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danskannabis March 13 2011, 05:06:34 UTC
It was with much excitement that he placed his online order for the metal ring pans, having left his own time-battered set in Copenhagen upon moving to America. He lacked the gall and wherewithal to ask his mother to ship them abroad; it was expensive for one, not to mention she used them on a routine basis herself for parties and events. So when he came home from school late that Monday evening to see the parcel sitting on their welcome mat, his name addressed in boldface font, Kai could only hope he knew the contents within.

And he stood correct: beneath the cardboard exterior lay his newest kitchen toy, untouched and unused, the metal gleaming from the afterglow of the table-side lamp. And much like a five year old on Christmas morning he clutched them to his chest and started bouncing around their flat with joyful exuberance.

Finally, it was time to make kransekage again.

He had hoped they'd arrive before he delivered his promised gift to Emi, wanting to avoid the messy appearance of using parchment paper guidelines. Appearance as much as taste was a key element in forming the almond ring tower; or to him it was in the very least, striving always for perfection with his crafts. And so with shiny new pans at home, a grocery list in hand, and determination in the back of his mind Kai was on a mission to get back into the habit of traditional Danish baking.

... If he could find all his ingredients, that was.

"Goddamnit, where the hell is the almond paste?" He muttered beneath his breath with a frown, taking a step back from the shelves to peer left and right down the aisle. Søren lacked a food processor or he'd just make the damn paste himself; and the packaging was completely different here in America versus back home, so he hadn't a clue where to search other than the spice aisle and its general vicinity. "Is it in a tube? A can? A pack-- Aha!"

He swiped up a couple of small cans from the lower shelf with a confident grin, doing a victory shimmy over his success. "Gotcha! Now for flour.."

Kai turned to the opposing shelf and took a gracious few moments to read over the labels while his mind wandered to what would happen when he returned home; the way the kitchen would fill with the smell of almond, perhaps sitting down with akvavit and a movie while they cooled, and enjoying the fruits of his labor with dinner after he made Emi's own confectionery creation. He didn't notice that he was taking away from other shopper's own needs to get to the flour bags until a small voice piped up from beside him, causing his attention to shift.

"Ah?" He looked to Emi with a slow blink, a momentary delay in his reaction before he quickly stepped back to collect his basket. "Oh, sorry!"

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Excuse the short response. ;3; /fails salylimon March 14 2011, 09:42:32 UTC
"Oh, ah, it's no problem, just need to grab a bag of flour-" Emi said, tossing the man a small smile before focusing on the bags of flour in front of her. Quickly deciding on one, she heaved it into her shopping cart with a small nod. The bag looked big enough. Enough to last her some time.

Unless she opted to go on a baking spree, but Emi didn't have the time for that.

Giving him another quick and amicable smile, Emi moved on to the nearby shelf, eyes searching the various spices, in front of her. "Cinnamon, cinnamon-" She mumbled to herself, standing on her tiptoes to get a better look at one of the higher shelves. "Ah! Cinnamon, here we go."

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bb, it is okaaaaay ;u; /hug danskannabis March 14 2011, 12:27:54 UTC
He struggled for the first few moments that Emi troubled herself with flour to simply just bring his basket up, the plastic piece now burned with the load of a man who spent too much time in the kitchen (and it showed). After a moment or two he gave up and let it hit the ground with a muttered "Fanden" as he did so, instead pushing it with his toe down to the spices as well.

And as he did so the petite Dane overheard Emi in her search for the cinnamon, for a moment eavesdropping on her situation. "Looks like you're doing some heavy baking too, yeah?" He piped up with a grin. "If you got cinnamon with it you should really give cardamom a try. Brings out the flavor by ten fold."

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A-A little longer now. :'D /hugs back salylimon March 15 2011, 01:09:48 UTC
With the two small containers of cinnamon now in her hand, Emi made quick but careful work of carefully setting them inside her shopping cart.

Now, it wasn't often that Emi found herself baking. Rather, she cooked more than she baked as she often found herself much more comfortable not working with bread or pastries. Though it wasn't as if she didn't know how, she did but she had her limits. Self-imposed limits, but limits nonetheless. Regardless, Emi felt rather confident in the abilities she did have, especially when said abilities revolved around making churros.

