Second round for the Thenamesh Cook and Critic AU.
This time Gil nails the next meal. Thena reacts like the food critic from ratatouille!
Thena sighs as another plate is taken away from in front of her. She looks at her notepad. She has tried twelve dishes thus far, and every single one of them was lacklustre. Her notes are mostly things like spoke at the floor during presentation, or not enough onion in ONION galette.
She only agreed to critique this farce because she wants the extra credit. That was the reason she gave her supervising teacher, that is. On a more personal level, she saw the list of students entering and volunteered to critique and write the review for the competition.
It's extracurricular, essentially a competition for a review in a very prestigious publication. It's still a review, so she has to be impartial, if critical, but the winner can get their name out into the real world of fine dining.
She doesn't think anyone on this list besides Gilgamesh stands a chance. But again, she has to be impartial, so she can't risk voicing that opinion. She has to try his dish for herself.
Thanks to her position as a third year critique student, she's graded several classes this year, three of which Gilgamesh attended. His dishes are always warm and comforting, but he doesn't lack refinement, and he's no slouch when it comes to plating. She rather thinks he has more promise than anyone else in the school.
"Just one more," Ajak smiles over her shoulder. Thena just nods, long bored of having to endure all the other entries when Gilgamesh's is the only one she actually wanted to try.
She could have just asked. He has offered several times now to make her something, or present the adjustments to a recipe that she suggested. But she can't take him up on that offer...for some reason. She'll think about it, and then lose her nerve.
The door to the examination room opens and in walks Gilgamesh, tall and broad shouldered and confident. He has a huge grin on his face, which is a stark contrast to the contestants who walked in with tears in their eyes. He shifts his dish on his palm so he can wave at her.
Thena almost waves back, but it turns to a flinch as his tray starts to tilt. "Gil-!"
"Whoa!" he startles, catching the silver cloche and adjusting the platter loudly. "Sorry, that was close!"
Ajak presses her palm over her eyes.
Thena sinks back into her chair (she didn't even realise she had risen in reflex to the scare). She clears her throat, tugging at her skirt. "What are you presenting, Gilgamesh?"
"Well, the name of the dish officially is Liquid Gold," he grins as he sets the platter down on her white tablecloth. He pulls the cloche away, "but I did think about calling it Breakfast of Champions."
The room is silent in reaction to the dish. Sitting in front of her for judging in a fine dining setting is...an egg--a singular egg in an egg holder in the middle of the plate.
Thena leans forward examining it closer. Her brows knit and she looks up at him. He's still beaming, though, and it's a little too infectious to ignore. She feels the corners of her lips tug, "what have you done?"
Gilgamesh leans in too, eager to watch her cut into the dish. "I took a chance--I hope you like onigiri."
Thena pokes at the outside of the 'egg'. The rice is perfect and fluffy, but shaped into an egg, which is renowned for being a deceptively difficult shape to construct. She pulls it away and indeed, inside, is liquid gold. She inhales.
Gilgamesh hangs on her every reaction, practically wagging his tail in his eagerness.
Ajak steps towards them, "Gilgamesh, do you want to...?"
He shakes his head though, "after she's had her bite."
Her bite--her one bite, for which she has become infamous. Because she has to taste so much in a day she has come to dislike so many foods. Because she can never just sit down and enjoy a meal. Because she's the most frightening critique student to come out of this school.
Thena pulls her bite to her lips and gasps. Her eyes go wide and she feels as if she's sinking into a warm chicken broth. The dish oozes, just like a soft boiled egg, but the grains of rice fall to the plate below and instead of egg yolk, there is a silken chicken broth dripping out, thickened like a creamy soup.
It makes her feel like a little girl digging into a soft boiled egg in her grandfather's garden. It tastes like a comforting chicken dumpling and a risotto and a breakfast dish all at once. She chews the rice and feels like when she would eat plov (pilaf) after a cold day outside.
She takes another bite, and then another. The dish is small anyway, and she wishes it weren't. She even moves her fork in the bottom of the egg holder to get every last grain of rice within. She licks her lips and sighs, leaning on the table. "It's perfect."
Ajak's jaw is hanging open.
But Gil is looking at her with pure joy on his face, "you think so?"
