Layla & Sooraya | BACKDATED

[x-mandelbrot.livejournal.com]

Instead of working on her Anatomy & Physiology work she needs to make up with Sooraya Layla gets a lesson in Afghani cooking, and some insight into her friend's religion.

"I promise we will do homework after there is food," Layla swore, crossing her heart and everything. She was watching Sooraya gather ingredients from the far side of the kitchen's island. "It's like not even my fault. Okay it's sort of my fault because I did that whole like powers tap out shit again. But not entirely on purpose. And now the doctors are all 'Layla! You need to eat all the time! Rawr!'" Her apparent imitation of the nonspecific doctor sounded a lot like the Cookie Monster, actually. "What're we making?" Conning Sooraya into teaching her to make something Afghani was like her best idea ever. Well, best idea ever today.

“I could use a break from work like things myself.” Sooraya explained and stood up, happily waving a bamboo steamer basket in her hands. “And we are making mantu… It’s a kind of dumpling filled with ground beef and covered with yoghurt and tomato sauce.” She quickly looked over the ingredients she had gathered, checking if she had everything. “Would you mind start chopping those onions finely? I’ll give you a hand in a bit, but I need to hunt down some spices.” She gestured to the spice cup board, overflowing with all kinds of little bags and canisters.

"I can totally be chopping girl." There was possibly a touch too much enthusiasm going on. Layla was one of those people who got inordinately happy about learning to make new things. Besides, Sooraya had fed her when she'd been pathetic and useless and she figured if Sooraya ever got really sick or injured or something then Layla could make her something from home to cheer her up this way. Not that she had told Sooraya about her super secret scheme. She got a knife and started to peel the onions as she asked, "Why's the yogurt go on top? I'm used to, like, yogurt comes in a cup and you eat it and that's like the only thing I ever use yogurt for."

“Well, it’s not quite yoghurt. It’s a sauce made of yoghurt, garlic and herbs. It gives it a very… fresh accent. It’s a little like the Greek tzatziki…” Sooraya explained, looking over her shoulder for a second. “Aha here they are… pepper, salt, coriander and cumin… Now, I am also quite sure I put a bag of dried mint in here somewhere… There it is…” Sooraya brought over the herbs and grabbed her knife and cutting board. “I am glad to see that you can finally walk around a little. If you don’t mind me asking… is it always this bad when you use your powers?”

Nose wrinkling, Layla shrugged carefully so she didn't go an chop off a finger while cutting up her onions. "Not usually. Just if it's big stuff. I guess I have like a limit on how big the stuff I zombify is? So if I bring stuff back that's near that limit I go all black out, hit the medlab and be useless for like a month, apparently. That's like the theory anyway. I'm still trying to figure out how to like do it on purpose. 'Cause, you know, if I can figure out how to do it then it might be easier to figure out how to not do it. 'Cause, like, almost always I'm not doing it on purpose. Do you ever get like that? Like if you use your powers too much or something? I know most people don't like end up in the medlab but I think sometimes people get headaches or something?"

“When I stay in sand form too long and I retake my shape, I am just generally exhausted for a day or two. Sometimes I have a bit of a headache, but nothing too bad. I hope you and the doctors can find a way to help.” She finished chopping her own onion and quickly glanced at Layla’s, before gathering a large skillet and heating some oil in it. “I think yours is one of the strangest powers I have seen before… Doesn’t it scare you a little sometimes?” She carefully didn’t look at Layla, but focused on measuring out the herbs she needed.

"Not really. I mean, if I was killing stuff, yeah, but I'm not. I'm just making zombies. But they aren't all 'Ungh, braaaaains' so I figure it's okay?" She frowned and shrugged, not sure what else to say about it. "I mean, it's really gross when something comes back to life and then like bleeds out or screams because of pain or something. I kinda feel like if something's dead it should probably stay dead. So I go around and like re-kill stuff if it's not gonna die on it's own. It seems kinda fucked up, huh? I mean, you go through all that pain and die and wake up in more pain and like bleed out? Maybe I should re-kill them, too. To make it quicker?"

