Dmitry's gotten good at getting by (russianrat) wrote in angellogs, @ 2018-10-07 09:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, balthier, dmitry, emmett frye, illya kuryakin, jacob frye, noah fon ronsenburg, steve rogers (captain america) |
Who: Balthier, Steve, Jacob, Illya (Noah, Emmett, Dmitry, a camera crew, Basch in the background)
When: Current
Where: Craigcrook Gatehouse, Edinburgh
What: A chicken pot pie is made, with a group of people who mostly can't cook, and a camera crew. It's not too bad, really.
Rating/Warnings: Nothing that bad
Status: Complete
Balthier's got the recipe printed out, and he's honestly kind of sitting comfortably. There's a pot of rice on the side, with some spinach wilting in it for a side dish, and they're planning on a pot pie. "How's the camera angle? The original recipe calls for dairy, but Aedan says it's fine. I'm sorry, you know. I really wish I could at least show up for your party. I did get you a box you can open, if . . . I don't know - you don't have to. It's a present. So I'd be there in intent?"
“I’d like that.” Dmitry smiles. “And I get not being able to for other sorts of reasons. It’s a bit different from people just not turning up, you know?” He’s comfortable with that sort of a thing. Stuff can get weird and loud in Saint Petersburg, even now. It’s not really a place for people not comfortable with chaos.
“Camera looks pretty good.” he’s saying, glancing through a couple test shots he’d tried out. “And the lighting’s REALLY on point.”
Balthier grins. "I'm glad." He's wearing an apron without paint spots, and they were a bit worried that the green in the kitchen would be a problem. The window's got a bit of rain flecked on it, but with the lights on, the kitchen is cozy. They had to set up the distant camera over near the dinette table, but it's got a good shot of the entire working area. Plus, it should be a fast thing to set up.
Yeah the green had given them pause at first. Dmitry’s camera people had almost broke down crying when they realized that was what they were dealing with. But it had gotten worked out, with a little bit of calming them down and here they are. “So, who all do we have coming around again for this? Steve Rogers said he needs to learn how to not burn things, I do know that.”
Balthier also made tea for everyone, and a pot of very strong coffee, and that's probably helping a lot. Admittedly, the strongest green was on the floor tiles, so as long as the cameras had more of the plaster walls, they were fine. "I'm not entirely sure." They're letting the camera guys do some beauty shots of the test one that Noah made earlier. "I know it'll take about 15 minutes, with cooking time, and we timed a leisurely talk through the recipe as thirty, so we should be good on time."
“Sounds good. “ Dmitry looks thoughtful. “Illya’s coming, I know. Which might end up being interesting if the talk goes into specifics. You CAN get him to talk about things other than food, really, it’s just...one of his hobbies. Well, one of the few I KNOW about. I get the feeling there’s a lot more he does at night than those things when he gets in and I’m not being a distraction but they’re quiet ones, so…” he shrugs. “I couldn’t ask for a more polite roommate, but there’s a LOT hidden there.”
Balthier ended up with Noah, mostly sitting back with a book, and looking nine-tenth's asleep on his brother's shoulder, Steve (thankfully not so tall that he'd be in danger, since this part of the house had fairly high ceilings dating back to the pre-air conditioning days,) Jacob and Emmett, and Illya. "I think," Balthier offered once he made sure everyone had aprons and there were cutting boards setup. "It . . . might not be bad, mentioning how we learned cooking or if we did it at all? Since this is supposed to be a fast and fairly simple recipe, it would be kind of weird to be treating it like a college student faced by someone gingerly offering a board book."
Jacob glances at Emmett who snickers a little, because, well, he was sort of expecting THIS to come up at some point. “So, don’t mention the time the three of us nearly burnt down the kitchen at the hotel and Shaun decided we’re only allowed to try in our own space then?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“To be FAIR,” Emmett holds up a hand. “The egg thing no one explained to me and most of the shell’s top was off. Just not ENOUGH.”
Steve shakes his head. “This might be more gingerly staring at board books than NOT, I think.” he says, shaking his head. “I don’t know anything but that’s why I’m here. To try and learn.” Hopefully, it’ll work out. HOPEFULLY. “I kind of want to...I relied on my best friend for a lot of things and I rely on my husband for them a lot right now. It’d be nice to learn how to make SOMETHING I could share with them.”
"I mostly learned in the sense of - it was a way to spend longer with my siblings. So we'd go as a group and eat somewhere that you'd - oh - have a sauce to dip things in. Or we'd sit and grill meat and talk. That kind of thing. Or get assigned to put tins in hot water carefully." Balthier leans on the counter. "I can't promise you can make this perfectly on your own, but the idea is that you, and someone else for confidence could make it. And - I was told you're pretty familiar with cooking?" Balthier tilts his head a little at Illya. "I warn you that I'll fumble a bit with trying to find the right honorifics and name you like. It's a habit from where I'm from."
