Purrmaids #7

by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

  Shelly shook her head. “We’ll be paying attention.”

  Dad shrugged. “If you say so,” he said. “Call me when you want everything taken out.”

  “What are we going to do while the food is cooking?” Coral asked.

  Shelly shrugged. “I guess we could clean up.” But there wasn’t much to put away. The girls had used almost all the food from the farm. The only things left were a few mangoes.

  “I have a better idea!” Angel exclaimed. “Let’s look through Coral’s cookbook.” She winked. “That’s so much more fun than cleaning.”

  “And I could use a break,” Coral said. “Being a chef is really hard work.”

  Shelly grinned. “I guess we earned it.”

  Coral laid the cookbook open on the counter and flipped through the pages. She pointed to a recipe called Avocado and Herring Dip. “This one looks paw-some.”

  “This tastes great with toasted chips,” Angel read. “Scoop some dip on a chip and enjoy.”

  “We have herring at the restaurant,” Shelly said, “but I’ve never heard of avocado.”

  “Humans eat weird things.” Coral giggled.

  “Look at this,” Angel said. She pointed to a chapter called “Making Jelly at Home.” “I love frog egg jelly donuts.”

  “Me too!” Shelly replied. “My family had them for breakfast. Do humans eat frog egg jelly?”

  “It doesn’t look like it,” Angel said. “There’s a recipe using strawberries and one using raspberries.” She scowled. “What’s a berry?”

  Coral shrugged. “Maybe it’s a type of animal. You never know with humans.”

  Shelly turned the page. Her eyes grew wide. “There’s a recipe for mango jelly! That would have been purr-fect today,” she said.

  “See?” Coral said. “This cookbook could have been useful.”

  “It’s more than useful,” Angel purred. She flipped to another chapter called “Main Courses.” “It’s actually purr-ty fin-teresting.”

  Shelly reached for Coral’s paw. “I’m glad you made us find it.”

  Coral blushed. “Most of the recipes wouldn’t work for purrmaids,” she replied. “But it’s fun to learn about them.”

  The purrmaids reached a recipe called Mango and Mustard Beef Curry. “That sounds familiar,” Shelly said.

  “The mango and mustard do,” Angel said. “But what’s a beef?”

  Shelly shrugged. “We can look that up the next time we go to the library,” she suggested.

  “Yes,” Coral agreed, “next time.”

  Suddenly, Shelly yelped, “Time!” She spun toward the clock so fast that she knocked the cookbook off the counter. “I forgot to check the time!” she wailed. It was five-thirty already. “Everything has been in the oven too long!”

  Both of Shelly’s parents hurried over. “What happened?” Mom asked.

  Shelly felt tears welling in her eyes. “We were reading Coral’s cookbook,” she said. “I lost track of time, and now everything is ruined!”

  Mom put on her oven mitts and took the pans out. She set them on the counter. She opened each pan, then floated back so everyone could see.

  The shrimp was nicely fried. But the mangoes and mustard pods had melted into a sticky goo. The seaweed pie crust was so crispy that pieces broke off with a snap. The vegetables were soft and mushy. And the beach bananas had turned into a thick gel.

  “These might be overcooked,” Angel said.

  “Maybe just a little bit,” Coral added.

  Shelly clenched her paws. “Why didn’t you make me set the timer, Dad?” she cried.

  Dad squeezed Shelly’s paw. “Because sometimes mistakes are the best way to learn,” he replied.

  “But this mistake ruined everything!” Shelly said.

  “Can you make something else?” Mom asked. “Something simpler? And maybe just one dish instead of three?”

  Shelly shook her head. “We used up all the Coastline Farm food,” she said. She pointed to the clock. “Besides, there’s no time to cook something new.” She covered her face with her paws. “What are we going to do?”

  Coral and Angel floated to Shelly. “We can still figure something out,” Coral purred.

