Hannibal's house in Baltimore, Monday afternoon

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal unlocked the door with his free hand, still holding the cooler of fresh fish in the other, and waved Zhari in.

"Please. You may set your things down here, if you like." He set the cooler on the foyer floor and began pulling off his jacket.

Comments

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"Learning a little more about them with give me some peace of mind," she answered, a wry twist to her mouth and an inward glare for her baby sister.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal raised an eyebrow. "From whom?"

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"My thoughts," Zhari said staunchly. "They're all awhirl. That happens sometimes when I learn something new, even when I'd rather be focused on something else."

That was her story and she was sticking to it.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Of course." Hannibal wasn't buying it for a moment and made no secret of it, but he seemed unlikely to be able to get more from her without being rude himself.

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Absolutely not, according to the mulish expression on her face. You were a great teacher, Dr. Lecter, but you had not yet been invited to Secret Sharing Time.

She kept a wary eye on him a moment more, while internally yelling at Sholeh for almost blowing their cover until Zeela intervened. She was the peacemaker whenever their littlest sister was involved.

"So then," Zhahar said, forcing a smile to her face. "Should we start the preparations?"

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal nodded. "Did you want some of the garlic, then?"

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"Yes please. A bulb or two, if you'd be so kind." Some would be minced for the other fish options she'd like to try, but the recipe she'd grown up with involved a few whole cloves tucked away. "And...where are we going to cook them? I don't want to light a fire in your kitchen."

It was too pretty to burn!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Why not?" he asked, opening the glass doors to get the garlic. "I frequently do. But I have a grill and fire pit as well, for more open flames." He nodded at the end of the patio.

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"Let me guess," Zhari said, eyes dancing. "There's a sink outside, too?"

Because it didn't make sense for there to be such a beautiful work area outside but then to have to traipse back in to wash up.

She could get used to cooking conditions like these.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Here." Hannibal lifted a section of the marble countertop to reveal the sink. "Extra room for cutting when it's not being used."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

This kitchen kept being more and more magical. Zhahar could almost expect elves to pop out of the woodwork and start passing her utensils with a little song and dance number.

After harvesting all the ingredients that she thought she'd need, Zhari returned to the kitchen to start her preparations. Most of the fist, she'd allowed the fishmonger to clean and descale, but the two she was preparing the traditional way, she hadn't let him touch. She wanted to do everything else herself.

Washing her hands in the sink, she scrubbed the fish as well, then placed them on a cutting board, grabbed a knife, and expertly slices open the first fish's belly and began to clean out the viscera. "What should I do with these?" she asked, gesturing to the pile of fish guts as she started working on the next fish. "We can always burn them on the fire, but if you have a garden...?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Save them," Hannibal advised. "We can make the fish useful to the herbs as well."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Zhari nodded and finished cleaning the second fish, popping out the eyes and setting them aside with the rest of the guts. She washed her hands again and then looked back at Hannibal. "We don't have olive oil back home." No olives, no olive oil. "We use various kinds of vegetable oils. But since coming here, I've really learned to appreciate olive oil. You mind the substitution, or are you going for complete purity?"

These were the important questions!

[sharp_as_knives]

"This is less an exercise in exactness than in thoughtfulness. What oil would you use traditionally and why? Why would you choose olive now instead of another oil?" Hannibal smiled. "The class is philosophy, remember; cooking will be next semester."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"Well, most of the time, we use butter or lard," Zhari explained. "It the easiest to come by. Mostly, we use rapeseed oil, because our corn is used first for food crops and only then, if we have enough left over to eat and have seed stock for the next year, can we make oil from it. Sunflower oil is a little more common, but they haven't been doing so well in recent years."

Stupid encroaching deserts.

"I just like olive oil better because it tastes...lighter? Does that make sense? It's not so heavy or thick. I think it will enhance the fish's flavor, not overpower it."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Good." Hannibal nodded. "Yes, that makes sense. Though we do have rapeseed oil here as well, if you would prefer. The name was thought to be potentially offensive, so it generally gets called canola oil."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Seriously. Best rebranding ever!

"Ooooh, that's what that is," Zhari said nodding. "I've been looking for canola flowers and couldn't find them."

Because the girls didn't have a computer and thus lacked wikipedia. Which was probably for the best because Sholeh would fall into a wikicrawl and never come out.

"I still think I'd rather have the olive oil, please," she decided. "Might as well enjoy it while I can."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Olive oil it is." Hannibal bowed slightly and went to get it.

"Have you had a chance to try the different types yet?" he asked when he returned. "This," he held up the bottle, "is best for this type of cooking, but there are others as well."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Zhahar shook her head. "I'm usually limited to what I can find in the common rooms when I'm cooking."

[sharp_as_knives]

The look Hannibal gave her was somewhat akin to horror. "Before you leave, I'll have you taste my oils, and send you back with a bottle or two." He wondered if the strangeness of Fandom had followed them here, or if he could get away with giving her one of his own rendered oils; they were much higher quality.

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"Ooooh!" She bit her lip and a mischievous smile crossed her face. "It would be polite of me to refuse and wait until you insisted," she told him. "But...I don't think I'm going to. Can we try them why the fish is cooking?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"We'll take your initial refusal as read, shall we?" Hannibal nodded at the fish. "Once you have it cooking, I'll set them out."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Zhahar was more than willing to consider that an acceptable trade. Grabbing the fish she'd personally clean, she slathered oil inside the cavity, then added salt, pepper, large cloves of garlic, and other various herbs. The minced garlic was mixed with a little bit of oil into a paste, then smeared on the outside, and more salt and pepper were sprinkled on top. Then she rinsed her hands, reached for the sculpting clay, and began to layer it right onto the fish, making a thick, airtight seal.

They'd gotten more fish and once Zhari had finished the two fish she'd made according to the recipe from home, she started experimenting with the others. One set involved garlic, lemon, olive oil, and wrapped in grape leaves, another was stuffed with mushrooms, precooked sausage, tomatoes, and basil leaves.

There were others for Hannibal to experiment with as well, if he wished.

[sharp_as_knives]

After watching for a moment, Hannibal retrieved a few things from the inside kitchen and brought them out. "This works on a similar principle to the clay, but paper is perhaps a bit more versatile. Cooking like this is called en papillote." He leaned toward Zhari. "Which is a fancy way of saying, 'in paper'."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"Why would you waste paper on cooking?"

Zhahar was merely curious, as opposed to Sholeh's outright horror.