Post by Kira Karyuudo, Hikari on Jun 15, 2007 8:18:30 GMT 1
[( Don't believe me? Curtis Stone is actually a Chef {if you've never seen the show Take Home Chef (Or for our UK friends Dinner in a Box (different show, same person))}, along with two other shows. I figured it'd be a hoot to have a thread like this. )]
She had taken the day to organise a surprise for the people that had welcomed her into the penthouse after the attack two weeks ago. Considering this Monday she had off - some of teacher meeting at some banquet room in San Francisco - she decided to head out to get some groceries to make a surprise dinner of...some sort. Kira figured she'd plan more as she browsed the aisles.
Stepping into the store, she grabbed a cart and made her way into the store, wandering up an aisle before pausing and grabbing a bottle of 'extra virgin' olive oil - the same one she knew they had nearly used up - and put it into the cart. A few minutes later found her with half a dozen noodle bowls stashed into the cart, and she was just beginning to feel around the vegetables when she heard someone address her. Glancing up, she was astounded to see a crew of over a dozen people in bright green shirts, with cameras, lights and microphones all centered on her and the one who spoke to her. He just happened to tower at least eight inches over her at six feet, four inches, with blonde spiky hair and bright blue eyes, which held a laughing smile, as did his lips.
"Excuse me, I see you're doing some shopping."
"Wow... Uh, yeah?" Her reply was somewhat sheepish as she glanced at the crew.
"Hehe, don't mind these guys, they just happen to follow me around everywhere. We're actually filming a show called Take Home Chef. I'm the chef, and my name is Curtis Stone. I'm originally from Australia but I've spent the last ten years in London, England, working in some pretty top restaurants. So, here's the deal. We walk up to people doing some shopping, generally minding their own business and, if you're cooking for anybody tonight, we'll shop together, I'll pay for the groceries, and we'll go back to your place and cook a gourmet meal."
Blinking several times at the offer, Kira drew a breath in, still adjusting to everything. "That sounds amazing..."
"So, are you cooking for anybody tonight?"
Exhale. "The ironic thing here, Curtis, is that I was planning on surprising the four people I recently moved in with due to...complications in my school dorm room."
"Ah, so these guys are your friends?" Tilting his head, Curtis encouraged her attention away from the camera, and onto the conversation with himself, his blue eyes naturally curious.
"Yeah, I've known two of them for nearly two years, and Rocco for less than half that. The fourth is Taiku's cousin that only recently arrived in America from Japan. Her name is Reiko. Rene is the other that I've known as long as Taiku."
It had been quick thinking on her part, and she had deliberately switched from the normal, familiar Kazuki to his changed name.
"Hey, that's great. So tell me, what's their favourite type of food?"
"Well, I thought it would be nice to have a bit of sushi for an appetiser, maybe a few variants...? With Reiko away from Japan three weeks now, I think it would be nice to give her a taste of home. Otherwise, nobody's all that fussy." She smiled as the discomfort faded.
They had began walking, moving through the produce and heading for the meat section.
"You know, we can probably do a trio dish of sorts for the appetiser if you'd like. Fresh rolls and a few different types of sushi and..."
"Some octopus..?" Kira murmured thoughtfully, glancing at the seafood portion of the section.
"Sounds good." He grinned, getting one in return. "So then, to keep it in-theme, should we have some fish with a stir-fry of sorts?"
"Mhm, definitely sounds good."
Curtis turned to the man behind the counter. "Hey mate, do you think we could get some, hm, the sushi-grade tuna, five of the nice oh--some of that mako shark, please. By the way, do you happen to have any whole crab, or is it just the legs here? Just legs? Okay, some of that and, oh, one of the yellowtail fillets. And some of the baby octopus? Thanks."
"Right then, anybody have any qualms about something sweet for dessert?"
"Well, from the nights out I've had with Taiku, he's not particularly taken with sweet desserts, but he doesn't mind them every so often."
"An, nights out, huh? He's your boyfriend then?" He chuckled, giving her a nudge with his elbow.
Kira blushed. The concept was still vividly new to her, despite their frequent outings. It was natural enough, softer than she had expected, perhaps...and that slight discomfort she'd felt on those first few times out had faded.
