Technicalities

[Faith Augustin]

2nd Zi'da, 717

"Technically," Faith said to Katie, sitting in the living room and surrounded by books and parchments, "technically, I am not breaking any rules." Katie looked at her and said nothing, but her gaze was impassive and it was quite obvious that the older woman disapproved. "There are no rules, it's up to me. Also, I'm not actually in work. But they need to sort this out." Katie nodded her head, not saying a thing and Faith smiled at her. Jo'quet, her sous chef who had brought the issue to Faith, looked very sheepish and Katie stood. "I'll make some tea then," she said and exited into the kitchen.

Faith smiled at Jo'quet, trying to reassure her. "Don't worry," she said softly, "you did the right thing. I need to show you again how to do these techniques, they're complex." Jo'qan looked at Faith and smiled, concern on her face.

"The thing is," Jo'quet said, "people are asking for them and I want to do them right. We considered taking them off the menu, but then." She paused and looked at Faith with a smile. "But then your face would look like that. So I thought it was best to ask you. I'm sorry if it was the wrong thing." Faith shook her head, it wasn't at all. "You look really well, though Faith. How are you holding up?"

They both knew that Jo'quet wasn't talking about the pregnancy, it was about Padraig being away on what was potentially a long and dangerous mission. Faith smiled her careful and controlled smile as she thought, 'I miss him. I miss him so much I didn't know it was possible to feel this miserable and I know he feels the same way. It's taking every ounce of self control I have not to write and ask him to just come home, and it's taking every ounce of his not to just do so. I'm not holding up at all.' But that wasn't what she said, of course. No, she met Jo'quet's gaze and she replied with a slight smile. "I'm fine." Katie brought out the tea and Faith lowered her head back to what Jo'quet had brought her.

"So, fundamentally, we need to get you up to speed on sugar work, yes?" Jo'quet nodded and pushed no further on how Faith was feeling. If she wanted to tell her, she would. Evidently, she didn't. Jo'quet understood how private her employer was and she respected that greatly. "Alright, so then first things first, tell me what you do. Not looking at the recipe, from memory, tell me what you do." That was what she needed to know, after all and Faith leaned back in her chair and sipped her tea, waiting to see what Jo'quet said. There was something instinctual about sugar work and that was what she was wondering about here, Jo'quet's instinct. Everything else was just technicalities.

[Faith Augustin]

Faith listened to what Jo'quet said about sugar work, about what she did and how she did it and the young woman sipped her tea as she listened. "Well, that sounds like you're doing everything right. I wonder what the issue is." Faith considered carefully. "When you spin sugar, how does it come out?" It looked fine, Jo'quet explained, but it just tasted grainy and not like spun sugar should. Faith considered it very briefly and nodded. "Water. Liquid of some kind other than the sugar syrup, is in the mix. Either you're spinning it somewhere damp, damp is getting in somehow, or the bowl itself or the whisk is not completely dry." That was straightforward to Faith, it happened when the liquid interacted with the sugar syrup, no matter what form the interaction took. However, that was the least of the issues her sous-chef was having.

"Right. So, why don't we go into the kitchen?" Faith asked and Jo'quet looked at her with a pained expression, somewhere between hopeful, grateful and concerned. Faith chuckled. "Pregnant, not ill. I can spend a few breaks in a kitchen, despite what my in-laws tell you." It was true that Cyrus and Katie fussed over her. It was love which caused it, she knew, and she did not complain at all, instead she felt very cared for. But as she'd written to Padraig that morning, she just wanted to be able to get on with their lives, all of them. She knew that Cyrus and Katie were stepping up, trying their best and she loved them for it. But somehow, somewhere along the line, they fussed more than him. How that could be, Faith had written, she did not know but it was because they were both trying to look after her and be there as he'd asked them to.

She'd told him, too. Katie was talking in third person, again. It was unnerving.

"So," she said, as they arrived in the kitchen. "It seems to me that we need to look at this sugar work. Lets start with the making of a simple sugar syrup?" It was important that Jo'quet got the proportions right, Faith explained. The sugar was dissolved in a cold water, but the trick was to make sure that this was the only water that the sugar came into contact with, and to make sure that the water was cold when the sugar was put in it. Either of those things not happening was bad. But, then that was easy enough. "Alright," Faith said, getting ingredients out of the cupboards. "Let's talk about the chocolate as well. It's not working?" At Jo'quet's expression, Faith grinned. "It will be fine. Talk me through it?"

