Emeline fell in with her joke about herself, though Clara hoped it was just kidding and not that the woman agreed she was annoying. Clara was a realist and knew there were certainly people who would definitely agree with that assessment however. And as for her brother...

"Oh my, I pity anyone who would place any hope on getting much work out of Wyatt. On occasion, Father does accomplish that miracle but only because Wyatt enjoys some farm work. But then I should not be too hard on him, he is a boy after all," she declared the last part rather dismissively.

Then Emeline was back to their baking with another question. Clara was certain this was as much a test as any sort of written one in a school house only far more practical.

"Indeed, salt and pepper," she nodded thinking fast then adding, "If you have any garlic, mince that and add that. And though this might sound strange, my mother would on occasion add just a touch of cinnamon to some of her meat dishes but be careful to not overdo it. She told me the English always did this. Not that she was English, mind you. She must have read about that. My mother loved to read all sorts of books. I do too when I can get my hands on them."

Emeline nodded as she set the cinnamon close to Clara. "I have heard of using Nutmeg in savory dishes, but not cinnamon, so I will leave that to you." As she started dicing garlic, she commented, "I love to read when I have a chance. I have some books, you may borrow them if you like. They are mostly adventures, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Cooper...I think I have some Dickens, but honestly, I get so bogged down in his descriptions that I lose interest. I think I have a couple of Jane Austen's, too, but her characters seem so meddling..."

She added the garlic to the mix, then added, "One of my favorites is 'Little Women', I have that, too. At any rate, you are free to look. Have you ever tried your hand at writing?"

"Oh yes, nutmeg too, I had forgotten that one. We seldom had any, probably why I did," Clara shrugged.

The topic changed to books, the two had that in common also besides just baking and cooking. They both loved books. Clara listened to her tell of the titles she had read and in some cases owned. Interesting.

"Oh I have read James Fennimore Cooper's works, all five of his novels. I even read Last of the Mohicans to Wyatt who enjoyed it. He loved the bloody battles and such," Clara remarked then added, "I agree with you about Dickens and then there is Nathaniel Hawthorne, too slow for my tastes."

"I have always wanted to read Little Women, I have heard good things about it. Plus a woman wrote it," Clara was intrigued, "If you are sure it is no trouble, I would love to borrow that one. I am a fast reader, I can have it back to you quite rapidly, I assure you."

Then Emeline brought up writing?

"No, I have not. I had not even given it any consideration to be honest. Do you write?" she turned that question right around on the woman.

"Certainly you may borrow the book, and any others you like." Emiline smiled and nodded. "And I have a couple novels by Walter Scott...'Rob Roy' and 'The Fortunes of Nigel', your brother might like those...he might even be tempted to read some himself. And no, I've never really tried my hand at writing, I keep a journal now and then, but nothing interesting."

The meat mixture went into a large skillet to start cooking, and she commented, "I think we should only cook that part way, since it will go in the oven after we put it in the dough...or do you think we can just cook it right in the dough?" She honestly wasn't sure which would work best. "But this is all experimentation, isn't it?" Laughing, she added, "I guess we'll see."

"Let us take it one book at a time, if you can bring me Little Women that would wonderful. Once I finish and return that to you, then we can see about others," Clara thought that prudent then quickly added, "But no hurry, bring it whenever it is convenient, thank you."

The meat was now placed into a skillet whereupon Emeline had another question for her, "I think we should only cook that part way, since it will go in the oven after we put it in the dough...or do you think we can just cook it right in the dough?"

Clara pondered on it, "Well, I am not sure."

"But this is all experimentation, isn't it?"  Laughing, Emeline added, "I guess we'll see."

"Well, if you put it that way," Clara smiled but had made her decision, "I believe we should cook it part way at least. For safety sake. But it is your business after all so your call."

"All right, then, since it does need to be cooked all the way through."  Yes, this was an experiment, open to failure, but she really preferred not to lose that much inventory, and if this part didn't work out, she hoped they could at least make the remains into a stew or something.

"As for the books, my rooms are just upstairs, so I can easily grab it for you before you leave."  Smiling, she added, "And now you know where to find me if you ever want to visit.  So, once we finish these, we can work on the sweet ones, but that should be a little quicker since the dough is made."

Later...

Emeline had just placed the last of the fruit filled turnovers onto the table, of course they would need to cool some since they were right out of the oven. Clara looked on with a healthy mix of pride and building hunger. They certainly looked good. The beef filled ones had been baked first so they were also lined up on the far end of the table, untasted as of yet but ready by now to be sampled, one would not burn the mouth at this point.

"The place smells heavenly. So I would certainly figure that since they all look and smell so tempting, they are going to taste delicious," Clara declared.

"It is your place and your ingredients so I think it is only fair you get to sample the first bite in our experiment," she gestured toward the beef side of the table.

She knew her proper place here.

"Ah, let me take the risk?" Emeline grinned, grabbing a fork, then cutting into one of the savory pies. "Oh, it looks good!" It was cooked through, not too juicy inside, seemed to be holding up well. "Here goes..."

She took the bite, smiling and nodding. "Good spices, flavor is good, and..." Then her eyes suddenly rolled back and she grabbed her throat, rolling back in her chair. For a moment, she was still, then she sat up, laughing. "It really is good! That part is a success! Do you remember what we put in it?" They hadn't written down the process, but then, she rarely did.

"It is your place, your risk," Clara pointed out but of course there was no real risk. Oh maybe that it would not turn out to taste as good as they both hoped and had labored for.

Clara watched her cut into it with the fork then take a bite. All seemed well until suddenly the woman went dramatic on her acting like she had just been poisoned. Not that Clara ever saw an actual poisoning mind you. If Emeline's attempt was to scare her, it failed miserably. But it showed she had a sense of humor, something Clara was oft told she needed to work on.

"I guess this means it's my place now," Clara remarked cool as a cucumber.

Emeline sat up, laughing.  "It really is good!  That part is a success!  Do you remember what we put in it?" 

"Look, a miracle!" Clara feigned shock at the woman's instant recovery.

But on a more serious note, Clara nodded, "Of course I do. I have an excellent memory. If you wish I can sit down and write you out the recipe?"

"Oh, that would be perfect!" Emeline sometimes had a hard time remembering from one day to the next what she was doing, or what needed doing! "And the place isn't yours until I actually write out my will, so you need to keep me alive!"

Laughing, she passed the plate, then tried one of the fruit pies. "Oh, that's really good, too. It would be better with cream, but I'm not sure how we'd do that." Little jars, maybe, but that would be expensive and logistically difficult. "I do think we have success! Did you want to go up and look at books?"