“We have that at home too.” Illya says, nodding at Balthier. “It was...complicated when I first came to America. In the Soviet...well in RUSSIA now, and in Ukraine, where I’m from, but it was considered part of the Soviet Union then, we have all sorts of names. Things are complicated. For here, Illya is fine. Or Agent Kurkakin if you are being very formal and are my boss. Who I do not THINK is here.” he adds, glancing over his shoulder, grinning a bit. “I do like to cook. All sorts of things. I think that it amuses people sometimes that I try a lot of different things. This one looks simple enough to start.”
"Illya, then. I fear I'd slaughter your last name with my accent. Noah might do better." Balthier smiles. "My three siblings were in the army, and we joked that you could tell if something was up, because letters became a sea of recursive Officer Bunansas." He leans on the counter. "I was suggesting we do three trays, so we could kind of split into groups, and I could be kind of hovering over one cutting board demonstrating. Would that be appealing? Part of the idea too is that we can see that no matter what we do, as long as we're careful, it'll smell great. We did one earlier, too, so we can compare something done exactly to the book."
Noah offers, "Kuryakin. I fear not. It's not close enough to Landisser names. My apologies."
“Close enough.” Illya smiles. “Trust me, it’s not so bad as I’ve gotten before I was sent HERE. Americans seem to really butcher it…sorry.” He adds, glancing at Steve. “It COULD have just been my partner when we were forced together. Napoleon would think it was funny.”
“No offense taken.” Steve shrugs. “My best friend’s sort of Russian now. It’s a weird long story. And the tray thing is a good idea. Enough to get sort of hands on practice, right?”
Balthier leans in to demonstrate cutting the chicken. "And enough that we all can try some of the results of our labors."
Jacob’s leaning over to give that a shot on their end. “Sounds like a plan. “ And hey, he’s not bad at this part. Must be the time he spends on tailoring and such. It makes it easier to do things that require a lot of precision. And he’s spotting Emmett just sort of watching and glancing at the knives like he’s going to have some kind of weird moment, so he probably should handle that. “Here.” he says, passing the knife over so that it breaks the spell a little. “Give it a go.” It’s like getting back up on a horse, right? Emmett killed someone who was going to attack him, with a knife, but it’s not like he should never use knives again.
“Hmm, right.” Emmett takes it. “Uh thanks.”
"Ideally, you want the pieces to be similar size. Centimeter or thinner. Too thin, and it might overcook while you're making it, but that'll just mean the meat's a bit more tough. Too thick, though, and it might not cook in time. So that's why you kind of want to aim for that." Balthier's finishing up. and leans to watch people working.
Dmitry’s taking a chance now, too, and he’s pretty decent at it. “Even cooking times, right? That seems important.” He doesn’t know a lot about the cooking thing, but since he’s here and sort of moderating a bit, he’s taking a turn.
"That's one reason why they want the mushrooms run through a machine to get them sliced really finely. They're packed with water, and cooking them gets flavor. The green onions or scallions, on the other hand, cook super quickly, so it's more pleasant sized pieces instead of any particular size." Balthier peers. "That looks good to me. Shall we move to the vegetables?"
“I’ve had vereniki with mushrooms...pierogi,” Illya tacks on, if that’s the more familiar term to people here, going that way, with the water.” He nods at Balthier. “It definitely is a little unpleasant.”
“So okay. Chopping.” Steve nods. “Chopping seems fine.” He can manage that.
"They'd do little dumplings, that are - tip of the thumb sized? Round, I think Noah said. Something from Noah's childhood. I never got to try one, and we're - it's not something where we can go to the right place, and find them again. Pierogi here are too big." Maybe if they were home, but Noah's implied that even when he found Landisser restaurants or cooks, they weren't from the right end of Landis. Balthier's keeping an eye on them working in between his own work. "The idea with chopping everything now is that we'll be past the really complex part."
“I’ll see what I can come up with in Petersburg.” Dmitry offers at that part. “There’s probably something to be found in that direction. Or at least close enough. I can ask. I’ve started to meet people there.”
“Makes sense.” Emmett’s a little unsure why he’s doing this, but he is and he’s managing and doing it calmly, which seems to be helping. “I THINK these are about ready?”
"That looks good to me. You did a good job on the mushrooms." Balthier leans to look at their results. "So, do you want to be the captain of something on the heat? Or shall we set your father to it?" And he grins at Dmitry. "That'd be amazing. I'd hate to send you using the phones to see if you've found something nostalgic. Perhaps we could offer you something to make up for taking the trip?"
"Breakfast?" Noah offers. "Brunch? I'd actually be here. It'll be sleepy doddering with coffee and pastries, but it might be pleasant."
