Hmmmmm.

Cecelia tapped her chin and made every effort to show she was thinking REAL long and hard about this, 'cause transfiguration COULD come in handy during mealtimes, she was sure. HM.

"Well, what about if you've only got a plate, but you need a bowl because there's soup for dinner, and there's NO one around to get you a bowl, AND you don't know where the bowls are kept?" Could you IMAGINE?! "Maybe you could transfigure yourself a bowl! Then you could have ALL the soup you wanted!"

Claudine saw you Bernie. Oh, yes, she did. She gave the Lioness an exasperated look. The girl snatched up her sketchpad and poked Bernie lightly in her chest. “Cut that sniggering out,’’ she hissed and then spared a moment to roll her eyes at Blake. Only in his dreams would he ever marry her. And… see what she ad meant by big baby? Only immature people stuck their tongues out at others. Never in a million years would she be interested in him. In fact, she was one hundred percent sure that she wasn’t interested in anyone in that way. Not male, not female.

Snails in butter? Claudine felt as though she would puke. She didn’t think much of Barlow’s taste in French food. Macarons and croissants, though… the girl liked those a lot. The next question came and Claudine raised her hand. This one she would make an attempt to answer. “What about duplicating food that you already have?”

Having to hold class in the dining chamber must have ruined Professor Barlow's lesson plan for the day, because they were seriously discussing their thoughts on the French food at Beauxbatons. Avalon wasn't complaining - she welcomed any reprieve from her typical mentally complex courses. But it was a little odd nonetheless.

And snails were definitely not her favorite dish. Slimy was not Avalon's preferred food texture. What she did like, though, were croissants. And bouillabaisse. Nothing here could compare to her grandmother's French cooking, though, except for the quiche. She raised her hand. "The quiche here is pretty yummy," Avalon added. "Especially the kind with broccoli and cheese."

She wished she could conjure up some quiche right now. Breakfast seemed like it was ages ago. But alas, as Barlow said, that wouldn't be possible. Avalon was fairly certain that you could multiply or summon food that you already prepared, though. Her suspicions were confirmed by the young Slytherin's response. "You can summon food or magically move it around once you've already prepared it," she said after raising her hand.

But what about animals? You could definitely conjure an animal, but did that mean you could later turn it into food? "I have a question, Professor. You can transfigure things into animals. So could you use that animal for food later on?" That would be a rather roundabout way of conjuring food, but would it work? Not that Avalon would ever do such a thing. She could never imagining murdering an innocent animal to eat it, unless she was absolutely starving. But she was just curious to know how far that transfiguration law went.

CINNAMON croissants?? Those sounded delicious, and Phoebe's eyes went comically round at the very idea of it. Maybe they could get some later? Did he have some in his office?

All this talk of food was making her so hungry, and Phoebe pressed a hand to her stomach while her fellow students kept bringing up MORE food, and about food, and about magic and food. UGH. CROISSANTS. She raised her hand. "You can cook food without a stove or oven with your wand. We sometimes make the pudding right on the table and get to watch it and smell it... and it goes faster too." UGH.

It wasn’t long before he was joined by someone else. In any other situation, he might’ve been slightly anxious about this fact alone but not today. Not when he instinctively turned to see who this someone was and found himself smiling widely. "Hey, Cece!" If they needed to build something, he already knew who he wanted to ask to partner up.

Before he could say anything else, Barlow was talking and so, Lucas turned his attention to him, instead. Barlow, who was talking about why they were in here instead of the regular Transfiguration classroom. This would’ve been something he was more caught up about if, well...... if Barlow hadn’t started talking about snails.

Ew. Disgusting!

As for an answer to that question, he didn’t have any. French pastries were nice, but he was a little too busy being disgusted by the idea of eating snails that he didn’t bother offering his answer. Not that he knew what most of the pastries were called because he was sure that they had fancy names. So maybe this was a good thing? Yeah.

How could wizardfolk use magic to aid them during mealtimes? Lucas paused. This should be easy, right? Eyebrows furrowed, he started looking around the room, almost expecting an answer to pop up out of nowhere. But instead, his mind went back to his parents mum and trying to imagine what she did when she was cooking at home. There was an obvious answer, right? There had to-

OH!

