Stirring It Up!

by Diane Muldrow

  Then Mom showed the twins how to arrange the chicken in a pretty way on the platter. In a few seconds, she’d laid each chicken breast slightly on top of the other. The chicken fanned out all the way across the platter.

  “You’d better let me pour the sauce over the chicken,” said Mom, reaching for the oven mitt. “This pan is heavy.” As the twins watched, Mom slowly poured the lemony sauce on top of the chicken. The slices of lemon that had been cooked in the sauce added a nice yellow color to the golden chicken. And the green parsley brightened the dish and made it pretty.

  “Wow!” said the twins. The plate looked like a photo in a cookbook.

  “I can’t believe we made that!” exclaimed Amanda as Mom ground some black pepper onto the chicken.

  “I’m very impressed!” said Mom, smiling, as she brought the platter to the table.

  “Me, too!” said Dad. “I guess you two are really growing up.

  “Uh, remember? We haven’t even tried it yet,” said Matthew with an evil grin. Mom raised one eyebrow and shot him her “watch-it-kid-I’m-on-to-you” look. Matthew quickly added, “But maybe it’ll be good.”

  “Maybe!” said Molly. “You’re gonna be begging for more. Matthew!” She went to the fridge and pulled out the salad. “Bummer!” she cried. “The avocado looks kind of icky. It’s not as green. And the lettuce is all wilted. Yuck!”

  Matthew ran over to see the salad. “Oooooh, gross!” he said. “I’m not eating it.”

  Dad took the salad bowl from Molly and inspected it. “Don’t worry, Molls,” he said. “It won’t affect the taste. Next time, just add the avocado and the salad dressing right before you serve it. That way, your lettuce will stay crispy, and the avocado will stay bright green.”

  “Okay,” said Molly with a sigh, suddenly realizing that her legs were stiff from standing for so long. She ran upstairs to quickly change out of her flour-covered clothes. She threw on a T-shirt and Amanda’s denim capris, then joined the family at the kitchen table. It felt good to sit down.

  Dad looked around the table at everyone. “This is a special occasion!” he said, raising his glass of wine. “Everyone, lift your glass for a toast, please. Careful, Matthew.”

  Mom lifted her wineglass, and Matthew and the girls lifted their glasses of milk.

  “To our chefs,” said Dad. Molly smiled and felt her cheeks turn red. She turned to Amanda and saw that she was blushing, too. They’d never been toasted before.

  Mom began to serve the chicken, and everyone passed the salad and the rice. Finally, after what seemed like ten hours, it was time to eat!

  Mom was the first to try the chicken. She cut a neat piece of chicken and put it in her mouth.

  “Well?” asked Molly.

  “Um, how is it?” asked Amanda anxiously.

  The twins waited for an answer. Was their meal going to be a success? Or one big, huge flop?

  chapter 3

  Mom beamed.

  “It’s great! I love it! The chicken is so juicy, and I can really taste the lemon. That’s because you cooked the lemon slices into the sauce, and the oils from the lemon rind added a lot of flavor,” said Mom. “I’m so proud of you both! I couldn’t have done a better job myself.”

  “Me neither,” said Dad. “This is delicious, girls. The capers are a nice touch. They go well with the lemon. Where’ve I been? I didn’t know you could cook.”

  “We didn’t, either,” said Amanda. “So, Matthew, what do you think?”

  For once, Matthew didn’t have anything to say. His mouth was too full of chicken, and the sauce was trickling down his chin. But he actually smiled at his big sisters and gave the “thumbs-up” sign.

  Molly and Amanda looked at each other. “He likes it!” they cried. They finally dug into their own food.

  “Wow! It really is good!” said Molly.

  “Well, Molly, you got your chicken piccata,” said Amanda. The twins took turns telling the family all about Molly’s idea, finding the recipe online, shopping at the grocery store, and not knowing what capers were.

  “Lots of people don’t know what capers are.” said Dad. “And now you do.”

  The twins looked at each other, their eyebrows raised. Once again, they were having the “twin thing.” They’d both just realized that...

  “Hey!” said Amanda. “We still don’t know what they are.

  Molly giggled and said. “We only know what they look like!”

