Are you being served? [OPEN]

[love_hurricane]

Character: Sanji and OPEN
Location: Amazingly the kitchen
Time: Whenever you like, come on, he's the cook
Content: Sanji finally has a moment of peace and quiet on his hands, COME BOTHER HIM
Format: Starting in prose, but whatever works!
Warnings: Typical derpage and/or raeg flailing. Depends on who you are :Db

Comments

[love_hurricane]

"You're... welcome, I guess." He blinked in pleasant astonishment at the gift; Sanji was honestly a little caught out. He knew how precious and personal recipes could be, and how often the most overlooked and most accomplished were home made discoveries. Picking up the modest collection of printed instructions the chef wordlessly read through them, thoroughly but rapidly running his eye down each page, flicking to the next page with practiced hands.

Finishing the last one he shuffled them back into order, laying them in a neat pile on the table. The next look he gave Derrick was a rather hard one to read, but he knew that the kid could probably 'hear' what he was feeling anyway, so he went ahead and said it.

"I'm touched."

It sounded odd, like his mouth wasn't used to making the sounds. "I'd very much like to thank your mother; these are really good. I mean, really." Re-using food stuffs and being inventive with leftovers was an art in itself, and the recipes were genuinely well crafted- he had every intention of using them in the future. "She's a clever lady."

[mutedbackbeat]

The warm reception of the recipes had completely thrown Derrick off guard. He had been afraid of insulting the cook, yet here Sanji was sounding so pleasant. And it wasn't a lie. The Music didn't lie.

Derrick relaxed in his seat; the previous nervous tension melted away. "Will tell her that. Think it would make her happy." It had been over a year and a half since those dishes and treats had seen the light of day, so the idea that they wouldn't be lost to time and heartache and someone appreciated receiving the recipes would be comforting. He'd call her as soon as he got the chance too.

[love_hurricane]

Sanji nodded slightly stiffly. This was alien territory for him; behaving like this, especially with a guy for pity's sake. He could only hope the kid didn't think he'd gone soft in the head, but it was vexing talking to someone who could pretty accurately gauge what was going on inside your mind. Anyway, this was food talk- he was a creative in this area, so he could forgive himself for being passionate about the subject. It at least helped that the original creator was a lady.

He picked up the top sheet, scanning it again appraisingly. "'You ever made any these yourself?"

/pats, you are very cute in that icon, Sanji

[mutedbackbeat]

If Sanji could glimpse into what Derrick was thinking, he'd see that Derrick was thinking more along the lines that he was safe from Sanji grabbing him by the collar or wrist or arm or nose, rather than Sanji going soft.

"Helped out but never made them alone." He tapped a finger to the table. Would he be able too? Derrick wasn't sure. "Not really a point to. Too much food for one person."

No he is not what are you talking about >(

[love_hurricane]

As it was Sanji had absolutely no inclination to grab Derrick by the nose at this conjecture, but he did make a tsk-ing noise whilst lightly batting the student on the head with the sheet of paper.

"So? Share it!" He shrugged; "Or reduce the amounts until it's suitable for one, I guess, but part of what food is for is bringing people together."

Replacing the sheet on the table and fanning the others out like a selection of cards from a deck, he waved a hand at them suggestively. "You got a favourite?"

I am a girl. In Sanji thinking, that means I'm right, and he's cute, correct? |D

[mutedbackbeat]

A bop on the head with paper was little to be concerned about. "Hm..." was Derrick's response to what Sanji said. He didn't know anyone to share it with previously. Though... now maybe he might know a few people. It could be something to try.

"This one," he said while pointing to the popcorn and pretzel recipe. He had liked to munch on the snack while doing homework or watching a movie.

... sajkaslafdnjk you win.

[love_hurricane]

"Alright then, let's get started." Standing up in a business-like way Sanji waved him in the direction of a cupboard near the sink; "You'll find bowls and suchlike in there... well? Hop to it!"

This was evidently something he would brook no argument with, as he started rounding up the appropriate ingredients.

\o/

[mutedbackbeat]

"Right!" Derrick did hop up out of his chair, a bit surprised by the sudden order, and went toward the cupboard. Derrick retrieved a large bowl, a saucepan, and a spoon, judging them well to the correct sizes needed for the job. He brought the saucepan to the stove and moved the bowl to the table, then hesitated. Would the counter be better for the bowl?

