TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris)

Event ! NPC Posts: 665	TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) May 13, 2013 1:16:58 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Event ! on May 13, 2013 1:16:58 GMT -5 Both overqualified for their jobs, sympathy over some experimental cookies.
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Ferris Macklin
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) May 14, 2013 8:43:45 GMT -5

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Post by Ferris Macklin on May 14, 2013 8:43:45 GMT -5

Today's lunch had been crumb-coated fish with steamed veggies and a consolation side-dish of mac and cheese. Despite that there had been a lot of groaning, and Ferris had totally made sadbearfaces right back because oh god how were they supposed to function without anything deep fried.

But his mind was more on the cookies he'd left in the staff lounge that morning. In particular - were they cookies. There were pecan pie cookies and pumpkin pie cookies, so he'd tried his hand at sweet potato pie cookies. The first small half-dozen batch had been more like mashed sweet potatoes on top of the thin graham-cracker-crumb base. Less of a dessert and more of an accidental meeting of leftovers. So he'd upped the spice mix of nutmeg and cinnamon and switched out the white sugar for dark brown. That gave the next batch a definite pumpkin pie flavor, but... Ferris didn't want them to taste like pumpkin or he would've used pumpkin. So. Dial back on the spices and sugar, add some maple syrup, a little additional cream and butter, and an extra egg yolk. And at the very end as they were cooling on the rack, he added a small grind of sea salt.

In Ferris's opinion, they were delicious. Enough that he made a triple batch and took them to school. But the addition of the yolk and salt added a richness and unexpected savory note, to the point if he'd skipped the crust they might've passed as lightly sweet soft crackers. So what really defined a cookie? Sea salt on chocolate was still candy. Maybe the Brits were right with the whole biscuit thing.

Kids' lunch over, he sat in the staff lounge with his yellow ducky lunch bag pondering one of his own cookies on a napkin. The sign in the bowl he'd brought read 'Sweet potato pie cookies with sea salt - from Ferris' and 'P.S. The sweet potatoes I bought were really pale yellow - I DID NOTHING UNTOWARD.'

Pecans. Some sweet potato pies were garnished with pecans. But would pecans make the cookies more or less savory? More or less deserving of the term 'cookie'? Ferris sighed. He patted the yellow disk on his napkin. "You poor thing."

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Yulia Sokolov
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) May 19, 2013 14:36:10 GMT -5

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Post by Yulia Sokolov on May 19, 2013 14:36:10 GMT -5

Yulia had been a zombie today at work. While she was re-arranging her living situation she still had to bear the endless pounding agony of the neighbors and their dubstep. It was quickly becoming the kind of music that caused her to wince whenever she heard it. And on days like this, when she wandered into work with tired eyes, an aching head, and throbbing ears, it was little conciliation that the situation would soon be remedied. Instead she was just kind of grumpy. She figured that it was alright to feel that way, given all that she had put up with so far, and with the end in sight it was hard to be tolerant anymore. God knew she just wanted to stick it to them somehow, but she lacked the drive needed for a confrontation. Clearly she was no longer the bear she once was.

When lunch rolled around Lia was glad to take a break from trying to make her brain process everything that it needed to run through. More than anything she was concerned she might end up giving some of the students just plain poor feedback. That was something that she constantly worried about. She felt simultaneously overqualified and unqualified in her work here. She knew control, she knew mastery, but she was perpetually anxious over how to get her students to the level that they needed to attain. It was a matter of finding all the new methods, as her training had been significantly different. It was something that she should have been over by now, but year after year, she continued to be concerned.

Lia sat down with her sandwich, the school traditional peanut butter and jelly. She was no great cook, in fact she really wasn’t a cook at all. As a result the sandwich was quick, easy, and it suited her. On a day like this she also didn’t want anything that required any muss and/or fuss. She put her elbows on the table, sandwich in one hand and head in the other. She was going to need way more coffee before this day was over.

