[it's kind of exciting, but it's a little nerve-wracking at the same time. flayn's cooking skills have definitely improved since she arrived here, but she knows she's not exactly a talented chef, and she doesn't want to embarrass herself in front of him.
(even if, by now, she's relatively certain he would never judge her.)
she takes the apron and puts it on, reaching back to try and tie the strings in a bow behind her. it's a little awkward, but she can manage.]
I look forward to - um... to cooking with you, Yin Yu.
[ she shouldn't have to just manage! besides, yin yu is as ever quick to be helpful. he takes the few steps behind her, and gently brushes his hands against hers to bat her away from the knot so she doesn't have to stretch. even the little brush of contact sends a now familiar jolt of warmth through him, and... it's still emotion sharing week, which means flayn gets to feel it, too.
beyond that, with the attention to details he gives everything, yin yu ties the strings of the apron into a neat bow little bow.
...it's very cute. flayn is so cute. ] - There you are.
[he always takes care of things like this without her having to ask. she giggles as he ties the bow off, and her heart lifts as that rush of warmth lights her up from the inside. this still seems - unbelievable, really. she wouldn't have been able to imagine finding something like this with someone like him, in a place like this.
but she has, and more than anything, she doesn't want to lose it. she doesn't want to lose him.]
Thank you!
[and then she gives a little curtsy, looking down at the apron before looking up at his face. she's smiling like the gremlin she is.]
[ as yin yu pulls back, he's treated to that very cute giggle, followed immediately by her curtsy.
so naturally he just. stares at her kind of stupidly for a second, just completely and utterly charmed. ] ...
[ wait he has to say something back. did he reply? girl cute.
he ends up smiling, a little too much for a reserved person like him, and yin yu looks away, bashful, but honest when he replies: ] ...You look lovely.
[ honestly she could be wearing a paper bag and she'd still be the most beautiful girl he's ever seen so ]
Perhaps I will be able to charm the ingredients into behaving, this time!
[...this sort of thinking - rather than, you know, just buckling down and paying attention to the details - is probably why she's such a terrible cook. anyway.]
she's certainly successfully charmed yin yu. he huffs a laugh, fond. ] I'm not so sure that's how cooking works, my l-- Flayn, but, perhaps I could be wrong.
[ maybe that's why she's not good at it, because such tricks wouldn't work...?
...anyway. he gestures to the counter with all of the ingredients. ] I thought we could try to make shui zhu yu. [ he talked about it a few times this week during twenty questions, and got a craving...it's his favorite. ] It's a common seafood dish from my homeland. It can be quite spicy, but we can adjust it as we go.
[ alright! let's do this. he gestures first to the fish, which is marinating and already cut because i can't read recipes. ] I set this to marinate before we start, so we can focus on the other parts of the recipe - we'll have to cut some vegetables, and some spices, as well. If you can get the celery cut into thin pieces, then I can work on the smaller things like garlic.
[ scooting out of the way to make sure she has room to cut up the neat pile of celery stalks on a cutting board, yin yu pulls one out to demonstrate; with a quick cut, he takes off a small vertical piece of celery, and holds it out for her inspection. time for some shixiong teacher voice. ] You want the pieces to be quite thin, if you can, and relatively similar in size and thickness - that helps them cook a little more evenly. Alright?
[...getting to try something from yin yu's homeland - something about that fills her heart with warmth, and she smiles to herself as she thinks about it. she's shared many things with yin yu since they arrived on the island, and then arrived here...
but something from his home feels... special, somehow.
she watches as he demonstrates what to do with the celery, then examines the piece. that size should be manageable, so she nods.]
I will do my best! {time to grab the knife - she looks enthusiastic... she wants to do a good job so that he'll praise her.
if she can do it quickly and efficiently, so much the better.] Please leave the celery to me.
