Tacos? That sounded awesome. They weren't Hayden's favorite food in the world, but she definitely did not mind them. And considering the atmosphere, with the sombreros and everything, tacos really seemed to fit the mood of the lesson. She really wanted to eat one at the moment. But first, they needed to make them. What ingredients? Hayden listened, and it seemed as if everybody had already mentioned the most common ingredients. But she still raised her hand to answer. "Some people put beans on their tacos." Technically, you could probably put whatever you wanted on a taco. Like...mustard. Cream cheese. Whipped cream. Avocados. Chocolate.

They WERE having tacos.

Nice. Very nice.

What ingredients were used? There were definitely loads of them though not all were technically needed. So Penelope's hand went up. "Sometimes fish is used instead of beef or chicken." She didn't usually, though she also hadn't tried it yet. Maybe sometime though. And maybe even now if it was available? Dunno.

Ah first to speak was Miss Sophie Newell, stating the ingredient that she probably talked about the most - or at least mentioned. The obvious one. "And taco shells are very crucial, yes. I have the hard traditional shell kind and I also have soft tortilla shells for those who might be a little rougher and prone to breaking things." With that, she pulled out a box of hard shells and a box of soft shells, opening them both and placing them on the counter.

Another obvious one. "Yes, ground beef, although this may also be substituted with diced chicken or tofu or even fish in some places, I've only had the beef prepared for today." With that, Hadley walked over to the stovetop and spooned the beef into a giant bowl and set it on the counter next to the taco shells. It smelled quite delicious.

"Ah yes, shredded cheese, specifically." She pulled out a bag of shredded cheese and poured it into the bowl with a spoon in there to serve that too. "Now if I catch anyone eating the cheese straight, you'll leave this lesson hungry." She added, sternly looking at the students when she said that though her eyes might have lingered on Alexa the longest

"Shredded lettuce, specifically, yes." Hadley nodded, pulling out a bowl of shredded lettuce and placing it next to the other ingredients.

"Salsa, or more commonly used is a special version called pico de gallo, which has tomatoes and onions..." she trailed off as she tried to recall the rest of the ingredients. "... and chilis, or jalapeños, right here." She held up a bowl of the mixture before setting it down next to the lettuce.

"Sour cream, yes. Albeit sometimes this is perceived as an optional ingredient." Hadley explained, removing a bowl of sour cream from the refrigerator and setting it on the counter as well.

...

another look towards Alexa, and it seemed as if she had something to say, but said nothing. Shrugging it off, she just went onto the next student.

"Yes, exactly, you could use chicken, or tofu or fish, as i mentioned, but alas, only ground beef is what we have today." But if any of them were vegetarians, which how could they be when the Shepard's Pie at Hogwarts feasts was AMAZING, then she could probably make accommodations for them... or they could just add all the other ingredients.

"Rice is more commonly added for burritos or enchiladas, but I reckon some customs DO add rice for their tacos..." So he wasn't wrong, per say, but they wouldn't be adding rice today.

Hadley nodded at Lolita when she said they'd add a small amount of heat. "Its just... this weather is weird. I mean it's already May and yet it feels like its still February." she frowned, shaking her head. "I just can't help but shake the feeling like there's some bizarre explanation for this climate that seems to be affecting only us. At least that's what it seemed when i spoke to my husband over the holiday, but ..." she sighed, still speaking in a hushed voice. "... I haven't been able to reach him, nor him reach me since. I'm worried."

Even though she'd been adequate in charms, she was nowhere near as advanced as her sister and sometimes, she wished she was.

She laughed though when Lolita told her to loosen up. "Of course. Must be the cold. Freezing my brain."

Her attention back on the class when Angel suggested some sort of sauce and then Beverly, hot sauce or salsa, she nodded at both those ideas. "Yes, hot sauce is sometimes added though its not mandatory." She placed a bottled at the end. You know, just in case anyone liked anything spicy.

"Onions can be found in the pico de gallo mixture that I mentioned earlier..." Hadley confirmed of the first year, indicating to the bowl she'd placed on the counter a moment ago.

