly as much sunlight as she needed either. 10…9…8…7…6… okay she could speak now. The bowl was large, all portions from Harv seemed to be large. Even something she enjoyed was usually more than she could eat. “Thank you, Harv. I’m sure it’s excellent like everything else.” Everyone raved about Harv’s food and it wasn’t bad it was the atmosphere. She paused in picking up her fork. She was supposed to keep an eye on him, make sure he was okay. She seemed more surely today than normal. “Harv is everything alright?”

Shedda

Harv paused and turned around. But, unlike typically, he didn’t just verbally explode. He looked around, made sure the people that were dining were out of ear shot, and then walked back to the table and leaned down slightly.

“No. Its not. I really don’t appreciate you treating my place like its infested with rats and is the last place on the ship you choose to eat. You’re the XO. People follow your lead. And since you came on board, less people come in than before. They seem to think that if they do, they’ll piss you off or something… or they want to put in their face time and that means the lounge because that’s where you go ninety-nine perxent of the time. And since all I have left in this gods-forsaken existence is the joy I get from cooking… now I don’t get to even do that as much. And it sucks… and I blame you.” He stood up and put his hands behind his back. “I hope that clarifies things, Commander. Enjoy the salad.” and he turned and walked back to towards the kitchen.

Harv

Shedda stopped herself from telling him the only rat in the mess was him. She listened instead, or tried too. And it was obvious they were never going to see eye to eye about most things. “First and foremost, you’re right, I do spend time in the lounge and I am the XO. I am the first officer of this entire ship and this entire crew. Not just the officers, but the enlisted too. The enlisted make up 70% of this crew and when I’m in here in this room they can’t access me. Personally I don’t think there should be an officer’s vs enlisted mess. It should be one mess in my opinion. And then you could cook for a lot of people and not just ‘the rich’ crowd of the crew. I’m sorry this is all you have left, but that was your choice. I’m not saying it was right or wrong, but you have to live with the consequences, and that’s not my fault.”

Shedda took a slow breath, “But, you might be civilian but I’m your XO too. It was not my intention to drive people away from your dinning room. I will make sure I’m aware of the percentages of my meal times, and make sure I’m spending half of it here.”

Shedda

Harv turned around at the door and said “Lady, you most definitely aren’t my XO. I answer to one person, and one person alone. And just because he told me to make nice with you doesn’t mean I have to like it! Oh, and for your information? Everyone is allowed to eat here. Even the civilians. Officers just get priority seating if there’s a wait. If you had ever deigned to come by during meals, you’d probably know that!” and he wheeled around and walked into the kitchen.

Harv

She was not going to loose her temper, she was not going to loose her temper, she was Not going to loose her temper. What she SHOULD do was go call Star Fleet command and tell them where to find him. Screw Alex and his ‘law vs morality’ crap. Harv was a spoiled brat and Alex was letting him get away with it. If the man didn’t like the consequences of his actions that was just too bad. She might have to come play nice with a giant toddler but she was not going to change her schedule for him. He didn’t dictate how she did her job. Her schedule and the demands on her time were more important.

She forced herself to eat. Wasted food was unforgivable, though she had no apatite to eat. How the man could make such good food but make your stomach sour at the same time was a twisted talent. Maybe she should talk to Sair about why she was having such a hard time getting along with Harv. Shedda really had to do better than this. Then a sigh, she couldn’t talk to Sair because then she’d have to tell her about Harv and she promised to keep his secret. She ate until she realized she was stabbing the food like she had to kill it before she ate it. She wasn’t going to speculate on what the really white meat was. Nor was she going to make a face if she didn’t like it. She ate, a little over half of it while reading over a PaDD.

Shedda

The white was tofu, expertly and light crisped to provide a wonderful texture contrast to the softness of the pasta. The flavor was herb and citrus, and made one’s taste buds tingle and stomach want more even past being full.

Okay it was good, after she stopped trying to kill it. The tofu was excellent and she was really thankful it wasn’t fish.

After she had slowed down, Harv reappeared from the kitchen with a single small plate. He walked over to the table and set it front of her. “Blueberry grilled cheese. I used a ricotta and brie mixture and Bajoran drell berries. Takes the edge off the sweetness and still tastes the same.” and he turned and went back towards the kitchen.

