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 Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:24 am
note: backdated to about late september. We'll go for Sept 20th It was late September. Grocery stores were some of her favorite haunts both before her purification, and since, they had become even more of a sanctuary. This was a place she knew. She couldn't go anywhere hardly she used to go to. Noone knew her. She didn't trust herself to not necessarily tell people who she was. She knew she couldn't do that. What better way to kill time than at the grocery store. She could maybe get some things to whip up a tasty meal for the co-residents at the Refuge. Her new temporary housing.
Being a Sunday afternoon, this place was hoppin with free sample stalls or tables every few aisles. You could practically have a full lunch if you hit every single one. While Lindsey didn't feel it necessary to take it that far, she did like to see what they were offering. Sometimes it gave her ideas in the past of new things to try or experiment with in cooking.
Here she was at one that had these cookie sticks that were rather biscotti like. They had about four varieties. She was taking her time trying all of them. That was the only thing about biscotti; it usually ended up tasting kind of dry and overly crunchy. Not at all soft and gooey like pie.
While she held her third sample in the palm of a gloved hand, she eyed another lady coming up and standing there sampling beside her.
"These are pretty good. gotta give it to them. Still.. I can't help but feel I could make it better."
Naturally she'd say that; she always thought she did everything better. Especially when it came to food and desserts. Though she had no reason to know if she would do just as well with biscotti. She had never tried to make it, and it was far from the usual sort of things she made.
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Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 9:28 am
Anella was out shopping—not for anything in particular, but just because she liked food. Her cart was full of miscellaneous things--things on sale, things that looked good...junk food. She'd been burying herself in new recipes, trying things.
Shopping was, however, a very exhausting process, and being surrounded by all that food was just starving her. Of course she'd migrated to one of the stalls (okay—no, she'd actually hit up every single one she ran into, sometimes twice, nibbling) and was in the process of sampling when she heard a woman there commenting.
"Oh?" she prompted, shoving all the food in to her mouth to one side. Her cheek puffed out a bit like a squirrel. "You cook?" she prompted, and then managed to close her mouth to continue chewing.
She wasn't a food prude by any means; she'd eat just about anything.
She just wanted to be able to cook.
And she'd try to pick up tips anywhere.
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Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 2:32 pm
The question of if she cooked? This question drew a pointed glance out of the corner of Lindsey's eyes. A grin quickly followed along with some bravado she had always been known to wax on with people. A small glimmer flashed in her eyes as she scooted closer as to not yell or talk over anyone else nearby. Also to not be in the way and accidentally make someone bump their whole cart into the stand or anyone else idling here.
"Oh honey. I can cook the pants off of anyone just about. At least for favorites and traditional foods at least. I don't usually get into the gourmet for dinner and international exploratory eating. At least not yet.. that's kind of undiscovered country. My real claim to fame would be my pies. My other desserts are pretty fantastic too."
It was so great to be able to talk about something she did so well. It felt like forever since she had really bragged in a way that was really true to herself. A self that carried over through everything she had been through. No matter what name she had; she was still her. There were just certain things that were irrepressible. Her ego and screaming over confidence being a few.
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Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 10:54 pm
Cook the pants off? Oh, my.
A grin spread across her face, and while for a second she thought perhaps she should make sure to avoid anyone talking about pants being off, the thought of someone who could cook—ohmygoddessertstoo—had her interests piqued.
"Really, now? Well, I just so happen to be a chef, myself," she said proudly.
…And then faltered when she realized that might not have been the most honest answer.
"Well. I'm working on that, you know. I'd like to be a chef. Or, at least, what I mean is, I love to cook."
She hesitated and could not bring herself to add 'Just not very well.'
"Where did you learn?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 3:41 pm
The fun answer would have been that she taught herself. That would sound rather grandiose. As egotistical as she could be at times, it was tempting. So tempting. Still... that wasn't persay really true.
She paused again as she was about to mention a grandfather who owned a bakery. Hmm. But.. should she say that? She wasn't sure. She couldn't really reveal her real family. That wouldn't do any good. Well then again, if this is a stranger; she wouldn't know any better.
"It so happens... My grandfather owned a small bakery in a small town in the French countryside. Every summer, I went there for a few weeks. Mostly I'd help with kneading and putting bread on the plates to go in the ovens. Sometimes, I got to help ice cakes for weddings. My grandmother would work on the pies. She let me help lay the lattice work for the top crust. Those were nice times. I like to think my own pies are half as good as hers."
That was nice. To reminisce over things she really couldn't tell in excessive detail to anyone. She had hoped in her life as Cerise; she hadn't mentioend to people about her grandparents' bakery in France. She couldn't remember exactly if she had or not. Oh well.... lots of people have relatives from France. Right? This is Destiny City after all.
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:04 pm
Anella nearly squirmed in excitement. "That sounds so magical," she sighed wistfully. "My grandmother was a nasty old woman who used to try to fry squirrels and other wildlife that crawled into our backyard. But, to be fair," she sighed and seemed a bit exasperated. "She got a bit weird, towards the end. My father kept her sane, but I don't have many memories of sweet cakes with her. She was just, you know, too bitter too make anything sweet."
