Oktoberfest Baking Workshop Closed

Interaction | Hugh Lowe

She seemed to grow a bit red at his compliment. Was it that hot in here? Odd, he found it rather chilly himself. He frowned a bit as he tried to look for some sort of heat-source. Until she poked him back with an answer.. from a dictionary.

He smirked as he heard her reciting some dictionary definition what Lebkuchen had meant. He even half expected her to give him some historical anecdote. He just hoped it hadn't been something obvious he was supposed to know before entering this tent. Nevertheless, her diciplinary way of explaining rather amused him. Especially as moments later he read the exact line on the recipe. But he wasn't going to point that out to her, he did like her too much for rubbing her nose in that.

Her other reply left him clueless however. Sounds like a decent plan? That's supposed to mean I'm doing things correct, right? His eyes widened a bit as he tried to make sense of what was what. For a moment he was about to start sieving until he realised he was holding sugar instead of salt. In a rather quickly, and thankfully smooth, way he switched the sugar with salt. He coughed a bit as if nothing had happened, yet. "Right. We're fine. It's fine." He nodded and eyed Anastasia. He had to laugh as he saw her looking at the other tables.

He tapped her arm gently. "Hey, want to crush some walnuts? We need to mix it in this with some herbs I think." He smiled quite friendly, trying to come across as confident. He averted his eyes quickly from hers as he went on to read the next part.

Interaction | Hugh Lowe

Anastasia's heart sped up when she felt Hugh touch her arm and she tried not to jump twenty feet into the air. It took her a moment to register what he had just said since her heart was sounding pounding so heard she could hear it in her ears. Why was she like this around Hugh? Honestly. Most of the rest of the time, she was cool as a cucumber. Alright, maybe not cool, but confident and relatively functional. Not the jumpy stuttering mess that she was around Hugh. 

A horrid thought struck her. What if she liked Hugh? She winced a little at the idea. That would not do. Anastasia Beckett did NOT become a stuttering mess around some boy! No, there had to be some other explanation. 

"Sounds excellent," Anastasia said, biting her lip and starting on the walnuts. She sincerely hoped Hugh had some idea what they were doing since Anastasia had baked exactly once and that had been ages ago. Hopefully, nothing bad would happen. Anastasia tended to be naturally excellent at things or terrible at them and she had absolutely nothing in between. As long as she managed not to set anyone or anything on fire, she figured things would go fairly well. Of course, with her luck, setting others on fire wasn't completely out of the question. 

Interaction: Anastasia Blair Marie Katherine Alexandra Sophia Beckett

She seemed to jolt up a little as his hand touched her. He almost felt as if he had done something wrong but figured Ana had just not seen it coming. She was rather occupied looking at the other tables of course. Maybe it were her prefect duties that made her check up with the others? He wasn't quite sure. After seemingly getting a bit trapped in her own thoughts, she agreed with his plan. He had to smirk a bit as he noticed she apparently had no clue what to do. That was alright. He'd pull them through then. He could be strong, like a knight.

He started heating some honey, butter and a bit of sugar as Ana kept crushing. As she finished he grabbed her hand, giving her a smile and nod that she had done splendidly. "Perfect." He grinned, taking the walnut powder and mixing it with the flour and salt. As the honey mixture was ready he shut down the fire and let it cool a bit, placing the pan next to it. He made a small ditch in the flour and poured the honey in the small hole. After that he needed to take a deep breath. He had never cooked that much so fast in one go. His eyes searched for Ana's and a skile couldn't help but show itself on his face. His cheek regaining the familiar red blush he got when talking to her.

"See? We're fine." He shrugged as if they were both experts with dozens of years experience. In truth, his heart was pounding like hundreds wardrums thundering into battle. He looked down to his feet as he tried to think. Whilst wiggling his nose a bit he looked up the next step, just to try and not seem awkward in her presence. Though he had to be failing as he wasn't totally trying to see if she was reacting weird to him from the corner of his eye. He swallowed hard and straightened his figure. "R-right... Eggs next." he chuckled. Why was he like this? Was she doing that? Noooo... that'd be silly. Would it? I'm eleven... not old like dad. I 'm not supposed to do... feel... think... this.

