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damned_institute2009-03-05 11:11 am
31st-of-china.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_institute2009-03-05 11:11 am
Entry tags:
Nightshift 39: Kitchen
[With mod permission]
Sanzo jerked awake, cheek pressed against the floor. The monk immediately went for the gun. He hadn't gone to sleep that last shift, not while he hadn't made a decision about Takasugi. What the fuck? Had they drugged the food? He was curled on the floor - and he definitely wasn't in that cell any longer - his fingers around the Smith & Wesson. Sanzo pushed himself up.
He flicked the flashlight on, and looked around. An island in the middle, pots and pans above, a familiar metal door. What the hell was he doing in the kitchen?
Sanzo rose, the gun scraping against the floor with the movement. Something was going on here. He'd only woken up like this once, and that'd been that time in the morgue.
What was going on here?
[To here
Sanzo jerked awake, cheek pressed against the floor. The monk immediately went for the gun. He hadn't gone to sleep that last shift, not while he hadn't made a decision about Takasugi. What the fuck? Had they drugged the food? He was curled on the floor - and he definitely wasn't in that cell any longer - his fingers around the Smith & Wesson. Sanzo pushed himself up.
He flicked the flashlight on, and looked around. An island in the middle, pots and pans above, a familiar metal door. What the hell was he doing in the kitchen?
Sanzo rose, the gun scraping against the floor with the movement. Something was going on here. He'd only woken up like this once, and that'd been that time in the morgue.
What was going on here?
[To here
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"Absolutely, my boy!" Wonka answered, already pulling random cooking supplies out of the cabinets. "Now, let's see... you wanted to make a cake, yes? Well, it just so happens that I have a delightful recipe for strawberry angel-food cake that I've been meaning to try out for a while now.
"But we'll have to get our ingredients together before we begin! Let's see... I think we'll need eggs and cream from the refrigerator, plus flour, sugar, and cream of tartar from the pantry. If you could get the eggs and cream, and strawberries if you can find them, I'll handle the pantry items. Sound good?" He would normally have taken the walk-in refrigerator himself, but with the possibility of giant roaches in the pantrys he didn't want to risk sending Honey that way. Besides, he did still need to pick up some things for his other projects tonight.
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"Yes sir!" Honey snapped to mock salute. Takashi was watching the door, so he'd help Wonka as much as he could. He took Usa-chan in one arm and the flashlight in the other, though he wasn't too sure how he'd carry everything, he'd do his best.
[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/580806.html?thread=49084358#t49084358)]]
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Honey carried the supplies back and set them on the counter as soon as he could. He didn't trust himself to do much else without dropping something or breaking the eggs. Wonka wasn't back yet, but it shouldn't be a long trip. The pantry was right over there and he'd definitely hear it if something weird happened.
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Wonka soon followed, setting his heap of ingredients down on the countertop and erupting into a beaming smile when he realized Honey had beaten him back to the kitchen. "Excellent work, Honey!" he cried, and then added in a lower voice, "I hope the walk-in refrigerator wasn't too cold for you... I'd hate for you to catch a cold on my account!" This said, he set to work, opening the bags of flour and sugar, pouring them into a waiting sieve and the food processor respectively, and beginning an explanation of the Art of Cake.
"Now, any cake recipe you could name follows the same basic idea. You have a batter, of eggs, flour and sugar, which is flavored to your liking and mixed with a chemical to make it light and fluffy in the heat of the oven. But exactly how that batter is flavored and fluffed is what makes each cake unique." He pressed the "on" button of the food processor. "Angel food cake is the lightest and fluffiest cake around, and you can tell it by the ingredients it uses. For instance, we don't just use regular sugar. We use 'castor sugar', which is cut up into even smaller grains so that it dissolves quickly and easily in the batter. The same is true for the flour," which he began to shake through the sieve into the bowl when he mentioned it. "We use only cake flour - milled more finely than wheat or all-purpose flour - and even then, we sift it to remove any clumps.
"Now, here's a puzzle for you. We've already done extra steps to make the flour and the sugar are as light and fluffy as they can be. What do you suppose we do to the eggs?"
