Sue, over at JibberJabber, has issued a mega-challenge: to use as many words as possible from the May daily prompts. So here’s my tale, using most of them:
The Cooking Adventure
Sherry, a lively, active thirteen-year-old, was late coming home from school one day. Her mom was already home from her job at the office when Sherry walked in carrying four large books.
This surprised her mother, who’d never seen Sherry do that much reading before. “Do you have a lot of studying to do this weekend,” her mother asked, eyeing the books. “Or some essay to write?” Then she took a closer look. “Cookbooks?”
“I am going to learn to cook,” Sherry announced.
Mom looked through the stack Sherry set on the counter. “Old Time Favorites. That sounds good. Baking: The Science Behind Success. Explore Mediterranean Cuisine.” Mom’s eyebrows arched. “What brought this on?”
“I got a letter from Marlys yesterday. She said…” Sherry’s tone was frosty…”I’ve never had to anything around the house. She thinks I’m so pampered because we have a housekeeper. She says I’m just like a flower in a greenhouse: if I had to keep house or cook, I wouldn’t know where to start. Well, I’m going to show her. I’m going to create some fabulous dishes and invite her over to try them.”
“I suppose your cousin has to help a lot at home and may be a bit jealous of you, but you shouldn’t let her comments grate on you. Still, it would be good for you to learn. I’ve been so busy with work all, I just haven’t had the energy to give you cooking lessons, but I’m happy that you want to learn. I’ll give you all the support I can. I see you brought A Beginner’s Guide to Cooking. That author has made a name both as a celebrated chef and as a class instructor. I think this is an excellent book to start with.”
Sherry’s first creation was a lemon soufflé. Mom showed her how to break the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites and whip the whites to stiff peaks. Sherry followed the recipe carefully and soon had the smooth batter in the pan, ready for the oven. She slid it in and turned on the timer. Mom gave her a short lesson on how to tell when the pudding was done, then went to do some laundry.
Sherry was delighted with her success thus far. She had to call her friend Heather to relate the story of her new cooking adventure. She was still on the line when the timer went and she didn’t hear it. At one point Mom rushed by and a moment later Sherry smelled something burnt.
Sherry hurried to the kitchen, but the damage was done. The soufflé had risen as it was supposed to, but now it was ruined. Sherry let out a wail of anguish
“There. You’ve just had a free cooking lesson. Distractions can spoil the best food.” Mom put an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ll have better luck next time. Learning to cook is a challenge, but if you stick with it and don’t give up, you may be a great chef someday.”
Prompt words used:
old, time, create, food, line, letter, relate, smooth, story
luck, free, explore, break, light, science, hurry, flower
name, short, carefully, support, book, challenge, happy
Christine's Collection 
I love that you were able to turn the words into a short, fiction piece. Brilliant. Thanks for taking on the challenge!
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The first three words I wrote down were Old, Time, Food, and Create, so that set the direction of my tale. There’s a smidge of autobiography here, but it was my Dad that frowned on my lack of cooking skills. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Great job, Christine. Distractions are a total recipe for disaster. Poor Sherry! But hey, at least her cousin wasn’t there to witness her shame.
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They certainly can be. I’m a bad one for putting a pot on the stove to boil and forgetting… 😦
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Uh oh. It does happen to me from time to time.
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Good story. I learned to cook from cookbooks, for which I am grateful. Our school didn’t offer *domestic science* as it was then called, and my mother’s cooking… um, how best to phrase it? I was the only kid in the school who enjoyed school dinners.
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I’m glad you enjoyed my tale. My tale has a bit of autobiography in it.. Mom and Dad F were both good cooks and no one ever suggested I cook anything. My aunt, whom I call my Mom, was busy at work and kept the house when she got home. She took a lot of overtime and I can hardly remember her in my pre-teen years. But I was her niece and I suspect she just didn’t have the emotional commitment to me to teach me any domestic skills. Until I was twelve, she mostly left a quarter on the table and “Buy yourself a can of whatever for lunch.” (No school lunches in my day,)
When I was twelve Dad came home one day and announced, “Your cousin can cook a whole meal for her family. What’s wrong with you? So Mom gave me one cooking lesson: how to make scalloped potatoes. Sigh… So cookbooks rescued me, too.
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Kitchen orphans, adopted by the cookbooks 🙂
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Well done, Christine 🙂
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Thank you. 🙂
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No matter your level cooking is very fulfilling. Enjoyed the post.
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Thank you. 🙂
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Well done
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Thank you. 🙂
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Well done, Christine! It’s worth reading your story.
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Thank you. 🙂
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enjoyed reading
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Thank you!
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great lesson from a very interesting story , thanks Christine
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You’re welcome. Thanks for visiting. 🙂
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