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 Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:12 pm
If Sunny Delight was going to perk people up in the mornings, she had a lot of things to learn! Midnight Snack was willing to help her with some of her cooking skills, but that wasn't enough. Drinks were equally important to early birds, she realized. Whether it was coffee or tea, a plain glass of OJ or a fancy yogurt smoothie, people loved having something yummy to sip when they woke up.
Sunny needed to learn from a master. Luckily, such a master was on hand, which was how she found herself on her way to a drink-making lesson from the Pink Lemonade she'd heard about. She packed a few ingredients in her saddlebags and set off, checking the directions Midnight had given her to make sure she came to the right place before knocking at the door.
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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:47 pm
The door opened after only a moment's wait, revealing a smiling, newly grown Pink Lemonade. The older Phony was glad to be able to spend some time with Midnight's sister. Since they would all be working together before long, it was necessary to build a good relationship and PL was only too happy to give Sunny Delight a few tips in the process. "Welcome. Come on in Sunny. The kitchen is this way." When they walked in, an orange flutter was perched at the big oak table waiting for them. She stopped staring intently at the ingredients Pink Lemonade had assembled and gave a firm nod of greeting towards Sunny Delight. She had been dropping off medicine for tummy troubles and after discovering a lesson in drinks would be occurring, had invited herself to stay. "This is Tiger Balm. Tiger Balm, this is Sunny Delight." Pink Lemonade made the introductions as she took a seat at the table. "Today I thought we'd start with an easy breakfast mocktail, an orange and elderflower spritzer."
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:18 am
Sunny looked up when the door opened. And then, up a little more. "Wow! You're tall! " From what Midnight had told her, she expected someone closer to her own size. Pink Lemonade was bigger than she expected, and that wasn't all. "And real pretty! I like those stripes on your legs. Did you paint them on?"
Still chattering, she followed her host in, getting another surprise when she saw that she wasn't the only guest. She waved as introductions were given, bursting with questions- but when the lesson began, those were pushed aside, and new questions took their place. Before she could get even more lost, she raised a hoof, indicating that she wanted to ask something.
"What's a mocktail? And a spitzer?" As was usual for her, Sunny found herself lacking a few key pieces of information. But she was eager to learn and get things right, now that she had a dream and was working towards it. Since it seemed like she was the only one who was confused, she shrugged apologetically at the other filly. "Do you know all this stuff already? That's pretty amazing!" She was going to have to work extra hard to not fall behind these two!
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:00 am
"And no, they're not painted on... I'm all natural." Pink Lemonade belatedly answered one of Sunny's earlier questions as she moved a glass in front of both the young Phonies. Wait, they didn't know what I mocktail was? "It looks like we'll be starting right from the beginning."Tiger Balm didn't respond to Sunny Delight. She just stared at the other filly, looking perhaps, a little embarrassed. The others assumption was wrong. The young herbalist knew nothing about drinks mixing and she was secretly glad the louder girl was their to ask those sorts of questions. Tiger Balm hoped she would catch on quickly. After all, a lot of her job was mixing ingredients into healing tisanes. "Alright then, a cocktail is where you mix different drinks to make a completely new one. A mocktail is an alcohol free version of a cocktail. I use spritzer to refer to a drink that uses a bubbly mineral water to give it fizz." Horn glowing, her magic began lifting up each ingredient in turn. "This mocktail contains orange juice, mineral water, elderflower syrup and a lime wedge. Nice and easy."She poured half of her glass full of orange juice. "Now you do the same."
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:14 am
For a brief instant, Sunny was jealous of Pink Lemonade's stripes. Then the moment was over, and her mind was focused on the task at hand. She wasn't a very good multitasker, and paying close attention was way more important than envy!
If she had a notebook, she would have written everything down. Instead, her face scrunched up as she concentrated on remembering everything. Cocktails were mixed drinks. Mocktails were mixed drinks without alcohol, just like the beer stuff that Beep was going to make. And it was spritzer, not spitzer. Once she felt comfortable with that information, her face relaxed, and she watched the ingredients dance in midair. Magic was so cool.
