Say it again slowly... on Potions

Waverly Canterbury

June 07, 2013 6:52 PM

Baking Club for One and All! by Waverly Canterbury

Having the Baking Club put on hold for an entire year had been relaxing, but it had been sorely missed. After such a crazy busy third-year, however, she had needed a full year to recuperate. A new year meant new members and Waverly was looking forward to new recruits. She had put up posters with the words, “First Baking Club Meeting of the Year!” with lots of colorful designs and little drawings of cupcakes, cookies, and cakes. But having posters didn’t stop her from telling all of her friends and all the new people she met about the Baking Club.

She was excited for today’s meeting. Not only was the club starting up again, but she now had a vice president to help her along. Bri had volunteered the year before last when Waverly had put the invitation out there. She was also one of the most dedicated members as well as her best friend, so the transition had been easy and she was excited to work with her. There was so much to think about including the Midsummer Event. When Headmistress Kijewski had mentioned the Midsummer Event for this year, Waverly had known exactly what she wanted to do: a Baking Club booth. It was fun enough hanging out with people in the Baking Club, many who were now her friends, so it would be even more fun to spread the love of baking through their delicious goods. They could each make their best or favorite baked good and present it for sale at the fair.

Thursday of the second week at four p.m. marked a happy time, so she had put a little more effort into her appearance and it made her feel a little more confident in herself. She was wearing the pearl earrings as a tribute to her mother’s baking influences. They were more visible with her dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail and her vibrant green eyes were brighter than usual in delight over a new year of baking. She had really missed it and what better way to get over a really sad breakup than by doing her favorite thing with some of her favorite people?

Now that she was here, she set out a signup sheets at the front of the room for anyone who wanted to join the Baking Club booth. After setting up the Potions classroom to her heart’s content with baking supplies and little sheets of paper with the recipe they were doing for that day (along with some milk for their eventual success at the end), she went to open the door and greeted everyone who came in and told them to take a seat near the front.

Once the hour struck, she closed the door and went up to the front to get everyone’s attention. “Hi everyone! Welcome to a new year of baking. I’m really glad you could all come. My name is Waverly Canterbury and I’m your Baking Club president!” She looked at her new VP to introduce herself before moving on. “As for announcements, if you’re interested in getting reminders of Baking Club meetings, just talk to my lovely vice president Aubrielle Thornton. And, if you’re interested in being a part of the Baking Club booth during the Midsummer Event, come up and sign your name on the piece of paper on the right.

“Now, can we all introduce ourselves really quick? Just say your name, where you’re from, what year you’re in, and what kind of experience you have in baking. I can start. My name is Waverly, I’m from Phoenix, Arizona, I’m a fifth-year this year, and I’ve grown up with a baker as a mom so I learned a lot from her. If anyone’s in Phoenix, Canterbury Delights has the best pastries and muffins around!” She smiled at Bri to go next before the line went down to the club members/visitors.

Once all the introductions had finished, she nodded. “Now with all the business taken care of, there should be a recipe on your desk for sugar cookies! We’re starting with something simple, but as the year progresses we’ll start doing more difficult recipes. The recipe calls for 2 ¾ cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, ½ teaspoon of baking powder, 1 cup of butter, 1 ½ cups of white sugar, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. That should make about four dozen cookies, so spread them around to your friends or send some home if you don’t want to eat them all. The supplies should be on your desk already. If you’re missing anything, please let me or Bri know. The recipe also wants the butter to be softened, so if you know how to do a warming charm that’ll soften it up real quick!”

She clapped her hands together and looked around. “Great, I think that’s it. Bri and I will be coming around if you need any help. Once you’re done shaping the cookies and everything, just pop ’em into the oven over there,” in the front of the class where she could keep an eye on it, “and make sure to check on them periodically. It should only take around ten minutes, but watch to see that it doesn’t burn.” She paused, then realized she had forgotten to mention something. “Oh yeah, and also, when you’re done with them, you can ice them with the homemade icing in the yellow bowl on your desk. Think of it as a welcoming gift. We’ll make our own icing as a club soon enough.”

Subthreads:

Say it again slowly... by Ji-Eun Park with Clara Abernathy

Willing to try by Irina Volkov with Brielle Thornton, Alexandra D'Alesandro, Irina

Two posts in one by Josephine & Jade Owen

May be putting my foot in it... by Henny B-F-R

19 Waverly Canterbury Baking Club for One and All! 218 Waverly Canterbury 1 5

Ji-Eun Park

June 08, 2013 2:28 PM

Say it again slowly... by Ji-Eun Park

Ji-Eun was excited about the idea of a baking club at Sonora. Normally, she was in extra curriculars because her mother pushed her to make her school record as impressive as possible. She still enjoyed some of them but they were all designed to make her seem exemplary. She wasn't sure how much credit being in a baking club got you but it had sounded fun. And so she had decided, for herself, that she would do it. She had even put in her cupcake hair clips to get into the spirit. She held back from signing up for the booth at the fair for now, hoping it would be an option later if she decided she did want to, but she wanted to see how she got on with the club first.

