Closed Cooking lesson #3

[Phillip Kaster]

"If you just turn it to a simmer, just slowly," Phillip said, trying carefully to instruct Hanna on proper cooking technique. He knew she couldn't cook, he'd known for years, but that didn't mean he had expected her to be quite this bad. Phillip was back in Kiel for a couple of weeks during the Christmas period, and though Christmas was over, he'd taken some extended leave and the team were mostly looking after themselves, though he checked in with them often. This was their third attempt at a cooking lesson, the first had been interrupted by Lorelai and the second had been sabotaged by his mother calling him home for some stupid reason or other, now at least he was sure he would have no reason to be interrupted and they could get this lesson underway. "Look, see this here, the slight pinkness in the middle? That's the true indication of how well done this steak is, you have to watch out for that and make sure it doesn't go brown or you've cooked it too much."​

 

[Hanna Mitchelle Freecss]

Mitch bit her lip as she tried to follow Phillip's instructions very carefully. If she didn't, she probably would have turned up the flame instead of turning it lower. It was sort of a struggle for her to do cooking that it was frankly amazing that she had managed to pass Potions all those years back in Hogwarts. While she managed to pass the course back then, her kitchen skills still hadn't improved all that much. Well, she could fry and boil an egg, and make a sandwich or two. But other than that, well, she practically useless in the kitchen. It didn't help either that Killy had spoiled her and Lorelai when they were in Hawaii. Now that they were staying in Kiel, and had practically caused Phillip a headache with her cooking and attempts of it - the chicken had been raw and the vegetables overcooked the last time the house elves and Phillip had left her to her own devices in the kitchen. She swore that she followed the directions in the cookbook and was confused at the turnout. Which completely led to where they were now - Phillip trying to teach her how to cook. If she was really honest with him though, she would have admitted that she had already forgotten anything that they did three steps prior and as it was, she was quite struggling to get his instructions right. Him hovering over her was quite making her nervous after all, and at the same time she really wanted to get this right. "Keep it pink, right, got it," she said. Well, she was hoping that she got it. "Is it just this steak? Or is it the same for all other steaks?"​

 

[Phillip Kaster]

Phillip carefully watched Hanna as she cooked, making sure to critique her movements. It had been quite an age since he'd last been in teaching mode, but honestly he was enjoying it more than he thought it would. "Okay, so it depends on the kind of steak," he said, carefully moving her out of the way a bit so he could step in beside her and the wall to show her what he was talking about. "When you have a beef steak, it should be pink, but most other steaks should be fully cooked through, otherwise it's not been cooked properly." He said, quickly flipping the meat over to show the bottom of the pan. "You can see the slightly charred bit on the side right? That means the heat is on too high, so we have to turn it down," he added, gently brushing past her to pressed his wand to the flame.​

​

At least this wasn't a year later right?

 

[Ai Nightray]

-woops-​

 

[Hanna Mitchelle Freecss]

Mitch had to admit that it was quite unnerving being watched so carefully by Phillip. They were doing nothing but cooking but being scrutinized had always made her slightly uncomfortable, reminding her of the life that she had left. He made her uncomfortable in a different way though, she didn’t want to humiliate yourself and well, the kitchen was one of her glaring weaknesses so she was sure that there would be no shortage on humiliation in her part. Well, that and she didn’t think he’d watch her this closely before in years. And though she definitely was trying not to go to those memories, it was sort of hard not to when he was standing right there. And Merlin was it hard to keep her concentration on the lesson. “Beef pink. Not beef, not pink. Got it,” she muttered as she leaned closely to watch what he was pointing at. “Okay, got it,” she didn’t get it. No, not really. She had turned the flame down, unless she turned it up? She was sure that she turned it down so she was not sure how it got burned. Cooking makes no sense.​

 

[Phillip Kaster]

