Who: Shuri and Sharon What: cooking lessons Where: Shuri’s kitchen When: backdated to the 8th Warnings: low, but possibly swearing. Status: g-doc
Shuri went ahead to the grocery store to pick up a few items for cooking with Sharon. She decided on shakshuka. The dish tasted delicious and didn’t find itself too high on the difficulty scale. Plus, it would give some additional skills, like how long one should cook an egg.
She ensured the pair of friends had both wine from the winery and coffee, depending on what the two required. Drunken escapades certainly sounded interesting, but Shuri did want her house to remain standing by the end of this lesson.
When the Wakandan princess noticed the time, Shuri made her way to the front to wait for Sharon.
Sharon was definitely a punctual person. She arrived on time, and prepared for whatever was in store. The hard part about cooking with Shuri was that she had no idea what was in store. She brought a chilled white wine, and an aerated red, to be prepared for any situation, and a mason jar full of flowers. Because she was thankful for Shuri to teach her how to cook a meal, and wanted to show her appreciation.
She rang the bell and stood on the front stoop, carrying the wine in a bag and the flowers in her hand.
Shuri did one last check and nodded to herself, before she made her way to answer the door. “Hello Sharon. Come on in.” She smiled at her friend and ushered her inside, before Shuri closed the door behind her.
“Did you want wine or coffee?” Shuri would happily pour them both a glass of whichever. “I decided I’m going to teach you how to make a breakfast dish. It smells amazing and isn’t too difficult to make.” She didn’t want to overwhelm her friend.
“Shuri,” Sharon said, breaking into a warm smile at the sight of her on the other side of the door. “Hi. Thank you for inviting me over.” She offered up the flowers, then moved to the kitchen with her friend to find a resting place for the wine. “There’s no reason we couldn’t do a little of both, is there?” She asked, playfully. “Unless you think the wine wouldn’t be appropriate.”
She rolled up her sleeves. “What sort of dish is it? Shuri, I gotta tell you I’m really excited. I brought an appetite.”
Shuri couldn’t help but return Sharon’s smile. “Of course! I figured this way we weren’t getting in the way of everyone else at the Bug House.” She liked her kitchen anyway, which probably helped.
“Thanks for the flowers!” The Wakandan actually had a vase…that the previous owners either forgot to pack or decided to not pack.
“Nope! No reason at all.” Shuri poured coffee for them both and a little wine. “I think wine is exceedingly appropriate.” She pulled out pistachio creamer and sugar if Sharon wanted either for her coffee.
“We’re making Shatshouka, which is a tomato and egg dish. And I’m glad you brought an appetite!”
Sharon nodded. As much as she was at home in the Bug House, sometimes she felt like she was in the way there. She loved Scott very, very much--with her whole heart--and sometimes she missed living alone. Being able to wander the whole home without worrying about what the other people are doing… being able to do whatever, whenever, without bothering housemates.
“You’re very welcome,” Sharon responded. She hoped the flowers were appropriate. “They’re a thank you for showing me how to cook.” She grinned.
“All right, let’s have some wine. We can have a little coffee later.” Sharon grabbed some glasses and poured them each some wine. “What do we need to do first?”
The Bug House seemed like the kind of place where one never really had a moment to themselves. That Alyssa moved out at some point when Shuri returned home didn’t surprise the princess at all. The Wonderland Fae always seemed like she needed more space.
“Well, I appreciate them!” And Shuri thankfully had no idea what the flowers said unlike said Wonderland Fae. She nodded. “Red or white?”
Shuri grinned. “First we need to chop an onion and a pepper. Are you okay with onions or do they make you cry?” Thankfully, Shuri didn’t feel too bothered by chopping them, so she’d do that part if necessary.
It was certainly a busy place. Hard to find alone time. But Sharon was thrilled to be living with the man she loved more than anything. She’d put up with being surrounded by people all the time.
“Good.” Sharon rolled up her sleeves. “White? It’s cold. If we get through the white, we’ll start on the red.” She grinned brightly at that thought. That would be a lot of wine for two women.
“Oh, they definitely make me cry. But I don’t let that stop me. Onions can’t be the boss of me,” she said, smirking. She dug around for a knife and cutting board.
Shuri didn’t think Sharon would trade her busy house for anything, although if she and Scott ever wanted to start a family, they’d need more room.
“White sounds good.” Shuri liked wine, moreso with her job at the winery. She pulled out some stemmed wine glasses for the pair.
She laughed. “We will show the onions who are the bosses.” Shuri handed Sharon the onions. “Here.” The Wakandan began to chop the onions, slowly, so Sharon could watch and learn.
“Can’t let the onions control me. They don’t even have brains.” Sharon held out the wine to Shuri, then settled at the cutting board to watch Shuri chopping up the onions. She was prepared for a wave of eye-stinging smell to hit her smack in the face, but for some reason it started considerably slower. The eye-stinging came on, but Sharon felt it was more tolerable than when she chopped them herself.
Lifting the wine glass to her lips she leaned against the counter to watch the chopping. “I got this. Let me finish up.” She said, and then set the glass down so she could take over the chopping. “What’s the next step?”
Shuri snorted at Sharon’s remark. “The onions will not be the bosses of us.” Even though Shuri would start to cry really soon.
As she began to chop the onions the Wakandan felt the tears and hell her eyes kept watering. If she’d been alone she might have allowed herself a good cry. Instead, she allowed Sharon to finish chopping them.
“Next step is dicing a pepper and finely chopping garlic.” Shuri opened the can of tomatoes, assuming Sharon could work a can opener if nothing else.
There were already tears in Sharon’s eyes as she laughed and nodded. Truth was, this was why she didn’t put a lot of onions in her cooking. It burned.
“Ah! I can do a pepper. I used to grow them with my father back in Virginia when I was a kid.” Sharon’s dad loved peppers of all kinds. “I’m terrible at mincing garlic, though. I might need some pointers there.”
“I should invest in those onion goggles,” Shuri commented after a sip of wine.
“You grew peppers?” Shuri didn’t know this fact about her friend, not that she minded learning something new. “Let’s do the garlic first then.” The Wakandan grinned and showed her friend how to mince garlic, moving aside so Sharon could attempt again.
Sharon nodded. “We didn’t have a huge place, but my parents did a bit of gardening in the yard. My dad always had tips and tricks on better yields on yearly tomatoes or whatever.” Sharon didn’t like thinking about her parents. It’d been a really long time since she’d been able to see them or hear from them at all, so it was painful. She watched carefully, and was able to repeat Shuri’s movements with the paring knife, turning the cloves of garlic into tiny bits.
Shuri knew exactly how hard thinking about parents could be. Hers were dead along with her older brother. “I wonder how easy or hard it is to grow peppers.” She grinned at Sharon’s efforts. “Great job!” The Wakandan could be supportive when the time called for it.
She explained the next steps, happy to spend this time with Sharon.