“It can sound a little gruesome.” Sooraya conceded. “On the other hand, the soul already passed on when they died for the ‘first time’. In a way you are just putting the bodies to rest… Could you learn to do it with your powers? Or do you need to keep doing it with a gun or something like that… Because that could cause some trouble…” Sooraya eyed the ground beef in front of her a little, then firmly put it in the pan, ignoring the thoughts the sight of the raw meat brought up. “We can add the onions and I’ll show you the herbs to add…”

The onion Sooraya had chopped up was gathered up on Layla's cutting board with her own onion and brought over to where Sooraya was standing at the stove. "I don't think I can kill things. Nico can. She does my powers training with me. I mean, she could just like suck the energy out of stuff if she was around when I brought stuff back. I wonder what something without a soul would be like? I mean, I'm pretty sure I believe in souls but like what does a soul actually do that changes if you don't have one?" She looked over at the older girl and frowned. "Sorry, that's like theological and stuff, huh? Religion is like one of those things you're not supposed to talk about because everyone gets offended. Unless it's Korvus, he's cool with it. Well, so far. Sorry, anyway, spices!"

“I don’t mind talking about religion or philosophy if you want to sometimes… My faith is important to me and I like talking with people about things.” Sooraya quickly reassured the girl. “But back to the spices… For this recipe we keep it fairly simple… Some salt, pepper, about half a tablespoon of coriander and a quarter for the cumin… It’s something you need to play around with a little and to taste when it’s cooked…” Sooraya quickly took the onions and added them, just like a cup of water and stirred. “Now this needs to cook till all the water is absorbed.”

"I don't think I've ever used cumin. Is it like hot or anything?" Layla watched everything Sooraya was doing. It was pretty simple but she wanted to try to commit it to memory anyhow. "It's cool if it is, just wondering. Do we need to like stir occasionally or anything? Or just let it be? Do we have to cover it? Sorry, is that a lot of questions?"

“No, it’s not really hot. It’s…. I find it difficult to describe… And we do need to stir now and then, otherwise it won’t cook evenly. No lid is necessary.” She moved over to the counter and gestured Layla to join her. “We could make the dough ourselves, but today I am gonna be easy and use wonton wrappers. Have you ever used them?”

"Nope. I've never made anything even vaguely like a dumpling, actually." Which, of course, meant Sooraya had a captive audience. "Making the dough's probably pretty easy if you've made pie crust dough and pastry dough before, right? I hope. Because I can make those. And in theory I could make pasta dough but I never have."

“It’s not hard, no..” Sooraya agreed. “But I figured we could do that another time… When mixture is done, we simply dust the cutting board lightly with flour and grab the wrappers one at a time. And you need a cup of cold water. Rubbing the edges with water will make then stick together when you fold it.” Sooraya moved to grab a cup of cold water. “Can you stir the meat mixture?”

"I'm on it, boss!" Layla gave Sooraya a little salute and hopped to it, literally. Which was maybe not the best idea ever because hopping apparently used a lot of muscles and cardio energy or something because she was starting to droop about two stirs in. Ever the stubborn pain in the ass, though, she remained there until she was sure the meat, onion and spice mix was thoroughly stirred before shuffling her way back to plop onto a stool. "Note to self: Exertion is a bad idea still." Oh and there was the nausea. Layla closed her eyes and dropped her head down onto folded arms while taking deep breaths. The nausea would fade, she reminded herself. And the random vertigo, too. She just needed a minute. Or, like, four.

Sooraya looked up sharply from what she was doing when Layla sat down and dropped her head on her arms. “Layla, are you alright?” She grabbed a glass from the cupboard, filling it with cold water before bringing it over. “Are you nauseous?” She gently rubbed the girl's back for a moment.

"Uh-huh. And the room's tryin' to be like that stupid ride at fairs and shit where you get strapped to the wall and the whole thing spins? Spinny rooms suck." Another deep breath. "It's cool, it'll go away. Just, uh, remind me not to like bounce. Head sooo doesn't like the bouncing. Okay stomach might not like it either. I'm not exactly what you'd call-" she paused, trying to swallow down her next inhale as if it would stop that upward motion her stomach seemed to be trying to push for. "Recovered. Sorta mostly there but, uh, not totally."

