Miami!

by Giada De Laurentiis

  Alfie and Emilia stared at each other. Chef Fernandez was the surprise celebrity chef! That really was a surprise.

  The festival judge continued. “The three judges will move from chef to chef to sample their creations and hear a little bit about their recipes. Then we’ll have thirty minutes to deliberate and try additional samples of the food if needed. During that time, guests are invited to visit the chefs and try their dishes. Then we’ll announce the winner!”

  The crowd clapped and cheered. The judge put down the microphone and joined Chef Fernandez and the other judge at the first table. Each junior chef had carefully plated three portions of food, one for each judge. Each plate had some sort of flourish or garnish to make it look polished and ready. Alfie had seen that on cooking competition shows on TV. He knew how important the presentation was.

  When the judges reached Margo’s table, Alfie held his breath. He could tell Emilia was doing the same. Margo spoke to the judges and explained her dish. They all nodded before trying a bite. Alfie studied Chef Fernandez’s face, but it was impossible to see what he thought—he was very good at hiding his reaction.

  There was one more junior chef’s dish to try after Margo’s. It belonged to Jude—the boy from the market who’d looked so confident the day before. Alfie thought the judges took a long time at his table. He even thought he saw a small nod from Chef Fernandez. Finally, the judges moved to their own table to deliberate. The full portions of each chef’s food were delivered to them. Now it was time for the festivalgoers to try the chefs’ recipes. Small, bite-size samples had been laid out on each junior chef’s table.

  As soon as the judges moved away, Alfie and Emilia rushed to Margo’s table.

  “Hi!” she said, still beaming. “I think they liked it.”

  “We’ve helped Chef Fernandez a couple of times,” Emilia said. “We had no idea he was the surprise chef!”

  “Really?” Margo said. “That’s so cool.”

  “His food is amazing!” Alfie added.

  Alfie and Emilia studied Margo’s creation. It looked like a small, puffy white bowl with bright fruits in the center topped with cream. A sprig of mint garnished the side of the plate.

  “It’s a tropical fruit pavlova with lemon cream,” Margo said.

  “Pavlova?” Emilia asked. “I’ve never heard of that.”

  Margo nodded. “It’s a crisp meringue dessert that’s filled with fruit and cream. It’s named after a famous Russian ballet dancer named Anna Pavlova. Apparently, a chef created it for her on a visit to New Zealand.”

  “Cool!” Alfie said.

  “After you guys encouraged me to put my own twist on the recipe, I remembered pavlova, because my meringue had turned out crispy. For this recipe it’s supposed to be that way! Then I added mango, pineapple, and papaya, because tropical fruits are the kind of flavors that my family and I love. And I used lemon juice and lemon zest in the whipped cream topping. Here, try some!”

  Alfie and Emilia took bites of crispy pavlova. The center was light and fluffy and not too sweet. The tropical fruits and lemon cream were the perfect balance. “It’s incredible!” Alfie said.

  “It really is,” Emilia agreed. “And really special!”

  Margo smiled. “You guys better hurry if you want to try any of the other recipes before the judges are finished!”

  “Okay!” Alfie said. He didn’t need much convincing to try more food, and he realized that a crowd had formed behind them—eager to taste Margo’s pavlova. Alfie and Emilia joined the rest of the spectators in sampling the other dishes. There were definitely other good and interesting recipes—a couple of appetizers, a main dish, and another dessert—but nothing as tasty as Margo’s.

  Before long, the judges’ thirty minutes were up, and they were ready to announce the winner. This time, Chef Fernandez took the microphone. “I’d like to thank all of our junior chefs for participating today,” he said. “We tried a lot of really wonderful dishes. It came down to two chefs: Margo Balla and Jude Flores.”

  Alfie held his breath again.

  “But, ultimately, one of the dishes really stood out from the rest. And that was the tropical fruit pavlova with lemon cream from our winner, Margo Balla!”