“Sounds like fun.” Dmitry says, smiling. “I like you and I’ve liked getting to know you a little more, with things like this. Brunch could DEFINITELY be pleasant.”
“I’ll go for the heat part.” Jacob offers. “It’s time I learned how to do something useful. It’d be nice to be capable of more than egg and chips or things from down the street. I think they know us far too well at the local chip shop.”
"What's egg and chips? Is that eggs with potato crisps?" Balthier waves them over to watch. "Emmett, could you please grab the other containers for the sauce? There's some herbs on it that we'll need."
“It’s about the easiest thing in the world to make.” Jacob says, “Eggs and fried potato sort of chips, not crisps. The most low effort thing ever and it usually succeeds. Usually.” There have been times it hasn’t. “I may or may not have wrecked a place trying a few times. We couldn’t really cook on...I did mention I lived on a train for a while? Right around until the time that we found out about Emmett actually. Anyway, the first few times I tried cooking even that went...really badly. My poor first landlord.” he adds ,shaking his head. “At least that was a bit before we had to worry about smoking out a place with a baby in the works.”
"You see, we'd usually - eggs were more something that were served in already cooked -" Balthier frowns. "Cakes?" He's setting up the pans and sets up the recipe so they can see the next steps. "Quiche is close, but I know we didn't use as much dairy in it as the French version. You'd get a big wedge, and eat it with thin bread to keep your hands from getting greasy, and everyone would nag you to order it with greens and herbs in it to be healthier."
“So, wait.” Steve holds up a hand. “You literally fry up eggs and serve it with french fries? Okay, I know there’s a fairly diverse audience for the people who are watching this, but that’s…” he shakes his head. “British food sounds even more greasy than American fast food. And I mean, that’s SAYING something.”
“We literally do.” Jacob confirms. “It’s easy to dip in the yolk too and…” he pauses. “This is the moment I look like a terrible adult, again. I’d say my wife would murder me if she was still around, but I think she’d probably laugh because none of our friends are all that good at cooking either. My sister tries too, and she’s better than me, but that’s not saying a lot. SORRY EVIE.” he adds to the camera. “It’s just...a fact.”
Balthier shakes his head. "Well, if this is to your taste, we can add something else. I never really dipped things in egg yolks at home. I guess someone did it somewhere, but sunny side up eggs and toast are just - it's novel. Or the partly cooked ones that you take the top off. You'd get closer to Rozaria, and you'd mix an egg yolk on raw beef, but that wasn't done at home."
He's showing them how to heat up the pans, with some oil, and then they add the chicken with some salt and pepper, and then some butter to make the sauce more complex. The rest of the recipe is some herbs, the veggies, some spoons of various flavorings, and then broth to make it sauce like before you put (they precut the sheets) some puff pastry on top.
“It’s one of those things that…” Jacob shrugs. “There’s a whole segment of British food that I swear is more about packing in the calories for winter than thinking about anything having much nutritional benefit. It’s weird. WE’RE weird, can I say that in Scotland?”
“The home of the deep fried Mars bar?” Steve jokes. “I think it MIGHT get a pass.” He’s following the directions and it looks mostly okay. It’s the parts where he has to watch things that stuff gets...complicated and a bit weird.
"Technically, we're not supposed to taste the sauce till the chicken's fully cooked, but since it's bubbling, we can try it for salt." Balthier offers spoons. "And from what you said, Jacob, you were kind of on the - you didn't have time or were around people with money for a while there? No resources to use to cook with?"
“I’m a gang leader at home.” Jacob says, nodding. “It comes with a courtesy title and all, but it doesn’t exactly give you a lot of time or income so you sort of made do. So, not a lot of them. I lived on a train when I first came to London, and stayed there for a number of years and the rooms weren’t great for cooking in. So you sort of made do sort of a thing. And I did end up selling the house in the last year.”
Which has Emmett blinking. “Seriously? You didn’t mention that part. I mean, it makes sense enough, but that’s...new.” It’s one of those things he’d have preferred to have heard at some other point in time, but hey. “That WOULD cut back on the ability to cook, sure.”
"I know they had dining cars on trains," Balthier says slowly. "At some point, that is. I read it in a mystery story. But I don't know how it worked. It seems like it'd be like cooking on a ship." He's leaning to help cover the pies and they get slid in the oven. "Let me start washing up, and we can have coffee or tea while they're going. There's cookies in the jar, if someone doesn't want to wait."
“Well, if it was a train that had any of that attached.” Jacob says. “We had a few cars and an engine and generally had to bring food back with us. It was more a hideout than anything else. There was enough going on that we could heat a kettle for tea or something simple but it was mostly relegated to the sort of things that’d keep. Like roughing it. But this WAS London so that could have been a lot worse.”
