Cooking in the Morning

Once Thatch had the rest of the squid clean, the ship had to move away a couple of miles away as the blood started to attract other sea kings, and no one wanted to deal with them. In the kitchen, I looked around to see if they had everything I needed.

First, I prepared the squid. Thatch had given me the hood of the squid to prepare for the entire ship, so I didn't want to screw up. Walking over to the sink, I cleaned out the hood making sure no organs or cartilage were left over.

-Soaking the hood in an ice bath, I started on the marinara sauce. I diced tomatoes, garlic, oregano, and basil before throwing them in a pot.

The rest of the meal was simple, slicing the hood into manageable pieces. And I breaded them with a mixture of flour and panko.

In less than an hour, I had a mountain of golden crispy calamari. "That looks pretty good. I can't believe I've never thought of that before."

Thatch reached over and picked up a ring and ate it, "It's pretty good. I would use some other herbs in the breading. But it's still delicious."

"So Thatch, I was wonder if I could start to help out around the kitchen. I have some experience cooking." Thatch scratched his beard, "I don't see why not, but you'll have to follow all the rules."

I nodded, "That's fine with me, as long as I get to learn." I cleaned off my workspace and put the pot of sauce in the fridge for later.

When lunchtime rolled around, the meal was a pasta dish, and everyone was immediately in love with my calamari. It was a good feeling to see the smile on everyone's face, "Damn, Soren, do you guys eat this all the time on your island."

I smiled at Bane, "Squid wasn't native to the waters around my island, so we had to get them imported. So it was reserved for special occasions."

Lots of beer followed the meal, so it was a grand old time. Instead of waking up whenever I felt like it, I was prodded awake.

"Soren, get up. We have to start making breakfast." Rolling over, I glared at Tatch, "Fine, just let me get ready." In five minutes, I was dressed and in the kitchen alongside ten other chefs.

"Okay then, people, we're going to make a classic breakfast. Kylo start on the eggs, spinach, and mushroom omelets. And Ren, start using the old fruit to make a syrup, and I'll start making the French toast."

I didn't know which group Thatch assigned me to, but he quickly pulled me aside, "Soren, for today, you'll start with Ren. Listen to him." Nodding, I followed the other five chefs running into the walk-in freezer.

Grabbing every container of fruit I could get my hands on, "Okay then, I need two people on the stove, and everyone else starts blending fruit."

I ended up on stove duty, so I had to wait for the blended fruit. There were five pots each for a different type of fruit. My job started off easily. I only had to combine the right amount of sugar and fruit.

Then it started to ramp up, juggling string the fruit making sure it didn't burn and pouring off the extra to make more the syrup. Combined with the noise from the rest of the kitchen, it was chaotic.

I ended up growing an extra pair of arms just to deal with the stress, "So how's your first day? Is it everything you wanted?" I smiled at Ray, he had a beer gut and a greasy thin mustache, but he was a kindred spirit always happy.

"I had somewhat of an idea, but this is pure chaos, controlled chaos but chaos all the same." Ray chuckled, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

After an hour or so, people started to stream into the common room. I could hear their stomachs growling from the smell of the food.

"Okay, everybody, start plating, Soren. I want to see how well you can control those extra arms." Nodding, I moved over to the head of the line, and I started to plate the food after seeing an example.

My hands blurred as I grabbed french toast after french toast, planting them with a pile of berries drowned in a river of syrup. I probably prepared more plates in a minute than the rest of the chefs combined.

I sighed as I sat down next to Bane, a plate of my own in hand, "So how was your first day on the job? Was it everything you dreamed of?"

I flipped him off before shoving the entire omelet into my mouth, "Shut up, don't you know never to piss off the guy who makes your food. I could slip something nasty into your food."

Bane paled slightly, "You don't have to do that. I was just teasing." I sighed and went back to eating my own food. It was really quite good, better than anything I could afford on earth.

"So, have you heard?" I looked over a Bane with my eyebrow raised, "What do you mean." Bane chuckled, "We're heading to Fishman Island. The old man has grown tired of slavery taking place there. Where going to claim it as our territory."

I smiled, "I wonder how thankful the natives will be." Bane had a dangerous glint in his eyes, "You know I heard that Mermaids and sleep with humans."

I choked on my water, and I glared at Bane, "Damnit, man, don't do that when I'm drinking. Now I'm definitely putting something in your meal next time."

Bane paled again, and this time I laughed, "Don't worry, I won't kill you, maybe keep you on the can for an hour or so, but that's it." Bane growled and kept his head down for the rest of the meal, hoping not to piss me off again.