"Yes..."
"Well then, I'd date to say that I could make my apple tart for the lot of you. I do admit I've made it before, but I think it would be the perfect ending to the meal."
They'd wound up back at the produce section, their meat safely wrapped and stored in the top portion of the cart. He'd grabbed several handfuls of bean shoots, and set the cucumber back down as Kira told him they had some at the house, along with some others they didn't. Ginger root, rice vinegar, chillies and garlic came afterwards. Soon enough, they ended up looking at the alcohol.
"Ah, Curtis, Rocco would absolutely love[/b] you if you made him some margaritas."
There was something about the way she emphasised 'love' that had Curtis smiling, albeit uneasily. If he'd caught on, he didn't show it as Kira carried on.
"We, we do have the makings for that back at the house."
"You know, champagne would go good with all this fish and seafood. Pink, especially."
"Mmm, yeah? There is some wine back at the house as well... Some nice reds, I've heard."
"Well, that's fine, we'll just go with the pink champagne. It's really, really beautiful."
Several other bits and pieces were picked up with the passing thought, Kira either nodding or commenting they had it back at the house.
Ten minutes later found them driving through the streets of San Francisco, a few crew members sitting in the back of the car she'd gotten a week earlier. It was new, semi-sporty, and it was needed. Kira couldn't rely on Kazuki to take her to school every morning, and she could drive Reiko as well.
"Tell you what, I've got this little shop to stop at, so I'll go in and get what I need, and you can phone Taiku and ask him when they'll all be home. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good, see you in a bit, Curtis."
"Oh, and obviously, there's no mentioning anything about this, with it being a surprise and all."
She nodded as he unfurled himself from the vehicle, and Kira sighed, picking her cell phone up from inside her purse. Selecting the number she wanted, she sat listening until Taiku picked up.
"Hey you. How are things going with Reiko..? ...hehe. What time are all of you going to be back tonight? ...Ah, just thought we could all go catch a movie or something, considering we'll all be in early."
The conversation proceeded without a hitch and a few minutes later, Curtis returned to the car, settling a large bag on the floor between his legs with a grin.
Kira decided it would be a good thing to give them a bit of a pre-emptive warning, and spoke. "Curtis, just so all of you are aware, when we do the surprising later on, you'll want to stand back from the door. Taiku isn't really one for surprises; he's kinda edgy. His club was burned to the ground due to the actions of a gang back in Varron, New York."
"New York? What are all of you doing over here, then?"
"Well, I was transferred to Hircine High along with around two hundred of my fellow classmates. Varron High school was closed down, and for one reason or another, Hircine wanted us. And Taiku decided it was time to move on..."
"Ah..."
"There's a bit more to it than that, what with Varron's reputation for violence, but that's pretty much the basics."
More small-talk, and a drive later, they were in the underground parkade, carrying the groceries to the elevator.
"Oh yeah, by the way, we're all the way up, in the penthouses."
"Wow, amazing. Let's go. I always enjoy seeing new places."
~Minutes Later~
Kira unlocked the door and swung it open, only to be greeted by a very happy ferret, who scurried up her leg and torso to twine himself around her shoulders. The whole crew broke out into light laughter.
"Oops, sorry. I forgot to mention. This little guy here is Reiko's ferret, Hanten."
Said ferret tilted his head at the crew and cameras, whiskers twitching before he seemed to shrug, curling onto Kira's shoulders as they moved down the stretch of hall, the curling staircase bypassed as Kira turned to the left.
A row of chairs was by the counter, where Kira first sat with Rene and Rocco as they played rummy. Leading them around the counters, she brought them to the kitchen, Curtis already grinning at all the space and appliances. Kira was sure that if he didn't have the grocery bags in his hands, he would have been rubbing them together with glee.
Setting the bags on the counter, Curtis turned back to Kira with a smile, now rubbing his hands together as she figured he would.
"Well, you can go get yourself ready; take your time and freshen up and I'll put away the groceries and get things set up."
Kira nodded. "Alright. Feel free to grab your crew something to drink and relax after you're done."
~Fifteen Minutes Later~
"Hey, don't you look lovely?"