His hand went up in the air. "I guess this is more of a charm but you could charm your, uh, knives, for example, to cut the food into little pieces while you go and do something else. Another part of the cooking. You’d be done with making the food in even less time." Which was never a bad thing.

................

Didn't silence usually mean that there was no conversation to be had and that everyone could just...move on? Eiji was more than a bit taken aback when the professor addressed him about food. "...not particularly, professor," he responded honestly. That was more his mum and sister's thing. And he had no idea what, well, whatever it was the Transfiguration professor had said was on the menu for dinner. It was more likely than not that he was just going to stick to bread with a bit of butter spread over it. But he at least nodded in acknowledgement of the dish.

Whatever it was. Sounded fancy for the sake of being fancy.

As for the following discussion...whatever he had to offer was along the lines of what Cecelia had already suggested - namely conjuring or transfiguring your own dinnerware and cutlery. So he simply smiled over at the little Gryffindor and gave her a small approving nod.

And, you know, the professor could not poke him this go around. Thanks.

A quiche with snails in it? Cole tried his best not to make a yucking face at Professor Barlow’s suggestion. He would never eat that, not even if someon forced him to. He thankfully manage to keep his face straight until the professor changed his attention to someone else. Some moments later the lesson thankfully moved on. Spells used in the home to aid with cooking? Hmm. Cole thought long before he raised his hand to answer. "There is the water-making spell that let’s you get clean water for cooking and drinking if your out camping in the forest for instance. Or the endless sandwich spell is pretty neat if your super hungry since it gives you as many sandwiches you can want."

Blake was certain that if Claudine rolled her eyes anymore that would be stuck in that position. I mean seriously ... did the girl EVER do anything else? Maybe she secretly had a crush on him.... didn't his mom say girls tease you when they like you? The thought made him blush deeply. He hoped no one noticed ... and he could blame the blush on the Professor's comment about his tongue.

"Nope I didn't know there was butter for them... maybe that's why they were so gross." Blake added thinking, butter probably would have made them much better. And then they were moving on. "You could duplicate something you already have." He said, thinking that the snails did NOT need to be duplicated.

Usually Tina could sort of guess where a lesson was going by examining her surroundings upon arrival, but this time she had no clue! She was even more confused when Barlow started talking about French cuisine and food in general. Uh… was that question meant to be a general conversation starter. or did it have something to do with transfiguration? Suddenly a thought occurred to her, and she had a pretty good idea where this was headed. They were going into Gamp's Laws of Elemental Transfiguration. weren't they?

The first question was right up Tina's alley! Being born and raised in France, she was well acquainted with the food. Her thoughts initially went to her favorite dessert, macarons, but somebody else had already said that. She didn't want to repeat answers, not even for something as open-ended as a favorite food, so she'd have to think of something else. As she thought, she had to stifle a laugh at some of the answers she heard that weren't even French foods! After a moment, her hand went up, and she said, "It's not a new favorite food by any means, but I enjoy a croque monsieur. It's a crispy ham and cheese sandwich, either baked or fried, and topped with bechamel sauce."

All this talk of French food was making Tina hungry! For now, she was just going to keep quiet and listen to the professor, hoping that would be enough to take her mind off her hunger. She wasn't the slightest bit surprised when Barlow mentioned Gamp's Law. Really, where else could this lesson have gone with the subject of food? She considered the next question carefully. Her first thought was to use magic to change the temperature of food through heating or cooling charms, but those were, as the name implies, charms.

She wanted to try to come up with a more transfiguration-related answer, so it was back to the drawing board. She thought for a few moments. Along that same vein. one could also conjure a fire to heat up food. While there was still some overlap with charms, conjuration was technically a branch of transfiguration. That was more like it! Tina raised her hand, and after being called on, she said, "You can use magic to heat your food, either by a heating charm or by conjuring a fire."

“Some good answers there, thank you.” From most of them anyway. Here’s looking at you, Eiji.

Despite having a general idea of where things were going, he still didn’t have any concrete plans and was very much going with the flow. This was probably obvious from his all over the place mannerisms and befuddled expression. But then again, that was also common for Professor Barlow so perhaps he’d get away with it.

