Please let this one be a little easier on Potions

Waverly Canterbury

July 23, 2012 1:09 PM

Baking Club: An Important Meeting! by Waverly Canterbury

After several weeks of baking cookies, brownies, cupcakes, simple cakes, and icing from scratch, Waverly thought the Baking Club members were ready to do something a little more difficult. Having only recently turned thirteen, her knowledge of more complicated recipes was limited, but she still had her little recipe book for kids on hand. She also really wanted the club to gain more publicity by giving out free baked goods. And maybe, in the future, they could have a bake sale to raise money for something. Something important. She mostly just wanted to give away baked goods as good luck treats before the students’ Midsummer performances. It would be a nice thing to do for her fellow stressed out classmates and a way to “wind down” for the older students who had just gone through intense testing. Eating baked goods always relieved stress, unless somebody was on a diet or something.

She set everything up in the Potions classroom ten minutes before the club meeting was going to start. So far she was satisfied with everyone’s baking skills even if it didn’t always turn out perfectly. If some people didn’t make very good pumpkin bars—the treat they were making today—she’d just make extras. She had made pumpkin bars before with her mom and it seemed to fit in this magical world. There was pumpkin juice and pumpkin pasties and pumpkin pie. Pumpkin bars would fit in really well even if it wasn’t October.

Waverly also wanted the club members to make their own frosting, but that would take too much time. She just got generic frosting that everyone usually liked. They wouldn’t put that much frosting on the bars anyway.

The clock struck and Waverly went to the front of the classroom to see if everything was just as she wanted it. The instructions were on the board, ingredients on the desk, copies of the recipe on everyone’s table—perfect. It all looked good, making Waverly smile again. She hoped over to the door.

People started trickling in and she greeted all the familiar faces with big smiles. She had gotten to know everyone in the club better, being their “teacher” and all now. After everyone had come in and settled in, she went back up to the front after walking around and greeting some people personally. She beamed at everyone, happy that the Baking Club had become such a success. Well, in her opinion anyway.

“Hi everyone! I hope you guys all had a good week. So the Midsummer Performance is coming up so today I was thinking that we could make pumpkin bars and frost them for the school. We’d set up a table after the C.A.T.S. and R.A.T.S. testing so the fifth and sixth years could take them as a ‘good job on your testing’ treat and before the Midsummer Performance as a ‘good luck’ treat.” She smiled and looked around, goading everyone’s reaction before continuing.

“Now I put a sign-up sheet with times over there,” she pointed to the teacher’s desk, “so you guys could sign up for shifts if you have time. I’d really like it if everyone could sign up, at least two people per shift if possible. We’re going to do it the day before the Midsummer Performance. If you could sign up before you leave, that’d be great!” Waverly looked around the room once again before moving and letting her classmates see the board behind her. On it were the directions for the pumpkin bars.

4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

As usual, the ingredients were already on their table just waiting to be used. “Okay, all you have to do is mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin together until the batter is light and fluffy. Then you stir in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Mix it all until it becomes smooth. Then you grease the baking pan and spread the batter into it. Then just pop it into this oven here and it’ll bake for 30 minutes. I’ll watch that part. Afterwards you just need to do a cooling charm on the treat and frost it. Then you can cut it into pumpkin bars. Easy as pie!”

That had been a whole lot to say and she was pretty sure people wouldn’t remember. Thankfully, she had copied the instructions from her recipe book on a piece of parchment for all of her club members so they could see it easily. “Okay, great!” she said, clapping her hands together. “Let’s go! Remember, we’re making this for your friends and housemates and the teachers too, so make it your best! And don’t forget to sign up.” There would be a whole lot of pumpkin bars to pack away for the day before the Midsummer Performance.

OOC: I accidentally put this post in Charms! Whoops!

Subthreads:

Please let this one be a little easier by Clara Abernathy, Pecari with Waverly

Pumpkin Bars? Neat! by Aubrielle Thornton, Teppenpaw

19 Waverly Canterbury Baking Club: An Important Meeting! 218 Waverly Canterbury 1 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

July 26, 2012 1:53 PM

Please let this one be a little easier by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Over the last several weeks Clara had been attending the Baking Club meetings and slowly trying her hand at baking. So far she had been doing fairly well despite a few minor disasters. Her and Kitty's cookies didn't catch fire (a fact Clara was ecstatic about) and despite coming out a little flat they tasted pretty good. Her brownies came out almost perfect which surprised the snot out of Clara, her cupcakes were slightly lopsided but they still tasted like they were supposed to. Her simple cakes probably came out the best out of anything she had tried to bake so far, however, her attempts at icing was laughable. No matter how many times she tried making the stuff it never came out quite right. Her last attempt didn't even look like icing. It looked more like white construction paste. It was lumpy and the taste was horrendous despite following Waverly's instructions to the letter. The little Pecari shrugged as she made her way to this weeks meeting. She couldn't wait to see what Waverly had picked out for them to make today.