Which is why that, as soon as the cinnamon was secure inside her shopping cart, Emi began to consider making fillings for her churros. Dulce de leche, perhaps? She'd have to go back to get some cans of sweetened condensed milk, but she could do it. Ah, there was always chocolate. Or vanilla. Or maybe even a strawberry filling-

Too lost in her thoughts, Emi failed to notice the man from earlier suddenly addressing her. Blinking, she turned, temporarily confused before smiling sheepishly. "Yeah, I am. I have some free time so I figured I'd bake something today," Her eyes looked back up at the spices, considering his suggestion. "And cardammom? I don't think I've ever used that when making churros, but it doesn't sound so bad," Emi replied, giving the man a grateful grin.

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... Oh my Jesus God I really want to try churros now danskannabis March 16 2011, 01:29:58 UTC
"Ah.. churros?" Kai inquired with a curious tilt of his head, looking almost the part of an inquisitive puppy. Wasn't that what.. Emi always made? "A friend of mine always talks about how she wants to make those. I've never actually had one, though.. so it's cinnamon and spices? What else goes into it?"

Maybe it would be one of those things he could take up making to get Søren off his ass about "more unique foods". Macaroni and powdered cheese was unique enough as far as he cared.

Even as he prattled on with ninth degree of questions the Dane leaned down to his basket, plucking from inside the bottle of cardamom he himself had picked up earlier. "Here!" He offered it out to her with a grin. "It's way the fuck up high on the shelf. I had to practically scale the goddamn thing to get this one, but maybe some attendant will come by."

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They're so delicious asldkndklf;ldfg. I want some now. ;3; salylimon March 16 2011, 02:10:46 UTC
"Mmhm!" Emi replied with a small nod. "And really? I don't make them as often unless I'm pestered by friends. I think the only reason I'm bothering to make any right now, aside from my own personal craving, is because I promised a friend I'd bake him some."

She broke off to watch him search through his basket, eyebrow raised in bemusement. That is, until she noticed him handing her a bottle of cardamom. "Ah? O-Oh, no, I can't- Are you sure you don't need it? I mean, I feel rude if I take it." She held up one of her hands, smiling sheepishly at the offering. "And yeah, these shelves are a pain in the ass..."

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THEY SOUND SO GOOD ;A; danskannabis March 16 2011, 02:20:35 UTC
That gave him a small start. "Really?" He arched a brow as further pages were turned to color him puzzled, toying with his lip piercing as he thought. "This may sound-- well, okay, this will probably sound really rude, but-- you promised you'd make them for a friend.. is this because he has never had them before?"

"And really, it's no problem! I have part of a bottle leftover at home. I was just going to pick some up since this store tends to sell out really fast," He explained, nodding to the bottle to insist that she take it. "I'm always baking things with cardamom, but tonight is for kransekage. I can hold off until my next visit."

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T-THEY ARE. Though I've never had the filled ones. :U salylimon March 17 2011, 00:20:22 UTC
"But if it sells out really fast, I really shouldn't take it," Emi replied, lips pursed slightly as she stared at the bottle. At the mention of kransekage, however, she paused, eyebrows raising. While she knew she stumbled a bit at trying to pronounce it, Emi was sure that that's what Kai had promised to make for her.

"Ah? Oh, yeah. He's never had any before so I promised I'd make him some. We live in the same building, so..." She paused, expression confused. "Why do you ask?"

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I want to have one in general, oh my holy God. I wish we made them at work ;A; danskannabis March 17 2011, 00:38:26 UTC
His train of thought derailed, Kai ignored the present conversation of "who will take the cardamom and who is SOL" to look at Emi with a bit more care.. She did resemble the profile picture he had seen online. Total in that, the churros, the situation--

"... Emi?" He asked slowly, afraid he might be wrong. When he thought he may actually be correct his smile blossomed bit by bit, slowly but surely coming to encompass his entire expression, reflecting outward in his eyes. "Min skat! It's Kai!"

