Big Trouble
By TerraMGP
Growing up as the daughter of a fine dining chef can be a rather enlightening experience. From an early age things like flavor, texture, attention to detail and especially every detail of kitchen safety. As Ester stood there in her kitchen now she once again ran each and every one of these small lessons though her head for mental preparation. Today was her mothers birthday, the day that they usually went out to have a big dinner at her mommy’s restaurant with Ruth and June. Unfortunately that didn’t seem to be the case this year, with Aunt Ruth and Aunt June so focused on trying to have a baby of their own coupled with several issues at her mommies restaurant had prevented her from taking the day off. So now it seemed that nobody was really too concerned with her mothers birthday, and that for the first time in her memory her mother would not have any kind of birthday dinner because nobody had the time or ability to make one for her.
Fortunately none of that was going to be a problem. The eager little mouse had spent all morning watching a mass marathon of Good Eats episodes before writing down an elaborate list of foods she knew her mother would love. “Ok then, I need to start with the appetizer. I think the Coconut shrimp recipe will work. Then I can try to make lamb, and for dessert” Ester giggled at the thought while reaching under the counter and pulling up the ice cream machine. Sadly there would not be nearly enough time to have something set but at the very least she could make something soft serve. “I really hope Mommy isn’t too mad about this when she gets home. She always takes care of me, I just have to do something nice for her.” Normally the obedient little girl would never have dared to cook so much as toast without her mother standing over her shoulder watching every step to ensure she was safe. She knew the risks of every single thing that could happen in the kitchen all too well. They were the kinds of things that haunted her nightmares, the things that made her worry if her Mommy would come home that night or be going to the hospital, or worse. Even know Ester felt a huge knot forming in the pit of her stomach. Still how could she let the woman who had given her everything go though her own birthday without so much as a nice meal for herself?
But first things first, both her mother and Alton Brown seemed to be in consensus that foods with the longest cook times should be started first. That was logical enough of course but still demanded her attention if she wanted to make this dinner perfect. Ducking down the Mousette pulled out the meat cutting board and put it down on the counter with a packaged lamb leg that she hoped would work the same as the leg shown on the show. She looked down at the cut carefully, examining every inch of it with a kind of nervous anticipation and almost irrational fear. It wasn’t the cut itself that scared her. Ester may have been a vegetarian like many mice but that didn’t mean she was squeamish about preparing meat when she had to. Rather as she looked at the cut of meat Ester began to run though the steps needed to prepare it. She had to use a knife, had to preheat the oven, had to put the meat in the oven and sit there with the fire extinguisher in case something went wrong. As each of these thoughts went though her head she could picture severed fingers or house fires, mommy yelling in anger or even scolding her in disappointment. The bone chilling thought of such horrific things left the would be cook totally paralyzed in terror until finally she shoved the cut away and quickly turned back to the large stainless steel fridge.
“Ok…” Ester said softly “the lamb can wait. Maybe I can call someone to help out with it once I have everything else underway. For now I can concentrate on the shrimp. Those don’t need to go in the oven.” Quickly Ester began to assemble the required ingredients from the fridge. A package of twenty count shrimp, Cornstarch, Salt and shredded coconut soon found themselves resting pre measured into their own individual ramekins just like the show. As Ester went to retrieve the eggs for some beaten whites though she began to think about just what would have to come once the shrimp had been coated in the eggs and other ingredients. “Ok Ester, its ok. You have to start cooking something at some point today. Just… take it with one step at a time.” Grabbing a small pan she pulled open the cupboard and started to poor a shallow pool of oil into it before digging out one of mommy’s thermometers. Once this was done Ester took a long, slow look at the dial reaching out one shaking trembling paw before pulling it away and shaking her head and turning back to her little shrimp assembly line. She could always heat the oil up after making the shrimp after all. Like the dutiful student she was Ester slowly started to follow her second culinary hero’s his example, moving each shrimp to the whites, then the starch and salt mixture before finally getting each one with the coconut. It was not long before the girl stood over a plate of battered shrimp looking once more at the shallow oil sitting in her pan.