Waverly sounded like a very experienced teacher, which was a good thing. She felt slightly intimidated though by having to tell everyone about her baking experience, seeing as it was non-existent. She also hadn't had to introduce herself to a group yet at school. She didn't want to have to talk for too long in front of everyone and she was sure no else here was going to have two names. It was ok explaining it to an individual person but she didn't want to have to say it to everyone.

“I'm Ji-Eun,” So far, people at Sonora had been willing to try to learn it, so she felt like it was ok to use, at least at first. She could always give people the other option once she was talking to them, if they seemed to be struggling with her name. “I'm from New York. I'm in first year. I.. I haven't really baked anything,” she told the floor, really hoping that she wouldn't be the only one in that position.

She skimmed the recipe. She was good at Potions and this was similar – they were even in the right room – it was just a case of being careful and following instructions. She was good at both those things. But she couldn't do the warming charm Waverly had mentioned. And the recipe was full of words like 'beat' or 'cream' which she was sure had specific technical meanings that she didn't know....

“Do you know what you're doing?” she asked the person next to her softly.

13 Ji-Eun Park Say it again slowly... 268 Ji-Eun Park 0 5

Clara Abernathy

June 08, 2013 8:07 PM

It will be fine...you'll see by Clara Abernathy

Clara had been looking forward to coming back to baking club since her first year. Waverly had been an awesome teacher and she couldn’t wait to see what they learned to make this time. She had spent time learning more stuff from Lucy over the last two summers and had gotten pretty good at quite a few things. Homemade icing though was still the bane of her existence. She could not figure out for the life of her how to get it to set right. It always ended up either too watery or too thick. Neither she nor Lucy could figure out why. Lucy told her that it happened sometimes and just to keep at it. Clara merely nodded, scratching her head over the whole thing. Maybe I’m just not meant to make it she reasoned. It seemed to be the only explanation that made sense.

Clara rushed up towards the Potions room hoping that she wasn’t late for the very first meeting for the year. She had been excited for Bri for becoming their Vice President after she volunteered to do it. Clara had considered volunteering for it, but didn’t feel she could be completely trusted with helping others not burn things. She opted just for membership instead. She walked into the room and gave Waverly a cheerful wave as she found a seat. “Hi Waverly,” she greeted just before she sat down. She turned to the girl seated beside her and was happily surprised to see Ji-Eun. She went to say hello to her, but was cut short when Waverly suggested they all introduce themselves and talk a little about their experiences with baking. Clara involuntarily rolled her eyes as thoughts of her experience rolled through her head. “Oh boy…” she mumbled to herself, shaking her head towards her lap.

She listened curiously as Waverly stood up to introduce herself and get the ball rolling and Ji-Eun followed. She wasn’t all that surprised to discover that the girl had no real experience with baking. Heck, Clara herself had none before she too joined Waverly’s club. Clara stood up near her seat and introduced herself next. “Hi everybody…I’m Clara Abernathy. I’m now a fourth year from Napa, California and before joining the Baking Club could not bake my way out of a paper bag if I tried,” she laughed at her own bad joke. “Since then I can now bake cookies without setting them or the oven on fire and I can make the baked goods I make look like actual baked goods as opposed to some horrible science experiment gone wrong. So..yay me and thank you Waverly for helping me to be an actual baker of sorts.” She smiled big and gave Waverly two enthusiastic thumbs up before sitting back down. She listened to all the other introductions, giving each person a friendly smile and a small wave. Once the introductions were completed Waverly told them what they would be doing.

“Sugar cookies, huh?” she wondered aloud looking at the recipe as Waverly read off the ingredients to everyone. Clara rubbed her hands together confidently. I can do this she thought to herself. She was about to get started when she heard Ji-Eun speak softly beside her. “Do you know what you are doing? she asked. Clara smiled encouragingly at her. “For the most part,” Clara confessed. “If I don’t quite know what to do I have no problem asking before it blows up in my face.” She laughed good-naturedly and hoped that her light joking made Ji-Eun feel a tad better if nothing else. Clara sobered up a bit and began collecting up the items they would need from the recipe. “Okay..so it says here that we are to blend together the egg, sugar, vanilla and butter. In another bowl we combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder,” she explained to Ji-Eun. “So why don’t I mix up the egg, sugar, butter and vanilla into one bowl and you measure out the dry stuff and put it together in another bowl for now?” she suggested. “Once I’m done mixing up the other stuff we’ll add the flour and stuff to it. Once that’s all mixed up, then we can both make balls out of it and put them on the cookie sheet to bake,” she pointed to the flat piece of metal off to the side of them. She also showed her what the measuring cup looked like as well. “How does that sound to you? Not so bad right?” She gave Ji-Eun another encouraging smile as she set to work on the warming charm for the butter. She sent a silent thank you Waverly’s way for teaching her that little tid bit. Once she had her stuff mixed up and ready to go she turned to Ji-Eun. “Ready to add the dry stuff now?” she asked encouragingly.