Interactions→ Ami Procoppio, Amadea Campbell

What did Ami mean by saying that grams were weird? Surely, it had something to do with her accent- it was grossly different, sticking out like a weed in a garden of roses. It was American, grating harshly against the soft waves of European accents flooding the floors of Hogwarts. It suggested a childhood in America, meaning that she would've grown up with the Imperial system, as well. He had to resist the temptation to roll his eyes at her lack of knowledge of the Metric system- i.e., the real system. Amadea seemed more tolerant of her ignorance, although that was probably because they were friends, or whatever that strange concept of loyalty beyond alliance was.

"I'll stir," he offered, taking the spoon and slowly, steadily stirring the contents of the pot as he could smell the butter melting and combining with the sugar, the scent wafting up steadily. It was heavily European, nothing like smells of his house during autumn. It wasn't unwelcome per se, but unfamiliar for sure. Amadea then moved on to the next step, and Elijah immediately turned to look at the rack of spices at their table. Amadea was understandably hesitant to choose some spices to add, seeing as she seemed unfamiliar with them, but Elijah had some experience with the spices.

"Well, let's see..." he said quietly, scanning over the jars with a cursory glance. "If you want cinnamon, I think it'll take more of a Christmas, sweetness vibe... ginger is sharp and very strong, I suppose that you could say that it's an extremely unique flavor, with quite a kick. It's spicy, I guess you could say? I honestly don't quite recommend it, especially in a dish like this. Star anise is essentially the spice version of licorice, whereas nutmeg reminds you of turkey... like that American holiday you guys have- Thanksgiving, isn't it? 

"Cardamom is a strange mixture of citrus and mint, and compliments almost all of the other spices nicely beside star anise and coriander. Coriander is another name for cilantro, and is mostly seen in savory dishes, I suppose. Cloves are really strong, and is bittersweet- however, I am slightly allergic, so I do recommend that we not add that. And, allspice... personally, I just don't think it would taste very well with this."

He nearly wanted to vomit after the waterfall of words finished gushing from his mouth. He couldn't remember the last time that he had said so much at one time, but honestly, he felt like it was necessary- he doubted that the other two knew anything about the spices lined up in front of them. He had grown up with his mother, however, and knew at least the basics; enough to put his own little spin when baking breakfast or sweets, enough to identify each spice by its smell in the spice cupboard.

Hands drifting over each bottle, he selected cinnamon and cardamom, setting it down on the table in front of them. "I think these two would go quite nicely with each other- if I am not mistaken, taking into consideration the presence of these cookie cutters, these are meant to be sweet cookies of some variety? Thus, I suggest cinnamon and cardamom- not too much, but a a healthy dash of each."

The fire crackled underneath the cauldron that Anton tended to, and the male stayed quiet as he listened. Ms. Jensen was rather busy in the other ingredients, and he stirred the ones he was in charge of with the wooden spoon. Eventually, the cauldron came off the fire and with a quick flick of his wand, it sizzled out into a small pile of smoke, ash and un-charred wood. He watched her quietly. Her hands moved with such dedication; it didn’t surprise him. As an alchemist, he noticed when people did things to perfection. It seemed Ms. Jensen was a perfectionist, at least to a small degree. It made him smirk at his thoughts.

Eventually, the cauldron was cool enough and it was just in time when the other professor said she was ready to move on. He poured the mixture for the dough out onto the table, using the spoon to scrape off the rest of the straggling bits, before he spread it with the spoon. It was cool enough, but still rather warm to the touch. He found himself rolling up his sleeves quietly as he watched and waited for her to finish pouring in her part of the mixture.

“It’s still rather hot, so how about I start it, and then I’ll hand it to you. I’m sure you know how to knead better than I do. You look like the cooking type,” he said simply. “How about you choose a few choices for the cutting part, and when we switch, I can narrow it down to two? Sound fair?” he looked over to her before he started.

