A beginner's guide to cooking

Hey everyone! Zack here. After I attempted to dance for that competition, which ended with me breaking my leg, I decided dance was not for me. I think I should find something else. Like maybe, cooking! A skill Max lacks. How do I know that? Well, yesterday was Mrs Lavigne’s birthday, and Max decided to surprise her mom by making breakfast. And she asked me to help her. And I just couldn’t say no. So here goes nothing (except for Mrs Lavigne’s birthday surprise).

“Max, it's 6. I walked all the way up here with my broken leg, so you better wake up!” “First of all, I live just two doors down from you, so it’s not a long walk. Second, I’m sleeping on the sofa, so you didn’t even have to go up the stairs. Pack it in and let me go take a shower!” Having had the last word in the argument, Max went up to take a shower, leaving me in the living room.

Forty-five minutes later, she was back down ready to start working. “Alright, mom likes omelettes, so the first thing to do is separate some eggs.” She took to eggs out of the fridge and put them on different ends of the countertop. “There. Cooking is easy.” Then she went to get the vegetables. While she was out looking for them, I did the actual separating of the eggs. Jeez, 10 minutes in and I don’t have a good feeling about this. Whoever said females are natural at cooking clearly haven’t met Max.

When she came back with the vegetables, the omelette was ready. “Oh, so that’s how you separate an egg. I was wondering how I would cook without cracking the eggs.” Then she got a pan out and began to cook the vegetables and bacon. She stirred them in oil for some time, then covered it.

After a few minutes, I smelt something burning. I ran (well yeah I couldn’t run, but you get the idea) into the kitchen, and there it was. The second disaster. Overcooked bacon and burnt veggies. Just like last time, while Max was busy doing something else, I cooked the bacon. Oh wow, maybe I am good at cooking. Too bad I can’t do that in the talent show. Or can I?

With the bacon on the stove, with just the right amount of butter, I turned my eyes to the next disaster- the bread. I mean, when you have a toaster, why on earth would you use the gas top to pop your bread? No wonder they say females are a mystery!

Just like last time, the bread went outside, and a fresh loaf was brought in, on the toaster. And the bacon, was, well, overcooked again. Well, I’ve clearly gotta start focusing on everything better. The last thing was pancakes. Those didn’t even make it to the stove till Max messed it up. The batter had far too much water in it, the chocolate chips were melted, and the whipped cream was whipped, but without the cap. So the cream was all over the kitchen. Now, what to do? Do I clean up the kitchen, or cook the pancakes?

We decided to split the work. Max cleaned up all the mess, and I fixed the batter and cooked the pancakes. Not to brag or anything, but breakfast looked amazing. We decorated the plate with raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Basically a lot of berries.

Now onto the last and final thing- setting the table. “Do we have to,” Max complained. “We do it properly, or we do not do it at all,” I said. With a groan, Max got the cutlery out, and set it up.

With everything set, we finally sat down. Boy did my leg need it! The absolute second we turned the television on, the doorbell rang. With a sigh, I hobbled over to the door and opened it. There was a smiling delivery man. “One bouquet and breakfast delivery for a Mrs Lavigne.” Oh no! So I spent all that time fixing Max’s cooking disaster, and she’s ordered takeout. Well, maybe we’ll have better luck next year. Till then, let's have breakfast!