First Lesson

Writers: Francesca, Teresa
Date Posted: 8th January 2009

Characters: R'len, Kamalia
Description: R'len shows Kamalia how to make a simple sweetbread.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 13, day 22 of Turn 4
Notes: Mentor approved

"Ok, what are we working on today?" Kamalia had her hair pulled back and an apron tied around her waist. Alaudath was asleep, a soothing presence in the back of her mind. They had a bit over a candlemark before curfew, unless the green woke up before then. Kamalia's arms hurt from drills, and she was tired, but the thought of cooking kept her energy up.

"Well, lets see" he said rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "we only have about a candlemark before curfew, so it needs to be something quick, I would show you how to make the minis, but that takes a little
preparation for the dough, and we really don't have the time for that. What have you not attempted before, or would like to give a try.?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Ooh, I get to choose?" Kamalia was quiet for a few moments, thinking. "Are there any sweet breads that can be made quickly? Or do they need to rise?"

"No, not all of them need to rise. We can make a simple sweet bread recipie and mix it with your favorite berries, they take less than a quarter of a candlemark to mix, and a little more than a quarter candlemark to cook." He thought for a second "The ovens are ready, so all we need to do is mix the ingredients. you go get the eggs, your favorite kind of berries, milk, and some butter. I'll get the rest of the stuff."

It took awhile for Kamalia to find the ingredients, as she was not used to the layout of the kitchen, but she soon came back, arms full. Placing everything on the counter, she smiled at R'len, ready to begin mixing.

"ok, first take two eggs, and a half cup of milk and mix them in the bowl, while I get the dry ingredients together," He watched her mix the milk and eggs as he mixed the flower, yeast, and a little bit of klah grounds.. "Now" he said as he handed her the bowl with the flour mixture, "slowly add in the flour mixture while you stir the milk."

He stood back a little and watched her with a small smile. Kamalia tried her best to carefully pour in the mixture of dry ingredients, but a large chunk fell into the larger bowl, causing some of the liquid to splash onto her. Luckily, not much left the bowl, but she still flushed in embarrassment. "Oops," she mumbled, hands wiping off the drops that had landed on her arm.

"Not to worry" he said with a grin," just mix it well until almost all the lumps are gone, then pour in the berries. Do you know how to fold in the berries? Because if you just mix it in, the berries tend to loose some of their juice and turns the entire mixture the color of the berry."

"Umm, maybe you should fold in the berries," Kamalia replied, continuing to mix the dry and the wet ingredients together, "because I have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe next time I'll try it." She didn't know what folding was, but it sounded like something she could easily mess up.

He waited until the mixture looked ready. "Ok, watch how I do this." He took the bowl and poured the berries into the bowl. He took the spoon and started to gently fold the batter around the berries. "we are ready to pour it into the mold." He stepped over one step where he had prepared the mold for the sweetbreads.

He carefully poured the mixture into molds. "ready for the ovens" he said as he set the bowl down and picked up two of the trays. "grab the other two trays please and we can get these baking."

Glad R'len had done the hard work, Kamalia carefully carried the trays over to the preheated oven. She then gingerly slipped them in, breathing a sigh of relief only when R'len had closed the oven door. She hadn't dropped them, and soon they would be able to enjoy a wonderful evening snack. She turned towards him and grinned. "That was great."

"Now comes the really fun part," he told her with a playful wink, "we get to clean the mess we made in the process while we wait for them to bake. After you" he said with a grin and a sweeping motion toward the wash area.
~*~
After everything had been cleaned and put away, it was time to check the sweetbreads. He carefully opened the oven door and patted the top of one of the breads which had risen nicely, "they only need a little longer, then we can revel in our endeavors." he said grinning again.

Kamalia looked at the bread as well, and while she couldn't tell how close it to being done, the loaves did look a lot bigger. "I can wait as long as it takes," she said, returning his smile. "It'll be worth it." Luckily,
Alaudath was still asleep so there was no rush.

He could feel Solanth sleeping soundly as he usually did. "My brown is sleeping like the lump that he is, so we should be safe to enjoy our snack here if you prefer. How about something to wash it down. juice? or what ever your pleasure is. Personally I like mine with milk."

Kamalia had not grown up drinking milk. "Juice would be great." She found two clean glasses and placed them on the counter.

R'len retrieved a pitcher of juice and a small container of milk for himself and poured some into each glass. He turned to the oven and pulled out the bread from the oven, shutting the oven down as he closed the door. "would you like a little butter on the top? or just as it is. Nice and warm and sweet." He leaned over the cooling bread and inhaled deeply enjoying the sweet smell of the bread.

"I'll try the bread by itself, at least for now." She touched it for a moment with a finger, but quickly drew back from the heat. "Do we need to wait for it to cool off?" She was anxious to try their creation but did not want to burn her mouth in the process.

He gave her a lopsided grin "yeah, it will cool off quickly, lets just give it a few more minutes."

"Did you just make up that recipe, or have you done it before? You didn't use a book or anything."

"This recipe is one that I learned when I started training with the Weyrbaker. I keep most of the recipes up here" he told her tapping his right temple. "You kind of repeat them so many times that it just kind of sticks
there."

"Is that what classes are like? You spend all of your time cooking?" If so, it seemed like a lot of fun.

"We only spend about a candlemark or two actually cooking. the rest of the time is spent studying the recipes, ingredients, measurements, and how the ingredients interact with each other, and helping the seniors with prep work.

"Oh, wow." Even though baking was obviously a craft, it was a bit difficult for Kamalia to imagine it being difficult. "I guess there's a lot more to it that I can imagine." She hoped so, anyway. What they had just made seemed so easy, but of course she hadn't done the majority of the work or any of the planning. She paused for a moment."Do you think we can eat it now?"

He touched the top of one of the loaves. "yeah we should be able to eat some of it now" turning one of the bread loaves upside down, it fell smoothly free from it's mold. taking a long thin knife he sliced off two generous portions and handed the first one to her. He inhaled the sweet smell of the bread once more before taking a bite of it. It was warm and sweet and very tasty. "you did a good job on your first try. It is very good." He said licking his lips to catch any escaping crumbs.

Kamalia took a small bite of the still-hot piece of bread in her hands. "Mmmm, this is great!" she exclaimed. "Sweet and fruity." At his compliment, she smiled. "I didn't do much but, yes, this did turn out well. Her second bite was a lot bigger and followed by a gulp of juice.

"well then we did well as a team." he said taking another bite. "Maybe we could try this another time. For now, enjoy the fruits of your work" he told her raising his glass as if in a toast, then drank down the contents after savoring the last bite of his slice.

Kamalia lifted her glass as well. "Let's hope we have enough free time to do this again before we graduate."

Last updated on the January 10th 2009

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First Lesson