Shepard's returning from a mission very soon and he'll like to clean up before dinner. It's nice to be back in a real kitchen and the current chef/janitor enjoys the night off so that he may focus on tasks that he hasn't gotten around to yet. The kitchen is much nicer than the previous Normandy's. The layout makes it easier to prepare courses for the entire crew. Due to space limitation, the other one had to be designed awkwardly. My new one has polished black metal cabinets and a fridge allow me to see anyone behind me. Why is it near every single time I start cooking, someone needs something. It's only whenever I am cooking. That's one of my pet peeves. My mind priorities their safety as I won't risk burning them, but I want my full attention to the food. It is calming only to have to focus on what's directly in front of you.
Tonight, I am making steak and my version of twice baked potatoes that I copied from a restaurant I visited. First thing is to preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. I want a high temperature to make the outside nice and crispy. The pans are buttered and the low heat slowly thaws the meat while I focus on the potatoes. I throw a dozen into the microwave and cook it for ten minutes. After which I place them in a fridge for a moment to flip the steaks. I season some with lemon pepper and others with just salt. Variety is the real spice of life.
I pull the still warm potatoes, cheddar cheese, and a container of bacon bits I was saving for tonight. Zaheed would take a pinch whenever he passed by the fridge much to my annoyance. His potato won't have bacon in it. He took his share.
I use a fork to scrape most of the skin off then proceed to mash them. I add a small amount of cheese, butter, and garlic salt and mix. The mixture is comfortable enough to touch for a moment. I take a handful and mold it into a brick. It's placed on cookie sheet and topped with cheese. Now I add the bacon bits and mix everything together. The bricks are made and places into the oven for at least 10 minutes.
I continuously flip the steaks until I see a nice browning. The steaks are transferred to two plates and allowed to rest till the potatoes are done. I open the oven and see my golden bars of heavenly deliciousness. My twice baked potatoes are finished. I wished the cheese we had was finer as I don't like the look, but the taste is to die for. A special plate is made for Zaheed, and I notify everyone that dinner is ready.
I feel bad for Garrus. He's the only dextro on board and it must suck that he has to cook every meal for himself. Garrus will cook himself breakfast then survive on prepackaged food for the rest of the day. We talked about it and he claims turians are more used to MRE's and cooking isn't very common for them. My heart nearly broke hearing that.
Thane is grateful for my dishes. On his homeworld food was scarce. The drell never lived there. He comes from the hanar homeworld. Those space jellyfish believed in paying forward the gift of upliftment and saved as many drell as they could before an ecological catastrophe ruined their civilization. Despite never having to worry where his next meal came from, he's very appreciative.
Mordin can sometimes eat human food. Salarians have different dietary needs and while humans, asari, and other levo races can eat salarian foods, not that we would want to, salarians came only to stomach some of our dishes. If he were to eat something he shouldn't, his body will try to eject it. To prevent this, he carries a small black rectangular device. With a small sample it will determine what compounds are in the food and if they will pose a threat to his health or not. Salarians prefer vegetables with some meat. Shellfish is a staple, so is fish. They don't have chickens but can eat it. Mordin is one of the few that actually likes fowl. Red meat is fine in small amounts. They can't tolerate extremely fatty foods are things high in carbs. It's probably for the best, Mordin won't eat cheese. He thinks it's disgusting that we harvest milk from another species and have bacteria partially digest it before we pop it into our mouths. He might have a point.
Grunt eats anything I'll give him. He likes everything and I mean everything. I once dared him to eat vanilla ice cream topped with mustard. It became his favorite. I look away when he eats that.
The crew starts coming and I give Zaheed his plate. His one good eye looks skeptically at me.
"Why don't I have to get my own grub?" The scruffy voice asked.
"You kept eating the bacon. Your potatoes lack any. Here you go" he looks down at his twice baked potatoes. The mercenary is unfamiliar with my version. I explained how I cooked them and he got angry at himself for missing the bacon. He better have learned not to mess with my ingredients.
Some of the other crew members get their share and a few gorgeous ladies bat their pretty little eyelashes at me. I return with an awkward smile. I'm not taking advantage of them. Once I learn to turn off whatever is happening and if they are still interested, I'll give those who are genuinely interested in me a shot.
Miranda swings down and I ask her which steak she wants. Lemon pepper she replies. I use the tongs to place her steak on the plate. With a twinkle in my eye I said "nice and hot and ready to go whenever you want."
The confused sounds leave her mouth "I -umm.." I turn and start a conversation with Ken. We talk about what I can help him out with, which is not much. What he really needs is another experienced engineer in his team. Soon… hopefully she'll be here soon. Oh no.
Shepard and Jack arrive. Shepard changed into a hoodie and his hair is still wet. Jack is proudly wearing those ebony straps. I turn and start doing dishes. Someone else does it for me but I need a distraction right about now. She keeps trying to set me off. I ignore and continue scrubbing.
"Heyyy You can fucking cook right? You didn't poison it did you?" She said. I let a low growl that's only audible to myself escape.
"You should have eaten before we got here. I'm not leaving any shit left for you" she said. I inhale and exhale through my nostrils make a gushing noise.
"Jack leave him alone" Shepard rescues me.
"Man nothing really wilds you up… except that one thing" she moves right beside me and leans on me. My face is getting hot. Keep your cool *********.
"What, you're not even going to look at me? Does my body make you uncomfortable?" She struts her neck out like a chicken and places her hands on her hips.
"Yes extremely" CRAP I didn't mean for it to come out like that. Jack recoils back. Surprised either by my honest response or the implication.
Furious she asks "What the hell? Am I revolting to you or something?"
I save myself "far from it" I scrub the plate harder.
"Oh. I um. Ok. Look I toy with people to say the least. Commander boy scout told me about you and we're alike…" she said. My neck twitches, brow furrows and lips slightly curl. What the heck did he say to her?
"I don't say this well ever but I'm sorry for pushing your buttons. We cool?' she asks.
I ask "You going to stop trying to get me to crack?"
"Mostly" she said. I'll take what I can get.
"Ok then. I forgive you" I replied.
*Really? Just like that?" She asks.
"I don't keep that stagnant energy inside me anymore" when they say to forgive others for your own well being, they weren't metaphorical.
"Cool. So you fucking badass who can cook, you're kinda sexy. What's your story" she asks. I put down my scrub brush and cover my face with my wet soapy hand.
"Struck a nerve did I?" She asks.
"Kinda but it's not just you" I said
"What the fuck does that mean?" She asks.
"You'll find out. I'm tired. I'm heading to my room. Bye guys" once I'm away from sight, I sprint to my room and instinctively try to lock the door despite the lack of deadbolts. Garrus looks up from his food.
"Everything alright?" The turian asks.
"GARRUS PLEASE HELP ME. Rub some of the ugliness off you and onto me" this needs to go away.
"No no no no. This is too good to make go away" Garrus said.
Fuck it. I don't usually do this but I'm going to expel some of my energy. During my private meditation session, I'll withdraw a portion of my energy and let it dissolve into the universe. I'm careful so that EDI can't detect it. Normally I use the energy for something productive. It's believed to be good to respect the basic substance but I'm out of options. I feel a little drained afterwards. Hopefully whatever is happening will be weaker. Fingers crossed.