“You just stay put for a few moments. “ She quickly open the fridge and pulled out the fresh ginger she had seen there. She cut of a small slice and peeled it. “If you like ginger… you can chew on it and it will help to settle your stomach.” Sooraya held it out to the pale looking girl.

An arm shifted and a hand popped out from under her other arm off the edge of the island, fingers wiggling. "Yeah, sure. Whatever helps I'm good with. Ginger's fine. Don't have any opinion on it unless there's sushi involved anyway." She figured it was fitting though. Give the girl who needed to eat nonstop and who ate all the damn time anyway something to chew on to stop the nausea.

“That’s the spirit.” Sooraya gave a little wink, even though Layla couldn’t see it. She quickly checked on the meat and seeing it was going the way she wanted it too, she moved back to the counter and started bringing over the wrappers and assorted gear. “We can make them just as well over here when the meat is done.” She dived back into one of the cupboards, hunting around for a pot that would fit the steamer basket and a bottle of cooking spray.

Layla chewed and breathed and tried to make affirmative noises though she wasn't sure any of them really made any sense to Sooraya in the context. Mostly she wanted everything to calm down and like go still again. She just wasn't sure how long it was gonna take. Five minutes maybe. Maybe ten? Ugh. She pushed the slice of ginger into her cheek so she could ask, "How long 'til we gotta stuff wrappers?" Then the slice was back and being chewed on. Was she supposed to swallow eventually or chew it to death first to get all the juice out? Probably the second one.

Sooraya checked the meat quickly. “I’d say we have about ten minutes left. But if you are not feeling up to it yet, then you can just watch me doing it first and join in when you feel up to it.” She moved back to the island and picked up the steamer basket and cooking spray. “I spray this on the basket to prevent the dumplings from sticking when they are cooking.” Sooraya explained before spraying the basket.

A hand raise to give a thumbs up on both points. She still wasn't looking at anything, keeping her eyes closed while she concentrated on her breathing. The nausea was mostly gone, though, so Layla experimentally raised her head. The room wasn't spinning so much as dancing. It was enough that she kept herself upright and watched Sooraya though half-lidded eyes. "Dumplings are so useless if they rip apart trying to get them outta the basket. Totally noted."

“Exactly." The next ten minutes Sooraya spent her time checking on the meat mixture, alternating that with some chatting with Layla. When the mixture was done, she brought over the skillet and settled it on the pan holder. “Okay, I will just show you how to fold this and then you can jump in when you feel ready.” Sooraya pulled over one of the wrappers and put it down in front of her on the lightly floured cutting board. She dipped a finger in the cold water and wet the edges of the wrapper. “You put about one tablespoon of the mixture in the middle. Rather slightly less then more, otherwise it won’t cook evenly.” Sooraya did as she said.

“Now comes the more difficult part… You fold it in a triangle, pressing the edges well together…” She explained, demonstrating it slowly. “Then you again dip you finger in the water and you wet the edges just a little bit. Then you pull them together, making a little bow.” Sooraya also demonstrated this part, before putting the folded dumpling in the basket. “We will probably have some mixture left, but that is good, because that becomes the base for the tomato sauce.”

"I'm not sure I can do the bow thing right. You might need to fix mine." She laid out a wonton wrapper of her nevertheless and tried to mimic what Sooraya had done. She put in too much meat at first so she had to scoop some out, but then her triangle was more of a square and there was nothing bow-like about it. So she did the most effective thing ever. She narrowed her eyes at it and told it to behave, then took the edges apart carefully and tried again. "It's like dumpling origami, dude."

“Watch. Turn your wrapper that it lies before you like a lozenge. Wet all around the edges.” Sooraya demonstrated every step. “Then you put in the filling. Pull the upper corner towards you and fold. Press all around the edges so everything is closed… Now you have a triangle.” She gave Layla a few moments to look. “Then you wet the two corners of the long side…. Pick up each corner and pull them towards each other. Gently squeeze those corners together so that it makes a bow.” She once again showed it to Layla. “Now you try again.”