But, Sunny thought, she didn't need magic. She'd been practicing in the kitchen, and she felt confident that she could do this! Slowly, carefully, she picked up the pitcher of orange juice and tipped it, keeping her eye on the level of the glass in front of her. Once it looked like it was halfway full, she flicked the pitcher upright, sloshing the juice but not spilling any, and set it back down on the counter. It wasn't perfect, but it looked okay and she hadn't made a mess, so that was an improvement. Taking her time was really paying off.
Smiling, she pushed the pitcher towards Tiger Balm, eager to watch someone else, and maybe even learn something new.
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:34 am
The jug was heavy. Tiger Balm started carefully tipping some of the orange juice into her glass, but she was a lot smaller than Sunny Delight and when she righted the pitcher, there was a puddle of orange juice around her glass. There was more on the outside then on the inside. Tiger Balm started at it in annoyance. "I made a mess."Pink Lemonade only shrugged and tossed the Flutter a cloth to wipe it up with. "Now the fizzy mineral water. Not all the way, half of how much is in there now." She completed her part of the demonstration as she talked, barely seeming to be paying attention to what she was doing.
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:57 am
It definitely wasn't as easy as Pink Lemonade was making it look! Sunny could still remember the last time she had made a mess like that. It wasn't so very long ago. Actually, it was that very morning, when she'd tried to scramble eggs and ended up scrambling to put out the tiny fire in her pan.
It was oddly reassuring that she wasn't the only one making messes and mistakes. Sunny relaxed even more, and inched closer to Tiger Balm. "I can help clean up, if you want! I've gotten lots of practice at that!"
While she was making her offer, she missed half of the next step, and blinked when she saw Pink Lemonade's glass even fuller. "Oh, what was next? Was it the water or the syrup? And how much are we supposed to put in?" Focusing was really hard!
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 3:07 am
"Thanks, but I'll take care of it." Tiger Balm scrubbed furiously at the mess, nearly knocking her glass over in the process. One small setback was alright. Though it was a little annoying seeing how accomplished Pink Lemonade was. Still, that was to be expected of an adult. The equal distraction of her mess and Sunny at her side meant that Tiger Balm also missed the next step. The Flutter stared at PL's glass and then hissed triumphantly. "It looks fizzier. See, her glass has bubbles now." She grabbed the mineral water, pouring what she hoped was the right amount. Pink Lemonade was watching with an amused grin. "Once you've finished putting in the mineral water, it's time for the syrup. Watch carefully this time..." She demonstrated the amount, pouring carefully. "Too much and it's all you'll be able to taste."
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 4:01 am
"Oh, you're right!" When Sunny looked closer, she could see the tiny bubbles in the glass. It looked yummy already! Once Tiger Balm was finished with the mineral water, she took it and, with just as much care as before, poured in what looked like the right amount, giggling as everything mixed together. It was hard to resist sampling it, but it wasn't done just yet.
As instructed, she watched Pink Lemonade pour the syrup in, trying to gauge the proper amount. "What's an elderflower, anyway? Is it just a really old flower?" Syrup made from old flowers sounded kind of yucky, but she was sure that their teacher knew what she was doing.
And so, the took the bottle of syrup and started to pour even more slowly than before, dripping it in a few drops at a time. Afraid of overdoing it, she stopped a bit before she thought she should, and passed the bottle over. In this case, it seemed like it was better to do too little than to do too much.
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Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 2:44 am
"It's a white flower. If it's any older than other flowers, I wouldn't know. But I'm guessing that's just a name." PL answered as she watched them pour the syrup. Tiger Balm tasted a drop of the syrup on her hoof, decided she approved and began adding it to her glass. Whereas Sunny D put in less, Tiger Balm added a bit more than what was probably the ideal amount. "Now squeeze some lime in and mix." Pink Lemonade finished her drink off with a flourish of her spoon and then pushed it forward. "Take a drink of mine and then try yours."Tiger Balm took PL's glass and sipped. "It's really nice." She said as she passed the glass to Sunny. It was delightfully refreshing, with just the right touch of sweetness and tang.