Ferris Macklin
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) May 20, 2013 7:16:16 GMT -5

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Post by Ferris Macklin on May 20, 2013 7:16:16 GMT -5

As a two year veteran of Kocher, one of the things Ferris kept in his duckie lunchbag was a personal first aid kit. It had two of every size Band-Aid, a tiny tube of bacitracin, medical tape, and Tylenol. It started with just two pills in a little travel case, but now he carried the full blister-packed card.

The reason for that deposited herself at a nearby table, looking as energetic as a dead flower. Ferris felt bad for her. Teaching at a regular school had been challenging (even for the short months he taught), teaching at a school full of kids who could turn into animals or fly or spit fire or whatever when you were having a bad day probably ranked right up there with dental work in the 1920s. Leaving his cookie/cracker/biscuit contemplation, he took his lunch bag and slid over to sit near her and said quietly, "Hi. I have Tylenol. You want some?"

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Yulia Sokolov
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jun 3, 2013 16:24:28 GMT -5

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Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jun 3, 2013 16:24:28 GMT -5

Lia’s haunches were immediately up just as soon as she was spoken to today. Her shoulders rose, as did her brows, and her expression wasn’t necessarily the most pleasant one that she could muster. All the same the offer of some form of relief was actually a relief itself. She relaxed a little and nodded. “Yes please, thank you.” And her hand stretched out for the pills.

She noted that she didn’t recognize him, but that didn’t mean much in a place like Hammel. It was home for some like her, and then others came and went. Still more showed up and those people made it their home as well. After all, if home was where you were from she would probably be back in Norilsk with two kids still listening to her sisters complain. Instead she had flown in from Russia and finally made herself a nest… which was currently being destroyed by dubstep.

“Are you new here or has my grogginess made me incapable of recognizing anyone?” Honestly, if it did turn out to be the latter she wouldn’t be terribly surprised at the moment. She felt like her ears were still ringing, or pounding, or maybe it was one of those other sounds of whatever godforsaken track that kid kept replaying. Wub-wub-wub-ing? God, she hoped not.

Ferris Macklin
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jun 6, 2013 19:02:39 GMT -5

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Post by Ferris Macklin on Jun 6, 2013 19:02:39 GMT -5

Though he knew the other staff members had full control over their powers and wouldn't hurt him, the Look that the young lady gave him was enough to make Ferris press his legs together in a futile effort to protect his private area, even as he kept his hopefully non-threatening smile. He was rewarded by her unclenching, and his decision to not wear a cup during working hours survived another day.

He held out the rattling card so she could punch out as many pills as she wanted.

“Are you new here or has my grogginess made me incapable of recognizing anyone?”

Ferris chuckled, but low. He didn't want to make her head feel any worse. "I'm new." He held out a hand. "Ferris Macklin. New kitchen staff. I made some cookies." He nodded over towards the bowl. "They have sweet potato in them. Though I think coffee would make the medicine work faster."

She... didn't look well. "Is there anything else I can help you with? Like... ice pack or something?"

Ferris was either too smart or had too strong a survival instinct to say she looked like hell. But she did. Like there was a party of three year olds with hammers playing inside her skull.

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Yulia Sokolov
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jul 3, 2013 19:16:39 GMT -5

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Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jul 3, 2013 19:16:39 GMT -5

Lia took the card and popped a few of the pills out of it. She downed those quickly enough, hoping that it wasn’t the aching of her head that was keeping her awake. Still, she had some time to get some caffeine in her before those kicked in. But first she was going to have to make a more appropriate and far less threatening introduction than her glare a few minutes ago. She stretched out her hand and gave his a solid shake and replied. “Yulia Sokolov. I am one of the trainers here. You’ll like it, they are good kids for the most part, and you’ll figure out which ones are not quickly enough.”

It was mostly true. She figured that he seemed like a nice enough person, and that they kids would probably make more of an effort to be good to him, especially if he was facilitating the food supply. Her, on the other hand? They had never been any trouble for her, but it had taken a while to get some of them not to be frightened of her. Then again, having someone who spoke like the villain from every other Bond movie who also smelled like cigarettes could be very intimidating. The accent was something she could not get rid of, but the cigarette smell was gone. Plus, as she had gained more control of the English language, her usage of tone and expression had improved enough to accurately show that she was fairly non-threatening.

