A Leaf from a Fake Book
My mom always sounds a warning to me and my sisters, “learn how to cook! If not, another woman would use soup and snatch your husband!"
She would always tell us to stay in the kitchen and watch her as she cooked. But none of us liked staying with her in the kitchen because we avoided the little messages she always sent to anyone with her in the kitchen—cut onions, cut pepper, pound crayfish, pound pepper, pound spices, or even pepper. Go and collect money from my purse and buy it.
The only one we liked and rushed for was when it was time to blend anything. We loved operating the blender.
The only person who always stayed with my mom in the kitchen was the eldest daughter because my mom gave her no choice. And it came in handy because at some point, she became like our second mother and cooked food for the family sometimes. She later loved cooking so much that she didn't want us entering “her kitchen" anyhow.
This previous holiday, we were all seated in the parlor, gisting and laughing with my mom. One thing led to another, and my mom started teasing us.
“Apart from Esther, none of you knows how to cook. I am not even sure any of you can make eba well," my mom said as she and Esther laughed.
“No, Mommy, don't worry. Their junior wives will teach them,” Esther said as they both laughed uncontrollably.
Elizabeth, my junior sister, said with a serious face while pressing her phone, “All this one you guys are saying, it's not me. I can cook better than anybody. Just that I don't feel like cooking,” she scoffed.
Everyone kept quiet and looked at her with mocking eyes. We all knew her as the type of person who always boasted. We could count how many times she had entered the kitchen while Mom was cooking.
She laughed, “You guys think I am lying? But I will not talk too much because I don't like stress."
My mom then said with that wicked smile we are all familiar with, “Noo we believe you. So you are cooking melon soup tonight.”
We all started laughing at her.
“I said I can cook, I didn't say I want to cook tonight," she said, hiding her fear.
After we had a good laugh at her, we moved on from the cooking topic.
Later that evening, when everyone had already forgotten most of the things we blurted out at that moment of fun,
we were all busy with our phones in the parlor when my mom came out of her room and asked Elizabeth,
“Isn't it getting late, or when do you plan on cooking dinner?” my mum asked with a normal expression.
“But, Mommy, we were just playing,” Elizabeth tried explaining.
My mom gave a wicked laugh, “It seems you don't want to eat in this house again."
This time we didn't laugh at her, but instead we felt pity for her. She looked miserable. But she had no choice…
She went to work and started preparing the things for the soup.
My mom came out again when my sister was in the kitchen, “Nobody should help her, nobody should be near the kitchen,” she sounded a warning loud and clear.
My sister closed the kitchen door as my mom left.
Time passed, and the aroma that came from the kitchen made all of us curious; it was heavenly.
To put it in simple words, she put all of us to shame. That night after dinner, she had us licking our fingers, singing praises to her. You could see her head growing big from all the praise. We apologized for doubting her, even my mom.
Her sudden cooking talent had me thinking the next day. ‘She is my immediate younger sister and she didn't just cook the soup I dreaded most, but she also made us lick our plates clean. While the things I am best at cooking are noodles and pasta.'
That afternoon, I went to her and told her how I was genuinely surprised by her soup and asked her how she did it. I needed whatever secret to use.
“It's just a natural thing. Just flow with the rhythm. If you are scared, you would get confused and nervous, and mess it up,” she said with pride.
I decided to take a page out of her secret recipe book. The page that had just two ingredients:
Natural rhythm
Self-confidence
I hyped myself and went straight to my mom to say that I wanted to cook vegetable soup for dinner the next day. It was the only soup I attentively watched my mom cook.
My mom was a little surprised, “hmmm," she smiled at me. She saw I was serious and said, “Okay."
I was nervous at first, but I used the time before that evening to prepare my mind. I started preparing the ingredients and condiments before time so I would be more relaxed and not rushed.
I listened to my playlist while cooking and everything went smoothly, although I had a little problem with pepper. But in the end, the soup came out good, just with a little more pepper than normal. Everyone liked it and praised me with burning lips. The pepper wasn't bad; it just made the soup more interesting. LOL.
Fast forward to three days before I returned to school. I randomly took Elizabeth's phone to watch TikTok videos. When I got bored, I went to her YouTube, and the same boredom carried me to her watch history.
I couldn't believe my eyes. The last time I watched videos, there were videos on how to prepare melon soup. The secret was YOUTUBE!
I held in my laughter so Elizabeth, who was watching a movie on my phone, wouldn't notice and showed Sonia her twin.
We burst out in laughter.
“Jesus, cook Elizabeth!" Sonia snatched the phone and ran away laughing. She was going to tell everyone.
Elizabeth realized and went after her like a bull chasing red, but it was too late. The secret was out, and everyone laughed.
Elizabeth laughed and brushed it off. “I learned from YouTube, but I still cooked it by myself. It's the same thing." We all had a good laugh with Chef Elizabeth's secret recipe.
That day, I learned another lesson— to take a leaf out of someone's book isn't always ideal. Some people are built differently, while some leaves taken are just not real. LOL.