Chapter 2:
Chop the tomatoes, take out the white bits and seeds, and then blend them. Put in some crushed pepper, garlic, parsley, basil, salt, and my favorite - just a tiny pinch of sugar. And then simmer it all for a good hour or so. Let the water evaporate and have everything mix and mash together.
One hundred and fifty pounds of tomatoes, quartered and emptied of seeds, and then blended (thank god for line cooks and roma tomatoes). Three cups each of chopped parsley, minced garlic, and basil. Two cups of crushed red pepper. Two cups of salt, two cups of sugar, slowly added to the stirring mixture. Simmer in a giant vat for a total of three hours.
And while the sauce is simmering, it's the perfect time to make and knead the dough and let it rise. It's simple - flour, yeast, warm water, sugar, some salt, olive oil, and time. You don't need anything else.
Flour. So much flour. Four cups of it and the corresponding mix of everything else gave enough dough for two pies, but she also needed dough for calzones and breadsticks. So factoring that in, their average of a hundred and fifty whole pizza pies a day, and then fresh pasta and by-the-slice orders, she needed a ton of flour. And technically, today's dough was made yesterday and kept chilled in the fridge. So not only did she have to try and predict how much dough was needed for the next day, she had to be ready to make more if she felt that they were going to run out sooner than expected.
(Again, thank god for line cooks.)
Then she might let herself take a break and have a cup of coffee, watch the morning news. Maybe eat something that was made from any leftover ingredients from the night before.
And then back to work.
There's something about cheese, now, and that something is how you can never go wrong with more cheese. Pizza? Cheese. Salad? Cheese. Lasagna? Cheese. And the best cheese is the one you can cut and grate yourself.
Mozzarella. Provolone. Asiago. Shred them all and mix together to make their little cheese blend - four parts mozzarella, two parts provolone, one part Asiago. But then there's the Parmigiano Reggiano, the real deal, that goes into its own separate container. That stuff is a controlled substance.
A little pinch of it just happens to also go on everything.
You have to have good ingredients to make good food. A good cook's skills are at full display when given the best ingredients, after all. You have to check and make sure every piece is fresh. Crisp lettuce, perfect olives, fresh onions and garlic, the sweetest fruit, it goes on.
Now it was time to prep the salad parts and pizza toppings. First check the leftover greens from the night before - first in, first out. Anything that had a date written on it from more than three days ago was tossed into the trash. Refill anything that needed refilling - lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olives, peppers, and one or two zucchinis. Cook and crumble the sausage, roast and cut up some chicken breasts, and get some bacon bits going. Slice and stack the pepperonis in little trays because that was the most popular ingredient and only a certain amount was to be used for each order.
(Have a tin or two of anchovies on hand. And maybe two cans of pineapple - one for the occasional memer and one for her regulars.)
Finally it was time for the lunch rush. The part-time line chefs would also take off while the full-time chefs would begin to assume cooking duties for the rest of their shift. Waiting and bussing staff would start to go through the tables, gathering orders, bringing out dishes, and then collecting payments. Meanwhile she would manage the backend - keep ingredients stocked, answer calls, manage the restaurant flow, and help in any areas that are lagging behind.
And after the rush was finally over, at three in the afternoon, Cinder would call an end to her day.
Well, it was kind of the end of her day. She had a habit of taking over one of the corner booths with a calzone and a glass of red wine and just watch the place. It was relaxing and it let her see who was coming in and out of the store. Who was a regular, who was coming in for the first time. Maybe even strike up a conversation with a patron or two.
Not to mention that it was fun to sit back and observe. The TV droning in the background, the smell of food, maybe just read something on her phone, it was like she didn't have to go anywhere else. Everything she could want was in one place. And if the day was a little slow, maybe she would just stay in the booth for a little while longer.
CinderHut was an old-fashioned establishment when she first arrived. Not so old that it was falling apart and couldn't fit some modern technological upgrades, but old enough to give a it nice, vintage feel. And it was apparently from the age where the owners had their apartment built on top of the restaurant – and it was her home now.
It was a lot of work, and with the current living set up, it could be said that she never had a day off. But it was satisfying - not everyone could say that about their job. She got to regularly see the customer base, and it was easy to see how her actions had a direct impact on the final income each day.
