Story: All the Way Home We'll be Warm

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This was inspired by a prompt from wyld_dandelyon during the 2023 March Final Friday Fics, the picture at the end of the post, and fills a square for my December 2023 Amnesty Bingo Card. At 500 words this is the 2nd story in the new series The Witch's Kitchen, following "A Cup to Start the Day."

 

All the Way Home We'll be Warm

Lucia fairly twirled down the galley of the kitchen adding a pinch of seasoning here, stirring a pot there, and chopping her way through the restaurant’s final prep list. It was the afternoon before the Grand Opening and at Jeanette’s urging they were hosting a Friend and Family’s only Soft Opening.
 

Guests had been arriving for about twenty minutes and were ready to be seated and served in the next ten. Jeanette was in her element in the front of house; relaxed because her pastries and cakes had already been made this morning and were now waiting for their time to shine during dessert, and leisurely serving beverages from Old Copper Joe, a gleaming one-of-a-kind coffee maker.

Lucia stopped her diligent dance through the kitchen to stand before Stanley. All of the menu items that she needed to prep were as ready as could be and would just need finishing touches as orders came back. With its three squat legs resting over the burner sat Nonnetto’s cauldron with the wood fire stoked to an excellent temperature in the stove below. All that was needed now was Lucia’s incantation, and she’d see what the Daily Special had to offer.

        Oh, the weather outside is frightful,

But the fire is so delightful,

And since we’ve got time to eat,

Make us meat, make us meat, make us meat!

 

The cauldron rumbled on the stovetop, a few chimes ringing out as it stomped its tiny metal feet against the burner. The scents of sautéed shallots and garlic immediately began to waft from the open mouth, quickly followed by the deep umami scents of mushrooms and beef browning. The scents deepened with roasting herbs rosemary, parsley, thyme, and bay. Deep red and gold flecks of magical fire began to lap the underside of the cauldron as the final ingredients arrived with a wiggle of its plump round bottom: tomato paste, a thick stout, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and just a pinch of white sugar.

 

Lucia watched in joy as the magic cauldron met her call with a perfectly bubbling batch of Beef and Mushroom Stew, just right for the cold blustery January day. She ladled out enough from the cauldron to fill a 6-quart Dutch oven with the Daily Special, to keep warm on the regular stove, watching as Nonnetto’s cauldron magically refilled a second time, before cancelling the incantation.

 

Oh, the fire is slowly dying,

        And dear cauldron we're still goodbying,

But once I place on your top,

        Let it stop, let it stop, let it stop!

 

Setting the heavy iron lid onto the cauldron Lucia blew the magical cooking pot three heartfelt kisses, and felt it come to rest inert on top of Stanley once more. She’d clean and bless it before closing the restaurant for the night, but now she whisked off her apron, wiped her hands, and went out to the front of house to greet her friends and family and write the first Daily Special up on the chalkboard.

~~~Notes~~~

Old Copper Joe:

Steampunk coffee machine designed by Copper Steampunk Design