Saturday breakfast

[cook_the_rude]

 Dr. Hannibal Lecter is in the kitchen, making breakfast -- eggs, mushrooms, bacon, toast, fresh fruit, cheese, marmalade, the lot. Coffee is slowly being hand-filtered into a big warm coffeepot, and there is fresh orange juice ready, the peels even now being cooked in a small saucepan for the next marmalade, or maybe for sauce à l'orange for the coming season of waterfowl.

Wonderful smells may be even wafting out the kitchen door a little, to wake your curiosity.

Comments

[sunbaked_baker]

A young face peeks around the kitchen door, drawn by the lovely smells. She smiles when she sees who it is.

"I thought it'd be you," she says, cheerfully. There isn't anyone associated more closely with good food than him. "Good morning, Dr. Lecter."

[cook_the_rude]

"Good morning, Rae!" Hannibal says. "It's so excellent to see you. Would you like some tea to greet the day?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Yes, please," she replies with enthusiasm, coming into the kitchen. "Everything smells wonderful."

It's enough to distract even the most resolute of milliscouts from her quest.

"How've you been?"

[cook_the_rude]

Dr. Lecter starts boiling water and getting the teapot out. "I have been experimenting with paella," he says. "But I haven't made a vegetarian one yet."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Paella?" Rae echoes the unfamiliar word, curious. She matches the pronunciation as closely as she can.

[cook_the_rude]

"A Spanish dish," Hannibal says, "of rise, vegetables and -- usually -- seafood and/or chicken, seasoned with saffron."

[sunbaked_baker]

"It sounds good," she smiles.

"Saffron is the spice that's part of a flower? Mom has some she uses sometimes, but not very often."

[cook_the_rude]

"Yes," Hannibal says, pouring hot water into the put and rinsing it, "it's very costly, but you only need very little."

[sunbaked_baker]

"It makes the rice yellow, I think?" she hazards a guess, trying to remember the dish her mother made using saffron. "And smells... warm? But flowery, too?"

Warm isn't exactly the word she's looking for, but it felt like a warm, enveloping smell. Not overwhelming, but something you could sink into. It was a nice smell. Just hard to describe.

[cook_the_rude]

"Yes, exactly," Dr. Lecter agrees. "You do know their spices, even if you haven't used them yourself yet."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Yet," she echoes, grinning at him. "But I will."

One day.

"Are you going to the rummage sale next week?" Rae is looking forward to it.

[cook_the_rude]

"You know," Hannibal says, "I haven't even heard about that. Tell me about it, Rae."

He pours out the water and puts in tea leaves.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Ursala put up a notice announcing a rummage sale the first week of October. People can bring things they want to sell and then find things to buy," Rae smiles. "I love going with Mom to rummage sales and things like that. You never know what treasure you might find for ridiculously cheap. I've found books that turned out to be some of my favorites, that way."

"Some of the Scouts and I are going to be selling lemonade and cookies to help raise money for the bound patrons fund."

[cook_the_rude]

"That is very nice," Dr. Lecter says. "I'm sure I have things I don't want any more."

[sunbaked_baker]

"I do, too, but they're all back at home," Rae replies. "I couldn't be sure I'd find my door back here before the rummage sale, or I might have to explain to Mom where the stuff disappeared to."

[cook_the_rude]

"You have enough to do as it is, with the Scouts," Dr. Lecter says, comfortingly.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Yeah," she agrees, grinning. "But it'll be fun. We can't be sure what people will be okay with paying for lemonade and a cookie, so we're going to be giving people receipts from a receipt book I got that makes duplicates of each one. The patron will get one, then at the end of the day, we'll turn in our copies to the Bar, and she'll know which accounts to subtract from, and how much."

Convenient for the patrons, convenient for the scouts.

[cook_the_rude]

"So they will be paying however much they'd pay in their worlds?" Dr. Lecter says. "I wonder what the bar will be charging people who don't have cookies and lemonade in their world, like the Vikings?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Whatever they might pay for a small treat and a single drink?" Rae suggests, raising her eyebrows. "Those kinds of questions are why I'm leaving it up to the bar. I'm sure it'll be a fair price, in any case."

Even at ten, life is too short to haggle about inter-dimensional exchange rates.

[cook_the_rude]

"Excellent thought," Dr. Lecter says.

[sunbaked_baker]

She smiles. "If we make a good bit more than the cost of materials and ingredients, I might get the Entrepreneurship and Fundraising badges to add to my Scout hoodie."

[cook_the_rude]

"That must be fairly full already," Hannibal says.

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae ducks her head sheepishly, chuckling. "It's filling up, yeah. I'm not really trying for the Badge Overenthusiasm badge, but I might almost qualify."

"I get jealous of the kids at my school who are girl or boy scouts, telling about getting their badges."

[cook_the_rude]

"Can't you join the Scouts there, too?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Maybe," she says, hesitantly. "I might ask Mom if I can."

She would like to join.