They didn’t have to ask very many questions before Piper’s ideas shook loose. In the course of their discussion, Piper remembered something she had read once: tomatillos have a lot of pectin. She had practiced using pectin in the animal-shaped fruit jellies she had made for her sister a few weeks earlier! Pectin was a bit like the glue of the food world. Maybe there was some way to play with that pectin and turn her main pasta dish into something more memorable….
There wasn’t much time, but Piper began instructing Mariana how to simmer and cook the soupy sauce, telling her to use far more tomatillos than Piper had originally planned to include. The sauce would be a little more sour than she liked, but she had a feeling she’d need a ton of tomatillos if she wanted her idea to turn out the way she was imagining it. “Here’s what I’m thinking,” she told Mari through her earpiece. “If we cook the sauce for the perfect amount of time, and it has time to cool a bit, we can mix the pasta and sauce together and serve it in a gelatinous mound. If this goes according to plan, the Kitchen Wizard is going to get to eat an edible pasta brain.”
“Ew!” Mari said, giggling. “That sounds disgusting…and super fun!”
Piper agreed. This dish would be creative, it allowed her to play with science techniques, and it fit the theme of the show. It might not taste that great, and it could be a total disaster, but it was worth a shot.
Success or not, Piper knew she would have no regrets. This was a dish she would be proud to serve up as a signature Piper food-science specialty. It was time to get cooking.
* * *
—
When the Kitchen Wizard announced that time was up, Piper and her fellow chefs all stepped out of their zombie-proof pods. Piper raced to her workstation to see how each of her dishes had turned out. The flatbread looked good—slightly brown and crispy. Mari had executed her instructions perfectly. The pies looked scrumptious.
Her pasta brain, however? That was a mushy, melty, globby disaster.
“I’m sorry,” Mariana said, looking devastated. “I cooked the sauce until it started to thicken, and then I put the bowl in the blast chiller to set, like you told me to. I don’t know why it didn’t work.”
“It’s not your fault,” Piper said, laughing as she poked at the blobby mound of tan noodles swimming in lumpy green sauce. “I wouldn’t have done anything differently myself. At least we went for it, right?” She gave Mari a big hug. “You were amazing.”
All three chefs delivered their finished dishes to the Kitchen Wizard and Mr. Bakshi, who were sitting together at a long table. Slowly, the two judges tasted everything and asked the contestants a number of questions about the products they had used to construct their dishes. When the Kitchen Wizard got to Piper’s noodle brains, she laughed. “Very creative,” she said, “but not especially appetizing—even to this zombie.”
“My brain fell apart,” Piper said. “I was trying to play with the pectin in tomatillos, but something went wrong.”
“To fully set,” Mr. Bakshi told Piper, “pectin needs more time to cool. Your idea was inventive, and with just a bit more time it could have been brilliant. A great idea, even if it didn’t work the way you’d planned.”
While the two judges deliberated in front of the cameras, the contestants and their sous-chefs waited backstage. They all got to sample the other chefs’ creations. Frankie’s fruit pizza was beautiful but not especially tasty or exciting. And she hadn’t finished her main dish; she confessed that she had cracked under the time pressure. Jack’s creamy bean and vegetable stew tasted fresh and delicious, and it was almost impossible to believe he’d made it using only canned and dried food. “This is amazing!” Piper gushed.
While everyone munched on the other contestants’ dishes, Piper told them about Helping Hands. Both Jack and Frankie seemed really excited to come and help out in Duck’s kitchen. “I could use some practice cooking stuff that’s not cake,” Frankie said.
“And I wouldn’t mind getting to work in a kitchen where my dad isn’t in charge,” Jack said, laughing.
They made plans to all go and cook there together. Piper couldn’t wait to show her new friends the ropes at her favorite place!
After they were done taste-testing, each of the chefs did one-on-one interviews where they talked about their experiences during the show. As soon as they’d finished, they were called back to the set.
The judges had made their decision.
When the cameras were rolling, the Kitchen Wizard announced, “Please help me congratulate the winner of today’s challenge…”
Piper took a deep breath. This was it. She gazed past the lights and cameras toward her family and friends in the audience. They all waved at her, and Finley held her glittery sign high in the air.
“Jack VanDries!” The Kitchen Wizard stepped forward and presented Jack with the champion’s golden spatula.
Piper and Frankie both clapped and cheered as Jack blew kisses toward the cameras. After a quick bow, he pushed Marguerite forward and urged his friend and sous-chef to take her own bow. In the front row of the audience, Arlo VanDries stood up and waved regally, acting like he was the one who had won the competition—not his son.
“Congratulations,” Piper said, shaking both Jack’s and Marguerite’s hands. She was surprised to discover she wasn’t disappointed that someone else’s name had been called. After looking at and tasting all the other dishes, she and Mariana had both agreed that Jack VanDries deserved to win. He’d created the best dishes and executed them flawlessly.
As soon as the director hollered, “Cut,” Piper’s cheering section rushed to the stage. The Daring Dreamers Club enveloped her in hugs and congratulations, Duck patted her vigorously on the back, and her family beamed with pride. Everyone poked at her mushy pasta brain and gushed about her creativity and courage to make something so strange. In that moment, surrounded by friends and family who all loved and supported her, Piper knew she’d won in all the most important ways.
