49 Searing, Year 123
[Closed - Solo]
When Lia entered the kitchen and took stock of the ingredients that Hilana was gathering, she promptly took a seat. "I don't suppose you're making honey cake, soror? What's the occasion?"
"No occasion," Hilana smiled at her, pouring her a cup of tea and sliding it over to her as she started steeping the dark, rich tea that would be needed for the cake itself. "I just thought it would be a nice treat for us. And it was a long day at work. Some customers were a bit out of sorts, and even though I've been there for a year, they only want to deal with Vasilei."
"You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the whole world, Hilana, and there's always going to be someone who hates peaches. Don't take it personally. You can charm a lot of people and you do, but some people are always going to want to work with your elders before they'll work with you. Let me guess, it was an elder?" Lia was amused. She knew how their people were.
"Right in one," she agreed. "I don't mind, not really. I've got patients that have come to prefer me to Vasilei, and there are some that will come and talk to me... and leave if I'm not there," she laughed. "It's fine, really. What others think of me is none of my business." When the hot water hit the tea leaves, the fragrant scent bloomed in the kitchen, and both sisters inhaled nearly at the same time to savour it. "But back to better and sweeter things."
"Are you going to put nuts on top?" Lia inquired as she swirled the tea in her cup, stirring it up a bit with a spoon in order to encourage the flavour to develop. "Walnuts, maybe?"
"I could, sure," Hilana agreed, smiling at her. "We'll chop some up and toast them."
She turned the oven on to get it warmed up She found the jar of walnut pieces in the pantry, and measured out four heaping cups of them, putting them on the heavy wooden cutting board and taking up a large knife. They didn’t need to be too small, but a little smaller would be perfect. It took a few rounds, considering the amount of nuts, and they would be transferred onto a tray. She shook them out in a single layer, and placed them in the oven to get them toasting so that they could release the flavour and the oils within the meat of the nut. Lia was content to watch with her tea, sipping the hot drink. She knew the science behind that move now, as Hilana had prepared them for her before to explain what the difference was. Flavour. And flavour was king.
The pans needed to be prepared next, but that was easy - four square pans were rubbed down with lard from a waxed cloth so that she didn’t get it all on her fingers before a scoop of flour went into the pan before being shaken until the thin coating of lard was covered in a very thin coating of flour. All the better to make them come out easily. She was humming now, shaking her hips to the rhythm of the pan, like it was a tambourine, eliciting a laugh from her sister. She didn’t know what it was about cooking and baking that brightened Hilana’s mood like it did, but considering it amplified her already sunny disposition…
With the nuts in the oven to toast and the baking pans ready, Hilana took her zesting rasp to the orange that she had washed earlier. The zest would contribute to the flavour of the honey cakes while not making the batter too runny like orange juice might have. Mindful not to zest the white pith to avoid the bitter flavour, the Vastiana worked the orange over the rasp, keeping a fluid motion in her wrist as she went back and forth, regularly rotating the orange. The resulting zest was measured, and while it was slightly more than the recipe called for, she elected to use it all. With the zest in the large mixing bowl, she scooped out flour with the wooden measuring cup, shaking them out to level them. Four scoops went into the bowl with the zest, before she grabbed the little jar of leavening powder that had been made by the chemists. Two larger spoons went into the bowl, and the jar was closed and set aside, and the salt was retrieved. A heaping spoonful of the smaller spoon was used, and now she needed cinnamon. The jar was offered to Lia to smell across the table, and she humoured her, inhaling the fragrant spice. “That’s nice, isn’t it?” She smiled at her as Hilana smiled back.
