Early in the summer of my seventeenth year, I had the longest summer vacation .I knew it would be fun to travel somewhere at such a long vacation, but I didn't feel like going. Instead, I stayed home with my parents and read my favorite cookbook "Home Cooking Made Easy" over and over first two weeks of my summer vacation had flown past quickly. I still did nothing but read the same book every day. My mother couldn't stand me and said that I was just wasting my time. She insisted me to go outside and find something to do. I took her advice and went outside. It was so hot outside. As I walked down the street, I saw many people were eating ice-cream. Wandering on the street for just twenty minutes, I felt the sun was getting even hotter. I finally stepped into the convenience store and decided to buy a cold drink. I enjoyed the cold breezes of the air conditioning. I stood in front of the drink section for a while and was wondering which drink to buy. "Lemonade tea would be great for this kind of hot weather" I thought. I grabbed one and went to the counter to pay. As I was ready to step out of the convenience store, someone tapped on my shoulder. I looked around. It's Tina, my high school classmate.
"Hazel, how have you been?" she said. "I'm fine, and you?" I said.
"Good. I just get a part time job at a coffee shop. Do you have any plan for summer vacation like travelling to some places?" she asked. "Well...actually not. I read the same book all these weeks" I answered. "What book?" she asked. "Well. The book is called "Home Cooking Made Easy. It's written by Lorraine Pascale, a television cook."I said. "Yeah, I know her. I've watched her show over five times. It's great. Do you want to learn cooking? I recently heard that someone has just opened a summer cooking class in my neighborhood. Do you want to go? " she said. "What a great idea. Thanks for giving me this information. When will the class start?" I asked. "I'm not sure. How about we go there together and ask? "she suggested. "Ok" I said. We left the convenience store and headed to Tina's neighborhood. As I saw a small cottage, Tina told me it was there. I rang the bell and waited for someone to answer the door. In about two minutes, a thirty- something woman came to open the door. "Hey. Come on in." she smiled kindly to us. "We are here to ask about the summer cooking class" I said. "I know. I'll be your cooking teacher. My name is Liz. The cooking class will start on next week. Do you want to register now? "she said. While I filled out the registration form, Liz explained the class design to me. "We'll learn the cuisine and dessert. Our class which lasts or a month will be held on every Tuesday and class would be 3 hours. In the last class, we'll have cooking competition. The winner will have a special gift! Hope you'll have fun in my class."Liz said."I'm looking forward to it "I said. "Do you want to join the class with me?" I asked Tina. "Sorry. I have other things to do." she said. I felt kind of disappointed since I always thought it would be fun to join the cooking class with Tina. I finished the registration and said goodbye to my new cooking teacher. I said goodbye to Tina. "We can chat everyweek, so you can share your funny cooking experience with me."she said."Of course. See you then." I said. I was back to my home and told my mom about the cooking class that I'll going. "That's good for you! I believe you'll learn many things from the cooking class."The day of my first cooking class has finally arrived. I was so excited. When I entered the cottage, I saw few people were already there. There were four people in my class which meant it was a small class. There was one large table in the center of the classroom. The four of us are seated together. I noticed the guy who seated next to me looked the same age as me. "Good morning, everyone. Welcome to my cooking class. Today is our first class. I wish all of you can stand up and introduce yourself to your future classmates."Liz said happily. We took turn to introduce ourselves. The first person was Lena. She was still in graduate school. She came here because she wanted to learn how to make homemade desserts. The second person was Tim. He was a social worker. He had good appetite for food and wanted to learn how to cook. Then the guy who sat next to me stood up. "Hi, I'm Augustus. I come here because I am interested in cuisine." It was my turn! "Hello, my name is Hazel. I liked reading recipes and I'm here to learn how to cook. " "Good! It's nice to meet you all. Now we are going to start our first class. I'll divide you into two groups. Say Hello to the person who sits next to you. That person will be your cooking partner throughout the class. " Augustus smiled to me and I smiled back. Teacher Liz passed out the handouts to us. I found that our first cuisine was cheese baked rice. Then she gave us the ingredients. There were pork, garlic, mushrooms, red pepper and cheese. Then we started cooking. Augustus said he did the cooking part. As he put all the ingredients into the pan, I saw he used spatula to stir them together. I