Kira smiled at the chef, giving a slow twirl for him and the camera. She had her familiar black knee-length, slightly floaty skirt and a button-up shirt that shimmered royal blue and purple.
"Thanks. Looks like you've been busy. So, what are we starting with?"
"Well, I figure it wouldn't be a bad idea to start off with dessert, but first..."
He produced one of the two bottles of pink champagne and popped the cork, pouring two glasses and passing the first to Kira.
"It's always good to taste a glass of the champagne before getting to work. It's kind of a mood setter, ya know?"
Kira chuckled and nodded, lightly tipping her glass against him before tipping it back to take a sip. The crew laughed at Hanten's antics from the living room, and the camera was momentarily diverted towards the distracting ferret. After taking a sip of his own, Curtis bent over before pulling up his bag; he took out an ice cream maker and set it on the counter, Kira blinking rapidly at it and then at him.
"Ice cream to go with that Apple Tarte Tatin."
Kira merely blinked in wonder before shaking her head, apparently speechless. Curtis grinned as he took the machine out of the box, setting it on the counter near the fridge. Pacing away, he quickly brought a pot to the counter, and set it down near the large wooden cutting board. Grabbing a carton of heavy cream, and another of milk, he beckoned Kira over, holding the cream carton to her.
"Now to make ice cream, you need equal parts of milk and cream. Also, another thing to remember is that because it's cold, ice cream loses a lot of its sweetness, so while we have it here, we'll have to make it overly sweet. You know how to slice vanilla beans, Kira?"
Blinking, she shook her head once, stepping forwards as he coached her. Scraping the tiny beans into the mixture before dropping the pod in as well, Curtis took it away and set it on the stove.
"Now, we let this come to just below a boil, then we'll put it into the machine and let it do its thing. What time did Taiku say he'd be back?"
"Around 5:30, he had said. I think he's picking up Rene and Rocco."
Glancing quickly at his watch, Kira's chef for the night nodded. "Alright. Sheesh, you're getting me all nervous now. How do you think he'll react to over a dozen strangers shouting 'surprise' at him?"
Kira smiled nervously. "I don't think he'll react badly or anything..." 'He'd better not.' "But, like I said, to be on the safe side, not too close to the door."
"Right, right. Well, we can quickly put on a bunch of rice for the nigirisushi and makisushi. The fresh rolls won't need rice, but they'll need a separate sauce rather than the wasabi and soya sauce."
The rice was set on, and the ice cream mix taken off the stove and strained, then the mix and machine were taken from the kitchen - as the noise was something else - and started up in the corner of the living room. The whirring sound was slight back in the kitchen, where Kira and Curtis were cutting carrots, cucumber, spring onion, and generally preparing the food for both the first course and the stir fry; additional vegetables set aside for that, including mushrooms, chalots, over half the bean sprouts, some more spring onion, a sweet red pepper, and celery, all sliced thinly save for the sprouts. Garlic, ginger and two colours of chilli peppers were set aside, a bottle of 'fish sauce' near them. They had lightly marinated the yellowtail in a small amount of the fish sauce - with a little bit of cane sugar - and some lemon. The baby octopus was in the fridge, marinating in its own little mixture. Curtis was just rubbing the last side of the yellowtail with a bit of the leftover chilli pepper, and turned to Kira.
"Now, there's going to be three or four pieces of our sushi for everyone, and at least half a fresh roll as well. I know that normally the fish isn't cooked, but I wanted to make an exception with this yellowtail. It's a beautiful fish. And as a side note to the viewers: Kira insisted on chipping in, so I realize this is more than I'd normally get. Now, we should really get these rolls out of the way."
The yellowtail was cooked and broken apart, and put into three rolls, the raw tuna sliced and set into three others, and the same with a portion of the crab. The rest of the crab, cucumber, carrots, and bean sprouts were used to create ten or so fresh rolls. It was five o'clock. Kira grinned at Curtis, who returned the look as they set the rolls into the fridge.
"Cookin' up a storm, Curtis."