Of course it would have been nice to hear the Kitchen Wizard say her name, but sometime during the course of the day’s competition, Piper’s focus had shifted away from being crowned champion. This experience had been about so much more than $10,000 and a golden spatula. She knew she’d succeeded in the ways that mattered most to her—by pushing limits, taking risks, and learning something for the next time.
Because there was always a next time. And Piper couldn’t wait to cook up a new adventure.
Piper
After I left The Future of Food set, I got emails from both Frankie and Jack reminding me about my promise to take them to Helping Hands. So a big group of us went yesterday (my family; Frankie and her family; Jack, Marguerite, and a bunch of the sous-chefs from Arlo’s Bistro; and even some of Mr. Bakshi’s Yum! Ice Cream food scientists!). It was so much fun ! But the best part is that Arlo VanDries was so impressed with the facility and their mission that he donated $10,000 (the amount Jack won on The Future of Food ) to Helping Hands! Duck hugged him so tight that Arlo might not stop by again for a while. Duck’s hugs can be a little painful.
Guess what else happened? Because of my experience on The Future of Food , I was invited to do a molecular gastronomy segment on the local morning news! They want me to do a weeklong series where I talk about food science and kids in the kitchen. Now that I’m a TV pro, it should be no big deal. But live TV is a whole lot different than filmed TV, and science can be a bit unpredictable…so I guess we’ll see what happens. Frankie’s offered to give me some pointers on camera-charm.
So even though I didn’t win the golden spatula (or the prize money), my experience on the show and everything that’s happened since then has been seriously amazing. I learned a lot and had an incredible time. And you know what? This experience was just one step along the way to me achieving even bigger dreams.
In fact, I already started planni
ng my entry for the citywide science fair, which is coming up in a couple of months. A good inventor knows that it’s important to always be thinking about what’s next, in order to keep life exciting!
Stay tuned, Ms. B. Because I’ve got a lot more what-ifs cooking….
Author’s Note
Confession: I’m not a very good cook. I had to do a lot of research to write the cooking scenes in this story. I also enlisted the help of my kids (who love to experiment in the kitchen) and my mom and husband (who are fabulous cooks) to help write this story.
Piper’s character was also partly inspired by the legendary American chef Julia Child, who focused on making cooking fun. Ms. Child is one of the world’s most famous chefs, and is best known for making gourmet cooking accessible. She loved experimenting with food and readily accepted mistakes. She understood that the joy of cooking is more important than perfection—just like Piper. Even though—or perhaps because—I’m not a great cook, I love watching Ms. Child’s cooking show, The French Chef. She had so much passion for cooking and greatly enjoyed her time in the kitchen.
As I set out to write this book, I decided that—like the Daring Dreamers—I needed to master a few cooking basics if I wanted to bring Piper and her kitchen adventures to life. A friend told me about an organization called Open Arms of Minnesota, which ultimately inspired the Helping Hands scenes in this book. Open Arms’s mission is simple and true: “People who are sick should not be without food. Yet every day people in our community with life-threatening illnesses find themselves unable to shop or cook—and, often, without the support network to help.” With the help of a massive volunteer network, this nonprofit organization cooks and delivers free, nutritious meals to people living with life-threatening illnesses like cancer, HIV, AIDS, multiple sclerosis (MS), and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), as well as their caregivers and dependents.
I started volunteering to prep meals in the kitchen at Open Arms in order to give back to my community and also learn a few things about cooking tasty, healthy meals. The chefs at Open Arms are always happy to give tutorials on how to chop broccoli or beets or tell you what they’re adding to their corn chowder—just like Duck and Piper do at Helping Hands. I’m so glad this book introduced me to a place like Open Arms—I get to assist people in my community while I learn how to cook. It’s a win-win! I’d encourage all the readers of this series to look for someplace in your community where you can have a similar experience—a soup kitchen, food shelf, community or school food drives, homeless shelters….There are a lot of places to lend a hand!
Acknowledgments
At the outset of this book, I got to sit down with food scientist Naomi Sundalius, who talked extensively about how her years of experimenting in the kitchen helped lead her to a career in food science. She explained a lot about this fascinating field, and also let me borrow a few of her ideas for this book: baking cookies using different kinds of fats, flavored-oil infusion, the concept of peanut butter in stick form for ease of baking, and the theory of using a what-if when you’re working with food and science. Naomi, your help was invaluable in shaping this story. Thank you!
I’m grateful to have a helpful team of young readers who work with me on this series: Milla, Ruby, and Henry Downing, Samantha Thiegs, Frankie McConville, Stella Wedren, and Bianca Breiland. Thanks for talking all things Disney Princess with me and giving me your honest feedback on works in progress. Thanks also to Caroline Claeson, who introduced me to the concept of advisory groups.
Cheers to my mom, Barb Soderberg, and my husband, Greg, for being incredible plotting partners—and helping with all my cooking questions!