0 Clara Abernathy It will be fine...you'll see 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Irina Volkov

June 10, 2013 7:05 PM

Willing to try by Irina Volkov

Irina hadn’t thought that school would really have a baking club, but since it did, she figured she might as well try it out. After all, the more one could list on her resume, the better. So, this is how she found herself in at a meeting of the baking club. She wasn’t really sure what she was expecting though and to be honest, she was a little nervous about it. She had never baked before in her life. Her uncle and aunt had house elves that did all the work. And what she did know about food, she didn’t think the club would really be making. But this was what the whole school experience was about right? This is what made a well-rounded individual.

Keeping a little bit apart from the rest of the group, she studied the others until an older girl introduced herself as club president. She made a note of that. Names were always important and what they represented were just as, if not more than, important. President – Waverly Canterbury and Vice – Aubrielle Thornton. She would remember the president by her pearl earrings. Irina never wore pearl earrings, but they were one of the few wardrobe accessories that she approved of. They always looked classy. Definite approval for that.

After a couple other people were introduced, it was her turn. “My name is Irina Volkov. I am from Russia. This is my first year at Sonora. I have never baked before, but I am willing to try,” she stated quickly. She always hated having to speak in front of groups even if they were informal. But on an overall scale, she didn’t think the introduction went too badly. She managed to not run her words together. She knew that was something she was going to have to watch whenever she had to speak in front of a class. After all, then it might affect her grade. Thankfully, here it was just for fun, mostly.

When Waverly Canterbury started going through all of the instructions, all Irina could do was stare. Why did they need to make four dozen cookies? Wasn’t that a lot of cookies? She didn’t really have anyone to give them too. Of course, this was assuming that any actually made it to the oven. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be doing with all of the stuff in front of her. And she certainly hoped the icing in front of her wasn’t lemon. She hated lemon. Hopefully, it was just colored vanilla. Yuck, lemon. She didn’t even want to try the icing for fear it was.

Instead, she turned to her ingredients. Thankfully, her blonde hair was already up in a ponytail so she didn’t have to worry about it getting in her face. Okay, bowl…bowl, she found the bowl and put everything in it including the whole egg. After she did, though, she was pretty sure that she wasn’t supposed to do that. No one else was. Not a problem. She could fix this. Slowly, she started picking the pieces of shell out of the bowl. She really wished it hadn’t cracked when she had put it in. “This is definitely harder than it looks,” she said to no one in particular.

0 Irina Volkov Willing to try 0 Irina Volkov 0 5

Ji-Eun Park

June 12, 2013 10:51 AM

I want to believe you.. by Ji-Eun Park

Clara's explanation sounded like she knew what she was talking about, and definitely seemed to follow the recipe in front of them. Ji-Eun tried to trust her, although it was a little difficult given some of the things she'd said in her introduction, and in answer to her question. Even though Clara had said she could bake a few things now, she seemed somewhat haphazard about things. Baking, like Potions, seemed to be one of those areas where taking care was important. Ji-Eun was one for following directions and doing things precisely Although the older girl was definitely friendly, Ji-Eun was glad that she would never be in the position of partnering her in class as she was sure she would find the whole experience incredibly stressful. She was not a fan of winging it, especially when something like a grade was at stake.

“What does it mean by 'blend'?” she asked. Even though Clara was taking care of that part, she wanted to understand it. The whole point of coming here was to learn to be able to do these things herself. “I mean, I know what the word blend means,” she added hastily, in case Clara thought she'd never heard it, “But does it mean something specific in baking? And what's the difference between baking soda and baking powder?”

She took the measuring cups and scooped out the dry ingredients, neatly levelling the top off each cup before she added it. Although she didn't have experience of baking, she had grown up around Potions, which meant rigour and strictness when it came to amounts. If she needed a cupful, and she piled ingredients above the top, then that was more than a cup. It just seemed obvious to her.

“Ok,” she said, having added neat, level spoonfuls of the baking powder and soda to her dry ingredients, and giving it a stir or two to evenly distribute the different powders throughout the bowl, “Ready!”

