It's monday once again. The week after the disaster. Twilight first official lesson from Becky was about to start. As the rest of the class finally caught on. And that meant learning something new.
"Good Morning class!" Morning said happily.
"Good morning!" The class responded with. Although not everyone was equally happy about it.
"Today is the day that everypony is going to learn physically. Which means as you are probably aware of, thanks to desk being a test kitchen, you will learn something together. Not a single pony being alienated." Morning explained.
"Each week will be about a product. This product you have to make, improve and make it yours." Morning said
Nappe put up his hoof, "Yes Nappe?" Morning asks.
"What do you mean with 'Make it yours'?" Nappe asks.
"Well Twilight? What does it mean?" Morning asks, moving the question to Twilight.
"It means, turning a product into something that you make with let's say different ingredients or a different technique. Something that only you can make." Twilight explains.
"Exactly. Did that answer your question, Nappe?" Morning asks and as Nappe nod, she continued.
"So today won't be a food, but a drink. Something that you or your parents have drunk atleast once." Morning continues "It's Pumpkin spice latte."
"As you know well, Fall has arrived and Twilight's exam regarding physically cooking will be near the end of Fall. After that she will go on an small scale internship in Canterlot for the remaining winter then she has her final exam. While the rest of you will go on an internship at the end of winter till mid-spring."
"Anyways it's fall. Around this time Pumpkin spice lattes are sold everywhere. They are popular." Morning finished.
"This drink has 3 stages, you will learn at monday and tuesday about stage 1, wednesday and thursday stage 2, friday and saturday stage 3. The stages are these, Stage 1 is Coffee, Stage 2 is Pumpkin spice, Stage 3 is cream and on sunday I want you to brew my college's 1 cup of your pumpkin spice latte. That's all, so go and start learning about coffee." Morning finished everypony is confused besides Twilight who already started.
"Which means Trial and error. Good luck every pony!" Morning added before leaving.
Everyone faces when O, then they all started.
Meanwhile Twilight did what she had learned, 'Okay, Start with the basics. Cook some water and while that is cooking, grind down some coffee beans. Once the grinding is done, grab a glass coffee pot and put a coffee net on top of it. Add the coffee in it and pour the hot water through it. And finished.' She thought as she in less than 20 minutes prepare a cup of fresh coffee.
The rest of the class looks at her in awe, and then they start to mimic her actions. Almost all of them got the same result.
Twilight simply smiled and nodded. "Shall I get the teacher and tell her we already made the coffee?" she asks, something which received nods all around.
Twilight opens the classroom door and rush towards Morning. "Teach! We are already done!" Twilight shouts.
Morning raised her eyebrow and walked back into class, only to find 13 dozen of coffee pots filled with coffee. "Did you put your names on it?" she asks.
"On the bottom." Leaf answered. "You should first test them though."
"Can I say a trivia fact? Something I happen to know about coffee as the person close to the other?" Twilight asks.
"Go ahead." Morning responds.
"Despite drinking it everyday, Princess Celestia hates thee and preference coffee over it. If at all possible." Twilight explains.
Twilight trivia caused everyone in the class to be shocked, including the teacher. "Really?" Morning asks.
"Yes, however when asked about it. She will denies this claim to save face." Twilight added.
"I understand it. I have to do the same." Lulu exclaimed "I like soda's more, but they are according to people, poor pony drinks. I disagree."
"That being said. Can I give my latte to Celestia?" Twilight asks.
"Go ahead. Mind you, you will have to make another for a teacher to get a score." Morning said "Teachers from this school."
Twilight nodded as Morning started to drink a cup of each pot.
"After those drinks only 10 were good. The other 3 have to improve. These ponies being, Nappe, Pate and surprisingly Lulu." Morning reviewed.
"Also something tells me, you guys have been stealing techniques from Twilight. Is that true?" Morning asks suspicious.
everyone nods nervously.
"Very good. This is why Becky isn't here. You will steal from Twilight until you can do it yourself. Also starting today, you will make your own lunch. Good luck." Morning explained, "Oh and you can now start making pumpkin spice."
Morning once again left, and then the bell rang it was lunch and then solo study.
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The next morning, Twilight starts making the spice at home. The school decided that for one day. Every student had to learn at home. That and they were improving their security for 20th time that month. Twilight and mafia made Canterlot aware of the lack of security in some parts of the city.
Thus one day every week, they would stay at home. As the army watches and get taught more and more new techniques and principles that day.
Despite this, Twilight decided to continue her experiments with using lots of spices to improve her ability to use it at her will. However when she found a spice recipe book, she decided to cut her time short and simply use the recipe inside the book. After searching, she found it on page 512 which contain the recipe for the pumpkin spice. According it, it needs:
1 Teaspoon of cinnamon,
1/4 Teaspoon of nutmeg,
1/4 Teaspoon of ground ginger,
1/8 Teaspoon of ground cloves.
And the steps just require mixing them.
Twilight doing exactly as book says got the result and it was perfect. She then looked at how to make whipped cream.
She looks at Velvet's sudden massive collection of cookbook. Twilight took a surprised two steps back. A few days ago there only were a few books, but now there were atleast a thousand books.
She then found a book about creams. And after searching through the pages, she found a page about whipped cream. However it was for 16 servings. 'That is a bit many but, oh well! Let's see, a cup of heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon sugar.' she thought.
She followed the recipe and got some beautiful whipped cream, she then put it in an container and into the fridge.
Now, I am going to need the recipe for a pumpkin spice latte Twilight thought.
