4th Floor Common Room [Tuesday afternoon]

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

Proto had an actual cookbook out. He was staring at it dubiously, and with a mild expression of confusion, but he had it out, dang it! Of course he didn't recognize a number of ingredients listed on the page he had open, and he wasn't entirely clear on how one properly 'sautéed' things, but he was going to try.

Though... any help would probably be appreciated.

[Open and all that stuff.]

Comments

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough," said Alexander with a light laugh as he leaned in to take a look at the page and start formulating a plan. It was simple enough, there was that, but he felt compelled to ask, "What inspired you to give this a go if you're so unaccustomed to preparing a meal in this fashion?"

Which was an assumption, sure, but...

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"I... wanted to try something different?" Proto's tone suggested that there was a girl involved.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"I see," Alexander said, chuckling again; though he might not have picked up on specifically that a girl was involved, he had a feeling that the answer would be something like that.

"Let's take it from the very beginning, then," he said, so that they could do this in a way that maybe might help for an easier experience next time. "And that's to look at the ingredients and make sure you have them all prepared first. So I'm working on the mushrooms, what else would we need?"

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"Salt, pepper, butter, onions, some other kind of salt, um... broth. And wine?" Someone was reading straight off the ingredient list.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

Alexander considered for a moment how that was answered before holding up his hands slightly. "Now," he said, "no offense is intended when I ask you this next inquiry, but I feel I must know. Did you set to this task knowing you were going to be making this, or did you just sort of open up to a random page and decide to go for it?"

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't quite random," Proto answered. He'd skipped a few which looked way, way too complicated for him.

But... yeah. Pretty much.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

Alexander had to admit, he sort of liked how Proto never really answered the question, and yet still managed to answer it precisely all the same.

"Let's make sure, then," he said, "we've all the ingredients before we start. I'm positive we've got almost all of it, but the wine's a little questionable. I'm not sure if that's something they just let us keep hanging around the kitchenettes..."

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

It was one of his many talents! Like... um... other things he was talented at!

"Oh." Proto hadn't thought about that.

"What do we do if there isn't any? Pick another recipe?"

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"We could do that," Alexander said with a nod. "Or we could give it a try without the wine. Or one of us could easily go into the village and get some. It isn't a long trek, after all."

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"You... don't have to have all the ingredients?" Now Proto was confused. What was the point of a recipe if you could just fudge things?

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Not necessarily, no," Alexander said with a faint shrug. "The end result won't be as good, but, sometimes, one finds they do have to compromise."

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"Hey, it'll probably turn out better than what I usually do." Proto was pretty grateful about this, by the way.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Let's try to improvise without the wine, then," Alexander offered. "Or I wouldn't mind fetching some if we'd like to play it safe. I actually have a jug of wine in my room, but I don't think we'll want to use it; I think it's gone bad or something like that."

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"You don't know?" Proto asked, amused.

Then he wave a bit vaguely. "But I wouldn't worry about it, I guess?"

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"It's....it doesn't taste right," Alexander explained. "It's quite strange; the gentleman at the shop just gave it to me when I came in to get things for a moving picture night with my friend, but we couldn't quite get a taste for it. I think it may have gone bad..."

He shook his head. "But that's neither here nor there. Let us see how it is without the wine and, if it does not work, we have the wonder of the convenience of all of the food on the island as a back-up plan!"

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"You're the expert," Proto decided. "At least compared to me."

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Don't feel too bad," Alexander laughed a little, allowing at least a little bit of confidence, "compared to a lot of people. I've sort of spent my whole life cooking, and usually having to make allowances for not always having everything we'd need."

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"Well, I've spent none of my life cooking, so... that's helpful."

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"That's wonderful that you're starting to get into it, then," Alexander complimented as he started to go through the cupboards for the rest of the ingredients. "It's a worthy skill to have. You'll find few people can turn their noses up at a well-prepared meal."

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"That's what I'm hoping." Yep. Definitely a girl involved.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Oh?" Alexander asked, feeling as if there might be a bit more to that story.

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"Nothing," Proto answered a little too quickly. Yeah, right.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"That...doesn't exactly sound like nothing," Alexander noted.

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

Proto shrugged and smiled just a bit awkwardly.