Food, Cats, and Being Lazy

It was a relief when school let out for summer. The past semester seemed to drag on forever and was probably the worst semester I’d ever had. I lost my only friend, had my heart broken by my crush, and a stranger. I had my first kiss with my sister’s boyfriend, and now I had to deal with an even more dysfunctional family than usual. My sophomore year was over, and I only had two years left to deal with that place.

The only problem is that I kind of hated summer break. I knew it was weird for a teenager to hate summer vacation. Especially a kid who got bullied and had no grades or friends. But I got really lonely over the summer. All I ever did was sit around, watch TV, and play with my cat. I didn’t have anyone to talk to, and my brother and sister were usually off doing more fun things. Which left me alone with the Evil Patrice Finnegan.

But this summer was already destined to be different. The first week that school let out, my mom was busy with her candle scheme. So I headed down to the living room to take over the big TV while everyone was gone or busy. I got settled in and put on the Food Network. It was my default channel. I sometimes tried Discovery or Animal Planet first, but there was hardly ever anything good on. So I always reverted back to the Food Network and was never disappointed.

I didn’t expect Paige to be home, but I probably should have. I was just so used to not seeing her over the summer that it startled me when she came down the stairs and then plopped onto the couch with me.

“Can I join you?” she asked. That was weird. Usually, she’d just steal the remote and force me to watch MTV until I got mad and went back to my room.

“Uh—sure.” I slid the remote toward her. “You can watch whatever you want.”

“This is fine. What is she making?” I took the remote back.

“Um—I’m not sure. I just turned it on.”

“Holy crap. That looks so good.”

“Right? It looks amazing, and it’s still in a mixing bowl.”

“I could probably eat her entire kitchen. I always thought Mom was exaggerating about the hunger thing.” We both laughed.

I really hoped she was changing. She was fun to be around sometimes. We spent the entire half-hour watching TV. And then, when the next show came on, we were so entranced by the cooking that she told me she’d give just about anything to have what they were making.

But then she left because she had a doctor’s appointment and Vincent was going to pick her up. So when she was gone, I went to the kitchen to see if we had enough stuff to make her dinner. I didn’t have everything. But I asked my Mom if she could loan me the money, and she actually gave it to me without question. So I walked to the nearest grocery store on my own.

When I got back home, I decided to get started. I didn’t have the recipe, though. I could probably go online and look it up, but I was pretty sure I’d grasped the concept. The only problem is that the kitchen was a disaster. I’d decided to make dinner AND dessert and managed to use just about every pot and pan we owned.

When my mom finished her candle stuff, she stepped into the kitchen and gawked at the mess I’d made.

“Piper?” she said in a high-pitched voice. “What did you do?”

“I’m making dinner. And dessert!” Duh. What the heck did she think I was doing?

“My kitchen! What did you do to my kitchen?” I looked around and grimaced. It was actually worse than just the dishes.

“It kind of got a bit out of hand. I’ve never really made dinner before. I’m sorry.”

“You’re going to get this cleaned up. Right now!”

“I will. Just let me get the chicken out of the oven first.” I went to pull the pan out, and she followed me. I set the baking sheet down on the stove, and she sniffed at the air like a dog does when you have snacks.

“What’s that smell?” she asked.

“What smell? I don’t think I burned anything.”

“No, it doesn’t smell burnt. It smells—earthy.”

“Oh, that’s probably the mushroom sauce.” I lifted the lid to show her where the mushroom sauce was simmering and making that beautiful earthy scent. Her eyebrows creased.

“You made mushroom sauce?” she asked.

“Yeah, Paige and I were watching Food Network today, and she said she really wanted this chicken and mushroom sauce, brown rice, and veggies. I didn’t have the recipe, but I remembered most of it. So I decided to make it and also some brownie kabobs we saw on another show.”

“Where are the brownie kabobs?”

“Oh, they’re cooling in the fridge. I’ll show you.”

I stuck the lid back on the skillet and turned the oven off. Then I went to the fridge and opened it to show her the kabob sticks with chunks of brownies, strawberries, marshmallows, and drizzled white chocolate. She looked at it in confusion. As if the concept of a brownie kabob was alien.

“That’s how I made most of the mess. I’ve never made chocolate ganache before, and I had to make the brownies from scratch.” She looked at me like I was even more alien than a brownie kabob.

“Honey,” she said slowly. “How did you learn to do all this?” I didn’t understand the question.

“TV,” I told her.

“Are they good?”

“They’re amazing, actually. I’ve seen a lot of brownie recipes, so I just kind of winged it. Is it winged it or wung it? I don’t know. Either way, I made three for everyone. So you can have one of yours now if you want.”

“Sure, let me try it.” I handed over one of the kabobs and shut the fridge. She took a bite of the brownie right at the end of the stick. I was really anxious to see if she liked it because I’d never actually made my own brownies before. Her eyebrows creased again.

“Sweetheart,” she said. “This is the most delicious brownie I’ve ever had.” I squeaked excitedly.

“Really?”

“And you did this without a recipe?”

“Kind of? I did base most of the measurements off the back of the cocoa powder can. But I added a few of my own things that I saw on TV, like vanilla. And I made the white chocolate drizzle myself. But it’s not really anything other than melted chocolate. But I saw them making the chicken and mushroom sauce on TV and winged it. Wung it. Anyway, the steamed veggies and rice were actually super easy. There’s really nothing to it.”

“It smells amazing, honey. I can’t wait to try it. When will it be ready?”

“Oh, probably now. I’m just keeping it warm for when Paige gets home.”

“She should be home any minute. Let me get washed up, and I’ll help you make plates for everyone.”

“Okay, I’ll get started on cleaning.” She bit into a strawberry and nodded absentmindedly.

“Mm, okay.”