  Shelly frowned. “This is all ruined, and I don’t have any more ideas.” She squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears from falling. “You shouldn’t have put me in charge. I’m really sorry.”

  “We weren’t paying attention to the time, either,” Angel said.

  “It’s our mistake, too,” Coral said.

  “Something might seem like a mistake,” Mom said, “but it might actually be an unexpected opportunity.” She turned to the counter. “Let’s have a taste of some of these.”

  “Why?” Shelly asked. “They’re overcooked and ruined.”

  Mom dipped a spoon into the pan that held the mix of melted mango, sea mustard, and shrimp. “This is really yummy,” she said. She held the pan out to the girls.

  Shelly took a small bite. “You’re right, Mom.”

  Coral scooped up a bit of the mixture and tried it. “It tastes exactly like we wanted it to,” she said. “Spicy and sweet.”

  Angel took one of the cooked shrimp and dunked it in the pan. “It’s really good with the shrimp,” she said. “It reminds me of the beef recipe we saw in the human cookbook.”

  Shelly’s head snapped up. She darted over to the cookbook.

  “What are you doing?” Coral asked.

  Shelly pointed at a page. “Angel is right!” she exclaimed. “We didn’t mean to, but we basically cooked mango-and-mustard curry.”

  “Just with shrimp instead of a beef!” Angel said excitedly.

  “We can serve this for dinner, after all!” Coral laughed.

  “Good thinking, Shelly!” Mom exclaimed. “I told you this could be an opportunity.”

  “Aren’t you glad I didn’t make you set a timer?” Dad joked.

  Shelly scowled at him, but only for a second. She quickly opened the cabinet that held the restaurant’s fanciest silver dishes. They were decorated with starfish and seashells. She spooned all the curry from the pan into one of the dishes. Then she added a few purple sea-mustard flowers around the rim of the dish. “Purr-fect,” she said.

  “Can we save some of the other things we cooked?” Coral asked. She picked up a fork and took a bite from the pan of sea vegetables. “These are overcooked, but they’re still good.”

  Angel took the fork and tasted the vegetables. She said, “They’re just a little mushy.”

  Shelly swam back to the cookbook. “I bet we can make a vegetable dip with them,” she said. She reached for the kelp pie crust and snapped off a piece. “We already made chips!”

  Angel started to mash the vegetables. Shelly grabbed some chopped sea urchin. “We can still mix these in,” she said.

  Coral arranged some sea lettuce on another fancy dish. Then Shelly scooped the urchin-and-vegetable dip on top of the sea lettuce. Angel broke the kelp crust into small chips and placed them around the dip.

  Shelly’s finishing touch was a beach banana flower. “This one is ready, too.”

  “What do we do with this?” Angel asked. She held up the pan that was supposed to be the pie filling. The fruits had cooked down to a small amount of sticky gel at the bottom of the pan.

  Coral dipped a spoon into the gel to taste it. “It’s sweet,” she said.

  Shelly paged through the cookbook. “I think we cooked beach banana jelly by accident!” But then she pointed to the pan and frowned. “There isn’t much here, though. We can’t make two desserts out of this little jelly.”

  “Listen to this,” Angel purred. She read, “Jellies are delicious served on crackers or slices of toast. If you want something sweet, you can pair fruit jelly with cheese or drizz
le it over ice cream.” She stopped and scowled. “All that sounds great, but we don’t have crackers, cheese, or ice cream. I don’t even know what some of that stuff is!”

  Shelly glanced all around the kitchen. “We don’t have slices of toast,” she said.

  “Whatever that is,” Angel mumbled.

  Then Shelly spotted the extra mangoes that the purrmaids hadn’t cooked. “But we can slice this mango,” she continued. She quickly peeled one of the fruits and cut it. She put a small scoop of the jelly on each slice. “How do they taste with a bit of beach banana jelly?” she asked.

  Angel and Coral each took a bite. They smiled. “This is simple,” Coral said.

