Monday 27 February 2012

Cook It, Smoke It, Eat It

This reporter gets around a bit.  And as a roving front-line correspondent, it is seldom that one day is the same as the next.  The same goes for the food, and as any halfling worth his salt will tell you, you're only as good as your last sauce and side dishes.  Whether it's trudging through the Drakwald on an Elector Count's hare-brained scheme to hunt goblins with hounds; or sat on a shiftship en-route to another of the Emperor's battle  grounds, a good meal is essential.


And, being possessed of not a little skill in that department, this reporter likes to travel with the basic ingredients to stave off the privations of the campaign.  Of course, expenses are available when a suitable hostelry is present.  But often such buildings have been razed by marauding Orcs, or flattened by a careless Titan's footstep.


Tea.  The start of and end to every day. 
So tea, herbs, and salt and pepper.  Some coffee and sugar.  A small amount of butter, lard and some onions.  Beer, say half a dozen bottles, with some wine and a small flask of port.  Amasec, dried Grox and a selection of peppers.  Tobacco and a pipe.  Because you can't finish a meal without one.  Breakfast is especially fine with a pinch of Old Man Alebelly's Special Number 9 Mix to mellow it out.


Just the very basics, but they can mean the difference between having a very nice sauce to spread over you Imperial Guard-issue rations, with a little spicy side-dish, or having them plain.  And a plain rations are no laughing matter.  Not for this reporter.


Until next time, dear readers, when this reporter hopes to be able to get shore-side ready for the next big scrap.