Harv

Shedda’s eyebrows went up. “Thank you, Harv.” It was genuine but surprised. She liked it, it was savory rather than sweet and her favorite. It was also very very weird. However, as he got to the door, “It’s still creepy how you do that.” She picked up her fork and took a tentative bite because it was served hot and not because of the taste. She ate half before slowing down and then ended up leaving about a fourth on the plate. She just couldn’t eat more. She looked at what else was on her PaDD and realized it was going to be another very late night.

Shedda

Harv came and collected the dishes. “It’s not creepy. It’s science. Any half-decent chef can create a flavor profile from what their regulars order. This guy prefers savory herb to sweet or citrus. She favors textures over spice. Its simple enough. All I do is take that up a notch. I pay attention to what people order. From that, I can tell where their taste and smell physiology skew one way or another. Because what we like to eat comes from our biology. Once you have someone’s basic sense physiology figured, the rest is easy.” He sat the dishes on a tray and motioned for a server to come clear it.

Science? Data collection and drawing conclusions. Shedda’s eyes squinted for half a second. So she was in more than his little tantrum admitted then if he ‘paid attention to what people order.’ She was expecting him to say that she wasn’t around enough for him to do that. Then again maybe he went into the computer and looked at her replicator logs. That was still creepy. A grin tried to tug at the corner of her mouth. “And are your hypotheses ever wrong?”

“So in your case, you don’t like fish… so overly salty and too-firm, fleshy textures are out. You also don’t eat much bread… except for toast with melted peanut butter on it for breakfast. That means you favor simple flavors over the more complex ones. Fresh fruit over pastry. Herbal over sweet. Your palate isn’t refined, but it is delicate. Easy to overwhelm. So for your salad, I seared the tofu in Kalisian sesame oil instead of cooking wine. The pasta was seasoned with Risian thyme and fresh Terran oregano with just a hint of Deltan lemon juice diluted with Vulcan granseed oil. Simple flavor palate, but worked into a cohesive dish. Its like the ancient Erudicans of the Bynaex system used to do. I studied their kitchen frescos. Got a whole book of ‘em by some archeological guy… T’Lent. Used to come into my place. Nice guy. He signed that book for me.” Harv shrugged and began to walk back to the kitchen

Harv

Shedda listened, he was passionate about it that was for sure. Of course she was the same way about archeology. She listened as he explained how he’d made her food. If that was ‘simple flavor’ she really didn’t want to know what was complicated or detailed. The Erudicans’ frescos were standard study and the kind of thing that every archeologist hoped to come across.

T’Lent? Shedda’s eyes widened and her jaw might have dropped for half a second. “Wait…you’ve met T’Lent? What’s he like?” Yeah okay she sounded a bit like a kid, all excited over some celebrity, but T’Lent was like the Neil De Grasse Tyson of archeology. Shedda followed all his work, he was amazing.

Shedda

Harv stopped and came back to the table. “He was regular. Good guy. Always talented my staff really well and wasn’t a pretentious pr!<k like that one giy… what was his name…” and he snapped his fingers and looked away in thought before looking up quickly, “… Dr. Folkstead! Some professor from Star Fleet Academy. Ancient languages or something. He and T’Lent would come in together sometimes. Folkstead always demanded special attention. ‘Do you know who I am?’ and such bull. T’Lent always apologized after. Kept telling him it wasn’t necessary.” He leaned in and grinned conspiratorially. “We would make Folkstead’s Risian coffee with Earth beans. He would go on and on about how Risian beans were far superior to any other planet’s. We’d just laugh behind his back.”

Harv

Shedda groaned at the mention of Dr Folkstead. She’d had classes with him, they all hated him. He was pretentious and didn’t really teach. Earth coffee compared to Risian coffee. That sounded like something Folkstead would insist on. She wasn’t sure she wanted something in common with Harv, but.... “Well you wouldn’t be the first ones. It was a running joke at the Academy…go to the store, get Keebler sugar cookies. Put it on a fancy plate, and tell him they were gourmet cookies based on an ancient recipe from Igiri, or some other made up planet. He’d go on for 2 or 3 days about the culture of said planet and how important it was, and the uniqueness of their language…” The problem with Folkstead was his claim to fame was pure chance. He just happened to figure out the key to translating an ancient language, and then published a paper, but he hadn’t done anything of significance since.

Shedda

Harv chuckled and said “One time he ordered Naussican foie gras. I had to come ot of the kitchen to tell him, really loudly, that serving the raw flesh of sentient beings was illegal. He got really pissed and tried to tell me how incorrect and obtuse I was being. There was a table of Naussicans in the restaurant. They explained just how right I was.” and he laughed. “He actually pissed himself right there in the dining room a little bit. We, of course, gave him a large napkin to save any further embarrassment.” and he laughed again.