[Faith Augustin]

There was no doubting it, Jo'quet had the technique and technical details done, but what she lacked, Faith thought, was the confidence in herself. That might well be to do with the movement from being a sous-chef to being in charge of the kitchen. Faith had to admit to feeling guilty about that, concerned that she had abandoned them there, a full season away from when she was due to give birth. But equally, she knew that she was so tired, so much of the time, that she would be more of a hindrance than a help in a busy kitchen. Especially in Cally's kitchen, where everything ran with military precision. Yet, that didn't mean that she was away from work or that they could not come to her - she had to be able to do the most she could, within the confines of her confinement, she supposed.

"When you're working with desserts generally, specifically chocolate, it's about lightness of touch," Faith said, sitting on the stool and wondering if she'd ever see her ankles again. "And temperature. That can be vital. Are you using the cool area?" That was something she wasn't sure about and she was interested to see how it was working. However, she wasn't likely to find out judging by Jo'quet's reaction and rather shamefaced shake of her head. Faith sighed slightly and looked at her sous chef with a raised eyebrow. "You could be a little adventurous and try it, you know. It's just marble and green sand," not the very epitome of evil or any such.

Jo'quet looked at her and asked, entirely deadpan."Do you promise?" Faith snorted and shook her head. Jo'quet's lack of imagination, lack of risk-taking meant that she could be, and was as far as Faith was concerned, a good chef. But she would never be a great one. For that, boundaries needed to be pushed and that only happened when risks were taken.

[Faith Augustin]

It wasn't just what she said, it was how Jo'quet said it that made Faith realise that she was worried about using the chocolate. The pregnant young woman smiled and she gestured to the ingredient. "It speaks for itself, and loudly. The better the chocolate, the less you have to do with it." That was very true, she knew, and the quality of chocolate was something which was very important to the dish. "Taste. Always taste. Learn to tell the difference, and consider what will go with the flavour. Consider the taste, the back taste and the aftertaste. Each bean is different." Jo'quet looked at Faith and smiled slightly, shaking her head in almost resignation.

"Some people," Faith said, softly, "they add ingredients into chocolate. I'm all for the addition of flavour, but I think it works better alongside, not inside. With a few noticeable exceptions." Honeycomb, she explained, that was lovely in chocolate, as was thick caramel. One thing that she particularly enjoyed, she explained to Jo'quet, was the reducing of spirits such as whiskey, then having a sugar crisp closed shell which she surrounded in chocolate and injected the thickened spirit in there. It was delicious and an unexpected 'hit' when the customer bit into it. "I can make those here, and we can serve them with coffee at the end of the meal, if you like, get some feedback on them?" That made sense to the serious young business owner.

"So, I think the thing to do is to leave this chocolate work off the menu, lets focus on getting the sugar work correct and then, when I come back, we can put the chocolate back on?" Jo'quet looked at Faith gratefully. She was confident in the sugar, now that she'd practiced and picked up tips from Faith, but that didn't mean that she felt able to also tackle chocolate. Faith knew, and she had no wish to push her sous chef out of her comfort zone. "So tell me, all the gossip." Jo'quet grinned and looked at Faith with mischief in her eyes.

"Well," the young sous chef said, and the two of them sat together, work turned to gossip and serious conversation turned to giggles. In the living room, Katie heard it and smiled, pleased.

[Muse]

Your review is ready!

Working through things by actually working ... that is very much Faith. This thread made me want fancy desserts or at least just some chocolate. Faith and Jo'quet have a great rapport and work together well, but it's really Faith's internal dialogue that drove this thread behind all of the restaurant work.

Faith

Points

XP:
10 | These points cannot be used for magic.

Fame:
N/A

Loot

N/A.

Injuries + Overstepping

N/A

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge:
Baking: Put sugar with cold water in sugarwork
Baking: Careful ratio for sugar syrups
Baking: Water ruins sugarwork
Baking: Chocolate varieties each taste different, because of the bean.
Baking: Chocolate work is best done in the cold.
Business Management: Push your employees, but not too much.
Other Knowledge:
N/A

If you've got a question or concern or if I've missed anything, don't hesitate to PM me!

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