Phillip wasn’t convinced she was actually getting it. Mostly because she kept looking at him like he had all the answers, when in reality cooking wasn’t a science. It was an art, all about the subjective nature of taste and what went better aesthetically or organically, which wasn’t something he could just teach Hanna, as much as he might have wanted to. He sighed as she simply repeated what he was saying and shook his head. “I think that’s enough for today, move over,” he said, wrapping his arms around her to move her out of the way so he could take over. “It’s not an exact science, you know, it’s more of an art, a testament to flavour,” he said, turning the heat down and moving the pan off the stove. “You were alright in potions, weren’t you? This is a similar concept, but you don’t have to use exact measurements, I mean of course you can should you really want to, but I never have and my cooking has always turned out alright.”​

 

[Hanna Mitchelle Freecss]

Mitch just smiled at Phillip. She had basically forgotten all the steps that he had shown her today with regards to cooking the beef. Well, except for beef should be pink. That was basically all she was remembering right now. She wasn't even sure what ingredient they had put in there. There was salt and pepper and... Well, was that it? She couldn't be sure either. There were no cookbooks open for her to look at right now. Phillip probably thought they were a distraction to her, not that he was not a distraction by himself already. He probably didn't think of that considering she was likely giving him a headache, Mitch could only grin if that was really the case. She had to roll her eyes though as he wrapped his arms around her to move her out of the way, probably having had enough of the cooking lesson. "Sure, if alright is crawling my way towards a P," she said with a shrug as she turned and leaned her back against the kitchen counter while watching Phillip move about the kitchen. This was slightly more normal than her trying to cook. Although she did miss the closeness that existed moments prior. "I still don't know how I got to NEWT level Potions really. Or any NEWT level subject, honestly. In any case, cooking is pretty fun if only the food wouldn't end up as either goop or soot by the time I'm done with it," she said with a shrug as she tried to peek at the apparent result of their cooking lesson. Well, the beef looked edible but that was most likely largely due to the fact that she was supervised the whole time she was in the kitchen. ​

 

[Phillip Kaster]

Phillip really wasn't sure why this was so hard for her. All those years they were together, well, it wasn't all that long, but long enough, and yes, he'd been the one to do the cooking, but, he was sure she'd cooked something once, right? She couldn't have possibly relied solely on her brother the whole time could she have? He shook his head at her, pulling the steak off the heat and sitting it on the plate before waving his wand at the bench for the salad. "We just need to make sure that you watch what you're doing, really it's not that hard." he said, patting her softly on the shoulder and moving some hair from her face behind her ear. "At least Lorelei will have a decent meal whilst you're both here and I really don't mind you staying here either. Honestly, you don't have to worry about me throwing you out, I would never do that." He assured her, having her the finished salad as he moved away from the bench and sat the steak on the table. "You eat that, I have a couple more things I need to do," he told her, heading for the door. He was enjoying having both here. Lorelei was hard to get used to, that was true, but he was starting to love her he believed and Hanna? Well, he never stopped loving her, not really. It was good to have her back in his life for a bit too.​

 

[Hanna Mitchelle Freecss]

Mitch had to repress at the thought of cooking being not that hard. Thank Merlin that her job in the household back in Hawaii had been to earn money for their supplies and keep the house orderly. Not that there had been much to organize really. Kil had been all too happy to commandeer the kitchen except when it was very simple meals that even she were not capable of destroying - like sandwiches. "Hey, she had decent meals back in Hawaii too, you know," she said with a pout and a roll of her eyes. Granted that she had not been the one dealing with the meals, they all made sure that Lorelai always had decent food despite her mother's lack of talent in the kitchen. "Thank you Phillip, you've been really great and I'm really glad you're here," she said with a smile as walked over to him and took his arm. She pulled down a little while she stood on the tips of her toes. He still had to bend down a little since they had quite the difference but the small movement was enough for her to give him a kiss on the cheek, near the corner of his lips. Pulling back after a moment, she gave him a smile before walking over to the table to eat what they had cooked while he apparently had some errands. The smile never left her face while she thought of how nice it was to be with him again even if they weren't really together.​