Challenge: Zane gives Cole a cooking lesson and several (or any other) characters watch/comment. Any way you want to spin it!

The ninja had finally hit upon a solution to one of their worst problems: Cole's cooking. Since Zane was an excellent cook, they decided that he could pass his wisdom on to Cole. As the Nindroid set out various bowls and spoons, and an unamused Cole sulked at the end of the counter, Lloyd and Jay watched from a safe distance. (Namely, from around the kitchen doorframe.)

"We can start with a simple recipe," said Zane, tying on an apron. "Perhaps vegetable soup."

Cole was trying to maintain his displeasure, but he had to smile a little at the apron—it was Zane's old pink one.

"This is great," whispered Jay. "Zane's vegetable soup is awesome, but really easy. There's no way Cole could mess it up! Even if that's the only thing Zane manages to teach him, we can still have really decent veggie soup every night it's Cole's turn to cook."

"Precision is important when chopping the vegetables," Zane was explaining, setting out some carrots. "Cutting them into pieces of consistent size creates a soup with a more pleasing texture."

"Even I didn't know that," said Lloyd, impressed.

"I don't know. I don't think the problem with Cole's cooking is the texture," said Jay.

"You should also be careful with your spices," said Zane. "You seem to have a tendency to . . . uh . . . overseason your cooking a bit."

"But that's what makes it taste good!" protested Cole.

"It's called too much of a good thing, dirtclod," called Jay from the door. He ducked as a wooden spoon narrowly missed his head. Cole glanced to Zane.

"So then . . . how much is too much?"

"As a general rule," said Zane, "if the mixture is bubbling when you haven't even put it on the stove yet, you've overdone it."

"Huh," said Cole. "Good rule of thumb!"

He seemed to be warming up to this lesson. Jay and Lloyd exchanged approving glances.

"Cole, could you get started on the leeks, please?" said Zane, tipping a bowl of carrots into the stewpot.

"Sure." Cole grabbed a knife. "So, what else are we putting in?"

"More vegetables," said Zane. "We will add some potatoes, and perhaps some beans—"

"Aren't we putting in anything interesting?" said Cole. "I mean, just vegetables?"

"It is vegetable soup," said Zane, raising an eyebrow.

"I know, I know, but—what's the point of only putting in boring ingredients like potatoes and carrots?"

"Those create the most pleasing flavor," said Zane. "The basis of good cooking is combining ingredients that complement each other. A good cook knows which foods will combine well."

"But how does he know?" challenged Cole, smiling. Jay and Lloyd glanced at each other uneasily.

"Well . . . usually from common knowledge," said Zane hesitantly. "There are many traditional combinations of ingredients that are known to work well."

"Ahhhhh, but how did someone find those combinations?" said Cole.

"I . . . suppose they . . . experimented?" ventured Zane.

"Oh no oh no oh no—" mumbled Jay. "I see where this is going!"

"Right!" said Cole. "And how do we know there aren't MORE great combinations? Maybe there are amazing new recipes out there, but we just don't know it because nobody's ever found them!"

"I . . . guess that's possible . . . " said Zane slowly. "I never thought about that before."

"Come onnnnnn, Zane. Think about it! We could discover a new recipe! One that would spread around the world! Just because we tried a few new things," coaxed Cole.

Zane chewed his lip for a moment, his eyes distant. The thought of a new discovery did seem to be tempting him.

"You may have a point," he said at last. "I suppose it would not hurt if we added one or two unorthodox ingredients."

"Awesome!" grinned Cole. "I was thinking some blueberries, maybe a little tofu . . . "

"I should have known!" groaned Jay, throwing up his hands and walking away from the kitchen. Lloyd followed him, shaking his head bewilderedly.

"What just happened here?"

"It's a law of nature," sighed Jay. "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. For every improvement Zane makes in Cole's cooking, Cole's gonna worsen Zane's."