"Tomatoes, too, can be found in the pico de gallo mixture."

Surveying the table a moment to see if they'd forgotten anything, she pursed her lips before glancing to Lolita and then back at the students. "Well then, it seems we have all the necessary ingredients." She picked up a hard taco shell and took a plate for demonstration. "We start with the shell, either hard or soft, scoop a small amount of beef into the shell. Not a lot because you don't want to overload it or it will break." Plus they had all these other delicious toppings to add. "Add some shredded cheese. Small spoonful of that should do. Then some pico de gallo, some lettuce, small dollop of sour cream and some hot sauce if you dare... and then enjoy."

"If there are no further questions for either myself, or Professor Domingo, on anything discussed today, you may come forward and prepare yourself ONE taco to start until everyone's had the chance to have some."


ooc: class will close in approximately 24 hours. if you have questions you may ask now, but please RP going and preparing a taco from the buffet-style table, as described =] Enjoy! Have fun! Break a shell!

Time to make the tacos. Woohoo! Jasmine did not need to be told twice. She walked up to the taco bar and got to work. Grabbing a plate, she paused a moment to answer the big question. Hard or soft tacos? Deciding to go with the hard taco, Jasmine picked up a shell. She took the spoon and scooped up a bit of meat to put into her taco shell. Then she added lettuce, cheese and a little pico de gallo. Was she forgetting anything? Nope, that was it. With that, Jasmine returned to her seat and prepared to dig in.

THEY GOT TO MAKE THEIR OWN TACOS.

FREAKING. YEEEEEEEES!

Grayson could have fistbumped the air if he knew that it wouldn't make him look like a freak. He was ALL up for food in classes. Uh huh. Even had a little talk with a certain Gryffindor Prefect about it all. As for listing ingredients that went into making tacos, the boy decided to sit back and let the others mention something. Why repeat an answer, eh? Especially if he had nothing to add.

But it was tacos making time and he was ALL sorts of excited. He even reached for Sophie's hand and pulled her up, all the while saying, "C'mon, I'm hungry!" He didn't know WHY but it seemed like the right thing to do. Hold her hand, help her up. And they had tacos to make. HELLO?! This was clearly an important task for them. And probably the best part of this whole joint lesson.

Andddddd he was going to let GO of the girl's hand. Uh huh. Nothing to see here.

Reaching the table, Grayson busied himself in making the taco. A hard shell was collected because hard shells were the BEST. And they gave just the right amount of crunch when you bit into the taco. Next came the beef, which was scooped up and plopped into his taco gently because he did NOT want to break that shell. Nuh uh. Then came the shredded cheese, which was sprinkled on top of the beef because this Slytherin wanted to feel like a proper chef and all. The lettuce, pico de gallo and lettuce followed suit. The only reason a small dollop of the sour cream was being added was because all the food here was being offered to them and he didn't want anything to go to waste.

And hot sauce? Did he dare?

'Course he did.

Once he was done, he turned over towards Domingo and Hadley. "Thanks, by the way." For the taco. And did Sophie get her taco? HMMMM?

"Well, Hogwarts is in a valley next to a large loch, which I'm sure creates abnormal weather patterns." After all, some years were just colder than others naturally. "And like I said, I'm sure Anastasia and whoever else will figure it out very soon." And about time, too. It's not like it was as difficult to figure out as those infernal multi-colored Muggle cube contraptions with all the rotating block sections that Fina had given her that one year for Christmas. Robix? Rudicks? Something like that.

Nevertheless she didn't like where this conversation was headed: dangerous territory. Lolita latched onto Fina's next comment and steered the conversation away from potentially prying questions. Her face adopted a look of concern for her friend, and her voice dropped in volume to match Fina's. "You haven't heard from Addison? I wouldn't put too much stock by that." She patted her friend's arm gently. "There's no owls, floo powder seems to be acting up, and a Patronus sent out of this mess wouldn't be likely to find its target. I'm sure he's trying, just like you are." Well actually she wasn't sure; she had yet to meet Addison, so really he just might not be the talkative type.

