Author's Note: Thank you to those who have stuck with me! It means a great deal. Like the very first chapter this one is from the point of view of a made up character who likes watching Izzie's vlogs. Hope you enjoy! (BTW all the crafts or recipes mentioned in these vlogs are things I have actually done so the instructions are accurate if you ever decide you want to give it a go!)
Chapter Three
How To: Make The Most of Your Situation
The scent of peaches mingling with brown sugar, cinnamon, and oatmeal filled most of Bia's spacious kitchen as she sat on the edge of the window seat, trying to figure out how to salvage the evening. It had been one of those days. The kind where everyone she came in contact with wanted to take their frustrations out on her. There had been one point, when her husband accused her loving her job more than him, where she had thought about throwing her hands up and saying screw it all. The problem with doing that was her home was her job and whether her husband liked it or not, they owed their guests quality service. Maybe she spent a lot of time making sure the Home and Hearth was a place people wanted to return to, but that didn't mean she loved the bed and breakfast more than she loved her husband. When things were busy he tended to forget that without the income they earned from taking in guests they wouldn't be able to afford the home his family had had in their family since before the civil war. Maintaining a plantation took more money than Hank's job as an insurance salesmen provided.
"Foolish man," she muttered as she readjusted her position on the window set so that her back was against the two feet of wall behind her. She carefully balanced her laptop across her knees and pulled up myvideos. One of the hardest parts of running a B & B was finding home cooked meals that were easy to prepare and pleasing to the guests. When they first opened the B & B she tried rotating her grandma's recipes. It worked out for about a week; after that even she was sick of Italian food! That was when she turned to the internet. Myvideos specifically. She was a visual girl. She needed to see something being made and know it really was simple before she attempted it. So far she had found two vlogs that kept her stocked in easy recipes. One was hosted by a cooking show and was great for special occasions, while the other was hosted by some adorable blonde girl who wrote a how to column for her local paper. Between the two Bia usually watched thehowtogirl. The girl, Izzie if Bia was remembering correctly, liked to cook comfort food and she liked to make it as easy as possible. In fact, the peach dessert that was baking had come from one of Izzie's vlogs.
"Mind if I join you?"
The soft spoken request came from one of the five guests that were currently staying at Home and Hearth. Typically Bia didn't get attached to her guests but there was something special about Hailey. The young woman had been given the week long stay by her fiance, Brian, who was stationed in Iraq. Bia had learned the young Marine had been there six months already, with another six months to go before he came home. His bride to be seemed so lost without him that it broke Bia's heart. "Pull up a chair," Bia joked, patting the empty space in front of her. "Don't tell but I can't cook worth a lick. Have to find tutorials." It felt nice to admit that to someone.
"Well for someone who can't cook you sure do a great job of faking it." The petite blonde teased back as she settled in next to the older, dark haired Bia. "So, what are we looking for?"
"We are looking to see what my favorite vlogger has posted." Repositioning herself so Hailey could see the laptop monitor as well, Bia pulled up Izzie's latest vlog. Jack pot! It wasn't a craft, but a recipe!
"I know her!" Hailey cried excitedly, her pretty face coming alive for the first time since she had arrived two days before. "I mean, I don't know her, know her but I subscribe her to her vlog." They talked for a moment about the crazy vlog Izzie had posted a few weeks before. It had seemed unreal. Did things like that actually happen? Apparently so! Horrible that it happened to someone like Izzie, someone who seemed so kind. Even worse was the fact that her boss had fired her over it! What kind of jerk did that? Izzie was a trooper though and good things would come her way. Good people always had good things come their way.
"Good morning fellow vloggers!" Her voice was full of life and there was a shine in her eyes. Either it was from pregnancy or she had found a way to be happy about her current circumstances. "Today we're going to be making one of my favorite dinners. Chicken cacciatore with creamy mashed potatoes. It takes about fifteen minutes for prep and cook time is around forty minutes." Her lips tipped up in a wide grin that flashed perfect white teeth as she started to list the ingredients they would be using. Two large red potatoes cut into one inch chunks. One cup small, fresh cauliflower florets. Four small boneless, skinless chicken breast halves. A half of a cup of light Balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Eight ounces of sliced fresh mushrooms, or well drained canned mushrooms if fresh were unavailable. One yellow and one green pepper chopped into bite size pieces. A half of a cup of onion and chive cream cheese. One fourth of a cup of chopped fresh basil. The screen flashed the list in written form, giving viewers the opportunity to write down the ingredients for themselves. Something most of her fans appreciated. Not all vlogs were so considerate.
