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 Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:29 pm
Seeming pleased by the attention, the feline followed the reaper into the kitchen area, hopping onto one of the farther counters to watch what they were doing. Xiu had flipped the notebook open to the recipe, placing that aside while she pulled out everything that they had brought at the store. After staring at the recipe for a bit, she had sorted the ingredients for the pastry and for the filling into separate groups.
"I bought...red bean paste, lotus seed paste, seeds and nuts, and...for the last one, I thought we could make one of those cakes with the yellow yolks in the center." It seemed that Mitsu had never had that one before, so perhaps she would enjoy it!
She slid the notebook between them, tapping the recipe for the pastry part first. "Can you make a batch of this? I'll make the other batch, and then we can split the fillings." It shouldn't take too long! Xiu rushed around the kitchen to get out all the measures, mooncake molds, and set the oven. Her long hair was tied up in a bun, but when she went to retrieve aprons, she paused.
"...Do you want an apron, aniki?" The ones she had were a little...floral. Then again, if he didn't wear it, he was probably going to get food all over his clothing. The red bean paste would probably stain, to boot. Without waiting for an answer, she pulled out both aprons, tossed one on, and held out the other to the reaper.
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:31 pm
"Sounds good."
The Reaper watched while Xiu sorted out the goods on her counter. He wasn't exactly a newbie to cooking, but since he didn't really have any experience with baked goods, he was going to stand by and just wait to be called on for help.
Well, that was what he planned before she passed him one of the recipes.
"Um sure," he said before staring at the slip of paper. This was not going to go well. Sure, he could try to just wing it but then this would turn out terrible.
Time to just swallow his pride.
"... Could you read this out loud?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:30 pm
...Oops.
It seemed that something important had slipped the ghoul's mind when she handed the recipe to Shun. Grinning a little sheepishly, she nodded. "Of course! Um, half of a cup of cake flour..." She read the instructions one by one, glancing up every so often to make sure that the reaper was doing alright. Fortunately, there weren't too many things that went into the dough.
As she listed each item out, Xiu measured ingredients out for her own bowl, stirring and whisking as was directed. This part was easy, and soon enough, a smooth ball of dough sat in the bottom of the bowl. "Now we wrap it up and refrigerate for a while. Time to start on the filling! Um...I'll make the lotus fillings and the one with the yolk?"
The dough was wrapped up and chucked into the fridge. After she had read out the ingredients and steps for the fillings Shun was to do, Xiu worked on her own. As she mixed the paste in her bowl, the Baku shot Shun a curious side glance. "How...how is your lucid dreaming practice going, if I may ask?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 8:26 pm
While Xiu read the instructions, Shun followed along carefully. He was at least a pretty good listener. Though.. there was something odd about the spoon he used. Why was it missing a chunk? How the hell did that even happen?
Wait...
Didn't... that cookie he ate have wooden pieces in it?
"......"
Shoving that aside, he went on and put the bowl into the fridge to let it chill. He nodded as she said she'd work on the filling of the lotus and yolk, leaving him with the other two. As with before, he worked on his part as he listened carefully.
"It's been... going slowly. Still can't stay asleep for too long but.. I guess I'm getting there."
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:19 pm
Xiu nodded approvingly, though her gaze was still focused on making the paste, even as she spoke. "You're doing well! The fact that you're able to become lucid by yourself--regardless of how short of a time--is pretty impressive in it's own right!" Now it was just a matter if him finding a way to stay sleeping that would be the problem.
"Have you been trying to spinning thing? I know it feels stupid, but..." Trailing off, she went to retrieve her dough from the fridge again, assuming that it was chilled enough. The dough was rolled out, a small portion of the paste was wrapped in it, and then the whole thing was pressed into a mooncake mold. A stamp for the design was dipped into diluted red food coloring, and then pressed against the top of the mooncake.
This was repeated until she had a small batch of lotus seed mooncakes, two of which had yolks in them. She shuffled them all on a tray, but decided that baking them could wait until Shun was done with his. As she peered over to see how he was doing and to give him a hand, she spotted the wooden spoon that he had set aside.
"Oh, that spoon. I've been meaning to throw it out. I don't know what happened to it..." How strange that a whole chunk had gone missing!
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:38 pm
"I suppose," He said, "I have, but it doesn't really help all that much. I might be able to extend a dream for a few seconds doing so, but it ends up crashing anyway."
Shun gave a sort of shrug at that. He'd get it down eventually, though it was a bit frustrating to fail like that nearly constantly.