It was in that bout of nervousness Ester remembered that she was forgetting something important. Yet again the poor mouse turned quickly towards the other set of counter space searching though the rows of cook books and other documentation until she found the listing for their ice cream machine. “Ok, it says here that I need to start by affixing the core into the machine and then pouring in the mixture. Just like in the show. I can do that easy.” Thankfully the scary pan of oil and roast of lamb could take a bit of a pass once more as she contemplated just what to make for her beloved mother. The basics were the same as the recipe from season nine episode four, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t add in a few different flavors to make sure her mother would love it. Out came a large bowl along with the special whisk that Lillian had purchased just for Ester to use. With that she again arranged everything from eggs to sugar to heavy cream in another set of individual measuring cups and bowls all intended to keep them apart as long as possible. Unfortunately as she ran the episode though her head once more Ester began to realize that this too would end up requiring heat, specifically another burner on the stove to heat up the dairy. Like it or not the problem of not using anything that could burn her or start a fire was quickly becoming a clear impossibility meaning that if she wanted to do this special dinner for her mommy the mouse girl was going to have to straighten up, be brave, and finally beat her fear of what could happen with heat while she was in the kitchen, or she could call Jamie.
“What in the hell happened here?” Jamie asked as she looked around the kitchen with a mixture of amusement and pity. She knew her friend meant well but thus far all the feline could see was a large collection of ingredients all separate from each other and sitting in bowls and cups of all sorts. As usual Ester seemed to have taken what she saw on TV far too literally, which in and of itself meant that the two of them would probably end up doing dishes for the next eight hours after all of this was finished. But it was for Lillian’s birthday, and if nothing else Jamie could probably parlay all this work into a couple of booster packs or even a rare or two. “Ok so you managed to get everything laid out like in that damn show of yours. So what do you need me for? I mean it seems like all you need to do is start cooking those shrimp and mix together the stuff for the ice cream. Maybe put something on the lamb before… your afraid of the stove, aren’t you Ester.” she sighed in frustration. The connection between each of the dishes slapped Jamie right in the face. It wasn’t too surprising considering how skittish the mouse girl got around heat, or sharp objects, or just about anything more dangerous than string. “Fine I guess we can start out by stirring the ice cream up. Grandma always said it needed heat so I figure that’s probably why you haven’t stirred anything together yet right?”
Ester blushed a bit and nodded to that feeling more than a little bit childish at her reluctance to turn on the stove or oven. “Well allright I guess as long as you’re here it won’t be so bad. That way someone else can use the fire extinguisher. The first step is to scald the milk over medium low heat.” As the Mousette said this she bent down quickly to grab a sauce pan from below the stove, wincing at the sound of a loud clatter and feel of something cold and slick splashing across her back. A loud scream echoed though the apartment as suddenly Ester jumped up and began to dash towards the living room dropping an rolling on the carpet “The oil is on me! I’m gonna burn! Help me Jamie help me!” For a half moment instinct took over as Jamie grabbed up the fire extinguisher and dashed out to her friends side ready to spray her down with the small red cylinder, but stopped just short of yanking out the pin.
“Hun, your not being burned. The oil wasn’t hot remember? You never turned it on because you were too freaked out.” A few more moments of panic seemed to grip Ester before she settled looking up at Jamie and laying on the slowly darkening patch of white carpet as the oil was wicked off leaving a foul grease stain on the pristine carpet. Jamie furrowed her brow at the sight of this, but managed to muster a smile as she bent down and offered a hand for her friend. “Look Hun I think this proves that you did right in not starting up that oil before, but right now you need to get up. Your already leaving a really nasty stain. Now how about we try this all again. One dish at a time this time, so we don’t have any more accidents.” She watched the panicked girl for a few more moments before finally feeling a slender shaking paw grabbing hers. Ester pulled herself up and then looked back down at the grease spot she had just made already afraid of the kind of reaction this was going to cause from her mommy. “Its ok Ester, it will be fine no worries. Now why don’t you go get on a fresh shirt and we can work on stirring that ice cream up ok?” Ester gave a small nod and then started to walk wordlessly to her room with the fear still fresh in her mind.
Luckily the fear was soon dulled by the slow yet steady progress on preparing the ice cream. Ester whipped the eggs just like in the show and thanks to Jamie’s intervention the pair managed to get everything onto heat. Before long the mixture for the ice cream was just about ready to go, save of course for the flavor. Hay Jamie what kind of ice cream do you think we should make?” Jamie shrugged a bit and let out a sigh as she started to pick the second pan back up in preparation for the shrimp. “I don’t know hun you’re the one who always watches those food shows after all. Maybe just make her some chocolate ice cream?” It was a good idea of course, but simply didn’t seem special enough for her mother. Ester popped open the pantry once more and then smirked a bit as inspiration seemed to shine down on her like a bolt from the heavens. “Jamie, do you know how to use a food processor?” Ester asked as she pushed a large bag of almonds into her friends arms and then pulled out a jar of honey with a huge grin going from ear to ear. “Just put those nuts in the thing and pulse it a few times, it should hopefully get them small enough for the machine.” Even as she said this Ester began to stir the honey into the ice cream mixture humming a tune to herself even as it started to get a tiny bit difficult to stir.