She nods, feeling as if she's tipsy (she doesn't drink). She taps her finger against the gold rim of the plate. "Tell me about the dish."
"So, I thought, well, what's the most important meal of the day?" he begins rhetorically, and maybe it's because she's in such a good mood that she finds it so charming. Or maybe it's just Gilgamesh. But he gesticulates as he speaks, and she wonders if anyone will mind if she licks the inside of the egg cup. "And then I think, what's my favourite thing to have for breakfast?"
She raises her brows at him, and this is no longer her interviewing him for the competition. It might never have been that. "You have onigiri for breakfast?"
"I do a lot of cooking in the day, I really value a quick meal I don't have to do anything for myself," he shrugs shamelessly. She thinks he's funny. "Anyway, I was thinking of what fillings of onigiri there are, and then I thought about dumplings and their fillings, and then I thought about how chicken dumplings are totally underrated. Then-"
"Gilgamesh," Ajak interrupts him, and Thena has never felt annoyed with Ajak before now. "More concisely, please."
"Right, sorry," he offers a more sheepish smile and holds the silver cloche of the platter against his chest. "Liquid Gold is inspired by eastern and western traditions of a self contained meal. It's all the warmth of a perfect egg with the complexity of a xiaolongbao. The 'egg' is composed of rice I seasoned with just a little sesame oil and rice vinegar, and the 'yolk' is actually a homemade chicken stock concentrated down with a little traditional seasoning, as well as some curry and all-spice, to be gentle on the stomach, then made into a gelatin so it can melt out of the egg when you cut into it."
Thena wishes she could stand up and clap for him.
"I know it's a simple concept, and maybe I'm taking a bit of a risk," he admits, some shyness coming over him. "But I thought...what would someone want to eat? What's something that would be comforting, but also nice to eat, whether it's first thing in the morning or...after a bunch of other dishes."
Thena blinks. He took into account that he was last on the roster for judging. Had he really taken into consideration how she would feel after tasting all the other entries?
"I just wanna make food that makes people happy," he concludes softly, shrugging his shoulders as if he hasn't created a truly unique and inspired dish.
She could cry with joy, she liked it so much.
"Thank you for having me," he concludes, as did the rest of the contestants. He bows to her and Ajak, then to the other supervising teachers present.
Thena wishes she could ask him to make this for her again, but just sits there as he walks out. When he closes the door, she dabs at her eyes. She has truly been moved to tears by his cooking, and she didn't even get to tell him.
She publishes her review the next day in the school newsletter.
The very idea that culinary practice requires its own form of criticism is, in itself, arrogant. Who are we to declare that the simple act of eating and enjoying food is subject to validation given by a privileged few? The purpose of food is to be eaten, and I believe that any cook worthy of being called Chef would say that they want to make food which people will enjoy.
Liquid Gold is, in every sense, food to be enjoyed. It is the perfect dish, small but rich, comforting but exciting, engaging but familiar. The promise of a liquid centre of chicken bouillon is enough to make Midas a jealous man, encased in rice capable of transporting anyone back to the kitchen of their most beloved memories.
Brought to life by a chef named Gilgamesh, I am no match for it. It does not require a perfect palette to enjoy this dish. Nor does anyone need to have refined tastes to love eating it. This charming little 'egg' exists only to evoke complete infatuation with its simple charms.
Once upon a time, many of us were told that love is a secret ingredient to any meal. With Chef Gilgamesh, this may well prove true. Love is palatable in this dish, and within all dishes of his making. And I expect the world over to fall in love with this dish as I have, created by the best chef ever to be taught within the halls of the Celestial Institute of Culinary Studies.
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By a strange series of events, you are put in charge of a university's gen Ed "philosophy" program; what reading do you assign?
So the responsible thing to do here would be to make a well-balanced list of books that covers the "History of Ideas" in the West from Homer to Heidegger. But that's a well-travelled path and I'm assuming that this strange series of events does not presume any sort of responsibility on my part.
So instead, I'm taking the opportunity to recruit a bunch of unwitting "Great Books" undergrads to revive a philosophical movement that died out in the 6th century when Justinian effectively banned it.