"Where should this go?" This was the cook's kitchen, and while it might have been okay to mix stuff on the kitchen table back home, here, Derrick had no idea.

[love_hurricane]

Nodding his head towards the kitchen table Sanji shut the low cupboard he'd just retrieved the pretzels from with his toe; "Over there should be fine- counters are a bit harder to work around." For solo work they were okay, but on the whole Sanji actually preferred the solid oak surface, and it did make working with other people much easier.

Placing all the required fare on the table in an organized way he tapped the sheet of paper at the first set of directions.

"Alright then, you get us started and measure out that lot and chuck it in the bowl. I'll start heating the corn syrup mixture."

[mutedbackbeat]

Carefully, each ingredient was measured out and double checked to be the right amount. Then they were placed in the bowl.

Derrick stared at the mixture for a moment. It didn't look right. The ratio of popcorn to pretzels seemed off. As he munched on a few pieces of extra popcorn, Derrick tried to figure out what was wrong when the measurements were right. He looked back to Sanji with his back turned to him as he worked with the syrup mixture. Then he looked at the ingredients before him and to the side... for a beat expecting someone to be there mentally chiming in with a // Der, we gotta add more pretzels. It's not fair there's so much of your favorite. Mom won't know. //

Making sure Sanji's back was still turned, Derrick added an extra bunch of pretzels to the bowl with an almost wistful expression and mixed it in. Now it looked right.

[love_hurricane]

Measuring out and bringing the ingredients he had care of to the boil was a moment's work for the cook, but he still did it carefully and whole-heartedly; this was something someone had put a lot of thought into, and besides, no food would taste good if there was no love put into it (it wasn't like he was doing this for Derrick though, don't be absurd).

Turning around with another four minutes to go on his side he asked off-handedly; "You got that sorted?" He was sure the kid could manage, but it was routine in a working kitchen to keep up communication between cooks. "If you have, if you could get the salt, vanilla and baking soda measured out that'd be a help."

[mutedbackbeat]

"Yeah, all done." Derrick moved away from the adjusted mixture of popcorn, pretzels, and peanuts and begun measuring out the smaller ingredients into a tiny dish with teaspoons. "Okay, this is done too."

He set it aside and found a potholder to place on the table for the hot caramel. Then he moved, so he wouldn't be in the way. (Hot sticky liquids could cause burns.) "How's that looking?

[love_hurricane]

Taking the pan off the heat (the fire putting itself out by no discernible means), Sanji stirred it, watching how it folded around the spoon with consideration. "Reckon it's about done- what do you think?"

He held it at an angle for Derrick to help judge; he was the one who was familiar with the recipe, after all.

[mutedbackbeat]

He watched the way the caramel dripped off the spoon and paid attention to the color. "It looks done."

All that was left was to coat the popcorn, pretzels, and peanuts, then let it cool some before it was ready to eat. The last thing Derrick had expected was to come into the kitchen and start cooking this treat. Mom would definitely be surprised to hear about this.

[love_hurricane]

Nodding in a satisfied way, Sanji poured the last few ingredients into the caramel. The baking soda reacted, causing the substance to froth up close to his fingers, but there were advantages to being immune to burning, as he stirred it to settle the mixture back down into a smooth consistency even before it reached his skin.

"Here, you hold the bowl still and I'll pour this in- you can stir it together." It was strange. It was a relatively mundane task; a simple recipe with a simple outcome, but before this point he would have felt some tension with even asking the kid to do this sort of thing with him. As it was, it was just like cooking with any other student. Maybe even slightly better than that.

[mutedbackbeat]

Derrick never did like it when the caramel foamed up like that. It always made him nervous. Still, he nodded and held that bowl as still as he could. Then he took the spoon and started folding the caramel into and over the popcorn-pretzel mix, carefully as to not break down the pieces anymore than they already were.

When the mixing was done, he stood back and admired their work, a large batch salty, sugary treats. "Looks just like the ones we made." Maybe he could divide this into small bags and drop them off to some people.

After testing it first, of course.