Layla was squinting at her. Because, yeah, of course it made sense. Only she wasn't sure it looked like a bow. But she did what Sooraya said, folding and pinching and bringing corners together. Well, maybe it was vaguely bow-like. But it looked a lot like Sooraya's and that, Layla was pretty sure, was what mattered. Which was probably why she burst out in a sudden grin, clearly proud of herself. "One down, eighty bajillion to go!"

Sooraya took the dumpling from her and stuck her finger through the hole in the middle. “Look, those two pieces you pressed together make sort of an bow or an arch above your fingers.” She put it in the steamer basket and grab another wrapper for both herself and Layla. “One down, a lot more to go.” She agreed. “Do you have an idea how far you are behind with your Anatomy?” she asked.

The mere mention of anatomy made Layla groan. "Like two months probably. I was like barely caught up before I got taken out by zombification," she complained as she went to work on her next dumpling. "Dr. Grey's been awesome about it but I think I'm gonna be making shit up like into summer. Which, you know, whatever. I've had to do the summer school thing to play catch up before and it's not like I've got parents to go home to over the summer like Sarah or someone, you know?" Layla shrugged. "I'm hoping I can talk her into letting me do some big project to make up most of the credit instead of doing all the individual assignments or something. 'Cause, y'know, I actually do projects. Unlike, like, reading and stupid end of chapter questions type homework."

"Those are annoying." Sooraya agreed. "But maybe you can also do some smaller projects... I follow the syllabus from Attilan and I have two monthly assignments, a Disease Diary and Anatomy in the News. You have to do research for them on a smaller scale." She finished off another dumpling and put it in the basket. "For the first you have to research a disease linked to the chapter you are doing, while for the other you look in the news for an article relating to Anatomy and explain why it is related."

"That's kinda cool. But that whole write a paper on why it's related? So Layla fail right there. Like epic, epic levels of Layla fail. I talked to Kyle once about like using something he killed hunting as like a project. You know, dissecting and identifying parts and shit. Maybe she'd let me do that. Because, you know, I'd actually do that. Because it's interesting. And writing papers is so totally not interesting." She set her newly completed dumpling near Sooraya for basketing and pulled another wrapper toward her. "But I gotta catch up so I can dissect the rat. Because, dude, seriously, that was like the whole point I took A and P. Possibly blow myself up versus cutting shit up. And cutting shit up does not require math, which is like the devil or whatever."

Quickly basketing the dumpling, Sooraya shook her head. "It's only about two paragraphs that you have to do. Even you can manage that... And even if you dissected Kyle's kill, you'd still have to write a report or something like that. I have done some dissection, but it doesn't really draw me. I have helped with slaughtering in Afghanistan a few times and that was enough... But what were you planning on? A rat? You can always ask Catseye to catch you a few of them also."

"Yeah but writing about the thing I cut up that Kyle killed that had a liver as big as my hand is way cooler. You totally underestimate my level of 'it's boring, I'm finding something else to do.' It's not about length, it's about me wanting to stab myself in the eye with my pen instead of bothering with it. And, uh, I'm pretty sure Dr Grey gets the rats. All formaldehyded and shit. You know, official. I mean I could get someone to catch me a rat...wait, who's Catseye?" Layla's eyebrow furrowed. How was there another cat chick around that she totally hadn't met?

“Dr. Grey probably will have rats.” Sooraya agreed. “Or other animals to dissect. I’ll give you a little warning though. Cutting into an animal just dead is different from one who had been put in that chemical gunk.” The Afghani woman paused for a moment to put the done dumpling in the basket and checked the meat mixture and the number of wrappers. “And Catseye? She can change in a cat and has purple hair and a tail… She also lives here.”

"Oh, you mean Sharon?" Layla was looking confused still but she slid a few more completed dumplings Sooraya's way. "Why do you call her Catseye? And, um, you realize I cut the heads off stuff I've brought back to life, right? I mean, I don't dissect them but I stab them in the chest or take off their head and sometimes I only have my hands to do it. That seems way more potentially icky than cutting into a freshly killed thing. Okay, so a freshly killed thing has way more blood. And, hang on, you only slaughtered like chickens and cows and stuff, right? Not like...people?"