"I know what will cheer you up. Tacos!" She gestured suggestively towards the spread.

No one had to tell her twice. Lex flew up from her seat so fast one might have said her feet had abandoned the ground in hopes of getting there faster. What the Professor said, vaguely ran through her head but that was fine, she knew what a taco was meant to LOOK like, even if some things got added before others it was all going down the same hatch and at the end of the day she was be a REALLY happy Gryffindor.

Being one of the first there she had the luxury of seeing the ingredients in their entirety, almost untouched and it left her greedy, so greedy that she might have taken an extra soft shell to fortify the first before dumping a butt load of beef on it. Surely with two it was less likely to get overly soggy and start breaking apart. She had this, okay?? All this meat and she would enjoy it to the fullest.

Next she reached for the cheese, because it was right there and got some sprinkled on top. Not too much though because cheese in large amounts had the potential of putting her off her taco which would have been sad after the history lesson she'd forced herself through.

That right there must have been the pico de gallo. Alexa helped herself to some of that too because completely skipping over the lettuce. No thaaaanks. A small dollop of sour cream later, she was heading back to her seat with the most content of expressions. The greed in her eyes was evident as she sat and sank her teeth in for the first bite. Heaven, that's what this was.

Taco?????? Heck yessssss. Toby headed right on up towards that buffet table along with the throng of other students and soon located a hard shell............... and then a plate too, as an afterthought.

Toby didn't eat meat, but it didn't take more than a second to decide on an alternative. The Hufflepuff loooooooooooooooooooooaded up his taco shell with as much shredded cheese as would fit, and then coated that with some hot sauce for that extra kick. Like, completely covered it. Nice and HOT.

Now to dig IN. This wasn't like other tacos, that was for sure, but Toby thought it was beautiful. And bound to taste awesome. Just... how did he try and eat this and not end up basically just shoving it into his mouth? Huh.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing eaten...

And now they got to make their own tacos! Hayden's stomach was already grumbling in anticipation so she hurried up to the table and was one of the first in line. The cold all but forgotten, she grabbed a plate and surveyed the table. Ingredient after ingredient was spread out, all ingredients that someone had mentioned. All basic ingredients, no chocolate.

Hayden decided on a soft shell over a hard shell. She'd never had a hard shell taco: it seemed harder to eat that way. After getting the shell, the meat came next. She took a scoop of the beef and laid it neatly in a line down her shell so it would be easier to wrap up when she was all done. Next she sprinkled some shredded cheese on top, followed by some lettuce. Hayden didn't know what pico de gallo was, exactly, but she added some anyway. Why not? In fact, she added a little bit of every single ingredient. Some less than others. Like she didn't have very much sour cream, but she did have a little bit of everything. Go big or go home.

Hayden even added some hot sauce to top it all off. She eyed it as she rolled her taco up to get ready to eat. What would happen if the whole bottle were to spill on someone's taco and proceed to be eaten? Heh.

Simon patiently listened to Hadley as she nodded when each student suggested an ingredient. With each ingredient mentioned, the boy felt his tummy growl more and more. He took a deep breath, trying his hardest to make sure that no one heard the growls and that he could refocus on the class. Soon enough, they were allowed to make their own tacos.

FOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

Okay, one taco. Hopefully they'd be allowed to prepare another one later. So Simon headed over to where all the ingredients were laid out and picked up a plate. Hard shell or soft shell? Today, he didn't really feel like a hard shell so he went with the soft shell. Next, he carefully took a scoop of beef, generously placing it in the middle of the taco. Then he added a pinchful of cheese, some lettuce, a little bit of pico de gallo, and a little bit of sour cream. He finally reached the end of the table when he saw the hot sauce. Simon paused.

To have hot sauce or to not have hot sauce.
That was the question.

He studied the hot sauce for a brief couple of seconds before he decided to put five little drops onto his taco for Simon didn't want to burn his tongue off just too soon. "Thanks Professors!" he said giving both women a friendly smile as he headed back to where his belongings were located.

Then Simon rolled it up and then picked up the taco. Raising it to his mouth, the Slytherin took a bite and smiled as he chewed (with his mouth closed, of course).