13 Ji-Eun Park I want to believe you.. 268 Ji-Eun Park 0 5

Clara Abernathy

June 12, 2013 10:12 PM

I want you to believe me by Clara Abernathy

Clara took her time in answering Ji-Eun’s questions about blending and the difference between Baking Powder and Baking Soda. To be honest, Clara had never really paid much attention to the difference between the two until she began coming to baking club. Waverly had done a pretty decent job in explaining that there really wasn’t a distinct difference in the powders themselves as much as there was in the ways they were used. Clara tried to come up with the best way to describe that same differences to Ji-Eun without sounding like she was a remedial student in any way. As for the blending part Clara smiled when Ji-Eun felt the need to explain that she knew what the word itself meant and nodded when she asked if it meant something different for baking. She brought the bowl with the “wet” ingredients in it closer to Ji-Eun so she could show her first hand what the word meant for baking.

“I never doubted that you knew the meaning of the word,” she assured the girl still smiling at her. “And no, even for baking it still means the same thing,” she explained. She picked up the large wooden stirring spoon and began mixing up the contents in the bowl, showing Ji-Eun her actions as she did them. “If you were to put the word blend into its simpliest form its basically just a fancy word for mixing stuff together,” she said matter-of-factly. “Whether you apply it to baking or…say Chemistry…its still doing the same thing. You’re still mixing different things together to make a certain item. In our case, cookie dough instead of a possibly explosive compound.” She grabbed one of the large wooden mixing spoons and began to slowly mix the stuff in the bowl together so Ji-Eun could see what she was doing. She handed her the spoon and the bowl and told her to go ahead and finish what she started. “Here you try,” she suggested cheerfully. While Ji-Eun mixed it up the rest of the way or not Clara continued answering her questions.

“If I remember correctly, and we can consult Waverly if I’m wrong, there really isn’t much of a difference between Baking Soda and Baking Powder other than what they are used for,” she told the younger girl. “Both technically are used as a sort of bonding powder for everything else so that the other stuff mixes well together and they’re used as a slight rising agent for certain things. How much rise you want from a baked good will determine whether you use baking soda or baking powder,” she told Ji-Eun. “For instance if you were making chocolate chip cookies…you would use the baking soda instead of the powder because you only want a partial rise out of the cookies. For sugar cookies the dough is denser and therefore needs both to get the desired result.” She hoped she had explained it well enough for Ji-Eun to understand what she was talking about. If not they could always ask Waverly to try and explain it. Once the “wet” ingredients were mixed up all the way, Ji-Eun told Clara that she was ready.

Clara had Ji-Eun start slowly pouring the dry goods in with the wet stuff. “Sounds good,” she said to Ji-Eun’s “Ready” comment. “Okay…now comes the fun part. Here’s where we mix the flour and stuff with the batter we just finished mixing together to make the rest of the dough.” She began adding the “dry” stuff in a little at a time. She figured she’d have Ji-Eun stir this part alone so she got a good feel for the process. “I’m gonna start adding the flour stuff in a little at a time so it’s easier to mix in. Once all the flour stuff is mixed in really good then we can make the cookie balls and place them in the oven to bake,” she told her. Once the flour mix was completely mixed into the dough, Clara showed Ji-Eun how to make the dough into cookies. “Now that we have the dough ready we start forming the cookies like this,” she explained, grabbing a small amount of dough and rolling it between her palms. She kept rolling until she had a pretty decent ball of dough that she flattened slightly as she moved the dough in her hands. She placed one of the cookie sheets in front of her and placed the flattened cookie on the sheet. She showed Ji-Eun the rolling method a couple of more times before encouraging the girl to join her and try them on her own.

“Why don’t you give it a try?” she suggested cheerfully, placing another formed cookie on the sheet with the other few she made. “Its actually a lot more fun than it looks,” she assured her.

0 Clara Abernathy I want you to believe me 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Brielle Thornton

June 14, 2013 4:47 PM

Willing to help by Brielle Thornton

Brielle had missed Baking Club the year before during the Challenges, but she knew, just like Waverly had, that it would have been really hard to concentrate on anything like that while they were busy with the Challenges. The year before Bri had told Waverly that she’d be her Assistant or rather, VP, and she wondered what the outcome of one of her best friend’s decisions was. When she was told that she was indeed the VP she was all excited.

She’d signed herself up for Quidditch to be Seeker for Teppenpaw, had joined Book Club, had decided to take a few electives and had made up her mind to become a Library Monitor or Assistant to top off her year. She’d be busy, but what did it matter? It would look good on her resume at least. Apparently I’m taking things from Ris… she thought, with amusement. “Interesting…” she thought as she walked into the first Baking Club meeting of the year.

After the Opening Feast, she wondered if Baking Club would have its own booth for the Fair, and made plans to talk to Waverly about it, but she hadn’t gotten the chance to do it just yet. It was a Thursday, just before 4pm when Brielle walked into the room to meet up with Waverly and the rest of the club. When Bri saw the signups for the Baking Club Booth, she smiled and decided that great minds really did think alike. She put her name at the top of the page with a little smile next to it and went over to Waverly.