It was nice to see Ester being so confident, though Jamie did feel that it was probably a mixed omen considering how easily her best friend could turn skittish. Still she was the one with the rote knowledge about food, and so it only made sense that she should give it a whirl and trust in Esters culinary knowledge. Jamie pulled the plunger out of the top of the processor and quickly dumped in all of the nuts as they filled up to half of the processor bowl. “Ok then, so, how do I start this Ester?” after waiting a few moments for an answer, and getting none, Jamie just shrugged and pushed down on the button marked ‘pulse’ holding it down hard. Instantly the blades started to whir along their destructive path quickly grabbing on to almonds and popping chunks into the air as the oversized blender hacked and gouged at the droop seeds mercilessly. “This thing doesn’t really seem to be so much pulsing as ripping these things to shreds Ester. You sure I’m doing this right?” as if to respond the processor motor let out a painful grunt of strain, followed by a rather dramatic drop in speed and tone. “Oh hell that can’t be a good sign.” Jamie winced as she pulled her finger off of the button and quickly struggled to pop the work bowl free from the stand eyes wide in fear. Ester moved up beside the feline and started to whimper her own dread sentiments feeling that knot returning to her stomach.
“Don’t… don’t worry Jamie” Ester whimpered softly. “I’m sure that it will be fine. After all it was still running right? Don’t worry if something went wrong I’m sure its not too bad. Just… bring the almonds over here and put them in a bowl.” In spite of her friends half hearted encouragement the nervous feline had to bite her tongue about Esters continued inefficiency and instead set the processor bowl down next to the ice cream maker as the Mousette started to poor the mixture carefully into the machine. “Ok I think that works for the ice cream. Thanks Jamie, think you could help me out with the shrimp next?” Considering how they had already ruined a patch of carpet, made a horrible greasy mess all over the kitchen floor and potentially having ruined a perfectly good food processor every instinct Jamie had told her to just cut their losses and give up on any more of this foolishness. Unfortunately she also knew that Ester would not give up on this no matter what and after that little fiasco with the oil it was probably better that she be nearby in case something worse were to happen. Reluctantly Jamie once again filled the large flat pan with oil and started it up over medium low heat over the back burner, taking extra care to keep it as far away from Ester as possible. Still even as the oil started to heat up Jamie could almost feel the nervous energy coming off of her best friend. “Hay Ester, why don’t you, um, oh how about you go ahead and start putting all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher? If your mom sees all of these dirty dishes she would probably freak out.”
Ester nodded and eagerly started to collect together most of the dishes, making one big pile which she carefully carried over to the dishwasher and started to jam in every pot and pan one at a time until the washer was jam packed to the brim. “Ok Jamie I think I’m all set, just have to put in some detergent…” With a chemists’ precision Ester began to measure out the exact amount of chemical for a load this big and then set the bottle aside as she quickly turned to the remaining dishes hoping to figure out just how much more she might be able to squeeze into this load. Unfortunately as usually happened Ester forgot to compensate for where her tail was. Both girls suddenly looked back at the loud sickening smack of the detergent bottle as it slammed down on the open lid of the washer spilling its contents in a large sticky blue pool. “Oh no… no no no Jamie look” The feline girl let out a sigh and moved up to the washer with a sigh of frustration. “Ester I swear one of these days I am going to tie that tail around you and glue it there. Allright well, just grab the bottle and we can probably just run it as is. Worse comes to worse the dishes will just be really soapy and need another run right?” The Mousette nodded meekly at this and grabbed on to the end of the now nearly empty detergent bottle pulling it up and setting it back down in the sink. Jamie was right of course considering how often Esters tail managed to get her into trouble way too often in the past. Already it had caused two big spills that day, and without someone around to keep an eye on her probably would have caused even more trouble.
Jamie was around though, and over the next half hour it seemed all of the problems were behind them. Jamie got the shrimp fried off and put on a pan, which was then covered with an electric blanket at Esters insistence. The ice cream machine was churning away at the nice thick concoction, and now the two girls stood side by side looking down at the lamb that they had gotten back out of the fridge. This was one thing neither girl wanted to do. They stood motionless and just pondered quietly how exactly they were supposed to tackle what would have to be a tricky main course. “Well, we could always follow the recipe and put it under the broiler.” Ester chimed in half heartedly. “I mean the show says that a broiler is just an up side down grill right? We could just put the marinade we made on the lamb and then put it in the oven right?” Jamie sighed and shook her head looking at the intimidating cut. They were dancing around the issue and they both knew it. “Ester, I’m not going to try and cut this thing. I have absolutely no idea how to cut this and if your too scared to use knives without your mom around then I’m sorry hun but I don’t think this is going to work out.” The realization that her mother may not get a full dinner stung the Mousette badly. Of course she wasn’t going to give up that easily. There had to be some way of getting this leg cut properly and ready for the broiler. That’s when it hit her. Ester dashed over to the phone and started to dial frantically grin once again spreading from ear to ear.
