Tomorrow was guaranteed to be an interesting adventure in trying to figure out exactly what 'How to Be a Chocbro' even meant, but, for today, for tonight, Ignis was relishing a little in being able to do his own thing, free from his compatriots, to conduct what he hoped would be a nice, fulfilling experience of expanding the world of cooking to those who may not quite be the best at it yet.

Of course, he had attempted to teach Noctis Lucis Caelum how to cook, so he did not at all expect any of this to be that easy.

He was rather grateful to have the distraction of something to keep his mind off of that song that was stuck in his head, the one he could only seem to remember the first verse of and couldn't put his finger on anything more than that, not even the title, which was, quite frankly, maddening, too. And so, without further ado, and looking impeccibly stylish in his usual well-tailored clothes and with his spectacularly long, waist-length hair (complete with the usual cockateil-poof of his bangs), he was ready to begin his course, giving a nod to the gathered students.



"Welcome," he said, "to Beyond Cup Noodle: Basic Cooking for Adults. I assume you're all here because you have an interest in expending your knowledge of cooking, but have, for whatever reason, either not had the opportunity to do so or simply don't know where to start. Well, my name is Ignis Scientia, I have taught a few cooking courses at this school before, as well as become a bit of a personal chef to the crown prince of the kingdom of Lucis over the years, and I am here to help. Please let me know if you have any particular food allergies, aversions, or restrictions otherwise, but otherwise, we shall go ahead and begin with our first lesson, a simple lesson that will eventually open the door to many other possibilities, and that is....pasta.

"Noodles," he added with a small grin, "that don't come in a styrofoam cup.

"For the sake of this particular lesson, however, we will still be using dry pasta, to give a wider margin of error than afforded with fresh pasta, although I certainly hope we may graduate to that step at some point. For now, though, as a first class, we still with the most basic of basics. Pastas, no matter the size, shape, fresh or dried, are cooked by absorbing water, which will soften the noodles. We will start simply: find your large pot, fill it with cold water, and we will set it on the range until it starts to boil. Go ahead and do so now."

And should this task prove difficult, well...he'd have a good understanding of where they all stood.

Ignis gave his long, beautiful hair a toss out of the way before he continued.

"Ensure that you are filling you pot with enough water that the pasta will have enough room to move around, and it is very common practice to sprinkle some salt into the water." Which he did now with significantly more flair than salting a pot of water ever needed to have.

"Once the water has reached a rolling boil, we will then add the pasta," which he also did, as he explained, "stirring occasionally, and then it is a matter of waiting for when the noodles have reached the desired softness, and that is when your best judgement comes into play. All pastas will be different for just how long they take to cook, and so you, as a chef, are responsible for determining when its ready. Luckily, it is incredibly easy to test such a thing as the noodles cook: remove a noodle carefully from the pot," again, demonstrating, even though it would be far from ready by now, "running it briefly under some cold water, and then biting into it."

He did that as well, chewing thoughtfully for a moment before swallowing and discarding the remaining, unbitten noodle. "If it's chewy, without any crunch left in the middle, your pasta is ready. In the case of that noodle, it most certainly needs more time.

"So, to recap," he offered, before turning them all to make their pastas on their own, which should be simple enough, right? "Ensure you have a large enough pot for the style of pasta you will be making, salt the water before adding the pasta, and don't add the pasta until your water is properly boiling. Stirring the pasta is crucial to keep the pasta seperated, and when you test your pasta, you want it to be chewy with no crunch left in the middle. When you think you've got it, feel free strain your pasta into a collander and I will come around and test it. Those of you who are a little more advanced may like to keep in mind that the water used to cook your pasta in might actually be saved to be used in sauces and the like; the starch from the pasta itself gives it a robustness that can enhance a dish and give it a nice silky body. But, since we'll be focusing on just the pasta today, we'll not worry about it now, although once our pasta is ready, I'd like to see what you might come up with by terms of how to flavor the noodles once they are prepared, just to get an idea of where everyone's tastes may run.



"Any questions before we begin?"