A/N: Hi again everyone! Words cannot express how unmotivated I am right now... It's really started to pass pathetic levels.
Well, I still have this chapter to offer, though there's not much action. Next week should be much better. Wish me luck on my finals in the meantime!
Chapter Eleven
Pastry Magician
The sea was calm, the ship rolled gently on the waves. Shanks was leaning casually on the steering wheel, watching his crew work on deck. Raising anchor went without a hitch, he thought, smiling fondly at the white sails tightly contoured with the steady wind carrying them towards Reverse Mountain. The bustle had faded, most men taking the time relax on deck, though Beckman was likely still directing a few down in the hold to properly pack away the cargo they picked up.
Speaking of things picked up. Shanks turned to look back towards the kitchen area. Not a word was heard since the Kid asked if any of the crew members had food allergies. Perhaps it was foolish to assign the two on cooking duty without even knowing if they could cook, but, his crew could eat just about anything. They had to, since they didn't actually have a cook onboard! It would be interesting to see how it turns out.
Inside the kitchen, the hustle and bustle never stopped. Harry prepared the roasts quickly enough and added some of the potatoes Spaz finished with to the pans before shutting them into the oven, but then there was dough to make, which was mostly experimental since he never heard of cabbage bread before coming to this new world. Then while waiting for the dough to rise, Spaz was given turnips and seaweed to clean and cut while Harry worked with the pork he bought for the miso soup. Then as he let the soup boil, he cut the risen dough to place in the square tins to be put into the oven. Harry spared a moment for another Thank Merlin that there were two ovens, before he put the bread in and checked on the roast.
"Well," Harry finally said. "That's it for lunch."
"Yeah?" Spaz replied, slumping down onto the floor. "Geez, Harry, who knew cooking was so much work? I mean, I've peeled potatoes before and that was fine and all, but really, I've never made dough before and that was kinda fun and really cool how it grew Harry! Yes sirree, but I can't wait 'til we can eat and when is it going to be ready 'cause I'm starving and – "
"It will be done in about a half hour, Spaz," Harry interrupted. "In the meantime, how about you help me make dessert?"
"Dessert?" Spaz perked up. "You mean, like those pastries you were talking about? I like dessert! And pastries! Pastries for dessert!"
Harry chuckled. "Yep, pastries for dessert. How about some pie? I bought a bushel of apples we can work with."
"Apple pie, wow Harry, that's awesome, I love pie, pie is yummy, yes sirree, can I help? What do I do, huh, huh?"
"Well," Harry pushed out from a corner the bushel of apples he was talking about. "Rinse and peel the apples for me, yeah? Er," Harry thought a bit. Spaz was new to the cooking and likely had no experience peeling anything but potatoes. If so, he'd likely peel the apples thickly, and the thick skin which would make good jam. "Leave the skins in the sink, I'll make jam with it. Put the peeled apples in that other pots we found for now." Then, leaving Spaz at it, Harry hunted through the dustier cabinets for anything that remotely resembled a pie tin. Nothing. He stuck his head out the door and saw Shanks standing leisurely at the wheel.
"Oi, Shanks, this stuff in the kitchen all the cooking tools you got?"
Shanks turns around and laughs.
"Sure is, Kid! You didn't blow them up, did ya?"
Harry scowled. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Lunch in half an hour, alright?"
No pie tins. Time to ask himself if he should be a Gryffindor and just conjure some. This world had no magic, so he wanted to not do anything too conspicuous. Duplicating an already existing pan was one thing, especially since the pirates were unlikely to remember if they owned one or two of them; conjuring new equipment that might not even be the same between worlds was another, but honestly, everyone on the crew already knew he had a strange ability to turn into a ghost, and both Shanks and Beckman knew he could turn invisible. So far, no one questioned it, and really, who would believe him to actually be a wizard? Harry grinned and turned to Spaz.
"Don't freak," and before Spaz could respond, Harry drew his wand from its hiding place on his thigh and, concentrating on the contours of the pie tins he worked with those months on France, conjured about a dozen that clattered to the floor from the air they appeared in.
"Keep peeling," Harry prompted, after taking a good look at Spaz's gaping mouth. With a squeak, Spaz returned to the apples and Harry gathered the tins from the floor. They were pretty good quality, Harry thought, likely because he had a clear idea of what he wanted. Usually conjuring from a wordless spell was much harder for Harry.
Setting the tins on the counter, Harry started on the dough for the pie crust. With only half an hour, the pies would have to bake during lunch and hopefully be ready to serve by the end of the meal. Decision made, Harry grinned to himself. Pies were great and all - maybe he should experiment with those fruits he still had from the tropical island to see if any would be good in pie. Who was he kidding; just about any fruit was good in pie! – but he was prepared to shock the hell out of those pirates come suppertime with some fancy dough work and a touch of magic. Harry started whistling, looking forward to the results.
Shanks walked into the dining room where he was greeted by the sight of two pot roasts, glistening in their pans, lined with baked potatoes, sitting on the large table used for group meals. From the side door that separated the room from the kitchen, Harry pushed his way through, carrying a large pot and balancing a tall stack of bowls on top of it.
"Hey Shanks, sorry if we're running a bit late – wanna carve the roasts?" Harry gestured with his chin at the large chunks of meat as he placed the pot down and the bowls beside it. Deftly ladling bowls of pork miso soup, and before receiving a response, he called out in a loud voice,
"Hey Spaz! Bring out that stack of plates and the carving knife for Shanks!"
Spaz hurried in, plates forming towers on both hands, looking for all the world like an acrobat performing a balancing act, a carving knife grasped between his teeth.
"Thanks Boy," Shanks said, taking the knife from Spaz and pulling the plates next to the closer pot roast so he could start serving.
