|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:17 am
Well. From his position just behind and to the side of the chairs his boys occupied, Naarhiji withheld a grimace. He'd known that the baking process wouldn't be perfect while two six-year-olds were concerned, but he'd hope they could at least minimize the mistakes to the point where he wouldn't be eating eggshells in every bite of cookie. His offense, fortunately, was mild enough that he didn't feel obligated to object to further involvement from the twins. It was for them, after all, so rather than huff and puff about it, he took up a post at Percy's back as Malikai did the same for Era. Percivle's lips fell into a small, pleased 'o' of delight as he watched his father and brother use their combined efforts to crack their egg. The whole process took much less time than when he'd done his, and it came out smoother, and it wasn't as messy. Though he still couldn't exactly discern why because he'd also done it just so, just like that, and his egg was now a swirly goop mixture of yellow and clear oozes. It wasn't an ugly cracked egg, as far as he wasn't concerned, but it wasn't the nice, round orb that came from Era's second egg. Percy squinted at the bowl and made to grab his second egg. Despite being uncertain that Momma could produce the same egg that Daddy had, when Naar stepped up behind him, Percy shifted agreeably to fit his fingers against his parent's and tried his best to be physically cooperative during the breaking process. Momma's fingers were so much smaller than Daddy's, and as much as Percy thought that would've been a hindrance, it didn't actually appear to be. He leaned forward from his chair to peer into the bowl. "Huh. They're good-looking eggs." Good enough to poke, surely. But before the opportunity presented itself, Naar pushed more ingredients before them. Butter, sugar, flour, and- "I don't want salt in my cookies," Percy scoffed as the little ceramic container was set before him. "They'll taste gross. That doesn't go in there. I will dooo..." He nudged the salt shaker away with the back of his hand. But if he disregarded that as an option, there were still many choices for him to stick his fingers into. There was a lot of flour, and that was more tempting than the others, but it was surely a two-person job, and worth saving for later. "I will do the butter," he decided, fumbling for a spoon to scoop with.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:56 pm
Era’s nose had only just begun to crinkle with agreement — who wanted salt in their cookies? — when his father’s deep, rumbling chuckle sounded from behind him, distracting his thought and earning the older man a suspicious squint. Era opened his mouth. Daddy ought to know Percy was right after all-
“Just th’ wee-est bit of salt and you don’t taste that bit at all, I promise you that. Just adds a pinch o’ flavor from the rest of it, that’s all.”
If Erasmus looked unconvinced, well, he was, so Daddy would just have to make do with it. It didn’t seem that Malikai was especially eager to argue regardless. More amused than anything else, and fortunately, it was easy enough to be distracted by sugar being encouragingly nudged before him. Sugar was a useful ingredient in cookies. That had to be true. Perhaps the most important, and Era felt a hum of excitement to hold the bag of it. As Percy managed the butter, Daddy was telling him something about portioning and how much sugar would be appropriate—something, something, something.
It wasn’t that he didn’t hear the man, and a portion of him was paying attention. But Daddy also thought salt belonged in cookies and just maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more of the best thing than called for.
Daddy’s hands made sure at the last instant that he did not follow the same treatment with vanilla and upend their entire supply of sugar into the bowl, but they were not quick enough to keep him from heaping on a healthy white mountain in the middle of their selection. Erasmus, at least, was pleased with himself. There were such things as sugar cookies after all and it just didn’t seem possible to have too much of a thing that it could be named after.
