Rainy days had always been busy days for Rosie. Not able to linger in her vegetable garden, she putters around the kitchen, preparing little things like partially baked cinnamons that can be frozen and reheated later. Today she was working on split pea soup. It was one of her favorite dishes.

The rap at the door had surprised her and she lay down the ladle that she was stiring the thick green soup. Gently touching it with her index finger, she scoops a small taste and puts it in her mouth. A happy smile, nose crinkle and she leaves the kitchen, finger leaving her mouth.

"Hang on!" She called out as she headed for the door. "Oh, Jenai.." She smiles as she opens the door. "Come on in before you catch your death of dampness!"

Ushering Jenai in and closing the door behind them she helps the girl out of her wet coat and hangs it from the coat rack next to the door. "So what brings you here in this sort of weather?

She had to chuckle as Jenai removed her shoes. Rosie herself was clad in her fuzzy pink bunny slippers on her feet, she always wore them around the house.

Leading Jenai into the kitchen, she pulls out a chair at the table and offers the girl a seat. "I"m glad you came by. You can be my guinea pig!"

She walks to a cabinet and pulls down two soup mugs, then over to the stove she goes. Lifting the ladle, she stirs the pot for a few moments, then lifts the ladle and pours soup into the mugs. Placing the ladle into the spoon holder on her stove, she lifts the mugs and brings them to the table. She sits at the end of the table, and pulls out a couple of soup spoons from the cabinet drawer beside her.

"Try some. I know it doesn't look that great, but it should taste wonderful. And it'll take the dampness from you. It's Gram's recipe!"

Handing Jenai a spoon, she quickly dips her own into the mug before her. A bit of the pea green soup drips from the spoon before Rosie can get it to her mouth.

The sploop had not ended in any green soup on her clothing, so it was ignored. She placed her spoon into the mug and looks over to Jenai curiously.

Rosie was the youngest of her sisters. Everybody had been willing to give her advice. Nobody had ever asked for it before. So it came as a bit of a surprise that Jenai asked for it now. Rosie smiles, and sits up a bit straighter in her chair.

"I don't know how much advice I can give, but you surely may ask for it. What's on your mind?"

Rosie lifts her spoon again, eating the hearty soup. She had an idea what was on Jenai's mind, but would say nothing until asked.

The soup was still hot and she blows the steam from her spoon before ladling more into her mouth. The question seemed odd and a curved brow rose slightly.

"Does what hurt, love?"

The spoon paused, mid-air as her hand stops it's arc from the mug to her mouth. A raised brow in surprise, she chews her lip for a moment and puts the spoon back into the mug.

She witnessed the slight blush and knew how uncomfortable Jen must be feeling. That is the one thing that her older sisters had kept from her. As a youngster, her curiosity had been healthy and normal, but her questions always caused her sisters to laugh and tug her hair.

Well, if she were to assume the big sister role, she definitely was not going to laugh or tug on Jen's hair.

The room is silent for a moment as Rosie chooses her words carefully. Then, with a deep breath, she lays a comforting hand on Jen's shoulder and speaks.

"I won't lie to you, the first time hurts. But don't let that scare you none. After the first time, if it's done correctly, it's very... pleasant."

The spoon finally moves and she swallows another bite of the soup. The spoon lowered and she contniues. "And even then, if you're with right the right lover, it's not so bad. The worst part is being sore the next day. It feels like you've had a rough day on horse back the next day. But that's it."

Forgetting the spoon in the bowl, she leans forward, her elbow on the table. "Have you spoken to Brian about this?

"Trust me, little sis, he's the one you need to talk to. And I assure you, he'll be honest with you about everything. He's a good man, Jen."

She picks up her spoon and begins to eat again. "And he's crazy about you, you know."

The pat to the tummy, the sad chuckle... had Rosie read the situation wrong? A brow raised and she looked dead on to Jenai. "Just what does that mean?"

Gathering thier mugs, she rises from her chair and walks over to the sink. Filling the mugs with water to soak, then back to the table. "You've not already... have you?"

A look of relief washed over her face as she sat back down. "I am flattered that the Scathach would send you my way. I just hope that I can help you."

Leaning back in her chair she sighs softly. "Don't over think things. Just, let it happen naturally. That's the best way to go. When you know it's time, you'll know."

A sage nod. "The sooner the better. That way you can get it behind you and get to enjoying each other more."