"Anything else Harry?" Spaz asked.
"Yes," Harry replied as he set down the last bowl of soup. "Help set the places. For each chair, place a bowl of soup and a plate of meat once Shanks is done in front of it. Don't forget to pull up two extra chairs for us before that though – I think Beckman said you could find spares in the upper storage room."
"Got it! I'll go fetch'em now, Harry, be right back!"
Harry nodded absentmindedly and went back into the kitchen to check on the bread, leaving behind a mildly bemused pirate to finish serving the roasts.
When the pirates finally filed in, lured by the scent of roast and freshly baked bread, several couldn't help but gape a few seconds at the spread before them. Shanks had finished carving the roasts, but the pans were still filled with baked potatoes for the pirates to help themselves to, and there were several baskets piled high with slices of cabbage bread. In front of each chair were a plate of roast and a bowl of miso pork soup, along with a fork, knife, soup spoon, and cloth napkin. If the food variety wasn't impressive enough, the set up certainly was. With no steady cook, most pirates did what they could to make a large amount of food edible and put it on the table for everyone to fight over.
Each pirate eagerly took a seat, and when they saw Shanks had already gotten started, dug into the food with gusto, snatching potatoes and bread at intervals, teasing each other as they tried to steal meat from the plates of their neighbors. Shanks had waved Harry over to sit next to him, and Spaz sat next to Harry, fending off fork attacks from the pirate on his other side.
"Pretty impressive Kid! Were the two of you ever cooks before?"
"I never was," Spaz injected, before biting down on a slice and bread and continuing to talk around the mouthful. "Harry did most of the cooking, yes sirree, I just peeled and washed stuff and watched him work and he's really good, Harry is, isn't he? I think the food tastes great and it was really cool to see how he mixed stuff up!"
Harry smiled in thanks for Spaz's praise before turning to Shanks to answer the question.
"I'm not a chef or anything, I know next to nothing about nutrition and only some basic recipes, but I've been cooking for people on and off since I was six, so dishes like a roast or soups and stews are simple enough."
"Well, if it's really that simple for you, I might as well keep you on cooking duty permanently!"
"If that's one of the chores you want to assign me, I don't mind. I enjoy working in the kitchen."
A bell rang in the distance.
"Ah, dessert. I'll be fetching that now."
Harry left the table to remove the apple pies from the oven, and because the door swung close behind him, he missed the pair of eyes that glared at his back from the table.
Lunch finished quickly. The pirates cleaned the pie tins of their contents at a speed rivaled only by their exit when Shanks asked who would wash the dishes. Harry merely chuckled and cleared the table himself, Spaz following his example as the two balanced stacks of bowls, plates, utensils, cloth napkins, and the pans and tins to the sink for washing and drying.
When Spaz placed the final plate back into the cupboard, he turned back to Harry.
"So? What now, Harry, hm? Should we start dinner, or is it still early, cause if we finish too early, then the food might get cold, but if we start too late we might not finish in time or we might not have enough time after making dinner to make dessert! You are making dessert for after dinner, right? 'Cause that apple pie was delicious and I think everyone really liked it and I loved it and you make great pastries and stuff and it'd be awesome if you could make something for tonight too – "
"Yes, Spaz, I will be making something for dessert tonight, and no, we won't be starting dinner right away. You're right; it's too early for that. Do you like curry?"
"Yes sirree, Harry, I love curry! And rice! Curry and rice is really yummy, and what are making for dessert?"
"Haha, a bit stuck on that, aren't you? Hmm, well, I probably won't be using all the carrots we bought for the curry, so I guess I'll make carrot cake. For now, though, there's apple jam to be made, yeah?"
"Yeah!"
When the jam was done boiling, Harry set Spaz to filling the various empty jars that could be found in the corners of the spice cabinet, probably originally containing spices that ran out and were never thrown away. Harry, instead, went out to look for Shanks. Perhaps there was something else needed to be done, otherwise, Harry wanted to know exactly how the sparring matches were to be organized.
"Hey, Shanks!"
Shanks was leaning against the netting of the middle mast, just above the lower crow's nest, his straw hat laid over his face. If it weren't for the fact that his body was mostly vertical, Harry would almost suspect the man was taking a nap there. Then again, this was Shanks, and Harry was quickly getting used to the idea that the pirate captain was a little strange and ridiculously carefree. At Harry's holler, though, he lifted the hat and gazed down.
"Yeah Kid?" A series of jumps down the netting had Shanks on the deck in front of Harry with a cheeky grin. "Ya called?"
"Well, you didn't have to come down, though it was rather impressive you show off. I just was wondering how the sparring matches are going to work, like when and where and with who, stuff like that."
Shanks, whose grin widened even further at Harry's accusation of him being a show-off, didn't hesitate one second before replying,
"How about a spar now? You have time before making dinner, right?"
And before Harry could agree or refuse, Shanks turned back towards the deck where his crew was scattered, doing various activities and chores.
"Oi! Men! Who'd like to give the kid a little work out before he sticks himself back into the kitchen the rest of this fine afternoon?"
Shanks barely finished the last word when a voice came from the door leading down to the cargo holds.
"I'll take the brat on, Captain."
A bald man with black circles around his eyes emerged onto the deck and quickly drew two pistols from his hips, twirling them on his fingers.
"A fight with this upstart was exactly what I was hoping for."
A/N: Yes, next week will be better... :D
Again, sorry about the cooking... It might last another few chapters, haha .
Thanks to my beta, as usual, and all of my readers as well! If not for your presence guilting me, I might never have lasted more than eight chapters.
134 reviews as of Dec 6, 2010!
Wh00t!
I'm so screwed for history class on Tuesday .