60 Tortilla burger (2/2)

”Um, if only grilling those meats, I can do that Ikki”

”Then I leave it to you, I want to make the soap that I promise to make before”

”Yes, leave that to me. Just do what Ikki want to do”

I take some empty earthenware pots, a bowl with a bit camellia oil, and the barrel contains the fats to the backyard. Before I start to make the soap, I must make a fireplace in the backyard first. I can't make it in the kitchen because the soap making process will produce stink smell as chemical reaction from alkali and fats which create sulfide hydroxide that has stink smell like rotten eggs.

After the fireplace ready, I cook some fats in the pot until the fats liquid come out from heated fats. When there's no more liquid I can get from the fats, I put aside the liquid into other pot, dump the mush of fats and heating the new fats again until I get enough liquid fats in other pot. After the liquid fats are enough, the soap making process begins.

First I take some cloth to cover my mouth and nose from the unwanted smell that comes out from the process. Second, I take the extracted alkali from the bottom of the alkali extraction barrel. Third, I'm heating the liquid fats, stir it slowly with a wooden stick and remove any impurities that I can see within the liquid. Fourth, bit by bit, I pour the camellia oil into the fat liquid while keep stirring it and make them mixed completely. After the liquid fats and camellia oil mixed, I start to pour the alkali I get from extraction little by little into the pot while keep stirring the pot. Usually, the ratio between plant oil and animal oil is 8 ounce plant for one pound animal fat oil while the alkali need for this saponification (soap making) process is about 0.142 pound.

Since I don't bring any measurement tools, I just add according to my intuition. And just I predicted, the bad odor starts to rise from the pot. I keep stirring the pot until all the mixture becomes thicker and like mushy. When the mixture getting mushy and hard to stir anymore I remove the pot from the fire and prepare the mound. Before I pour the mixture into the mound, I smear the mound with some grease to prevent the soap from getting sticky to the mound, after that, I pour the mixture carefully into the mound.I repeat the process until all the mixture in the pot all used and placed in the mound.If I have some plastic wrap I would use that to cover the mound so no moisture will be absorbed into the mound. But since there's no plastic in this world, I just put some wooden plank as mound cover.

I don't realize the day is already dusk when I'm finish making the soap, and Silvie is watching me from the door still with pinching her nose.

”Silvie, you're done with the cooking?”

”I already finished a while ago and then watching Ikki make the soap”

”You can release your hand from your nose. It's already finished and not too smelly anymore”

”Um, is it always making stinky smell when making the soap Ikki?”

”Hahaha…it's part of the process, but the result will surprise you”

”How long before that soap can be used?”

”I don't know, until it's hard enough to grip, then it's done. Could be in some days later”

”Um, if you finish, you can go inside the house Ikki, father also already return from meeting with other refugee camps”

”Chief Harvard already return? Wait, I clean up the tools first before come inside”

”I'll help you”

With Silvie help me cleaning the tools that I used to make the soap, I can finish my work faster. After washing my hand and face with water, together with Silvie, I enter the house to see chief Harvard.