First Time In The Kitchen

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(Edited)

Anna Shvets

First Time In The Kitchen

Dominic is the reason behind the mischievous behavior of Chiamaka which later turned out to be a blessing.

Dominic has been in high school as well as Chiamaka. In their school, they have vocational courses which they can choose from. This means they have choices to choose from either electrical and maintenance practice, Creative Craft or Data Processing. The two friends happened to drift to the aspect of electrical installation and maintenance practice but were seen as a mistake by Chiamaka since she was a female. To her, the female cannot be good in the electrical aspect but she just wants to give it a try.

After two terms of Chiamaka selecting electrical installation and maintenance practice as her choice, she was unsuccessful and deviated to Creative Craft. She was better right in this subject than electrical. She only ran after Dominic being her friend, but now she has learnt her lessons to always follow her mind.

It's time to carry out practicals in their respective fields where Chiamaka was given lists of different types of dishes to choose from. After much thought, she went to meet up with Dominic just for him to tell her what she would prepare to have a better grade. Dominic loves sausage rolls. He knew how to prepare it to some extent as he had seen his Aunt once prepare it in his presence. Chiamaka on the other hand cannot prepare it and only knows how to prepare one particular dish which involves Vegetable soup. She has little money to cater for her choice but went for Dominic's choice.

It's D-Day and Dominic has done his electrical installation and maintenance practice which he did so well. Creative Craft practice is the last subject in the timetable. Chiamaka has nothing to read again apart from trying to look for ways to carry out her practical work.

She went to the market to buy the ingredients alongside Dominic. She was new to the subject and knew little about how it was run. To her, it would be allowed to have a little help from a friend since it is cooking practical, forgetting the fact that it was an examination. They bought what is necessary for the practical and were ready for it. When they got to the school, Chiamaka was getting ready while Dominic was helping her to put things in order, but suddenly was stopped by the CCP teacher.

Don't you know this is an exam? It is you and your paper or practical and no one would help you out except you and yourself.

The teacher has a roll call which every student attending CCP must answer to. After calling the students' names, it was discovered that Chiamaka's name was not called as part of the CCP students. She was not herself and immediately called his teacher to check again. The CCP teacher later saw that her name was not truly included and so decided to include it being new to the subject.

It was time to make their respective work and Chiamaka was afraid since it was her first time and does not have an idea of what she has chosen to prepare.

Meanwhile, Dominic had taught her and given her the process to prepare the sausage roll. She started but forgot a step and was at a spot dancing around looking for ways to get the step but could not. She would have been the first to finish but just because of the missed step, she was still preparing while others who were preparing simple dishes had been through with theirs.

The other students were not her friends and were not ready to give her a helping hand as they wanted her to fail the subject. They were just like impediments to her and she kept on with her cooking without bothering anyone since they did not like her. Their look sent something to her skull and she made up her mind to face the music.

After much thought, she skipped the process meaning she could not put a particular spice that she was supposed to use. She could not meet up with time and could equally not be able to get the process used. The CCP teacher gave her a few minutes to complete her practical since she would be needing heat.

The CCP teacher always tastes each of the students' meals just to access them fully and to award them with marks. The whole students stood on a single file and then he started calling their names one by each and according to the roll call. Almost everyone did so well. She had already known what she was going to score since she missed out on a step. It was her turn and the teacher called her name which she went in shamelessly with her face wrapped with fear. Her look could tell everyone that she had fumbled.

The CCP teacher took her sausage roll and ate a little out of it after observing the look on her face. He was initially having a double mind about the sausage roll. Meanwhile, Chiamaka was observing critically to see her teacher's reactions to her dish. At a time the teacher squeezed his face just like someone who was pressed getting ready to go to the toilet. In another way, she looked at him as if her dish was so useless just because of the silly mistake she had made. She began to shed inner tears as her face was in a dark cloudy look ready to explode anytime soon.

Dominic was the reason I prepared sausage rolls or else I would have tried something common since everyone prepared common dishes. Now I have prepared rubbish.

Chiamaka soliloquized which drew her teacher's attention to her statement.
The teacher asked her;

Have you ever prepared sausage rolls in your life?
Chiamaka answered "no" except for the fact that I was taught the process theoretically by a friend.

The teacher responded;

Because I don't think I have taught you or your class how to prepare sausage rolls. But then, how come you are perfect in it?

Chiamaka was shocked after hearing this statement from her CCP teacher. Her face once again bounced back to normal where the cloudy moment disappeared making her look changed totally to a happy mood. She was short of words and then answered her teacher;

B…uu..buuu ..tttt…I mi….

Before she speaks further, the teacher said to her that,

You completed all the steps without missing out a single line. Maybe you wanted to put a spice that is already in one of the spices you have used. So, what you prepared truly was the best.

She got the highest score in the subject. She was so excited and immediately ran to Dominic to thank him for helping her through.

After hearing her score, the students were angry but had nothing to do.



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2 comments
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What a great story. You managed to make a tense drama out of cooking! That is quite a feat. Some lines in here are exquisitely descriptive, and original. This one, for example:

At a time the teacher squeezed his face just like someone who was pressed getting ready to go to the toilet

We are not likely to read that line anywhere else, especially in response to food!

Great use of the prompt. Skill challenge met.

Thank you for sharing this story with us, @abigail04. Thank you for engaging with other authors in the community.

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That time when you are doing something for the first time ever and still be able to control the anxiety

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