“Mealtimes are different for all of us. Different families, different places, different cultures… we all do it in our own way. For example, some people use five forks, while some people don’t use forks at all.” It was fascinating really. He thought so, at least.

“For our next activity, I want to see how you do mealtimes in your own home. List the items you use and what you use them for, or, if you’re feeling particularly creative, you can show this with a diagram.”

Simple, right? And another good filler activity to keep everyone busy while he figured out how to pull off the next task.

OOC: This is the mini-activity, peeps. We’ll move on to the main-activity in 48 hours, give or take. THANK YOU. <3

Claudine had planned to ignore Blake for the remainder for the lesson but she whipped her head around to glare at him. Was he purposely copying her answer to get on her nerves? Good golly! Bernie had better not be saying next that she and Blake were in sync with their thoughts like a couple. The Snakette narrowed her eyes at Blake before turning to make her notes. It was interesting to know that duplicated food was not much good.

Five forks? Claudine’s eyebrows lifted in skepticism. Who on earth used five forks? Her internal questioning ceased when Barlow said they demonstrate with a diagram. She immediately became delighted. Of course she wanted to demonstrate with a diagram! A sketch of the grand dining room table at the Blaze Mansion was something she would love to do.

After all, Claudine adored drawing. She got to work.

Valencia considered the question. There were times when her family used different utensils and place settings based on the meal. But, she guessed, there was a usual place setting.

She quickly sketched it out -- fork, knife, spoon (as needed), plate, and cup. She didn't think it would be different for anyone else. That was typical, wasn't it?

She then made a side note that occasionally there were things like chilled salad forks or dessert forks depending on how fancy the meal was.

Cole thought hard on Professor Barlow’s question. How did his family do mealtimes? What utensils we’re used? Right off the bat Cole went for listening the items rather than drawing because he was no painter. Truth be told too he wasn’t sure that he even knew how to draw some utensils without them looking like bird poo.

Taking out his quill and ink Cole got started on his list. Professor Barlow hadn't exactly specified what meal time he wanted to know about so he just took a guess and went with breakfast and dinners. If it was wrong Cole could change it later.

SPOILER!!: Meal times in the Vance household

Everyday dinner
Forkes
Knifes
Glasses
Plates
Platters
Frying pan
Pots
Spatula

Fancier dinners on the weekends dad takes out the china plates, silver forks & knifes and special high glasses.

Breakfast
Teapot
Bowl for eating yoghurt
spoon
Bread knife
Butter knife
Butter
Cheese slicer
Egg slicer

Blake felt Claudine's eye throwing daggers his way. Man .. what was her problem,... he was half tempted to stick his tongue out at her again, but he had been reprimanded for doing that once already and it was best not to try the Professor's patience. So in order to taunt her just a little he smiled and gave her a little wave .. hopefully Barlow didn't notice since it was behind his back and all...

And then he thought about his family dinners.... well since obviously his mom was muggle there was no magic involved in the cooking at his house.

Uh. Professor Barlow ate snails, but was grossed out by onion soup?? But onion soup had CHEESE and BREAD and honestly, whoever wasn't a fan of those things, was seriously mad.

As far as the next question went, a lot of things she would have considered - duplication or heating charms or transfiguring objects into utensils - were things already mentioned, so Carsyn just listened and jotted down these ideas rather that repeat what was already said.

How mealtimes were done in the Rose household? Well that depended. Was it a formal holiday meal or a casual every day meal? If it was just an every day meal, it was simple - one fork, one knife, one spoon, one plate, one glass, oh and a napkin of course.

However, formal holiday meals usually consisted of three forks and three spoons. There was also a salad plate on top of the dinner plate. And adults got wine goblets. Finally the napkins were usually folded into fun designs rather than a simple fold in half. Time to sketch this out, maybe, she supposed?

She nodded, slowly, once. …….. Holly had never, not once, thought that Ratatouille was made from rats. Especially since she loved the fact that there were no meat in the dish. Sure, she liked meat every now and then, but she tried to be healthy and ratatouille was one good way of doing that - since no meat, no dairy, no carbs. Her gymnastic coaches loved to hear the weeks she managed to keep her carb and sugar intake lower. Ratatouille was always a dish that helped with that aim.