"Yeah, but I couldn't have gotten so far already if you weren't helping. You've impressive talent with the rolls, Kira, and you're exceptionally good with everything else. We'll wait with the octopus until we're ready to serve the appetiser, let's wash up the rice pot anyway and get it ready to go with the oil. Then we'll whip up our sauce for the rolls, get the plates out, the drinks, and get the dessert ready to go."
The pot of oil was set on the stove, and Kira took it upon herself to set the table, the dark green and lilac purple of the napkins a pleasant contrast to one another. A small arrangement of flowers was set upon the table, as well as a few well-placed candles. They started peeling the Granny Smith apples, buttering the bottom of a cast-iron skillet before placing two cinnamon sticks across the center of the pan, and a split vanilla bean laying crossways so the pan was divided into quarters. As Kira was finishing rolling the pastry dough and Curtis was finishing the drinks, the radio crackled as word came in.
"Curtis, the boyfriend has just been seen getting into the elevator, let's go."
The end crrrk had just finished as the crew sprang into action, Curtis pulling out one margarita for Rocco, another - sans alcohol - for Reiko, as well as a glass of the pink champagne for Rene, and Kira grabbed her own glass as well as one for Taiku. Quickly racing as fast as they dared down the hall, ushered on by the crew, Kira giggled.
"The group has left the elevator and are coming down the hall. Quiet everyone. This is it."
With the knob turning, Kira and Curtis, along with the crew, took a nervous breath in.
And all seventeen voices bombarded the four people as the door opened.
"SURPRISE!!!"[/b]
Laughing at the expressions on the four people just entering the penthouse, Kira and Curtis stepped forwards, ushering them in.
Distributing the drinks, Curtis proceeded to fill the group in on why they'd been ambushed upon coming into the penthouse.
"Hello guys, my name's Curtis. We're filming a show called Take Home Chef. My name's Curtis, and Taiku, we met your lovely girlfriend this morning in the market, and since she wanted to do something special for all of you for welcoming her in after a bit of trouble at her dorm rooms, she wanted to surprise you with a supper. I offered my services as a chef to come in and cook you all a gourmet meal. And so, here I am."
He was laughing slightly, his eyes almost twinkling in good humour as they moved in. Kira moved up to Rocco, giving him a quick squeezing hug with her free hand, offering the same gesture to both Rene and Reiko, before slipping over to Taiku, giving him a soft hug as well as she waited for them to voice their opinions.
She had taken the day to organise a surprise for the people that had welcomed her into the penthouse after the attack two weeks ago. Considering this Monday she had off - some of teacher meeting at some banquet room in San Francisco - she decided to head out to get some groceries to make a surprise dinner of...some sort. Kira figured she'd plan more as she browsed the aisles.
Stepping into the store, she grabbed a cart and made her way into the store, wandering up an aisle before pausing and grabbing a bottle of 'extra virgin' olive oil - the same one she knew they had nearly used up - and put it into the cart. A few minutes later found her with half a dozen noodle bowls stashed into the cart, and she was just beginning to feel around the vegetables when she heard someone address her. Glancing up, she was astounded to see a crew of over a dozen people in bright green shirts, with cameras, lights and microphones all centered on her and the one who spoke to her. He just happened to tower at least eight inches over her at six feet, four inches, with blonde spiky hair and bright blue eyes, which held a laughing smile, as did his lips.
"Excuse me, I see you're doing some shopping."
"Wow... Uh, yeah?" Her reply was somewhat sheepish as she glanced at the crew.
"Hehe, don't mind these guys, they just happen to follow me around everywhere. We're actually filming a show called Take Home Chef. I'm the chef, and my name is Curtis Stone. I'm originally from Australia but I've spent the last ten years in London, England, working in some pretty top restaurants. So, here's the deal. We walk up to people doing some shopping, generally minding their own business and, if you're cooking for anybody tonight, we'll shop together, I'll pay for the groceries, and we'll go back to your place and cook a gourmet meal."
Blinking several times at the offer, Kira drew a breath in, still adjusting to everything. "That sounds amazing..."
"So, are you cooking for anybody tonight?"
Exhale. "The ironic thing here, Curtis, is that I was planning on surprising the four people I recently moved in with due to...complications in my school dorm room."
"Ah, so these guys are your friends?" Tilting his head, Curtis encouraged her attention away from the camera, and onto the conversation with himself, his blue eyes naturally curious.
