Some of my favorite YouTube cooking channels inspired me to write this short fiction story.
Here's that link. I'm doing my own manual version of a WordPress ping back.
https://gangstalkedcreoleauthor.blogspot.com/2022/03/my-top-5-favorite-youtube-cooking.html?m=0
Copy & paste that, since this blog won't let me do hyperlinks.
So, this will be a short story based on a fictionalized YouTube character, doing a YouTube video. Funny, how some YouTubers go by a script, with the openings & closings of their cooking shows. I don't want to sell my soul, but I wish I had a successfully monetized cooking YouTube channel, that could help me survive & make a living. That's 1 thing I've been wishing for, lately. If I had a kitchen, where I could cook & bake, even if I didn't make any money from it, I would love to try the Sweet Pea Pie recipe, myself.
Here we go. Here's the short story below. I hope you enjoy. If you don't have the patience to read the background & introduction to this short story (or any of my short stories), you can just go to my Ko-fi. I post just the short story, on there.
https://ko-fi.com/targetedcreole
At the last minute, I thought of to make this a nursing home scenario. I used to volunteer at nursing homes during my teenage years, for community service + I really enjoyed it. My biological mother, Frances Grandpre, was in a nursing home for a moment, until she died.
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Mrs. Dorothy Crowder was put into a nursing home, along with her husband, Stanley. Their daughter, Shanice Ashanti Campbell (named after the R&B singers Shanice & Ashanti) & her husband, Tyrique Campbell, bought them an iPad Air, since the TV in their room wasn't working. The nursing home didn't want to replace or repair the old, broken TV. Shanice & Tyrique visited Mrs. Dorothy & Mr. Stanley every Tuesday, on one of Tyrique's off days.
Mr. Stanley was nonverbal, & he used to just holler & scream all day. But whenever there was TV or music, he would get quiet. Shanice showed her mother how to operate the iPad & YouTube, so that when she & her husband were gone, Mrs. Dorothy could watch videos on her own. Before Mr. Stanley became elderly & ill, he used to be a top notch professional chef & worked in a restaurant. He never wanted to own a restaurant because he said he didn't want such authority or responsibility. He enjoyed cooking. 1 of the friendliest & most beloved CNA's in the nursing home, Dana Warrington, made the suggestion for the couple to watch YouTube cooking videos.
Dana exclaimed, "Ooh, let's watch this 1!"
It was a video that randomly popped up in her feed, called "Sweet Pea Pie". The YouTube uploader's name was called, "5hamroq's Latin Kitchen". Shamrock. Shamrock had a customized 5-leaf clover as her logo, instead of the traditional 3-leaf clover. Like as if a star was shaped like a clover. She loved the number 5 & the color green. She specialized in GREEN colored foods & cooking demonstrations, even if she had to dye certain foods green. Also, she would keep all of the ingredients simplified to only 5 main ingredients (not counting oils, seasonings & condiments) + also the necessary oils, seasonings & condiments. How could she get to be so innovative & creative with varying only 5 ingredients & still make the food taste so good? Then, she donated the food from her YouTube food presentations to her local church each Sunday (the next day). She would upload 1 video every Saturday night, doing Livestreams.
Shamrock (5hamroq) is from the Dominican Republic. She even once did a video, demonstrating how to make Dominican farina, dyed a hunter green color. She made sure to prepare large portions for next morning's church service. The church looked at it like her way of "tithing".
When Dana clicked on the "Sweet Pea Pie" video on the new iPad, Mr. Stanley stopped hollering. He became very attentive & interested.
Here goes 5hamroq. Her video opened with an introduction of an old fashioned Christian hymn, called "He Hideth My Soul" by Fanny Crosby. She starts off each video, juggling 3 lime green tennis balls, & she's pretty good at it. She can juggle for 3 hours. But she juggles the balls for 30 seconds after the music intro & then DELIBERATELY acts like as if she accidentally dropped & missed 1 of the balls, & then she introduces herself.
"Buenos dias, everybody! Welcome to another upload. It's your favorite chickadee, Shamrock. How's everyone doing this marvelous Saturday? Tell me in the comments section, whether or not you're going to try this dish. Today, I'm about to intrigue you with my authentic, STUNNING, phenomenal, homemade Sweet Pea Pie, made from scratch. Follow me right along."
After that, she lists & shows all of the ingredients needed for the recipe. She makes a pie with fresh, early June peas, picked from her garden. Her 5 main ingredients are, amaranth flour & a little bit of water + a couple of pinches of Celtic sea salt for the pie crust, & also mashed early June peas from her garden, along with some coconut milk, spices & some Indian sugar, jaggery. She also pastes some coconut oil onto the dough before shaping it into the pie crust & baking it. She makes the pie come out looking like a green sweet potato pie, but tasting like sweetened peas, of course.
Shortly after the food is ready, she juggles those tennis balls again, warming up & preparing everyone for the sampling. She looks into the camera & then gives everyone a silent but slow, romantic, seductive bite, chewing quietly, without smacking her food. It drives the men wild. She's already considered as pretty & attractive.
She then tells everyone to like, comment, share & subscribe. Afterwards, she closes out the video with herself singing, "Every Hour I Need Thee", while encouraging everyone to read the Bible, pray, fast & repent of their sins. Then, the Livestream cuts off.
Mr. Stanley started hollering, whining & crying again. Mrs. Dorothy started rubbing his back, trying to calm him down & console him, telling him that everything is going to be ok. 20 minutes passed by, & there were already over 100 comments. The first set of 35 people commented that annoying comment, saying, "First!" Dana started reading the YouTube video comments out loud, & that helped Mr. Stanley be appeased. Many people were making flirty comments, trying to hit on Shamrock. There was this 1 person in the comments section, quoting the Bible scripture,
"Matthew 5:28
King James Version
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
& also this scripture.
Proverbs 6:32
“But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.”
King James Version (KJV)
& this one
Hebrews 13:4
“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
King James Version (KJV)"
towards every flirtatious comment. Some of them clapped back & got angry.
Other commenters were saying stuff like, "Hey, Chickadee! Let's join the Sham Glam Squad! You're so pretty. You make your food look & taste as pretty & delicious as you." That comment made Mr. Stanley laugh. Something he hasn't done in such a long time. Everyone in the room was shocked!
Some more of commenters were begging for a way to donate, but Shamrock refused to accept donations, & she refused to have her channel monetized, despite having over 500K subscribers.
Some commenters were either asking for advice or giving tips & suggestions. Of course, there were some narcissistic, jealous haters & Satanic trolls in the comments section.
Shamrock was known for calling everyone "Sweetie" in the comments section. Someone suggested in 1 of her previous Livestreams that she should make a recipe, called, "Sweet Pea Pie", which was a fan recommendation.
Mrs. Dorothy, Mr. Stanley & everybody else watched a few more videos. 5hamroq was Mr. Stanley's favorite, for some reason. He found her videos relaxing, cute, funny, entertaining, educational & soothing, even though he could no longer speak, since he went back to pretty much being a baby all over again. Mrs. Dorothy still had her senses, was ambulatory & could reason like normal. She tried, at every moment, to stay by her husband's side.
Eventually, the entire nursing home would gather, as a group activity session, every Saturday evening, & follow along with watching Shamrock's cooking demonstration videos, along with other people's YouTube channels. Instead of regular TV & movies, the nursing home started to dedicate 2 hour evening sessions with watching selected YouTube videos after supper. The nursing home residents really enjoyed the YouTube video watching sessions.
THE END