The Greatest Secret
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly
A/N: As you know, thoughts are in italics and speech is in regular font.
A/N: The chef in this chapter is a real chef and the show shown here is real, as is the meal the chef prepares. So in retrospect, the character's not mine and neither is her show or the episode of it you'll see here.
A/N: IMPORTANT-Okay anon reviewers who keep begging me to put a lemon in this story and to make Sam pregant...Cut it out! If I want to do that, I will, but I'm not planning on it. One, it would be BAD for the plot, because then Carly would pretty much KNOW, as well as Tyrone and everyone else. Secondly, I don't really care to change this story into a M rated thing. If I write a lemon, it will be a oneshot separate from this story. ALSO Ticking me off is the lack of attention my other story is getting, JESSICA'S DARK PAST, I mean only one actual reader...I know I'm not supposed to be bothered by it, but it bothers me. Hell, I even asked a question in the end of whether I should end it there and continue the rest as a sequel because the rest is lighter than the previous amounts of it all...Whatever, I actually liked writing that story, I wanted to know if anyone actually appreciated it, apparently not many...Of course, who am I kidding, over half of my readers STILL haven't caught that I'm changed my main account to KING NATE, so no one's even gone over to read any of the stories that are there. Anyway, sorry, I'm sort of at a bad time today. Here, enjoy this chapter ^_^.
Chapter 128 (Valerie's Idol)
Valerie walked into her living room with a notepad and a pen, she was about to watch another one of her favorite shows on the food network, done by her idol, the great Rachael Ray. She was the woman that did the 30 minute meals and other shows, including one where she traveled the world to try out various places. She flipped on the television and sat down on the couch, she was a very studious person when it came to this show. For most cooking shows, she was, but this chef's shows were especially good for her. Jonah walked into the room and smiled, he was always happy to see her with her favorite things. "Aaron is asleep in his crib, by the way," Jonah said as he sat next to Valerie. She looked at him and smiled, happy that her son was well.
"That's good." It was early in the morning and Aaron had kept the two up for most of the night, so both of them really needed the break. She gently kissed Jonah's cheek and smiled lightly. "So, are you going anywhere today?" Jonah nodded and leaned back in his seat, he would be going to the hardware store to buy some furnishings for the house. They were really glad their parents were helping with all the payments, at least until they made it to college age and got a place of their own. "I'm worried…can we go to college while taking care of Aaron?"
"I don't know, it's possible, but it would be difficult." Valerie nodded and looked at the television, Rachael Ray's show was starting up. Jonah chuckled and slowly stood up, he knew there was no competing with Rachael when it came to Valerie. "I'll see you later, honey." Valerie hugged Jonah and gave him a kiss, then watched as he left the house. Valerie smiled and put her pen to the notepad, she was smiling lightly as the show began. She was eager to see what Rachael was making this time, and she was definitely going to cook it later.
The screen faded out and Rachael appeared in front of her kitchen counter, smiling at the camera. She already had all the necessary ingredients out, Valerie could tell what they were before the chef even said what they were. "Hello, I'm Rachael Ray and today I'm making a delicious and easy barbecue meal that really raises the bar." This brought Valerie much anticipation as she loved barbeque, but not as much as Jonah did. "I'm making a fabulous grilled salmon and I'm making a homemade glaze to go on it."
"Sounds delicious." Valerie watched as Rachael picked up a bottle containing some maple syrup, she then began to write, knowing the chef had begun. Rachael walked over to a pot and began stirring some onions.
"I've got my red onions cooking up right here mixed up with easy yellow, extra-virgin olive oil and about three tablespoons of red wine vinegar." Valerie quickly wrote it down, she already had the type of olive oil Rachael said she needed, but she would have to go pick up red wine vinegar. She stopped stirring and stepped back from the pot. "Okay, so you let that pretty much cook out, then you should add one cup of maple syrup."
"Maple syrup, I know I have that, what kitchen would be without it? Think of all the syrup-less pancakes one would have to go through!" Rachael began pouring in the syrup and continued speaking.
"Just eyeball it, you don't need a measuring cup for this…it's in the neighborhood." She stopped pouring and placed the cap back on the bottle. "That is the base for your glaze." She set the bottle down and grabbed another bottle. "Now we're going to season it up and spice it up. I add some Worchester sauce to this…Now I love Worchester sauce, so I put about a tablespoon." Valerie wrote and watched as Rachael poured the sauce around the red onions. "Okay, that looks about right to me." Rachael then picked up a bottle of flavoring and started to unscrew the cap. "Then I want it to have a smoky flavor. Use any brand you like, but do look for the liquid smoke flavoring in your market. It's on the condiments aisle, and remember that a little goes a long way."
"Okay, good to remember…I'll have to look for that, I don't have it."
"It's an all-natural product and you're only going to need about an eighth of a teaspoon, only a couple drops honestly." Rachael lifted the cap and sighed. "Mm, smells awesome, fantastic! Really makes a difference with just a hint of smoke in there." Valerie smiled and nodded her head, she couldn't wait to try this meal out. She set the bottle down and picked up another bottle of powder. "Then I add one teaspoon of curry powder. That's because I was given as a gift a glaze, barbeque glaze, by a friend, and it had that curry in it when I read the back labeling. I thought 'what is that really neat flavoring going on there?' It was curry. I add about a teaspoon of curry to this glaze and it really makes a difference."
"Curry powder?" Valerie blinked and quickly glanced to her kitchen, she didn't have any of that, but she definitely could find it. "I'll put that on my list." Rachael picked up another bottle and moved over to the pot. Valerie lifted her eyebrows and looked at the bottle in her hands.