As she entered the Potions room and she smiled back at Waverly and gave her a small wave. She found a seat near her usual spot and put her stuff down. She had decided to bring her violin and the sheet music with her in the hopes that Waverly would like to practice some more after the meeting. They were doing well, but with the concert a day or two away she didn't want to take any chances. Clara had also visited the Library looking for anything that could help them create mist or fog for their act. So far she had had a small amount of luck. She figured she would fill Waverly in after the meeting. Clara waited until everyone was settled in before looking at the board behind Waverly. Pumpkin Bars, huh? Okay... she thought to herself as she listened to Waverly start things off.

So the Midsummer Performance is coming up so today I was thinking that we could make pumpkin bars and frost them for the school. We’d set up a table after the C.A.T.S. and R.A.T.S. testing so the fifth and sixth years could take them as a ‘good job on your testing’ treat and before the Midsummer Performance as a ‘good luck’ treat.” Waverly told them all. Clara nodded her head appreciatively at Waverly's suggestion. It was a really good idea. "I think thats an awesome idea!" she told the older girl when Waverly finished talking. She smiled again at her and listened intently as Waverly instructed them on the pumpkin bars. “Okay, all you have to do is mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin together until the batter is light and fluffy. Then you stir in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Mix it all until it becomes smooth. Then you grease the baking pan and spread the batter into it. Then just pop it into this oven here and it’ll bake for 30 minutes. I’ll watch that part. Afterwards you just need to do a cooling charm on the treat and frost it. Then you can cut it into pumpkin bars. Easy as pie!”

Clara sort-of doubted that last part, but she was willing to give it a go anyways. She put her mixing bowl in front of her and went to work. She managed to get the eggs into the bowl without getting any on the table. She then added the pumpkin, oil, and sugar to the bowl and began stirring. When she was fairly certain it resembled what Waverly described she began adding all the dry stuff. She started stirring and found it a little difficult to get all the lumps out. Once she was fairly certain she had gotten all of them out she bagan to grease the baking pan. As she did so she thought to herself So far so good. She smoothed everything out across the baking pan and brought it to the oven to bake. "Here goes nothing," she mumbled as she slid the pan into the oven and shut the door. She decided she would talk with Waverly while her bars baked (assuming she had done everything right).

"Hey Waverly...I was hoping after the meeting today we could get together and practice some more for the concert if you have time. I brought the music with me and I think I may have found a misting or fog spell we can use for the act, but I haven't fully tried it out yet. I was hoping we could work on that too," she told Waverly as she waited for the bars to bake. Hopefully these came out like they were supposed to. Until they were done baking she would have to wait and hope. As she waited for the bars to bake she also waited for Waverly's reply.

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari Please let this one be a little easier 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Waverly

July 26, 2012 4:57 PM

It will be with help, hopefully by Waverly

One of the things Waverly loved about the Baking Club was that she got to see her peers improve on their baking skills. Waverly also got to practice being a teacher which she loved too. She usually just walked around and tried to help whoever she could if they asked, but didn't try and show them what to do. Following recipes was usually the first step and that was probably the most important part. That and being able to tell the different ingredients apart.

Clara had supported her little spiel and she smiled happily. She was glad she had at least some support. Once Waverly set everyone to work, she walked around again. Several minutes passed as she walked around and then went back to the front to watch everyone. Hopefully nothing would explode. That would definitely be an indicator that someone had used magic which was not required in baking like it was in potions. Maybe that's why she sucked at potions because she couldn't tell when to use magic and when not to. At least when she was baking she knew what was expected. Not so in potions, sadly.

Clara approached her and Waverly smiled at her friend. It was about the performance stuff and she nodded eagerly. It was harder than she'd anticipated to find time to practice, but Waverly had been diligent. She didn't want to look stupid or make her friends look stupid up on stage. And since her family was coming now, mostly curious to see what her school did, she really didn't want to mess up.

