eagerly latched on to her reference that he seemed like Mr.
Perfect to her though and thinking about that helped him recover his
aplomb.
Margaret managed to find a few things
to work with in his kitchen. He could see that she had some rice,
some honey, some almonds in their shell, and a couple of vaguely
wilted carrots. She had rummaged through the microwaveable meals in
his freezer and found a package of chicken breasts behind them.
“Alright, show me where your
nutcracker, your cooking utensils, and your pots and pans are. After
you do that, pour yourself a cup of coffee and go out to the living
room. Maybe put some more music on but if you do, please turn it up
loud enough that I can hear it also.”
Greg noticed that she once again had
the intent furrows on her face as he showed her the location of the
things she had requested. He had an 'aha!' moment as he realized that
she was stubborn, determined, and defensive when it came to the areas
that her ex-husband had considered 'hers' and that she was much less
confident dealing with anything outside of those parameters.
Greg did as she had told him to. He did
indeed put some music on, he picked a few classical pieces that he
thought she might enjoy and set them to run in a playlist. Then he
settled in to nurse his coffee as wonderful aromas began to drift out
of the kitchen.
It was less than half an hour before
Margaret came out with two plates in hand. She set them on the table
and returned for silverware. Greg moved to the table and looked at
dinner. It looked, and smelled, delicious but aside from knowing what
the ingredients were he had no idea how she had prepared it,
especially as quickly as she did.
“It's a honey-almond rice with
honey buttered carrots and honey glazed chicken.” came from
behind him as Margaret came back with the rest of the tableware.
“It looks and smells delicious.
How did you do that so quickly?”
“Everything in it cooks quickly,
well except the carrots but yours were a bit soft so they didn't need
to cook as long as they normally would. You cook the rice as normal,
steam or boil the carrots, and start the chicken cooking. While
everything is cooking you mix up some melted butter and honey for a
glaze and crack your almonds. Part of rice's cooking process is
taking it off the heat, fluffing it up, and letting it steam. You add
the almonds to it while it steams. Glaze the chicken with honey while
the rice steams also. When the rice is done steaming you serve it and
drizzle honey over it, being sure to get some on the almonds. You
pull the carrots, serve them and drizzle the honey-butter sauce over
them, then you pull the glazed chicken. You can pepper it to taste if
you like, I normally use a tiny dash on the chicken and rice. Then
serve. It's quick and easy. Plus, sometimes even bachelors have
everything you need to make it.”
Margaret's lips flashed up into a
smirk, almost a smile, with her last sentence.
“You smiled, I saw it!”
“No I didn't, that was a smirk.
There's a difference. Although you probably didn't deserve the smirk
but since you were so amazed by the meal and I consider it a very
easy and non-fancy one to make. I thought I might twit you a little
over it.”
“Well, if it involves smiles, or
even almost smiles or smirks, feel free to twit me about anything you
like.”
Once dinner was over, they settled into
the living room.
“What do you normally do of an
evening Greg?”
“Well, the last few years I
normally settle in with a movie or maybe a book. I don't read as much
as I used to though so I've been watching more movies recently.”
Margaret looked at the bookcase Greg
had dedicated to holding his movies.
“What kind of movies do you
watch?”
“Normally action adventure,
probably seventy-five percent of what's on the shelves there is
action adventure. The rest is a mixture of documentaries, comedies,
and a few other things.”
“Do you mind if I look through
and see what you
Perfect to her though and thinking about that helped him recover his
aplomb.
Margaret managed to find a few things
to work with in his kitchen. He could see that she had some rice,
some honey, some almonds in their shell, and a couple of vaguely
wilted carrots. She had rummaged through the microwaveable meals in
his freezer and found a package of chicken breasts behind them.
“Alright, show me where your
nutcracker, your cooking utensils, and your pots and pans are. After
you do that, pour yourself a cup of coffee and go out to the living
room. Maybe put some more music on but if you do, please turn it up
loud enough that I can hear it also.”
Greg noticed that she once again had
the intent furrows on her face as he showed her the location of the
things she had requested. He had an 'aha!' moment as he realized that
she was stubborn, determined, and defensive when it came to the areas
that her ex-husband had considered 'hers' and that she was much less
confident dealing with anything outside of those parameters.
Greg did as she had told him to. He did
indeed put some music on, he picked a few classical pieces that he
thought she might enjoy and set them to run in a playlist. Then he
settled in to nurse his coffee as wonderful aromas began to drift out
of the kitchen.
It was less than half an hour before
Margaret came out with two plates in hand. She set them on the table
and returned for silverware. Greg moved to the table and looked at
dinner. It looked, and smelled, delicious but aside from knowing what
the ingredients were he had no idea how she had prepared it,
especially as quickly as she did.
“It's a honey-almond rice with
honey buttered carrots and honey glazed chicken.” came from
behind him as Margaret came back with the rest of the tableware.
“It looks and smells delicious.
How did you do that so quickly?”
“Everything in it cooks quickly,
well except the carrots but yours were a bit soft so they didn't need
to cook as long as they normally would. You cook the rice as normal,
steam or boil the carrots, and start the chicken cooking. While
everything is cooking you mix up some melted butter and honey for a
glaze and crack your almonds. Part of rice's cooking process is
taking it off the heat, fluffing it up, and letting it steam. You add
the almonds to it while it steams. Glaze the chicken with honey while
the rice steams also. When the rice is done steaming you serve it and
drizzle honey over it, being sure to get some on the almonds. You
pull the carrots, serve them and drizzle the honey-butter sauce over
them, then you pull the glazed chicken. You can pepper it to taste if
you like, I normally use a tiny dash on the chicken and rice. Then
serve. It's quick and easy. Plus, sometimes even bachelors have
everything you need to make it.”
Margaret's lips flashed up into a
smirk, almost a smile, with her last sentence.
“You smiled, I saw it!”
“No I didn't, that was a smirk.
There's a difference. Although you probably didn't deserve the smirk
but since you were so amazed by the meal and I consider it a very
easy and non-fancy one to make. I thought I might twit you a little
over it.”
“Well, if it involves smiles, or
even almost smiles or smirks, feel free to twit me about anything you
like.”
Once dinner was over, they settled into
the living room.
“What do you normally do of an
evening Greg?”
“Well, the last few years I
normally settle in with a movie or maybe a book. I don't read as much
as I used to though so I've been watching more movies recently.”
Margaret looked at the bookcase Greg
had dedicated to holding his movies.
“What kind of movies do you
watch?”
“Normally action adventure,
probably seventy-five percent of what's on the shelves there is
action adventure. The rest is a mixture of documentaries, comedies,
and a few other things.”
“Do you mind if I look through
and see what you
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