Jamie let out another sigh as her best friend walked off to the other room no doubt to cook up another of her hair brained schemes. “Well I guess while I’m waiting for whatever I can check on the ice cream” she sighed softly moving over to the machine and tapping it a bit. “Well that doesn’t sound right. Is something wrong with this motor too?” a few more taps and then her ear perked, looking over to her side as the source of the sound became all too clear. “Ester! Ester get in here… we have a problem.” Jamie took a few steps backwards towards the kitchen door as her eyes fixed on the large cluster of bubbles belching its way out of the dishwasher. Already the front of the machine was covered and bubbles stretched their way across almost a quarter of the kitchen floor forming a viscous fluid that pooled up at its base. The poor mouse stumbled into the kitchen beside her friend just in time to see the huge pool of bubbles slowly consuming the kitchen as it seeped out of the machine. “Get a bucket Ester… get something. Now!” Jamie could already see the water and suds starting to creep towards them like some hungry, lethargic monster. She knew that even with the linoleum it could still potentially cause all sorts of water damage to the wall, or worse the electronics in the kitchen.
The panic only grew when another washer cycle started up. Jamie knew that if she didn’t do something the whole kitchen would probably get wrecked and get Ester into all kinds of trouble. Instinct again taking over Jamie grabbed up all of the dish towels she could find and charged forward. She started to throw them at the blob of bubbles and soapwater careful not to touch it herself in case it was in contact with anything from inside the washer. The first few managed to at least cut though the massive wall of bubbles growing up the wall though quickly the large holes that had been left started to fill from the excess churned up by the washer. “oh come on. that’s just cheap.” Jamie unfurled one of the larger towels and threw it against the encroaching line of water watching as it quickly absorbed, and then was overrun before taking another step back. Moments later Ester came into the kitchen again wielding a mop and bucket like shield and spear, moving slowly and carefully towards the huge soap blob. Jamie looked at Ester and quickly shoved the towels against her grabbing the mop and moving forward quickly, thrusting the large cloth ball against the water once to test it and to clear up the bubbles, slowly moving it side to side in hard sweeping strokes to pop the bubbles and draw up most of the moisture.
“Is… is it safe?” Ester said slowly as she took a small step forward “you think its safe to start mopping it up?” reluctantly the Mousette touched one of the towels against the water to sop it up letting go quickly as she realized that there may be current though it and taking a few steps back. She then looked up and bit her lip upon smelling more burnt electronics. “Oh no… not the ice cream machine too…” Ester gasped as she dropped the towels and grabbed the machine trying to yank the plug out of the socket before the motor was destroyed all together. “Ohhh no… its so.. Jamie something is wrong this mixture is way too thick. I don’t think the motor could take it. Ohhh no it must have been all the honey I put I there.” Quickly the lid of the churn was yanked up and shut off leaving the surprisingly thick mix now clinging hard to the ends of the paddle with somewhat crystallized honey clinging to the joint between paddle and motor. “First the food processor and now this? Mommy’s going to be so mad, Jamie we have to get all this cleaned up or we will get in so much trouble.” As if by divine providence of misfortune the peanut oil started to smoke from being left on too long, causing the smoke alarm hanging overhead to start blaring loudly. Both girls covered their ears and dashed out of the kitchen now, just trying to escape the noise for a moment and regroup as the kitchen slowly went to hell.
It was loud enough that Ester barely heard the loud buzzing sound coming from the intercom for their apartment. She dashed over to the call button and pushed it down hard as she could, not letting up until she heard the knock at the door and flung it open. “What the hell is going on here?” Diana gasped as the dampening provided by Esters door was totally lost replaced by a fire alarm and some motor slowly grinding itself apart. “Damn it Est is this why you called me?” the Chippete let out a sigh as she slammed the door behind her walking towards the kitchen a moment and grabbing the mop before disappearing from sight. A moment and a loud crunch later the blaring cut out entirely giving everyone’s ears a moment of relief. “God damn girl what did you do in here? Its like a war zone.” The Chipette walked out a moment later holding on to the two broken halves of what had been the fire alarm. “I thought you guys just needed me to help out with cooking something, not wrecking your moms stuff because it won’t turn off.” Ester just looked down at that giving a small nod before wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.