  “Well,” said Mom, “capers are actually little pickles.”

  “Pickles!” said Dad. “Pickled what, exactly?” He whispered to Matthew, “I thought they were tiny little fish!”

  “Capers are pickled flower buds of the caper shrub,” replied Mom in her “teacher” voice. “The shrub grows in the Mediterranean region. So you see capers a lot in Italian, Greek, and Spanish food.”

  “You learn something new every day,” said Daddy, crinkling his blue eyes at Mom. “Especially when you’re married to a college professor. Pass the chicken, and the rice, please. And the salad.”

  There was a big mess to clean up afterward. The kitchen was full of the sounds of running water, the grinding garbage disposal, and clinking plates and glasses.

  “This is the part about cooking I don’t like,” complained Molly, as she swept up the flour.

  “It helps to clean as you go,” said Mom as she wiped off the kitchen counter. “But that takes some practice! Listen, girls,” she said in a serious voice. She cleared her throat.

  Uh-oh, we’re in for a lecture, thought Molly. She stood up.

  Here it comes! thought Amanda.

  “You should have called me and asked if you could have used the stove—and my knives!” continued Mom. “I’m glad you did such a great job, but you could have hurt yourselves. You know, I wouldn’t have let you do this tonight without Dad or me here. I would have asked you to wait until we got home.”

  “Sorry,” said Amanda, looking down at the floor.

  “We just wanted it to be perfect,” Molly tried to explain. “We wanted you to walk in the door and be surprised with a delicious dinner, like one in a restaurant!”

  Mom couldn’t help smiling then. “I was surprised, all right!” she said. “And it was as delicious as you wanted it to be. Thank you...just remember, in the future, you need to talk to me first about cooking.”

  “Okay,” said the twins.

  No one said anything for a moment. Then Amanda spoke up.

  “I can’t wait to tell Shawn that we’re chefs now,” she said, as she placed a dish in the dishwasher.

  Shawn Jordan was Molly’s and Amanda’s best friend. She lived in an apartment building on Park Street, a few blocks away, with her dad. Molly and Amanda knew Shawn almost as well as they knew each other. The three were already good friends when Shawn’s mom died a few years before, after a long illness. And since then, they’d gotten even closer.

  Right now, Shawn was still in South Carolina, visiting her grandmother. The twins had missed her like anything. And Shawn missed them too. She’d sent them a long e-mail all about her funny Grandma Ruthie, and how her cousins Sonia and Jamal had taught her to ride a horse for the first time, and taken her to the beach.

  “When is Shawn coming home?” asked Mom.

  “Tomorrow!” replied the twins at the same time, giving each other a high-five.

  “But we might not see her until the day after tomorrow,” Amanda reminded Molly.

  “Yeah, her dad’s going to want to spend some time with her, too,” said Molly.

  Two long days later, Molly and Amanda were finally sitting with Shawn in their favorite place in Park Terrace: Harry’s. Harry’s was the complete opposite of McDonald’s. That’s what was so great about it.

  No chicken nuggets here. Harry’s was a place you could go to get a wrap, a fruit smoothie, a pot of tea, slices of poppy-seed cake, or coffee (which always smelled great when it was brewing but tasted awful, thought the girls).

  Harry’s was actually an old dr
ugstore, the type the girls’ grandparents probably went to. It still had large, dark wooden cabinets with glass shelves and sliding-glass doors built into the walls. But the coolest thing was that all the dishes were one-of-a-kind, and old, and kind of wacky. If you ordered a pot of tea, you got it in a funky old teapot and none of the cups matched it. At home, that would be weird, maybe, but here, it looked cool, like all of the people who came into Harry’s and stayed for hours as they sketched or wrote.

  It had only been recently that the girls’ parents would allow them to walk around Park Terrace without them. Park Terrace was a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, that bordered huge Prospect Park. It was across the river from Manhattan, just a subway ride away. The girls could explore all the cool pizzerias, bookstores, gift shops, and toy stores of Park Terrace, as long as they weren’t alone. “The bigger the group, the better,” said Mom.