"Yeah, I've known two of them for nearly two years, and Rocco for less than half that. The fourth is Taiku's cousin that only recently arrived in America from Japan. Her name is Reiko. Rene is the other that I've known as long as Taiku."
It had been quick thinking on her part, and she had deliberately switched from the normal, familiar Kazuki to his changed name.
"Hey, that's great. So tell me, what's their favourite type of food?"
"Well, I thought it would be nice to have a bit of sushi for an appetiser, maybe a few variants...? With Reiko away from Japan three weeks now, I think it would be nice to give her a taste of home. Otherwise, nobody's all that fussy." She smiled as the discomfort faded.
They had began walking, moving through the produce and heading for the meat section.
"You know, we can probably do a trio dish of sorts for the appetiser if you'd like. Fresh rolls and a few different types of sushi and..."
"Some octopus..?" Kira murmured thoughtfully, glancing at the seafood portion of the section.
"Sounds good." He grinned, getting one in return. "So then, to keep it in-theme, should we have some fish with a stir-fry of sorts?"
"Mhm, definitely sounds good."
Curtis turned to the man behind the counter. "Hey mate, do you think we could get some, hm, the sushi-grade tuna, five of the nice oh--some of that mako shark, please. By the way, do you happen to have any whole crab, or is it just the legs here? Just legs? Okay, some of that and, oh, one of the yellowtail fillets. And some of the baby octopus? Thanks."
"Right then, anybody have any qualms about something sweet for dessert?"
"Well, from the nights out I've had with Taiku, he's not particularly taken with sweet desserts, but he doesn't mind them every so often."
"An, nights out, huh? He's your boyfriend then?" He chuckled, giving her a nudge with his elbow.
Kira blushed. The concept was still vividly new to her, despite their frequent outings. It was natural enough, softer than she had expected, perhaps...and that slight discomfort she'd felt on those first few times out had faded.
"Yes..."
"Well then, I'd date to say that I could make my apple tart for the lot of you. I do admit I've made it before, but I think it would be the perfect ending to the meal."
They'd wound up back at the produce section, their meat safely wrapped and stored in the top portion of the cart. He'd grabbed several handfuls of bean shoots, and set the cucumber back down as Kira told him they had some at the house, along with some others they didn't. Ginger root, rice vinegar, chillies and garlic came afterwards. Soon enough, they ended up looking at the alcohol.
"Ah, Curtis, Rocco would absolutely love[/b] you if you made him some margaritas."
There was something about the way she emphasised 'love' that had Curtis smiling, albeit uneasily. If he'd caught on, he didn't show it as Kira carried on.
"We, we do have the makings for that back at the house."
"You know, champagne would go good with all this fish and seafood. Pink, especially."
"Mmm, yeah? There is some wine back at the house as well... Some nice reds, I've heard."
"Well, that's fine, we'll just go with the pink champagne. It's really, really beautiful."
Several other bits and pieces were picked up with the passing thought, Kira either nodding or commenting they had it back at the house.
Ten minutes later found them driving through the streets of San Francisco, a few crew members sitting in the back of the car she'd gotten a week earlier. It was new, semi-sporty, and it was needed. Kira couldn't rely on Kazuki to take her to school every morning, and she could drive Reiko as well.
"Tell you what, I've got this little shop to stop at, so I'll go in and get what I need, and you can phone Taiku and ask him when they'll all be home. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good, see you in a bit, Curtis."
"Oh, and obviously, there's no mentioning anything about this, with it being a surprise and all."
She nodded as he unfurled himself from the vehicle, and Kira sighed, picking her cell phone up from inside her purse. Selecting the number she wanted, she sat listening until Taiku picked up.
"Hey you. How are things going with Reiko..? ...hehe. What time are all of you going to be back tonight? ...Ah, just thought we could all go catch a movie or something, considering we'll all be in early."
The conversation proceeded without a hitch and a few minutes later, Curtis returned to the car, settling a large bag on the floor between his legs with a grin.
