Cooking Match

"Sweetheart, what do you want for dinner?" Luna asks her daughter after she bathed and clothed her.

They now sitting at the dining area with Lisa. Lily put her fore finger on her lips as she ponders before grabbing one of the menu books on the dining table and flipping the pages. She pointed towards a picture of Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo while licking her lips.

Both of the best friends chuckled loudly when she made a cute face.

"Alright, that's easy. So, Lisa..how about you?"

Luna faced her best friend and raised one eyebrow.

"I don't mind anything, so make it double then," Lisa said cheekily.

Luna just shaking her head in respond and proceeded to the kitchen to start cooking.

Meanwhile, Lisa was munching on the cookies and pronounced every pictures that Lily pointed in her short story book. Lily smiled happily and clapped her hands several times to respond. Fifteen minutes later, Luna emerged from the kitchen while carrying a big bowl of fettuccine and a couple of plates and utensils. She serves two portions of the dish for Lisa and Lily.

"Dig in."

Lily happily grabs the child's fork and lowered her face towards the plate to inhales the aroma with her eyes closed. She opens her big bright eyes and smiled happily towards her mother to expressed her gratitude. Luna pats her head and smiles indulgently.

"Eat slowly. If you want more, just ask."

She loves to cook and bake. She developed her passion in cooking amd baking during her second year in university when she furthered her study in Bachelor Degree of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. During her study, she actively participated in every events or occasions, either by her residential college, faculty or university, even some of the national events if she had the time. She wants to experienced everything as she can during her four years in university.

One of the event was a cooking match, held by her residential college to gathered some money for donations for the orphanage that situated across their university. The participants need to cook something, either frying, baking, or grilling, as long as the foods were produced. Every group consists of three individuals. The capital needed to bought the ingredients was produced by the group itself. The organizer just prepared the places, appliances, dishes, utensils, even gas stoves, pots and woks, depends on every group's requiries.

Every group's menu was set to five dollars per pax. She and two of her friends decided it was a wise decision to prepared a full course menu in a half potions to attracted everyone. They also decided to make two different types of appetizers, main courses and desserts. They chose Homemade Chilli Cheese Dip and Chicken Enchilada Dip as the appetizers, Smoked Salmon Pasta and Perfect Chicken Alfredo as the main courses, and Caramel Pudding and Tiramisu Cheesecake as the desserts.

They need to cook and sell as much as they can until the time's up. People whose wanted to purchase the food just needed to deposit five dollars in the transparent box that being prepared at the front counter of each group before the menu being served.

Luna still vividly remembered the day as if it just happened yesterday. It was a Sunday with a nice weather. Her group already prepared every ingredients and spices needed to make the dishes as early as 8am. They double checked everythings as the match only started at 2pm until 7pm. They divided their tasks and worked efficiently. They may had served everything later than the other groups, but at the end of the match, her group won by a large margin. They managed to quadrupled their capital. The competition offered a prize consists of double sum of capital, certificates and a small cafe, in which they can rented as low as twenty dollars per month. They can use the cafe to cook and selling foods for a year.

Eventually, they decided to open the 'Glory Cafe' which selling various kinds of food, mainly desserts. One of the hot-selling menu was Tiramisu Cheesecake. Spoke of Tiramisu Cheesecake, she remembered him. A person whom presence lighted up her world also made-

"Hey..hey..what are you smiling broadly for?"

Lisa smacked her shoulder with inquiring eyes. Luna whom was shocked by the sudden smack, just smiling fleetingly.

"Nothing, just remembered how you ran off and collided with our CFO after snatching my monster cookies."

Luna laughed out loud when she sees Lisa's sulky face. Lisa scrunched up her face and exclaimed,

"Hey, don't brought up that incident. It was such an embarrassing scene. I can't believed he just munched on the cookies after my effort snatching it from you. The nerve of that man. I still felt indignant every time I remembered that day."

Luna clutched her stomach while laughing wholeheartedly.

"Who asked you to collide with him then showed the cookies right in front of his mouth. He thought you voluntarily offered the cookies for him. Hahaha..you just gaped when he took a big bite of the cookies, leaving only two tenths for you. Hahaha..he even said 'Thank you for the cookies. It's yummy.'"

Luna mimicked their CFO voice and tone when he spoke.

"I had the impulse to wiped off his smug smile at that time before he leisurely walked away as if nothing happened. Shameless man," Lisa said begrudgingly.

"Hey, the said man is your fiance now," Luna jested.