Glancing across his list, Shaggy checked the other ideas they had in mind for this Halloween. Making as many crazy, and silly ideas that could be made out of Jell-O. And he had to make sure they topped themselves from last year! Having made a huge batch of toothy cupcakes to suit the monster theme for the party. Jell-O fit in perfectly with this year's Sludge, Ooze and Slime motif.
With Pumpkins cooling, and worms on their way… It was time to start making some toxic slop!
Shaggy approached the counter, and pulled up the four pineapples they had gotten. Nabbing a nearby cutting board and knife, Shaggy made quick work of cutting the pineapple to have as much of the meat of the fruit as he could. Tugging open a drawer, he grabbed a long corer that he normally used for apples, and went to work making tubes of pineapple. Trying to use up as much of the fruit as possible, so not to waste anything, and to get as many tubes as he could. Finishing the first, Shaggy did the same thing with the other three. Soon he had a pile of tubed Pineapples, and a four holey bits of left over fruit.
"Hey Scoob, mind taking care of these?" Shaggy asked, bringing the pineapples over. Making sure to bring three of the left over bits for Scooby to munch on as he worked.
"R'hat do rou need Raggy?" Scooby wondered, taking a big bite out of the offered pineapple bits. Making sure to take what looked like a mess to eat, rather than the neater looking tubes. Figuring those are what he was going to be making something out of.
"I need you to like' make these into little toxic waste barrels." Taking one of the tubes, Shaggy cut an inch and a half tall chunk off with a knife he brought over with him. Cutting little rings at the top, middle and bottom of the chunk, he then carved between them to make an indented piece of the barrel. Just enough of the fruit off, so that the rings stuck out away from the rest of the core. It wasn't perfect, but it gave off the look of a yellow barrel.
"I figure you can carve them like this, and we can paint on some food coloring later to make the bands stand out and maybe like a radioactive symbol. Something to put in our cup o' slime!" Shaggy said as he placed the little barrel in front of Scooby to look at. Placing the knife down so Scooby could use it as well. Tilting his head back and forth, the dog took in the little barrel shape into his mind. Pondering the steps Shaggy had shown him, he chewed it over mentally before nodding.
"R'ot it!" Scooby barked excitedly. Pulling up the knife to get to work.
Watching for a second, Shaggy nodded and moved back to his work station. Grabbing a bag of red delicious and green granny smith apples, he made sure to wash them off before cutting them into slices. He wanted to make a bunch of piranha's and other weird looking fish out of the fruits to also be put into the Slime buckets he was going to make. So Scooby was going to need large enough pieces to make into the shapes for the cups. And to give a different flavor profiles, he mixed up the two types of apples for the kids to 'fish' out. A nice mix of sweet and sour along with the pineapple. Piling the slices to work with on one plate, he made a bowl of the left over parts for Scooby to munch on while he worked. Stealing a few bits for himself before dropping off the next stage for the Dane.
"When you're done with those, just make like' piranhas and fish out of the apples, ok Scoob?" Shaggy pointed out.
"And these are for you!" Shaggy mentioned as he placed the apple parts within scarfing distance. Knowing that Scooby would most likely dive head first into the bowl, so his paws could keep working.
Leaving the Dane to continue what he was doing, Shaggy moved to find the worm mixture just right! Plucking the bowl, he grabbed some whipping cream and the green food coloring. Putting in a few drops, he then added the whipping cream by eye. Whisking lightly, he made sure it was all mixed before pulling up the stuffed cartons and the funnel. Juggling the parts, he poured the bowl into the funnel, and made sure to try to aim right so that all the straws got filled up properly. Chiding himself for not using a mixing bowl that had its own spout. But hey, the funnel did the job.
Adding the mixture to both cartons, he made just enough to fill them to the brim. Carefully picking up the containers, he placed them into the fridge by the pumpkin mix to set. Needing them to be firm before he would be able to extract the worms from their makeshift molds.
"Two down… Now what was I doing?" Shaggy pondered aloud, having lost track of what he was doing before the worms. "Oh yeah, I need to make some toxic sludge!"
Back to the counter, he fished a bunch of Green Jell-O from his piles and nabbed another bowl to mix things it. Taking a second to clean up the few bowls and pans that had been used, he made more room for the next batch. With them in the sink to clean later, he had space to lay out the bowl for the green Jell-O. Opening two packages, he plucked the hot kettle and added the two together into the bowl. Stirring till dissolved, Shaggy then added two cups of cold water to the mixture to help cool the rest down. Looking around, he found a few serving trays he had snagged from a fast food place that had gone under, and used them to stack a bunch of clear plastic cups to house the green liquid. Making sure to only fill the cups most of the way. Once filled, he placed the tray into the refrigerator with the others. But this time, he needed to make sure to check on them at a certain time. So he was going to need to set a timer!
Crossing the kitchen floor, Shaggy opened an upper cabinet to show off the contents inside. With his Kitchen being his second home… People often gave him various kitchen tools and utensils when they couldn't think up another type of gift to give him and Scooby. So over the years, they had amassed a rather large collection of Kitchen timers. And sure, they could use the digital one that sat nearby on the oven. But there was something satisfying about a ticking, little dial timer.
