Metahumanities 280
Croziflette
Blackjack by C.B. Ash
Bonjour, mes amis! Bienvenue dans le Guide du Blackjack sur les Aliments Réconfortants.
This afternoon, we shall take our time as we craft small baking pans of a dish called "croziflette".
This dish, while famously French, is not so venerable as many of the things you would encounter in the French Alps. All of the components, all of the technique, did indeed exist before the year 1705. However, the modern rendition began to tempt vacationers at Alpine ski resorts in the 1980s -- some years after a quite youthful Petit Monsieur Paxton emigrated to the New World of Cajun cuisine. I had learned some of the skill involved in this dish from an aunt of ma Mère. I learned more after my career had made sufficient name for me that I could afford to make the occasional trip across the Atlantic Ocean. I forged certain business acquaintances; I also did my best to revisit the places and people of my earliest memories. Since you now are within the Gironde School grande cuisine, it must be so that you wish to learn the French way of showing care for your camarades on a chilly evening. Croziflette is a fine comfort food after a day of hard labour in the brisk outdoors. I normally blend into it some of the Creole flavors I loved in my new homeland. It does well with the addition of cayenne, paprika, and pepper. Before we take creative risks, however, we must know the foundation of it. So for this time, the traditional ingredients alone. Butter and onion; heavy cream and buckwheat pasta; lardon -- that is to say, small matchstick sized strips of bacon; Reblochon cheese and crème fraîche; salt, pepper, bread crumbs. We shall begin with a meticulous review of the tools for our upcoming effort. We want no chance for Drama to spoil our plot as we go along:
This afternoon, we shall take our time as we craft small baking pans of a dish called "croziflette".
This dish, while famously French, is not so venerable as many of the things you would encounter in the French Alps. All of the components, all of the technique, did indeed exist before the year 1705. However, the modern rendition began to tempt vacationers at Alpine ski resorts in the 1980s -- some years after a quite youthful Petit Monsieur Paxton emigrated to the New World of Cajun cuisine. I had learned some of the skill involved in this dish from an aunt of ma Mère. I learned more after my career had made sufficient name for me that I could afford to make the occasional trip across the Atlantic Ocean. I forged certain business acquaintances; I also did my best to revisit the places and people of my earliest memories. Since you now are within the Gironde School grande cuisine, it must be so that you wish to learn the French way of showing care for your camarades on a chilly evening. Croziflette is a fine comfort food after a day of hard labour in the brisk outdoors. I normally blend into it some of the Creole flavors I loved in my new homeland. It does well with the addition of cayenne, paprika, and pepper. Before we take creative risks, however, we must know the foundation of it. So for this time, the traditional ingredients alone. Butter and onion; heavy cream and buckwheat pasta; lardon -- that is to say, small matchstick sized strips of bacon; Reblochon cheese and crème fraîche; salt, pepper, bread crumbs. We shall begin with a meticulous review of the tools for our upcoming effort. We want no chance for Drama to spoil our plot as we go along:
While Monsieur Paxton discusses his personal opinion of the two convection ovens, the cutlery, and various other resources in the Gironde School main kitchen, here are a few GM Notes on the storybuilding option for character advancement between adventures.
By now, we all know that the TTRPG is more fun for everybody when collaborators pitch in together to build a story. Each of the two GMs has a medium-range goal toward which they are navigating. These goals were built out of the individual stories for each player character -- a bit of Don Blake's "strange origin" Subplot here, a chunk of Martin Prinz's "hunted immigrant from an Alternate Reality" Subplot there, and so on down the line. The whole story is about everybody; the parts are about each one in turn.
We wanted to make sure that every Character Advancement break includes an option for building more pieces of the story, not just the sheet. Powergamers bore us. Effective, inventive protagonists ready to muck about in the face of any challenge? That's the delight that keeps us working behind the scenes.
Every one of the suggested character advancement opportunities will hopefully answer in the affirmative to three questions:
- Does this course, as a story beat, make the whole group's adventures more fun?
- Does this game mechanic, as a representation of a challenge point in the ongoing or upcoming story arcs, give the player more inspiration for ways their character can make a difference?
- As a framing device in the narrative, does the course description fit the genre and theme of this particular Supergroup?
More than anything else, we want everyone to enjoy what we are doing together. If you don't see any Character Advancement prompts that appeal to you, no problem! There is no requirement that the Player Characters spend their Hero Points on any of these prompts. Nor is it mandatory to do any Advancement right now at all, if someone would rather keep their HP banked for a rainy day. A character could attend a couple of these classes but not get an immediate benefit. Or audit a course for purposes the GMs have not listed. Or decide to spend all of their off-duty time at home with their feet up, singing along to the Muppet cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody". We all need to rest and recharge before our next adventure.
Blackjack by C.B. Ash
Legally speaking, Reblochon cheese cannot appear within the United States of America, no. It is not pasteurized. It is a young cheese, soft. In fact, if it is left to age enough to satisfy the safety concerns of the Importation Inspector, it is no longer fit to be sold at all.
Here is a link to a presentable variation of croziflette that makes do with legally permissible cheese. Such is what you will use if you make this dish for, say, Captain America. Or the Mayor of Metropolis. You hear what I tell you, oui?
Very good.
Blackjack has done good business this year with that most elegant contrebandier de fromage, La Professeure Baird, who perhaps you have heard mentioned for her legendary work in The Netherlands. It is thanks to her skill that we have this learning opportunity before us today…
A character who selects this course is probably not going to be adding anything to a Skill. Plenty of other possibilities are available:
- Subplots
Someone might sign up for this class taught at the whim of the resident "retired (more or less) catburglar" because they like the idea of being adventurous in little, harmless ways. They might opt to pick up a Learn International Cuisine Subplot.
- Working toward future Skills or Powers
They might develop an eventual goal to playtest an Uncommon Subskill house rule still under development.
They might even fall afoul of Blackjack's ire. He did sound sincere with that warning against detrimental noise in the vicinity. Did someone test whether a pleasant delivery means the threatened consequences are not literal? Did they then have a minute of disorientation that cleared up to this view, with the current temperature at 47°F and swiftly dropping, and need to push their metahuman abilities in new directions to get down off the mountain?
- Add an Advantage
Someone might be intrigued by this class as part of a long-term plan to grow a Connection, Low (Thieves Society) or (French ex-patriates). Along similar lines, they might plan to use the culinary principles taught in this seminar to impress new friends at MAGI over the winter break.
Or they might be slowly building the character's story toward a Connoisseur Advantage. That could be great for future cover stories in a counterespionage career! It works for Phryne Fisher and John Reese, right?
- Purely for fun
Or they may want to try out the occasional new experience in life without life-risking stresses involved. Why not? Life cannot always be about strategy and derring-do.
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