“Hey Waverly! I’m right at the top of the list!” she said, chattering excitedly to her best friend, pointing to the signups as everyone else walked in too. Waverly shut the door and Bri stayed standing near the front of the room with her as she spoke. “And I’m Aubrielle Thornton, but you can call me Brielle or Bri if you’d like.” she added before Waverly continued about announcements. Bri smiled at the mention of people coming to see her. She wanted to be sure that she was seen as friendly and not scary though, so she made sure that it was a genuine smile.

Waverly wanted everyone to introduce themselves and she started. Then Waverly looked towards Bri and the Teppenpaw took that as she should go next. “I’m Brielle Thornton, like I said earlier. We’re from the Willamette Valley, Oregon. I didn’t grow up with a Baker as a Mom, but I’ve learned lots from my mom and even more from Waverly. This club is good for anyone who both knows about baking and who doesn’t. Waverly’s a great teacher! I’m really glad to see you all here!” she said, passing the buck to the next person.

One of the girls, Ji-Eun, said that she was from New York and that she hadn’t baked before. Another, Irina, was from Russia and Bri’s ears perked up with both. New York was HUGE with Broadway and Times Square and everything and she could imagine how awesome it would be to live there. But then Russia is a whole different COUNTRY! Wow…

When all the introductions were done, Waverly nodded again and talked about the recipe they were working on that day, sugar cookies. Bri’s mouth watered at the thought of the cookies. Sugar cookies were her favorites! When Waverly said the two of them would be walking around to help, Bri nodded to her and to the others and Bri watched Clara start by talking to one of the first years. Bri popped over towards them briefly and listened to the fact that Clara was explaining things correctly and confidently and she wanted to make a point to tell her cousin that she was proud of her. Bri only hoped that Clara would keep things from being set on fire…

Bri walked on and spotted the girl who said her name was Irina. She’d looked a little nervous talking in front of the group, and Bri wanted to make sure she was okay. Brielle looked at the blonde to see that she was okay and watched as she pulled bits of egg shell out of the bowl. “It’s not easy to pick the shells out…” Bri said to her, “How about if I grab up another set of ingredients for you?”

She looked at Irina, waiting for her answer before she spoke again. “Then I can help you if you’d like?”

0 Brielle Thornton Willing to help 0 Brielle Thornton 0 5

Ji-Eun Park

June 20, 2013 11:41 AM

I want unburnt cookies by Ji-Eun Park

Ji-Eun took the wet ingredients and the spoon feeling a little less scared of them than before. Blending was just what it sounded like. She watched the trails of white sugar disappear as they dissolved in the mix, and as the streaks of darker yellow from the yolk of the egg faded into the pale shade of the butter to leave the whole mixture a medium tone. It made sense – everything needed to be evenly dispersed into everything else, otherwise you'd end up with... Who knew what? Something more like a sugar and butter omlet, maybe. That didn't sound nearly so appealing as cookies.

She nodded along to Clara's explanation of baking powder versus soda. It sounded like something that just needed memorising or consultation of the recipe in order to determine what used each raising agent, rather than something there was a particular rule for knowing. Ok, there was the fact that denser doughs needed more raising agent, but that was a relative scale and not something she thought she'd know by looking, or by the name of what they were making.

She took the dough when Clara prompted her, rolling it into a neat ball between her small hands. It was quite fun to do – the dough was cool and smooth and it felt vaguely calming to roll it. She squidged each one as Clara had shown her, placing them on the sheet, and then consulted the recipe. It seemed that they were now ready to go in the oven.

“Do you have a timer?” she asked Clara, as she placed the cookies in the oven. “It says they only need six to eight minutes....” she added, settling herself by the oven door to peer in through its window and watch the cookies. They had been fun to make and would be really fun to eat. She would be very upset if they burnt. “And will be done when they are golden brown,” she quoted, determined to follow the recipe precisely in order to ensure the safety of her baking.

13 Ji-Eun Park I want unburnt cookies 268 Ji-Eun Park 0 5

Josephine & Jade Owen

June 24, 2013 4:12 PM

Two posts in one by Josephine & Jade Owen

"Yes, but you can't just be selfish all the time, because you might need a favour one day," Josephine was patiently explaining to her younger sister, "and then where will you be?"

Jade huffed, her arms folded across her chest, and was saved the hassle of forming a witty reply as averly called attention to the start of the meeting. Whilst Jade had never really considered herself a joiner, she had, in time, been convinced to come along to Waverly's club. Initially, the fifth year had been perfectly content to just part-take in the consumption of her roomate's baked delights. Yet, as time progressed, it became apparent that she could have cookies and brownies far more frequently, especially over the summer, if she learned to bake them herself. It was unfortunate that she was beginning the year in a bad mood, but that was Josephine's fault, not hers. Besides, Waverly had shared a dormitory with her for four years, and would probably forgive her scowling.