"First, you're going to cook the potatoes and cauliflower by boiling them in water until they're tender. Typically, that takes fifteen minutes." A soft splashing noise filled the air as she gently emptied the potato chunks and cauliflower florets into a saucepan of boiling water. "While we wait for those to soften up we're going to cook the chicken. Now, you can use cooking spray but I myself like using butter. Gives it a little something, something." She laughed a bit as she placed a few pats of butter in a large frying pan that had been heating on the open range stove. It was definitely a far cry from the electric stove she had been using weeks ago. "For those of you who aren't familiar with cooking chicken on the stove, you really have to be careful. You don't want to leave it on either side for too long. You also want to make sure your temperature isn't too high. I like to use the medium setting." A lock of golden hair fell across one eye as she gently laid each of the breasts into the pan. She blew it off only to have it fall back. Her dark eyes rolled and she muttered something under her breath. "You want to cook chicken until it turns a golden brown. Generally it only takes three to four minutes on each side." Sure enough, four minutes later she was placing the golden brown chicken breasts on a nearby plate. She covered the platter with a couple paper towels. "We're going to set those to the side and work on the sauce. I'm a firm believer in using as few pans as possible so we're going to use the pan we just cooked the chicken in. I like doing this for two reasons. One, the pan is still warm, and two I hate washing dishes!" The laughter that erupted in the background brought a giggle to Izzie's lips. "Looks like my new friend Callie doesn't like doing them either! Come to think of it, I don't know of very many people who do. Which is why we're going to re-use the pan we cooked our chicken in to make our sauce. For the sauce we're going to basically throw our dressing, mushrooms, and peppers together and let it cook for about six minutes. You're going to want to keep stirring so the sauce doesn't start sticking to the pan. Nothing worse than burnt sauce, ladies…and gents," she added at the last second with a wink. "Makes that dreadful clean up process that much harder."
She went on to instruct her viewers to return the chicken to the skillet and to spoon the sauce over each breast. It would help heat the chicken back up and season it with the flavors mingling in the sauce. Once each breast was thoroughly covered she advised everyone to turn the heat down as low as it would go while they drained the potato and cauliflower mixture. After the potato and cauliflower mixture was drained she placed the crumbling chunks into a large mixing bowl, where she used a masher to combine the two. She talked about making sure all the lumps were gone, unless, of course, you liked lumps. When it was all done, she fast forwarded to a finished plate, where the potato mixture was on bottom with the chicken and sauce on top. "So, as you have probably realized by now this isn't a difficult meal. Just time consuming. Definitely not something you want to make if you're in a hurry. However, you can pre-make the sauce and freeze it, which will cut down on the process quite a bit. You can also do the same with the potato mixture. I don't really recommend doing that with the chicken though because it will dry out really quickly when you're re-cooking it."
Her lip tucked between her teeth, as though she were debating on saying more. The food segment was over. "Almost a month ago, I posted a vlog that I shouldn't have," she said slowly, her fingers curling over the edge of the tan marble counter top. "It has sense been removed but a lot of my regulars seen it and have emailed me concerning the things I talked about. I would like to take the time to answer a few of the main questions that have been asked. No, I haven't found another job yet. While it bothers me that I lost my job the way I did and how I did, I'm starting to think it might have been for the best. The extra time has allowed me to give serious thought to my future. Which is something I have been needing to do." She licked her lips and flexed her fingers again, giving the impression that she was thinking hard about what she was going to say next. "In what I fondly call my melt down vlog I was pretty upset about the fact that things weren't going according to plan. Over the pass month I have come to realize that things happen for a reason, or in this case many reasons. A few of you asked if the father of my baby wanted to be a part of the baby's life. Yes, Alex is going to be a very big part of our baby's life." A far off look formed on her face and a sparkle filled her eyes. "We've done a lot of talking about how we want our child to be raised and we're working out the details of making sure we both play a big part in their life. Some one, also asked if Alex was going to be a part of my life. I think that is kind of a given, seeing how we're going to have a child together. As far as us being involved beyond that…we're friends…so who knows!"
Who knows? Really. The girl wasn't fooling anyone. The moment she started talking about the mysterious Alex it was pretty clear she liked the man. Perhaps Bia would take a cue from some of the other viewers and write little Miss Izzie an email asking why she looked like some star struck teenager whenever she talked about the father of her baby. Maybe the question would be addressed in a future vlog. If nothing else it would make Izzie think about the answer to the question. Emailing would have to wait though. She guests to feed. And, she thought with a grimace, a husband to coddle. Maybe she would email Izzie and ask her to do a vlog on how to have a fast, cheap romantic dinner for two.