( musebox ) chocolates

[wingedmemories]

[ White Day... it seemed like a cute holiday! Similar to Valentines Day, which she'd accidentally slept right through. It was a little upsetting that she hadn't gotten to participate (and she couldn't even be awake to give Syaoran chocolates...!)

So even though this wasn't exactly her holiday, she was still determined to make it wonderful for someone else. Here Sakura is, setting things out on the kitchen counter, waiting for the doorbell to ring.

Lets just hope the chocolate recipe she'd borrowed actually works out. ]

Comments

[twinkle_toes]

[Aang's never made chocolate before. Cakes and pastries all made to Monk Gyatso's strict specifications yes, but never chocolate. But how hard could it be? Throw stuff together into a bowl, heat it up and stir, pour them into molds, and ta-da! Right?

Hopefully that's how it goes, but if it's not, then at least he's got someone to tell him what he's doing wrong. Speaking of that someone, he'll pulling up to her door now, alighting off his air scooter to hop onto the ground and give her doorbell a firm push.]

[wingedmemories]

[ Not... quite... Aang, but good optimism there.

She smooths her large apron and dashes for the door, a giant smile on her face. ]

I've just set out everything we need!

[twinkle_toes]

[Well he is the king of optimism most days. He bounces forward, gives Sakura a cheery wave.]

Great! Is there anything you want me to start with?

[wingedmemories]

Put this on! [ Holding out a red apron ]

It'll probably get messy.

[ And then leading him back to the kitchen and spreading out the recipe on top of the counter ]

[twinkle_toes]

[Aang takes the apron from her, ties it on happily (does he look good in it Sakura does he), and then bounces after her into the kitchen, where he pauses upon seeing all the ingredients laid out on the counter.]

Wow, that's a lot of stuff. [To him, at least.] Where do we even start with all of it?

[wingedmemories]

[ He looks totally dashing, okay? ]

Um...

[ Consulting with the directions here... ]

Well, it says to heat up the water. And keep it below boiling.

[ Oh. Um. How do you keep it that way...? ]

[twinkle_toes]

[Ooh ooh ooh, he can totally do this!]

Okay! [He picks up the pot, fills it from the sink, and then sets it on the stove. And then proceeds to stare at the knobs controlling the heat. Um.] ....Which one am I supposed to turn?

[They don't have those where he comes from.]

[wingedmemories]

[ FIRST OBSTACLE... OOPS ]

Uhm... [ Leaning in next to him to stare at the knobs. Thankfully, she's seen something similar. ]

I think those little black circles show which one will light up. [ CONTEXT CLUES FOR THE WIN ] So... this one should work, right?

[ And there it goes! ]

[twinkle_toes]

[SAKURA YOU ARE A GENIUS. Aang's face lights up as the stove does, and he turns to give Sakura a grin of approval.]

That was great! Are you sure you've never done this before?

[because she is mastering everything like a pro right now.]

[wingedmemories]

[ A small laugh. ]

I'm just lucky, I think.

[ Glancing back down at her instructions and reaching out for a large bowl. ]

Right, then... next... we'll be mixing some ingredients up in this bowl.

[twinkle_toes]

[He peers at the instructions and then reaches out to grab the measuring cup and the cocoa powder.]

I can measure them out for us.

[Carefully, he starts measuring out the needed amounts of cocoa. But the problem with powder is that it's awful light and has the fun tendency of floating into the air and covering whatever happens to be next to it.

By the time he's finished, there's a healthy layer of cocoa powder covering both the counter and Aang himself. Sheepishly, Casper Aang the Friendly Chocolate Ghost pushes the bowl towards Sakura.]

I think I'm done.

[wingedmemories]

[ Oh... dear. Well... that's what aprons are for, isn't it? Though, it's too bad the apron isn't covering his entire body, or something.

Oh well. She'll just be taking whatever coco powder made it into the bowl and carefully pouring it into the pot of water. Stir, stir. Hmm. How long exactly is she supposed to be stirring this...? ]

[twinkle_toes]

[The book says 'x amount of minutes' which would be a heck of a lot more helpful if Aang was actually bothering to read the book and not intently staring at the chocolate being stirred as though it might grow wings any second now. (Though who's to say it won't? It could be magic chocolate.)

Frowning, he tilts his head to the side.]

