fandomhigh | Baking Workshop 7/10, Monday Morning

Piper smiles at the students as they arrive. She kind of already fears for the home ec classroom. "Good morning everyone. I'm Piper, in case some of you don't already know that."

She points out a plate of brownies on the counter. "I usually make samples of the assignments I choose. Today is no exception. As you can see, you're going to bake brownies today."

She hands them each a list of ingredients and instructions. "I try to make the instructions as easy to follow as possible, but, if you ever have questions or need help with anything, please don't hesitate to ask."

Equipment Needed

bowl

8x8 baking pan

dish towel or oven mitt

spatula

mixing spoon

measuring cups

measuring spoons

Ingredients

6 Tablespoons Cocoa

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 Teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup flour

1 cup toasted pecans (optional)

2 eggs

Instructions

Melt 1/4 cups of butter in a microwaveable dish.

Measure 6 tablespoons of Cocoa powder into the mixing bowl.

Add melted butter and mix.

Add to Batter (1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt).

Mix batter.

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Flour the Pan (cover pan with butter, then add some flour to keep brownies from sticking)

Pour the brownie batter into the dish.

Put the brownies into the oven for 35-40 minutes.

Let them cool until slightly warm.

[ooc: ingredients and instructions from here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cally sputtered. "I never cheated on him! And I broke up with him because he was liking boys, and I never said anything about girls being an exclusive thing!"

"Willow said you said something about kissing a girl," Marie said.

"Yeah, I did. In front of the whole school, because of a thing the paper did, because Anders nominated me to kiss the girl he'd cheated on me with," Cally said that last bit very clearly.

Marie shrugged. "People around here have loose morals. If you're dating someone, you should only be dating that person and not thinking about kissing or doing other things with anyone else."

"Even when the person you are dating practically begged you?" Cally asked.

"That just seems wrong."

"It probably was," Cally admitted. "But on the list of things to say I hurt Anders with? It's... not even on the list."

Marie shrugged again. "It doesn't really matter to me," she said. "I'm just telling you what I heard."

Cally sighed. "And now I've gone and given you a horrible impression, cause I got super defensive," she said. "Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," Marie said. "You didn't do anything wrong to me."

Cally finished mixing her batter.

"Okay, thanks," she said. "Erm... maybe a change of subject is in order."

Marie dumped her batter in the prepared pan and slid it in the oven.

"Have you ever baked before?"

"I made a ton of cookies, last semester," Cally said. "Just plain sugar, though. It was for my homecoming queen campaign."

"You campaigned for homecoming queen?" Marie asked, surprised.

"I won Homecoming queen," Cally said, a little smug.

Marie bit her lip, remembering her Momma's words about not saying anything at all if you can't say anything nice.

She fiddled with the timer on the oven and started cleaning up her dishes while she waited for the brownies to bake.

Cally had just finished putting her own brownies in the oven.

"So, how about you? Do anything interesting back home?"

"Ballet and piano lessons," Marie said. "And I have a big family. I was on my junior high cheerleading squad."

"Oh, neat," Cally said. "Did you join up with the cheerleading squad here?"

"Yep, it's a lot of fun," Marie grinned.

"Good," Cally said. "You fitting in okay? I know some folks have a little trouble with that."

"I think so," Marie said. "I've made some really good friends."

She rolled her eyes. "The boys are kind of idiots though."

"Preaching to the choir," Cally said, as she sucked a bit of brownie batter off her thumb. "Give it time. You'll find somebody that's right. Just... don't do anything stupid."

Cally? Hypocritical? Nooooooo.

"Well, if he doesn't have a...thing... with another boy, that'll be a step in the right direction."

Cally bit her lip. "Ouch," she said. "Definitely not a keeper. Erm, wait." She went through her mental list of boys that have things with other boys. "It wasn't Anders or Conner, was it?" Cause she had full confidence Xander or Bridgey wouldn't pull a stunt like that.