“It really is,” she agreed, adding two smaller spoons of the cinnamon into the mixing bowl before picking up a wire whisk and getting those ingredients blended together. Hilana set that aside, and grabbed the most expensive part of the recipe: a pound and a half of butter. Butter was less used than many other fats and oils in Solunarium, but for baking, she found it indispensable. It was already softened from the natural warmth of the enormous kitchen, and it went into the bowl with three measured cups of sugar. The scent of the nuts from the oven told her that they were ready, and she retrieved those, setting them on the counter. There was no coming back from burned nuts, after all. But now came the fun part - mixing it. Taking up a wooden spoon, Hilana started the process of creaming the butter and sugar together, stirring steadily and scraping down the sides. Lia watched with her tea, shaking her head.
“Have you ever considered seeing if a runeforger could make something that would do the mixing for you?” Lia asked her. “It would save you a lot of time, I’m sure. I know it doesn’t take the place of everything,” she continued before Hilana could say anything, “but for something like this it might work really well for you.”
“I’ve thought about it. Especially for the marshmallows. That’s harder than this is,” Hilana admitted. But at the same time… some part of her hated the idea of relying on magical technology to do what she was perfectly capable of doing. It might save time, but there was still elements stubbornness and pride that she did it as her people did it. By hand. The butter would be creamed with the sugar, and in that process, she would start adding in the eggs - a dozen of them, one at a time, beating after each addition. Lia left the subject alone - sometimes bringing it up was enough with her, and if she pushed it, she might dig her heels in. She was glad of her sister’s energy and stamina, though, because the longer that went, the more that stamina was necessary. The eggshells went into a pail, and those would go back to Sweet Remedies to dry out on the roof before being crushed down to go back into the soil to help produce nutrients.
When the eggs were fully incorporated, Hilana switched to adding in the flour mixture alternating with a cup of milk. She had her rhythm, though, the large steel bowl staying mostly in place as more and more was added to it. With everything but the toasted, fragrant walnuts in the batter, she tipped in about a third of the pan, folding them in evenly before repeating the process with the remaining nuts. She didn’t want to overwork it; that would affect the crumb and the final texture, and that would be no good. When she was satisfied that everything had been mixed well, she poured the batter between the four prepared pans, and slid them into the oven. She would rotate them after a while to ensure an even bake, but now she could clean up this mess and sit with Athalia and enjoy some tea.
Halfway through, after about twenty minutes, the cakes got rotated quickly in the oven and Hilana was able to sit, juice a lemon, and chat with Lia for a little while before the cakes came out. When the slender metal testing spike came back clean, she set the cakes on the counter so that she could start the honey syrup that would make the honey cake a proper honey cake. Two cups each of honey and sugar went into a pot, along with a cup and a half of water. The honey took some doing, needing to be scraped out of the jar, but it had that faint citrus scent from the hives from the orange groves, and it would go well considering there was already orange zest in the cake. She stirred it constantly, letting it come up to a simmer. That took time, and since she wasn't rushing it and risking burning the syrup. Slow, but steady, sometimes won the race.
"It's surprising how much one comes to appreciate food when they see first-hand the amount of work that goes into it," Lia admitted while Hilana leaned against the counter, watching the syrup. It would need a bit to come together at this temperature, so she had a few minutes to let it simmer.
"Right? I think that's why I enjoy it so much - I know the effort that it takes to make, and I respect those who dedicate their lives to it," the younger woman agreed, wafting the scent from the syrup to her nose with her hand and shimmying her hips. Clearly, she approved of it. After about five minutes, Hilana added the lemon juice, turning the stove up a bit higher to let it come to a boil. The acid would add another level of flavour to the syrup, increasing the complexity of the final product as a whole. With the syrup boiling, she cut the cakes in the pans into squares, and then triangles, which would allow the syrup to permeate better rather than just pooling on the top.
She came back to the stove and took up the pot, swirling the ambery-coloured syrup around before turning off the heat and bringing it back to the pans. Using the back of a spoon so that it wouldn't be a direct pour, she steadily added syrup over the top of each of the four cakes, making sure that each one received roughly the same amount of syrup before scraping the pan out with the spatula. "That's going to be a bite of pure indulgence once it cools, won't it?"
