/03/ BBS.

[tempesting]

Hello, Garden! I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful Valentines Day, especially after all the goodies we received from the Headmaster and friends and acquaintances. This would be my very first Valentines Day as mother and wife, but with my son and my husband back home, it feels a bit lonely. But I have Starfire here and she's been a great friend.

I have grilled seaweed hearts in the Home Economics classroom for everyone if you want to stop by and take one or two. They're delicious and good for you, so take a dozen if you want!

And to Starfire, I have a Valentine present for you. Come pick it up in the Home Economics room today or see me tonight and I'll make sure you get your present.

Thank you!

- Dolphin

Comments

BBS

[curiouseyes]

A Valentine's present? That's so nice! I'll come by the Home Economics to get it!

BBS

[tempesting]

That's great, Statr! It's all ready for you when you get here.

Action

[curiouseyes]

[And it really is only a matter of minutes before she arrives]

Hello Dolphin!

Action

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin's setting down another tray of seaweed hearts, freshly grilled, when Starfire arrives. She drops her oven mitts and crosses the room to Starfire, putting her arms around the alien. Starfire is always nice and warm. ]

Starfire, glad you could make it!

Re: Action

[curiouseyes]

[Star returns the hug, smiling brightly. She liked seeing Dolphin at any time]

Thank you for asking me to come. Those definitely smell good!

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin releases Starfire and outstretches her arm to the table. ] Please have some! They're good for you, actually.

[curiouseyes]

I think I will. [She goes over to get a few of them, trying them] They are very good.

[tempesting]

Aren't they? [ She smiles, taking one for herself. She leaves the table and walks over to the fridge where she's leaned a rectangular package against the fridge's side. She picks it, wipes away any dust that may have gathered on the colorful paper, and then walks back to Starfire. ]

Here it is.

[ She holds it out. ]

I hope you like it.

[ Inside the box is a pair of star-shaped earrings (silver!) and a purple cashmere sweater. ]

[curiouseyes]

[She snacks on the seaweed as Dolphin walks off to get the box. As it is brought over, she set her snacks as Dolphin brings over the box]

Thank you very much!

[And she takes the box and opens it, carefully unwrapping it so as not to rip the paper. She smiles brightly seeing what's in the box]

Dolphin, I love them! Thank you very much!

[She held the earrings up the side of her face]

[tempesting]

I'm glad! [ She puts her hands together, beaming. ] I saw those earrings in a catalogue and knew you'd love 'em.

[curiouseyes]

They are beautiful. That's so sweet. [She examines the sweater a bit more then puts it on]

It's so soft.

[tempesting]

Isn't it? It compliment your complexion and your hair as well. [ She is so glad that Gypsy thought her about Surface fashion. It's done her a world of good in the long run. ]

[curiouseyes]

I think it does too. [She smoothed her hair out over the sweater] And it fits perfectly.

You have good taste.

[tempesting]

[ She smiles. ] Excellent. I was worried that I got a size too small. [ She comes over and makes sure that the sleeves aren't too snug. ] Well, you showed me good taste. Both you and Gypsy, actually.

[curiouseyes]

No it isn't. [She chuckles] I did? Then we both have good taste.

[She doesn't know Gypsy, but she'll go with it]

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin nods, smiling. Then realizes. ] Hey, we've got some time. Do you want to maybe make something for the other cadets?

[curiouseyes]

Oh, really? Yes, I want to make something!

[tempesting]

All right? [ She goes over to the counters where she has laid out a few dessert recipe books and gestures to them. ] There are a lot of things we can make and I would be happy to make any recipe you choose.

[curiouseyes]

[Kori follows her over glancing at the books she had laid out] There are a lot of them... Can we make something with chocolate?

[tempesting]

[ She chuckles. ] Most of the recipes in the books are made with chocolate.

[curiouseyes]

Well, that really narrows it down then. [She takes one of the books and starts flipping through it] Would there be something for maybe chocolate and green tea? Something like that?

[She is just curious]

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin peeks around Starfire, watching the pages flip by. ] I'm not sure, but maybe we can try and make something up ourselves? I've seen it be done here before.

[curiouseyes]

Then let’s experiment! If it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work and we can make something else.

