Hey guys! So this was meant to be the last chapter, but I changed my mind, because I came up with the idea for this one. So there is still one more chapter to go after this! In this chapter, Rapunzel learns how to cook, and especially how to cook hazlenut soup. Just so you know, this chapter is set just after chapter two (the one where she learned to read). So she is nine at this point.
disneylover115: Thank you so much for your lovely review! I really love Pascal - he is so adorable :) Thanks again!
Martyn: Thank you for your comments. I have already written the whole thing, so I don't really want to change the 'plot'. But it is a good idea!

Disclaimer: Tangled does not belong to me.


Chapter 2.5

One day, soon after Rapunzel had learned to read, her mother said that it was high time she learned to cook. Previously, her mother had cooked all the meals, though Rapunzel had always cleared up and washed the dishes. Rapunzel was delighted that her mother thought that she was ready to cook.

Her mother said that she could look through the recipe book, and pick a recipe that she wanted to cook. Rapunzel flicked through the pages, looking at all of the pictures. At last she decided on a delicious looking hazlenut soup. The picture in the book showed a steaming bowel full of soup, with some chopped herbs sitting in the middle. To Rapunzel it looked delicious, and totally exotic. She couldn't wait to get started.

Her mother, however, was a little skeptical. She was concerned that they did not have the ingredients, and that the recipe itself was too hard for Rapunzel.

Rapunzel was very upset, to say the least. She had looked forward to learning how to cook her whole life, and now she couldn't even cook what she wanted to! Her mother comforted her by promising that they would cook the soup later, when Rapunzel was a little older, and more experienced. She said they would start by learning to bake bread.

That afternoon after lunch, Rapunzel's mother took some flour and salt out of the pantry, and set it on the table. Then she mixed a quantity of each together, with some water, and kneaded it on the bench. Rapunzel watched her, completely enthralled.

Rapunzel's mother then rolled out the dough into strips, and set it in the oven to cook. While they waited, Rapunzel cleared up, and wiped the bench, while her mother flipped through the recipe book.

At last her mother said that the bread was ready. She carefully took it out of the oven, and set it to cool on the table. It smelled so good; just like fresh bread should smell. They ate it that evening with a leek soup that her mother had whipped up, and then had the last slivers with butter and jam for dessert. Rapunzel's mother said that tomorrow, Rapunzel would cook the bread herself.

The next afternoon, Rapunzel's mother changed her mind, and said that she had to go Outside. Seeing as she would not be there, Rapunzel was not allowed to cook. They would have to wait for the next day.

Rapunzel waved her mother goodbye, then sat on her special stool, and waited. She was bored. Little Doll was having her nap, so she couldn't play with her. And she didn't feel like reading a book, or doing a puzzle. In fact, all she wanted to do was cook.

And then a little thought began to play around in Rapunzel's head. What if she cooked anyway, even though her mother was not there? She had watched how to do it; it couldn't be that hard. And then she imagined how nice it would be for her mother to come home and smell freshly baked bread. Imagine how proud she would be of Rapunzel.

Rapunzel determined to listen to the little voice, and entered the kitchen. It was time to make bread.

Rapunzel opened up her cook book to the bread page. She found the right instructions, and read it through carefully. Then she read it through twice more. She had to make sure that she got it right.

Rapunzel got the big mixing bowl and a spoon out of the cupboard. Then she painstakingly measured out the right amount of flour and water into the bowl, along with a pinch of salt. Then she spread some flour out onto the bench, just as her mother had done, and picked up the dough, plonking it onto the bench. Then she gulped, and put her hands into the gooey, sticky mixture. It felt awful; all floury, and it stuck to her fingers. However, thinking of how proud her mother would be when she came into the kitchen kept her at it. She started to knead the dough, pushing and pulling the mixture, trying to imitate what her mother had done the day before, and all the other countless times when she had absentmindedly watched her mother bake bread.

At last, the dough began to take shape. Rapunzel added a little more flour, and gave it one last quick knead, before grabbing the rolling pin and proceeding to roll out the dough on the flour covered bench. Once it was flat enough, she carefully peeled the dough off the bench, and laid it on a tray. Then she carefully slid it into the oven.

