Sweet Cranberries - Nov 9

The lunch dishes were clean and almost dry when Nimih decided it was time to get her hands dirty. With Pilgrim's Bounty festivities approaching, it was time to establish herself as the matriarch of her own family.

Rath dozed on the living room couch among the red pillows with the small Whelp asleep on his chest while the cat Flame slept at his feet.

In the kitchen, Duchess the white cat watched Nimih put on her apron while the magical mop and broom seemed to be on standby beside Pie'rre the magical oven began to heat the draconic embers. On the kitchen table a veritable sea of colorful and fresh ingredients. Vegetables, legumes, fruits, jars with jellies, spices, grains.

"I trained my whole life for this." She said in a dramatic tone turning her gaze to Duchess who seemed to raise her eyes to her owner as if doubting every word. "I've been studying for weeks to begin these preparations, and today itself will be the first test." She said now tying her long white hair into a large ponytail that went down to the middle of her back.

"We are going to make a delicious and special..." A little suspense as she turned her gaze to the small fresh fruits on the table. "Cranberry sauce!" Excited, she clapped for herself, since her silent audience could not.

"This sauce ~so~ traditional, will make for the essential of the banquet I am wanting to prepare." And with almost theatrical movements Nimih began to gather the ingredients she would need: a small basket with red and shiny cranberries, a pot of sugar with a hand-written label, a small basket of oranges and a pot with cinnamon sticks.

Separating the ingredients she would need, Nimih chose the most beautiful orange from the basket to cut with precision, taking a slice from the orange peel, setting it aside to use it at a later time. The smell of fresh orange spread throughout the kitchen while the determined homeowner opened the pot of cinnamon, letting the gentle yet striking aroma mix into the air, making little Duchess raise her nose.

At that moment, the small whelp woke up. Like an instinct, he felt the smell of orange and cinnamon coming from the kitchen. Still sleeping in his father's lap, the small one carefully opened his wings and practically floated in the air, trying not to wake his father. He looked around the empty room and focusing on the half-open kitchen door she had made the decision.

"Cult... Apples...Nimih..." Said Rath in a sleepy grumbling tone as he turned on the couch, no longer feeling the weight of the soon on his chest.

The small one slipped toward the kitchen door, trying to spy on his mother who now placed cranberries with a vibrant red, sugar, a strip of orange and two tablespoons of water, reserving some fruits in the basket. "For the final touch~" She whispered, as if sharing a great secret.

The pan was now on low heat, and Nimih stirred occasionally, seeing the sugar dissolve and the fruits gradually begin to soften. Two minutes passed and the elf's ears moved like a radar.

"Ael..." She said gently. "Spying on others is not right..." A tone of gentle reproval that made the small whelp fly into the kitchen, with an almost ashamed look, going toward his mother, who turned around picking a small cranberry from the basket to offer to the small one.

What a flavor! It was the first time the whelp tasted that small red fruit. A swirl of air and the small whelp sat down on the counter beside the basket, as if asking permission to devour all the rest.

"Mommy needs them..." She said as she stirred the pan with her large wooden spoon and increased the heat, leaving it at a medium temperature. "Look at this..." She said seeking to hold her son's attention to the pan.

A curious sound filled the kitchen. Pop pop pop! The small fruits began to burst, leaving a sweet aroma fill the kitchen. Twelve minutes and the color in the pan seemed intense, a deep red, that seemed alive. The small whelp seemed amazed to see real magic happening around him. Not that he had any awareness of his mother's dubious cooking skills, but so far, he had witnessed some culinary disasters and for the first time, he seemed to witness his mother's first success in the kitchen.

Pie'rre, the magical oven, kept the flames now low at the elf's command.

"Now... the final part." Decided, Nimih took the basket of cranberries, offering one to her son before pouring all the rest into the pan, adding in sequence a little more sugar, a touch of salt and a pinch of draconic chili powder, along with a single cinnamon stick.

And there it was. The delicious aroma filling the entire kitchen.

A proud smile appeared on Nimih's face as she turned off the heat, to carefully, remove everything from the pan to place it in a ornate white porcelain serving bowl with decorative beaded edges and handles

"What do you think?" She turned to the white cat as if expecting an answer. The cat in turn, on top of the kitchen table, tilted her head as if analyzing the owner and the creation and without blinking, came down from the table, heading to the living room, as if she didn't care.

"She certainly approved." Said Nimih showing the bowl with the cranberry sauce to the whelp, still sitting on the counter, somewhat sad for having no more cranberries to eat. It was at that moment that the kitchen door opened, and the sleepy Dracthyr in his elf form entered, scratching his horns.

"What are you-" His gaze scanned the kitchen. No explosion. No stain on the ceiling. A pleasant smell. The magical oven intact. Everything absolutely normal. His wife with a bowl of red fruit sauce. The whelp sitting on the counter. Everything absolutely normal.

Nimih displayed the bowl like a trophy flaunting a proud smile while Rath walked toward her, sticking a finger in the bowl to taste the flavor, receiving a quick slap on the hand from Nimih before putting it in his mouth, making a thoughtful expression.

"You made this?" He asked looking at his wife, then at the whelp and at his wife again.

"I said I had hidden culinary talents." She answered.

"Then you need to awaken them, because this here is so sweet that I would be able to acquire diabetes." He said without fearing his wife's reaction.

Nimih's gaze ignited in golden flames. "WHAT?" She said in an outburst as she stuck the spoon in the bowl to taste what she had just made.

Horrible. Too sweet. It seemed that all the sugar in the world was in that sauce that should have been bittersweet.

"You used the wrong sugar..." Said Rath pointing to the pot of gnomish magical sugar concentrated for extraordinarily magical sweets. "This sugar is meant to be used in up to five doses less than normal... That's why you taste the food while you-" He didn't finish the sentence.

"EVERYONE OUT!" Said Nimih as she shooed the small whelp and her husband while the magical oven let out a burst of fire making the rest of the sauce in the pan explode and splash on the ceiling.