2019-11-17 - The Secret To A Good Alfredo

One would think a dreary day like this one, heavy drops of rain falling from a lead-gray sky, would not be conducive to sitting outside. And yet, that's what Garrett is doing, albeit under the relative safety of his front porch and wearing a hoodie to keep the chill at bay. He isn't really /doing/ anything, aside from sitting in an old wooden chair. There is a new addition, though, in the form of a previously-unseen German Shepherd mix of some sort sitting next to him, resting its head on his knee for scratches, apparently equally content to watch the rain, a leash on its collar but hanging loose from the arm of the chair for now.

Julia is coming up the block, an umbrella leaning against her shoulder and keeping the rain at bay. Tucked under her opposite arm is a tupperware box, and her feet seem to be taking her directly to Garrett's porch. "Hey, Gee, I - oh my god, who is that?" The last question as almost a squeal, eyes going big.

Garrett and the dog notice Julia at roughly the same time. It's only the fact that Garrett recognizes her that lets him react before the dog, grabbing the leash as Julia turns towards Garrett's place. "Zeus! Down!" Garrett gives the dog a no-nonsense tone and, to Zeus's credit, he listens. He sits, but is still very clearly excited about New Person, mouth hanging open and tail thumping at the porch.

"Julia! Hey there." He scoots his chair aside so he's not blocking the steps, making room to get out of the rain. "Zeus, meet Julia. Julia, Zeus."

She climbs the steps, visibly delighted and turns briefly to pull her umbrella closed before holding out the box. "Quesitos. I promise you'll love them. And you can keep the container until you've eaten them all...they pack well, so you can take it with you when you're out at work." The box more or less gets pushed toward him because she has eyes for his buddy. "Hi, Zeus. How you doing, doggo? Are you a good boy? I know you are!" She offers her hands for smelling and waits to see if she meets muster before petting.

"Oooh, well, if you insist..." Garrett grins, his marginal resistance entirely for show as he takes the offered tupperware. "Thanks. I'm sure they're delicious. Don't let me let you leave without giving you the box from the flan back," he adds the last hit with an accusing finger-point as if it's somehow her fault he hasn't given the last tupperware back.

Zeus, for his part, does his sniffing; weighed and measured, he does not seem to do find Julia wanting, because a heartbeat later he's pushing his head against her hands and giving the occasional lick. "Yeah, you're a good judge of character, aren't you, buddy?" He gives the dog's back an affectionate pat, but otherwise doesn't distract him from his new friend.

Julia gets to scritching around the dog's ears, admitting, "I love dogs...and cats, too. But I'm so busy most of the time that I can't really take proper care of one, I'm kind of always working. How are things with you, though? How's work? It's getting chilly, will you have to go into the forest as much?"

"I'm good! Really good, actually." Garrett smiles wide, both on account of his answer and seeing Zeus make a new friend. "Yeah, I kind of thought the same thing, then a stray showed up and I was dog-sitting her for a few days and everything seemed to go well, then her people came and got her and... yeah. So I got a dog." Pause. "Dog and a half, technically. Kelsey and I are co-parenting another one that we couldn't bear to leave at the shelter." A slightly guilty shrug at that. "Yeah, probably, but it shouldn't be too bad. Can't be much worse than back home, and there's towers to go up and get warm in if I'm out too long. But enough of me, how have you been?"

She gives a little one-shouldered shrug. "I'm getting along." she replies affably. "The shack keeps me pretty busy, and now I'm trying to add more stuff; cooking lessons, private chef shifts, that kind of stuff. And maybe try to pick up my dinner parties again." She kneels now, getting into ruffling the dog's fur properly. She is radiating envy for his having a canine companion.

"Slowing down a little as it gets colder, though?" Garrett ventures regarding the shack,, then nods along with the 'to-do' list she seems to have assigned herself. "Cooking lessons! If that becomes a thing, let me know, yeah? I'd be interested," he tells her. Zeus continues to just soak up the attention, turning this way and that so everywhere can get maximum scritches. "I think he likes you," Garrett says with a little laugh.

"I am very likeable." Julia replies mock-loftily. "Do you want to be part of a class, or get a private lesson? Or maybe one for you and Kelsey to do together, a couple thing?" Julia lifts her chin, indicating the tupperware. "You should try a quesito. It's the Cuban equivalent of a cream cheese danish, but in a baked roll."

"You are," Garrett agrees in a perfectly sincere tone, nodding. "Hmm... good question. Let's go with a class for now, and if it turns out it's something I'm half decent at, maybe I'll take some private lessons." He tilts his head, then shakes it, at the couple suggestion. "I'll ask her if she'd want to, but we're not a couple or anything," he clarifies before taking the advice and opening the tupperware. "Mm, looks good," he says, fishing one out then holding the container out towards Julia in offering.

"One sec." Rising to her feet, Julia ceases petting operations (sorry, Zeus!) She thumbs in the direction of inside the house. "Mind if I wash my hands first?" An average person might go right to snagging food after petting the dog, but Julia's in foo service, and it's an ingrained habit.

"Oh, of course," Garrett says with a quick nod. "Actually, let's just go in, unless you've got somewhere to be?" he suggests, since the rain shows no sign of letting up in the immediate future. He opens the door and leads Zeus through before pointing at the short hall at the back. "Right down there, door on the left," he directs before moving towards the living room.

