A girl always needs a little love - Z. Timol (any book recommendations txt) 📗

Sleep over surprise

We tiptoed passed grandma's room careful not to wake her up, I peeped around her door to see her sleeping peacefully, she snores a bit but that's alright. We snuck down to the kitchen and switched on the lights.

 

''Alright girl, mission 1 accomplished'' I said and high fived Linda

''Time for mission 2'' she said and closed the kitchen door

''Ok so, what are we going to make?'' I asked

''I don't know, why don't we hit the recipe books?''

''Good idea''

 

I went to the last draw and took out two recipe books. Mom loved to cook, she could buy every recipe book she saw and she was good at it. Her cooking was the best, even though we loved eating out, her cooking was home, grandma's cooking is just as good, mom took after her. She never went to cooking school, she learned everything at home from grandma. I learned something's from her too but not as much, I'm best at making Nutella sandwiches. I flipped through the pages looking for something nice.

 

''I've got two books here, foods and desserts. We'll get the main dish sorted out and then the sweets''

''And I got a drink one, come on let's start looking, not much time''

 

We sat down and looked through the first book, we tried to look for something easy, something grandma will like. We thought about making roast and chips but then we didn't want to burn it, I'm not so good at working ovens. 74 pages later, we finally found something easy and tasty.

 

''Great I love it, my favorite food'' Linda said

''Mine too, come on let's get the stuff out''

 

We took it all out and placed it on the table one by one, I read the recipe out loud and then took out all the utensils we needed.

 

''K Chef Linda, you boil the pasta and cook the chicken while I mix the sauce for the chicken and mash the potatoes''

''Got it Chef Liz''

 

We got busy, I peeled the potatoes and then boiled the water again, I cut them into small squares and then threw them in the pot, poured the hot water and switching on the stove to let it boil. While that was getting done, I grabbed a big bowl and mixed all the sauces, I didn't want to make it too strong because it gives grandma chest burns so I put a little less of everything. I looked over at Linda, she was just straining the pasta. I went to the stove and poked the potatoes, it was still a bit hard so I turned up the stove a bit higher. 

 

''Chef Liz, the chicken's almost done and the pasta is waiting''

''Great, just give me a few more minutes the mash is on its way''

 

I took the potatoes of the stove and strained out all the water with Linda's help. With the potato masher I smashed all the potatoes and spread it out in the pyrex dish evenly, took the chicken and mixed it with the sauce then layered it on top of the mash, Linda dumped the pasta onto the chicken.

 

''Mmmm, something is missing'' we said together

 

Standing there stroking our chins we realized what was incomplete in this dish.

 

''The pasta sauce!'' we laughed

''Of course! How stupid of us'' I smiled

 

We ran to the fridge and took out all the ingredients for the white sauce. We mixed it together then put it on the stove to heat it a bit. When it was done we poured it over the pasta and placed it into the oven on 180° to add the finishing touches

 

''Great work partner'' we said and high fived then laughed

''Now for the dessert'' I said

''Come on''

 

We sat on the counter and looked through the book, I loved making desserts, the best part was sucking the leftovers from the bowl with my finger. We thought about Faluda but we didn't have enough milk, then banana split but no bananas, strawberries and cream but no strawberries, Truffle but no cakes. We finished looking through the whole book but we found nothing

 

''Well, that was a waste of time''

''Let me see if there is another dessert book''

 

I went to the draw and took out all the dessert books, we looked through all of them but found nothing, it was either too hard, not enough ingredients or just weird, we weren't sure if it was tasty. Just about as I was about to put all the books away, I spotted a book that fell at the back of the draw. I stretched out and took it out, it was like a diary filled with hand written recipes, mom's writing. We flipped through it and found one recipe, it was easy and sounded tasty.

 

''Girl, I think this is the one'' Linda whispered

''Yeah, we found the hidden treasure'' I whispered

''Let's start''

''Umm, one question, why are we whispering?'' I whispered

''I don't know'' she said and we burst out laughing

''K now the ingredients, you get the liquids and I'll get the solids''

 

We got everything out and I took out the Kenwood mixing bowl, we put everything in. I took out the pyrex dish and Linda spread the mixture in while I mixed the cream and grated the chocolate for the top. I spread the cream on and Linda sprinkled the chocolate. We placed the desert in the fridge to set and then sat on the counter. I looked at my hands and there was cream messed on them from when I was mixing, I looked at Linda and then smiled.

 

''Hey Linda, you got a little something on your nose, here let me wipe it off'' I giggled

''Really? Oh I didn't notice''

 

I laughed and then wiped the cream onto her nose but what I didn't see is that her hands were full of melted chocolate. O-Oh!

 

''Why you little sneak'' she said covering my face with chocolate while laughing

 

I ran after her with the batter spoon and splashed some on her top. Big mistake. She grabbed the bag of flour, which was almost empty and threw it at me covering me in white. I gasped and then took the leftover cup of water splashing it on her.