While Xiu worked on using the mold, the Reaper did the same for his own batch, being careful to not crush anything before glancing at the spoon when it was brought up.
"I believe it wanted to join the cookies Mitsu made," he said while glancing towards the Baku.
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:17 pm
Maybe that method wasn't effective for everyone, then? Xiu pondered over this possibility as she helped make some more mooncakes, sliding them onto a baking sheet as she finished stamping each one. She could always contact her uncle to ask for more lucid dreaming tips, she supposed.
She was broken out of her thoughts by Shun's answer, and her gaze immediately shot to the wooden spoon again. "I--what? What do you mean?" Now that she thought about it though, it was after that evening that she and Mitsu made spookies did she notice that the the spoon was broken. Sure the missing chunk...
...
No. No. That was impossible! How could a spoon like this be broken by soft cookie dough?
"...How were those spookies, by the way?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:33 pm
Picking up the spoon, Shun stared at it warily before giving Xiu a sideways glance.
"I got food poisoning from them," he said flatly, "Don't tell Mitsu."
He gave the Baku an incredibly sharp stare as he said that, as if warning her against such an action. Putting the spoon down, he was more than certain it was one of the culprits for making him sick. His body was not meant to digest spoons, even if they were still made of FEAR.
Just no.
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:56 am
"What?!" But...how could that have happened? Her own spookies had turned out fine, and Mitsu had used the same ingredients (or so she thought) so how...?
Shaking her head, Xiu returned his stare with a firm one of her own. "You should know me better than that. I'd never say anything to hurt her." Though that being said, she would have to keep a much sharper eye out whenever Mitsu came over to do more baking. She still didn't know how that was even possible, but Shun obviously wouldn't lie about something like this.
As she finished off the last mooncake, she laid it down on the baking tray and slipped it in the pre-heated oven. Before she turned back to Shun, she made sure to set the timer first. "I, er...I'm sorry. I should have been watching what went into the bowl more carefully." A pause. "If Mitsu tried to make you something else, you...you wouldn't refuse, would you?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 8:31 am
That was a good question. Shun stared at Xiu, considering it.
"... We'll see," he said. The Baku did mention that she'd keep an eye on things a little more, but food poisoning is not something he would want to have on a semi regular basis.
Furrowing his brow at that thought, he slowly shook his head.
Maybe the next time would be... better for him.
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:41 pm
...
"Surely you...you wouldn't refuse her if she handed you something to try and stared at you expectantly...right?" Though that being said, she could understand his hesitance. After a moment of silence, she added, "She makes good waffles, though. You should try those sometime!"
The timer on the oven ticked away, and it would only be a few more minutes until the mooncakes could come out of the oven. Until then, the Baku went to retrieve two flat cake boxes and a roll of ribbons. "I'll put your mooncakes in a separate box," Xiu told him, building up the boxes, "As for Mitsu's...do you think you'll be visiting her later?"
She could easily drop them off herself, but if Shun was going there anyways...
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:33 pm
"Waffles?" Shun repeated while raising an eyebrow. He wouldn't really have expected that if her spookies had turned out so horribly. Furrowing his brow at the thought, he just watched as Xiu boxed up the cakes before pausing at the question. If Mitsu did offer something to him like that, he would indeed have a hard time refusing, he figured.
"Yeah probably, for a little bit at least," he replied with a nod.
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:55 pm
"Yes, waffles." She replied, carefully tying each box with a nice ribbon, "We made waffles the morning after Mitsu and I's sleepover. They turned out perfectly. Maybe you should ask her to join you for breakfast sometime?" The Baku frowned a bit as she recalled how the lycan said that she usually had cafeteria food for lunch. That stuff was...
Shudder.
With the cakes packed, Xiu stacked the boxes and turned to Shun. "If you're going to visit Mitsu...would you mind dropping off the mooncakes for me? The one with the orange ribbon is Mitsu's, and the one with the black ribbon is yours." She gave a little wag of her tail as she held them out, beaming up at the reaper with a grin. "Thank you again for your help! Please enjoy them." They had turned out looking pretty well, so Xiu hoped that they tasted just as good.
...Hopefully it wouldn't cause any food poisoning.
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 5:13 pm
Well, perhaps he could try them out some time, seeing how Xiu didn't end up getting sick and all. Unless... she was trying to trick him! Hm... no, the Baku wasn't the type to do something like that.
Taking the boxes, he looked them over for a moment or so before nodding to the girl once again.
"Alright," he nodded, "Um... thanks for the mooncakes as well I guess."
That said, Shun made sure he had a pretty good hold of things before heading on out.
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