Josephine, on the other hand, was pleased to have a club to join. She didn't want to hang out in the library any more than was strictly necessary (plus the other library monitors, as a group, freaked her out a little), and there was no way she was ever going to even consider playing Quidditch, so when Waverly had first inititated the club, Josephine had jumped at the chance to join, and she hadn't ever looked back. Admittedly, while she had been trying to lose weight, Josephine had found the baked goods a very unwelcome temptation, but now she had her weight more or less under control, the seventh year didn't fear an occasional slic of cake or bite of a muffin. She smiled at the new members to the group, gave an encouraging nod to Waverly, and then to Brielle, too. She wasn't sure how she felt about helping to run a booth at the Fair, as it would be her last ever Midsummer Event and she thought she might just want to enjoy it as an attendee, she was still happy to continue atending the club.

When the introductions reached her, Josephine habitually brushed her long, chestnut hair back over her right shoulder, and said, "I'm Josephine, I'm in seventh year." She detested speaking in front of groups of people, but as she was one of the oldest in a relatively small crowd, she did manage to regain her composure. "I'm in Pecari, and I've been coming to the baking club since Waverly started it." She smiled at everyone, and then looked to Jade, seated next to her, throwing her a pointed glance that read 'be nice, and try not to act like a child.'

Jade kept her arms crossed, and pointedly stuck her tongue out at Josephine, defiant in every thought and motion. She tossed her head as she spoke, her darker brown curls bouncing half-heartedly with the movement. "Whatever, I'm Jade Owen, Assistant Captain and Seeker for the Pecari Quidditch team," (irrelevant, but who cared?) "and I don't have all that much experience baking cookies and stuff, but I have lots of experience eating them." She grinned, pleased with herself and her contribution.

Josephine sighed and tutted, but when it came to beginning to bake, she still automatically partnered her sister. "You do the weighing out, I'll start the sorting?" Josephine asked, but the question was more or less rhetorical, as the sisters were close enough that they already knew how each other preferred to work. Josephine was practical, and creative, and believed in trying new things.

Jade, on the other hand, was meticulous in the small details, taking no pleasure in the bigger picture, and wanted to take responsibility for her own successes, but to blame others for her failures. She would measure the ingredients perfectly, using the scale as a judge and jury. therefore she would know for certain that she'd gotten her part right, and if the cookies turned out badly, it would be her sister's fault. So it was she began weighing and meauring out all the ingredients that Waverly had detailed.

0 Josephine & Jade Owen Two posts in one 0 Josephine & Jade Owen 0 5

Clara

June 27, 2013 3:42 PM

I want unburnt cookies too by Clara

Clara watched Ji-Eun finish up with the batter and felt really good about letting her do most of the mixing. She really seemed to enjoy doing it. She also seemed to enjoy learning how to make the cookie balls as well because she smiled through most of the process. Clara knew she probably wasn’t the best teacher in the world, but at least the two of them were having fun. She heard Ji-Eun ask if they had a timer for the cookies and Clara frowned for a second as she thought about it. She was sure there might be a timer on the oven itself that they were using to bake the cookies in and decided to check. If there wasn’t one they would just have to be really careful and check them often. She walked with Ji-Eun over to the oven and she couldn’t see anything on it that could act as a timer. She sighed slightly and waited for Ji-Eun to place the cookies in the oven before speaking.

“Well…sometimes these ovens have timers built into them,” she explained absently. “But I don’t see one on here so we’re probably going to have to watch them very closely. We’re waiting for them to get a really light brown on top,” she told the other girl. She gave her an encouraging smile and waited as their first batch of cookies baked. “While we’re waiting, why don’t we go and get another tray of cookie balls set up?” she suggested, walking back over to their table and rolling out a few more cookie balls. She flattened them slightly as she worked and placed them on the second sheet. Clara glanced up towards the oven and wiped her hands off with a towel they had nearby. She opened up the oven door and saw that the cookies had started turning a light brown. Since she knew from the last time that she made cookies that they continue to bake slightly after you take them out of the oven, Clara went ahead and pulled them out. She brought the hot cookie sheet and the towel she used to remove them over to their table to show Ji-Eun what they had done. She set the sheet excitedly down on the cooling rack as she showed her partner.

“Hey Ji-Eun check’em out,” she said pointing to their first batch of completed cookies. “They look great don’tcha think?” she asked as she used the spatula to remove them from the cookie sheet onto the cooling rack. “What do you say we finish off the rest of the batter and bang out these cookies?” Clara asked her excitedly. She went back to making cookie balls and finished filling up the cookie sheet. She couldn’t wait to ice the cookies and see what kind of icing Waverly made for them to use.

0 Clara I want unburnt cookies too 232 Clara 0 5

Alexandra D'Alesandro

June 30, 2013 12:39 AM

Willing to politely interrupt. by Alexandra D'Alesandro

Alex had decided to join the baking club to have something to do. She wasn’t exactly the most social person ever, but she figured it couldn’t hurt to start getting to know more people, as her mother insisted. She had also never baked anything in her life, for her parents were wealthy and usually never prepared anything in the kitchen for themselves. This would most likely prove to be a learning experience on all accounts.