“I need coffee.” She stood up and went to pour herself a cup. As she did she turned her head back. “So, is this the kind of thing you did at your last job or are you having a career change?”

Ferris Macklin
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jul 5, 2013 17:19:14 GMT -5

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Post by Ferris Macklin on Jul 5, 2013 17:19:14 GMT -5

When she was finished punching the pills out of the card, Ferris took it back and repacked it into his duckie. He shook her hand and kept his voice low, even if it was still expressive. "Oh! I haven't met any trainers yet." He shook his head. "I could never do that."

Dealing with kids as a teacher, he had done that once. Dealing with kids's powers... not for him. He looked at Ms. Sokolov with more respect, hoping it wasn't training that was making her look so... under the weather.

While in Europe, Ferris had heard enough of a variety of accents not to make any instant conclusions about Yulia's, though he thought it sounded quite nice. It was one of the ones he didn't hear as often, but the staccato sharpness of the Eastern Europeans was very pleasant to his ears. Also, Ferris had not seen any of the Bond movies. By the time he was old enough to see them, he was away, and had not had any time for things like movies (especially when most of them were dubbed into French or Spanish and not in English anymore).

While Yulia got her coffee, Ferris moved his duckie bag over to her table so he could eat and converse at the same time. He left duckie on the floor, but brought over his metal water bottle and his cookie. Cracker. Thing.

“So, is this the kind of thing you did at your last job or are you having a career change?”

"My last job was at Kocher. The Swiss Hammel," he said, deciding that cookie or cracker or whatever, he was still going to eat it. He took a bite and waited till he'd swallowed before he added, "But before that I worked as a line chef. And occasional apprentice. I once spent six months making cheese in a cave."

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Yulia Sokolov
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jul 5, 2013 20:48:25 GMT -5

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Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jul 5, 2013 20:48:25 GMT -5

“It isn’t a bad job, it really isn’t. But it does take a certain kind of person, I do think that is true. It is hard to teach math and science, but it is also hard to teach discipline. These children with their phones and their twittings, er….” Her brow furrowed as she searched for the right words. “Tweeter? No, no, it’s Twitter, and then there are the tweets! Anyways, with their tweets, they don’t know how to tell themselves ‘ok, I am going to put this down now and focus’ not at all! It does worry me, it does. I don’t get the fascination. I guess I have never been much of a person for those social networks or the facebooks.” She waved a hand almost dismissively at the thought.

“That isn’t to say that everything else isn’t just as important.” She shook a knowing finger as she lifted her coffee cup with the other hand. “You cook, and that’s very important. Do you know what I do? Ramen Noodles. I burned soup once. I poured the can in and left it going for too long. Campbell’s vegetable soup is a foul smelling thing when it starts to burn.”

She was starting to feel more alive thanks to the coffee, or at least more conscious of what was going on around her. It wasn’t all that much, but it was enough to be able to appreciate some conversation rather than hide in the corner. But it seemed that they did have something in common. “I lived in a cave for about six months as well. I wasn’t making cheese though, I was in the military. You know, I’d tell you more but…” She chuckled at the overused joke “I’d have to kill you.” She glanced towards the cookie and then took another drink of coffee.

“Really though, it was very boring after we had to use the last deck of cards to help start a fire.”

Ferris Macklin
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jul 7, 2013 19:07:19 GMT -5

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Post by Ferris Macklin on Jul 7, 2013 19:07:19 GMT -5

Listening, Ferris nodded. "I don't do social networking either, but I've been out of the country and... there's no one that needs to know what I'm doing every minute or even every day. And with all the personal information being leaked or stolen it doesn't seem... prudent."

“You cook, and that’s very important. ...Campbell’s vegetable soup is a foul smelling thing when it starts to burn.”

Ferris had to laugh at that. "You poor thing," he said, but with real sympathy. "Burning soup is the worst. It's horrendous to clean up. I once burned a batch of butternut squash soup. I had to throw the whole thing out, including the pot. It was so caked on I'd never get it off."

“...I’dhave to kill you.”

