Chapter Nine: Cooking up Trouble

"All right, everyone, welcome to Cooking 101!"

Cecili stood at the front of the outdoor kitchen just behind the main dining pavilion, a gaggle of twelve students in front of her. Behind her was a row of lighted cookpots. Off to one side was a table with all sorts of ingredients: fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, grains, and herbs.

"When you're out in the wild, it's important that you know what your different plants and herbs look like. Because that could be all the difference between getting a tasty meal and getting a really bad tummy ache."

"Or dead," someone chimed in.

"Very true. And that's why you need to keep a close eye on mushrooms. And that'll be a whole lesson for itself." Cecili pulled out a folder and began handing around copies of a recipe. "Since this is our first cooking class together, we'll do something simple. First course: Steamed greens and mushrooms."

"Ew, gross. I hate mushrooms," one boy said, wrinkling his nose.

"Have you ever eaten mushrooms?" Cecili asked.

"No, not really."

"Then how do you know they're gross?"

"Uh, well, everyone does!"

There were some giggles from the assembled group. Cecili chuckled. "Well, we'll show you that the mysterious person known as 'everyone' is not always right." She pointed to the table. "You'll find all the ingredients over there. And so, gather around, two to a cookpot. You'll find all your tools there, and watch your fingers using the knives. Off you go."

So the kids all gathered in groups around the pots, and the air was soon filled with the hisses and smells of frying greens and mushrooms.

"You're putting in too much garlic!" Koko said to Olga, who'd been assigned to the same cookpot as her. "And you're chopping those greens all wrong! That's too much salt!"

"Oh, yeah? Who's teaching this class, you or Cecili?" Olga snapped.

"My mom's the best chef in all of Hyrule! She taught me everything!" Koko boasted.

"If you're so smart, and you know everything, why are you in this class?" Olga taunted.

"Is everything all right over there?" Cecili's voice had a slight warning note in it.

Both girls got the hint and quieted down, but they were still throwing evil looks at each other.

At another pot, Teebo dropped his chopped mushrooms into the pot, and watched anxiously as they began to dance and sizzle in the heat. Then he reached for the pile of chopped Hyrule herb and threw that in. He sat back, almost biting his nails as he watched the vegetables dance in the pot. And then the pot gave a whistling noise before yielding the batch of finished greens and mushrooms.

"Looks good so far," Cecili said. "Let's taste it."

Teebo looked nervous. "Does Hyrule herb taste good?"

"It's wonderful."

"I have trouble eating cooked greens. My mom cooks them so that they turn into green slime."

"Yeah, well, these greens are nowhere near slimy. Go on, take a bite."

Teebo picked up a forkful of vegetables, put it into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. And then his face lit up. "Yum!" He immediately reached for another forkful.

Some of the other kids weren't having much luck. One Zora girl shook her head as the vegetables in her group's pot turned into a smoldering, slimy mess.

"It's no use," she said dramatically. "I've never been able to cook. Never. I should just give up."

"Don't say that, Laruta, lots of good cooks make tons of mistakes before they get to be good cooks," Cecili said. "Here's another batch of vegetables - give it another try."

The next dish to try was a simple rice balls recipe, with several kinds of prepared fillings and wraps already set out.

Most of the kids were able to get their rice balls to look vaguely triangle-shaped. But none of them looked like a picture-perfect rice ball.

"Like this!" Koko held up her perfectly shaped rice ball. "You're all doing it wrong!"

By now, Olga was no longer the only student grumbling at Koko. Some of the other kids muttered, "Who does she think she is?" and "Show-off."

The last dish was dessert: simmered fruit.

"What's that burning smell?" Laruta wondered aloud.

Everyone turned in the direction of Koko and Olga's pot.

The fruit had turned into a molten, sticky, burnt-caramel mess that clung to the sides of the pot, and smoke was rising from the pot.

"Too much honey! You're stupid! You messed it all up!" Koko exploded.

Olga glared at Koko, but her bottom lip was trembling, and there were tears in her eyes. Getting to her feet, Olga bolted from the pavilion.

"Class dismissed," Cecili said wearily. "Koko, could I have a word with you?"

Koko sullenly walked over as the other students quickly made themselves scarce. Cecili knelt down so she was looking Koko in the eye.

"Koko, I know you're a good cook with high standards," Cecili said. "But I don't think pointing out the other students' mistakes is going to help them or you. And calling them stupid certainly won't help anyone."

"But cooking should be perfect!" Koko wailed. "Olga was messing it all up!"

"The best cooks all start out making mistakes, and learn from those mistakes," Cecili said. "This is a class, remember. Not a contest."

Koko stuck her lip out. But now she was looking teary-eyed herself.

"Tell you what. Let's go find Olga, and see if we can make things right."

Olga was sitting outside under a tree, hugging her knees tightly and trying to pretend she hadn't been crying when Koko and Cecili found her.

"Hey, um…" Koko rubbed a hole in the dirt with the toe of her sneaker.

"What?" Olga asked sullenly.

"Um, sorry I was such a meanie," Koko said.

Olga said nothing.

Koko groaned. "I'm sorry I bragged about my cooking. I'm sorry I called you stupid. I'm sorry about everything! Okay?"

Olga stood up and pointed to a nearby picnic table. "Let's arm wrestle."

Koko looked frantically at Cecili, who only shrugged.

The two girls sat down on either side of the table and gripped each other's right hands.

"Count of three," Cecili said. "One, two…"

SLAM.

"Ahhh! Uncle! Uncle!" Koko yelped.

"Come on, I didn't even push that hard," Olga said.

"All right, Olga, that's enough. Game over," Cecili said firmly. "Now, do the two of you agree to get along now?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

Cecili turned and went back into the pavilion. Koko looked wide-eyed at Olga. "Can you teach me how to wrestle like that?"

"If you show me that hot buttered apple recipe of your mom's," Olga said. "Deal?"

Koko grinned. "Deal!"

xLoZx

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