RKG
1843 01.09YC112
Dear Diary,
Food service is certainly not the most glorified occupation one can hold in the Golden Fleet of Her Divine Eminence the Empress Jamyl I. The hours are long, the recognition vaporous, and the food itself is, frankly, just unholy. That is until the Theology Council chaplains come by to bless it before each meal cycle. But when you score below the 20th percentile on your final academic evaluation at the Imperial Academy, what's a paladin to do?
At least I've got leave to look forward to. Can't wait to be back on the ranch and see the fam even if its just for a little while. Dad sent some holos of Tili playing with Redgen and Lex. Little sis has sprung up like a weed since I left.
An Gotta go. Senior cook's calling me.
<3
-YML
2315 22.09YC112
Dear Diary,
I'm back!
So we just got back from this two week detail to the Khanid Kingdom. Why they picked me of all people to be on the XO's security detail, I don't know. The duty chief probably asked senior cook Faric for an extra body and I was the first person he saw. Long story short, we put in for annual refit twenty days ago and I was really looking forward to shore leave when I got voluntold for this detail. Two weeks shore leave? Sure, if you want to take it in Kihtaled pulling guard duty twelve hours a day. Sign me right up then!
Bastards. I thought it was going to be horrible. Well, it was horrible because I didn't get to go home, but it turned out to not be a total failure. I learned a lot about the Khanids. And I got to see some neat stuff in the system capital in Kihtaled. But the most exciting thing happened--get this, in a mess hall on one of the dirtside Khanid Navy bases we went to.
The XO had to go to the Kingdom to attend this conference about some international treaty on laser wavelength standardizations or some mess and eight of us got dragged along with his normal staff and slave cadre to work extra security. Guess they figured somebody might try and throw a shoe at him or something, but we were totally unnecessary. The Khanids were extra polite the whole time, even when the boss wasn't around. Anyway, that gets back to my story. They really hooked me up.
We were planetside for five or six days right at the beginning and living out of this military base connected to a launch platform. Nice facilities. I mean,
nice. See, I thought we kept our latrines spotless. They must really be as strict with their slaves as everybody says because you could eat off those floors. The chow hall was just as clean. I mean, fucking pristine. Every time we ate there it was like going out for a nice meal in Juron or Iastha Pines back home. It's kind of weird because we never actually saw anybody cleaning the place...
So, yea, the food! That's what I'm getting to.
The Khanids like to eat a lot of the same stuff we do. There were a lot more vegetarian dishes than I expected, but they had fresh ingredients and everything was just as hearty as what we'd cook up with faux-tein aboard the
FbtL. By the way, Cpl. Paral had me in stitches on the flight back when he mispronounced the ship's name. In his honor we've decided to change the heading on all the shipwide meal reminders from "Favored by the Lord" to "Flavored by the Lord" and see how long it takes someone to notice.
One thing the Khanids liked to do a little different was have a selection of these fried finger foods at every meal. Seriously it seemed like they'd fry up anything--ANYTHING--just to have something there that was dipped in batter and dripping with hot oil. Fish, stalkbeans, berni legs, tubers (the tubers were really popular), anything. They put out fried onion slices one day at breakfast. Those weren't too bad either. The batter they use is really light so the flavors aren't drowned out and all the ones I tried were actually pretty tasty.
But you'd think there'd at least be a variety of sauces to go with all this, but I only ever saw them use one condiment. This went for everything too, not just the fried stuff. No vinegar, no blackhorn powder, no spicy paste. You couldn't eat the food we serve without covering it in four or five different seasonings. But nope, the Khanids just have this one sauce out on the table. They didn't even have regular stuff in their storeroom. At first I was just surprised and then a little pissed off, but some of the Khanids we were hanging around with insisted we try the sauce. So we did.
Ho-lee-crap.
I am officially addicted. The Khanids just call it "gravy", but that doesn't really do it justice. At least it's nothing like what we normally consider "gravy" around here. The consistency is a little thick, like the broth from a good stew, but the flavor is just phenomenal. Somehow it makes everything taste better and brings out flavors you didn't even realize were there. I though the little fried snacks were alright enough, but with this stuff on 'em they taste so good I feel I've somehow debauched myself afterward. Shh... don't tell the chaplain!
Those fried tubers? Put some of this stuff on 'em. Better. Roast fowl legs? Better. Biscuits? Better. I even tried it on flatcakes. Better. I've decided to try it out on the by-the-manual Imperial Navy Culinary Command dinner rolls once I get back in the ship's mess. 'Course a swift kick to the ear would make those better than they are, but I have a feeling this gravy will make them almost edible.
Before we left that base I begged the cooks there to tell me where they got the stuff from, but apparently its some kind of controlled item. The supply chain is totally government-managed. Makes sense since it's the military, but you'd think they would at least sell it somewhere. I looked all over the capital and couldn't find any. I asked everyone I saw and a couple people seemed to know what I was talking about, but you know the Khanids. Strange way they talk, you can never really tell if they're just being overly humble or they really don't know. Frustrating.
Anyway, the night before we took off to come back to the
FbtL, I got a delivery by courier. The cooks at that first mess hall sent me a whole case! Paral and Bartan and a couple other guys on the detail were there when I got the package and they thought I'd gone crazy. I shouted with joy. Ten twenty-four ounce (I think that's about 3/4 liters--Khanids have to do everything different) cartons. Apparently the stuff keeps forever. I'll just have to be conservative in how I use it. I don't know where to get more yet!
So, no shore leave. I miss the fam, but what a discovery! Rack time. We're putting out to space in a couple days and I'm back to work starting tomorrow.
<3
-YML
Royal Khanid Gravy (24 oz. carton)
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