  Molly, Amanda, and Shawn had recently discovered Harry’s, but it was kind of expensive, so they couldn’t go there very often. It was a special event when they had enough allowance money to spend there. They felt a lot older than eleven when they sat at their own little table to have iced tea with mint, roasted-veggie wraps, lemon bars, or a pot of tea.

  Shawn had been gone for just about three weeks, but she seemed different. Older. Maybe that was because she’d been to such a different place and tried new things. Shawn hadn’t been into fashion much before, but now she was wearing lots of beaded bracelets on one arm. It felt a little strange to Molly and Amanda to see her at first. But that feeling only lasted until Shawn laughed and said, “Get outta here!” like she always did.

  She’d gotten glasses, too, and they were the coolest. “Sonia and Jamal helped me pick them out,” said Shawn. “Sonia said they’re called cat glasses.”

  “I like them cause they’re purple,” said Amanda. “No one wears purple glasses!”

  “Most kids wouldn’t look good in those glasses,” said Molly. “But you look amazing!”

  “Thanks,” said Shawn. “I got a couple of other pairs, too. They were running this huge sale. They’re like wearing a bracelet or a hair band. They’re my new fashion accessory!” The girls laughed.

  Shawn had lots of photos from her trip to show the twins. “This is my cousin Jamal,” said Shawn. “He drove me everywhere in his Jeep. And this is Grandma Ruthie. She looks mad because she didn’t want me to take her picture, so I sneaked it! And here’s me horseback riding...and with some kids we met at the beach ... That’s Sonia with me at my farewell pizza party. Doesn’t she look like a model?”

  Then it was the twins’ turn to tell Shawn everything, though there wasn’t much to report. But they made her laugh when they told her about Amanda’s “furry chicken.”

  “...and so everybody liked our dinner!” Molly said.

  “And we didn’t even get salmonella poisoning,” joked Amanda.

  “I did some cooking this summer, too!” said Shawn. “My grandma showed me how to make biscuits from scratch.

  And she let me fry some catfish on top of the stove. We made cookies, too ... hey do you guys want to ride bikes in the park now?”

  “Okay, ” replied Amanda as she finished the last bite of her grilled veggie wrap.

  “We’ll go get our bikes and meet you at your house,” suggested Molly. “See you in a little while.”

  “Let’s walk up a different street to go home,” Amanda told Molly after they’d waved good-bye to Shawn. “We always go down Third Street. Let’s go down Fifth Street instead.”

  As the twins walked down Fifth Street, they passed Park Terrace Cookware. And that’s when they saw it: a big sign, with red lettering, that said:

  chapter 4

  “No way! cried Molly. She stopped walking to stare at the sign.

  “Mmmm, pastry” said Amanda dreamily.

  “I’d love to take cooking classes,” said Molly. “Wouldn’t you, Manda?”

  “Sure!” said Amanda. “Do you think Mom and Dad would let us?”

  Molly checked out the smaller print on the sign. “Only eight dollars a class,” she read, and turned to Amanda. “Do you think Shawn would take it with us?”

  The twins couldn’t wait to ask her, so they hurried home. Molly picked up the phone in the kitchen, where Kitty was busy clawing at her cardboard scratch pad. Amanda brought the cordless in from the den.

  “kitty, keep it down,” called Molly as Shawn’s phone rang. Kitty’s sharp claws sure could make a racket on that cardboard.

  “Hello? Jordan residence,” said Shawn. Shawn’s dad made her answer the phone that way. The twins knew it made Shawn felt like a geek, so they always giggled when they heard her say it. They were glad they didn’t have to answer their phone like that.

  “Agent Jordan?” said Molly in her secret-agent voice. “This is Agent Moore 001 and Agent Moore 002.”

  “Hi!” said Shawn. “Aren’t you coming over?”

  “Yeah,” said Amanda, “but we have something very important to talk to you about. So important that it can’t wait!”

  “What?” cried Shawn.

  “Cooking classes,” replied the twins together.

  “For kids!” said Molly.

  “Only eight bucks a class,” added Amanda. “You can learn to cook, bake, and make pastry!

  “Wow”, said Shawn. “Do you think we’d get to wear those cool chefs hats? I could learn how to make my dad a birthday cake.”