He nodded again, gravely, though his eyes twinkled. "I understand. Though flipping and inspecting two hundred wheels of Comte every day wasn't exactly exciting. Occasionally delicious, but nothing you'd see in a summer blockbuster."

Seeing her look, he gestured to the bowl. "Maybe you should try a cookie? They have sweet potato in them. Protein?" And then, because he was curious, "How long have you been here?"

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Yulia Sokolov
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jul 7, 2013 23:31:53 GMT -5

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Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jul 7, 2013 23:31:53 GMT -5

“What I would like to know is why the cheese had to be made in a cave?” She phrased the question tentatively. She felt for a moment like she was back two year ago when she had first come to Pilot Ridge. She didn’t know anything about this topic, and so she did not know if that was a stupid question or not. Hopefully it wasn’t, and she’d get an answer without having to feel particularly foolish about it. Then again, why feel foolish at all? Cheese making was not on the list of crucial things that she had needed to know so far in her life, so why not question a little bit now?

“I’m glad I am not the only one then. I thought that I must be, so I don’t often mention that little… cooking adventure.” But there was no shame in admitting it right here and right now, she was too tired for shame.

“But yes, that is exactly what I plan on doing.” She got up and went right for those cookies, picking out on and then sitting back down. She bit into it and then chewed thoughtfully for a moment and then she swallowed. “Oh, I like these, these are good.” She continued to munch as she quickly did the math to answer his next question.

“I have been in this country for two and a half years, and I have lived here in Pilot Ridge for the whole of that time. I am originally from Norilsk, in Russia. I think that is the reason why I find it so amusing whenever someone complains over the cold. Where are you from?"

Ferris Macklin
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Local Power Negation
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My 99 Problems Are Red Balloons

Posts: 293

TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jul 8, 2013 0:14:24 GMT -5

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Post by Ferris Macklin on Jul 8, 2013 0:14:24 GMT -5

It wasn't a stupid question. There was a lot about food that was a little weird to people who didn't love it like Ferris did, and cheese caves were probably right up there.

"Usually these days, the term 'cheese cave' just refers to whatever room a cheese making operation ages their cheeses, but originally real caves were used, and still are," he said amiably. "Because caves typically had the right temperature to age cheeses, didn't fluctuate in those temps, had the right air moisture content, and just the right amount of air circulation. They were perfect. And also cheap. It costs a mint to make any sort of man-made cheese cave now, on an industrial scale. A person looking to age cheese can modify a fridge or use a basement, but it's still sort of chancy."

Before Ferris had spent time in the French cheese cave, he hadn't known exactly how much could go wrong during the aging process. But it was enough to make him wonder how aged cheeses had seemed viable at all.

He snorted. "Everyone who's ever cooked has burned something. And if they're trained, they have at least one story that can top burned soup. I knew a baker in Germany who once mixed up her canisters and put a cup of salt into her pastry instead of sugar." Thinking, he said, "Past the butternut soup, I think the worst thing I ever did was drop a cake. It wasn't decorated, but it had been time consuming because there were seven layers and most of them were different flavors."

Ferris smiled when she said she liked his cookies. "Thank you. I'm still not quite happy with the recipe, but they're a good effort. I was thinking maybe adding a pecan in the middle or something."

"Russia? Wow. I'm originally from Chicago, but I was in Europe for the last ten years and at Kocher for the last two of those. I like winter, but I haven't driven in it yet. I've biked it though." He ate the cookie on his napkin. "What food do you miss from home?"

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Yulia Sokolov
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TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jul 8, 2013 19:25:54 GMT -5

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Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jul 8, 2013 19:25:54 GMT -5

“Huh, that makes sense. I bet that is the good stuff too. Over here they pasteurize everything. If they knew what they were missing in flavor they might quit it, but one thing I have noticed about America is that there is a bit of paranoia about disease. Like this West Nile Virus they all talk about all summer long. I did not know what it was and no one could tell me, just that it was in the mosquitos and it wasn’t good.” She shrugged almost as if to say ‘go figure’.