[The odd things Tamaraneans came up with]

[tempesting]

Let's just make sure it is edible to the average human stomach since that is what is mainly used here. [ It would be u fortunate to have such good intentions in giving out snacks she and Starfire made, only to cause stomach distress throughout the entire school student body. ]

Sometimes there are recipes that use certain spices and herbs, so maybe we can substitute the tea extract in for that particular recipe.

[curiouseyes]

Well, yes. I don't want to make people sick or anything.

[She thinks about that, flipping through the book]

How about this one? We might be able to substitute the cinnamon with green tea.

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin cranes her neck to the side, looking at the recipe. She quickly scans it, then looks to Starfire. It doesn't look like a half-bad recipe, and if anything, Dolphin and Starfire can test-taste the final product before letting any cadets take a piece. ]

It's worth a try. [ She goes to the fridge. ] Can you read the instructions aloud while I get the ingredients?

[curiouseyes]

[She adjust the book so she can see it better. Hearing the approval, she grins brightly]

Of course. [And she reads off the ingredients for Dolphin, not too quickly though, giving her a chance to find them]

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin starts pulling out eggs, milk, butter and whatever else refrigerated ingredients are needed for the treat. She sets them on the counter by Starfire, and then goes and gets the ingredients that need no refrigeration. Those go on the counter as well, and then it's time to get the bowls and utensils. ]

Does the recipe call for whisks or spatulas?

[curiouseyes]

[She watches as Dolphin gets everything needed, looking at them on the counter when they get set there. She starts arranging them by what they will need first]

It calls for a whisk.

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin takes the whisk from one of the drawers and brings it over to Starfire. ]

Anything else I might have missed?

[curiouseyes]

No, I think we have everything that we need so...

[And starts reading the directions so they can get started with their cake]

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin falls into order, starting to uncap the ingredients, setting out a bowl and whisk, and counting out how much of each ingredient they need for the recipe as Starfire reads off the directions. ] All right. That's everything. [ She pulls pulls out a little baggie of the green tea leaves and hefts it. It's not that heavy, but the aroma is definitely strong. ] But do we put the tea leaves inside the cake or...

[curiouseyes]

[She stares at the tea leaves when it is time to decide what to do with them... and she debates. She doesn't really cook much. She mainly makes what she needs to survive and that's about it]

Maybe either ground up or we could replace some of the water with green tea we brew up?

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin thinks this over. TO tell the truth, she is horrible with Surface-dweller cooking. For one thing -- there is no fire used in underwater cooking, and so often enough she is told to put whatever she makes (fresh or otherwise) into the oven for five minutes to kill off germs -- but she knows that somehow, water and the tea extract will separate if going in as liquid. ]

We can mash up the leaves and pour them in with the mixture once it's moist. Would that work?

[curiouseyes]

[She thinks on this for a moment, trying to decide the best way to do this]

I guess that would work. There's no powder or anything that is green tea? Just the leaves?

[tempesting]

Right. [ She rips open a packet and pulls out the little baggy and shows it to Starfire. ] The material of the bag allows it to be soaked in water, letting the flavoring out but keeping the herbs inside the bag to prevent mess.

[curiouseyes]

[She looks at the leaves as Dolphin shows her]

Oh... I guess if they were ground up enough then they'd work.

[tempesting]

All right. [ She goes to the supplies she's set out on the counter, searching for something that will be able to grind, or mash up the tea herbs. ] I don't see anything that will grind the tea for us. Maybe we need to break them apart ourselves.

[ She looks up from the drawer she's scavenging through and looks at Starfire. ] Is there a little mallet in here?

[curiouseyes]

[She looks around the room] Is there nothing like a... what is it... food processor?

[She glances in one of the drawers near her] I don't see a mallet or anything. I can try breaking them up.

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin tries to remember what a food processor looks like. It's been a while... ] Is it big? [ She goes to the appliances, searching, hoping that maybe something would jump at her that looked like it could be a processor. ]

You might have to do that.

[curiouseyes]

I don't know. Usually its about the size of a toaster. [And she mimics the size with her hands, but what she shows is a little larger than a toaster]

I can do that.

[tempesting]

[ Dolphin nods, handing over the tea. ] We need to get that done first, because we don't have much window time between mixing ingredients.

[curiouseyes]

[She takes the tea and, after looking it over for a moment, takes it in her hand starts grinding it up over a bowl]