Chapter 23
Vinson wanted to speak up but Arielle shot him a look before she replied with a meaningful
smile, “Very well. Challenge epted!”
Shandie was momentarily taken aback but recovered quickly with a smirk. “Good! Let’s do
it. Right here, right now!”
Cindy was not idling away in the gallery either as she went over to hash things out swiftly with the
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organizers, after which two coffee tables were moved onstage and equipped properly.
Vinson looked a tad apprehensively at Arielle who remained silent throughout.
Once the host saw that both of them are ready, he said, “Ladies, you may begin.”
Shandie burst into action the moment his voice trailed off.
The first step to creatingtte art was, of course, to prepare the espresso which had to be
hand-brewed by the participants themselves.
The assiduous Shandie weighed up fifteen grams of coffee beans and fed them into the grinder with
tremendous refinement.
She was surprised to see Arielle appearing quitepetent when she stole a nce over, as though
thetter actually knew what she was doing.
Arielle had fluidly set up the paper filter inside the filter holder before she raised the kettle to pour the
boiling water in, clockwise and in a circr movement.
Shandie was unable to contain herself when she observed that, noting that this was something only
professional brewers would know. Pouring clockwise would allow for the filter to adhere better to the
holder, and at the same time, eliminate the starchy taste from the paper and warm up the receptacle.
The resultant would be a much more vorful cuppa.
It was easy to tell from Arielle’s understanding of this coupled with her deft gestures that she knew how
to make coffee.
How can it be possible for this country girl to know how to brew? In spite of her certainty that she was
not hallucinating, Shandie waspletely bamboozled.
Isn’t Arielle from the countryside?
Shandie remained stumped for some time before she pinched herself hard and turned her
focus back to the task at hand.
Brew it! Even if Arielle knows how to make coffee, will she be able to dotte art?
Shandie took a deep drawl in a bid to settle herself and resume her own work. Traditional pour-over
coffee required two infusions of water, after which an aromatic cup
would be ready
Shandie quietly chuckled when she saw Arielle still awaiting her second infusion while she
herself was already done, and dismissed Arielle’s knowledge as something thetter must have
picked up from a stint at a coffee shop.
Shortly after, Ariellepleted her brewing as well, and in response, the hostmunicated that they
could both proceed with the creation of theirtte art.
Compared to brewing, thette art was the real litmus test.
The creation oftte art required the use of whole milk, and each person needed to conceive their
theme before they began.
Maintaining an elegant smile, Shandie was first to speak, “My chosen theme is: A Snow-Covered
Cottage in Freezing Weather…”
When the microphone came to Arielle, she paused before replying staidly, “Mine will be: The Bloom of
a Thousand Pear-Flowers Ushered Forth by the Night Breeze of Spring.”
Shandie twitched her lips upon hearing Arielle simrly reciting a verse from ssical
poetry.
Is this little b*tch trying to be pedantic like me?How
many years did she spend in school?
I am, of course, an arts graduate from the University of Avenport. Shandie scoffed at the thought of
Arielle’s proposed theme in the assumption that thetter
–
was only going to put together a few pear-flowers, and went on to concentrate on shaping out
her own designs with the whole milk.
First, Shandie covered the top of the coffee with froth from the whole milk, and then
employed the use oftte art pen to tease out a snow-capped mountain and a little wooden house upon
it.
At a nce, it did foster the feel of A Snow-Covered Cottage in Freezing Weather.