"Yes, I mean Sharon. Before she came back last time, we called her Catseye most of the time, because she preferred that..." Sooraya quickly placed the mount of completed dumplings in the basket. " And it's different if you just kill them or when you are actually digging with your hands inside a cow..." She paused when she heard the final word and raised an eyebrow. "Me slaughter people? Where did that come from?"

"You said you did slaughtering in Afghanistan! There's been war there, people have some fucked up personal histories around here, it seemed better to make sure assuming you meant animals was right because if we ended up with 'and then this time I cut out this dude's intestines' it could get way awkward if I wasn't prepared and you thought I was, you know?" She explained herself in her usual rapid-fire diction, a little worried she had maybe offended Sooraya.

Sooraya shot her a quick smile. “I understand what you mean, Layla. Don’t worry about it. But yes, I meant that I helped with the animals.” She surveyed the dumplings. “Little different subject, but we are out of wrappers… I am gonna set them up to steam, but we still need to make red and white sauce.” The last dumplings were carefully placed in the steamer basket. “You want to remain seated or do you think you can stand at the stove?”

Sliding off her stool at the island, Layla stood a bit cautiously, eyes closed. A deep breath, then she opened her eyes. The world wasn't spinning. She didn't feel like she was going to throw up. "Yeah, yeah I think I'm good. I can man the stove. So red sauce and white sauce? What kinda sauces are they? Because my brain is all on like pasta sauce and tomato and alfredo are probably way off from what we're doing," she said as she came around to stand beside Sooraya near the stove.

“You are not very far off with the tomato sauce. For the red sauce we simply reheat the meat mixture and add tomato paste. I also like to add a finely chopped tomato, but you don’t have to do that.” Sooraya brought over the skillet with the remaining meat mixture and put it on the stove, though she did not light the fire yet. “The white sauce is a lot of chopping and stirring it through the yoghurt. Like the tzatziki thing I talked about. That you can do sitting if you want.” She thought Layla still looked pretty pale to her eyes.

"I can stand," the blonde insisted even as her foot reached out to hook around the leg of the nearest stool and drag it over. "Just in case. Anyway, so what needs chopping for the white sauce? Should we chop stuff first so like one of us can man one sauce and the other can man the other or something? Since I assume everything's supposed to be done at the same time?"

“No, they can be made after each other if you want. They don’t take that much work. And the dumplings will be steaming for about forty minutes, so plenty of time. Why don’t you add the tomato paste I have here and stir, while I quickly chop up the tomato? I can do that here and we can chat a little more if you want.” Sooraya grabbed the tomato, cutting board and knife and started chopping.

Taking up the can of tomato paste, the blonde girl couldn't help smiling. "And exhibit A, someone who is actually offering to talk to me more as if I ever shut up when I'm not unconscious anyway. That's so cute. Really." She actually reached over and patted Sooraya on the head. "What's your head thingum called? I know it has a name and it probably doesn't like actually matter that I don't know it, but it seems like something I should know. 'Cause 'head scarf' is like right but not right, right?"

“O boy…” Sooraya burst out in laughter. “Well, I like to chat while I work… And my scarf?” She reached up and touched her scarf. “Well, it’s not the most generally used name. Problem is though that there are many terms for a head scarf, depending on the style and the area you are from. But if you want to have another more general name, you could use the word hijab. The style I am wearing now is called an Al Amira.” Sooraya explained while she chopped the tomato. “And I don’t know if you have noticed that I sometimes wear a matching scarf with my salwar kameez? Those are called a shayla or a dupatta. And then you have wide variety of names for the other styles.”

Layla repeated "hajib" and "Al Amira" to herself to try to get the pronunciation correct. "So it's sort of like how there's a bajillion kinds of shirts? Y'know, thermal and henley and v-neck and short sleeves or long sleeves or tee shirts or sweaters or sweatshirts and stuff? That makes sense. So, um," Layla frowned a little and paused. Stirring seemed to be the focus of her attention for a few moments but the frown hinted that it wasn't really. "I dunno how to make this sound, like, potentially less wrong but, what's the point? Of the hajib, I mean."