Speaking of money, here were some of her regulars - four vastly different university girls that started appearing as a group about a year ago. Cinder wasn't sure how they all became friends, but they were and usually made an appearance at least once a month, and for whatever reason they went missing last month. The party she catered to more than made up for their absence, but it was still a bit of a sore point. She usually made an effort to strike up a small conversation with regulars to help keep them coming back, after all.
First there was the youngest - a short brunette named Ruby, who was a second year at Beacon University. She would have been a senior in high school, but her intelligence and penchant for engineering put her on a scholarship for a mechanics degree. Then there was Yang, her older sister (somehow she had blonde hair, Cinder didn't ask too much about it) who wanted to be a physical therapist and part-time physical trainer. They always ordered a medium-size pie of Hawaiian, and Yang would pass off the pineapple pieces to Ruby.
The two of them have been lifelong friends with Blake, who happened to have the last name of Belladonna, an Italian name. She also had black hair, so that gave Cinder some hope that maybe she, too, was Italian. She never admitted to anyone, but Blake was her favorite among the four, even if her preferred choice of tuna fish for a topping was strange. As an Italian (maybe), Cinder wasn't convinced that it made sense at all. It dried out in the oven and had a distinct smell that was difficult to mask at times. But people were buying it and the ingredients kept well in the can, so there was no reason not to offer it. Just think of it as a different kind of sardine, perhaps.
Finally, there was-
"Still, glad you're feeling better, Weiss," Yang spoke up first. "Must have been a hell of a bug to make you skip some of your classes."
Heiress to the Schnee Corporation, this girl probably had more money at her disposal than the entire town combined. But for whatever reason she wanted to become a doctor. Maybe to expand her father's company into the medical field. She didn't really push too much on the topic as that was going beyond the world of a casual conversation. As the business owner, prying too much was a terrible idea at times.
It somehow felt fitting that, though, her preferred order was the aglio olio pasta.
"Ugh. Don't remind me."
"You sure you're gonna be okay with this place so soon though? I mean, if you had the stomach flu, shouldn't you stick with lighter foods for now?"
Weiss took a seat and crossed her arms with a light huff. "I was doing that all last month. I'm in the mood for something that actually has flavor."
Cinder took this as her opportunity to walk up to them. "Well, maybe you'll actually order one of my pizzas for once then. I'm sure you won't be disappointed." But she put on her best smile for them instead, letting her voice carry over as playful instead of demeaning. "Hello again, girls. The usuals?"
Cue a net profit of about twenty three dollars.
The rest of the afternoon led into the evening, and soon guests would come in for dinner. It looked as though it would be a busy night, but that was a good sign.
Something, however, caught Cinder's interest as the the four girls were leaving the restaurant. For a moment, Weiss lagged behind, letting the others know that she would catch up with them. Keeping her face pointed towards the TV screen, she watched from the side of her eye as the girl took out a sheet from the suggestion booklet. And she closed her eyes, took a breath…
And stalled. She tapped the pen against the sheet, bit her lip-
"Hey Weiss - you okay there?" Yang called out to her.
She shook her head. Another breath, and Weiss started writing. "I'll be there soon!" Two more seconds and she was done. She took one last look and then shoved the card into the box.
As soon as the party was out of eyesight, Cinder pounced. Bussing her empty plate and glass to the kitchen, she beelined past seated guests and towards the box. Weiss and the girls were one of her most consistent patrons, and for her to leave behind feedback was worth more than gold. Undoing the clasp, she opened the top, grabbed the only sheet of paper inside, and started to make her way back to her office.
And when she finally sat down in her office, she took a good look at the card.
My sister is pregnant
… What?
A/N: Wow! Really happy to see the interest so far. For an AU that started off as a joke I sort of started on Tumblr, I admit that I was certainly concerned about the premise, but I'm glad you're all liking it. Sadly this chapter is still a bit slow, but a few things are beginning to happen, and I would say that chapters 3 and 4 are probably where it will begin to pick up more steam. Hope you keep enjoying the ride though!
NinaVale: YEEEE IT'S HERE! And then I can remember to do all my other fics too lol :S
Mr. Guest: Glad you're liking it! It's definitely a different type of story than what I expected myself to do, but hey - glad it's looking good so far :)
Anyway, hope you all enjoy for now, and I'll see you all soon.