TONIGHT'S SPECIAL

Cooking

Card flip → prompt → 30 seconds → pass the sketchbook. One round = one dish.

The Cook-Down

You’ve explored. You’ve gathered. Now you make something with it.

The recipe cards that arrived in the kitchen are there if you need them. But the real instructions come from the cards you flip. Each flip is a prompt. What to add. How to add it. You have 30 seconds to draw your piece. Then pass the sketchbook and let the next crew member do theirs. Nobody plans ahead. Nobody knows what the dish will be until it’s done. That’s the point.

The prompts are direct. Draw heat. Draw something that smells. Draw what doesn’t belong. Sometimes the prompts are strange. Sometimes they’re perfect. The card doesn’t care. It just knows what the dish needs.

Cooking

Check the tally on your index card. Ingredients gathered during exploration. That number is how many flips you get. Flip a card, find your prompt, set the timer. You have 30 seconds. Draw your piece of the shared dish and pass the sketchbook. Repeat until the flips run out.

Red card: something edible. An ingredient, a component, something that goes in or on the dish. Black card: something presentational. A finish, a frame, something that changes how the dish reads.

The rank tells you what to draw. The suit tells you how prominently.

♥ Hearts: abundant. A lot of it. ♦ Diamonds: just a trace. ♠ Spades: dramatic. Front and center. ♣ Clubs: understated. Barely there.

Look up your card. Read the prompt. Set a timer. Draw. Pass. If the deck runs out, shuffle and keep going.

When the flips run out, whatever is on the page is what you made. A short exploration makes a simple dish. A long one makes something stranger. Both can be delicious.

From: Red Cards: Edible Components

Red Cards: Edible Components

Red card = something edible. Rank = what you draw. Suit = how much of it.

♥ Hearts: abundant. A lot of it. ♦ Diamonds: just a trace.

Rank	Component	♥ Draw...	♦ Draw...
A	Something that came up from the ground. Still has dirt on it.	It fills whatever you put it in.	A single piece. The dirt is still there.
2	Something that's technically a fruit. Nobody thinks of it that way.	Sliced and layered, covering everything.	One slice. Placed with intention.
3	Something with a shell, a rind, or a skin you probably shouldn't eat.	The whole thing, casing and all.	Just the inside. The outside didn't make it.
4	Something the wrong color for what it is.	Unmissable. The whole dish is that color now.	One piece. Easy to miss. Impossible to explain.
5	Something you'd find near water. Or that clearly wishes it were.	Heaped up. Still a little damp.	A small piece. Still damp.
6	Something soft. The kind of soft that surprises you every time.	Spread across the base of everything.	A small spoonful. Handle with care.
7	Something very round. Suspiciously round.	A pile of them, touching.	One. Just one.
8	Something that required a tool to open. The tool was not provided.	The full contents, extracted.	Most of the contents. Some did not survive.
9	Something tiny, repeated many times. Together, they're the point.	Scattered across the dish.	A small cluster in one corner.
10	Something that used to be larger. The process is still visible.	Enough that you can tell what it was.	Just enough to wonder.
J	Something that grows in a spiral or a curl.	Spiraling over the top of everything.	One curl. Placed carefully.
Q	Something that's actually two or three things stuck together.	A whole section of the plate.	One small piece. You can count exactly how many parts.
K	Something you cannot name. You've seen it before. In a dream, maybe.	It's the main event. Everything else is arranged around it.	A sliver. You're not sure you should eat it. You will.

From: Black Cards: Presentational

Black Cards: Presentational

Black card = something that finishes or frames the dish. Rank = what you draw. Suit = how prominently.

♠ Spades: dramatic. Front and center. ♣ Clubs: understated. Barely there.

Rank	Element	♠ Draw...	♣ Draw...
A	A liquid pooled somewhere on the dish.	It's everywhere. It's the dish now.	A thin ring around the edge.
2	Something that catches the light.	Front and center. Hard to look directly at.	Hidden at the back. Worth finding.
3	A streak or smear across the surface.	Corner to corner. No hesitation.	One clean line. Deliberate.
4	Something folded. Deliberately. With care.	The centerpiece. Everything else supports it.	Tucked under the edge. Half-visible.
5	Something green. Just a little. Just enough.	A full layer under everything else.	One sprig. One leaf, maybe.
6	Something that leans against something else.	Taking up room. Comfortable about it.	Just barely touching.
7	A shape drawn around the outside of the dish.	Thick. Confident.	Faint. More of a suggestion.
8	Something that's almost symmetrical. Almost.	The whole top of the dish. The asymmetry is loud.	One side only. You notice it after.
9	A garnish that's working very hard to seem casual.	Sprawled across the dish. Definitely on purpose.	Perched on one edge. Absolutely on purpose.
10	Something with height. It is taller than the dish expects.	The tallest thing on the table.	Just barely taller than everything else.
J	Something with a label, a mark, or a name on it.	Centered. Large. You cannot miss the message.	Small. On the side. You have to look.
Q	A shadow. Somehow.	It falls across the whole plate.	It falls across just one thing.
K	The plate itself. It has strong opinions about all of this.	Unusual shape. The dish had to adapt.	Plain. The plainness is the choice.

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