Mmmm... That was really good.

He continued to dig in.

FOOOOOD!

This Gryffindor wasted no time getting up and out of his chair to the taco station. He definitely did not have the patience of a Hufflepuff that's for sure. So grabbing a small plate, he decided to go for a hard shell. Why did Professor Hadley have to teach them how to do it? Tacos weren't that hard to figure out. They weren't like Arithmancy or anything. Just straight up food. There wasn't much to it.

Taking the spoon in hand, the Gryffindor scooped in some beef, then reached over to add all the other toppings. Cheese was a must, then some of that pico de whatever thing, some lettuce (vegetables were okay if they were in tacos), sour cream! And ooh, hot sauce? Hm. He had never really tried a taco with hot sauce... First time for everything?

Taking his beautiful creation back to his seat, the Gryffindor sank his teeth in for a nice big bite. Mhhhm.

Angel couldn't believe they were going to make Tacos, this was going to be so much fun, she loved Tacos and hadn't had one of them for ages. She walked up to the front of the class and beamed as she tried to figure out what to do next.

Angel Decided to go with the hard taco, she made sure she picked up a shell. She then took the spoon and scooped up a bit of meat to put into her taco shell. Then she added lettuce, cheese and a little pico de gallo she thought about putting some hot sauce in but well she wasn't sure she would like it so she left it.

Angel then went and sat down, and thought about if she should eat it, she didn't want to get in trouble for eating in class but when she saw that everyone else was already eating she took a bite out her hers and smiled as it tasted heavenly.

Taco time, taco time, taco time. AJ did a taco dance all the way up to the table. She was going to use the hard shell so she could feel the crunch when she bit into it. Those things were important when it came to food selections. She picked up the shell a little too eagerly because as soon as her hand wrapped around it, it crunched into little pieces. AJ was a food taco enthusiast in case people couldn't tell.

On to the next shell. This time she picked it up with care. There, much better. Ground beef was plopped inside. Topping time. AJ wiggled her body back and forth as a song played in her head. The lion put cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce on her taco. She was good on the veggie front, thanks.

She walked back to her seat and took a huge, very unladylike bite. Good thing she wasn't no stinking lady. "Yum." That was some good stuff there.

Ingredients…

A little bit of demonstration…

…and the moment he’d been waiting for.

EATING TIME!

Ethan literally jumped off of his seat and dashed towards the ‘Taco Bar’, and eyed each and every ingredient presented to him. The Slytherin boy held on to his stomach as it made embarrassing gurgling sounds, indicating that he must get those into his mouth and down to his protesting tummy. All right-o. First things first…the taco shell. Eh. No hard taco shell for this boy! Although crunchy is good, Ethan did not want to waste the yummy filling by spilling it all over him, no? So yes, soft taco it is.

The boy placed one soft taco on a plate and filled it with yummy ground beef. Were the professors looking? No? Okay. A little bit more then. After which, he pretty much dumped his half-made taco with everything on the table, then topped it off with cheese. At this point, his mouth was already watering.

Ohboyohboy! Happy with his creation, Ethan rolled up his taco like a burrito so that the contents won’t fall off. He really hoped Professor Hadley doesn’t mind if he didn’t follow the demonstration earlier, because really, demonstrations are for educational purposes…but how to eat it? He’d rather have it personalized. Oh and look, he actually made a taco burrito. Hehehe.

Ethan got back to his seat, eyes twinkling as he got his taco and lifted to take a bite. That’s when he took note of the professors. “Professors? Aren’t you going to join us?” Legit question. The ingredients aren’t tainted, right? Ahem. Grinning, he lifted his taco higher as if to say ‘bon appetite!’. “Thanks for this, professors.”


OMnomnomnomnom.

Whenever that Arithmancy professor spoke, Cassia was glad she dropped the subject. What did all the even mean? Every time she eyed those who were nodding along. She would bet all her money that they were nodding out of habit and understood nothing. They didn't have to pretend, didn't they know? However, as for the other part of the lesson where Professor Hadley spoke, the snake had her full attention and was actually nodding because she understood. Unlike the others.