“Now, I can’t imagine cooking anything that had seven layers to it. I swear though if I did and I dropped it I would probably lose it. I think I am the least patient with cooking, which I know is not a good thing, but, oh well. We all have our faults. I never really got to cook for myself before I came to America, it was just never a necessity for me. Well, that’s not true, but when it was it was about sustenance and not taste.” It was true, it was times like that time in the cave when they had needed to forage for something to eat. Needless to say, it had been far from anything that might be traditionally considered palatable.

Lia washed down another bite of cookie with some coffee. “I walk everywhere, and the winters here aren’t all that bad. Just drive slow and break early in the snow, it can get very slippery out there. But that’s what they make all those snow tires and SUVs for.” It was the best advice h could give, since she had been here for two and a half years and had yet to get her own driver’s license.

“I don’t really miss any food from home. That isn’t to say I don’t like what we make back in Russia, but I was in the military for a long time. Most of what we ate was more of the freeze-dried stuff. There wasn’t much taste to it, but it kept me alive.” She rubbed a temple as the Tylenol started to kick in.

“What was Kocher like? I don’t know much about it.”

Ferris Macklin
Retired

Head Cafeteria Chef
Local Power Negation
Played By Captain Omega

My 99 Problems Are Red Balloons

Posts: 293

TR: Delicious? (Yulia and Ferris) Jul 10, 2013 9:22:49 GMT -5

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Post by Ferris Macklin on Jul 10, 2013 9:22:49 GMT -5

"If you know where to look, you can find the unpasteurized stuff here. They call it 'raw milk', but it's like in Europe. If you don't trust the source you're better off going for the stuff in the stores." Ferris also shrugged off the West Nile, because he didn't really know much about it. "I guess if you feel as bad as it supposedly makes you, you go to the hospital anyway?"

He grinned a little at Yulia's cooking comments. "There's lots of things with seven layers past cakes," he couldn't help saying. "Lasagna, bean dips, salads, trifles... but the cake in question had regular layers cut in half horizontally, so it wasn't as tall as you might think. Still... there might've been... language."

He could laugh about it now, but back then he'd almost been fired. Not for dropping the cake, but for saying 'FUCK' so loud that the customers upstairs could hear him, with the bad luck to have a single English speaker with them who knew what it meant. He'd been saved by the owner coming down and seeing the predicament and swearing loudly as well, in the language everyone else knew. It turned out Ferris had been there for twelve hours (he'd lost track of time helping with a large order) and he was given the next whole day off.

"I plan to bike or walk as long as I can, but having a car and a license is a good backup. In case." Ferris had been resistant to the idea for a long time, but Vermont was so isolated that it seemed the time had come. Driving was still distasteful to him for reasons he didn't understand, but he was practical above all else.

"I've only been here for a few weeks, so I don't know if I can compare it to Kocher much yet," he admitted, stealing another of his own cookies. "But at Kocher you heard seven or eight languages being spoken in the halls during passing time and the kids were more enthusiastic about trying new things in the cafeteria. Less resistant to the idea of vegetables as a main course." He smiled. "I think you'd have to ask a teacher if you really wanted to know the differences. I was just kitchen help. But the kids here seem... okay enough."

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Post by Event ! on May 13, 2013 1:16:58 GMT -5

Post by Ferris Macklin on May 14, 2013 8:43:45 GMT -5

Post by Yulia Sokolov on May 19, 2013 14:36:10 GMT -5

Post by Ferris Macklin on May 20, 2013 7:16:16 GMT -5

Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jun 3, 2013 16:24:28 GMT -5

Post by Ferris Macklin on Jun 6, 2013 19:02:39 GMT -5

Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jul 3, 2013 19:16:39 GMT -5

Post by Ferris Macklin on Jul 5, 2013 17:19:14 GMT -5

Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jul 5, 2013 20:48:25 GMT -5

Post by Ferris Macklin on Jul 7, 2013 19:07:19 GMT -5

Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jul 7, 2013 23:31:53 GMT -5

Post by Ferris Macklin on Jul 8, 2013 0:14:24 GMT -5

Post by Yulia Sokolov on Jul 8, 2013 19:25:54 GMT -5

Post by Ferris Macklin on Jul 10, 2013 9:22:49 GMT -5

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