“I’m really really sorry about this Diana, honestly. We were just trying to make something nice for mommy’s birthday” As usual Diana seemed to have let herself fall victim to her own odd compulsion to play the heroine. Why did Ester have to be so cute? Judging from the condition of the kitchen this whole thing was only going to get worse even if she jumped in, especially since she knew absolutely nothing about cooking. Still Ester seemed to have her heart set on pulling off whatever it was she had been attempting so that apparently made it just as much of a problem for Diana. “Ok lets start by making sure the Dishwasher doesn’t blow up. Do you know where the breaker is?” Ester whimpered a bit and pointed towards her mothers room. “I’ll take care of that. Jamie you help Ester clean up in there and then we can see about cutting, well, whatever I need to cut.” Jamie and Ester nodded a bit and just watched as Diana walked off into Lillian’s bedroom followed a few minutes later by the lights and electronics running in the house going suddenly dead.
Jamie was the first to peek her head back into the now dead kitchen. After all of the chaos it seemed like everything was just one massive sleeping monster with the power out. She moved in slowly to grab up the mop and started to prod against the mass of bubbles, making sure that it wasn’t going to shock her anyways before giving one good swab to wipe up a good glob of viscous water. “You know Ester, I know you really wanted to do something nice for your mom but next time maybe you should just talk to your Godparents or something. This just kind of…” She stopped suddenly and just looked at her friend a moment. “Oh come on Ester don’t worry so much. Its fine. Your mom will understand. Just relax hun we’re going to get everything taken care of and your mom is going to get a nice dinner. No worries right?” Ester just nodded a bit to that as she started to move the food that was somewhat done out into the living room just as she heard the door knob turning, watching stunned as the door started to open.
Ester watched in shock as the door slowly started to move forward, pushing in at what felt a snails pace as light from the hallway cut though the pitch black apartment. All the young Mousette could think about was how much she wanted to run, how much fear she was feeling even as that darkened silhouette of her mother slowly moved forwards into the darkened living room of the apartment. “Ester what is going on here? Why are the lights out, and what’s with this food. Were you…” She didn’t even have to finish the thought, Esters nervous shuffling showing it all. “Young lady what happened here? Why are the lights out? What did you do?” She asked.
Ester started to sniffle harder and threw herself against her mother. “I’m sorry Mommy I.. I wanted to make you a special meal for your birthday, but I didn’t want to use the oven. So I called Jamie and she tired to help, but the dishwasher broke, and the food processor broke, and then the smoke alarm went off… and…”
Lillian’s eyes went wide as she dashed forward and scooped her daughter up, holding the girl close for a moment, and then pulled back looking her daughter square in the eyes. “Don’t you ever, ever do that again without someone around Ester. You could have gotten hurt. What would you have done if you didn’t have someone to help you?” The feline held her daughter tightly once more and tried hard not to cry. She was angry of course, and a bit disappointed, but at least Ester was safe. “I’m so glad your ok. But you are in a lot of trouble young lady. Do you understand?”
Ester just gave a small meek nod and held on to her mother as hard as she could. It felt like she had really let her down, wrecking the kitchen and then almost getting herself hurt. “I’m sorry Mommy, I just wanted you to have a nice birthday, like you usually do. I thought I could surprise you with something special.”
Slowly Lillian began to brush some of the tears out of her daughters face. “You are special to me Ester. I don’t want to see you hurt. Now you need to promise your never going to do anything like that again., you understand? Promise.” In one instant all the things that could have gone wrong flashed though Lillian’s mind once more. Punishment would be coming at some point but for now it was just a relief to know that her baby was safe and sound.
Diana could hear the whole conversation though the wall, and decided had to admit it was a nice stroke of luck for her. She already had a couple of boxes opened up, taking a catburglers care to keep in mind where everything was supposed to go. Not that she minded the idea of getting caught too much, but it did seem to add to the thrill a bit trying to ensure she was not. Thus far it had all been rather interesting, the stacks of old photos and newspaper clippings filling up old shoe boxes, along with the occasional box with actual shoes in it. Once the yelling started though Diana found her perfect opportunity to dig in deeper while nobody would hear and grabbed up one of the older boxes from the bottom of the pile, grinning a bit and licking her lips as she wondered what secrets it might hold. Slowly she started to pull out another photo album and then grinned a bit at what she saw underneath. “Well well well, what do we have here?” she asked herself, running her fingers along the simple latex hood at the bottom of the box.
