Rose Tyler sighed wearily as she fumbled the key to the flat. It was Friday night, she was dead tired, and she could just about taste the stew she'd set up in the crock pot that morning. Stepping inside, she drew in a deep breath, then wrinkled her nose at a nasty smell - burnt sugar? She dropped her things just inside the door and hurried into the kitchen, desperately hoping that a fuse hadn't blown.
The kitchen was a complete disaster, with what appeared to be every baking implement they owned strewn over every available surface. There were containers of colored sugar and edible ball bearings, as well as open packages of both powdered and crystallized sugar, and open bottles of food color.
"Doctor, what on Earth…?"
"Cosmic cookies Rose!" the bedraggled former-alien said brightly, as if that explained everything.
Focusing on one thing out of the disaster before her, Rose asked, in a voice she generally reserved for talking hostiles into putting down their weapons, "Doctor, where is my stew?"
"Er, stew?" he asked, scrubbing a hand behind his neck.
"Stew. That we were meant to have for dinner. It's been cooking in the crock pot all day?"
"Oh…I, well…I may have unplugged that, because I needed the outlet for the mixer?"
"You unplugged the crock pot, that was supposed to be cooking our dinner, so it would be ready when I got home from work?"
"I'll plug it back in," the Doctor hastily offered, doing just that.
Rose rubbed her eyes, trying very, very hard not to cry at the prospect of having to wait for her supper, not to mention clean up the monumental mess in front of her. "How long is left on the timer?"
"Weeeeeell, plenty of time for me to finish up my cosmic cookies while you have a nice soak in the tub?"
"Doctor, what is all this mess?"
"I saw these lovely cookies on the internet, and I thought they'd make the perfect gifts for all our friends." He eagerly turned the tablet to show her the beautifully iced cookies and fairy cakes, decorated to look like the starry night sky.
Rose sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Doctor," she began, in as gentle a tone as she could manage, "Do you have any idea how much practice it takes to decorate cakes like that?"
"I'm beginning to have an appreciation," he offered lamely.
"Not to mention, some people don't like eating odd-colored food."
"Rose, there are plenty of worlds where purple and blue are perfectly acceptable colors for food -"
"And Earth isn't one of them" she said firmly. "And what is that?" she asked, pointing to something that looked like some of Tony's Playdoh.
"Fondant."
"Pretty sure it's not meant to be a giant lumpy blob."
"It's meant to be rolled out…except that it wouldn't," the Doctor explained, crestfallen. "I'm sorry, Rose."
Rose sighed heavily. "I love you, you daft alien. But could you please, please just clear away some of this mess so we can eat sometime tonight?"
"I will. I promise. Go have a nice bath and get into your jimjams. I'll bring you a glass of wine and call you when the stew is ready, shall I?"
Rose kissed him, by way of reply. "And tomorrow, we'll make some cookies that are actually edible. All right?"
"Tip top! Molto bene!"
The stew ended up being sonic'd so as to be edible before midnight.
The cookies ended up being the familiar slice and bake kind that everyone liked.
It wasn't perfect, but it was the Doctor and Rose Tyler, together. Just as it should be.