  “As our winner, Margo will be spending an afternoon with me in my kitchen,” Chef Fernandez continued. “She’ll learn some of my classic and favorite recipes. Let’s hear it for Margo!”

  The crowd clapped, Margo jumped up and down, and Alfie and Emilia cheered at the top of their lungs. They rushed over to Margo’s table and gave her a big hug.

  “I knew you’d win!” Alfie said.

  “Yours was totally the best,” Emilia added. “Congratulations!”

  “Thank you both so much,” Margo said. Again, she had tears in her eyes, but this time they were happy tears. “I couldn’t have done it without you guys.”

  “We didn’t really do anything!” Alfie said. “You’re the one who made it taste so good.”

  Margo shook her head. “Without your encouragement, I would have made that lemon meringue pie and done a bad job of it.”

  Alfie and Emilia laughed. Alfie was so glad she’d had the confidence to do her own thing.

  “So, you know our winning chef?” Chef Fernandez asked Alfie and Emilia as he strolled up to Margo’s table.

  “We do!” Alfie said proudly. “We were her assistants.”

  Chef Fernandez smiled—a sight Alfie was still getting used to. “Well, she did a fantastic job. And I was happy to see the Caribbean twist.”

  “Hey!” Alfie and Emilia turned to find Stacey hurrying up to the junior chef area. “Did I miss it?”

  “They just announced the winner,” Alfie said. “It’s Margo—the chef we helped!”

  “That’s fantastic!” Stacey said. “I wish I could have made it over here in time. The Japanese chef I was helping was having a sushi emergency.”

  “Oh, there’s sushi?” Emilia asked.

  Alfie wasn’t so sure he wanted any raw fish right now.

  “I think it might already be gone,” Stacey said. “The crowds are crazy this morning.”

  “Stacey, you’d better try a bite of Margo’s amazing tropical fruit pavlova before it’s all gone, too,” Chef Fernandez said, motioning Stacey forward.

  Stacey stepped up and curled into Chef Fernandez’s side, giving him a big hug. “Thanks, Dad,” she said.

  Chef Fernandez stepped around the side of the table to talk to Margo about her winning recipe.

  Alfie felt his face heating up. “Chef Fernandez is your dad?” he whispered to Stacey.

  She nodded, a huge grin on her face.

  Emilia’s cheeks were just as pink as Alfie’s. “I feel bad that we said he was gruff on the first day. We really enjoyed helping him. He was super nice!”

  “And his food is amazing!” Alfie added.

  Stacey laughed. “Don’t even worry. I know how my dad can be. He’s such a perfectionist.”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us!” Emilia said.

  “I don’t like to make a big deal out of it,” Stacey said. “He is sort of a local celebrity here in Miami.”

  Based on the crowd that had formed around Margo’s table, Alfie guessed that must be true!

  Margo’s brother and aunt pushed through the crowd and rushed up to the booth. They enveloped Margo in a huge hug.

  “We’re so proud of you,” Margo’s aunt said.

  Chef Fernandez shook hands with her. “Your niece is a very promising chef. I’m looking forward to spending an afternoon with her.”

  “I hope she’ll teach me what she learns!” Margo’s aunt said.

  “I was so happy when Margo told me you were her assistants,” Thomas said to Alfie and Emilia.

  “And Margo told us all about how you encouraged her to change her recipe,”
her aunt added.

  “We were just lucky to get paired with Margo!” Emilia said.

  Margo’s aunt wrapped her in another hug. Then they huddled around the few remaining samples of her pavlova and tried a bite, laughing and chatting.

  Chef Fernandez said good-bye to Margo’s family. “So, you two are behind the pavlova idea,” he said to Alfie and Emilia.

  Alfie shook his head. “It wasn’t our idea. We just told Margo something our great-aunt always tells us.”

  “Well, it sounds like it was great advice. Maybe we have a couple more junior chefs in the making?”

  Alfie and Emilia smiled.

  “Thanks again for your help at my booth,” Chef Fernandez said.

  “Thank you, chef!” Emilia said.