Year 1
In the first year, students will develop a mastery of the ancient greek language, with a focus on texts that cover broad topics that do not require much prior knowledge or background, using Simplicius' commentaries as textbooks that can provide any needed context.
Semester 1
Language
Hansen and Quinn - Greek: An Intensive Course
Liddell, Scott, and Jones - A Greek-English Lexicon
Xenophon - Anabasis, Hellenica, Cyropaedeia, Memorabilia
Herodotus - Histories
An Introduction to Logic
Porphyry - Isagoge
Aristotle - Categories, On Interpretation
Simplicius - Commentary on Aristotle's Categories
An Introduction to Ethics
Pythagoras - Golden Verses
Hierocles - Commentary on the Golden Verses
Epictetus - Enchiridion
Simplicius - Commentary on the Enchiridion of Epictetus
Semester 2
Language
Georg Autenreith - A Homeric Dictionary
Homer - Odyssey, Iliad
An Introduction to Platonism
Theon of Alexandria - Mathematics Useful for the Reading of Plato
Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy
Plato - Alcibiades I, Gorgias, Phaedo
Porphyry - Sententiae
An Introduction to Physics
Aristotle - Physics, On the Heavens
Simplicius - Commentary on Physics, Commentary on the Heavens
Year 2
In the second year, students will translate the major works of Euripides and Aristophanes and work their way through the majority of the Iamblichean curriculum. Readings may be supplemented by Plotinus' Enneads where relevant as time permits.
Semester 1
Language
Hesiod - Works and Days, Theogony
Homeric Hymns to Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes
Euripides - Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba
Aristophanes - The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Wasps, Peace
Platonic Logic
Heraclitus - Fragments
Anonymous Commentary on the Theaetetus
Parmenides - The Way of Truth
Plato - Cratylus, Theatetus, Sophist, Statesman
An Introduction to Theology
Damascius - On First Principles
Aristotle - Metaphysics
Alexander - Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics
Syrianus - Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics
Semester 2
Language
Pindar - Odes
Euripides - Trojan Women, Phoenician Women, Orestes, The Bacchae
Aristophanes - Thesmophoriazusae, Lysistrata, The Birds, The Frogs
Menander - Dyskolos
Platonic Ethics
Plato - Philebus, Symposium, Phaedrus
Damascius - Lectures on the Philebus
Introduction to Pythagoreanism
Iamblichus - On Pythagoreanism
Nicomachus - Introduction to Arithmetic
Sallustius - On the Nature of the World and the Cosmos
Year 3
The third year focuses on the "Perfect" Dialogues - each semester consists of a single course focusing on a single major Platonic dialogue. Students will work their way through the Proclean commentaries on each and write their own commentary on the Parmenides.
Semester 1
Plato's Timaeus
Plutarch - On the Generation of the World-Soul in the Timaeus
Alcinous - Handbook of Platonism
Proclus - Elements of Physics
Plato - Timaeus
Anonymous - Timaeus of Locri
Proclus - Commentary on Timaeus
Semester 2
Plato's Parmenides
Proclus - Elements of Theology
Plato - Parmenides
Proclus - Commentary on Parmenides
Proclus - Platonic Theology
Year 4
Students will learn the basics of allegorical interpretation from Porphyry, Philo, and Cornutus, and then apply this knowledge to the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles, using Proclus' Hymns, and work on the Republic as a model. This year also provides a brief background into the historical practice of theurgy.
Semester 1
Introduction to Allegorical Commentary
Porphyry - On the Cave of the Nymphs, Homeric Questions
Philo of Alexandria - Questions and Answers on Genesis
Cornutus - Compendium of Greek Theology
Introduction to Theurgy
Plutarch - On Isis and Osiris
Hermes Trismegistus - The Perfect Discourse, The Pupil of the Cosmos
Porphyry - Letter to Anebo
Iamblichus - On the Mysteries
Julian - Hymn to the Mother of the Gods
Semester 2
Political Philosophy
Plato - Republic
Proclus - Commentary on the Republic
Drama, Theurgy, and Allegory
Proclus - Hymns
Orphic Hymns
Aeschylus - Oresteia, Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Suppliants
Sophocles - Ajax, Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Philoctetes
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