Her lips pursed and she sighed—and then reached to taste another sample. She was shameless and nodded approvingly. "You really think you can make something better than this? Because," she smiled her most charming smile. "I would love to get in on that. I mean—I've been trying to improve a few recipes, but I've sort of…plateau'd. I don't suppose you have any tips you'd be willing to share? Because."
She leaned in a bit, like this was some shameful secret. "I am seriously getting desperate over here," she whispered. "I've been trying like hell to make something to sweep someone off their feet. I mean—how am I supposed to have a really romantic night if we're always ordering out!"
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:24 pm
Lindsey's eyes were taking in that excitement. Such exuberance just barely held in. Linds had to smile. Seriously... this was pretty adorable.. "Squirrels? Oh no..." She gasped. She paled at the idea of eating forest critters.
and did she just... right out ask her to take her under her wing? Like a beautiful little padawan of delicious proportions? At first, she wondered if she took the girl up on this. Would this make herself seem creepy?
Then she thought about the very few people she'd had to do with lately. The friends she wouldn't ever be able to know the way she knew them before. Maybe it'd be some kind of good karma to help another person know how to cook. After all, meals were often the centerpiece to all the things that help bond people together. Like war and traumatic experiences were a unifying and bonding experience; also people who broke bread together were also bonded together.
She wondered if people at the Refuge would be ok with her really making a meal. Was it ok to bring in a stranger? She didn't know this person. She could be anyone. Lindsey's instincts didn't feel any kind of danger though.
Then suddenly like childhood friends reunited; Lindsey brushed her arm lightly. "Sure! Come on... It just so happens.. I was thinking about making a dinner for this brownstone I'm staying at right now. I was kind of out of town too long, and long story short, now I'm living in this temporary housing compound. I don't really know anyone there, but I felt like feeding people would be a great stage to make new friends. You can come and help me cook. Then, that's our stage to be new friends also."
She mused to herself what all they should make then. She had thought about making a large chicken or a turkey. Maybe some kind of .. a casserole bake? Or.. a pot pie and some other noodle or casserole type of things?
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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 10:02 pm
Anella laughed and shook her head; a part of her wished she was joking about the squirrels, but—hey. When you're a kid, you either ate what your parents made for you, or you starved.
Anella didn't want to admit that maybe she'd eaten a few more forest creatures than just squirrels. She also wasn't going to admit—at least not in public—that maybe she had actually even enjoyed it. At least once.
But then, here was this stranger—sweet as she could be—offering her the opportunity to cook for people? She wasn't going to miss that for the world!
Well…except…
She opened her mouth, enthusiastic and delighted to accept, but promptly closed it. "That's…I'd like to, trust me," she said honestly, but bit her lip. "…But my cooking…isn't…"
She looked to the ground and then looked back up. "…I'm not so great. The last time I tried to cook for someone, they couldn’t even keep it down. But—I mean, if you're inviting me to help, I can tag along? I am great at preparing things! I've got that part mastered!" she said, mood picking up immediately. She was at least proud to consider that an accomplishment—even if she wasn't so great at the actual cooking part—yet.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 10:49 am
Lindsey thought carefully about what it meant to offer someone to learn how to cook. What was that old cliche? Give a man a fish; teach him how to cook. This was nice though. Talking to someone. Socializing. Her new life as exciting as it was for the most part; it had the loss of friends could no longer call on. She needed new ones.
Not to mention most of her friends previously had been most men. There was a pretty good reason as to why that was. Such reasons no longer existed, and she found herself reaching to reinvent those holes within herself.
She daydreamed to herself what it might be like to have an assistant in the kitchen. Someone to put the measured amounts of things into little glass bowls. Then, as she is doing the heavy part of cooking; she can just mix them in and apply glazes and bastings.
"Well, I am still offering. Though your first few lessons would really be in the very basics. We'd have to have a veggie and fruit chopping party, so you could learn the different styles of things. Like... making diced versus just chopped celery? Or.... learning smart ways to core an apple really fast. Things like that... I don't wanna insult you though; since I'm not sure to what extent your knowledge of general kitchen items is...."
Linds chewed on her lip as she thought about what was going on that afternoon. "Well, after I finish here; I was gonna go back and make a casual evening meal for housemates. You can come if you want. You can just... lurk and shadow to see how I handle stuff? You can help with some preparations since you feel established with that?"
She hoped it was ok to bring strangers to the refuge housing complex.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 10:18 pm
"I don't care if they are just the basics! Please!" Anella said; her whole face had lit up. "You can teach me how to pour milk because, heaven knows, I even need help with that! Teach me how to do everything. I would gladly lurk in the shadows to see how you handle things. And I promise I won't just pick at things and eat it all before you get to cook it!"
The enthusiasm to which Anella exclaimed such might have been a bit alarming; she had a very bad habit of snacking while she was supposed to be cooking, and on more than one occasion she'd wound up totally devouring a portion of her ingredients.
Cooking was just so exhausting—she got hungry!
But she was promising to be on her best behavior. And if it meant she might actually learn how to cook, she was hell-bent on keeping that promise.
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