Cooking with Leopardstar!

Episode One: Baked Salmon

The amber-eyed she-cat padded over to the sink. She could see her reflection in the bottom of the stainless steel kitchen applience. Her thin golden fur was pinned up in a ponytail with only a wisp haging in front of her left eye. Her makeup made her nose look pink and her muzzle a sandy ginger. The vain cat wished she looked prettier.

She then turned the knob of the sink and let warm water gush from the faucet. Her paws shaking, the anthro cat nervously bit her lip. Memories flooded her from when she was a kit.

You're not a drypaw, Leopardstar! You haven't been one in many seasons. She told herself.

"The first thing you do," She meowed with clarity as if she were speaking to herself, "is to wash your paws in warm water before handling food."

She let sweat roll off her forehead and into the pool of water that swirled by the drain of the sink. Her back was to the camera, but she knew that once she turned around every Clan cat would see her face on television. She blinked her eyes dry, turned off the running water, straightened her back, and turned around.

Stonefur gave her an approving nod. She smiled brightly at the glossy-lensed camera.

"My name is Leopardstar, and this is my new show, Cooking with Leopardstar." The mottled tabby hid her fear and winked at the camera. "On this show we'll be learning how to cook, we'll interview the best chefs in the Clans, and we'll be reading from our favorite recipe books.

"Stay tuned after the commercial." Leopardstar finished with a nod.

"Cut." Stonefur powered down the camera. "This commercial break is ten minutes long."

"That's good." The she-cat sighed, sitting down on the chair that was placed overly-perfectly by the island. Exhausted from those short, brief words, she let her head rest on her paws.

"That's bad." The gray-blue tom shook his head, walking over to sit by the lean cat. "We have no live audience yet. We dun't even have one review. Commercials should be short."

Leopardstar let a tear drip from her eye. She was pathetic. Born a drypaw, let Tigerstar rule her Clan, died from diabetes, her cooking show a dud... what kind of RiverClan leader was she?

"I'm sure by the end of this episode we'll have many fans." The cameracat nodded.

"Thank you, Stonefur."

The two cats caught each other's eye. Stonefur stared into Leopardstar's amber orbs. He was unblinking. He drank in her beauty.

"Stonefur," She snapped her claws. "Hey, Stonefur."

"Eh?" He flicked his torn ears in confusion.

Leopardstar gave him a puzzled look and stood up. "We have five minutes left. I need to get the stuff out."

"Yeah." The blue-gray tom rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly.

He stood up and walked back to his spot behind the camera. His stomach was flip-flopping. He had never felt like this before. It puzzled him.

Stonefur shook his head and picked up a cloth and began to wipe the lense of the camera. In the fake kitchen setting, the golden she-cat was pulling out bowls and knives and small bottles of herbs from the drawers.

Careful to get the dust off the lense, Stonefur gazed into the camera's reflection. Leopardstar was bent over fishing for a spoon in the bottom drawer by the refrigerator.

Snap out of it, Stonefur! He growled to himself silently. He turned around to stop himself from gazing at Leopardstar's reflection. When he turned around, he found himself staring at her flank again.

"We have thirty seconds." Leopardstar meowed as she pulled the wide spoon she had been searching for.

Stonefur blinked his eyes and regained his composure before the she-cat got cameracat nodded and took his position.

"Twenty." Leopardstar sighed nervously, swinging her arms like a pendulum.

Stonefur pointed the camera up and zoomed into her face.

"Ten... nine, eight, seven six five, four, three..."

Stonefur pointed at her with a claw.

Leopardstar gave her best smile to the camera. "W-welcome back to Cooking with Leopardstar. Today we'll be learning how to cook my father's favorite dish. Baked salmon."

Leopardstar flattened the wrinkles in her apron. For a heartbeat she hesitated, staring dumbly into the camera.

"Um..." She snuck a glance at Stonefur who returned no gesture. "Uh. Oh! When I was a kit my father Mudfur would go out to the river all day and catch salmon for my family. When he came home with his catch my mother Brightsky would make baked salmon. I loved helping her make it."

Leopardstar left out the part where her littermates died of food poisoning (which won't happen if prepared properly). The background story helped her unfreeze.

"All you need is a filet of salmon, some garlic, light olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and parsley." She checked off the list. "L-let's get cookin'!"