  “But fin-credible!” Angel finished.

  “Can I taste some?” Mom asked. Shelly fixed her a piece. Mom said, “I might like this more than coconut pie!”

  Angel gasped. “Nothing is better than your coconut pie!”

  Everyone laughed.

  Shelly finished cutting the mangoes. Angel arranged the slices on a fancy dish. Coral spooned some jelly on each one.

  “Do you want to decorate this plate, too?” Angel asked. “We still have some flowers.”

  “I have a better idea,” Shelly said. She took a scrap of mango peel and used the knife to cut it into the shape of a heart.

  “Paw-some!” exclaimed Coral and Angel together.

  The clock tower at Cove Council Hall chimed six times. Dad poked his head through the kitchen door. “Your guests have arrived,” he said.

  “We finished just in time,” Shelly said. She turned to her friends. “Ready?”

  “Definitely!” Coral replied.

  But Mom said, “Not quite yet.”

  Shelly scowled. “What do you mean?”

  “You can’t just plop brand-new recipes on a table,” Mom said. She went to a cabinet and took out three shiny dome lids. “You don’t want anyone to get a sneak peek of your creations!” She grinned and placed a lid over each dish. “Now you’re ready.”

  Shelly gulped. It’s meow or never, she thought. I hope this isn’t a cat-tastrophe!

  Shelly picked up the dish with the shrimp curry. Coral grabbed the vegetable dip and kelp chips. Angel took the mango with beach banana jelly.

  Shelly looked at her reflection in the shiny lid she was carrying. She felt her paws trembling. She forced herself to smile.

  The girls swam out to greet Ms. Harbor and Mr. Bengal. Shelly said, “Thank you for coming to dinner.” She bit her lip. “I hope you’ll like what we cooked.”

  “It smells fin-tastic,” Ms. Harbor said. “But why are there three plates for two of us?”

  “We made three different recipes,” Coral said.

  “An appetizer, a main course, and a dessert,” Angel added.

  “You girls put a lot of work into this,” Mr. Bengal said.

  “I can’t wait to see this feast!” Ms. Harbor purred.

  Shelly nodded at Coral and Angel. The purrmaids took the lids off the plates at the same time. “Dinner is served!” Shelly exclaimed.

  “Tell us what you’ve cooked,” Mr. Bengal said.

  Coral pointed to her dish. “For your appetizer, we’ve made an urchin-and-vegetable dip using sea cauliflower and beach banana leaves,” she said.

  “There is chopped sea urchin mixed in,” Shelly explained, “and we’ve served it with some sea lettuce.”

  Angel picked up a kelp chip. “You can use these chips to scoop the dip,” she said. “They’re made from kelp that we baked.”

  “Next,” Shelly said, “there’s mango-and-mustard curry with shrimp.”

  “It’s spicy and sweet at the same time,” Coral said.

  “Finally,” Angel said, “these are mango slices topped with beach banana jelly.”

  “That’s the dessert,” Shelly purred.

  “This is very impressive, girls,” Ms. Harbor said. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “Don’t say that until you’ve tasted everything,” Shelly joked.

  “It doesn’t matter what any of these dishes taste like,” Ms. Harbor said. She reached out and squeezed her students’ paws. “I’m proud that you three took on this challenge and tried something new. That takes a lot of courage.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Harbor,” Angel said. “But Coral and I couldn’t have done this without Shelly. She was in charge of everything.”

  “Shelly could have made this whole meal without us,” Coral said, “but we needed her.”

  “No, I needed you,” Shelly said. “And now it’s time for you, Ms. Harbor and Mr. Bengal, to take on the challenge.”

  “What challenge?” Mr. Bengal asked.

  “Trying all this new food!” Shelly exclaimed.

  Everyone laughed. Then Ms. Harbor asked, “Will you three join us?”

  Shelly’s mouth fell open. “Do you want us to?”