As he expected, even after allowing the mixture to cool, it was still fairly warm against his skin, He’d knead it for a few minutes to not only start the process, but to also air it out, allowing it to cool slightly faster. When it was warmer than lukewarm, he’d switch with her without much of a bat of his eyes, “Okay, let’s switch? It shouldn’t be too hot now,” he added. He smiled at her.

{ Interacting with Nagal }

Hjørdis glanced over at her fellow Professor as he spoke. He had readied the mixture, waiting for her to add into it before rolling up his sleeves in preparation. Without further ado, the Slytherin added the remaining part of the recipe into his. She expertly cracked the egg, pouring its contents into the dough. Carefully, she added the flour and spices mixture that she had already prepared into his. Her process of pouring was a little slow, giving him time to start kneading the dough together and mixing it as she continued to add more. It helped to allow the liquid to spread more smoothly throughout the flour.

She nodded, in agreement with him. She had no intention of burning her hands on the mixture. They were surprisingly soft and delicate. Hjørdis took a lot of care of her appearance, after all. She did have a lot of practice handling hot ingredients whilst cooking or making potions but she preferred to avoid getting burnt if that was an option. The lack of risk was rather nice, to be honest. Quirking an eyebrow towards the man, "I do? What makes me look like the 'cooking type', Professor?" She asked him with a small smirk on her face. Hjørdis was curious, to say the least. Of course she knew how to knead but she did not think she looked like the 'cooking' type, whatever that meant. To be truthful, Hjørdis was simply curious as to what he would actually reply with. She had no problems or qualms with his assessment. She did enjoy cooking, after all.

"Deal." She replied with a small nod as she met his gaze before turning to the table and looking through their options. There was a box of cookie cutters. They ranged in shapes and sizes. She could see some classic, standard shapes such as circles, stars or gingerbread men. There were even more creative options like some animal shaped ones and then a bunch of fun ones that she liked as they reminded her of the magical world. Looking through the box, she picked out a few options that she liked before tossing the rest back into it.

The first was the classic gingerbread man. She picked it up, her eyes lingered on it for a while. It reminded her of Christmas, to be honest. She was not a very religious person, by any means. However, Christmas for her was spending time with her family and loved ones. She held the cookie cutter for a moment, her mind moving to thoughts of her family. A few of her fingers shook ever so slightly as she stared at it. It was barely noticeable, unless you watching her hands. Hjørdis quietly placed it back on the table, allowing it to be one of the options. If he wanted to ice them in a Halloween form then they could easily turn them into skeletons or zombies, for example. There were plenty of other Christmas shaped cookie cutters too, in the box but she discounted those. These ones were the most versatile of the lot and had a sentimental meaning behind them. Though, she was not sure if she wanted to think about Christmas right now. However, her hands could not help but add them into the option list automatically.

The second that she picked up was a heart shaped cookie cutter. But it was not an ordinary heart. The top of it moved into the shape of a small bottle. It looked very much like a small vial or heart shaped bottle. Hjørdis actually had some muggle perfume bottles in that shape, which she adored. It was a rather cute shape, though she probably should not admit that. They worked very well for a pair of alchemists too, as it looked like little vials. Perhaps for love potions or potions that made people happy. Although she did not show it on her face, the second one made her smile a little as it reminded her of some fond memories.

Her friends from her school days had dared her to try making love potions on some occasions. She was the most skilled in potions of the group and perhaps one of the few that would actually risk getting in trouble to do it. There were quite a few amusing and happy memories related to it, to be honest. Once she gave one of her friends a vial of the 'love potion' that her friend had begged her for. It was actually just a mixture of different juices and had no magical properties. However, the placebo effect worked enough for her friend to 'slip' the boy she liked the potion and then tell him she liked him. They ended up getting married several years later and her fake potion helped them to overcome their shyness, at the very least.