Leopardstar took a deep breath. Cooking was her passion. She could do this. She numbly began to arrange the bowls. If she pretended that her face wasn't on Clanwide Television, she could feel less anxious.

The she-cat looked up at the camera. "First thing is to have a good-sized bowl to make our marinade in." The tabby placed a glass bowl in front of her. "To make the marinade, simply mince up two cloves of garlic."

Holding a knife properly, she began to finely dice a clove of garlic. "You can find garlic in ShadowClan territory. Not only does it hide your Clan's stench, it enhances the flavor of your dish."

She tossed the garlic into the bowl and brushed off her paws. "Next, just add six tablespoons of some light olive oil. The oil comes from olives which can be found right in RiverClan's forest territory camp, more specifically the medicine cat's den."

Suddenly, her paws dropped the bottle of oil as she poured it into her spoon. The slick oil splashed onto her fur as the glass shattered.

Gasping, Leopardstar stood shocked. She stared at the mess. Her jaw hung. Everycat must have been cackling as they watched the horrendous disaster unfold. If her show had any viewers that is. Leopardstar would rather have cats laugh at her than no views at all.

"Keep going." Stonefur mouthed from behind the camera.

Leopardstar closed her eyes and swept the needed oil into the bowl, checking for glass bits. Quickly, she added a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of ground pepper.

"J-Just add some dried basil, which can also be found in RiverClan's camp." She tossed in a teaspoon of dried herbs into the marinade. "Lemons can be juiced into lemon juice, however, lemons only grow in a twolegs garden." She added as she carefully poured a tablespoon of tart lemon juice into the bowl. Big tears began to drip down her face.

Stonefur cringed as he suddenly lost his grip on the camera. It slid off its stand and crashed onto the wooden floor. Flinching, the deputy picked it up and turned it towards his own face.

"We are having technical difficulties." He shifted his eyes around. "Kkhh. Kkhh." He made static sounds and shook the camera.

He sighed and covered the lense with his paw. "It's a commrecial break now..."

"Oh, Stonefur!" She cried miserably. She ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck. Burying her face into his dark fur, she sobbed. "I'm a failure!" All the memories rushed back to her. Tigerstar taking over RiverClan. Letting Darkstripe and Blackfoot murder Stonefur. Falling in love with the brown tabby in itself was a disgrace.

But Stonefur blushed as his leader embraced him tightly. After a moment he began to stroke her head. "It's okay," he meowed. "We'll be there soon."

"Huh?" The amber-eyed tabby looked up at him, her face wet with tears.

Stonefur flinched. 'We'll be there soon' was the earliest memory he retained. It was what his mother had said while she carried him and his sisters to RiverClan.

Luckily, Leopardstar had begun to calm down. "Okay, is the commercial over?"

Checking the countdown in the back of the room, Stonefur nodded. "In fourty seconds."

They both went back to their places; Stonefur behind the camera and Leopardstar in front.

She took one of the kitchen towels and wiped her face clean of tears and make-up. Stonefur felt his pelt rush with warmth. Leopardstar was prettier without the make-up.

"Three, two... Welcome back to Cooking with Leopardstar." She smiled, as if she hadn't even been fazed by the shattered glass incident that occurred only a few minutes prior.

She padded over to the fridge and opened the door, letting the cool air rush through her hot pelt. She breathed in the scent of chilled raw fish. Turning her head and looking at the camera she smiled again. "We've just finished our marinade so now we get our fillets of salmon."

She tightened her apron and looked for the salmon. For a moment, she couldn't find it. Her heart began to beat rapidly. Where are they?!

She found the silver tray and sighed in relief, sending a silent prayer of thanks to StarClan. She felt the eyes of cats she could not see as she pulled the fillets out of the freezer.

Carefully, knowing with the luck she had she may drop it, she held the tray firmly and set it down on the island, Glancing up at the camera she began talking once more.

"Now we need to get the marinade and the salmon together." She pulled a glass baking dish towards herself. "Just place the fillets in a baking dish," She moved the pink raw fish into the pan. "And pour your marinade in." With twitching paws, she poured the bowl of pungent marinade over the salmon.

"Now that that is done, we are going to put the marinading salmon back in the fridge and let it sit for an hour." Ever so carefully, Leopardstar put the dish in the fridge. "Remember to turn the pieces of salmon over occasionally so each side gets a lot of flavor."