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He was glad for the distraction Willy Wonka gave him though, and even though Haruhi had explained some of this to him before, he tried his best to pay attention. It wasn't hard, given how just the thought of cake was enough to make his mouth water. "Hnnn," he puzzled for a second, "Haru-chan always uses a wire spoon thing and whips them up when she makes the omelettes. They're really fluffy, so... so we use one of those tools, right?"
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Pushing the bowl over to where Honey was, he offered him an egg, and asked, "Would you like to try it?"
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He watched the demonstration Wonka gave on the eggs, but was somewhat hesitant to try it himself. It was kind of strange that they weren't going to use the bright yellow part of the egg too! It was the best color and the white part, he thought, always looked kind of boring in comparison. But if it would make a good cake, he'd be glad to follow the rules.
Honey set Usa-chan at his feet and reached up for one of the eggs. At his diminutive height it was hard to reach over the counter to the bowl, but he could just barely do it if he stood on tiptoe. Small fingers fumbled with the task, but despite his looks, he was fairly dexterous. The egg cracked a little too far on the first tap though and was already oozing out clearish goo when he held it over the bowl and tried to pull it apart. Instead of two neat pieces, however, it was a struggle just to keep one of the half from falling apart. Honey ended up with probably more egg white on his hands than in the bowl, but he was devout in his efforts to keep the little round yolk from falling in.
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Nothing did. He had gotten his hands a bit messy, but that was a given if you stayed in the kitchen long enough. He quickly switched the bowl with the whites in it for the one in which he'd dumped the first yolk, and said, "Well done! It can get a bit messy, but you didn't break the yolk, and that's the important part." Wetting a washcloth and handed it to Honey, he added, "You should probably wash up, though." With that, he began to separate the other eggs, one by one, until a dozen had gone into the large bowl. "Now, since it was your idea to whisk the eggs up, would you mind doing the honors? Actually, wait a tic." And, with nothing more than a nod to Mori as he passed, he dashed out the door to the cafeteria.
[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/585347.html?thread=49115267#t49115267)]
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Wonka re-entered the room, giving another nod to Mori and carrying a chair from the cafeteria. He set it down next to Honey and the bowl of eggs, and said, "There, that should make things a little easier."
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"Ah-" Honey started, but he was already gone, leaving Honey to try to remember which tool was the whisk. That much he could recognize without much trouble and he picked it up and placed it in the bowl. Luckily, before he could do any damage, Wonka returned with a chair for him to stand on. He jumped up, though it was kind of weird to be at an almost average height now, it did make it easier to reach the things on the counter.
"So..." Honey picked up the bowl and whisk and looked somewhat intimidated. "I just stir it? Or um... is there a trick to it?"
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The saucepan came out of the sink and onto a waiting burner, and Wonka looked back at Honey, smiling happily. It was so nice to have someone to help out like this, someone he could teach about the ins and outs of cooking. It made him wonder where Charlie was right now, until he remembered that "right now" didn't mean much when one was from thirty years ago in another world. In any case, it was probably best that the boy hadn't been caught by Landel's net... and a shame that Honey had been, even if it was giving them a good time for the moment.
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"Oops," he said, making a worried expression. "I think I did it too fast."
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And so it continued. Wonka would do the harder things on the side, explaning as he went, and giving Honey a chance to try the simple and fun parts after demonstrating. While the cake was baking, they switched to the syrup that would serve as its filling and topping, and while that was bubbling away Wonka was darting between pots, watching his other projects - mostly hard candy for the mysterious sweet tooth on the bulletin board, plus one or two items for the apple afficionado. And in what seemed like no time at all (and after more than one little accident) the cake was ready: light, fluffy, and accented with sweet, sticky strawberry. Wonka cut the cake in thirds - one for himself, one for Honey, and one for their silent guard - and took a bite of his own piece with a waiting fork, with a glowing smile that, had it been any wider, would have gone off the sides of his face. Another triumph.
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But when he could smell the cake baking, it was easier to forget his troubles, and when Wonka presented him with a big piece of cake, it was really hard to think of anything else. He took one bite and gave a sigh of contentment. He hadn't had real cake in days! It was like heaven! Wonka really was magic when it came to making sweets.