Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nikki Brako (Chief of Operations) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Baldur Bragason (Strategic Operations Officer) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nikki Brako (Chief of Operations) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There
Posted by… suppressed (14) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

“Commander,” began Mathias, turning back to Baldur. “I think you’re making the right move to not have science analyze what’s in here. Sometimes the price you have to pay to see the cards just isn’t worth it.” He took a deep breath and went after another bite. This was the slowest he had eaten a meal since he was a dinner guest on Orina V. He supposed if he had evolved from fish he might have different tastes too. That was another thought he was going to need to shake off before his stomach started doing somersaults.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

“Hah” The laugh came like a deep boom “Very true, sir, very true” Baldur grabbed a napkin and wiped some soup from his great beard with care “I think this place shows what people can do if given the opportunity” He said with conviction “Also that no matter where it is, non descript space soup always tastes the same”

SOO - Baldur

“Or not do,” Nikki said. He found the man ate like someone out of Lord of the Flies. If one had a beard, one took care how one ate and didn’t virtually dip it into the soup to better have the ambiance. His uncle Patty had instilled in him certain manners, especially around soup. Spoon to mouth, not mouth to spoon. It was a lesson he had never forgotten, however, not always held to. With this soup he found he had no urge to rush. Dipping the bread in he bit the piece off. It had a taste. Of what he wasn’t sure but it wasn’t horrible. As for the food anyone with half an imagination could make this better. “Is this a random quality control check?” He asked. Why else would they be here. At least Nikki had a reason.
- Nikki

Baldur smiled at the man’s question, looking at the Captain then back at Brako “Not on my part no, I simply enjoy manmade food” He looked down at his bowl “Or in this case sludge” He said in his cheerful manner “Sometimes they do get something really good going, think of it like wading through the muck to get to the promised land” He took another spoonful “Besides I’m not certain that quality check falls under my purview”

SOO - Baldur

“That is the returning fad,” Nikki replied, wondering what a particular hard nodule was that came up with soup and which he had just bitten into sending a shot of flavor that could only be defined as ‘bitter’ through is mouth. It caused him to pause and drink some of the water, trying to place the taste, but giving up quickly. “That is a big return in many places, cooking real food, but the ‘fleet seems to still cling to its gods of replication as though this and that formula were the be all of culinary potential.” He picked up a glass of water. “This, replicated by ol Nikki here would not really be water, but laced with the nutrients that is supposed te be good fer me. Might as well be drinkin a meatloaf.”

Dabbing up some of the soup with more bread he shook his head. “But this,” he said, using the dripping bread as a pointer, “does nothin to sell real food.” He pondered doing a sales pitch for his liners but at a glance didn’t get that he was much of a cruise type. A thought came to him. “You cook?” he asked. “You sound like a man who can handle his own in a kitchen.”
- Nikki, COO

Baldur chuckled “I dabble. We used to get this Klingon trader at 234 that brought the most wonderful spices from the empire, something they don’t really have a market for I think. That and new eggs every month and some interesting meats. Still, prefer good old Icelandic lamb over anything” He ate another spoonful of soup with no outward expression, if anything he seemed to enjoy the food at least somewhat.

SOO- Baldur

Nikki was in mid bite with what he had taken nearly done. “Lamb?” he asked as though he hadn’t heard it. Lamb, for Nikki, was about the only meat he ate unless one considered fish to be a meat which he didn’t in his own class of food thinking. “How is Icelandic lamb cooked?” he asked. His family having lived and still did in Ireland on a property had a fondness for lamb that Nikki had inherited. Certainly having had limited time on Earth generation wise, being Iotian, Nikki still had some exposure to the traditional fare there. It wasn’t often that he had lamb as he ate mostly vegetarian – something, in assessing Baldur, that he didn’t think the large man before him knew the meaning of.

“It’s less about the cooking and more about the raising. An old stocky breed that’s roamed the countryside since it was originally colonized. That and its diet of grass and herbs make for a lean and tender meat. Then you can braise it, grill it or roast it. Serve it with some brown sauce and potatoes, a nice salad and a glass of Spanish Red then you have a proper meal. Of course, we also have Svið, one half of a boiled sheepshead, you haven’t lived till you’ve eat one.”

Nikki took all of this in, his eyes shrewd and keenly interested in what Baldur was saying there. “They way yer describin it one would think it was seasoning itself te be ready fer the pot.” Cooks on his ships had a huge variety of skills to take care of the even wider variety of races and their tastes. That could make for a vast tangle of exotic like dishes. And he’d tasted them all. He’d not liked them all but it was his prerogative and need to check what was being served. One never knew when something ‘odd’ was going to be served at his table. “I’d like ta try that lad,” he said. Glancing at his bowl he conjectured that this was the bad and anything at the tail of what Baldur was describing could not be bad.

Taking the last bite of the bread he turned to his glass of water. “I agree. Klingon spices are ..” he searched for the word, “.. on their own team. Subtle is fine for spices to bring out what is in the food naturally. Klingon spices, like most things Kling, prefer to pull out the flavor kicking and screaming.” He took a long pull of the water. “Why do they cook here anyway?” he asked. “Even an industrial replicator could do better in this place? Not that I don’t like to see cooking happening, but I’d rather see more edible food replicated than poor food cooked.” His voice went lower, a hint of anger forming. “Gives cooking a bad name.”
- Nikki, COO

“I’ve heard the replicator over in the corner there gives replicators a bad name, believe it or not. Though I wonder if that’s just because of the smell in here,” theorized Mathias. “The thought behind the mess hall was to both provide the Starfleet personnel meals in a social setting while preventing food waste from the Promenade restaurants by putting to use their unwanted ingredients. They just underestimated how unwanted they were in my opinion.” He was already giving up on eating the rest of his soup-like meal. He could stuff it down, but why would he want to, particularly with Mom’s cafe and the Bajoran place just a few meters away.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

“Oh, I think that there’s potential here, clean it up a bit and get some expertise to help with the cooking. Well, that or just pour enough spices in it to hide the flavor.” Baldur half-joked “Besides I think everyone should eat bad food from time to time, how can you truly enjoy life’s pleasures without knowing life without it.” He pointed at his soup with the spoon in his hand “Won’t you enjoy your next meal more, even if it’s only mediocre, now that you’ve had this?” He asked seemingly explaining his non-chalant attitude towards the objectively bad food.