"I am enjoying a rare afternoon off." Julia is quite happy to have it, too. She follows his instructions, studying the kitchen with a critical eye while she washes her hands. "Remind me to bring you proper Cuban coffee sometime." she calls out when she moves to dry them. "You'll never want American coffee again." She's smiling when she walks into the living room, and reaches for a quesito. "I forget, you have this place to yourself, or you have roommates?"

"Hey, Julia," Garrett says when she makes it back to the living room. "Bring Cuban coffee some time," he reminds her, super helpfully, grinning. "Just me. And Zeus. And occasionally Edgar." Pause. "The other dog we adopted," he explains. "But no human roommates," he confirms, giving the arm of the couch a small pat that has Zeus coming over to rest his head there and shamelessly stare at the quesito in Garrett's hand. "These your doing or your abuela? She made the flan, yeah?" he asks before he takes another bite of his quesito.

"The flan was abuelita's, but those I made. From her recipe book. Which was her mother's, and it came across the water with her when she was evacuated." Julia settles into a seat, taking a nip of the quesito. "You got any recipes from your family? If you do, you could learn how to make them."

"So you're saying the recipe has been in the family for a while," Garrett summarizes, but gives the next bite a slower, more appreciative chew before speaking. "Not really, no. London isn't really known for its tradition of fine dining," he points out, grinning, but then pausing. "Could ask mum for her fish and chips recipe, though. That's something," he muses. "But aside from /that/, no, not really."

"I wouldn't say England lacks for culinary tradition." Julia protests, and then suddenly grins. "But it did get a lot more interesting when the brown people started showing up, yeah?"

Garrett laughs, and makes no effort to dispute that fact. "I'll ask mum if there's any family recipes I'm just not aware of, ask her to send them along," he decides. "So, how long before I'm going to be able to make something like this?" he asks with a wink, holding up the quesito. "Like it. Not it. I know better than to try prying for family recipes," he promises.

Julia laughs. "Well, right. I can't show you that. But is there a dish you'd like to learn? I can probably show you. Maybe something from your family's story. Or just something you can make when you want to make a good impression on someone."

"Dishes I'd like to learn, hm?" Garrett takes the opportunity to eat the last of the quesito into his mouth (much to Zeus's disappointment) while he considers. Once he swallows his food he nods. "How about a good alfredo sauce? Everyone likes alfredo, nobody is impressed by a jar of sauce though." He gives Julia a vaguely questioning look as he waits to find out her thoughts on this choice.

Julia ah's softly. "The secret to a good alfredo sauce is in the quality and treatment of the cream." she counsels with the air of a wise old sage. "It's actually really easy, it's just that most people don't bother. I'm happy to show you, though." She looks around. "Got a pen and pad? I'll write down the ingredients, and you let me know when you've picked them up."

"Can't make good food without good ingredients. Seems reasonable enough." Garrett nods, then glances about to look for pen and paper before giving a small shake if his head and pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Pen and paper," he mutters to himself, then giving Julia a slightly teasing wrinkle of his nose. "Kay, go ahead," he says once he's got an appropriate note-taking app up, thumbs at the ready, attention on Julia.

Julia protests, holding up her hands. "Hey, I'm as tech forward as the next Gen Z girl, but some things for me, it helps to put them down on paper. So give me a minute to think about it." She does have to quirk her brow a little and get a bit of a glazed look in her eye. "Butter, heavy cream, a block of parmesan, at the very least two garlic cloves, and salt and pepper. You'll want a thicker pasta, so fettucine obviously, but linguine or tagliettele can too, or even a cheese tortellini can be nice. And if you want to add a bit of color, broccoli or asparagus can really soak in the flavor. Not a lot of people use asparagus, but trust me, it works, if you decide you're feeling brave."

"I'll probably end up writing this down later. I don't cook and even I prefer an actual cookbook," Garrett agrees with a smile, thumbs tapping away at his phone, echoing back the ingredients as they're listed. "That all seems straightforward enough." Another read through of the list. "That's a lot of dairy," he comments. "Sounds like it should be excellent, though. And asparagus it is. Nothing risked, nothing gained, right?" A bright smile is offered to Julia. "Thanks!"

@emit "You are very welcome. When you're ready, text me to come over and we'll get you cooking. Men in the kitchen - who aren't assholes - are great. Which means mostly not male professional chefs." Julia grins, rising to her feet. "Did you say the other dog is being co-fostered? I want to meet him too."

"Well, I'll try not to let my newfound skills go to my head," Garrett promises with a grin, rising as well, which gets Zeus to stand and wag his tail on account of Things Are Happening. "Edgar is at Kelsey's house, but I'll make sure he's here next find," he promises. "Hey, can I bug you for one more thing as long as I've got you here?" he asks.

"Of course?" Less a statement than a question, but clearly leaning toward that indicated affirmative.

"You're totally allowed to say no, but since you have experience in food... would you be able to help me run some numbers on how much it would cost to feed some people? I said I'd help with this charity that Joey and Sparrow and Nicole are putting together and might have got in over my head,"Garrett asks in a rush.

Julia lets out a little laugh. "You guys should have come talked to me! I'd be glad to help. But this will take more than a minute. You got the time right now, or do you want to talk about it over alfredo?"

"I did talk to you. See?" Garrett teases, pointing between Julia and himself. "I just found out the other day. But yeah, no, not right this second. Over alfredo seems fitting. Next weekend?" he suggests.

"Sounds good. Talk to you soon. Invite the others if you like?" She gives him a wave, and Zeus gets one more snuggle, and she heads for the door.