[Closed - Solo]
When Lia entered the kitchen and took stock of the ingredients that Hilana was gathering, she promptly took a seat. "I don't suppose you're making honey cake, soror? What's the occasion?"
"No occasion," Hilana smiled at her, pouring her a cup of tea and sliding it over to her as she started steeping the dark, rich tea that would be needed for the cake itself. "I just thought it would be a nice treat for us. And it was a long day at work. Some customers were a bit out of sorts, and even though I've been there for a year, they only want to deal with Vasilei."
"You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the whole world, Hilana, and there's always going to be someone who hates peaches. Don't take it personally. You can charm a lot of people and you do, but some people are always going to want to work with your elders before they'll work with you. Let me guess, it was an elder?" Lia was amused. She knew how their people were.
"Right in one," she agreed. "I don't mind, not really. I've got patients that have come to prefer me to Vasilei, and there are some that will come and talk to me... and leave if I'm not there," she laughed. "It's fine, really. What others think of me is none of my business." When the hot water hit the tea leaves, the fragrant scent bloomed in the kitchen, and both sisters inhaled nearly at the same time to savour it. "But back to better and sweeter things."
"Are you going to put nuts on top?" Lia inquired as she swirled the tea in her cup, stirring it up a bit with a spoon in order to encourage the flavour to develop. "Walnuts, maybe?"
"I could, sure," Hilana agreed, smiling at her. "We'll chop some up and toast them."
She turned the oven on to get it warmed up She found the jar of walnut pieces in the pantry, and measured out four heaping cups of them, putting them on the heavy wooden cutting board and taking up a large knife. They didn’t need to be too small, but a little smaller would be perfect. It took a few rounds, considering the amount of nuts, and they would be transferred onto a tray. She shook them out in a single layer, and placed them in the oven to get them toasting so that they could release the flavour and the oils within the meat of the nut. Lia was content to watch with her tea, sipping the hot drink. She knew the science behind that move now, as Hilana had prepared them for her before to explain what the difference was. Flavour. And flavour was king.
The pans needed to be prepared next, but that was easy - four square pans were rubbed down with lard from a waxed cloth so that she didn’t get it all on her fingers before a scoop of flour went into the pan before being shaken until the thin coating of lard was covered in a very thin coating of flour. All the better to make them come out easily. She was humming now, shaking her hips to the rhythm of the pan, like it was a tambourine, eliciting a laugh from her sister. She didn’t know what it was about cooking and baking that brightened Hilana’s mood like it did, but considering it amplified her already sunny disposition…
With the nuts in the oven to toast and the baking pans ready, Hilana took her zesting rasp to the orange that she had washed earlier. The zest would contribute to the flavour of the honey cakes while not making the batter too runny like orange juice might have. Mindful not to zest the white pith to avoid the bitter flavour, the Vastiana worked the orange over the rasp, keeping a fluid motion in her wrist as she went back and forth, regularly rotating the orange. The resulting zest was measured, and while it was slightly more than the recipe called for, she elected to use it all. With the zest in the large mixing bowl, she scooped out flour with the wooden measuring cup, shaking them out to level them. Four scoops went into the bowl with the zest, before she grabbed the little jar of leavening powder that had been made by the chemists. Two larger spoons went into the bowl, and the jar was closed and set aside, and the salt was retrieved. A heaping spoonful of the smaller spoon was used, and now she needed cinnamon. The jar was offered to Lia to smell across the table, and she humoured her, inhaling the fragrant spice. “That’s nice, isn’t it?” She smiled at her as Hilana smiled back.
