Seasaltsplosion

[all_wound_up]

Who: Nano Shinonome and Xion
Where: Nano's kitchen!
What: Lucy and Ethel Nano and Xion try to make sea salt ice cream together and nearly blow up the kitchen.
Warnings: TRIHARDOOOOOOO.  Also action brackets because I do what I want.

[It's Sunday afternoon, and Nano and Xion both have the day off from working at the Amagi Inn.  The heat of summer is finally dying out, and pretty soon it'll be too chilly for cold treats, so today Nano has invited her friend over to make sea salt ice cream together.  Her intent here is that they can do some bonding as friends, eat it up on the roof, and watch the sunset together.  Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Nano or Xion, the lingering effects of the Virgo monster's curse are about to produce a very different result...

But that result will come in due time.  For now, Nano's getting everything ready in the kitchen, laying out the ingredients and putting on her apron.  Xion should be here any minute, so she wants to make sure everything is ready to go.]

Comments

[all_wound_up]

I don't know.

[Nano looks down at her hand for a moment as if that will somehow produce an answer.]

Can you get me the paper towels, Xion-san?

[poppetstrings]

Sure, no problem...

[Xion will go over to grab one, tearing a few off the sheet before handing them to the other girl.]

[all_wound_up]

[Thankfully, Nano manages to at least get the mess cleaned up without making it worse. After she's thrown it all away, she takes out a second egg.]

All right... easy now...

[Rocking her hand back and forth slowly, she manages to get it cracked open this time.]

Okay, so here's how you separate the yolk and the white.

[Taking one half of the eggshell in one hand and the other half in the other, she begins to slowly pour just the yolk into the other shell, letting the white part drip out and into the sink where it will be discarded and washed down.

Normally she'd be better at this, and she does lose part of the yolk. It takes her just over a half dozen eggs total between messing up on this part and cracking them too hard. But finally she's got four yolks in the blender.]

Whew...

[poppetstrings]

[And even if she shouldn't be, Xion pretty concerned for Nano. These messes and screw ups aren't really like her, and when it's all finally done, Xion wrings her hands nervously, looking back and forth between Nano and the blender, wondering what else might go wrong.]

If it's too much work... We can do it later. I don't think you... should really be doing this right now.

[all_wound_up]

[Nano, on the other hand, seems far more confident. For no apparent reason, given how everything else has gone so far.]

It's all right! I think it will be fine now.

[poppetstrings]

... If you say so... [Xion relents, though steps back from the machine a little still. Just in case.]

[all_wound_up]

Xion-san, can you hand me the vanilla extract, sugar, and salt?

[Nano's busy setting up the electric mixer to whisk this stuff together.]

[poppetstrings]

Sure..

[Xion knows what those are, if only because they're labeled. She grabs them, holding them out one at a time to prevent any more needless accidents.]

Are you positive this is a good idea? I don't think you're really... well.

[all_wound_up]

[Nano measures out the ingredients and adds them to the bowl, checking the electric mixer before turning to Xion with a thoughtful look on her face.]

Maybe... but we're already this far into the recipe. It would be a shame to waste everything.

[Frowning down at the mixer for a moment, she turns back.]

Oh, I know! Do you want to run the mixer instead?

sneaks a phone tag

[poppetstrings]

[Xion looks back and forth between the mixer and Nano. She's never actually worked a mixer before, let alone seen one before now. She's still a little wary of it, but its not like anything too bad could happen, right?]

I... Guess I could.

[all_wound_up]

All you have to do is hold down that button on the top and move it around in the bowl.

[Easy, right? Right.]

[poppetstrings]

Seems simple enough.

[Okay. She just. Has to get close to it first.

And there's a total look of concentration on her face as she grabs the mixer, thumbing the button nervously before pushing down and making it whirr to life.]

[all_wound_up]

Right! Just like that.

[It's a pretty loud whir, though - possibly a little startling for someone who's never done this before.]

[poppetstrings]

[definitly loud and startling. Xion actually jumps a little when it starts, but soon enough she's mixing it with no problems.

Sort of. Sometimes the mixture sort of splatters places, but she's trying really hard.]

[all_wound_up]

[It's better than Nano's capable of right now. Once the mixture is smooth, Nano speaks up again.]

Okay, that should be enough.

[poppetstrings]

[On Nano's cue, she stops the machine, slowly pulling it out and letting it drip into the bowl.]

It doesn't look like icecream...

[all_wound_up]

[Nano giggles a little.]

It's not done yet! That was only the first step.

[There's so much more potential for disaster.]

[poppetstrings]

Really? How many steps are there before it looks like ice cream?

[all_wound_up]

Well, let's see... next we have to boil the evaporated milk and mix this together with that, put it in the freezer until it cools down to room temperature, whisk the heavy cream until it doubles in volume, mix the two together, put all of that back in the freezer for about four hours until it's cold enough, mix in the rest of the heavy cream and some blue food coloring, put all of that into the blender until it's nice and creamy, and then pour it into popsicle molds and put those back into the freezer until they're frozen.

And then it'll be ready to eat!

[SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR HORRIBLE MESSY DISASTER

Also, Nano thinks this is an easy process because she does this kind of stuff all the time.]

[poppetstrings]

A-All that goes into making an ice cream bar!?

[all_wound_up]

[Nano nods back, smiling.]

That's right. This is the recipe I've been following since I had you try out my first batch before.

[poppetstrings]

Oh... I thought it was just... ice, sugar and sea-salt.

[all_wound_up]

[Nano shakes her head, smiling.]

It's really more like making a frozen custard, so that's why you need the eggs and cream. And it has to be prepared like this so it'll be smooth when it freezes.

[poppetstrings]

... Custard? I don't know what that is. [But she nods anyways.]

So... what do I do next?

[all_wound_up]

Next...

[Nano walks over to pour the evaporated milk into a pan, which she places on the oven. She can manage at least that much without spilling it everywhere.]

...you take what you have there and mix it into here after it's boiling.