"It can be kinda like that." Sooraya agreed. "Islamic women cover because we believe Allah wishes it. This is a verse in the Qur'an that tells us that." Her gaze went a little distant as she recited: "And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their khimār over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments."

"Just how this verse and some others are interpreted can be different. That is partially why there are so many differences in styles. Some say faces should be covered for an example, other don't. But in general women should cover everything except there hands and faces in public." Sooraya paused for a moment to put the tomato's in the pan. "In my rooms upstairs I often don't wear hijab, unless I expect another man."

"So your hair counts as your beauty or your, um, ornament?" The expression on the blonde's face was confused but she was clearly trying to understand it. "'Cause, I dunno, I guess I know some people are all about their hair but I don't usually think of it as being like a source of beauty I guess? Just a culture different or something, right? Because it makes sense that you would, you know, actually wear clothes. I mean, that aren't all 'hello cleavage' or showing your stomach or short skirts. It makes sense from that thing to not wear that stuff. I guess I just don't get the hair thing? But people thought ankles were hella sexy once and I don't get that either. Is hair a thing because you cover it up? Like, men never get to see it so it becomes that much more like special or exotic or coveted or whatever?"

The young Afghani moved around the kitchen to gather the necessary supplies for the yogurt sauce as she thought about how to answer the question.. When she came back, she had organized her thoughts. "You have to keep in mind here that interpretations of this differ, but this is how I see things. Your hair is part of your beauty and your beauty is a precious thing. I don't want to show that just to everyone. So that is why I cover."

"But you have a pretty face," Layla pointed out without a second's hesitation. "It seems really weird to me in general to go around covering your face but you're pretty so shouldn't that count? I don't understand why your hair counts but not your face unless you don't think you're pretty?"

"I know." Sooraya nodded. "And that is partly why some people say a Muslim woman should also cover her face and wear gloves. But there is an hadith, that is something that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be with him, said or did, that tells us a woman is allowed to show her face and hands in public. So that is what I use as a guideline. That is the 'what must ordinarily appear thereof'' in the verse I just recited."

"Huh." Layla thought about it, stirring her tomato and meat concoction in the pan, and frowned. "So basically it's only okay because this one guy a really long time ago said it? That's...um, okay. I mean, it doesn't really make sense to me but he's like the big guy for Muslims, right? Like Jesus for the Christians? He says stuff and you like follow what he says like rules whether or not they strictly are? I mean in general, not just with the face thing."

"Muslims believe Muhammad, peace be with him, is the last and greatest of the prophets. He received his knowledge directly from Allah. That is why we follow what he said and did. Allah told us through him. But there are several interpretations and not all hadith that exist are seen as trustworthy." Sooraya explained as she measured out the yogurt and started to clean the garlic. "But Muhammed is not quite the same as Jesus in Christianity. He was a prophet, not the Son of God. According to one of my teachers at the mosque in Attilan the right equivalent of Jesus in Christianity if is the Qu'ran. It is the Word of Allah on Earth. I have heard Christians sometimes call Jesus the Living Word of God."

Layla sighed and shook her head. "I'm not actually dumb enough to think Muhammad was God's son. But I don't think you got my point. He's the dude you listen to. Christians do everything Jesus says, supposedly, because he is the son of God so everything he said was like representative of what God wanted. Sorta like how the White House spokesperson speaks on behalf of the President. Only you don't listen to Jesus, you listen to Muhammad, but you do it for the same reasons. You believe he's representative of God's will or wishes or whatever. You see my point?"

"I do understand what you mean." Sooraya nodded. "And I didn't mean that you are dumb or something. But I have encountered a lot of people who think that because both Jesus and Muhammad are important men in their religions, they have exactly the same role in their respective religions... It's a mistake many people make. So I thought it would be good to head off that for the start." She quickly clarified her intentions, keeping her gaze focused on the garlic she was chopping very finely.