  “Of course!” Ms. Harbor said. “Good food is meant to be shared.”

  Shelly, Angel, and Coral pulled chairs over to the table. Ms. Harbor spooned some mango-and-mustard curry onto her plate. Mr. Bengal took a few chips and scooped up some of the urchin-and-vegetable dip. Angel reached for a piece of mango with beach banana jelly.

  “Angel!” Coral gasped. “You can’t start with dessert. It’s against the rules!”

  Angel took a bite and winked. “You know I don’t like to follow the rules.”

  Everyone laughed again.

  Mom floated behind Shelly. “I’d love to hear what you think of the food,” she purred. “The girls worked very hard this afternoon.”

  “It’s just fin-tastic!” Ms. Harbor replied. “I don’t know which one is my favorite.”

  “You’ll have to add these all to the restaurant menu,” Mr. Bengal said.

  Mom nodded. “That’s our plan!”

  “How did you girls think up these delicious recipes?” Mr. Bengal asked.

  “It was a bit of an accident,” Shelly admitted.

  “A happy accident,” Coral added.

  The girls told the story of their cooking adventure. When they were finished, Mr. Bengal said, “You three are certainly very special purrmaids. You tried something new, and you didn’t let mistakes stop you. It took me a lot longer to be that brave.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out three small beads. “These are to thank you for inviting me. I hope you like them.”

  Shelly took one of the beads. It was carved with the same scallop design as her new top. It also looked very familiar. “Are these made from mango pits?” she asked.

  Mr. Bengal smiled. “I carved them this afternoon.”

  “They’re so purr-ty,” Angel said.

  “We can wear them on our bracelets,” Coral said.

  “That’s a wonderful plan,” Ms. Harbor said. “Every time you see them, you’ll be reminded to try something new.”

  Shelly grinned and took a slice of mango. “And they’ll remind us to save room for dessert!”

  Every year, purrmaids all around Kittentail Cove decorated their town to spread Fish-mas spirit. They carved ice sculptures of Santa Paws and Jack Furr-ost. They made ornaments out of shells to decorate Fish-mas sea fans in their homes.

  Most of the Fish-mas sea fans in Kittentail Cove were about as tall as a grown-up purrmaid. But there were always two giant sea fans in town. One was in front of the Kittentail Cove Library. The other one was at Coral’s house.

  “Are you going to get the biggest Fish-mas sea fan you can find?” Shrimp asked.

  Papa grinned. “I always do, don’t I?”

  Shrimp looked down at his letter. “How will I get this to Santa Paws?” he whined.

  “Don’t worry, Shrimp,” Mama said. “Santa Paws has been keeping an eye on you all year long. He already knows what you’d write in your letter.”
r />   “But I changed my mind at the last minute,” Shrimp said. “He can’t know all of this.”

  “Yes, he can,” Mama replied. “It’s part of the magic of Fish-mas.”

  Shrimp didn’t look like he agreed with Mama. Suddenly, Coral had an idea. “I can mail it,” she said. “We swim past the post office on our way to sea school.” She turned to her parents. “You two go ahead. I’ll drop off Shrimp’s letter.”

  “You will?” Shrimp asked. “Thank you! You’re my favorite sister!”

  “I’m your only sister,” Coral purred, smiling.

  “Thank you for taking this responsibility, Coral,” Mama said.

  “It’s a truly Fish-mas-y thing to do,” Papa added.

  “I hope Santa Paws is watching now,” Coral joked, “so he brings me something extra special!”

  “I couldn’t send a letter to Santa Paws without you,” Shrimp said, “so you deserve it.”

  Coral felt her face getting warmer. “I’m happy to do it, buddy,” she said. She ruffled Shrimp’s fur. “Think of this as my Fish-mas gift to you.”

  Shrimp scowled. “Wait! You are going to get me another present, too, right? A real present?”

  Coral laughed. “You’ll have to wait until Fish-mas morning to see!” she said.

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