  Chef Fernandez kissed the top of Stacey’s head. “I’d better get back. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  “Bye, Dad,” Stacey said.

  Just then, Alfie heard some music start up behind them. They turned and saw that a dance floor and large speakers had been set up in the area opposite the junior chefs competition. Pairs of dancers were warming up on the wooden floor.

  “Oh, it’s the salsa dancing demonstration!” Stacey said. “I forgot all about it from last year—it’s part of the finale of the festival and it’s so fun!”

  Alfie, Emilia, and Stacey moved closer to the dance floor. The music got louder, and the dancers began to spin and twist to the music. Alfie looked at Emilia, expecting her to be on edge like she had been when they’d heard salsa yesterday, but she wasn’t. She was completely mesmerized and taking small steps in place. She was moving in perfect rhythm with the music and the other dancers. Alfie smiled. He knew that the dance tryout at home was the furthest thing from Emilia’s mind as she enjoyed the music here, and he was glad.

  The performers salsa danced to two more songs. The pairs were in complete sync with each other, and it was amazing to watch.

  Once the demonstration was over, the dancing pairs broke up and began to grab members of the audience and bring them out onto the dance floor to give them impromptu lessons. One of the dancers immediately grabbed Emilia’s hand and twirled her into the middle of the growing circle of other dancers. Emilia began to salsa, and she had a huge smile on her face! Then suddenly, one of the pretty female dancers with a big red flower pinned in her hair grabbed Alfie’s hand and led him onto the floor, too.

  Alfie’s face was as red as her flower as she began to show him the salsa moves. When the dancer stepped forward with her right foot, Alfie was supposed to step backward with his left. But he kept getting confused and stepping on his partner’s toes instead! Alfie had to apologize a lot, but the dancer just laughed it off and kept leading him in rhythm to the music.

  “You’re getting the hang of it!” she called out just as the song was ending.

  “Thanks!” Alfie said, hoping his face was at least starting to return to a normal color.

  “You’re welcome,” the dancer said with a dazzling smile. “Want to try another song?”

  Alfie shook his head. “That’s okay. I’m going to watch for a bit.”

  “Okay, have fun!” the woman said before twirling off into the crowd to choose another partner.

  Alfie moved back to the edge of the crowd and found Stacey there. “Did you dance?” he asked.

  Stacey shook her head. “I love to watch! And look at your sister—she’s amazing!”

  Alfie scanned the crowd, looking for Emilia’s golden-blond hair, and then he found her. She was laughing and totally into the music. She had already started to add a little extra movement to her salsa steps, and she was completely in sync with her partner, just like the professional couples had been. Her partner twirled her and twisted her and dipped her, and Emilia didn’t miss a beat. The song finished, and Emilia thanked her partner. He bowed and kissed her hand. Emilia made her way through the crowd.

  “That . . . that was incredible!” she said.

  Alfie grinned at his sister. He hoped she was rethinking the dance tryout at home.

  There was a break in the salsa music, and Margo and her family found Alfie and Emilia in the crowd.

  “Emilia, I saw you dancing out there!” Margo said. “You were fantastic!”

  “Thank you,” Emilia replied, still catching her breath. “That was really fun.”

  “You looked like one of the real salsa dancers!” Thomas said.

  Emilia laughed.

  “No, you did!” Margo said. “You looked like a professional. We were amazed.”

  Alfie couldn’t stop smiling proudly at his sister. He felt exactly the same way. She was a great dancer.

  “We’re going to a restaurant to celebrate,” said Margo. “Would you like to join us?”

  “That’s so nice of you,” Emilia said. “But we should probably finish helping with the festival.”

  “Thank you, though,” Alfie added. “And congratulations again.”

  Margo, Thomas, and their aunt waved good-bye and wove their way through the dancers. The music started up again.

  “Want to dance a little longer?” Emilia asked Alfie and Stacey.

  “Sure,” Alfie said, knowing Emilia was dying for at least one more song.