Twilight turned back on the bookshelf and searched on alphabetical order. After going through the 'K' section for like ten minutes. She finally arrived at the 'L' section and found a book about 'Latte' almost immediately.
Putting the book on the ground, Twilight started her read on the topic,
'Section twelve, Pumpkin spice latte.
As you recall from section one. This drink contain like always an unholy amount of sugar. However if you are not scared away by this. Note: Most animals should not drink this unless you are an omnivore. '
'Why would they note this specifically?' Twilight though.
'Anyways, The reader should note, that this drink is usually made with artificial flavors and not the way this book suggests it. When you are certain about this, Let's begin!
First thing first! You should make Pumpkin puree, as it's an important component to this drink. For the sake of simplicity I shall quickly gloss over it. First buy a sugar pumpkin or pie pumpkin from a farmers market. Then to cut it apart, simply plunge a heavy knife at the top of the stem and cut it down. Then use magic or your hooves to break it into two pieces. Remove the innards and seeds, but keep the flesh. Put the flesh and shell into an oven and roast it whole. Then remove the flesh with a spoon and put it into an blender. Blend it and tada you have pumpkin puree'
"Okay, that sounds easy enough. Let me look into the pantry," Twilight said to herself. She then proceeded to look into the pantry and saw a pumpkin with a note.
'Don't touch this sugar pumpkin. Yes! That means you Twilight! -Shining Armor' Twilight read and immediately grumbled.
"Well, no one is watching..." Twilight said to herself.
Twilight then proceeded to snatch the pumpkin and follow the instruction, much to Shining's chragin. And after what felt like 10 boring minutes. She finally completed her first pumpkin puree.
"Everything looks good so far," Twilight said as she continued to read.
'Now that the puree is ready, let's start the actually recipe!
You are going to need 2 cups of milk, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 tablespoon of pumpkin spice and finally 1/2 cup strong black coffee. Oh! Let's not forget 2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree.
If you have everything set up, Let's begin!
Add the milk, pumpkin puree and sugar to a saucepan over medium heat. Make sure that you make it hot but not boiling hot. Boiling is bad for the milk and could cause some nasty side effects. So DO NOT BOIL the milk! Anyways once hot, remove the pan from the heat and whisk the remaining ingredients into the saucepan. Now that you completed it, pour your mixture into two cups and there you go done. Additionally you could put some whipped cream and sprinkle some pumpkin spice over the top.'
"Huh! That is surprisingly simple." Twilight said as she got to work. Getting everything ready was the easy part, now came something she isn't the best at. And that is cooking but not boiling. Although in theory it's easy. Every stove is different, sometimes it's boiling in like one minute, other times it takes 30 minutes. And this is all on the same stove type, yet the heat distribution is different for every pan and stove.
Luckily for Twilight. She was used to her mother's stove. So she successfully made her latte in the matters of minutes. However when she tasted it, It was burned somehow. She looked at the saucepan and realized it was broken. The thickest part of the saucepan was too thin. Which messed up Twilight's heat distribution and caused it to burn.
She then proceeded to use each and every saucepan in the hopes to find a working one.
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Three hours later...
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"UGH!" Twilight screamed.
"What is wrong dear-" Velvet was about to ask, when she saw her kitchen in shambles.
"Well, I am trying to make a pumpkin spice latte. But every saucepan we have is broken. The heat doesn't distribute like it's supposed to, which caused each version to burn." Twilight explained in a very annoyed tone.
"Well, How about you improvise and use a cooking pan instead? Those are better designed and have improved heat distribution." Shining suggested as he walked into the kitchen.
"Are you saying that my saucepans are poorly designed, Young stallion?" Velvet asks suspiciously.
Shining gulped and quickly shook his head. "But for what she is trying to do, it's better, no?
"I guess." Velvet said unhappily.
"Uh, Yeah. I should have tried that." Twilight said gulping and looking shifty at Shining.
Shining raised his eyebrow. "What did you do?" he asks suspicious.
"Nothing." Twilight answered too fast.
"Hmm?" Shining replied, "Wait! How did you make the pumpkin puree?" He asks worryingly
"Uhh, I may have used your pumpkin." Twilight confessed.
His eyes went wide and screamed "NO!" As he looks in the pantry.
"I was going to make a pumpkin birthday cake for Cadence." Shiny said saddened.
"I could go and find a new one tomorrow at the farmers market." Twilight offered.
"It's no use. Sugar pumpkin season is over." Shining said disappointed.
"Well. Isn't any cake you make for Cadence going to be a success? I mean if you put your heart into it?" Twilight offered again.
Shining stopped looking at the ground and thought about it. "I guess you are right! But what should I make now?" He asks.
"I suggest an Opera. I heard she loves them." Night said as he too entered the, in shambles, kitchen.
"I luckily know how to make those." Shining said.
"She loves 'Parti Du shodar' Chocolate in particular." Twilight added.
"Aren't those super expensive?" Velvet asks.
"Yup, 1000G for 10 grams." Twilight said, "Luckily I have some, that you can have."
"How did you obtain those?" Night asks.
"Connections and knowledge." Twilight simply shrugs.
"Right. Anyways let me get a recipe and can i have like 500 grams of the chocolate stuff?" Shining asks.
"Sure let me grab some." Twilight said as she pushed her hoof into a secret button in the wall. Which revealed the 9 kg of that super expensive chocolate stuff.
Both Velvet and Night jumped at the massive amount of chocolate and the secret compartment that exists. Shining simply nods as Twilight hooves over the chocolate. As he immediately went to work.
"Uh Twilight? How many compartment like these are there?" Velvet asks.
Twilight simply put her hoof to her mouth and shook her head. "Who knows?"