Page 14 of Dragons & Dumplings

"Right. Yes." I take a deep breath and add the soy sauce, followed by the oyster sauce and spice blend. The latter is gloopier than I expect it to be, almost like honey rather than a liquid like the other two. I'm not sure what I expected, but this isn't that.

I mix it all up and lean in to smell it. I hold it out for Nate who does the same. His eyebrows shoot up, and he nods.

"It smells good," I say.

"It does," he agrees. "Hopefully, it will taste good too." He takes it from me and sets it by the stove where he's already put the oil on to heat.

I grab the onions from the bench and drop them in, hearing the satisfying sizzle as the oil begins to brown them.

"Will you grab the skimmer?" he asks.

"Which one is that again?" I look over at the hanging rack of utensils and try to remember which is the skimmer. I'm not so good at this part.

"It looks like a spoon with a sieve on the end of it."

"Oh, got it." I grab the one in question and hand it over to him.

He scoops out the onions as they finish cooking and puts them back in the bowl to use later. Or not, I don't recall readingthat as one of the steps. "Are we supposed to put the onions in with the pork once we've cooked the sauce?" I ask.

Nate pauses in what he's doing, a confused expression on his face. "I don't actually know."

"I don't remember seeing it in the recipe."

"I guess we can decide when we get there," I respond. "Or assume that because they're not mentioned again, we don't do anything else with them?"

"Maybe you should make a note on the recipe about that when we're done," he says. "Then we can consider it for next time."

I nod and pick up a bowl of flour, pouring it into the oil and using a whisk to mix it. "Ready for the sauce."

He nods and picks up the jug, pouring it into the flour and oil mixture. It sizzles for a moment, the aromas of the various ingredients mingling into a sweet spiced steam. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, really letting it sink in. My mouth waters, and I realise that he's right about how all of it is going to taste together.

"Evie!"

"Sorry." I continue to stir the ingredients together until the sauce thickens.

Nate turns off the heat and brings over the dish with the pork in. "We can mix it in this, then I'll put it in the ice house until we're ready."

I nod and use one of the heat cloths to pick up the pan, being careful not to burn myself. I've had several nasty burns in the past, and they make my already frustrating-to-wear dresses even worse.

Nate mixes it up and nods. "All right, will you warm up the milk while I put this in the ice house?"

"Of course." I smile at him and start doing as he asks.

All of the thoughts of my day are already drifting away, thanks to the comfort of being in a kitchen I know and working alongside Nate. Working on something new just adds to that.

Chapter 7

It doesn't take long for Nate to return and the milk to be ready, and I take it off the stove to add the yeast to it. I've made enough bread to know that I have to wait until a foam forms on the top, but there's still a part of me that's impatient and just wants to get onto the next stage.

Nate seems to recognise the response in me and slides a bowl with two eggs in front of me, along with a whisk.

"It's hard to be patient."

He chuckles. "It is, but you've got to be. You know what happens if you don't."

"More bread disasters will haunt my nightmares."

"And mine, I remember the tantrum you threw the first time you tried to make bread."

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