[ LOG ] What do you call a fake noodle?

[bossyboiler]

Who: Winter, Yelena and Kate
When: April 1, evening
Where: Their apartment.
Summary: Kate is going to teach Winter how to cook and Yelena how to bake. Then it's movie night!
Warnings: N/A

Kate is going to teach Yelena and Winter how to bake and cook. She has faith in them. They are both competent individuals and she is certain that they can follow written instructions. It's all about the recipe.

She has selected two recipes for them each to follow. Kate will teach them the same day but at different times. After all, the cookies will take longer to prep than the pasta.

After dinner and desert, Kate thought they could watch a movie. She found one in the Library called the Iron Giant. While it is animated, the synopsis of the story seems compelling. And certainly a cartoon would provide more escape than a traditional film. There shouldn't be anything triggering in it.

What could go wrong?

Comments

[bossyboiler]

"Teaspoon," she replies and then takes a quick peak at the recipe again. "TBSP means tablespoon."

[worthallthis]

"Okay." A pause. "You're going to have to show me what those are." Because he is just baffled. Boil water, check, he can do that. Dump in pasta, yes, he can do that too. Stir it. All that. He's been watching Kate cook for months now.

But the measurements of the lemon juice and cheese are a bit beyond him for the moment.

[bossyboiler]

"I appreciate that you're telling me what you need to me to show you," because Kate doesn't want to assume what Winter knows. She doesn't want to butt in and take over the lesson.

She picks up a set of measure spoons. A set of measure cups had been sitting beside it. "This goes from an eighth of a teaspoon to two tablespoons. All you're going to do is fill it and dump it in the bowl. The measuring cups are all marked with different measurements. I find it best to sit them on a flat surface to fill." And not hold them which might make slight adjustments to the recipe's flavor because the utensils were not at eye-level.

[worthallthis]

He'd wondered why there were stacked cups and spoons of different sizes like that, but he hadn't wondered enough to ask. Interesting. He picks up the spoons and squints at the labels, then nods. "All right. Boil water first, then."

And he sets about doing that. If the recipe says a specific amount of water to boil, he'll measure it out painstakingly carefully. If not, he'll just eyeball it to what Kate usually uses for about that much pasta.

[bossyboiler]

Kate nods her head but doesn't say anything else. This is Winter's show. She's just an observer who will interfere if need be. While Winter starts water to boil, Kate fixes herself a cup of coffee. Earlier, she had made a pot while making cookies with Yelena.

[worthallthis]

He follows instructions to the letter. The more specific they are, the better he manages, but he's also filled in the blanks a little from watching Kate for all this time. His one question is: "It says to stir occasionally. How much is occasionally."

[bossyboiler]

It is hard for Kate to not jump in and just do it herself. But she is trying to be more patient, besides Winter is doing a fine job on his own. "With pasta? I give them a good stir at least once every minute. Sometimes more often, it just depends on the pasta." And how she's feeling for the day.

[worthallthis]

"Once every minute," he repeats, then nods and gets back to it. The lemon and parmesan he can handle while the pasta boils. In between stirring. Which he does, every minute.

Then he runs out of lemon and parmesan to prep, and sits and waits for the pasta to finish boiling. Still stirring once a minute. Maybe on his second or third time he'll be less precise about his instructions, but for his first time, he's going to make sure he gets it right.

[bossyboiler]

Kate nods her head here and there, very happy that she hasn't had to intervene so far. She believes that most people can at least cook if they just have the patience to follow the recipe.

"Are you liking it so far?"

[worthallthis]

Patience is not a thing Winter is short on. "It's not difficult," is what he answers. "So far, anyway." And the recipe doesn't look like there's much more to it, honestly. Pour out the water, mix in the lemon and sprinkle on the cheese, and that's pretty much it.

He's not sure if that counts as liking it or not. Maybe once he's not worried about doing it perfectly the liking will come.

[bossyboiler]

"So far," Kate smiles. She had picked out a relatively easy recipe to follow along with. There is nothing too complex about it and minimal cooking tools are needed. "I'm going to build your skills slowly but surely. Give me a couple of months and I'll have you capable of preparing a small feast."

[worthallthis]

"Okay." He shifts to stir again. "It seems like a good skill to have."

Even if he doesn't ever anticipate having to do without Kate and Yelena to help him get by, food-wise, it's still probably smart to know how to at least feed himself beyond sandwiches.