The mottled tabby stared into the camera for another moment. She realized that this wasn't so hard.

Chuckling, Leopardstar padded over to the oven. "Before the break, let's preheat this oven to bake at 375º F, or 190º C."

She began pressing random buttons on the oven's settings. She had never used it before. It was so unlike her own! Finally, she somehow got it to the right setting.

"Stay tuned after the break!" She gave a little salute to the camera.

Stonefur powered down the camera. "That was really good!"

"Thanks." She sighed happily.

"Is something burning?" Stonefur opened his jaws and drank in the scents.

"Hm? I don't smell anything." Leopardstar did the same.

Then she felt a tingly sensation in her tail. It was flaming. It was a flame-tail! Buh-duh-cha.

Leopardstar screamed and began smacking at her own tail which whipped around wildly. Stonefur didn't know what to do. Suddenly the kitchen towels that hung on the handle of the oven caught fire as well.

Stonefur lunged at the sink and yanked the hose out. He turned on the water. But nothing came out of the hose.. He looked at the sink. The hose was snapped in two.

"Stop drop and roll!" He shouted over Leopardstar's frantic screaming.

The golden tabby fell over like a log and began wallowing on the wooden floor.

While she began to put her flaming tail out, Stonefur focused on the rest of the kitchen that was burning up. He took a frying pan and began smacking the fires out.

A whack on the counter. Bang!

A smack at the napkins. Bang!

A hit on the stovetop. Bang!

Leopardstar stood up, her sides heaving. She gazed around the scorched kitchen set. Everything was smudged black and riddled with dents.

Stonefur tripped over his tail as he scrambled back to the camera. "In three, two, one!"

Leopardstar hopped up into position. Her hair was wild and patches of her fur were burnt off. "W-w-welcome back to Cooking with Leopardstar!" She gave the camera a Crookedstar smile. Buh-duh-cha!

She shakily went back to the fridge and pulled out the pre-made fish.

"Okay, now that we let our fish marinade for an hour," she went back to her cooking station. "we will wrap them up in aluminum foil with more of our sauce and then put them in the oven for a bout forty minutes."

She quickly placed the fillets on a sheet of aluminum seperately. She coated them in more marinade and folded them up. She put them in a glass dish and threw them in the oven which had finally finished preheating. She set the timer for forty minutes.

Leopardstar took a deep breath. She was going too quickly. Now she had two minutes left before the next break. "Um..."

And for two minutes she stared at the camera. Her fur was patchy and the kitchen was a disaster area. Wonderful.

Stonefur pulled down the camera. "Good job. We only have one more segment left."

"Finally!" She meowed.

"Okay, we're back on in thirty seconds"

"Huh?" She ran back to her spot.

"Everycat loves your show so much that the commercials will be shorter now!" He laughed.

Leopardstar jumped for joy. "Okay, good."

Before they went back on, she replaced the salmon in the oven for baked salmon that was already finished. She didn't like doing it, but that was the cookingshow business.

"Welcome back to Cooking with Leopardstar!" She beamed. "Mm-mm. That salmon smells good! Let's check it out."

She pulled open the oven door. Hot air rushed into her face. "Always be careful when putting things in and taking things out of the oven. Use oven mits." She pulled on thick gloves and took the dish of pre-cooked salmon out. She closed the door and turned off the oven.

"You'll know when it's done when it flakes easily with a fork.." She said as she set it on the island and unwrapped it.

She scraped the surface with a fork. It flaked easily. "It's done." She scooped up a forkful and blew on it. Then she put it in her mouth. It wasn't quite what she expected. It was better.

"This is delicious!" She said as she swallowed.

Stonefur nodded, signaling to wrap up the show.

"Thanks for watching Cooking with Leopardstar!"

Disclaimers:

Sivillian does not own Warriors or Leopardstar or Stonefur

Sivillian does not own this recipe for baked salmon.

Sivillian is not responsible for any illnesses or sickness caused by preparing baked salmon or any other other illnesses caused from her writing.

Yes, you could actually make this. The exact recipe and instructions are found here: allrecipes (dot. com) recipe/baked-salmon-ii/

Well, I hope you liked it. I promise other episodes won't be this long. Review so Leopardstar doesn't cry anymore. Whew, she was out of character though, eh? At least we got some Stone X Leopard fluff. *tears of joy*