When it came to potions, Hjørdis was not short of fond memories. She loved potions and everything about them. So the third cookie cutter she picked had to be another vial shaped one. This one was longer and thinner, much more like the standard vials that were often found on a potioneer's shelf. The female mused to herself, wondering if Anton wanted more vial shaped objects in his life as she added that third option into the pile. They were rather fun, in her opinion but she was a sucker for anything potion related, after all. It was something that interested her.

The final options were a little more Halloween - and Hogwarts - related. There was a snake shaped cookie cutter, which she thought was pretty sweet. It looked a little like her patronus and the emblem of the house that she now headed up. There was a small ghost shaped one. It was quite amusing because it looked nothing like the ghosts that she knew, but rather it was a muggle's idea of a ghost. It looked like a little child with a bedsheet thrown over their head, to be quite honest. It was sweet and innocent.

Hjørdis put the five options onto the table, near the box - just in case he hated all of her choices and wanted to find one of his own that was better. During this time, Anton had started to knead the dough in preparation for the next step. She glanced over to him as she heard his voice, nodding and taking a step towards the man, "Mhm, okay." Hjørdis moved towards him, taking over his task and started to knead beside him, "Thank you, it's perfect." She replied with a small smile on her face as she felt the temperature of the dough on her hands. It was warm but not boiling hot. It certainly did not hurt and she was pretty glad for that.

The Slytherin started to knead the dough, putting her back and shoulders into it. She leaned her body over the table a little, clearly putting a bit of pressure onto it as tried to knead it thoroughly. She wanted it to be as smooth as possible before they proceeded with the next stage. "Do any of those work?" Hjørdis asked him as she glanced over and motioned to the cookie cutters that she had selected with a nod of her head in their direction. The five chosen cookie cutters were a gingerbread man, a heart shaped bottle, a standard potion vial, a snake and a muggle's design of a ghost.

She kneaded for a while longer before speaking up again, "I think we're almost done with this," She voiced as she held the smooth dough in her hands, "Can you please grab the rolling pin for me?" Hjørdis asked him as she motions towards it with her eyes. The Slytherin stepped back a little, letting him roll out the dough if he wanted to and start using the cutters he had chosen. They were getting to the baking stage, which meant they were one step closer to actually getting to taste the cookies.

Interactions: Amadea, Elijah

Who knew such a puny, unassuming eleven-year-old could know so much about spices? Ami's eyebrows crinkled in both confusion, admiration, and disgust as Elijah prattled on and on about the different spices available to them... the names danced around in her mind, some familiar, some foreign, all still mysterious to her. There were some that she knew of, of course- the simpler ones like cinnamon or nutmeg she knew from smell, or coriander from sight. However, most of them she had never even heard of before; why did Elijah, of all people, get to know about them, then?

He pushed forward his two choices, cinnamon and cardamom, insisting that they only stick to those two for fear of overpowering the simplicity of the recipe. What a strange kid- not many their age knew much about baking, let alone eleven-year-old, introverted boys. However, she had to applaud his taste in spices- cinnamon and cardamom would go well together, she was certain. She reached for the ginger, too, setting it down in from of them. "We'll make gingerbread Lebu-" She tripped over the name of the recipe, the correct pronunciation eluding her, and she pursed her lips together sourly in embarrassment. "We'll make gingerbread whatever-this-is-supposed-to-be."

Not that it would really matter, anyway. She was a vegan, and already, the addition of butter and honey would immediately bar her from eating any of the final product. That didn't mean that she couldn't have fun, however, baking with her best friend and a random Slytherin dude who knew a strange amount about spices.

Grabbing the bag of flour, she passed it to Amadea, who had already said that she wanted to do that, and slid the spices over to Elijah, who seemed to know what he was doing when it came to them. She set a small bown in front of Elijah, too, to put the spices in before they were mixed in to the rest of the dry ingredients. "So that's, um..." Checking the recipe once more before accidentally spouting off a totally wrong number, she affirmed, "500 grams of flour, Amadea. 1 teaspoon of baki- wait, they use teaspoons here? Weird. 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and a tablesp- you British people use teaspoons and tablespoons too?"