Rapunzel took a deep sigh of relief, before rushing to the sink and peeling all the dough off her hands. Scrubbing them under the water made her feel like she was scrubbing off all of her worries. She had a fleeting worry that maybe her mother wouldn't be proud... but she quickly pushed it behind her, and set about washing the big bowl and the spoon.

A little later, Rapunzel sat in front of the oven, staring intently at the slowly baking bread. She made the process even longer by continually opening the door to peek inside.

At last, the bread looked ready. Rapunzel slid on the mitts, and slowly opened the oven door. Carefully pulling out the tray, she set it on top of the stove and breathed in the delicious smell. The bread itself was steaming hot, and golden brown. It looked nearly as good as the bread that she had made with her mother the day before. But somehow, making it herself was much more satisfying.

Suddenly, there came the call. "Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Rapunzel quickly dumped the mitts on the bench, and ran to the big window. There was her mother, already climbing the ladder that leaned on half of the length of the tower. Rapunzel's golden hair would help her up the rest of the way.

Rapunzel hurriedly swung her hair over the hook, and let the whole length of it swing down to her mother. With Rapunzel's pulling, and with help from her mother's climbing skills, Rapunzel's mother finally made it to the windowsill.

"How are you, my sweet flower?" laughed Rapunzel's mother, pinching Rapunzel's cheek.

"Fine, mother," said Rapunzel, finding it hard to talk with one cheek being pulled off her face. "But mother, I have such a surprise for you!"

"A surprise! Why Rapunzel, I... but what do I smell?" Rapunzel's mother sniffed the air.

Rapunzel spoke all in a rush. "Oh mother, it's bread, I baked it myself. Doesn't it smell simply divine? It's just the right colour too. I am so proud that I made it all by myself, are you proud mother? Of course I used the recipe, but am sure I'll soon learn to do it without..."

"Sweetie, do you remember what I told you this morning, about not baking when I am not at home?" interrupted her mother, looking awfully stern.

Rapunzel hung her head, and nodded.

"And do you know why I told you that?"

Rapunzel shook her head rapidly.

"Because of the oven, Rapunzel," said her mother very sternly. "Ovens are dangerous. You can't just cook without my guiding hand. You need someone there to watch you, to make sure that you don't burn the Tower down. What would happen if you burnt the Tower down? The flames would show for miles around, and every man in the country would see them, and come looking for you and your hair. Do you want that to happen, Rapunzel?"

Rapunzel shook her head again, though she did not see how a small fire, which was always burning, could possibly burn down a solid rock tower. However, she supposed that her mother knew best.

Rapunzel's mother smiled. "Good girl, Rapunzel," she said. "I know you won't do it again. We'll start our cooking lessons again tomorrow."

Rapunzel nodded, and tried to look cheerful. But she found it harder when that night at dinner, her mother said that she had forgotten the salt in her bread. Of course Rapunzel had put it in. At least now she knew to put more in next time. But it did hurt her feelings when her mother refused to eat any more.

For the next few months, Rapunzel was taught how to cook. When at last her mother thought that she was ready to try and cook hazlenut soup, Rapunzel was so tired of the whole idea that she was nearly ready to give up. While she enjoyed eating the food itself, cooking was so tiresome that it almost wasn't worth the effort. But at least it gave her something to do.

Rapunzel was excited when her mother brought hazlenuts and parsnips from the Outside, so they could make the hazlenut soup. And she was quite thrilled when the soup had a thick texture, just like her cook book said it should have. But when it was put on the table, with its garnish of parsley, and its side of bread, she thought to herself that it really had not lived up to her expectations. When they tried it, her mother found it delicious. She even said that it was her new favourite meal, and they should have it on all special occasions.

Rapunzel, however, did not enjoy it at all, though she did not say that to her mother. She could not imagine how she had ever thought that she would possibly like it. It tasted like mushed up mushrooms, and she disliked mushrooms. Rapunzel resolved to say nothing about it to her mother, but merely to hold it in, and to eat what she was served. Though she would make sure that it was a very, very rare occasion when they had this particular dish for dinner.


I have always liked to think that Rapunzel hates hazlenut soup :) Please review!