“It really is,” she agreed, adding two smaller spoons of the cinnamon into the mixing bowl before picking up a wire whisk and getting those ingredients blended together. Hilana set that aside, and grabbed the most expensive part of the recipe: a pound and a half of butter. Butter was less used than many other fats and oils in Solunarium, but for baking, she found it indispensable. It was already softened from the natural warmth of the enormous kitchen, and it went into the bowl with three measured cups of sugar. The scent of the nuts from the oven told her that they were ready, and she retrieved those, setting them on the counter. There was no coming back from burned nuts, after all. But now came the fun part - mixing it. Taking up a wooden spoon, Hilana started the process of creaming the butter and sugar together, stirring steadily and scraping down the sides. Lia watched with her tea, shaking her head.
“Have you ever considered seeing if a runeforger could make something that would do the mixing for you?” Lia asked her. “It would save you a lot of time, I’m sure. I know it doesn’t take the place of everything,” she continued before Hilana could say anything, “but for something like this it might work really well for you.”
“I’ve thought about it. Especially for the marshmallows. That’s harder than this is,” Hilana admitted. But at the same time… some part of her hated the idea of relying on magical technology to do what she was perfectly capable of doing. It might save time, but there was still elements stubbornness and pride that she did it as her people did it. By hand. The butter would be creamed with the sugar, and in that process, she would start adding in the eggs - a dozen of them, one at a time, beating after each addition. Lia left the subject alone - sometimes bringing it up was enough with her, and if she pushed it, she might dig her heels in. She was glad of her sister’s energy and stamina, though, because the longer that went, the more that stamina was necessary. The eggshells went into a pail, and those would go back to Sweet Remedies to dry out on the roof before being crushed down to go back into the soil to help produce nutrients.
When the eggs were fully incorporated, Hilana switched to adding in the flour mixture alternating with a cup of milk. She had her rhythm, though, the large steel bowl staying mostly in place as more and more was added to it. With everything but the toasted, fragrant walnuts in the batter, she tipped in about a third of the pan, folding them in evenly before repeating the process with the remaining nuts. She didn’t want to overwork it; that would affect the crumb and the final texture, and that would be no good. When she was satisfied that everything had been mixed well, she poured the batter between the four prepared pans, and slid them into the oven. She would rotate them after a while to ensure an even bake, but now she could clean up this mess and sit with Athalia and enjoy some tea.
Halfway through, after about twenty minutes, the cakes got rotated quickly in the oven and Hilana was able to sit, juice a lemon, and chat with Lia for a little while before the cakes came out. When the slender metal testing spike came back clean, she set the cakes on the counter so that she could start the honey syrup that would make the honey cake a proper honey cake. Two cups each of honey and sugar went into a pot, along with a cup and a half of water. The honey took some doing, needing to be scraped out of the jar, but it had that faint citrus scent from the hives from the orange groves, and it would go well considering there was already orange zest in the cake. She stirred it constantly, letting it come up to a simmer. That took time, and since she wasn't rushing it and risking burning the syrup. Slow, but steady, sometimes won the race.
"It's surprising how much one comes to appreciate food when they see first-hand the amount of work that goes into it," Lia admitted while Hilana leaned against the counter, watching the syrup. It would need a bit to come together at this temperature, so she had a few minutes to let it simmer.
"Right? I think that's why I enjoy it so much - I know the effort that it takes to make, and I respect those who dedicate their lives to it," the younger woman agreed, wafting the scent from the syrup to her nose with her hand and shimmying her hips. Clearly, she approved of it. After about five minutes, Hilana added the lemon juice, turning the stove up a bit higher to let it come to a boil. The acid would add another level of flavour to the syrup, increasing the complexity of the final product as a whole. With the syrup boiling, she cut the cakes in the pans into squares, and then triangles, which would allow the syrup to permeate better rather than just pooling on the top.
She came back to the stove and took up the pot, swirling the ambery-coloured syrup around before turning off the heat and bringing it back to the pans. Using the back of a spoon so that it wouldn't be a direct pour, she steadily added syrup over the top of each of the four cakes, making sure that each one received roughly the same amount of syrup before scraping the pan out with the spatula. "That's going to be a bite of pure indulgence once it cools, won't it?"