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Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:52 pm
Well, that was a bit of a letdown. Sunny frowned, but not for long. They were nearly done! She took a slice of lime and squeezed it, trying to get as much juice out of it as she could. Then she took a spoon and stirred quickly, creating a good bit of noise- or, as she thought of it, music- as she banged her spoon against the glass.
Once she was done, she eagerly took the finished drink from Tiger Balm and took a long sip of it. "Wow! That is totally super tasty! I like how it's sweet and sour all at the same time!"
Considering how good Pink Lemonade's drink was, Sunny was a bit worried about tasting her own. But that kind of attitude just wouldn't do! Bracing herself, she took a much smaller sip of her concoction, swishing it around in her mouth before swallowing. It actually wasn't too bad. More sour than it was sweet, probably as a result of her skimping on the syrup, but quite drinkable.
"It's a good thing I like orange and lime," she commented, offering her glass to Pink Lemonade. "Does it need more syrup? Did I add too much of something?" Drinkable was good, but Sunny was aiming for delicious, and if there was still a way to get there, she was going to try!
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:09 pm
Tiger Balm watched as Sunny took a sip of PL's and then hers, then turned to her own glass. Well, down the hatch... and so sweet. Yep, she'd definitely overdone the elderflower syrup. Even though she had liked the flavour, combined it was too much for her.She was annoyed she could have messed up something so simple. Her concoctions at home were far more complicated then this and she still got it right. Of course, a part of Tiger Balm's brain whispered, you didn't worry about flavour so much with her drinks. They were expected to taste bad most of the time. While Tiger Balm frowned at the table, PL gave both attempts a try. "Not bad for a first go," she began and was about to go into particulars when a loud 'CRASH' resounded from another room. "Hold up. I'll just go check on that. Wait here..." Then she hopped down from her chair and disappeared out the door. Tiger Balm took the chance to take a sip of Sunny's drink. "Yours is better than mine." She said sullenly.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:01 pm
'Not bad' was, in Sunny's view, pretty good. It was better than a lot of her results, actually! Not that she would settle for it, of course. If she was going to help out with this business, she needed to be better. But this made for a pretty optimistic start, she decided.
It seemed like she was the only one who saw the glass as half full, though. "I'm sure yours is pretty good," she reassured Tiger Balm, taking the other glass to taste it. Her face twitched for a moment, but other than that, there was no reaction. Sure, it didn't taste nearly as good as Pink Lemonade's had, but Sunny had tasted far worse during her own kitchen practice.
"It's very, uh, sweet!" And hers had been on the sour side. That gave her an idea. "Maybe if we mix them together, they'll turn out right?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:02 am
Tiger Balm sighed. "It tastes horrible. I don't even like sweet things. I'm not sure why I thought a whole lot of the elderflower would make it better." The Flutter wasn't at all happy about her lack of drink mixing skills, but she shrugged and then nodded at the suggestion. "It's worth a shot. You do it."Feeling a little better now that they had some plan, she watched Sunny, curious to see how the combined drinks would turn out.
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:13 am
"You don't like sweet things?" Sunny repeated, rather stunned. "Not even chocolate?" How could anyone not like sweet things? She couldn't get enough of them! Granted, this had more to do with liking food than liking sweets, but she was still surprised. "Wow, you must be really tough!" Because somehow, in Sunny's mind, not liking sweets meant you were tough.
She eyed the glasses nervously. While it had been her idea, part of her felt like they should wait for Pink Lemonade to get back before doing anything else. What if she was wrong, or made a mistake when mixing? As before, she quickly moved past those momentary fears. This was supposed to be a lesson, and what better way to learn was there than to try new things.
"Okay, let's try it!" Her glass was slightly less full, since she'd added less syrup, so she picked that one up and began to pour it into the other one. Slowly, since going slowly seemed to be getting her good results. There was barely enough room in the glass for all of the liquid, and when she stopped pouring, it was full to the brim with sparkling orange liquid.
A bit tired from the control needed to pour so carefully, Sunny wiped her brow with a hoof and turned to Tiger Balm. "So, who should try it first?"
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