milliways_bar | Happy (Birthday) Hour!

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Happy (Birthday) Hour!

She had only requested the tea, but a chocolate cupcake and a napkin had accompanied the fragrantly steaming cup of lemongrass and ginger. Upon reading the napkin, Sunshine grinned brightly.

"Oh, thank you! I hadn't realized it was today. It's still late May, back home," she smiled, patting the bar before picking up the cupcake and heading towards the kitchen. "You don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of it."

It was a couple of hours later that Sunshine re-emerges from the kitchens, the scents of good food following her out into the bar room, and steps behind the bar. She'll need an extra chalkboard today.

Summer Solstice Happy Hour!
Drinks Specials
-Iced teas
-Iced coffees
-Mojitos
-Champagne

(Vegetarian) Dinner Specials
-Butterleaf and sorrel salad with strawberries, candied pecans, avocado, feta cheese, and blueberry-poppy seed vinaigrette
-Summertime lemon-vegetable risotto with basmati rice, sugar snap peas, asparagus, crook-necked squash
-Roasted zucchini stuffed with quinoa, bell peppers, arugula, grape tomatoes, and pistachios
-Spinach and egg yolk ravioli with oyster mushrooms in a truffle butter sauce(limited supply)

Dessert Specials
Cinnamon Rolls As Big As Your Head
Bitter Chocolate Death
Meringuamania
Hell's Angelfood
Death of Marat (limited supply)

"Happy Solstice, Milliways!" announces the birthday girl and current bartender with a grin. "Happy Hour is a go!"

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Sunshine grins, not immune to the compliment, as she carries the used dishes through to the kitchens.

A few minutes later, after a fruitful search with the help of the knowledgeable and brave Ivanhoe, Rae returns bearing a plate of the risotto on one hand, and cradling a bottle of wine in the other.

"It may or may not be from your Virginia," she offers, wryly, as she serves the risotto, "but it's from a Virginia, and the Paradise Springs winery has gained a pretty stellar reputation there."

Awards, or so Ivanhoe indicated to her. Rae fetches one of the white wine glasses from where they are kept, and pours enough that he might judge for himself.

"This is their 2011 Viognier," she offers, with the glass.

"A viognier!" Lecter says, clearly delighted. "A rare and pernickety grape. How fitting!"

He swirls the wine in the glass, inhales, then sips.

"The citrusy front notes will go very well with the risotto," he declares. "An excellent choice."

"Thank you," she replies, offering to pour the glass. "I'm still learning the ins and outs of pairing wine with food, but my step-father's been helping. Since he delegated Head Cook duties, he's had the time to indulge his interest."

Once the wine has been poured, she sets the bottle aside, but within easy reach. "His coffeehouse was written up in an article a couple of years ago as the only casual coffeehouse in the region where you could also find a good wine selection."

That was also not prohibitively expensive to its customer base.

Lecter takes the first forkful of his risotto, then another sip of the wine, saying nothing for a few heartbeats.

Then, "It's a pity your coffee-house is not in my America."

Sunshine's smile grows briefly, as she washes and dries one of the glasses from another patron's order. "Interdimensional franchises are notoriously difficult to manage, and are rarely as good as the original."

Not that she gets access to Milliways-quality ingredients out of season at home, anyway, or has nearly as much time to experiment with new recipes. There is also the fact that, on average, the bar has a more affluent customer-base than Charlie's Coffeehouse of Old Town. "I suppose Milliways will have to do."

He chuckles. "That might count as forbidden business, too, trying to build an interdimensional franchise," he says. "We would be so naughty, trying that."

Terribly! But the thought is still amusing. "I always figured the 'No Business' rule was to keep people from inconveniencing other patrons with their jobs, laws, or biases from their own worlds. Jurisdiction, drinking ages and such."

Or, you know, issues with vampires.