"Now it's going to be this thing that makes everybody go 'hmm, what is that?'" Rachael unscrewed the lid and began to sprinkle the item into the pot. "About a teaspoon of course black pepper goes in there. Pepper has oil in it so that when you cook it up, that peppery flavor goes all through the glaze." Rachael pointed at a can while opening her drawer to get her can opener. "I'm going to add some nice tomato paste here. You need around a tablespoon of tomato paste in this." She finished opening the can and took a spoon from her silverware drawer. "Okay, now grab a spoon…" She placed the spoon in and pulled out a tablespoon of tomato, then placed it in the pot. "That ought to do me…"
"Tomato paste, I do have that." Valerie slowly licked her lips and watched as Rachael began to stir the pot.
"You just need to work that in there." She stirred for a second then continued speaking as she did. "Now if you were working on an outside grill, you just let this come up to a bubble and place your salmon steaks, or filets I might say, on the grill right next to the glaze." She continued stirring and hummed slightly. "Just going to break that up…you have to stir it until your tomato paste becomes incorporated there, and then you just let it keep simmering gently." She pulled out her stirring tool and moved over to a pack of salmon.
"I need to pick that up from the store…"
"Now these are my beautiful salmon filets I got here." She turned the filets and started to remove the wrapper as the camera zoomed in on them. She flipped the salmon over and onto a blue cooking mat, then removed the plastic tray they came with. She then grabbed the olive oil and walked back over to the salmon. "Super simple with these, I just put a little drizzle of easy yellow, extra-virgin olive oil." Valerie watched with bright eyes as Rachael put the olive oil onto the food, she was already starting to grow hungry. "Then I season them up with a little salt and pepper." Rachael took some salt and pepper then began to sprinkle the seasoning onto the meat. "Okay, you don't want to start glazing these until you flip them, because all you need to do is get them on there and working."
"Okay, yes that makes sense." Valerie watched as Rachael began to rub the oil, salt and pepper into the filets. Rachael then started placing them onto the grill face down.
"You want to put the seasoned and oiled side down." Valerie wrote the information down and watched as her idol placed four filets on the grill. "Let me just rinse up real quick and season the other side." Rachael moved over to her sink and began to wash her hands. Rachael smirked and glanced over. "You know, if you invite your friends over for a barbeque, they may be expecting dogs or hamburgers, right?" She chuckled and dried her hands with a towel then moved over to the salmon and began putting some more olive oil on them. "They're probably not thinking that they're getting salmon steaks, they are delicious." Valerie nodded and smiled, it would be a nice surprise for her friends, that was true.
"I definitely have to do that. I bet Jonah would be surprised to be eating these when I say 'barbeque.'" Then again, Jonah basically knew when Valerie says she's making barbeque, he doesn't ever expect hamburgers, and that's what he loves about her, she's so original and unique.
"Hm, these are actually filets, not steaks. I keep saying that. I think grill and I think steaks, but you could certainly use steaks. It's just my store has filets for salmon." Valerie nodded and wrote that down, she would definitely keep that in mind. "They use steaks with…swordfish, they always have tuna steaks and swordfish steaks, but they filet the salmon." The commercials came on and Valerie waited for them to finish. Soon, Rachel was back on and was holding her glaze pot in her hands and was stirring it slightly. "Here I got my glaze that has the red onion, maple, a little bit of liquid smoke flavoring, Worchester sauce, and tomato paste. A little red wine vinegar in there for tang." Valerie nodded and watched as Rachael began to glaze the flipped salmon. "I flipped my salmon, my beautiful salmon filets here. Once you flip it, you can start glazing, and you just let that glaze fall over on the top." The screen shifted to show the filets as the chef glazed them, Valerie smiled happily, she had to cook this meal.
"Once Aaron wakes up, I'll take him with me to do some shopping and treat Jonah to a home-cooked barbeque salmon!"
"Be liberal with the glaze, it tastes great. Isn't that gorgeous? Look at that! You don't expect that coming off of barbeque." Valerie nodded and chuckled to herself. If Jonah were here, he'd practically be drooling. "This is a really good meal to entertain with." The screen shifted again and the beautifully cooked salmon was being placed onto the plate. "I'm just taking my last piece of salmon carefully off of the grill." She smiled and picked up the plate, then started moving over to the other side of her counter. "Isn't that great? Look at that beautiful glaze on it." Valerie nodded and watched as she set the plate down. "I'm just going to set this right over here. Valerie watched as Rachael began to count off the ingredients in the glaze. "Okay, so that's maple, a little bit of tomato, Worchester, black pepper, red onion, a little bit of smoke seasoning, absolutely delicious. That same glaze is great on chicken as well!"
"Sounds great…" Valerie set the notepad down and stood up, the show was over. She smiled gently and turned off the television, she needed to check up on Aaron. She moved into Aaron's room and saw the baby was still asleep, she thought he looked so precious tucked up neatly in his crib. She leaned against the doorframe and smiled gently, she didn't want to wake him. Just then, she heard someone knocking at the door. "Hmm, I'm not expecting any visitors today." She walked to the front door and looked through the peephole; she was shocked to see Carly standing there. She opened the door and raised her eyebrows. "Hey Carly, what brings you here?"
Yep, there's a reason for this chapter. Now, next will be Valerie and Carly talking. Another point I'd like to bring up, yes I know you want more moments with Sam and Freddie, but you have to remember...I'm trying to move the plot along. All of the characters need to have screen time at some parts. Now, you'll be seeing more of Sam and Freddie soon, don't worry. ^_^. Thanks to all who are reviewing