3rd Floor Common Room, Monday Evening

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

He had a mid-term tomorrow. In cooking.

Thus, it made perfect sense to him, to wind up in the common room and attempting to cook.

Well.

Attempted to decide what he'd attempt to cook. Miss Lulu had said they couldn't use the recipes from class. This... would probably end badly.

[Open as a common room is!]

Comments

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm pretty sure I want to do this soup (http://www.recipezaar.com/286326)," Makoto said, offering Liir the printout he'd gotten from the internet, "because that doesn't sound so bad. And maybe this salad (http://www.recipezaar.com/278729) but I'm not sure it counts, entirely, as a salad. It's nothing at all like what we made in class. And I've got utterly no ideas for a main dish."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He looked at the two sheets.

"Well, you've got an astringent, light salad and a heavier, spiced soup. Neither of them have any meat, so perhaps you'd want to have meat as a main dish."

He quirked his lips.

"Nothing with too much sauce," he said thoughtfully. "Since you have the soup. Perhaps something grilled with vegetables? For balance?"

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

"Is balance important?" he asked, glancing through the other printouts he'd gotten to see if there was anything that suited that idea. "And, um, well, I've found that meat's pretty much the hardest thing to cook. I still can't get the bacon not to burn."

Which was, entirely, the fault of him having the temperature up too high.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"The trick with meat is slow cooking," he said. "Slow, even heat so that nothing burns and nothing is left raw."

He crossed his arms over his chest.

"And of course balance is important. Don't you dislike it when all the food you're eating tastes the same?" Not that he hadn't lived that until he'd taken over the cooking. "Or it's all one way or another? All saucy or all dry or all salty?"

Some he'd known. Other things, he'd learned from the private sessions with Miss Lulu.

...not those. The COOKING ones.

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

Cooking meat that way sounded really boring, but Makoto dutifully nodded and figured he might as well try it tomorrow. He didn't want to affect his grade or anything.

"... I guess?" Makoto looked sheepish, "I've never cooked before coming here. I never really thought about it or anything."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I had to cook for the lot of us, so I learned to keep things relatively sane," he said.

As sane as it could be.

"Also, grilled dishes are relatively simple. Season the meat, grill the meat, serve the meat."

He rolled his eyes.

"You just have to make sure you don't burn it and keep it relatively moist."

He'd 'forget' that last one when he was annoyed with the Witch or with Nanny. He couldn't do much to express his displeasure about things, but a dry leg of lamb said all he couldn't.

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

"You say that like it's easy," Makoto sighed, "I'm trying, really, things just keep not working out even if on paper they seem pretty straight-forward."

Nonetheless he was planning to write down Liir's advice the moment he got back to his room. More cooking advice was never a bad thing.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"It's easy once you have some practice. It's just something you learn to feel out.

He quirked thoughtfully.

"You might try grilled beef," he said. "Since there's such a range of cooking levels that are still considered appropriate. Undercook it, and you can claim you made it 'bleu'. Overcook it and it's just 'well done'."

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

He looked up from going over his printouts. "I get 'well done', but why would undercooked meat be called 'bleu'?"

Not that it really mattered, he filed the word away anyway, just in case he needed it.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I don't have the faintest idea. I read that's what you call it in a book."

He shrugged.

"I saw it in more than one book, though."

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

That got a laugh. "Good enough for me," Makoto declared, "especially if it's not just one book saying that. None of the books I checked out mentioned anything like that."

But then he'd been going through the really easy cook-books. Undercooked was a much more comprehensible term at his level.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

That's the fun of beef!

"Well, it's just a thought. You do what you think is best. If you have any questions on what you're planning, though, feel free to ask."

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

Makoto nodded. "I'll keep what you said in mind though. It's helpful, thank you."

He glanced over, flicking a bit of long blonde hair out of his way as he did so. "Have you decided what you're making for tomorrow yet?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He nodded.

"I planned it out while I was hiding in my room earlier," he said. "It was good to keep my mind off things."

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

"Does the green bother you that much, really?" Makoto asked. "You could try pretending that it's just a costume, or body-paint if that might make you more comfortable."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head.

"It's a personal matter," he said, all business. "Not so much the green itself."

But what it wasn't.

"Thank you, though."

[notreallyagirl.livejournal.com]

"Just a suggestion," Makoto said agreeably, "since you've given me so many."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"And it's appreciated."

But it was complicated.