Kira decided it would be a good thing to give them a bit of a pre-emptive warning, and spoke. "Curtis, just so all of you are aware, when we do the surprising later on, you'll want to stand back from the door. Taiku isn't really one for surprises; he's kinda edgy. His club was burned to the ground due to the actions of a gang back in Varron, New York."
"New York? What are all of you doing over here, then?"
"Well, I was transferred to Hircine High along with around two hundred of my fellow classmates. Varron High school was closed down, and for one reason or another, Hircine wanted us. And Taiku decided it was time to move on..."
"Ah..."
"There's a bit more to it than that, what with Varron's reputation for violence, but that's pretty much the basics."
More small-talk, and a drive later, they were in the underground parkade, carrying the groceries to the elevator.
"Oh yeah, by the way, we're all the way up, in the penthouses."
"Wow, amazing. Let's go. I always enjoy seeing new places."
~Minutes Later~
Kira unlocked the door and swung it open, only to be greeted by a very happy ferret, who scurried up her leg and torso to twine himself around her shoulders. The whole crew broke out into light laughter.
"Oops, sorry. I forgot to mention. This little guy here is Reiko's ferret, Hanten."
Said ferret tilted his head at the crew and cameras, whiskers twitching before he seemed to shrug, curling onto Kira's shoulders as they moved down the stretch of hall, the curling staircase bypassed as Kira turned to the left.
A row of chairs was by the counter, where Kira first sat with Rene and Rocco as they played rummy. Leading them around the counters, she brought them to the kitchen, Curtis already grinning at all the space and appliances. Kira was sure that if he didn't have the grocery bags in his hands, he would have been rubbing them together with glee.
Setting the bags on the counter, Curtis turned back to Kira with a smile, now rubbing his hands together as she figured he would.
"Well, you can go get yourself ready; take your time and freshen up and I'll put away the groceries and get things set up."
Kira nodded. "Alright. Feel free to grab your crew something to drink and relax after you're done."
~Fifteen Minutes Later~
"Hey, don't you look lovely?"
Kira smiled at the chef, giving a slow twirl for him and the camera. She had her familiar black knee-length, slightly floaty skirt and a button-up shirt that shimmered royal blue and purple.
"Thanks. Looks like you've been busy. So, what are we starting with?"
"Well, I figure it wouldn't be a bad idea to start off with dessert, but first..."
He produced one of the two bottles of pink champagne and popped the cork, pouring two glasses and passing the first to Kira.
"It's always good to taste a glass of the champagne before getting to work. It's kind of a mood setter, ya know?"
Kira chuckled and nodded, lightly tipping her glass against him before tipping it back to take a sip. The crew laughed at Hanten's antics from the living room, and the camera was momentarily diverted towards the distracting ferret. After taking a sip of his own, Curtis bent over before pulling up his bag; he took out an ice cream maker and set it on the counter, Kira blinking rapidly at it and then at him.
"Ice cream to go with that Apple Tarte Tatin."
Kira merely blinked in wonder before shaking her head, apparently speechless. Curtis grinned as he took the machine out of the box, setting it on the counter near the fridge. Pacing away, he quickly brought a pot to the counter, and set it down near the large wooden cutting board. Grabbing a carton of heavy cream, and another of milk, he beckoned Kira over, holding the cream carton to her.
"Now to make ice cream, you need equal parts of milk and cream. Also, another thing to remember is that because it's cold, ice cream loses a lot of its sweetness, so while we have it here, we'll have to make it overly sweet. You know how to slice vanilla beans, Kira?"
Blinking, she shook her head once, stepping forwards as he coached her. Scraping the tiny beans into the mixture before dropping the pod in as well, Curtis took it away and set it on the stove.
"Now, we let this come to just below a boil, then we'll put it into the machine and let it do its thing. What time did Taiku say he'd be back?"
"Around 5:30, he had said. I think he's picking up Rene and Rocco."
Glancing quickly at his watch, Kira's chef for the night nodded. "Alright. Sheesh, you're getting me all nervous now. How do you think he'll react to over a dozen strangers shouting 'surprise' at him?"
Kira smiled nervously. "I don't think he'll react badly or anything..." 'He'd better not.' "But, like I said, to be on the safe side, not too close to the door."