[ oh good, the enthusiasm is good. yin yu nods his head, and ends up smiling back at her just a little, too.
with that said and done, he sets to work with the garlic and a few smaller things. he's used to doing this for himself, because yin yu may live and work in ghost city, but he doesn't trust the food there even an iota, so it's quick work. he uses the flat of the knife to get the clove and starts to mince it into neat little squares, careful not to make anything too large or too small.
he takes a side glance to flayn to make sure she's doing okay, too. ]
[flayn accidentally chops off her hand! oops! guess i better go retcon her week 4 body check.
just kidding. her knifework is much improved from her earliest days here, and while the cuts aren't as neat or precise as his, they're... decent enough. the pieces of celery aren't entirely even, but they're not wildly disproportionate from one another, either.
she's trying very hard to focus, her eyes narrowed at the vegetable, the tip of her tongue peeking out from between her lips as she works at it with intense concentration.]
as yin yu pushes the garlic clove aside to mince ginger, instead, he pauses to look at flayn, and he just. sort of looks at her for a moment. it's a good thing she's focusing, and it's a good thing that he can't tell the look on his own face.
because for a minute there, he just looks so stupidly, ridiculously affectionate, watching her where she can't see. all of the flayn related warmth in his chest doubles to something so big it feels like he can't even breathe around it. it is the most ridiculously overwhelming feeling in the entire world, and there's a part of him that wants to run screaming in another direction and hide from it, while yet another just wants to stay forever and bask in the fact that someone like this made the mistake to think he was worth their time. it is only recently that he's started to tip towards favoring the latter.
...he feels ridiculous, is what he feels. yin yu has to shake his head as he returns to his own task, chiding himself mentally, and forcing himself to take a deep breath and focus on anything that is not that.
ginger, garlic, scallions. yin yu makes quick work of them, and pushes the last pile to the edge of the cutting board. ] There.
[in the time it's taken her to passably chop some celery, he's managed to perfectly chop three separate ingredients. flayn looks at the ginger, garlic, and scallions for a moment, then turns her face up toward yin yu.
her gaze is warm and admiring. there really isn't anything he can't do well, is there? at least, that's what she thinks.
...she wastes a few seconds just watching him, hopelessly fond, before she realizes that she's getting distracted. it's why she hadn't allowed herself to look at him even once, while working with the celery, despite being tempted to; she knows by now that he has a way of drawing her attention to him, and that she should, perhaps, not get distracted while she has a knife in her hand.]
[ this hetero bullshit is why yin yu had to die this week
ahem. he has to clear his throat, when he catches brief wind of flayn looking at him like that, and focuses on the task at hand. right. ] ...right. The first thing is to fry the spices, so, you'll need to pour a small amount of oil into the pan.
[ by now he's learned how to work the fancy stove well enough - old habits die hard, and he still prefers to eat his own food - and yin yu gestures to a fairly deep frying pan. ] It's key to make sure you don't over fry the spices, or they'll burn, and the flavor won't matter: it's best to pay close attention to time it correctly.
[ he goes ahead and does the oil part, able to eyeball it enough from experience and also a lack of measuring cups, flicks on the stove, and moves out of the way. ] Here, if you can watch the pan, I'll start adding the ingredients. You'll want to move the pan a bit to keep things from overcooking to take some direct heat off--you can move your wrist, or use something to stir it if they start to clump together too much.
The standard amount of peppers is closer to fifteen, but that may be a bit too much... just let me know when you want me to stop. [ he doesn't want flayn to hate it because it's too spicy, even if he prefers it that way... so, with that said! as the oil in the pan starts to heat up, yin yu adds the first few dried chili peppers and a handful of peppercorns from her side, standing close enough in case something lights on fire. or something. not that he thinks that will happen. (just best to be cautious, apparently.) ]
[...she really is not skilled with detail-oriented tasks, but with yin yu here, flayn feels like he'll make sure she doesn't fail. she takes note of how much oil he pours in, then nods and moves in to take the pan by the handle.
she can do this...! she hopes.
thankfully, the pan does not immediately catch fire, and the slightly spicy fit of peppers fills the air as it starts to heat.]
...I would like to eat it as it is meant to be cooked! As they say, the spicier the dish, the more love in it, correct?
...this dish is certainly full of it, then. [ ah... that's a little embarrassing to say, because of the implications... ahem! well. yin yu moves to add the next round of peppers in, and reaches over for a big wooden spoon to pass to flayn, clearing his throat.
anyway! ] ...Here. Do you see how these pieces in the middle are getting too dark? Use the spoon to push them to the outside.
[ the oil sizzles and crackles pleasantly, and yin yu gives his directions in his usual calm, gentle voice, moving his hand to gesture in the direction she should move the ingredients in the pan. ] You can move your wrist, to move the ingredients around in the pan, too.