Setting the recipe down in confusion, she glared at her two classmates, as if they had had something to do with the creation of the recipe. "My life is a lie," she said firmly, sighing heavily. Reaching for the baking powder, she passed that over to Amadea, as well as a large mixing bowl to put everything in. She took it upon herself to measure out the cocoa powder with the tablespoon, before dumping it into the bowl.

Interacting: Ms. Jensen

Her question about what made her look like she liked to cook was responded with a simple shrug of the shoulders. He didn’t really have anything besides the fact that she seemed like she was into making the cookies. He gave a smile regardless, and his voice trailed lightly as he answered. He didn’t like half-answers, and something about her made him doubt she enjoyed them, too. “Something about the fact that you seem to know what to do,” he pointed out. He gave her a wink, allowing himself to switch at the appropriate time. Allowing her to do the kneading after he did meant that neither of them would particularly get tired.

If anything, there was definitely good teamwork between them at this one situation. The alchemist washed his hands off and then wiped them dry on a hand towel he produced out of one of his pockets. Once his hands were dry, he stepped towards the various cutters that Ms. Jensen had chosen. They were all relatively interesting shapes; a gingerbread man, several potion vial shapes (he wondered if she chose this for the fact that she liked potions, or because she knew his job), a snake, and some weird muggle-related ghost. He rose an eyebrow. He chose the gingerbread one, the ghost, and then dug through the container for a rather standard pumpkin shape - much befitting Halloween.

The last thing he cared for was if Ms. Jensen got upset he didn’t choose more of her suggestions. He did choose some of them. Just… he didn’t really particularly like the others. He smiled as she asked for the rolling pin and placed the three cookie cutters on the counter before going to get the requested item, “You had some interesting choices. I figured the ghost and gingerbread man were fitting, but the rest weren’t very… Halloweeny. I mean, unless you’re going for the witch who eats children look,” he mused towards her. He retrieved the rolling pin and then set it down.

Honestly, now that most of the heating parts were done, they had almost completely shifted roles. He was feeling rather useless, and gave a laugh as he leaned his backside against the table. He watched her, mostly because he enjoyed watching other people work. Maybe that was why he became a teacher; he did find the way students learned and worked quite interesting. There was just something mesmerizing about it.

“So, Ms. Jensen,” he broke the silence between them as he watched, “Are we going to ice the cookies here once they’re done being baked, or shall we take this to the Potion classroom where there aren’t so many children?” Okay, so that was definitely an invitation.

Interaction | @Hugh Lowe 

She focused on grinding walnuts, still trying to listen to Hugh. She wasn't sure exactly what was happening to her, but she was pretty sure she was going to have a heart attack if it kept pounding that hard. She felt rather faint and nauseous and she wanted to smack herself. She was absolutely not going to faint or even worse, throw up. Not only would either of those options make a horrid mess and potentially hurt her, but it would also make her look silly in front of Hugh. 


Wait a moment, why did she care about looking bad in front of Hugh? She couldn't like him. She was NOT allowed to like him. Or any boy for that matter. She just couldn't. Anastasia Beckett was a calm, brilliant, responsible person. No time for something as silly as boys. 

She went to hand the bowl to him once she had finished and was surprised again when he grabbed her hand. She smiled back at him before turning away and glancing at the recipe to hide her blushing. "So, I'm guessing you've done this before?" she said, glancing back at him once she felt her cheeks cool down a little. The way he went about it, it just seemed like he knew what he was doing, which was far more than Anastasia could say about herself. She wasn't a baker, and while that normally didn't bother her, she detested not knowing exactly how to do something. She bit her lip and handed him the eggs. 

This whole thing was already far too messy for her. She was a bit of a neatnik anyway, so making a mess doing something she had no idea how to do was just about the worst thing she could imagine. Somehow, Hugh made it not so bad. NO! She was not going to let herself think like that. They were friends. End of story. Nothing else. That would just make everything easier. Anastasia knew that in her mind, but her emotions strongly disagreed.