Keep Meg & Amy From Cooking Party

[kitchen_maid]

There are streamers over the door and glitter is flung generously (if randomly) about over countertops. (To be on the safe side, the girls have used edible glitter, like that on the cookies they handed out as invitations.)

There are large signs posted above the stoves and ovens with picture of Meg and Amy and the words "NOT ALLOWED" in large and bright red letters below them.

It can only mean one thing.

There's a party in the kitchen, and someone has got to keep these girls from cooking.

Comments

[kitchen_maid]

Amy, who has come over to bring Meg some of the aprons, finds a grapefruit on the counter (between the Brie and the ketchup) and offers it to Boromir.

"This is. Hello. I'm Amy."

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

"Very nice to meet you, Amy." He takes the grapefruit and inspects it. "It smells very good. I don't think it would make an appetizing sweet, however."

[balletrat]

You'd be surprised, *Meg says, seriously.*

When you add enough sugar -

which, okay, admittedly is kind of a lot, but -

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

"When I was a boy, we sometimes had little tarts with a bit of preserved fruit in the center. I wonder if that would be possible. They were usually sweet fruits. Strawberries, peaches, that sort of thing."

[kitchen_maid]

Amy looks at Meg and then bursts into giggles.

"I'm so terribly sorry," she says, to Boromir, after a moment. "It's just . . . that's almost exactly what we were making the day we discovered that we were such terrible bakers."

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

"They must be more difficult than I expected. Perhaps I would not have eaten so many as a child, had I known."

He's not laughing at them. He'd never dream of it.

[balletrat]

Kids never appreciate the work that goes into these things, *Meg agrees, shaking her head sadly.

Clearly it was a traumatic experience for her. How would anyone dare laugh at it?*

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

"What went wrong with your attempt at the tarts?"

[kitchen_maid]

"It might be easier to tell you what didn't," says Amy, with a laugh, "which was cleaning up the kitchen after we were done."

She gives him a very bright smile.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

"I am Boromir," he says, bowing his head with a small smile.

[balletrat]

I think I can say we're both pleased to meet you -

*Meg grins at him.*

- so would you like an apron?

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

He looks at the aprons. "Are they necessary?"

[kitchen_maid]

"Well, they keep your clothes clean. And they're festive."

Amy picks out a green one. With crossed swords on it.

"See?"

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

Boromir is relieved he's not offered one of the frilly ones. "That is acceptable, thank you." He ties it around his waist.

[balletrat]

I think it makes you look very dashing, *Meg offers cheerfully.*

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

He gives her a skeptical look. "Are there any kind of instructions written down? Tarts are not like quickbread."

[kitchen_maid]

Amy's smile gets very bright.

"There's the Book."

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

"And what is the Book?"

[balletrat]

The Book, *Meg says, her tone hushed and reverent,* is the reason why we're here today.

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

Boromir sighs, scratches his head, and says, "So it's enchanted?"

[kitchen_maid]

"No," says Amy. "It's just very special. Bar gave it to us."

She crosses the room and returns with the beglittered Basic Cookery, which she offers him reverantly.

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

Boromir takes the Book and looks through several pages until he finds cookies. "1 Cee?"

Modern life. So baffling.

[balletrat]

*Meg looks slightly shifty.*

It's. Er. Part of the mystic measurements of the Book, *she exlains, fidgeting a little on the table.*

I . . . don't know exactly how to translate it. But other people do!

[sonofwhitecity.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps the Book itself offers a translation," he says and turns to the back.

As it is Basic Cookery, it explains things indeed, in very simple terms.

"Ah-ha! One Cee means one cup!" He looks puzzled again. "What sort of cup do they mean?"

[kitchen_maid]

"One of these," says Amy, handing him a measuring cup. "And the tsps are these and the TBs are these."

A grin.

"You do learn some things working as a kitchen maid."