Raising her hand into the air once again, the Slytherin knew exactly what she wanted to say. She just hoped no-one else said it before she got there. ….. Oh, seemed like she was going to be fine! ”I’ve seen my mum vanish any leftovers, if there are only scraps left, Professor.” She said with a nod of her head. ”I think the charm is evanescio…? I’ve read about it in my textbooks but we haven’t covered it in our own classes yet.” There. See. She had been reading. Was that good? Did she get bonus points? Heh. Whatever, she liked transfiguration. She was fascinated with what it could and couldn’t do.


Dinner … at home…

Was Professor Barlow feeling okay? His lessons were normally slightly weird, but this was very weird. Even for him. Holly shrugged though, figuring it was something to do with their classroom setting… She’d seen the other Professor’s tailor their lessons to their surroundings after all, why couldn’t Professor Barlow simply be doing the same thing? Because he was Professor Barlow.

Pulling parchment and a quill from her bag, the fourth year quickly drew her kitchen table as it would be set when she was at home. A place for mum, dad, Cam and herself. Just as it should be - her favourite family around one table. Her favourite people would also include Alis and Jorgie -- but they weren’t always there. She liked Liam too. Really liked him. He made Cam happy. Which made her happy….. She eyed her parchment and quickly (and very obviously) added another plate, fork, knife and cup beside Cam’s - adding “Liam” just below her brother’s name.

There.

A perfect table for five.

This was definitely the best Transfiguration lesson that Claudine had been a part of. Already she was off sketching the Blaze Mansion dining room in as much detail as possible. Naturally, her focus was on the dining table alone. That table happened to be a long one. You see, the Blaze Mansion housed many persons; Claudine’s family was huge and when school was out... Merlin help her deal with all the young ones. Not to mention guests were catered for. After the polished table was finished, matching chairs were drawn on both sides and on both ends.

Claudine took a short break to admire her handiwork. So far, this self taught young artist was pleased with the way things were going. Next, the cutlery were added: plates, goblets, napkins, knives, spoons and forks (one of each) were added before each chair. Her family didn’t use as much as five forks.

There were, of course, the finer things to be added: pitchers that would hold juices, water, butterbeer and something strong for the adults; dishes with serving spoons that held the food brought out for the Blazes’ to serve themselves.

Here and there, Claudine added shadings and highlights so that her sketch would pop and be more eye catching. Eventually, she was satisfied (though she thought it would all look better if she had time to colour) and she set her pencil down.

There was actually a small, rare and delighted smile playing her lips.

Indeed the girl’s artistic had improved drastically over the year.

How funny was it that Claudine and Blake thought so alike? Huh. Hehe. Claudine wasn't the only one who could draw, although Bernie took a lot longer and liked to use a ruler and stuff with her drawings. She was also a much simpler, straight-to-the-point artist than her creative friend. Suddenly feeling mischievous, the Gryffindor dug her Muggle multi-coloured pen and journal out of her bag and started doodling something for Snake mates, becoming so engrossed that she missed a question from the professor.

She tore it out of her journal and plunked it on top of Claudine's hard work, waiting for her friend to see it, wearing an evil grin all the while.

SPOILER!!: Blake & Claudine, Sitting in a Tree

What did this have to do with... uh, how they all ate at home? Bernie hurried and added a list of stuff to the bottom of her drawing:

Text Cut: Mealtime

• Plates
• Napkins
• Forks
• Knives (butter or steak)
• Glasses (milk or water)
• Salad Bowls
• Pepper
• Food on the counter, other stuff on the table?

Yep, that was about it... back to the drawing. Should she add a caricature of them and a picnic basket at the bottom? Hehehe.

Rest assured, professor, it was every lesson. Potions perhaps being the only one that got him speaking more consistently than any of the others and that was because brewing was in his blood. And despite how often his little sister insisted that brewing and cooking were similar, Eiji refused to see it that way. It was rather irritating the way she insisted too...and that all became quite the stark reminder as class revolved entirely around food and the dinner table.

....and now table settings?

Well...items used at meal times. So for him that meant what he used to eat with since he mostly avoided the kitchen except for when some things needed chopped and sliced. Mum appreciated how precise his cuts could be. In any case, this activity felt...well, he wasn't entirely sure what words were fitting for it but he decided to use the nights where mum placed more emphasis on his Japanese roots and made real proper washoku meals.