[so that's what it looks like when it looks too dark... she takes the spoon with a nod and pushes them away from the center of the pan, spreading them outwards. now that she knows the shade to be looking out for, it should hopefully make it easier to identify without it being pointed out to her.
she jostles the pan slightly with her wrist as she works, and giggles a little as some of the ingredients shift around a bit.]
...it smells very good already, but it is only the spices so far...
[to be fair, spices smell GREAT when they're cooking.]
[ for yin yu, it smells like home. home home, beyond ghost city, back in the west, where disciples would compete to eat the largest amount of peppers, where you could smell people cooking from their hearths and their windows. it's nostalgic, and it's really, really nice.
he adds in the last few peppers and waits for the fragrance of the spices to really start to bloom. ] It's very easy to overcook these, so... you only want to fry these enough that all of those smells start to come out.
That should be enough--well done. [ the praise is genuine, and yin yu gives her an encouraging little smile. nothing is on fire and it smells good! win win.]
Next, I'll chop those since they've been fried. You can scoop them out of the pan with the spoon and set them here. [ gesturing at a cutting board!! and once that's done... ] Go ahead and set the pan back on the heat, and we'll put the celery in the oil, too.
You only want to cook it for a minute, perhaps a minute and a half at the very most: if you need to count down, that can make it a bit easier, too. [ and while keeping a careful eye on that, yin yu will go to quickly and coarsely chop up the spices. it smells like spicy heaven in here rn. ]
[yin yu makes up for her complete and utter lack of attention to detail - they make a good pair. flayn returns his smile, and once he gestures to the cutting board, she nods and wields the spoon to get the peppers out of the oil.
soon enough, they're on the cutting board, and she's looking at the celery.]
Just a minute or so... I see.
[into the oil the celery goes!
while yin yu chops, she counts under her breath, occasionally shifting the pan by the handle to keep the pieces from clumping up together.]
yin yu keeps a watchful eye on her to make sure things are going well, looking from the pan to flayn to make sure she's keeping track. the way she counts under her breath is charming - perhaps she'll charm the ingredients into behaving after all.
at the same time, he steps around her, easily manuevering through the small kitchen. he reaches over her head for a cabinet to grab a bowl, easily fitting in the tight space and setting into the side - ] When you're finished, you can set the vegetables in there, and we'll start the broth.
[ so far, so good. it does smell quite good in here, already, and he settles to her other side with the ingredients he chopped earlier, ready to add them when the vegetables have been taken out. ] I thought you said you weren't very good at this, my lady.
which, unfortunately, means that she is, for once, not paying attention to him. (it's because she wants him to think she isn't totally unteachable in the kitchen - if she succeeds at this, maybe he'll cook with her again.)
she's just continuing to count under her breath.]
...fifty-eight... fifty-nine... sixty!
[it's been a minute, so she'll transfer the celery out -
only to realize that yin yu has just spoken to her. oops.]
...um... I am sorry, what?
[she's not! good! at detail-oriented tasks! ...because she is easily distracted. multitasking is not her forte.]
very cute. yin yu smiles, just briefly, and ducks his head, shaking it. ]
Nothing. Let's move on, shall we? [ time to get back to work! that is to say, starting the broth. as the celery's transferred, he move back to the pan to add a little more oil. ] We'll move what I cut in here, and then... the chili paste, and powder. After that, it'll just need water, and we can leave it to boil.
[ really, the convenience of these ingredients simply existing in this form is kind of nice. one could get used to the conveniences of modern life. yin yu goes for the carefully chopped ingredients from before, and adds them, letting them sizzle pleasantly in the oil for a little while. it's starting to smell really wonderful, now, the scent of spices complex and familiar, homely. after that comes the chilis he chopped, and the powder.. ]
And, if you could, my lady, fill that cup with water there, and pour it in the pan for me. [ it's nice to have another hand. a helpful one! ] It won't take long after this, so if you can bring the fish over with you, too. We'll be eating soon.
[back to work... flayn nods, and as he adds the oil and gets the chopped ingredients ready, she steps away to grab the cup and fill it with water.
(yin yu is really doing the bulk of the work here, but is still managing to make her feel like she's helping. it feels nice.)
with the cup in one hand and the fish in the other, flayn heads back over and pours the water into the pan. she watches it for a few moment, then sets the pan down and glances up at his face. soon, they can add the fish...]