Food! And what a better topic to talk about in her last lesson.

Though she had started to feel hungry now discussing it all. So when it turned out they were going to make tacos the seventh-year's smile couldn't get bigger. Well, it could but Cassia made sure she didn't look too pleased about it. She after all was seventeen and shouldn't be that excited about food. So yeah, cool appearance but internally flailing.

So now to make the taco. The blond walked over to where the ingredients were and cast a general look making a plan of what she wanted to add. First off she went with a soft shell. Not that she didn't like the crunchy one but she preferred the soft one generally.

Then it was all done fast as she filled the shell with beef and a lot of cheese and a bit of lettuce. She eyed the sauce contemplating adding a couple of droops which she did eventually. Then she added some more cheese because why not. Her hands gripped the taco and she did a quick check to see if she forgot to add anything. Nope! Nothing was missing. Time to enjoy this.

She made her way back to her seat passing the professors and offering a wide smile at Professor Hadley and expanding the smile to the one with the accent as well. Once she settled in her seat she took a bite and took her time chewing savoring the heavenly taste. What a great last lesson to remember.

Fooooood time! Finally! Adi thought it cool that so many Professors thought it best to keep their students well fed. Hehe. He headed over to where all the ingredients and proceeded to make his taco. Cheese...lettuce...sour cream annnnnd of course, hot sauce.

He bit in. Yum! Tacos ruled! Adi headed back to his seat. "Hungry much, AJ?'' he asked as he sat back down. Oh yesh. He had noticed that huge bite you took.

So finally time to get to the eat taco if Nigel could make one that was legitimately edible. Well he could, just the question is did he care enough to make one. Since Taco were no pizza.

And Taco would not cheer him up. Already made pizza would and something to drink. Well might as get to the taco making. Nigel took and soft shell and loaded up a ton of beef on it. The best part of the taco. Go Big or Go Home. The Prefect then put some cheese and hot sauce on it. This thing will not fold up.

So Taco Burger. Put another soft shell on top and try and eat it sound good to him. Well he had something. Too bad he was not necessarily looking forward to eating it. Could he just burn it with his wand and say it spontaneously com-busted.

No, that would not work.

Lucy had never eaten the Tacos..
Unbelievable but true .. so with a trembling hand she began to prepare her Taco!
She took an hard shell, she scooped up a small amount of beef into the shell. Then she had some shredded cheese, some pico de gallo, some lettuce, a small dollop of sour cream and some hot sauce!
When she tasted it Lucy realized that she really loved Mexican food!

...and it was TACO making time!

Sophie made a move to casually stand from her seat and make her way to the table, when she felt a slight tug on her hand. She paused and looked over to see...OH MY MERLIN! Her heart raced a little, and she was sure her stomach did a little flip... Grayson had taken her hand! Her eyes gave a little sparkle as she smiled at him. So she no little kid anymore, but still...this was the first time a boy had taken her hand.

She felt like the Minister of Magic as she walked to the taco table, hand in hand with Mr. Grayson Whitlock.

She wished that walk had taken forever, but before she knew it, they'd reached the tacos. She passed a smirk Grayson's way and said, "Well, now isn't somebody the gentleman today." Gentlemen...PSH. More like 'Slytherin Hottie'. Gentlemen seemed more appropriate in front of the professors, though.

He let go of her hand, and she, like Grayson, began making her taco. She started with a hard shell, but she did something a little differently next. Her mom had always taught her to NOT add the beef first, because it made the shell soggy. So Sophie added the tomatoes to the bottom of the shell first. THEN she added the meat followed by a sprinkle of cheese. She finished things off with a small amount of sour cream.

There, all done. Grayson had thanked the professors, so Sophie did the same. "Yeah...thanks, Professors," she said. More like 'thanks for the hand holding opportunity'.

Finally time to make a taco. Penelope had made one loads and loads of times before, though she wasn't sure she'd had one yet with all these ingredients on it. So maybe she would try them all.

Walking up to where it all was, she picked up a plate and placed a soft shell on it. Soft just sounded better right now. If they got to have another one, maybe she'd do a hard shell next. But anyway.