SOO- Baldur

Nikki glanced around. There were more tables than there were people. Seemed to him that the social experiment was over at the bars and not here. “There’s unwanted on the one hand. Kin they not supplement it with things, ah, more traditional to mix in?” As in edible? He glanced at Baldur and showed a definite ‘what?!’ look. “That is daft, man. Good food is good food and there is enough of it around te have variety in that. People will go where they the like food because it is good. Bad should be an accident.” By the way he said it it was more akin to ‘bad was an aberration of nature’. “Look about ye. I’ll wager that most people are in the pubs because they like it better.”
- Nikki, the food snob

Baldur shrugged “I’ve only been here a handful of times, sometimes it gets more crowded sometimes it’s like this” He finally finished his bowl “You ever eat rations?” He asked the pair “Not like the regular ones but Emergency Rations? Eat those for two weeks straight and then have a simple burger it will be absolutely divine. When I grew up we rarely had replicated food, my family was entirely against it. So when I joined the fleet and started eating mostly with a replicator I took every chance I could to get a real meal, it’s always worth it for me”

SOO - Baldur

Nikki had to admit he was impressed. It totally depended on how good the cook was. Mothers’ cooking could be considered divine but all the same if mother’s cooking was shite. Emergency rations, whatever they were, would be heavenly by comparison. He shook his head to the negative on the question of the rations, holding his water close to his chin as his elbow rested on the table. He’d always had good cooking, barring the times in prison and occasional times away. “Replicators. When you have it, what is the problem? Isn’t it perfect? Made to taste?” He was totally playing devil’s advocate there as he detested the perfection and ‘sneaky’ components of replicated things. One could live on ice cream sundaes and still have all the necessary nutrients one needed all in the right amounts.
- Nikki

Baldur shrugged “Not a problem as such, more like a preference in taste and texture, I’d say we’re a few decades from Replicated food tasting properly like food” He mused. It had been some time since his last proper real meal, he had yet to try any of the restaurants, now was the time of pallette cleansers and getting used to the new gravity. His mind wandered to what his first meal should be.

Baldur - SOO

“I’ll have to agree with you on replicated food not quite being up to the same level. At least it’s true with smoked ribs if nothing else. But,” the captain started, while raising a disagreeing index finger in the air, “I’m not about to try emergency rations or any other terrible food to appreciate average food more. Do you also suggest stubbing your toe so you can better appreciate the experience of not having just stubbed your toe? I think we’re better off taking the negative life deals to us than going and seeking more of it out.” Mathias had to admit at least to himself that there could be some merit to Baldur’s approach to food. But he’d stumbled across enough bad food in his time and didn’t care to seek out more of it.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

Nikki was rather unsure of what they were talking about. “Ye sayin that the replicators on this old tub are that old?” He let out a groan and mentally added it to the list of things he was needing to look at. “A century ago ye would be eatin blue blobs. But even a decade ago ye could get near perfect dishes with the right programmed recipes. If, of course, ye had up to date equipment and software updates.” He felt like he should find out who the lax engineer was that had the post last and put a hit out on him or her. This was a Fed facility. It should be topped up - at least with the strictly Fleet areas and habitations.
- Nikki

Baldur chuckled “I wouldn’t compare eating bad food with the stubbing of ones toes, think of it more like this” He leaned back in his seat, crossing his powerfully built arms “Back home it can get cold, not Russian or Canadian Cold but still cold enough, sometimes as cold as negative twenty. Then it’s great to walk around outside and go inside, remove your cold outfit and put something soft on and warm yourself. Replace one lousy thing with a wonderful thing and you enjoy the wonderful thing even more. Jumping in a frosen pond then going into the hot tub is a great experience but you don’t always do it, sometimes the mood just hits”

SOO - Baldur

Nikki presented a look in which he thought that ‘any’ cold weather enterprise was the same as one not shooting with a full magazine. Having grown up virtually his whole life on ships voluntarily going out into cold weather was just not right. But then Baldur had a look that had in it a place that while he looked as though he could lift a ton, spelling it might be a challenge in some arenas. He had the ears and nose that was distinctive of a boxer and, while Nikki could handle himself, he was what might be termed an ‘athletic boxer’. He wouldn’t win any prize fights but he had the tenacity to at least make it a go. “I’ll take yer word for it,” he commented, studying the large man opposite.

Give the man a singular distinctive brow and he would have been close in appearance to Polchuck, his father’s driver and bodyguard. Hands on it might be an interesting match between the two but, Nikki figured, it would never come to that. “What brought ye to this place?” He asked, then gestured to the bowl and plate. “The food so ye could admire the real thing?”
- Nikki

Baldur chuckled “No not really, that’s just why I put up with it. No, I like to test different places so I can make an informed decision. Knowledge might not be power but it sure beats ignorance” He flashed a toothy smile “Knowing the quirks of your own home is necessary to understand what makes it work” He took a short swig of his water “Besides what better place to learn more about the people you work with than watching them eat crappy food, their reactions, and opinions.”

Baldur - SOO