I can hardly wait. It smells truly delicious, Yin Yu!
It does. [ he gives her a smile, immediately, warm and soft, a little fond.
this is very domestic. yin yu has never had to cook for anyone but himself -- in the past, he would help with chores in the sect, and then as a god, he never had to cook for himself, only participate in feasts or eat what servants and middle officials brought him. cooking is one of the many skills he had to learn as he adapted and struggled with his new life post-banishment, and it's really nice, to be able to share the kitchen with someone else. ]
...Truth be told, it is my favorite. [ his mouth quirks up a little further, fond with old nostalgia instead of bitter, something soft about him as he looks at the mixture on the stove, waiting for it to bubble. it's nice to feel good about something from his homeland, instead of just feeling empty. ] It is not difficult to make, but it is a dish that I have not gotten to really eat properly in some time. There's no sense in making something this large, if it's only going to be for myself.
[ in front of them, the mixture begins to boil. thankfully: that felt very personal, and while he's not as uncomfortable talking about it as he could be (as he used to be), it is still a little close to the chest.
so! directions. yes. ] ...You can start adding the fish in, now. Try to do it slowly, so it doesn't splash. It'll need to cook for about ten minutes.
Even favorite foods taste better when you eat them with someone who is important to you, so—
[...is it too presumptuous to assume that she's important to him? (they've kissed, but. still. is it presumptuous to assume that?) flayn's cheeks flush with color, and she hides a smile by looking down at the mixture and shifting pieces of the fish into it.
very slowly, very carefully - better not to splash boiling liquid everywhere.]
...at any rate, I am very excited to get to try this. [...] And, um... I do hope that we will be able to cook together again.
that's... right along the lines of what he was thinking, yeah. his ears start to turn red, and yin yu dips his head, hand coming up briefly to hide the way his mouth seems to curl up into a smile without his permission. embarrassing. ]
...I hope that you will like it, my lady. [ and that it will taste better with her around. a meal enjoyed with others is a luxury, let alone a meal to be enjoyed with someone important.
(the spicier the dish, the more love it's made with.)
he supervises until she's all out of fish slices, still looking at the pan. ] ...If... there's something that you really like to eat, I'm sure we could learn to make it, too. [ together. if she liked. ]
...there is a dessert I like that was often served in the monastery's dining hall, but truthfully, I am not quite sure how to make it...
[SAD. but, maybe they can figure out how...?]
It involves fruit and cream. But - I do not believe Noa fruits are native to this camp...
[maybe they just need to sample every type of fruit until they find something that tastes similar...? then again, it may not be necessary - there is quite a lot of fish here.]
We may be full after all of this, though! So... perhaps we can attempt to make it later on in the week?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fishingforcompliments) wrote2020-06-06 12:53 pm
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[it's kind of exciting, but it's a little nerve-wracking at the same time. flayn's cooking skills have definitely improved since she arrived here, but she knows she's not exactly a talented chef, and she doesn't want to embarrass herself in front of him.
(even if, by now, she's relatively certain he would never judge her.)
she takes the apron and puts it on, reaching back to try and tie the strings in a bow behind her. it's a little awkward, but she can manage.]
I look forward to - um... to cooking with you, Yin Yu.
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[ she shouldn't have to just manage! besides, yin yu is as ever quick to be helpful. he takes the few steps behind her, and gently brushes his hands against hers to bat her away from the knot so she doesn't have to stretch. even the little brush of contact sends a now familiar jolt of warmth through him, and... it's still emotion sharing week, which means flayn gets to feel it, too.
beyond that, with the attention to details he gives everything, yin yu ties the strings of the apron into a neat bow little bow.
...it's very cute. flayn is so cute. ] - There you are.
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but she has, and more than anything, she doesn't want to lose it. she doesn't want to lose him.]
Thank you!
[and then she gives a little curtsy, looking down at the apron before looking up at his face. she's smiling like the gremlin she is.]
—does it suit me?
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so naturally he just. stares at her kind of stupidly for a second, just completely and utterly charmed. ] ...
[ wait he has to say something back. did he reply? girl cute.
he ends up smiling, a little too much for a reserved person like him, and yin yu looks away, bashful, but honest when he replies: ] ...You look lovely.