  “Come on, Stacey!” Emilia pleaded.

  “Oh, all right!” Stacey said, laughing.

  The three kids made their way around the dance floor, moving their feet and swinging and swaying their hips in rhythm with the music. After a little while, Stacey said she needed to head back to the tent.

  “If I don’t see you guys back over there, it was so nice to meet you,” Stacey said. “I had a blast!”

  “We did, too!” Alfie said.

  “You should definitely come back and volunteer next year,” Stacey said. “I know Marcus would be excited to have you, and so would my dad and I!”

  “That would be great,” Emilia said. “We’ll definitely try.”

  Alfie nodded. He wondered if they could convince Zia and their parents to come next year for vacation. They were long overdue for a family trip, and he knew they would love it as much as he and Emilia had.

  Alfie collapsed into a beach chair at the edge of the dance floor, and Emilia found a partner for one more song. Alfie didn’t know how she could do it. He was sweating like crazy and completely tired out. But Emilia had endless energy for dancing, grinning from ear to ear the whole time.

  At the end of the song, volunteers began to break down the speakers, and the dancers started to take apart the portable dance floor. It was time to head back to the tent.

  Emilia was talking as quickly as her feet had been moving as they walked back to the volunteer area. “That was so cool! I have to try to remember all the steps. I don’t want to forget them when we get home. I can’t believe how fun that was! I loved it!”

  As Alfie and Emilia walked, they noticed all the chefs’ booths being broken down and carried away to waiting vans, trucks, and cars. Then they passed a tent where the banner was just being taken down. It said: THE CHOCOLATE EXPERIENCE.

  “Emilia!” Alfie said, grabbing her arm. “Let’s see if they need any help.”

  Emilia laughed and nodded, following Alfie into the tent. Alfie was immediately struck by the cooler air inside. The tent must be air-conditioned to keep the chocolate from melting! One side was already packed away and stacked with boxes, but there were three long tables on the other side that still held more chocolate than Alfie had ever seen in his life. There were two chocolate fountains! And tiered trays of truffles, platters of chocolate bars, and bowls of cocoa beans.

  One of the adult volunteers walked over to Alfie and Emilia. She laughed when she registered the looks on their faces. “Here to help or just hoping for a sample?” she asked.

  “Both!” Alfie instantly replied.

  “Great,” she said. “Why don�
��t you put on a pair of gloves and start moving these chocolate bars into this bin. I’ll make sure there’s something left over when we’re done.”

  Alfie grinned and grabbed a pair of plastic food prep gloves. Emilia joined him, and they stacked a mountain of chocolate bars into small plastic bins and sealed them up. Then the adult volunteer carried the bins over to a cooler and wheeled the cooler to a waiting truck.

  “I wish we could have seen what was on the other side of the room,” Alfie said.

  “Maybe it was a giant slide that you could go down and land in a pool of chocolate,” Emilia replied.

  Alfie’s eyes grew as wide as Frisbees. “Have you seen that before? Do they have that?”

  Emilia laughed. “I was only joking, Alfie.”

  “Oh.” Alfie laughed, too. “Well, somebody should invent that because it’s a great idea!”

  “I think we’re all set.” The adult volunteer returned to Alfie and Emilia’s table. She held out her hand and gave them each a chocolate bar. “Thanks for your help!”

  “You’re welcome,” they said, taking the chocolate.

  Alfie and Emilia walked out of the tent and headed in the direction of the volunteer booth. The puffy clouds dotting the sky were starting to get very pink as the sun dipped lower on the horizon. The air was still really warm and a little soupy. Alfie definitely wanted to swim again before they settled into the trailer for the night.

  Emilia split her chocolate bar in half and gave part to Alfie so they’d each have two flavors to try. Alfie did the same.

  Alfie bit into his bar. It was rich and dark with a hint of bitterness. Then he bit into Emilia’s bar. It was milky and sweet. “I can’t decide which one I like better.”

  “Me neither,” Emilia said. “They’re both so different, but really good.”