Wiggling fingers, Shaggy's hand hovered over the choices that sat at the edge of the shelf. Passing over the classic egg shaped timer, he also didn't go for the mushroom shaped one. Nor the ladybug and tomato that sat on either side. No, Shaggy moved past all of them to pluck a little hedgehog timer from the collection. It was domed in shape, with a little oval hedgehog face and ears on the front. The nose being the indicator of the timer. The rest of the body fit snuggly into his hand like a ball cut in half. Little bits stuck out of the body to indicate quills, without making the timer hard to hold. A ring then sat at the base, able to twist independently from the top to set however long you needed. It only could be set to an hour, so the little hedgehog would have to be set twice, before he would check on the slime cups.
With Timer in place, Shaggy moved to check on Scooby. He had gotten a bunch of barrels done, taking a break between eating to also carving some other fishy shapes. So he was a good way done with both projects he had been given. Making sure to give a reassuring scratch, Shaggy crossed the kitchen to return to the clipboard. Reading over the two left over ideas, Shaggy deciding to save the most complicated one for last.
Flipping the page to the set of instructions for the project on hand, he skimmed through the instructions and what parts he was going to need. First he wanted to put another pot of water in the kettle to boil, since he had drained most of what he had made before. Plucking up one of each color left over, Shaggy nabbed a bowl for each color. Green apple, Grape purple, strawberry red, orange-banana and berry blue. Placing the packets out of the box and by the bowls, he then moved to fish the tub of vanilla ice cream out of the fridge to let it warm up a bit as the kettle worked its magic. He could technically use Velma's self-heating spoon she had made him a while ago, but there was still things that needed to be done, so he could let nature do the work for him as he got other things ready. And worse case, could break the spoon out if it was still too hard to carve later.
"Hm…" Thinking to himself, he looked at the several bowls in front of him. He was going to have to mix ice cream into each bowl, but there was more bowls then he wanted to try to juggle in his arms at one time. So Shaggy pondered what the best method would be to get them done quickly without dragging Scooby away from what he was doing for an extra paw.
While he wasn't able to help Fred much with his traps, he was pretty good at figuring out solutions if he had the time to sit there and chew on it for a while. Great overall, but not really good on a case where his feet moved faster than his head did. But that is why they had Fred and Velma for that sort of thing…
"Ah! I got it!" Exclaiming to himself, earning a sideways look from Scooby at the table, Shaggy thought of the perfect idea to solve his issue. The hardest thing was finding it.
Crouching, he looked through several of his cabinets to search for what he was looking for. One of the few downsides to having a professionally stocked kitchen that would rival most cooking show gurus... He had WAY too many gadgets, random appliances, odd utensils and other kitchen doodads scattered about in anything that could be considered storage in the beloved room. So as much as he loved his cooking thingamabobs, doohickeys, and wotsits… Trying to find a particular whatchamacallit was a bit of a task to remember where he saw it last.
Shifting the miscellaneous bits and bobs here and there, he was finally able to get his hands on the two parts he needed for his idea. Pulling out a rather large, circular metal tray, he then placed it on top of a small wooden lazy Susan on a surface that had enough room to hold the now spinning tray. Making it easy to rotate the various bowls for him to be able to mix everything without having to slow down the mixing process or have to ask Scooby for help.
'Just in time too!' As whistle off to one side sounded, telling Shaggy that his water had come to a boil and was ready for the next step. Placing all the bowls in a circle on the tray, he filled each with two cups of the boiling water before he added the various colors into each bowl. Whisking each mixture until they dissolved in the boiling water, he then moved to the ice cream. Trying to move quickly, since he had a lot to mix, he tossed the ice cream scoop into the air. As it spun in an arch, Shaggy had enough time to pop off the top of the container and be able to catch the spoon to use into the frosty material. Carving a deep mark into the top of the ice cream, he flipped the perfectly scooped ball into the air behind him. Cast over one shoulder, he flung the desert at his canine companion. Not ever a drop was missed, as the frozen treat was snatched out of the air without Scooby missing a beat on his own project.
It certainly was melted enough for what Shaggy needed, which was good. Between the melted ice cream, and the hot water, he was able to fold in the treat to the rest of the mix. And the lazy Susan allowed him to rotate between the bowls and whisk everything together in an effective manner.
Daphne would be proud.
With everything mixed, now all he had to do was add the various colors into plastic, clear cups for him to alter into the look he wanted. Well, the look Velma wanted, as this had been her idea. The ice cream/Jell-o solution would be refrigerated and as the mix set up, it would separate into two yummy layers that the kids would love. And the containers they would come in, looked like little beakers, which is why Velma had liked it. Wanting to have at least one of them for herself. She had the lab coat ready and waiting, so she could enjoy the treat like a proper mad scientist. Though it was unsure if she was planning on going to the Halloween event as one, or that was just what she had the coat sitting around in her closet and she wanted a reason to use it. Not that it mattered to Shaggy, since there was always a reason to eat something yummy!
Marking up each 'beaker' with a sharpie, Shaggy made little lines that looked like proper measurement up the side of the plastic cup. He knew that Velma would know that it wasn't perfectly to any official scale, but this was for kids. And while teaching them proper measurement was good, this wasn't meant to be an educational tool. Just a stylized vessel for a delicious treat.
Once all the beakers were filled most of the way with the colored mixtures, Shaggy placed the collection into the fridge to cool with the others. He was glad that the day before had been a buffet day, otherwise he and Scooby would have had to make enough room to fit all the various projects they had in the works.
'Though it would have been a hard ordeal, we would have had forced ourselves to do whatever had been necessary…' Shaggy joked mentally, placing a hand upon his chest in pledge. 'For the good of the children!'