[ honestly she could be wearing a paper bag and she'd still be the most beautiful girl he's ever seen so ]
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Perhaps I will be able to charm the ingredients into behaving, this time!
[...this sort of thinking - rather than, you know, just buckling down and paying attention to the details - is probably why she's such a terrible cook. anyway.]
...shall we begin?
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she's certainly successfully charmed yin yu. he huffs a laugh, fond. ] I'm not so sure that's how cooking works, my l-- Flayn, but, perhaps I could be wrong.
[ maybe that's why she's not good at it, because such tricks wouldn't work...?
...anyway. he gestures to the counter with all of the ingredients. ] I thought we could try to make shui zhu yu. [ he talked about it a few times this week during twenty questions, and got a craving...it's his favorite. ] It's a common seafood dish from my homeland. It can be quite spicy, but we can adjust it as we go.
[ alright! let's do this. he gestures first to the fish, which is marinating and already cut because i can't read recipes. ] I set this to marinate before we start, so we can focus on the other parts of the recipe - we'll have to cut some vegetables, and some spices, as well. If you can get the celery cut into thin pieces, then I can work on the smaller things like garlic.
[ scooting out of the way to make sure she has room to cut up the neat pile of celery stalks on a cutting board, yin yu pulls one out to demonstrate; with a quick cut, he takes off a small vertical piece of celery, and holds it out for her inspection. time for some shixiong teacher voice. ] You want the pieces to be quite thin, if you can, and relatively similar in size and thickness - that helps them cook a little more evenly. Alright?
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[...getting to try something from yin yu's homeland - something about that fills her heart with warmth, and she smiles to herself as she thinks about it. she's shared many things with yin yu since they arrived on the island, and then arrived here...
but something from his home feels... special, somehow.
she watches as he demonstrates what to do with the celery, then examines the piece. that size should be manageable, so she nods.]
I will do my best! {time to grab the knife - she looks enthusiastic... she wants to do a good job so that he'll praise her.
if she can do it quickly and efficiently, so much the better.] Please leave the celery to me.
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with that said and done, he sets to work with the garlic and a few smaller things. he's used to doing this for himself, because yin yu may live and work in ghost city, but he doesn't trust the food there even an iota, so it's quick work. he uses the flat of the knife to get the clove and starts to mince it into neat little squares, careful not to make anything too large or too small.
he takes a side glance to flayn to make sure she's doing okay, too. ]
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just kidding. her knifework is much improved from her earliest days here, and while the cuts aren't as neat or precise as his, they're... decent enough. the pieces of celery aren't entirely even, but they're not wildly disproportionate from one another, either.
she's trying very hard to focus, her eyes narrowed at the vegetable, the tip of her tongue peeking out from between her lips as she works at it with intense concentration.]
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as yin yu pushes the garlic clove aside to mince ginger, instead, he pauses to look at flayn, and he just. sort of looks at her for a moment. it's a good thing she's focusing, and it's a good thing that he can't tell the look on his own face.
because for a minute there, he just looks so stupidly, ridiculously affectionate, watching her where she can't see. all of the flayn related warmth in his chest doubles to something so big it feels like he can't even breathe around it. it is the most ridiculously overwhelming feeling in the entire world, and there's a part of him that wants to run screaming in another direction and hide from it, while yet another just wants to stay forever and bask in the fact that someone like this made the mistake to think he was worth their time. it is only recently that he's started to tip towards favoring the latter.
...he feels ridiculous, is what he feels. yin yu has to shake his head as he returns to his own task, chiding himself mentally, and forcing himself to take a deep breath and focus on anything that is not that.
ginger, garlic, scallions. yin yu makes quick work of them, and pushes the last pile to the edge of the cutting board. ] There.
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her gaze is warm and admiring. there really isn't anything he can't do well, is there? at least, that's what she thinks.
...she wastes a few seconds just watching him, hopelessly fond, before she realizes that she's getting distracted. it's why she hadn't allowed herself to look at him even once, while working with the celery, despite being tempted to; she knows by now that he has a way of drawing her attention to him, and that she should, perhaps, not get distracted while she has a knife in her hand.]
Um. What do we do next?
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ahem. he has to clear his throat, when he catches brief wind of flayn looking at him like that, and focuses on the task at hand. right. ] ...right. The first thing is to fry the spices, so, you'll need to pour a small amount of oil into the pan.