Rising from the table once again, she walks into the pantry and disappears.

Rosie emerges from the pantry with a cookie jar tucked under her arm. She places the jar onto the table, then returns to her seat. "How much time do you have?"

She opens up the cookie jar and nabs herself a peanut butter cookie, then offers the jar to Jen.

The peanut butter cookies had a creamy dab of peanut butter in the center, a creamy surprise enclosed in a crispy shell. They were yet another recipe handed down through her family.

Rosie smiles as Jen snags herself a couple of the sweets. "Help yourself to as many as you'd like." That said, she reaches into the jar for another.

"Now, as far as spaghetti is concerned, the noodles are the easy part. It's the sauce that does the trick. Do you prefer meat or marinara?"

Rising from the table once again, her bunny slippers hissing against the floor, she makes her way across the kitchen. Reaching the stove, she opens a small drawer beside and and hefts out a wooden box. She returns to her seat, placing the box onto the tabletop.

"Now, I made a promise to my mother that nobody outside the family would see this recipe. You won't share it with anybody, will you?

Opening the box, she begins rifling through it's contents. The box was packed full of small recipe cards, stacked neatly against each other, in a row. She finds the one she wants and smiles, pulling it out, then placing it before Jen.

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 cups red wine
2 pounds fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
4 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
3 (29 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

DIRECTIONS:
In a large skillet, brown beef and pork over medium heat until no longer pink; set aside.
In a large skillet, warm olive oil over medium heat and saute onions and garlic until tender; add about 1/2 cup of wine; mix well.
Add mushrooms, rosemary, oregano and thyme to skillet and add another 1/2 cup wine; saute until tender.
Add browned meat, tomato sauce and tomato paste to mixture; simmer for 1 hour and add the remaining 2 cups of wine.
Simmer sauce on low for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally; serve.

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

"Now no taking short cuts. The wine needs time to simmer the alcohol out. And the garlic should be crushed by the blade of a broad bladed knife, like so." She takes a spoon and places it on top of a piece of cookie, then slams her fist down onto the spoon. The cookie fragments flew everywhere and she grins, looking to Jen. "If you want, we could start a batch now?"

"I've always got time when it's the watching I'm doing and someone else doing the cooking." She said with a smile as she too rose from the table and scooted her chair in. She walks over to the back door and stoops over, picking up a bucket.

The bucket was full of rocks and when she lifted it, the rope attached to it became slack at first, then the rack that was attached to the ceiling came down and Rosie nabbed a frying pan and a saucier from the rack. She put the bucket down and the rack went back to the ceiling.

Walking back over to the stove, she places the pans onto the cook top, scooting the pot of pea soup out of the way.

"Now the recipe calls for sauteeing the onions and garlic, but that's not exactly accurate. What we're going to do is sweat the onions and garlic. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Come with me to the pantry so we can gather up what we need."

She shuffles into the pantry, rabbit ears flopping about. "It's not that they call for one thing instead of another, dear. When Grams made that card she didn't know the difference. The difference between a sweat and a sautee is heat. A sweat is a low heat, draw out the flavor process. Sautee is a high heat, fry kind of thing, see?"

The pantry was another medium sized room with shelves that lined all four walls as well as a spice rack that hung from the back of the door. There were two metal poles that had magnetic strips running down them on the far end of the room. One had a very large assortment of knives attached to it, the other a lot of small, round canisters. There are a couple of small baskets near the door and she picks on up as she enters the room.

A glance over her shoulder and she smiles to Jenai. "Take basket and have a look around. Mi casa et su casa." She chuckles softly then moves out of Jen's way.

She reaches up to the spice rack and begins pulling down the different things she needs. There's no dried out, store bought spices. Oh no. These are either in mason jars, wrapped in foil, or in plastic baggies, depending on the herb or spice.

Her next stop is at the wine rack where she pulls out a bottle so dark it's nearly black in color. Into the basket it goes. She'd buys mushrooms fresh every morning and this was no exception. They were hanging in a basket from the ceiling to keep them dry and cool. She takes a handful of shitakes and places them into the basket as well.

She walks over to a bin and picks a clove of garlic from one drawer of it, a nice sweet onion from another. Then it's over to get the olive oil off of the shelf. No need for EV, she chooses the Virgin Oil. She's done gathering ingredients.

She turns, and her gaze finally falls onto Jen. "Ready to make some spaghetti?"