She scooped some meat onto it, then the shredded cheese, the pico de gallo, some lettuce, a bit of sour cream, and even some of the hot sauce. Should be interesting.

She took it back to her seat, picked it up carefully to make sure none of the ingredients fell out, and took a bite. Mm...yeah, pretty good. Maybe not her favorite kind, but still good. Mhm.

He knew it! Caleb KNEW he was going to get tacos sooner or later!

Practically barreling his way to the front of the line, licking his lips, Caleb grabbed a plate and started down the buffet. First, he took a crunchy taco shell and inspected it properly, making sure there were no cracks in it or anything that could damage the structural integrity of the shell.

Next, the meat! He took a bit of everything just because...why not?

Well, at least some of the students had expressed their gratitude to herself and Fina. But yes, she would be following up on Mr Mordaunt's question by getting herself a taco. Only one, mind you, since she had to watch her girlish figure.

She made her way up once the line had died down. Hard shell or soft shell? One of life's hardest choices. Hard today, I think. Meat, cheese, tomato, a bit of pico... What was she missing? "Ah, lechuga." She piled on the green stuff and then, satisfied, took a bite with a lound CRUNCH.

Lolita made her way back to her colleague. "You really should go get one, Fina," she said after swallowing.

Oh, he had seen that huge bite that she took? She gave him a thumbs up while she finished chewing. Once she had it all down, the lion smiled at him. "I love tacos." That could be said about a lot of food items though. She was not embarrassed in the least about him catching her.

"What do you think?" Did he like his? A few more bites, and her taco was all gone. Could she have another one now?

Lolita just wasn't understanding. Yes there was a large loch and abnormal weather patterns, but this was beyond abnormal. Josephina just let out a long sigh, shaking her head. "This ... these weather patterns, have nothing to do with Hogwarts sitting in a valley next to a large loch." For that much, Fina was certain.

But she sensed the woman didn't want to continue more discussions of the weather, so she dropped it for now. "No. I haven't. And its not like him, especially when we agreed to speak every day and now, with the owls... I'm just, I'm sure he's fine and the baby too, but I just want to let him know that I'm fine too." She sighed, figuring Lolita probably didn't understand. It wasn't like she had a nine month old baby at home.

She smiled though when Lolita gestured towards the spread and she gestured down at the taco on a plate in her hand - the one she made for the demonstration purposes. "One step ahead of you," she smiled as Lolita went ahead and made her own.

And she gave an appreciative smile when some of the students had some etiquette and thanked them for this experience. Really, if they wanted lessons like this with food, then a little appreciation did go a long way. And then there was Ethan Mordaunt, asking if they were going to join them. Well Lolita was making one and Fina just held up the one she'd made first; "Already taken care of, Ethan. Thank you though for your concern though. Five points to Slytherin." At least someone cared about the professors as well as themselves.

She then joined her colleague and took a bite of the taco. "Mmm, I feel like its been forever!" Which was probably true; last time she had tortilla chips was when Maya Saylen was at the school. And a taco? Even longer.

Once she devoured her taco within a couple minutes, she glanced around to see how they were all doing. It seemed no one had any questions for her or Lolita which meant one thing; "If there are no further questions, you are dismissed. If you would like an extra taco, you may do so now, but no food out in the corridors, please." So they had to stay longer and eat it. "To those of you graduating - good luck. And to those of you returning - I hope you have a wonderful summer and I hope to see your faces in September!" Of course she was relying on the fact that they would all be able to get out of the snow...

It was as if AJ was on the same wavelength as the professor. She DID want another taco. The whole no food in the corridors wasn't an issue because she would be able to down a taco in a minute flat. AJ walked over and made her one more taco exactly the same way that she made her first one. Nom, nom, nom. Full, she was so full. The lion walked back over to clean up her area, and to get her things together. "Professor, do you need help cleaning up? I did a really good job getting glitter off of a couch." Yup. Maybe she could sneak some food back. Technically it wouldn't be IN the corridor. It would be IN her bag.