Standing near the back of the room, Alex listened to Waverly greet everyone who showed up to be a part of the club. She scoffed a little when Aubrielle Thornton was mentioned. Alex heard around Sonora that the Thorntons were related to Clara. This automatically made socializing with them completely undesirable. Also, she had noticed Bri smiled more than anyone she had ever known in her life. It just seemed odd to smile that much. However, seeing as Aubrielle was Vice President of the club, Alex figured she would have to at least appear cordial.

When it was time for her to introduce herself, Alex smiled brightly and stated, “Hello everyone. I am Alex D’Alesandro. I am from Boston, Massachusetts. I am a third year. I haven’t baked a single cookie in my life, so basically I am looking forward to learning how to do that, and then eating the cookies.” Satisfied with her introduction, she turned to the person next to her to signal that she was done speaking.

After Waverly gave the directions on how to make the sugar cookies, Alex looked around the room to find someone to work with. Obviously, she wasn’t going to work with Clara, so she had to find someone to socialize with or take under her wing. She spotted the girl who introduced herself as Irina dropping an egg into a bowl. Alex tried to hold back her laughter as the girl tried to pick out all of the shells. She may not know how to bake, but she at least knew that egg shells were not edible. Then she spotted Aubrielle approaching Irina, offering to get her more supplies.

Alex gracefully made her way to where the girl was attempting to make cookies and cut in on the conversation. “Thanks for getting more supplies for us,” she said to Aubrielle with a fake smile, “but I can help her out and take it from here.” After stating her polite dismissal, Alex moved to stand next to Irina, and waited for more ingredients.

0 Alexandra D'Alesandro Willing to politely interrupt. 240 Alexandra D'Alesandro 0 5

Bri

July 03, 2013 11:45 AM

Willing to politely decline by Bri

As Brielle waited for Irina to say yes or no to her she saw a shadow coming over the pair. The Teppenpaw looked up to see Alex standing there. From what Bri had seen at the Pool Party between her, Lucian and Clara, and the fact that Bri had kept herself from pushing the girl directly into the pool didn’t mean that she wouldn’t stop herself now. Clara liked Lucian and Alex was Lucian’s sister, but that didn’t mean that Bri had to like Alex, right? In fact, from the way that Clara had laid into Alex, her cousin didn’t like her either.

There was not even a second thought to Bri’s desires, until her morals took the place of them. I’m the Vice President… I’m the Vice President… This wouldn’t be mature or good on my end if I did anything to her… she thought. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt… Bri added to herself as Alex started to speak to them.

What she said made the already boiling blood inside of the Teppenpaw boil even hotter. She had basically just been dismissed from a conversation she herself started? Bri turned her glance to Clara to try to get something from her cousin as what she should do, then she glanced to Waverly as well. She wasn’t sure if she’d gotten a reaction from either of her best friends, but she wasn’t about to subject poor Irina to someone like Alex all alone. Not for long, that was. Bri didn’t say anything, instead, she walked over to the table with more ingredients and grabbed new ones for herself and Irina. On her way back, she waved to Josephine, Jade, Clara, Ji-Eun and any others she passed on the way back to Irina.

“Okay, here’s a new set of ingredients, shall we begin?” she asked Irina, before turning back towards Alex, “Oh, and thank you for your offer of help to Irina, but as you’ve not baked before either, I think it’s best that I stay too.”

0 Bri Willing to politely decline 0 Bri 0 5

Irina

July 07, 2013 1:29 AM

Willing to begin again. by Irina

One minute Irina had been picking pieces of shell out of her bowl and the next found her surrounded by two girls that she didn’t really know beyond introductions. They seemed to be having some sort of polite fight. Her eyebrows rose in confusion as a look of disbelief crossed over her fair features. She took a slight step back and glanced at each of the girls. Why were they arguing over baking some cookies? It seemed rather immature, which was sort of funny, because she was clearly the youngest one among them. She almost chuckled at the thought, but held it behind her hand. This was ridiculous!

Besides, she hadn’t asked for either one to help her. Each was assuming that she either wanted or needed help, but she didn’t work like that. If she made mistakes, then they were her mistakes to make. It was how she learned. She would make one mistake, but would learn from it and she would be sure not to repeat it. Then, maybe she would make another, but her determination is what would bring her to the final result, which would then be perfect. And because she had learned from those mistakes, she would never make them again, so really, once she was able to make the sugar cookies, she would always be able to make them.