Only time would tell how much the practical mechanics of cookie making leant themselves to young experimentation while still rendering an edible result.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 7:37 am
Ohhh. Era's sugar pile looked good, much better than the dollops of butter Momma had let him put in. In fact, Era's sugar pile looked good enough to taste by itself, just to make sure it really was a good sugar pile. Percy leaned down, far enough to rest his chest on the table and kick his legs up from the chair and snake his little arm up to the bowl so that he could dunk a butter-coated finger into the crystalline mound. Somewhere behind him, Naarhiji made an ever-so-slightly-high-pitched sound of reprimand, but it was much too late to stop him. "You did good, Era," Percy hummed as he tasted the sugar-butter mixture that clung to his fingers. It was almost better than if it was plain sugar, he was sure, but maybe he was just especially hungry. Dinner still hadn't happened, and since edible things were right there- But so was Momma. "You can't just touch everything, Percivle," Naar scolded, sounding as much of a pout as a reprimand. He wiped at Percy's fingers with a dishrag, while his toddler son squirmed and griped and tried to escape. "The rest of us don't want to taste your fingers in our desert." Percy would've argued that his fingers didn't have a taste, so it should be fine, but a spoon was shoved at him before he had the chance. "Here. Stir." A second was offered to Era. So Percy allowed himself to be distracted by that and reached to jab his spoon into the mixture while Momma slipped around the other side of the table to add sprinkles of flower at the same time as the stirring. Though Percy had wanted that job for he and Era, the stuff was already too thick to get far into the stirring process. It would've been harder with lots of flower, anyway. Instead, he entertained himself by 'fighting' with Erasmus' spoon. That was sure to get everything good and mixed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:43 pm
Erasmus’ eyes fixated on his brother’s finger, trailing it to the sugar bowl and—pop, right into his mouth. His mother’s sound of indignant objection was background noise in contrast to the thought that this whole procedure looked like a Very Good Idea™ to say the least. Unfortunately, having just been pulled, Era was behind schedule and before he mimic the maneuver, a spoon was being pushed into his hand as was Percy’s, and as much as that wasn’t exactly what he’d intended to be doing, he supposed tasting could wait.
They couldn’t be that far from through, in any case.
And, well, perhaps a good swashbuckling match of spoons was also in order—too good to turn down, in any case, and as far along as they were into the process it couldn’t put too much of a delay in the proceedings. This seemed to stir it some, and Mama and Daddy must know what they were doing regardless. The stiffness of the batter though did lend itself to inspiring a relatively short attention span for actually trying to wrangle it about, and soon Era was focused all but solely on the dueling aspect.
“On guard!” he piped up, tapping his spoon to the handle of Percy’s. “Our cookie ship has been attacked!”
If Malikai had any personal objection to his boys waging a spoonfighting duel over the table or within the dough, the amusement in his face didn’t reflect it. A fleeting glance to his young husband, however, who had certainly already done his part to try to maintain at least some sense of civilized and moderated behavior through the cooking process, inspired mitigating action after a time in the form of guiding both boys into at least first scraping off those spoons, please, so that they didn’t knock batter everywhere, yes, thank you, and then taking their inspiring swordsmanship to the floor and away from spillable dishes while Mama and Daddy finished with the dough and prepared the cookies for the oven.
Erasmus thought that just as well. There was more room on the floor anyway to chase bandits and each other, and he thought he and his brother had done their fair share of cookie preparation. It must be high time to eat soon. There was some relief in having the finer points of that left to the adults.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 5:34 pm
Percivle bounced with his excitement, digging his spoon partway into the bowl and lashing out with the ingredients within as Era's spoon came too close, and then whacked against his. "By jelly worms!" He added boisterously, thrilled by the prospect of attacking food. He really was hungry; just about everything sounded delicious. The words had barely left his mouth before his attention swiveled toward the cabinetry, as though if he wanted hard enough, perhaps he could convince the jelly morsels within to actually take up the charge against he and his brother and the cookie dough. They didn't, and it was only moments later that he found himself guided from his chair to a much lower position on the floor. Before he'd made it entirely down, Percy did a quick survey of the table and decided that, for all the adventures that had been had, there wasn't really that much dough wasted, and what wasn't in the bowl would surely be good for licking when the opportunity arose. And he did still have whatever remained on this spoon to enjoy, so if he felt inspired to add jelly to the mixture... Percy made it two steps toward the low cabinets before there came a soft warning of "I can see you," from his Momma, and he slunk rapidly back to Era's side. Fine, fine. What was already prepared smelled good enough and would be within reach very soon, he was sure. After the glorious battle, as he watched his parents clean dishware, dollop dough into bites on a tray for baking, and finish preparations for their actual dinner, he contented himself with sucking on his captive utensil. Oh, and the little splodge of skin on Era's forearm where Percy had flung dough at him. That was perhaps the best bite, nice and warm.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