[ by now he's learned how to work the fancy stove well enough - old habits die hard, and he still prefers to eat his own food - and yin yu gestures to a fairly deep frying pan. ] It's key to make sure you don't over fry the spices, or they'll burn, and the flavor won't matter: it's best to pay close attention to time it correctly.
[ he goes ahead and does the oil part, able to eyeball it enough from experience and also a lack of measuring cups, flicks on the stove, and moves out of the way. ] Here, if you can watch the pan, I'll start adding the ingredients. You'll want to move the pan a bit to keep things from overcooking to take some direct heat off--you can move your wrist, or use something to stir it if they start to clump together too much.
The standard amount of peppers is closer to fifteen, but that may be a bit too much... just let me know when you want me to stop. [ he doesn't want flayn to hate it because it's too spicy, even if he prefers it that way... so, with that said! as the oil in the pan starts to heat up, yin yu adds the first few dried chili peppers and a handful of peppercorns from her side, standing close enough in case something lights on fire. or something. not that he thinks that will happen. (just best to be cautious, apparently.) ]
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[...she really is not skilled with detail-oriented tasks, but with yin yu here, flayn feels like he'll make sure she doesn't fail. she takes note of how much oil he pours in, then nods and moves in to take the pan by the handle.
she can do this...! she hopes.
thankfully, the pan does not immediately catch fire, and the slightly spicy fit of peppers fills the air as it starts to heat.]
...I would like to eat it as it is meant to be cooked! As they say, the spicier the dish, the more love in it, correct?
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...this dish is certainly full of it, then. [ ah... that's a little embarrassing to say, because of the implications... ahem! well. yin yu moves to add the next round of peppers in, and reaches over for a big wooden spoon to pass to flayn, clearing his throat.
anyway! ] ...Here. Do you see how these pieces in the middle are getting too dark? Use the spoon to push them to the outside.
[ the oil sizzles and crackles pleasantly, and yin yu gives his directions in his usual calm, gentle voice, moving his hand to gesture in the direction she should move the ingredients in the pan. ] You can move your wrist, to move the ingredients around in the pan, too.
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[so that's what it looks like when it looks too dark... she takes the spoon with a nod and pushes them away from the center of the pan, spreading them outwards. now that she knows the shade to be looking out for, it should hopefully make it easier to identify without it being pointed out to her.
she jostles the pan slightly with her wrist as she works, and giggles a little as some of the ingredients shift around a bit.]
...it smells very good already, but it is only the spices so far...
[to be fair, spices smell GREAT when they're cooking.]
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[ for yin yu, it smells like home. home home, beyond ghost city, back in the west, where disciples would compete to eat the largest amount of peppers, where you could smell people cooking from their hearths and their windows. it's nostalgic, and it's really, really nice.
he adds in the last few peppers and waits for the fragrance of the spices to really start to bloom. ] It's very easy to overcook these, so... you only want to fry these enough that all of those smells start to come out.
That should be enough--well done. [ the praise is genuine, and yin yu gives her an encouraging little smile. nothing is on fire and it smells good! win win.]
Next, I'll chop those since they've been fried. You can scoop them out of the pan with the spoon and set them here. [ gesturing at a cutting board!! and once that's done... ] Go ahead and set the pan back on the heat, and we'll put the celery in the oil, too.
You only want to cook it for a minute, perhaps a minute and a half at the very most: if you need to count down, that can make it a bit easier, too. [ and while keeping a careful eye on that, yin yu will go to quickly and coarsely chop up the spices. it smells like spicy heaven in here rn. ]
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soon enough, they're on the cutting board, and she's looking at the celery.]
Just a minute or so... I see.
[into the oil the celery goes!
while yin yu chops, she counts under her breath, occasionally shifting the pan by the handle to keep the pieces from clumping up together.]
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yin yu keeps a watchful eye on her to make sure things are going well, looking from the pan to flayn to make sure she's keeping track. the way she counts under her breath is charming - perhaps she'll charm the ingredients into behaving after all.
at the same time, he steps around her, easily manuevering through the small kitchen. he reaches over her head for a cabinet to grab a bowl, easily fitting in the tight space and setting into the side - ] When you're finished, you can set the vegetables in there, and we'll start the broth.
[ so far, so good. it does smell quite good in here, already, and he settles to her other side with the ingredients he chopped earlier, ready to add them when the vegetables have been taken out. ] I thought you said you weren't very good at this, my lady.
