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"Yes, ready," Ayaka replied, though she still felt guilty. She didn't even need to look at their faces to know that once they spotted Baba and herself they would be feeling all sorts of things! But then the competition theme was announced, and she almost forgot all about her insecurities because pumpkin. "Baba-san, I will cook round one," she said almost excitedly. "I cook kabocha well, do not worry, okay?" she patted Baba lightly on the arm before hurrying off to gather her ingredients foooor... pumpkin gyoza! Like every Japanese person knew how to make gyoza, what did it matter if it was filled with meat or vegetables or pumpkin? Ahh, it was natsukashii, folding the wrappers, pinching them shut, frying them up in the pan~ Hey, this was kind of fun, why didn't she do this more often? Finally, she had cooked a good dozen or so gyoza, and let Baba take over~

Brian was already there as Mathew slid into their table with an apologetic grin. Pumpkin! That was great! Pumpkin was always good! Carving..and pie… and smashing? Why the heck would pumpkin be the theme?! In order to make it up to the boy who had so kindly invited him out to the festival, he dove in, shirt rolled up to his elbows! PUMPKIN CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! “Sorry, man! I got this though, right here!!”

Pulling out a plate, he cut the pumpkin into small squares, the way his dad would and began boiling water!! Once they had a chance to boil down, brown sugar and some honey (A LOT OF HONEY) in the pot, Mathew threw them in the frying pan. More sugar and some butter, fry fry fry!!! Throwing them on the plate and rolling them in brown sugar and cinnamon!! They were small bites, perfect for the first part of a meal--- if they turned out that was. He put on such an air of confidence that he doubted that Brian knew he really had any doubts.

'If dad can do this, I can. Psssh.'

"Okay." Anneliese nodded, ready to follow whatever Elizabeth told her to do. The woman looked like she had a clue on what she was doing, and Anneliese certainly didn't. She glared holes into the pumpkin before her before she briskly grabbed a cleaver to hack away at the pumpkin. Chunks of pulp and seeds flew as she chopped away with a bit more strength that was was necessary. After all, if there was one thing that she couldn't do, it was cooking. It was exactly why she let others handled that option. Still, she wasn't one to hesitate, and if she was going to fail, she was at least going to fail trying. After her chopping frenzy, she scooped out the insides with a spoon, making sure to flick it over at her brother a few tables down.

She glanced over at Elizabeth. "You... came with another woman right? Do you want to throw some at her as well? We're not going to get far with my skills, so we might as well have fun with it don't you think?"

(( OMG, Rawrrly, i'm so so sorry! ;~~~~; I didn't even see your OOC note until now. I just thought Elizabeth went first in cooking.))

"Pumpkin pasties?" Angela said, grinning slightly. "Like from Harry Potter? Yeah, it works." When the sheet was pulled off the table of ingredients, she didn't hesitate to push Alfred in that direction. "Go, go, go!" she called, laughing. It didn't look like there was a huge rush, so she probably wouldn't have to tackle anyone. That meant they could probably just gather supplies at their leisure (and bloody hell were there a lot of supplies.)

"Should we make them sweet or savory?" Angela asked, eyes roving over the supplies. "I've had both but since this is the appetizer round, we should probably go for savory ones. Traditionally speaking, they are anyway." She kept an eye out for competitors as she started to gather things she was sort of vaguely aware were probably in pumpkin pasties--cheese, spices, and a few things for pastry dough. She wasn't exactly a gourmet chef but she'd done a bit of cooking so even though she didn't have a huge amount of experience with baking, she did at least know the basics.

"Come on! The others are already starting. I'll let you do the main parts of the cooking but I can help shape the pasties and arrange them for the judges. I think I can at least handle that much, yeah?"

**

Chloe was a little surprised when an unfamiliar man approached her and suggested they be partners. But since the competition was starting and she thought it would be much more fun to work together with someone else, she readily agreed. "Of course, I'd be delighted to." She perked up, slightly, reaching into a pocket for a hair tie and, as Lilia started to announce the start of the competition and the other competitors went for the ingredients table, Chloe placidly began to tie her hair into a large, messy bun.

"Well, then. I'm Chloe Yadav and it's a pleasure to meet you. Shall we get started then? The theme is pumpkin and this is the appetizer round so...hmmm."

"Well, a few recipes come to mind but have you got anything specific you'd like to cook? I've a fair amount of experience cooking so I'm fine with the cooking aspect, or presentation. So I'll let you choose what you're most comfortable doing and we can go from there."

OOC: ((I'll probably start getting in rolls for characters on the next round of posting.))

Briar couldn't help a small flinch as soon as Eliza opened her mouth. Really, she reminded him a lot of his own sisters. Bossy. Pushy. All that jazz. At the same time, it was pretty nostalgic though, and that led him to being able to take it all in with good humor. "Fine. Fine." Briar chuckled as he raised his hands in mock surrender. "That means I'm counting on you to pretty it up then."

He jogged over to the table full of ingredients, grabbing whatever came to mind for some pumpkin waffles. Then, he chucked them all into a bowl without paying attention to exact measurements. Mashed pumpkins. Butter. Eggs. Milk. Brown sugar. Flour. More flour. Baking soda. Cinnamon. Mixing them up as fast as possible, he chucked the rest into a waffle maker, stepping aside for Eliza to take charge. "It's on you now." He grinned.

"Um.... thanks." Cyrus grumbled under his breath as he rolled up his sleeves. Yeah, gratitude on anyone's part wasn't his thing, but hey, he wasn't going to complain. He didn't want to get brushed off by this woman. "Likewise, and I'm Cyrus Hayden."

Usually, he would have just let this Yadav person to pick. In fact, he was about to just shrug, but this was a competition. They had to get started. Now. "Let's go for a pumpkin shrimp bruschetta. I'm pretty crappy with making things look nice, so maybe you should handle it. I can cook though. Anyway, do you think you can get to peeling and working on the shrimp while I handle the rest?" He asked before heading over to the ingredients table to snatch up what they needed.

Cyrus quickly returned and proceeded to multitask. Slicing up baguettes. Chopping up pumpkin, cheese, some argula and onion. Drizzling the bread with oil before shoving them into the oven. He really should have been focusing on things one at a time, but... it was just how he cooked. That might have explained why some things might have been forgotten or the bread might have been a bit too toast due to his split mind. When he finished up with most of the cooking, Cyrus winced at his end results and guiltily stepped away for Chloe to do her thing. "Ain't exactly my best. Maybe ya can fix it up?"

She started giggling loudly as the woman(Anneliese) hacked and smashed the pumpkin, slinging its slimy guts across tables with a smile reminiscent of Eliza's strung across her face! Then she asked about sharing the slop artillery! 'Eliza would MURDER ME- in front of EVERYONE!' Her eyes grew wide and she shook her head.

"Oh no no no, that wouldn't go well. Kel would NOT appreciate it." Helping tidy the mess around the table, she poured the salad into what was left of the pumpkin base, cleaning the outside of it the best she could. “Excellent! Points for creative style, yes?"