SPOILER!!: Eiji's parchment

Finished, Eiji pushed his parchment away and leaned back in his seat. They could get to the practical portion any time now.

Any approval from Eiji meant a LOT 'cause he was super smart and older and that meant wiser, which meant maybe he thought SHE was being wise with her answer. Look at her, Cecelia Summers, impressing older kids. It made her smile big and offer the boy a thumbs up because that seemed like the proper gesture at the time, as silly as it may be.

The next task was...well, interesting, she guessed. Thing was, though, that it depended on the meal? Like, if her family was going to eat meat during dinner, there would probably be forks and knives for cutting and eating rather than spoons, which would be better with soup. Still, she got out some fresh parchment and scribbled down some notes anyway. She DID like keeping busy during class.

SPOILER!!: Notes

Quote:

Typical Dinner Table essentials: Big plate for main course, small plate for bread or dessert after, bowl for salad or soup or ice cream after, napkin for wiping your hands and mouth (duh)

Usual Utensils: Fork, Spoon, Knife (bread knife OR steak knife, depending on the meal)

Once she was done she looked to Lucas, trying to get a peek at his parchment. Would his be different than hers, she wondered.

That's the one he used?! Lucas blinked. This was...... not what he'd expected. At all. He couldn't even imagine Barlow in the kitchen, trying to cook. Or even chopping vegetables, for that matter. What did he make? Pies? Stew? Lucas wanted to know.

Shaking his head, he tried to focus on whatever it was Barlow was talking about. Mealtimes? What did they do at mealtimes? What did they do at mealtimes? What did they use? Knives and forks, yeah. A special bread knife if they were having bread with their dinner. Uhhh.........

Maybe he should start writing? Yeah.

NOT drawing because he...... wasn't feeling that creative.

SPOILER!!: Mealtimes

Dakest family mealtimes:

• Plates: one for each person at the table
• Big plate: main course
• Small bowl: for salad because we should be healthy
• Napkin: so you don't drop anything on your clothes
• Knife: one for each person at the table
• Fork: one for each person at the table
• Spoon? I guess? If we're having soup with the food or ice cream for dessert; another, bigger, spoon to scoop up the food
• Seasoning because that's important too

Something he noticed out of the corner of his eyes? Cece. Cece trying to look at his parchment. Smiling, he nudged the parchment closer to her while leaning over to have a look at what she had written as well. "Looks like we have similar dinnertimes."

With all this talk of food, Tina thought they were going to use transfiguration to help with meal preparation, like turning quill pens into spoons or something like that. Though wouldn't it have made more sense to hold the lesson in the student kitchen if that were the case? She could just hear Headmistress Diaper-baby Desmarais screaming about spells in the dining chamber. She wasn't too surprised that they weren't practicing any spells yet, but she was surprised when that they were supposed to show show meals were done at home. Well, this was going to be awkward, seeing as Tina didn't exactly have a home to call her own! That and she was sure nobody, not even Barlow, wanted to know how mealtimes were conducted in a French wizarding foster home. It wasn't that different from meals here at Beauxbatons.

Tina started at her blank parchment for a few moments, trying to decide whether a list or a diagram would be more effective. She loved drawing, but she thought a diagram of the entire Chateau Croyance dining hall setup would be too convoluted to follow. In the end, she decided to go with a combination of the two. She carefully drew six round tables topped with tablecloths and flower centerpieces, and around each table, she drew six chairs.

*Below her diagram of the room layout, she drew another one consisting of the items found at each place setting. The dinner plate went in the middle, with the soup bowl stacked on top. To the right side of the plate was the dinner knife, then the fish knife, and finally the soup spoon farthest away from the plate. The water glass went on the right side of the plate above the dinner knife, and in the middle of the place setting, just above the dinner plate were the dessert spoon and fork and the cheese knife. The bread plate was on the left side of the setting beside the cheese knife and dessert utensils, with the butter knife resting across it. Finally on the left side of the dinner plate, she drew the dinner and fish forks, ending with the napkin. Chateau Croyance had a tradition of folding the napkins into fun shapes, usually a blackbird (the house's mascot), but sometimes they'd mix it up at the holidays, such as a heart for Valentine's Day or a cat for Halloween. Tina, however, decided to do something different for the napkin in.her diagram and drew one shaped like a butterfly. What else would she have drawn? The butterfly was practically her trademark.