Harv

Shedda shook her head a grimace on her face, but she believed it. “It’s honestly amazing he hasn’t started any wars. We’re lucky most people don’t take him seriously. He wouldn’t be worth a rescue. He knows languages, but he doesn’t understand the meaning behind the words.”

“Now T’Lent, is brilliant. He sees things in a unique way, able to let go of his own culture perspectives. We all base what we see and experience against past experiences and knowledge, and it’s not wrong, but it’s not accurate either. He’s able to see past all that and examine other possibilities. He’s amazing to listen to. I’ve attended a few of his lectures.”

Shedda

Harv paused for a moment and then said “Hang on… don’t go anywhere, ok?” and he turned and whispered something to the server and then walked out of the mess.

Shedda blinked, “Sure.” He wanted her to stay around. Well other than work where else did she have to go? Then he left. That was weird. The man was weird. She picked up her PaDD and tried to mark of at least one more small task while she waited.

He came back a few minutes later. In his hand he carried an actual book. He came to Mal’athar’s table and sat down opposite her and set the book next to her. It was a worn and somewhat stained edition of ‘Frescos and Mosaics of the Ancient Erudicans of the Bynaex System’ by T’Lent. First edition. And it was signed. ‘Char’les, your ability in the kitchen is seconded only by your appreciation of cultures. Thank you for the exciting food. T’Lent’.

Harv

When he sat down Shedda set the the PaDD and looked up at him. She was familiar with the book, had a copy herself. It was not a first edition, and it was not signed, but it was just as worn. She read the inscription a little ‘o’ of awe crossing her face. “High praise, indeed, Harv. When T’Lent first started working on the frescos he was determined he could recreate the recipes described on them. There are videos of his attempts, and his reaction when he ate them.” She turned several pages in where there was a quote. “‘Food is not rational. Food is culture, habit, craving, and identity.’ Jonathan Safran Foer. I always liked that quote. Reminds me of where I grew up.” She handed the book gently back to him. “You must have made quite the variety of dishes for him.”

Shedda

Harv smiled. “I made those dishes for him.” and he put a finger on the book. “Those vids you are talking about… I was his tutor. He revived the frescos and through them, together, we identified the ingredients and how to prepare them. We even went so far as to recreate the Erudican four chamber pottery oven. I have a modified and more modern version of that in my kitchen here. It’s where I bake my bread.”

Harv

Well that explained the book and the inscription. “Did it work as well as speculated?” Most likely it did if Harv was using one on board. But then he said the one here was modified. “I never attended his lectures on the Erudicans, but comments always came back to it. Any time someone asked about the recipes he would only reply they should try on their own. Some of the pictorials were really damaged. Were you able to recreate all the recipes?” She was a little surprised she hadn’t come across Harv’s name. T’Lent was known for giving credit to people who had helped him, even students assisting at digs. But then again, Shedda wasn’t exactly trying to recreate the recipes either. She was more interested in T’Lent’s theories of why those recipes had been put in the frescos and what they represented. She leaned against the back of her chair, hands in her lap. “That had to be quite the experience.”

Shedda

Harv shook his head but smiled and said “It works really well.. The multiple chambers allow for proofing and baking without exposing the dough to the outside air,, and that means the yeast reacts much more fully. As far as the frescos go… No, not all… but most. It was wild, really. The Erudicans had really advanced culinary knowledge. Nutrition, chemistry, mechanics, heat exchange… even refrigeration. And no written language. Just pictures. Pretty incredible accomplishment, if you ask me.”

Harv

“I would love to see it some time.” There was an old farmer, Klingon, that baked bread for the village she grew up in. Her father had told her he was an warrior of some reknown, but had settled on Delotha and had decided he’d had enough killing and so he grew things and baked bread to provide for the others. Shedda wondered what he would make of the four chamber oven. She wasn’t sure he would know who the Erudicans were. “It is amazing, but it’s not that uncommon for ancient civilizations to have advanced science and math knowledge before having a way to properly record it. We know from oral story telling traditions that the stories, fictional or historical are changed which each bard that tells it. What is amazing to me is that with things like science and math don’t change. They are kept true despite the probability of memory and recall error. It was the same with the people of Thoveiturn. They had no written language but were incredible musicians and built massive instruments. Similar in idea to organ pipes all over their planet, and they all play the same tunes.”

Shedda