  “And we could eat a lot of cake,” giggled Amanda. “Cause I’ll bet they let you eat the food that you make in the class.” Molly and Shawn laughed. Amanda could really pound the sugar!

  “Cooking classes could be fun,” said Shawn. “Especially because I just got back from South Carolina and I’m bored already!” She giggled. “ Uh—no offense, guys.”

  “We know what you mean!” Molly assured her. “We’re bored, too. That’s mostly why we decided to cook a gourmet dinner for our whole family!”

  “I’ll ask my dad about it tonight,” said Shawn. “He’ll probably think it’s cool. He’s always trying to get me to try new things and not watch TV.”

  “TV! I remember TV,” said Molly sadly. Their TV was broken and Mom and Dad didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get it fixed.

  “Great!” said Amanda. “We’re going to take cooking classes together. If our parents say we can. And we’re going to become fab-ulous chefs!”

  “We’ll have our own TV show!” added Molly.

  “Yeah—we’ll call it—Chef Girls!” giggled Shawn.

  “Okay, Shawn, we’re on our way over,” said Amanda. “We’ll meet you outside your building. Don’t forget your bike helmet.”

  Amanda and Molly couldn’t wait for their parents to get home from work so they could tell them all about the cooking classes.

  “Let’s bring it up after dinner,” Amanda suggested when they biked home from the park. The girls had learned that when they asked Mom and Dad for things right when they came home from work and were tired and hungry, they were always told, “We’ll discuss it after dinner” or, simply, “NO.”

  Mom got home first, and had several bags of groceries with her—“For my poor starving children,” she said as she kissed Matthew, who was feeding Kitty, and Molly and Amanda, who were playing Scrabble at the kitchen table. As the girls helped put the groceries away, Mom said, “I’m sorry there wasn’t much in the fridge to eat yesterday, girls. And I’m sorry we’ve had so much takeout and pizza lately ... I’ve been working too much and neglecting you.”

  “Are we getting a pizza?” asked Matthew, his face lighting up.

  “Matthew’s not sick of takeout!” said Amanda, laughing. “It’s just us, I guess!”

  “Well, I’m tired of if, too,” said Mom. “So I’m going to put on some shorts, and then we’ll make some dinner.”

  “What are we having, Mom?” asked Matthew. He was holding Kitty awkwardly in his arms. She didn’t look at all comfortable, but for some weird reason, she always put up with Matthew.
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br />   “I thawed some thick tuna steaks that your dad brought home from his fishing trip,” replied Mom. “He’ll grill them when he gets home. We’ll finish off the rice you made the other day. And look at these gorgeous tomatoes! They’re so ripe. They’ll be great with some fresh mozzarella.”

  “Yum!” cried Molly. She loved tomatoes and sliced mozzarella together.

  “Can we eat outside tonight, Mom?” asked Amanda. The Moores had a long, narrow backyard, with a high wooden fence around it. It wasn’t a yard, really, but it had a patio, a flower garden, a large free, a few lawn chairs, and even a picnic table.

  “We’ll eat in the garden if you and Molly wipe off the table out there and bring out everything we’ll need,” replied Mom, as she left the kitchen to change her clothes.

  “Okay,” said the twins. They loved to eat in the garden. So while Mom sliced the tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, they brought all the chairs, place mats, dishes, silverware, and glasses outside.

  “We can’t forget the citronella candles,” said Amanda, “to keep away the mosquitoes.”

  “Hi, everyone!” Dad’s voice suddenly boomed from the hallway. He appeared in the kitchen. “Hi, honey! Hi, kids! What’s going on?”

  “You’re grilling tuna steaks!” Mom told him.

  “Sounds good to me!”

  After dinner, as everyone was sitting around the table listening to the crickets, Molly and Amanda were just about to bring up the subject of the cooking classes when Dad said, “Oh! I forgot something. I’ll be right back.” He went inside.

  A few minutes later, he came out with a large brown paper bag and said, Molly and Amanda, close your eyes, and you will get a big surprise.

  The twins looked at each other. What could it be? It wasn’t their birthday.

  “Okay, they’re closed,” said Molly, closing her eyes tightly and holding out her hand.

  “Mine, too,” said Amanda.