Midnight Manor Boarding House, Kitchen, Friday Afternoon

[moreofaponchoguy]

One of the best things about the internet, Cal had discovered, was the nearly endless supply of recipes. Once you got past whatever story the person wanted to tell about the food, you got rewarded with the recipe, and after drooling over pictures for long enough, Cal figured it was time to actually start cooking.

Today, he was starting with chili--two pots of chili, actually, because there was apparently a lot of contention on the actual ingredients. He'd ignored the recipes that called for chocolate, because that just seemed totally wrong, but one pot had beans (with fake meat, because that seemed like a good match) and one had no beans (just real meat and a bunch of spices). He was like 96% he wouldn't cause any food poisoning, and that had to count for something.

[Open!]

Comments

[moreofaponchoguy]

Cal gasped and feigned distress. "Nooo, I can't escape," he said. "The kiss just adds to the constriction, now I can't leave!"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Doomed," Arden sighed, apologetically. "Just doomed. What a way to go, though, huh?"

Poor Cal. Trapped by hugs and then ended by a kiss. Surely there was nothing with symbolic potential there!

[moreofaponchoguy]

"There are worse methods I could think of," he said, leaning back against her a little. "Could I stall my doom with an offer of chili? I think it might be pretty good."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I mean, that is what drew me downstairs..." Arden said thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you made bread to go along with it?"

If he hadn't, Arden was happy to start some to go along with it.

"But I think a brief ceasefire can be arranged."

[moreofaponchoguy]

"I appreciate your fairness," Cal said. "I... didn't think of bread? I was just trying to make one new thing at a time."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I can make some," she said, coming around to Cal's side and grinning up at him. "Thick and crusty. And some shredded cheddar cheese on top."

She leaned over and sniffed the closest pot of chili. "Smells really good."

[moreofaponchoguy]

"You can just make bread?" Clearly, he had more research to do. "I wanted to try making something that wasn't just sticking things in the microwave until they're warm."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"You can just make bread," she confirmed with a smile. "In fact, I'm gonna blow your mind and make two types - cornbread also goes really well with chili."

She started pulling out the bread flour, oil, and salt, tabbing over to her collection of saved recipes on her phone because she definitely didn't have anything memorized to the extent required by baking. Once her phone was situated nearby and she was dumping flour into a big mixing bowl, she asked, "Any reason why you're cooking? Midnight snacks...?"

Did she need to be concerned, Cal?