Huge thanks to the incredible editorial, design, and brand teams at both Random House and Disney, for working to make this the best book possible: Rachel Poloski, Lauren Burniac, Michelle Nagler, Samantha McFerrin, Jean-Paul Orpinas, Megan McLaughlin, and Holly Rice. And of course, my agent, Michael Bourret, has been an amazing partner on this and every book.
Finally, thanks to Anoosha Syed for your glorious art in this series—you’ve really helped bring these characters to life!
Copyright © 2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, and in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto, in conjunction with Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Soderberg, Erin, author.
Title: Milla takes charge / by Erin Soderberg.
pages cm — (Daring Dreamers Club; 1)
Description: “Like Belle, Milla loves nothing more than imagining bold adventures in the great wide somewhere. It’s up to the rest of the Daring Dreamers Club—Piper, Zahra, Mariana, and Ruby—to help Milla prove she is ready for a real grand adventure!” —Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN: 2018001619 — ISBN 978-0-7364-3924-4 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-7364-3881-0 (lib. bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-7364-3882-7 (ebook)
Subjects: Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Camps—Fiction. | Princesses—Fiction. | Clubs—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Media Tie-In. Classification: LCC PZ7.S685257 Mil 2018 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
“Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a handsome prince….” Milla Bannister-Cook plunked down on the ground and watched as her pet pig, Chocolate Chip, trotted through the backyard. She chewed the cap of her pen and waited, hoping Chip would do something interesting so she could come up with the next line of her story. Luckily, it never took very long for Chip to spring into action.
Milla had set up the yard so it looked like a miniature fairy-tale world. Her old dollhouse was the castle, potted plants served as trees, and a family of dolls had been given the roles of humble servants. She had even placed a plastic crown on her pig’s head, hoping a costume would help Chip get into character.
But that morning, Milla’s prince didn’t feel like playing his part. It seemed the only thing the pig wanted to do was destroy his land. As Milla watched, Chocolate Chip—who’d gotten his name because Milla thought his brown-and-white-spotted coloring looked like a chocolate chip cookie—began trampling shrubs and toppling flowerpots. Then he overturned the castle and pushed his royal subjects into his empty food dish.
Milla read aloud as she scribbled, “The prince in this fairy tale was a little different from most storybook heroes. He wasn’t always graceful, he wasn’t very clean, and he ate like a pig.” Chip turned and grunted at Milla. She giggled, adding, “But he was sweet, strong, and extremely lovable. You just had to get to know him first. Prince Chip’s friends knew this great beast was very cuddly and always treated his family and friends like royalty. He also loved to share his beloved toys and blankets on cold nights…most of the time.”
Chip darted across the yard when he noticed Milla pulling a banana from behind her back. He wagged his tail, waiting for the snack. “Sit,” Milla told him. Chip dropped his bottom to the ground and then quickly stood up again. Milla gave her pet a firm look and repeated the command. “Sit, Chip.”
But Chip was too excited about the banana to follow directions. He nuzzled Milla’s shirt with his snout, spreading a muddy splotch across the front of her first-day-of-school outfit. Milla laughed, even though she knew she wasn’t supposed to do that when her pig was naughty. It was important to be firm and show him who was boss, but sometimes it was very hard to hold her giggles in.
Forcing herself to frown, Milla ordered the pig to sit again.
Chip oinked. He butted his head up against Milla’s leg. He sat, wriggled, and then let out a l
oud grunt. Milla could tell he was trying to prove how badly he wanted the treat. Finally, he settled his bottom on the ground and waited patiently.
“Good boy.” Milla kneeled and fed him half the banana. It was gone in seconds. Chip grunted again. “Don’t beg,” Milla scolded, handing him the other half. “It’s not polite. If you must know, you really aren’t acting much like a prince.” In response, Chip climbed into Milla’s lap and sat down. “Oof!”
The pig settled in for a cuddle, nosing Milla for more treats. “All right, stinker,” Milla said, pushing his snout away. “We’ll take a break from the story. Maybe tomorrow I’ll set up a cardboard city and let you be the monster that destroys it. Would you like that role better?”
Milla flopped onto her back and gazed up at the wispy clouds drifting by overhead. Chip rested his heavy head on her stomach. “Once upon a time,” she whispered, starting a new story, “there was an adventurous young girl. This brave explorer—and her pet pig—set off on a journey to the ends of the earth.”
Chocolate Chip huffed a sigh. “Yeah, yeah, I know there are no ends of the earth,” Milla muttered. “This is just make-believe. It’s not like I’m about to set off on an adventure to some far-off place anyway. Let’s pretend, okay?” She continued her story. “Milla the mighty explorer and her noble pet were on a quest. They wanted to hike the tallest mountains, dogsled to the North Pole, white-water raft in the wildest rivers, and explore crumbling old castles in distant lands.”
Milla loved reading and writing about anything, but there was nothing she enjoyed more than creating adventures for herself. In Milla’s stories, she was always a brave hero without fears or worries of any kind. One of the things Milla most loved about writing was that she was totally in charge and got to make all the decisions about what would happen on her adventures. The only limitation was her imagination, and her imagination was vast. “Milla was the greatest explorer who had ever lived. Nothing could stop her—”
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