The thought of instant mashed potatoes wrinkled Emma's nose. She followed Mémé's rule: food didn't have to be fancy, or cost a lot, but it should taste good, and preferably be made from ingredients you could recognize.

"You could come back to the kitchen, keep me company while I whip us up a batch." Whip being the operative word; making aligot was a good arm workout. "My... mentor, I guess you'd call her, used to prescribe 'chop vegetables, boil water' for working through rough times. And there are worse coping strategies. At least people get food out of mine?"