Is that what homemade chocolate's supposed to look like? [Does it usually bubble like that?]

[wingedmemories]

[ She was wondering the same thing, actually... ]

I'm not sure. This is the first time I've done this...

[ Hmm... She'll just be taking the pot off the stove now. ]

There's plenty of ingredients, though. We could always try again if this doesn't work out?

[twinkle_toes]

[She brings up a good point.]

That's true. If it works, we'll have chocolate and if it doesn't, I'll get to spend more time with you.

[It's a win-win situation in his book! He grins at her before scuttling off to read the next step.]

It says to sift sugar and powdered sugar together in a separate bowl.... [sift sift sift sift] ....and then add it to the chocolate.

[wingedmemories]

So it'll end well, either way! [ Yep, win-win to her too.

She'll just be glancing at those instructions, too... ]

And then adding milk and blending.

[ Blending is hard work. She's kind of getting coco and milk all over the place. Care to lend a hand? ]

[twinkle_toes]

[Aang will lend all the hands necessary!]

Here! I can pour the milk.

[And he'll carefully take the carton from here and tilting it carefully over the bowl. So carefully in fact there's only the tiniest stream of milk dripping out of the opening.

Maybe he should....do it a little faster....]

[wingedmemories]

[ They've got time, so no rush on that pouring!!

She's going to take this opportunity to really put some elbow grease into that blending with both hands on the whisk.

It's actually looking smoother, if she does say so herself... ]

[twinkle_toes]

[Drip....drip...drip.....

It only takes two hours two minutes before all the milk in the measuring cup makes its way into the pot of cocoa, at which point Aang leans back to give Sakura more room to stir. Speaking of stirring though...]

Do you want me to stir for awhile?

[It seems like it would get tiring.]

[wingedmemories]

[ What is having upper body strength?

It's still a bit lumpy, so she'll just hand the spoon over. ]

I'm sure you'll get it smooth in no time~!

[twinkle_toes]

[Aang takes the spoon from Sakura happily and immediately starts stirring. He doesn't look it, but all those months of training have paid off in some pretty decent upper body strength and it's not long at all before the chocolate is silky smooth in the pot.

Some of it's found an escape though, if the flecks of chocolate splattered over the stove are any indication. Oh well. There's still plenty in the pot.]

It looks all smooth. Can we pour it in containers and make shapes out of it now?

[wingedmemories]

[ Whatever. It's what's in the pot that counts. ]

I think so!

[ While he's been stirring, she's been pulling out all sorts of molds ]

I found these in the shop. What kinds of shapes did you want to make?

[twinkle_toes]

[Aang brightens immediately when Sakura puts all the various molds on display. He takes five seconds to survey them all before pointing to one that features cute dinosaur shapes.]

I like those!

[wingedmemories]

[ They're not really festive as far as White Day and Valentines Day are concerned (not that she knows, anyways. But she knows very little about both holidays, so...) but she'd thought they were cute.

Plus, it isn't exactly like they're making these for anyone in particular. ]

We'll go with those, then!

I think we're about ready to pour.

[ Or make a mess. Same difference... ]

[twinkle_toes]

[With Aang, a mess is always guaranteed. He's not worried though; he's got cute dinosaur chocolate heading his way soon and he couldn't be more excited.]

Great!

[Carefully, he sets the mold trays out on the table in a steady line.]

Do we just pour it right out of the pot?

[wingedmemories]

[ She studies everything before them for a second, and then walks over to pick up a ladle. ]

No, I think using this might be easier. What do you think?

[twinkle_toes]

[Sakura, his hero! Good thing someone's thinking ahead, otherwise there'd be a whole lotta chocolate covering the counter in a scant few minutes.]

I think that'd work great. {Except:] Do you have another one? That way we could both make them.

[Double the ladles, double the fun!]

[wingedmemories]

[ This is what she's here for, clearly.

It takes a moment of digging around to find another ladle, which she hands to him. ]

And then we just fill them and they'll come out in those shapes, right?

[twinkle_toes]

Right!

[--he says like he's the master at making chocolates in various tiny shapes. Knowing Aang, he'll probably try and immediately turn over the molds as soon as he pours the chocolate in.

What is waiting?

Cheerfully, he takes the ladle and starts scooping chocolate into little dinosaur bodies.]