[ it's going quite well! ]
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which, unfortunately, means that she is, for once, not paying attention to him. (it's because she wants him to think she isn't totally unteachable in the kitchen - if she succeeds at this, maybe he'll cook with her again.)
she's just continuing to count under her breath.]
...fifty-eight... fifty-nine... sixty!
[it's been a minute, so she'll transfer the celery out -
only to realize that yin yu has just spoken to her. oops.]
...um... I am sorry, what?
[she's not! good! at detail-oriented tasks! ...because she is easily distracted. multitasking is not her forte.]
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very cute. yin yu smiles, just briefly, and ducks his head, shaking it. ]
Nothing. Let's move on, shall we? [ time to get back to work! that is to say, starting the broth. as the celery's transferred, he move back to the pan to add a little more oil. ] We'll move what I cut in here, and then... the chili paste, and powder. After that, it'll just need water, and we can leave it to boil.
[ really, the convenience of these ingredients simply existing in this form is kind of nice. one could get used to the conveniences of modern life. yin yu goes for the carefully chopped ingredients from before, and adds them, letting them sizzle pleasantly in the oil for a little while. it's starting to smell really wonderful, now, the scent of spices complex and familiar, homely. after that comes the chilis he chopped, and the powder.. ]
And, if you could, my lady, fill that cup with water there, and pour it in the pan for me. [ it's nice to have another hand. a helpful one! ] It won't take long after this, so if you can bring the fish over with you, too. We'll be eating soon.
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(yin yu is really doing the bulk of the work here, but is still managing to make her feel like she's helping. it feels nice.)
with the cup in one hand and the fish in the other, flayn heads back over and pours the water into the pan. she watches it for a few moment, then sets the pan down and glances up at his face. soon, they can add the fish...]
I can hardly wait. It smells truly delicious, Yin Yu!
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this is very domestic. yin yu has never had to cook for anyone but himself -- in the past, he would help with chores in the sect, and then as a god, he never had to cook for himself, only participate in feasts or eat what servants and middle officials brought him. cooking is one of the many skills he had to learn as he adapted and struggled with his new life post-banishment, and it's really nice, to be able to share the kitchen with someone else. ]
...Truth be told, it is my favorite. [ his mouth quirks up a little further, fond with old nostalgia instead of bitter, something soft about him as he looks at the mixture on the stove, waiting for it to bubble. it's nice to feel good about something from his homeland, instead of just feeling empty. ] It is not difficult to make, but it is a dish that I have not gotten to really eat properly in some time. There's no sense in making something this large, if it's only going to be for myself.
[ in front of them, the mixture begins to boil. thankfully: that felt very personal, and while he's not as uncomfortable talking about it as he could be (as he used to be), it is still a little close to the chest.
so! directions. yes. ] ...You can start adding the fish in, now. Try to do it slowly, so it doesn't splash. It'll need to cook for about ten minutes.
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[...is it too presumptuous to assume that she's important to him? (they've kissed, but. still. is it presumptuous to assume that?) flayn's cheeks flush with color, and she hides a smile by looking down at the mixture and shifting pieces of the fish into it.
very slowly, very carefully - better not to splash boiling liquid everywhere.]
...at any rate, I am very excited to get to try this. [...] And, um... I do hope that we will be able to cook together again.
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that's... right along the lines of what he was thinking, yeah. his ears start to turn red, and yin yu dips his head, hand coming up briefly to hide the way his mouth seems to curl up into a smile without his permission. embarrassing. ]
...I hope that you will like it, my lady. [ and that it will taste better with her around. a meal enjoyed with others is a luxury, let alone a meal to be enjoyed with someone important.
(the spicier the dish, the more love it's made with.)
he supervises until she's all out of fish slices, still looking at the pan. ] ...If... there's something that you really like to eat, I'm sure we could learn to make it, too. [ together. if she liked. ]
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[SAD. but, maybe they can figure out how...?]
It involves fruit and cream. But - I do not believe Noa fruits are native to this camp...
[maybe they just need to sample every type of fruit until they find something that tastes similar...? then again, it may not be necessary - there is quite a lot of fish here.]
We may be full after all of this, though! So... perhaps we can attempt to make it later on in the week?
[too bad he's dying.]
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