He went back into his and lay on his bed. His thoughts turned to what he'd done so far today. He thought about what he might do tomorrow morning – there wasn't anything particularly pressing at the moment. He felt the urge to spend more time with Gio and Demetrius now they had established their relationship.
Taking out his calendar it is a few more days until he meets Gio, its the first time he has invited someone back to his place. It is also the first time he will be live broadcasting, Juniper decided that he may as well record the cooking process.
Juniper then looked over at the clock which was ticking away the seconds. It was already close to 10pm – Juniper's eyes were heavy, but he had one last thing to do before going to sleep: Practice.
He sat up on the bed and folded his legs, closing his eyes to concentrate. Things were slightly different from normal when he was cultivating, He found himself in an empty space there was a weak flame flickering in the centre, hovering above the ground at about chest level.
Juniper closed his eyes again and focused, watching the flame dancing around him as he exhaled slowly, inhaling deeply. The flame began to grow stronger; it became brighter, turning into something like a ball of light. As Juniper watched, the light grew bigger and bigger until it filled his field of vision. The air around him was warm and still; it reminded him of being by a fireplace. As soon as he opened his eyes again they were filled with a bright light of the room. Juniper held out his hand and felt his fingers, the feeling the heat remained.
A sudden wave of tiredness washed over him. He yawned and stretched. Laying down, Juniper let go of everything and entered sleep.
***
A few days passed in a flash for Juniper; as always, each day seemed to end too quickly. He spent most of the time at home, either cultivating, visiting Ciro or the odd casual conversation with Gio or Demetrius over commicator. During this time he has made leaps and bounds with learning the interstellar language. There was no doubt that he would become fluent soon in the future.
It was Saturday afternoon, Juniper had just finished ordering the ingredients for tonight's meal. His vegetables were all grown and also ready to harvest so he cut them from the root and went to the kitchen to wash them. After gathering his ingredients, Juniper set up for a live broadcast, there are several hovering cameras that record at different angles, once entering the livestream room there was no viewers which was to be expected.
"Good Afternoon, Welcome to my first live broadcast. I am your host Juniper.'' Juniper said as he started chopping onions, "I'm here in my kitchen preparing a Dinner option today."
The camera zoomed in on the onion Juniper chopped and he continued to talk: "Today I am making a braised chicken and vegetable stew. You can follow along if you like..."
Juniper began his preparations. He washed the vegetables and sliced them into bite sized pieces, placing some herbs aside for garnish. Then Juniper took his knife and carefully carved the chicken breast, removing the skin and any excess fat, placing the meat in a small bowl.
After the onions were sautéed, Juniper added the diced carrots and celery, stirring lightly.
''While they are cooking we will prepare some bread on the side, I have pre-prepared the dough for today the instructions will be available at the end of this broadcast.''
Juniper brought out the bread dough and rolled it out in the middle of the table. He then gathered his herbs and spices which he had chosen earlier. The onions and garlic in the heated pan were almost ready, so Juniper added in the thyme and rosemary. He stirred gently, adding a pinch of salt and pepper. Then he placed the lid over the pan and let the vegetables simmer.
When the vegetables were soft enough, Juniper poured the stock into the pan and let it reduce down to half, leaving the remaining water behind. At this point, Juniper removed the herbs and rosemary and returned the liquids to the pan. Carefully, Juniper lowered the chicken breasts to the liquid.
Once the chicken was cooked, Juniper scooped out the flesh, discarding the bones and any other bits. Once the broth was ready, Juniper mixed the vegetables and chicken together, making sure they were evenly distributed and left to boil. His bread at this time was ready to come out of the oven.
Juniper took the pan off the stove and using a ladle he filled the bowl with the stew. He then proceeded to slice and place the bread on a side plate. Finally, he put it in front of one of the cameras.
''The taste option should be available but please wait a couple of minutes for it to cool down before trying it.''
As Juniper stood in front of the camera, he took a bite of the bread, holding back his smile of satisfaction. The crunchy crust gave way to soft insides and the herb-infused dough made it taste better. He stopped himself eating more as he didnt want to eat too much before Gio arrived.
He couldnt see the barrage in the live broadcast room when he was cooking, but he knew that maybe some people would be there. He decided to take a look if he had any viewers or comments.
There were a few people in the broadcast room at this time. Taking a glance at the comments most of them were about how good the food smelled. One even asked where he got the vegetables from. He thought it may be best to have the barrage visable while he was cooking that way he could give an answer right away.
Juniper looked embarrassed ''Sorry I didnt look at the comments while I was cooking, next time I try to answer them while I livestream.''
At this moment, the door chimed.
''Thats all for today, the broadcast will be saved to my profile and details of ingredients and instructions will be listed later tonight.'' Juniper had to end it abruptly.
Juniper signed off and the feed ended, bringing the stream to a close. It was 6 p.m. now, so Juniper walked over to the door to greet Gio.
***