helped him add two bowls of rice. After he finished, I put the many cheese on the rice. Then I put the dish into the oven. The result was great. I saw the golden color of the baked cheese. The dish smelled delicious and tasted good. After the class, Augustus walked with me to the bus stop. "I have a lot of fun today. Thanks for your help."I said to him." Don't mention it. By the way, I heard that you interested in reading recipes. I think that's really cool. I also collected some good recipes. Maybe we can exchange and read?"he said. "That's great. I'd love to. Since we only have 2 hours class a week. Reading recipes may give us more cooking ideas. "I said." You're right." he gave me a big smile. I went home and called Tina. "How's your first cooking class?" she asked. "It was good. I learned how to make cheese baked rice" I said. "Wow. That sounds delicious. Keep up the good work." she said. "I will." I said happily then I hung up the phone. The day of the second cooking class arrived, I met the Augustus again. We exchanged our cookbook. To my surprise, his cookbook was written by Julia Child, a renowned television chef. As I got back home, I started reading the cookbook. I did some research. This book was the second book of Julia Child which was a collection of the recipes she had demonstrated on the show. I especially liked her omelet recipe. Coincidentally, Liz taught us how to make the omelet in the following was the first time I learned how to flip the omelet which was funny. After the class, I told Augustus this coincidence. He laughed and then he said he also liked the recipe I lend him. Three weeks have flew by. Apart from the cheese baked rice and omlet I learned in the first two weeks, I also learned how to make the Tiramisu and apple pie. I remembered the dessert which Lena made looked just wonderful. It also tasted delicious because she gave one to me. Augustus came to the class as usual. I was really thankful for his help in every cooking class. Next week will be our final cooking competition, I wonder whether our team will perofrm perfectly. I shared my thoughts with Augustus. "Next week will be the cooking competition. I am very nervous about it." I said. "Don't worry. As we work together, we'll definitely perform well" he said. On the day before the cooking competition, I received a phone call. It was Augustus. "It's me Augustus. I call to tell you that I got a flu, so I won't attend the cooking competition tomorrow. I am really sorry. You'll still attend the class, right? " he asked. I was so shocked at the moment. Thing just happened so suddenly. "Well… yes, I'll attend the class and try my best. You take a good rest. I hope you'll get well soon. " I answered. Standing in the classroom and looking at the clock. There was 15 minutes left before the competition. Lena and Tim knew that Augustus won't coming and encouraged me to try my best. Then Liz came into the class. "Good morning guys. Today is our cooking competition. Our topic would be the cuisine we learned during these weeks, so don't worry. Since Augustus won't come today, I decided that we'll have three-person competition. Now it's time to start. Our topic is omelet. I want to test your creativity, so you can make omelet with different ingredients I give you. You'll have 10 minutes to finish it. "Liz said while she put the ingredients on our table. I want to make a cheese mushroom omelet. I poured the olive oil into the frying pan first. At the time the olive oil was heat up, I cracked the egg into the bowl and stirred it quickly. Then I turned on the fire. I put the mushroom into the frying pan first, then I poured the beaten egg. I waited for two minutes and used spatula to flip the omelet. As the omelet turned to golden color, I sprinkled shredded cheese on the omelet. I saw the cheese was melting and smelled delicious. I slowly turned off the heat. I used spatula again to fold the omelet over the mushrooms. There was only one minute left. I slid the omelet onto the plate carefully. Time was up. Our cooking teacher, Liz tasted a small part of the omelets we made respectively. Tim made the chicken omelet and Lena made the bacon omelet. "You all did a good job. The winner today is Hazel. She did a good job. Her omelet has more delicate taste." Liz said. Liz gave me the special gift. I opened it and found there were two tickets for the 5 days trip to Kyoto,Japan. I was so happy and thanked Liz for the gift and wonderful cooking experience during these weeks. "You can visit me anytime you like"Liz told me before I left the cottage. After that, I called Augustus first. " I would like to go, but I still feel kind of uncomfortable "Augustus said. "All right. I'll buy souvenirs for you, so don't be upset. "I said. Then I called Tina. " Really!? Hazel, you're so lucky. I would definitely want to go!" she said happily. "I know you will" I said. Tina and I did visit the Kyoto. The five days trip was amazing, but it was not the important part of my summer vacation. For me, Liz's summer cooking class was the most important and valuable experience which I'll always remember.