Dmitry laughs at this bit. “This is where I sound like I’m trying to have the most downer follow up EVER, but food insecurity’s DEFINITELY a thing that plays into stuff now.” He eyedarts a little. “Some of my friends here, the ones I’ve known so long they’re really family, they could tell you stories.” And he’s taking his own chance to glance at the camera. “Hi Cath. I’m sorry I sometimes eat you out of house and home. I lived through the Russian Revolution.”
Balthier nods. "I was lucky? I never had it bad like that. I've known people though, who have."
“It was…” Dmitry pauses, thinking about it. “I mean, I got through. I was lucky there. But there are times I feel like I need to either eat everything around me just in case, so it doesn’t spoil, or to hoard it forever just to be safe. It creates this really WEIRD existence. “
“I get that.” Steve nods. “It was the Depression, with me. We were okay, my Mom managed to stretch food pretty far, you got GOOD at managing and making things up and all, and then there was rationing during the war and waking up in a world where everything was just AVAILABLE...it was really overwhelming. “
Balthier nods. "The Depression - that's - sorry, it's a history thing. Economics were terrible for just about everyone. And the harvest was bad, wasn't it?" He looks thoughtful.
Noah says quietly, "I found it that - you'd eat anything if we'd cook for you. You liked not being alone in that way."
“Well, for us, the banks basically all failed so people lost a lot of money.” Steve figures that’s a close enough explanation for right now. “I mean, boiling it down, it comes to that. People lost their jobs because their bosses couldn’t pay them, just about everything closed up, because it kind of had to, but I guess...everybody WAS in it together. It doesn’t make struggling any BETTER but it makes it easier to take, the not being alone parts.”
Balthier's moving so the camera can watch the pies in the oven and starts to fill the sink. "I more - I get worried about losing people I care about. I guess I'm lucky that I don't worry as much about filling cupboards."
Steve nods at that. “I guess for me...most of them are gone now so it’s not something I think of AS much. I have new people here, people I’ve met and care for, but it IS different.”
Balthier grins. "Someone want to set a timer for ten minutes? Or notice the time on the clock? And . . . yeah. I can imagine."
“Timer’s a great idea.” Steve leans over to punch that in. “Okay, it’s actually counting down too. Hopefully I didn’t just DOOM us all.”
Illya snickers. “I doubt it. We’ll be able to tell if not. We’re competent people, after all. At least, we seem to be.”
“It CAN be different, like that.” Jacob says, nodding. “Things take on significance you hadn’t thought about before, I don’t know what I’d be doing if my sister weren’t here. I’d be insane, I think. Does that sound horribly drastic?”
"For me, I kind of . . . I want to - I don't know - to make things safe. So have people I know, and a safe place, and options if it becomes unsafe. So that sounds similar to me." Balthier smiles lopsidedly. It's probably obvious that - he kind of has been doing that. Gathering friends and all that.
“Sounds like the best thing you CAN do, really.” Jacob says, nodding. “And it does seem that way, doesn’t it?” That’s probably why Balthier gets a lot of things around his life now.
The oven smells amazing, and - they're not going to be winning beauty contests, but they have four trays of chicken pot pie laid out. "That looks good to me," Balthier says. "You can if you're really worried, lift the crust a bit and make sure the chicken's cooked, but it should be done."
“I didn’t burn it!” Steve sounds really accomplished with this fact. “Wow. I didn’t burn something that I made. Thor is never going to believe this one.” Tony probably won’t either.
“Nothing blew up.” Emmett sounds amazed. “We went into a kitchen and NOTHING blew up.” It’s kind of amazing on its own even if the food doesn’t turn out amazing, though it smells really good.
Balthier grins. "Shall we wrap up here? Or does the crew want to get some shots of us checking the results?"
“I think that sounds like a good idea, with some shots they could use.” Dmitry says. “Probably an edit with the end credits so maybe something along those lines?” He could see it working that way. It’s pretty clear in his head anyway.
Balthier smiles at him. "Thanks for trying this with us."
“This was fun.” Dmitry says. “A little more serious than I thought, but it’s a good balance. Some of this stuff is amazing, really. I think it’ll tie together neatly.”
And there’s a moment, over in the other direction, when, filming done, Emmett’s turning to Jacob, voice rising a little. “You didn’t think to TELL me that you’d sold the house?” That’s more of an amused, slightly resigned tone than anything else, really. “I swear, Aunt Evie WASN’T exaggerating.”
Jacob snickers a little, since he’s mostly glad that Emmett’s taking his forgetting to mention that fairly well. “Your aunt’s biased. She’s known me too long.”
"Shall we serve up the sample one? Or do you guys just want to take yours home, and I can leave the camera crew to set stuff up?" Balthier sets the dishes to dry and moves to get himself a mug of tea.