"Right, right. Well, we can quickly put on a bunch of rice for the nigirisushi and makisushi. The fresh rolls won't need rice, but they'll need a separate sauce rather than the wasabi and soya sauce."
The rice was set on, and the ice cream mix taken off the stove and strained, then the mix and machine were taken from the kitchen - as the noise was something else - and started up in the corner of the living room. The whirring sound was slight back in the kitchen, where Kira and Curtis were cutting carrots, cucumber, spring onion, and generally preparing the food for both the first course and the stir fry; additional vegetables set aside for that, including mushrooms, chalots, over half the bean sprouts, some more spring onion, a sweet red pepper, and celery, all sliced thinly save for the sprouts. Garlic, ginger and two colours of chilli peppers were set aside, a bottle of 'fish sauce' near them. They had lightly marinated the yellowtail in a small amount of the fish sauce - with a little bit of cane sugar - and some lemon. The baby octopus was in the fridge, marinating in its own little mixture. Curtis was just rubbing the last side of the yellowtail with a bit of the leftover chilli pepper, and turned to Kira.
"Now, there's going to be three or four pieces of our sushi for everyone, and at least half a fresh roll as well. I know that normally the fish isn't cooked, but I wanted to make an exception with this yellowtail. It's a beautiful fish. And as a side note to the viewers: Kira insisted on chipping in, so I realize this is more than I'd normally get. Now, we should really get these rolls out of the way."
The yellowtail was cooked and broken apart, and put into three rolls, the raw tuna sliced and set into three others, and the same with a portion of the crab. The rest of the crab, cucumber, carrots, and bean sprouts were used to create ten or so fresh rolls. It was five o'clock. Kira grinned at Curtis, who returned the look as they set the rolls into the fridge.
"Cookin' up a storm, Curtis."
"Yeah, but I couldn't have gotten so far already if you weren't helping. You've impressive talent with the rolls, Kira, and you're exceptionally good with everything else. We'll wait with the octopus until we're ready to serve the appetiser, let's wash up the rice pot anyway and get it ready to go with the oil. Then we'll whip up our sauce for the rolls, get the plates out, the drinks, and get the dessert ready to go."
The pot of oil was set on the stove, and Kira took it upon herself to set the table, the dark green and lilac purple of the napkins a pleasant contrast to one another. A small arrangement of flowers was set upon the table, as well as a few well-placed candles. They started peeling the Granny Smith apples, buttering the bottom of a cast-iron skillet before placing two cinnamon sticks across the center of the pan, and a split vanilla bean laying crossways so the pan was divided into quarters. As Kira was finishing rolling the pastry dough and Curtis was finishing the drinks, the radio crackled as word came in.
"Curtis, the boyfriend has just been seen getting into the elevator, let's go."
The end crrrk had just finished as the crew sprang into action, Curtis pulling out one margarita for Rocco, another - sans alcohol - for Reiko, as well as a glass of the pink champagne for Rene, and Kira grabbed her own glass as well as one for Taiku. Quickly racing as fast as they dared down the hall, ushered on by the crew, Kira giggled.
"The group has left the elevator and are coming down the hall. Quiet everyone. This is it."
With the knob turning, Kira and Curtis, along with the crew, took a nervous breath in.
And all seventeen voices bombarded the four people as the door opened.
"SURPRISE!!!"[/b]
Laughing at the expressions on the four people just entering the penthouse, Kira and Curtis stepped forwards, ushering them in.
Distributing the drinks, Curtis proceeded to fill the group in on why they'd been ambushed upon coming into the penthouse.
"Hello guys, my name's Curtis. We're filming a show called Take Home Chef. My name's Curtis, and Taiku, we met your lovely girlfriend this morning in the market, and since she wanted to do something special for all of you for welcoming her in after a bit of trouble at her dorm rooms, she wanted to surprise you with a supper. I offered my services as a chef to come in and cook you all a gourmet meal. And so, here I am."
He was laughing slightly, his eyes almost twinkling in good humour as they moved in. Kira moved up to Rocco, giving him a quick squeezing hug with her free hand, offering the same gesture to both Rene and Reiko, before slipping over to Taiku, giving him a soft hug as well as she waited for them to voice their opinions.