When she was finished, she took a quick moment to admire her work so far, but she couldn't dwell on it too long. She still had to list the serving utensils:

Text Cut: Tina's list

Serving Utensils:

Water pitcher
Soup tureen
Ladle
Baguette basket
Butter dish
Platter for meat
Platters/bowls for side dishes
Serving forks/knives/spoons
Cheese board
Plate or bowl for dessert

*All serving dishes are charmed to move from table to table*

She looked over her diagrams and list to make sure she hadn't left anything out. Satisfied with her work, Tina set her quill down and looked up. awaiting further instructions.

It was a little weird to Phoebe that they were all listing out how they ate dinner. It seemed almost like a Muggle Studies activity, with magical elements, rather than a Transfiguration one. What exactly were they meant to take from this? Or was that yet to come.

Phoebe shook out her piece of parchment and quill, almost as if she planned to make a very long list and detailed drawing on said parchment. And then she listed: something to eat, something to drink, a fork (because Mom said no hands), a napkin (same person to blame). That was it. That was the list. No need to agonize over it.

As usual Nettie had no idea where this lesson was going - but she had learned now to just go with it. She was also a little embarrassed, because it seemed like compared to meal times at her friends houses - looking at you and your fancy set up, Eiji - she felt very...small. Half the time, living with her father, she had leftovers because he was working a late shift at the hospital. When they did eat together, it was usually on just plain white dishes that they'd gotten at the muggle discount store a few blocks away.

It was a far cry from what meal time USED to be at the Gladin household when her parents had been together. Granted, it had been deathly quiet at dinnertime, since her parents had hated each other. So in reality, the way her and her father shared mealtime was far better.

Quote:

Tools for cooking: Pots, pans, spoon for stirring, serving platter
Dining Supplies: Plates, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, napkins

Dalia was wholely confused by this whole lesson. It was almost like Professor Barlow had somehow lost is lesson plan...? But anyway, she was keen to go along with the ride here. After all, it would interesting to see all the different ways her classmates ate with their family.

Using a clean piece of parchment, she drew a straight line down the middle, one side being for back home in Cuba with her true family and the other being in Britain with Papa Carter, sometimes Archer and the rare occasion Gramma Carter (whom she also considered family, but shhh).

Text Cut: Parchment

Ojeda Side-Cuba

Breakfast

• One plate or bowl (depending on what's being served) per person (usually already filled by mama)
• One mug per person (for cafe con leche, poured from the pot on the counter)
• One Utensil (type depending on what's being served) per person

Lunch

• One plate per person
• One dipping bowl per person (I think you guys usually call it a ramekin or something like that?)
• One glass per person
• Serving plate loaded with sandwiches in the middle
• Pitcher filled with water alongside serving plate
• Bowl filled with a sauce that pairs well with that days' sandwich and a spoon to fill your dipping bowl

Dinner

• One plate per person
• One each spoon, fork and knife (butter or steak, depending on what's being served
• One glass per person (regular for the underage, wine for the adults)
• One napkin per person, usually kept beside the plate for the whole meal
• The main course and sides are set out in the middle of the table in serving bowls and platters with serving utensils
• A pitcher filled with either water or juice and a bottle of wine
• A dessert is usually brought out once everyone is finished eating the main meal
• Serving bowls/platters are usually passed to the left

Carter Side-Britain (and occasionally France)

Breakfast
Pretty much the same as back home, except that I'm not allowed to drink any coffee, so the mug is replaced with a glass of either orange juice or milk.

Lunch

• One plate per person
• One utensil per person (type depends on what's being served)
• One glass per person
• Meal is set out in serving ware with serving utensils
• Pitcher accompanies the serving ware and usually filled with water

Dinner
Pretty much the same as back home, only the napkins are usually placed in our laps while we are at the table (Gramma Carter is an American ex-pat and taught Papa Carter to eat like that).

There, that was done.