When the Going Gets Ruff by Daphne Maple

Author:Daphne Maple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-03-07T05:00:00+00:00

9

“Um, you guys, is it supposed to look like this?” Taylor asked, sounding worried. She was standing in front of the stove at my house, stirring a big saucepan of what we hoped would turn out to be Turkish delight. But so far it wasn’t going that well.

“I think we made a mistake trying to double the recipe the first time we tried it,” I said. That had been Kim’s idea, since we’d have to double it when we made it for the festival, to be sure we had enough for everyone.

“But why bother with a smaller amount?” Kim said, coming over to the stove. “Then it’s like we’re doing it a totally new way when we double the recipe for the whole grade.” That was exactly what she had said before.

“More can go wrong when you work with bigger amounts,” Taylor said. “Like, I don’t think this is supposed to look like tiny rocks, but it does.”

I’d been cleaning up the sugar we’d spilled on the counter but I came to look over Taylor’s other shoulder.

“I don’t think that’s right,” I said, staring into the pan, which contained boiling sugar and water. I looked at the recipe next to the stove. “It’s supposed to just be liquid.”

“I probably didn’t stir it enough,” Taylor fretted.

“Don’t worry, we can just stir it a lot now,” Kim said, grabbing a wooden spoon and dipping it into the hot liquid. She whipped the spoon around the pot and a spray of sugar water flew out and onto the stove. Something else we’d need to clean before my mom got home. Which was a lot sooner than I would have liked. Somehow this whole venture, which was supposed to be ninety minutes, was taking over the whole afternoon.

“Gently,” Taylor told Kim, who slowed her spoon. “I think it’s getting better,” she said after a minute.

I peeked in and sure enough the pebbles were gone and it looked like liquid. I sighed with relief. There was still a lot to clean but at least the candy was on the right track.

“Okay, now we put this aside and boil the other ingredients,” Taylor said. “I’ll get the water and cornstarch.

“I’ll get the cream of tartar,” I said, looking at the recipe.

We poured everything into a new saucepan and Kim turned on the burner.

“Here’s the rosewater,” Taylor said. We’d ordered it special off the internet and it had come in a pretty little glass bottle.

“Wait, I think we add that later,” I said.

But it was too late, Taylor had already put it in.

“Uh-oh,” she said.

“I’m sure it’s not a big deal,” I said, noting the tightness in her face. But secretly I wasn’t so sure. I knew it mattered that the ingredients go in when they were supposed to. Plus I was feeling anxious about how the kitchen was covered in spills, so I wasn’t in the best place to be reassuring.

“It’s just a practice run anyway,” Taylor said, trying to calm everyone down. “We’re working out the kinks so it’ll be perfect when we make it for the festival.

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