#also i was considering having sylvia make teddie a bento but then i thought

[sylviareviar]

🍴

"Oh, Teddie! C'min!" she called at the knock of the door. "Just a second, I'm almost done!" The tea kettle was whistling, her pot was boiling, her salad was chopped up and ready for serving, and of course, she had the smoked salmon and eggplant spread sandwiches spread around in a circle on a paper plate, ready for teatime and dinner.

This time around, she had decided to finally gather the ingredients she needed for it and make an online recipe for borsch, a Russian beet soup she hadn't had in literal ages.

She took the kettle off the communal stove just in time for the timer to go off. "Here, Teddie, sit down over there. Have some of the sandwiches while you wait for your meal."

Today, she had promised Teddie a chance to try some foreign food, which he had eagerly agreed to. She was careful to follow the instructions of the recipe as closely as possible, especially since it was her first time handling raw meat. Sylvia was starting to think maybe she had a knack with knives now, as she was starting to get the hang of cooking for herself and being independent.

Once she ladled the soups into two of her reusable, cheerfully decorated plastic bowls, she gave Teddie one of two Russian-style spoons she had managed to buy back home before bringing them with her. They had come in a set, along with some other decorated utensils painted with traditional Russian floral designs.

"Here, eat with this. Be careful, though, it's very hot. I haven't had this soup in a while, and it's not the same recipe my Papa used sometimes. So it'll be like a new experience for us both! If anything isn't to your liking, I can write it down for next time to change it." For her, personally, potatoes in her soup were a deal-breaker, so she'd been very careful to avoid those in her bowl. One or two snuck in, but she could be brave this once.

When she finished pouring her and Teddie's tea, adding sugar just the way they liked it, she sat down with him at one of the tables and said her thanks. "Thank you for the food."