"That's awesome! I didn't know there was a fog spell." And all this time she had been thinking of how to get a fog machine. "Anyway, that sounds perfect! I can definitely practice after the meeting." Some homework could be sacrificed, though probably not Potions. Maybe COMC. "I have the piano sheet music too. I have to carry it around with me all the time just in case I have some time to spontaneously practice. Can you believe the performance is only a week away?" Waverly was a little nervous, but only a little. Well, as of now. She double-checked the oven to make sure the timer was on for Clara's pumpkin bars. She didn't want them to burn.

0 Waverly It will be with help, hopefully 0 Waverly 0 5

Clara

July 30, 2012 9:41 PM

Lets see if they came out right.... by Clara

Clara stared at Waverly for a moment. It had not dawned on her that the concert was a week away! That didn't give her much time to test out the fog spell she had found for the concert. She hadn't had the chance yet to see if it would work right. She was also hoping that Waverly remembered the twinkle light spell she had mentioned to act as the stars. She followed Waverly over to the oven and pulled open the door when the timer that Waverly had set for it went off. She carefully, using baking mitts, pulled the tray of pumpkin bars out of the oven. She grinned lopsidedly at waverly and carried the tray over to her table to cast the cooling charm on them. The bars had turned out a bit on the fat side, but otherwise they seemed to be okay. She had yet to taste them though which might turn out to be the problem, but she would deal with that if it became a problem. She cast the cooling charm on the bars and gingerly picked up one of them off the tray. She brought the bar to her mouth and took a decent bite. She chewed it slowly taking in the flavor to make sure that it wasn't funky or anything. She wasn't a great judge of pasteries, but as far as she could tell her first attempt at pumpkin bars didn't suck.

She began smearing the frosting on them and carefully put each one back on the tray. Once she finished with them all she left them on the tray for the frosting to dry somewhat. She went in seach of the sign-up sheet and put her name down for the time right after the tests for the upperclassmen. She wasn't sure about signing up for the time before the concert seeing that she would be busy getting the fininshing touches together for their part in the show. She walked back over to Waverly and let her know that her bars seemed to have come out just fine. "They look okay and taste alright," she told the older girl, shrugging slightly. "I hope our classmates think so. Let's just hope I haven't accidentally poisoned anyone," she joked laughing slightly at her own bad joke. She let Waverly know that she would be up in the MARS room practicing and would wait for her there. "I've signed up for giving away the bars right after the tests. I figure with everything else going on I can atleast swing that much." She grabbed her violin and bag on her way out of the door and headed up to the music room.

0 Clara Lets see if they came out right.... 232 Clara 0 5

Aubrielle Thornton, Teppenpaw

August 01, 2012 7:07 PM

Pumpkin Bars? Neat! by Aubrielle Thornton, Teppenpaw

Brielle had been enjoying herself at the Baking Club Meetings held by her friend Waverly. She’d been a staple at the meetings and loved being there more than many other places, even though the meetings were held in the Potions classroom. They’d done cookies, brownies, cupcakes, regular cakes and icing from scratch. Bri wondered what they’d be working on that day as the excitement build up inside of her.

She walked into the room and smiled towards Waverly. Brielle, for one, had never really been very good at baking. But she also knew that lessons from Waverly were seriously helping her and Clara for sure. As Waverly walked up front past her, she said, “Hey Waverly! Looks like a fun one today?!” she said, pointing to the directions on the board.

Once all pleasantries were put aside, Waverly started talking about the Midsummer Performance and the CATS as well as the RATS. Brie knew that Arista would have to do the CATS, it had been stressing out her oldest sister more than she thought it would seeing as she was not normally a person who stresses on anything much. She glanced across the room at Arista at the mention of the CATS and she saw her oldest sister bite at her lip. A sure sign she was nervous about it. Hm… she thought as she wondered what she could do to alleviate some of the stress for her sister.

Sign up to help at the table, right. Got it. she said as she made a mental note to stop and do that on the way out. The directions lay ready and waiting on the board behind her and she took in the order and direction she was to take. Mix eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin together. Stir in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Mix it all together. Grease pan, spread batter into it, then pop it in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, then do a cooling charm before we frost it and cut into the bars. Nodding that she understood she started mixing the eggs and such together before adding in the rest as she had been told to do.

“This is really neat!” she said happily to her neighbor at the station nearby Clara’s.

0 Aubrielle Thornton, Teppenpaw Pumpkin Bars? Neat! 0 Aubrielle Thornton, Teppenpaw 0 5