However, the blonde wasn’t going to be able to concentrate and figure out what she was doing with two people distracting her. Plus, the one seemed the overly coddling type that would never actually let her learn and the other seemed the overly bossy type that would just point out everything that she was doing wrong. None of that would be helping. Added on was whatever issue they had between them. She didn’t really want to get in the middle of all that. Her lip twisted slightly at the thought. So, when Irina finally got the chance to speak since neither seemed to let her, she said, holding her bowl of broken eggs, “Why don’t the two of you work together? I can work elsewhere.” She walked off muttering a string of frustrated Russian.

0 Irina Willing to begin again. 0 Irina 0 5

Alex

July 08, 2013 12:53 AM

Willing to admit that I was successful. by Alex

Alex watched as Bri hesitated, and looked around the room as if someone was going to jump in to help her. Can no one stand up for himself or herself properly around here? she thought as she glared at Bri. Alex was really becoming quite bored with the poor argumentative skills among her classmates. She figured that a certain lack of backbone and assertiveness must run in the Thornton and Abernathy families.

Finally, after what seemed to be an hour, Bri simply turned and left. Alex laughed softly to herself and shook her head. Her green eyes watched Bri as she headed towards the table that contained the ingredients. On her way back, she seemed to wave to almost everyone in the club. Apparently, a weird overly-friendliness trait persisted in both families as well.

Alex was just about to say something particularly sassy to Bri when she returned, and insisted on staying to help Irina, when the first year spoke up. She looked at Irina with an eyebrow raised, for she practically forgot the girl was there. Helping Irina was, after all, just a way for Alex to get under Bri’s skin. She watched as the first year walked off with her bowl of broken eggs while muttering Russian.

“Now her, I like,” Alex said still looking as Irina left. She laughed a bit out loud and then looked back at Bri. She did admire the younger girl speaking up, and she reminded Alex a little bit of herself. “Thanks for the ingredients,” Alex said, with one of her fake smiles, and reached down to retrieve the ingredients Bri brought back with her. Alex then quickly turned and walked towards an empty table to make her cookies alone, feeling quite satisfied with herself.

0 Alex Willing to admit that I was successful. 0 Alex 0 5

Bri

July 14, 2013 12:10 AM

Willing to disagree (Waverly) by Bri

When Bri came back to Irina and Alex with the new ingredients she smiled towards both of them and asked Irina if she wanted to begin before turning to Alex and thanking her for her offer. She told Alex that she wanted to help Irina herself as she had more practice to assist the younger girl, though Alex was welcomed to join them if she wished. When Alex finished speaking to her, Irina got up with her old ingredients and suggested that Bri and Alex work together and she’d work elsewhere and Bri looked after her, confused on the inside, though not showing it outwardly.

The last thing Bri wanted was to work with Alex. She was only a vice president who was trying to help a group member who was both new to the school and to the club. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, not that she could come up with, that was.

When Irina walked off, Alex mentioned the fact that she liked Irina and laughed a little bit at the first year’s back (it seemed) and turned back to Bri again. Alex thanked Bri for the ingredients, sent her a fake smile and turned, walking away to an open table nearby.

Aubrielle watched in an odd confusion after both of them and looked around the room, before walking back over to Waverly, waiting patiently for her best friend to notice her there. When Waverly noticed her, she beckoned the President of the Club a little further away from the rest of the group so she could speak to her quietly. She walked a little bit away from the others and waited for Waverly to join her there, hoping she would, and soon.

0 Bri Willing to disagree (Waverly) 0 Bri 0 5

Henny B-F-R

July 14, 2013 4:53 PM

May be putting my foot in it... by Henny B-F-R

Henny was excited to get back into baking again this year. She'd learnt a lot in the club during her first year in it and had really missed it last year. Although it had been a prompt to talk to Waverly more, and that was something that had continued in spite of the club's absence. She liked the other girl. Alicia would always be her first and best friend, but Waverly's friendship was... different. They talked about things like boys, or at least had done at the ball last year. Waverly was someone you could giggle with.

On the date of the first meeting, she made her way to the Potions room. Baking and Potions were about the only two activities for which she tied her large mass of brown curls back, as trying to restrain them in anyway only tended to emphasise their voluminous nature. They were currently exploding out of a ponytail band, but she was at least safe to bake.

“I'm Henny, I'm a fifth year from San Francisco. My experience of baking comes from what I learnt in this club year before last,” she rattled off when it was her turn.

She had grabbed a table near to Waverly, so as to be able to talk to her during the meeting, although Henny knew she'd have to move around and answer people's questions.

“Hey,” she smiled, as she measured out butter and sugar into her bowl. “How was your summer?” she grinned, ready to hear exciting tales of romance and Brandon. Although she'd got to know Waverly better last year, Henny had found herself going shy at the thought of sending her letters. She'd considered it a couple of times but just felt awkward and not quite sure enough of herself to see it through, thus she didn't really know anything about the other girl's summer.

13 Henny B-F-R May be putting my foot in it... 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5