Making a Treat (Floor 3 suite 140) (222 views)

When he opened the door and Savannah was greeted with a smile she returned the gesture. A smile suited Elliot’s face, she thought, though she rarely saw it in the library. She stepped into the suite and looked around, taking in the décor of the boys college suite. It was very different than her house, and made her excited to have a suite soon.

”It’s not a problem! I like to bake anyway.” She insisted, looking around the kitchen. It wasn’t too much different than the kitchens in the houses, she noticed. They had the same stove, the same fridge, the same counters... she looked at the ingredients and immediately headed over to them. She put her bag on one of the kitchen chairs and pulled out her apron, fastening it around her waist. She approached the sink and washed her hands, then dried them. As Elliot spoke about calculations, she tilted her head to the side. So he wanted three batches? She took the box after her hands were dry and examined the calculations. That was a lot of... calculating! She blinked, before she looked up at Elliot again.

”Well, uhm, okay! So, first thing’s first, we’ll have to melt the butter. Do you have a saucepan? And, uhm, for the butter, we won’t have to measure out any amount. This number here – that’s too much butter, even for three batches! It’s very unhealthy! So I think... if we just put a glob of butter in the pan and melt it, that will work out fine! Is that okay with you?”

As Savannah listened to Elliot freak out at her statement she unconsciously bit down on her lower lip, not intending to make him so uncomfortable! He seemed really uncomfortable cooking... and really uncomfortable when he didn’t know what to do. She could sympathize with that. Being caught off-guard was never a fun thing. As he put the saucepan on the stove she smiled, and went to his fridge where she pulled out the butter container.

”Honestly, the butter is there to stop the pan from burning and to give the treats a sticky consistency. We don’t want to make the flavor of butter stand out – that would make these butter-crispy treats. And butter doesn’t take good on its own.” She said. She tilted her head to the side at his questions. Oh, he was so worried, it made her feel bad! ”With cooking, you don’t have to make the ratios completely perfect! It’s honestly a matter of taste, so that’s why you have to sample things a lot before you make them.”

She grabbed a spoon, and demonstrated a ‘glob’ to Elliot by taking a spoonful of butter and flopping it into the saucepan. She hummed, didn’t seem satisfied, and then took half a spoonful more and inserted it. ”There! A glob! Cooking is a lot of playing by ear. So do you want these treats to have any special flavor, or did you want to keep them plain? Because I’ve seen, uhm, cherry flavors and peanut butter flavors before.”

At his question, Savannah shrugged her shoulders slowly, before she shifted the butter around in the saucepan and allowed it to melt. She had the heat set low, so that the melting would be gradual and smooth.

”The recipe is good if you want to be exact, I mean, or if you just want to make the thing as-is. But for a lot of people they like to change it up. Uhm... add spices, flavors, fruit, all of that. It’s... really just a matter of taste is all. I mean, there’s no right or wrong way to cook!” She said. When he said it would be impossible to re-create the recipe, she smiled a little. ”Well, sure there’s a little bit of guessing involved, but I usually remember stuff. And for butter – well – it doesn’t really stand out as a taste per say, it’s more the other ingredients that I remember. Butter is mostly just to give it a consistency that’s not... like cardboard. I mean it’s not like, uhm, I don’t use measurements for everything. I just don’t follow the box!”

When he suggested layers she smiled and her eyes lit up. ”Yeah, layers would work! Do you like peanut butter? Oh, or we could do a fruit layer! Like blueberries or strawberries. I like strawberries better personally. And I have some jars of fruit I brought, just in case. But it’s your food so, uhm, I don’t want to pick which flavor so you can! I don’t want to, uhm, dictate your whole process, I mean!”

”That’s a really good idea! And having different flavors will appeal to more people than just the ones who, maybe, don’t like certain flavors. We’ll have to start out by thinking how many we want. We can divide up the batches accordingly. So... we’re making enough for three batches, right? Do you just want to do three flavors?” She felt like she was talking too fast, and Savannah cleared her throat. She pulled out the strawberries she brought. Hershey’s, Peanut Butter, and Strawberries would make three different flavors. She glanced over at Elliot at his little laugh and smiled at him. He sounded so... off-put when he mentioned marshmallows! Savannah let out a little giggle as she went to the bag and opened it.

”Now we just dump the marshmallows in, and we wait for them to melt! It’s really simple. Do you want to pour in the marshmallows, Elliot? I can do the stirring.” She said. ”And just dump small batches at a time, like, uhm... like more little globs!”

”Oh, go ahead and change the size! That’s a great idea, too!” Savannah saw the two smaller pans and smiled at them, watching as he then went for the marshmallows and seemed to think about the task at hand a little too hard. She was curious if that made him uncomfortable – and if he’d rather stir and have her pour in the marshmallows.

When he handed her the spoon she turned to the mixture and bit her lower lip. He wasn’t that uncomfortable, was he? She remembered his smile a few minutes before and thought he couldn’t be unhappy with that face! No way. He sounded a little tentative as he brought over the marshmallows and poured a few in. ”That’s perfect!” she encouraged, stirring the marshmallows together. Over the heat and mixed in with the butter the globs began to melt and stick together as she stirred. The result was a thick liquid marshmallow mixture on the bottom of the pan. As the last marshmallow ceased being a lump and became liquid, she turned to Elloit.

”Next glob, please!” She sent an encouraging smile his way as she continued to stir.

Savannah smiled encouragingly, her smile softening when she saw Elliot’s perk up. He was so shy about this! It wasn’t every day Savannah came across people shy about cooking. Most people just thought of it as something to do, or had a passion for it. But unlike anyone she’d met before, Elliot was just... so shy about this! It made her feel accomplished, smart, and helpful.

”Yeah, I’m positive!” She said. ”And nope! It’s actually really easy to stir. It’s a bit thick, but I’ve got good arm strength from doing this kind of thing a lot. Uhm... when it comes to desserts, I mean, I always do this!”

She gave him a friendly smile at his offer to try. ”But, I mean, since they are your treats, would you like to stir? I can pour the marshmallow in if that’s easier!”

Savannah took the marshmallows from Elliot with a warm smile his way and began to put in a glob at a time into the melting mixture. She glanced over at Elliot, watching as his knuckles tightened on the spoon and he froze. Poor guy! He looked so confused. She watched as he started to churn, slowly, the same way she’d been going before.

”It doesn’t matter much! But I like to stir it both directions. Like, uhm... like, I’ll have it going one way for about five stirs, and then I’ll switch directions for another five. That way, the mixture gets spread evenly and it’s a little easier to do that too, I think.” She waited until the marshmallows melted before putting in another glob ”But what you’re doing now is fine! You could, uhm, you could go just a little bit faster though!”