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Go get you some. D: salylimon March 17 2011, 01:03:38 UTC
"....Ah?" Emi blinked at him, momentarily stupefied as she attempted to process what he had just uttered. After a moment, however, a large grin of her own began to match the one on Kai's face as she grinned back.

"Mierda, are you-?" She stopped to giggle, glancing away even as the smile remained. "Oh God, t-this is so weird," Emi murmured, lips still curved upward.

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I-I might when I go home this weekend ;u; danskannabis March 17 2011, 01:10:29 UTC
Kai, much in contrast to Emi's quiet celebration, started to bounce just a bit in his place as he was overcome with excitement. "Wow, I-- well, I never imagined we'd meet in the grocery store, this-- how do things like this even begin to happen!?"

She was just as he had imagined her. Small in stature, a bombshell of a lady, and with a warm and caring energy about her. When he finally had the sense enough about him to stop fidgeting around he looked her up and down, seeming to roll around in his mind whether or not it was okay to hug on their first meeting. "This.. W-Well, how the heck are you, yeah? It's great to finally meet you!"

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Do it. :V salylimon March 17 2011, 01:22:48 UTC
Two-toned hair, a scattering of piercings, and a seemingly overzealous and almost infectious personality -- He was different, that was for sure. But it was a good kind of different, Emi mused. A good, kind of amusing different, considering how giddy he was being. She tilted her head, grinning at his antics.

"Maybe it's just something to do with Liberty. Crazy shit like this happens sometimes," Emi replied teasingly, words unknowingly slipping back into its more colorful variations as she held out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you too, Kai~" She chirped. "And I'm good, just, you know. Busy and getting ready to bake. And you querido~?"

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M-MAYBE I WILL but they also have Bojangles there too :Ua danskannabis March 17 2011, 11:36:46 UTC
"I'm still stressin' over those Easter letters to get out, and apartment shopping. But otherwise I'm doing just fine, min skat. Gettin' ready to bake as well it seems," he answered, bemused ever still that they would meet in the act of trying to do something nice for the other. Kind of ruined the element of surprise, but.. it the same stone's throw it had a charming quality about it. And now there wouldn't be that awkward, door opening meet your new friend meeting that would have been the latter.

He took her hand for a friendly shake, the excitement fizzling down until it could only be visibly seen in his posture and the crevices of his expression. "So hey, here's for a crazy idea-- since we're both baking, wanna just bake together? I understand if you got things to do, though."

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:U Get both. salylimon March 21 2011, 05:36:54 UTC
"How's that going, anyway? H-Hopefully not too bad, but since you're stressing about it..." Emi broke off, expression somewhat sheepish now before insantly perking up some. "Yeah, I could use without the awkward, so I think it is a good thing that we met here instead of later, querido."

She paused to consider the suggestion, hands slipping to grip the handle of her shopping cart, fingers squeezing it briefly in thought before she smiled in response. "I don't think I have much to do today. So baking together sounds good. And since we're practically neighbors, for now, we can go to either of our apartments."

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Sobbbb I failed in my mission of Bojangles AND Churros danskannabis March 21 2011, 10:39:55 UTC
"It's.. well," He struggled to think of how to explain it. "It's hard because I have no idea what to say. Since they are so important -- or at least, to me they are -- I want to make sure they are spot on perfect. Not to mention I'm trying to use English this year."

Kai tipped his head to one side as she responded and, with the words he was eager to hear, he gave a small bounce as another excited grin blossomed on his lips. "Great! I, er-- well, let's see. Søren is maybe not home, but either place is good with me.. if we do your place I can just run upstairs to fetch the kransekage forms."

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....why you do this. salylimon March 21 2011, 23:32:25 UTC
"I'm sure they'll turn out fine, even if takes a while," Emi responded with what she hoped was a soothing smile as she patted his arm lightly before pulling back.

Absently tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, she returned the excited grin with one of her own, albeit it was smaller and a bit more subdued. But the spark of excitement remained as she pulled out her cell phone to check the time. "Well, if we go back to my place, you may have to deal with my grumpy boyfriend since he's home. I don't think John is, but just in case, it may be a bit crowded. But I don't mind."

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