Hello Chili fans! Are you ready for the next chapter? Here we go...
Maurice and Winifred carefully strolled about the kitchen with their hands clasped behind their backs. The kitchen was now crowded and with a continuous frenzy of activity, pots clanging, voices yelling, whispering, meat sizzling in pans. No one seemed to notice the pair as they took in the sights and sounds. The air in the kitchen was warm and humid and it was almost as thought Maurice and Winifred could feel the tension thick like smoke and emanating from the Force. The kitchen sort of had a beat to it as though all six hearts of the contestants were pounding madly in sync.
Maurice and Winifred creeped up behind Lance and Hunk's shoulders first madly eager to find out what inferno they had going on in that pot of theirs. Lance pulled the lid off as they stepped forward.
"Whoa! That is certainly some heat you have in there!" Maurice remarked as he pulled his head back, the sting of the peppers burning his eyes a bit. Then pointing his finger at Hunk's gloved hands, he added, "Smart move! With that heat from those peppers, you get a cut, an open sore, I don't think we'll be able to peel you off that ceiling while you're screaming in pain."
Hunk nodded in agreement as his knife cut through a jalapeno and its seeds began to spill out. He was smart about cutting up hot peppers and didn't think Lance would be.
"Okay, so you guys are all about the heat and the meat. I get it," Winifred jumped in, "I'm surprised you aren't driving your competition out of the kitchen. So, besides firey peppers, what else makes your chili special?" she asked putting her finger to her chin in anticipation of their answer.
"Bacon!" Lance cheered loudly before looking cautiously at the other team members who suddenly perked at him. "Lots of it and ground beef, sirloin to be exact. But, the heat is awesome. I think with these mean little peppers, we'll be smoking out our competition," he laughed.
"Oh trust me. I'm almost there," Allura piped in as she coughed, her eyes red-rimmed. She had set out a small fan to blow away the fumes from Hunk and Lance's spicey peppery chili. Leaving Hunk and Lance's station, Winifred and Maurice moved quickly over towards Allura and Keith's.
"Your Majesty, shall I get you a medic?" Winifred asked, furrowing her brows in concern.
"I'm fine, really," Allura responded as Keith gave her a warm damp cloth that she took and dabbed her eyes with. Then she tucked a few stray whisps of her blonde hair back into her hairnet, "Ah! Much better!" she exclaimed and blew a kiss towards Keith.
"What do you have in your pot?" Maurice asked them with his head bent down towards the bubbling brownish-red stew. "It looks wonderful and smells amazing."
"This is our vegetarian chili, no meat at all in this one,"Keith replied happily, his handsome face glowing from a sheen of sweat.
"I see carrots in there, tomatoes, onion and lots of beans!" Winifred exclaimed. "It's so thick," she added while giving the concoction a stir.
"Yes, we have refried beans in there, pinto beans and black beans as well," Keith said, "but not all of our ingredients are in."
"What else are you going to add?" Winifred asked curiously, her black eyes focused on him.
"This," Keith answered her as he grabbed a twelve ounce bottle of dark stout beer and poured into their chili.
Winifred and Maurice turned instantly when they heard the audible gasp from Allura, her jaw still dropped at what Keith had done.
"What, what's that going to do? You ruined our chili!" she shrieked.
"No, I haven't. I saw in one of the recipe to use a dark stout beer. It'll enhance the flavors," Keith replied.
Allura was speechless as she stared into their chili that they had worked so hard on and breathed heavily. She just wanted to cry.
Lance was curious and walked over peering into the pot.
"What's up?" he asked nosily.
"Get back over here!" Hunk yelled from their station at him.
"We still have things to add," Keith said reassuringly as he gazed into her sea-green orbs as Maurice and Winifred left their station.
"Okay you two," Maurice stated looking directly at Larmina as he and Winifred approached her and Coran.
Larmina was busy dicing up white onions that seemed to resemble little cubes of white ice.
"How are you two doing with your batch?" Winifred asked as she peeked into their large pot. "Ooh, does that ever smell good!" she said with impressive joy as her eyes grew big.
Coran smiled proudly,"I just added some red wine and my little helper here," he said pointing to Larmina,"is doing such a fine job."
Larmina managed a smile a she looked up from her cutting onions. Coran had been managing to appear the older, but calm, cool and collected chef. Maybe working with Coran wasn't so bad after all, she thought.
"Red wine huh?" Maurice stated turning to Winifred. "I think there's a theme going on here," "Secret ingredient," they said together.
One last station and one pair of contestants left. Pidge and Vince nervously fussed over their large pot of chili which contained partially cooked chicken, beans, raw onions and peppers.
"Hi," Pidge greeted them as he wiped his hands on his apron. His spectacles were steaming up and he had to pull them off and wipe them also on his apron. Vince walked over to him and managed an uneasy smile after wiping sweat off his forehead. Both of them had food splatter all over their aprons that they had worked so hard on.
"Pidge and Vince, tell us about your chili," Winifred asked the seemingly nervous pair.
"It's a chicken chili recipe. We found it and thought it would be unique. It has white beans and chicken and vegetables," Pidge replied feeling the urge to cower.
"I see," Maurice reponded. He gave the pot a stir and then turned his brows in perplexity. Stopping the stirring, he turned to Pidge and Vince.
"Did you add any spices to this?" he asked.
"Spices? No, not yet," Pidge answered, his voice trembling a bit. He couldn't help but dwell on the fact that they knew nothing about cooking and they were going to fail at this contest. He swallowed hard.
"How about a secret ingredient?" Winifred asked, her eyes bright.
Impulsively, Pidge then reached for a can of corn.
"Corn!" he stated nearly shoving it towards their faces. Both withdrew suddenly.
"Corn? What? That's our secret ingredient?" Vince whispered furiously to Pidge.
"Why yes Vince, don't you remember?" Pidge replied with a huge, exaggerated smile on his face.
"Okay, yeah I guess I did," Vince said playing along. Maurice and Winifred still smiling, their expressions unreadable, walked away.
Pidge's eyes grew intense behind his spectacles as he stared at Vince who was fuming. It was an all too intense moment for them and they still had to finish their chili together.
Maurice and Winifred turned back to the contestants.
"Okay all of you. Thank you for letting us see what you are coming up with. I know you were nervous and I don't want to add too much to that, but jut so you know you have only an hour left!" Maurice announced to the group.
The frantic pace picked up even further in the ktichen as Maurice and Winifred took their places again at their table peering into the kitchen. They couldn't help but remark at how the pressur was on.
"Something bad is about to happen. I can feel it," Winifred whispered a she shivered slightly in her seat as though anxious.
"Like what?" Maurice asked turning to her.
"I don't know," she replied staring ahead, her face a mask of worry.
Okay, don't worry. The kitchen isn't going to burn down! Just a little bit of a cliffie. Sorry, this took so long to update. LIfe gets busy, but I always make the time for Voltron! Leave a review. I love them!