 

''Oh, I will get you'' she laughed

''You wish!'' I smiled

 

We laughed and ran around the kitchen covering each other with whatever edible material we could find. We stopped dead in our tracks when we heard something from upstairs. I gasped and so did she.

 

''Grandma! We are making too much noise''

''Yeah, we better clean up before she comes''

 

We ran upstairs and peeped through her room door, she was not in the bed

 

''She must have gone into the bathroom'' Linda whispered

''Come on, let's go clean ourselves up and then try to convince her to stay in bed''

''Yeah, quickly before she comes''

 

We ran up to my room, I grabbed a new pair of clothes and went into the bathroom, I washed my face and hands then changed. I came out and Linda went in, in about 10 minutes, we were done. We came out of our room just in time to see grandma opening her room door to go down.

 

''Grandma! You're awake! Why are you awake?'' I asked

''Oh hi darlings, I just thought I heard something in the kitchen'' she said

''What? We didn't hear anything'' Linda said

''Oh well, I have to go and start dinner anyway''

''No no no, you can't, not now, we're in the middle of playing a game. So why don't you go and relax and when we're done, we'll come call you and we can all make dinner together'' I suggested

''Are you sure? You girls are not hungry?'' she asked

''Nope, not yet'' Linda smiled

''Well Ok, let me just go get a glass of water''

''No, you go relax, I'll bring it for you'' I said

''Oh you two are such darlings, Thank you'' she hugged us both

 

Once she was in her room we both let out a sigh of relief.

 

''That was close'' I whispered

''You bet, come on let's go clean up''

 

We went back downstairs and almost fainted, the kitchen was a mess, there was flour everywhere even on the windows, drops of chocolate and water splashed everywhere. We looked at each other and then groaned. I poured a glass of water for grandma and took it up to her room.

 

''Thank you, Lizzie, don't forget to come and call me when you girls are ready to eat''

''Sure grandma, you just relax'' I said

 

I kissed her on the forehead, walked out and closed the door behind me. I headed back down to see that Linda started already. I grabbed the cloth and wiped the windows while she swept the floor, I washed the dishes and then she mopped the floor and we left it to dry. We plopped down on the couch and sat in silence. I'm quite used to cleaning, I used to help mom a lot with the house, we never really had a maid, just once a while when the house needed a proper cleanup, otherwise it was just me and her. We did it together and we had fun, making it all much more easy for us. And when we're done, we would sit down and have coffee acting like we were two professionals. My mom was like my friend, yeah sure she used to be strict sometimes but that's all part of being a mother. 

 

''Now for the drink'' Linda said sitting up

''I was thinking we could make Saudi Champagne''

''What's that?''

''It's a popular drink the Arabs like to drink, I had it once when we went to an Arab restaurant, it was delicious, I looked up the recipe and saved it'' I explained showing her the recipe

''Apples, pears, lemons, apple juice, sprite and mint'' she read the recipe aloud

''We've got all the fruits, but none of the liquids'' I said

''So now what?''

''I'll just phone quick shop, see if they'll do a delivery''

''Yeah, I've got the number on my phone''

 

We went to the house phone and dialed the number. I prayed that they'll deliver while it rang, finally someone picked up

 

''Hello, quick shop here, how can I help you?'' a male voice asked

''Hi, I'm phoning to ask if you'll deliver now?''

''Yes, we do, what can I send for you?''

''Umm, apple juice and 1-liter sprite please'' 

''Ok anything else?'' 

 

I covered the phone and asked Linda if we needed anything else

 

''Yeah get a packet of Doritos''

''Yes actually, I would like a packet of Doritos and 3 chocolate milkshakes please''

''Ok got it, just give it about 10 minutes maximum''

 

I gave him the address and then hung up. And then I realized something.

 

''Linda! The oven'' I said running to the kitchen

''Relax girl, I switched it off before we ran up'' she laughed

''Oh thank goodness'' I said 

''Let's play a game while we wait'' she said

''Ok''

 

We got up and went to stand by the front door because we didn't want the doorbell to ring, I opened it a little bit and we stood there playing eye spy. I liked to play that game, you just have to use your voice, no action. There can be more than two players, one of the players starts by finding an object and then saying ' I spy with my little eye something begging with the letter T'' and then the other player has to find something in the room that starts with T, and if she gets it right then it's her turn to spy. 6 rounds later I saw a figure walking towards us, the shop is walking distance from our house so there's no need to drive, unless it's a heavy load. This person looked familiar, as he came closer I got a shock.

 

''Marcus! Hi, what are you doing here?'' I smiled

''Lizzie right? Hey, I'm your delivery guy, summer job, how are you?''

''I'm great and you? How's your father