"It's kind of fucked up to make assumptions about what people think," Layla pointed out mildly. "I mean, that's like a lesser version of me assuming you hate all Americans because you're Muslim, you know? Like, maybe people get confused but you shouldn't assume they're confused before they even say anything that's obviously mixing up stuff, y'know? 'Cause some people get really offended about shit like that." She paused for a moment, letting silence settle in and hopefully dissipate some of what might have been tension forming, "So is it like a rule that every time you say Muhammad's name you immediately have to say 'peace be with him'?"

"No... that is just a habit... a way of showing respect... Most people do it in writing. I often say it, but not always." Sooraya explained with a small smile and a shrug. "And Layla, I was not trying to make any assumptions about what you did or didn't know. Not intentionally at least. But it's something most people don't know... I mean, I have heard so called experts on TV make mistakes like that. So I have kinda gotten in the habit of clarifying stuff like that from the start to prevent misunderstandings. I have had that too many times."

"It's still making assumptions and making assumptions is fucked up. 'Cause if people get shit mixed up you can correct them but if they aren't mixed up and you assume shit then maybe you offend them because they care more about that shit than I do. And offending people is a lot fucking harder to fix than pointing out their incorrect belief about Muhammad's role in your religion's mythology or whatever." She offered Sooraya a smile, and nodded at her pan. "How do I know when this is done, by the way?"

"I understand what you mean." Sooraya conceded. "And it's done when it looks and tastes okay. It's kind of trial and error with this." She handed Layla a spoon. "What do you say?"

Taking up the spoon, Layla dipped just the tip of it into the tomato-filled meat mixture to scoop some up. After cooling it off with the time-honored method of blowing on it she tasted it and tried to pay really close attention to how it tasted, like it was a test. "It tastes...like I should be putting basil, parsley and maybe oregano in it and putting it on spaghetti? I mean, it's tasty, I'm just not sure what like the goal for it to taste like is."

"If you were making spaghetti, you would." Sooraya nodded. "But you are combining this also with the yogurt sauce and dumplings." Sooraya took her own spoon and tasted a little. "I'd add a little pepper. Nothing more. But when you have tasted everything together, you can start to experiment. But it's up to you."

"It is so not up to me!" Layla protested immediately. "I've never even eaten this before. You can't go letting me tweak shit when I don't even know what's supposed to taste like. You," she pointed at Sooraya, "are the expert. I," she pointed at herself, "am just following orders. Are we clear? We are so not letting Layla make any decisions on her own here because she's never eaten any Afghani food ever. Deal?"

"Alright... alright... No decisions for Layla..." The Afghani raised her hands defensively for a moment. "I understand..." She took the pepper and added just a little and stirred it. "That should do it. And this one is done... Can you chop the mint while I check on the dumplings?"

"You're trusting me with mint?" she returned with faux scandalized surprise. Layla cracked a grin and took a single hop to the side and out of Sooraya's way. "No problem, boss. I will totally own that mint and show it who's the cook!" She gave the other girl a firm nod and turned to grab both an appropriate knife and the mint.

Sooraya shook her head and carefully lifted the lid of the pan away from her so she would not get burned by the steam. "You might want to keep this trick in mind, Layla. Unless you want to get burned by the steam." She added as an afterthought. Quickly checking the dumplings, she put the lid back on. "Needs just a little more time."

She moved over to measure out the yogurt, added some water and put it all in the bowl with the garlic."When the mint is done, we can also add that and this sauce is also done then."

"Awesome. And, dude, I mastered the art of 'not scalding self' like forever ago. You know, like right after I totally stuck my face right in a bunch of steam as a kid," Layla relayed as she chopped the mint with familiar, quick motions of the knife. "I didn't get like burnt burnt or whatever, it was just super hot and then mom was all about how we do not trust the Layla alone in the kitchen. When I was like, uh, seven. But thanks for havin' my back. Or, uh, my face. Whatever. My skin is happy you give a shit about it it not dying and blistering and shit." She grinned, though she wasn't sure Sooraya saw her. A few moments later she presented the chopped mint to the other girl in a bowl.

Sooraya took the mint from Layla and quickly stirred it in. She dipped in a small spoon and tasted. "That tastes good." She quickly checked around. "This is done, the tomato sauce is done and the dumplings are almost done. I say I show you quickly how things are traditionally presented and then we eat..."