To get the ball rolling, I gave it a try using Cartham’s recipe.
“It’s not bad... In fact, these are perfectly tasty. But something’s just not right.”
That was one of Cartham’s recipe for you—even with a bit of my own spin on it, it still came out great. Was he some kind of wizard or what?
“Not right how?” Cartham asked, taste-testing one of the cookies.
“It should be, I dunno...a little more tart? Or like...a refreshing camellia fragrance is supposed to fill your mouth...”
“Hmm... Then your recipe must have included grated camellia fruit peel, non?”
Good old Cartham! He knew exactly what I was missing based on my explanation alone.
“Oh, you’re right! Mother used to put camellia fruit zest in the cookies! Gosh, how could I have forgotten that? Do we have any camellia skins here now?”
“Sorry, Madame, but no dice! We’re all out.”
“Too bad.”
We had some camellia fruit growing in the manor garden, so whenever we needed them for something, we’d take the opportunity to pick them fresh off the trees.
“Okay! Then I’ll go pick some now!”
“What?! Madame?!”
I flew out of the kitchen before he could stop me. If we didn’t have the ingredients I needed, I’d go acquire them myself!
Luckily, I could find those camellia trees with my eyes closed. I made a straight dash for where I knew they were. If I dilly-dallied too long, Violet would wake up from her nap!
I made my way to the camellia tree closest to the manor. Thinking back, this was exactly where I’d fallen on my back way back when.
The fruits were growing a little high up today. If Mr. Fisalis were there, he would have been able to reach up and pick them for me, but I was a little too short to make it work. It seemed my only option was reverting to my old tree-climbing days.
Then, just as I oh-so-stealthily crept over to the tree and placed my hands around the trunk...
“Weren’t you banned from tree-climbing?”
“Eek! It’s the Demon King!”
Out of nowhere, Bellis’s voice rang out from behind me. I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest!
“Oy vey. You want to earn yourself another crash-landing?”
“Come on, it’s not like I was trying to fall out of the tree that one time! Oh, but you came at just the right time, Bellis! See those fruits up there? Those are what I’m looking for. Now if only someone could pick them for me, I wouldn’t have to climb this tree...”
“Wait here.”
The moment I turned my puppy eyes on Bellis, he went ahead and picked the fruit for me.
“Thanks so much! Once the cookies are done, I’ll bring a few of them to the greenhouse!”
As soon as I’d taken the fruits off Bellis’s hands, I turned on my heels and hurried back to the manor.
When I made it back to the kitchen, Cartham had a menacing look on his face.
“Oh, Madame...? You didn’t go climbing any trees, now, did you?”
“Don’t worry! Bellis went ahead and picked them for me, so I kept both feet firmly on the ground!”
“C’est bien!” The moment he knew I hadn’t broken the rules, he flipped right back to his usual, smiling self.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Okay, now it’s time to zest these fruits!”
“It’ll turn out bitter if you add too much, so moderation is key here.”
“Got it!”
Getting advice from Cartham on the side, I once again went to work making the cookie dough.
“All done!”
“My, what a simple but flavorful cookie!”
“Isn’t it just?! It’s a little different from the taste of my mother’s cooking, but I think this’ll do!”
The camellia flavor was stronger than in the last batch, giving the cookies a much crisper taste. Since I’d followed Cartham’s advice and held back on adding too much zest, it wasn’t particularly bitter either.
It was close—but not identical—to the taste of home.
“Do you think this will be enough to satisfy Lettie?”
She did say she wanted to eat “Granny’s” cookies...
Just as I let my head hang, starting to lose my confidence, Cartham stepped in to give me the encouragement I needed. “Even if it’s not the exact taste of your mother’s cooking, to little Lettie, it will be the taste of her mother’s cooking. I’m sure she’ll be delighted!”
“So it’s my own version of ‘mom’s home cooking,’ huh?”
“Precisely. Just call it a Viola Original!”
“Good thinking!”
A Viola Original, eh? Yeah, let’s run with that!
✦ ✦ ✦
As soon as Violet woke up from her nap, I treated her and Mr. Fisalis to my cookies.
What will they think? I wondered as I watched their expressions closely, my heart pounding with anticipation. And then...
“Yummy! Did you make this, Mommy?” Violet asked, her face lighting up like a sunbeam.
The look on her face tells me everything I need to know!
“That’s right! Your mommy did her very best to make you happy, Lettie!”
“Yay! Thanks, Mommy!”
“Let’s have Granny’s cookies the next time we go to her house, okay?”
“Okay!”
Whew, I’m glad that worked out. My mother’s cooking was her own, and my cooking was my own—and so we closed the case by counting these cookies as my own spin on an old favorite.