"I hadn't thought of it in terms of actual business," she says, putting up the clean and dry glasses. "Security gave me the go-ahead in terms of selling what I bake, soon after I came here. Soon after a few of the Security members tried the cinnamon rolls, actually." She's totally allowed to be a bit smug about that. ^_^

"Oh yes," Dr. Lecter says, "feeding these people good food often paves a way into their hearts."

"Good food's one of the most basic forms of shared happiness: in the making, the serving, in the eating." Whole branches in the study of sympathetic magic are based on it, though Rae has done little research in that area - it blurs the light between the two sides of her life in a way she doesn't care to contemplate.

Rae notices another patron, a stranger to her, approaching the bar. "Excuse me." Duty calls!

"Of course, Rae," Lecter says. "Thank you for everything so far."

"You're very welcome," she replies, before turning to head down the bar towards the approaching patron.

------

Due to the combination of fetching food and drink, and then the arrival of another patron, it is a while before she returns. There's a lot to juggle, but she's enjoying it. Her cooking brings all the boys (one girl and one fairy ~~vampires don't count~~) to the bar.

By then, he has finished his risotto and is apparently content to sip and inhale his wine.

"Some interesting patrons," he says, on her eventual return.

"Milliways rarely has any uninteresting patrons," she says, a wry smile sent in Yugo's direction before she moves to offer to refill Dr. Lecter's glass. "There are theories, but I think the place just likes to collect people."

"Compared to all these people, I could almost feel ordinary," Lecter says. "But then, all of them probably do so."

"What's ordinary for one may be the exact opposite for another," she nods. Rae will readily admit to being discomforted by finding out that 'Welcome' mats are a thing in other worlds.

Ain't no way; ain't no how.

Rae gathers up the empty dishes, preparing to take them to the kitchen. "What sort of doctor are you, Dr. Lecter?"

Edited 2013-06-24 21:20 (UTC)

"I work as a psychiatric therapist, but did surgery before that," he says. "So, medical. And yes, worlds seem to vary greatly."

Her eyebrows lift slightly at hearing that Dr. Lecter is a psychiatrist. Rae can't help it, it's involuntary; what she thinks will show up on her face, every time.

But she won't mention it.

"Sometimes to peoples' benefit, too. The truffles I used in the ravioli dish tonight come from the moon. A version of the moon, at least. It's apparently easier to get them there than it is to procure them in my own world - there haven't been any truffles exported to Independencia for the last twenty years or so." At least not for public consumption. Global council members and vid stars don't count.

Not that she could afford them.

"Interdimensional trade, then," Dr. Lecter says, smiling. "Quite beneficial to all concerned. I can bring you any ingredient you would like; I know where to source special things. Not that you'd want jamon iberico or dry aged steak, but lotus roots or pomegranates, maybe?"

"I was fortunate - the truffles were a gift from a friend," Rae chuckles, before her smile breaks into an enthusiastic grin. "Oh gods, pomegranates. I hadn't had one of those in years, before I found this place."

"Pomegranates it is, then," Hannibal says, smiling at her.

"Thank you! That's very kind of you," she says with a replying smile, backing through the kitchen door with his dishes. "I'll be back shortly with your next course."

And, will wonders never cease, she is!

And once, more, Hannibal is very impressed. "You surely know very well what you are doing, dear Rae," he positively purrs after the first few bites of the quinoa-stuffed zucchini.

"I like to experiment to see what works before I offer it as a finished recipe," she replies, grinning again at the compliment. "Think there's a sign-up sheet in the coffeehouse back home, for when I'm trying out a new idea and need test-subjects."

These served here, however, are not new. These are some that have passed with flying colors.

"Feel free to ruthlessly experiment on me if you feel like it," Hannibal says, smiling.

"Mwah-ha-ha-ha," she grins, completely unconvincingly. "You've fallen into my very clever trap."

Yeah, no. Sunshine couldn't be evil if she tried.

Edited 2013-06-25 01:05 (UTC)

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