Welcome to Culinary Goodness!

The Savorys were founded by Almond, the man who moved away from his life in Riverview and bought a plot of land in Sunset Valley. Will he and his legacy make it through fifteen generations, with fifteen simmers telling their story?

Friday, November 26, 2010

Chapter 17

High school isn't all that different when you compare it to middle and elementary school. The only difference? You can get away with a lot more. There was this kid, Jared Fletcher I think, who everyone thinks is a total monster. I don't know why and I've never bothered to find out. All I know is that he made prime pickings for the mean streak I try to avoid showing off at home. The year came and went quickly and before I knew it, it was summer vacation. A lot changed in the hot months.

For starters, Parsley turned eight. He's starting elementary school now.

I'd like to say my relationship with the kid has improved considerably since his baby days, but I'd be lying. We don't get along, especially not since his newest hobby includes... you guessed it! The computer! Parsley seems to have picked up mom's love for writing because that's all the boy does. He just sits in front of the blinding computer screen, clacking away at the keyboard for hours on end. I don't know what kind of stories an eight-year-old boy can come up with, but our parents - mom in particular - really encourage this new hobby of his.


Parsley isn't the only one picking up new hobbies though. For once in her life, Cinnamon is doing something that I wholeheartedly approve of. I don't really care much for astrology, but she's finally left the wretched computer in favor of spending her nights outside, staring into the starry sky of Sunset Valley. In fact, she only ever comes inside to use the computer whenever she thinks she's come across a constellation that she doesn't recognize.

But stargazing isn't the only thing Cinn's picked up. As a gift for having excellent grades, mom and dad bought her a brand new guitar. They would've bought me one, too, but I'd declined their offer. I don't need a guitar. Sure, I love music like any other normal teenager, but it's Cinn who has the patience to actually try learning how to play. I have to admit, she's not half bad. You can hear her twanging away all day long and, although she was pretty awful at first, she's gotten the hang of it. She can actually play a few simple melodies now. I'm hoping she improves faster though seeing as there's only so many times you can hear the same rhythm over and over again.

As for me? I've started my own number of hobbies and interests. For starters, I don't wanna be idle. Sure, my parents work and all and they get their fair share of running around, but aside from the occasional hobby that has them on their feet, all they do is laze around. I'm not criticizing them - not too badly - but I think that they'll regret being so out of shape when they get older. So I've started working out. Most days, I visit the gym or jog around the city but when it's just too hot to even set foot outside, I figured it's okay to tolerate the stereo. I just turn it onto an upbeat station and spend at least two hours a day stretching and toning my body.

Apart from looking frickin' hot, I think this will benefit me in the future.

But much as I love working out, I don't have the stamina or the will to devote more time to it. So in my cooling periods, I read a lot. Mom might encourage me to read more if I were actually reading things that interest her such as news stories or maybe even fantasy books like the ones that Parsley seems so intent on writing. But I don't care for those kinds of things. I'm a no-nonsense kind of girl.

So I spend my nights (and occasionally my mornings) reading a lot of how-to books. So far, it's dad who really supports my preferred genres. I think though that it has to do with what I said last time. About being one of the only kids who has shown a real interest in cooking. I'm picking up a lot of tips on dishes and I've been itching to try them out.

Thankfully, dad's a really good teacher. More and more kids seem intent on hurting themselves skateboarding - resulting in broken bones that sometimes require surgery to set right - or fishing, in which too many youngsters come in with hooks piercing their skin, which tires my dad out. He comes home late sometimes and is almost always on call. Still, despite all that, he's patient and spends a great deal of time with me in the kitchen.

Dad has looked over my culinary books and started with the basics of cooking, teaching me how to dice fruits and vegetables and stuff like that. He'll cook an entire dish with me watching like a hawk. Afterward, it's my turn to replicate his moves and although my food doesn't always turn out as delicious as his does, I'm starting to get a hang of things.

The majority of fruits and vegetables I practice on come from the garden. Sometimes, when I don't have the patience to wait for dad to come home and pick the fruits, I've taken to going outside and observing the plants myself. In the solitary hours of staring and analyzing and then slowly just enjoying being outside, I seem to have cultivated an interest in gardening. There's something soothing about having my feet sink into the rich soil, being surrounded by luscious green plants and succulent fruits and vegetables, just begging to be plucked from their corresponding vines or branches. A good deal of my how-to books switched from work-out routines and favorable exercises to gardening books. I slowly learned to recognize the subtle differences between a perfect fruit and an acceptable fruit, which at first had all looked the same to me.

One would think that my mother, always busy on the telephone or typing away at the computer upstairs or even spending so many hours at work, would not notice the changes in my day-to-day routine. Surprisingly enough though, she did.

As she received phone calls ranging from asking opinions on the latest articles her firm had yet to publish or made calls to the maid services in order to request a maid for our own home, she would watch me toiling out in the garden through the window.

Even as she wrote her articles or revised her employee's words, she would grow distracted.

One night, as I took up the rusty watering can which had been in my family for several generations, I was surprised to hear soft footsteps padding lightly against the soil followed by the sound of water trickling onto the leaves of a tomato plant.

"Mom?" I asked, surprised. I rarely saw her outside anymore, not since she'd been promoted at work, even though it had been her idea to revive the old garden.

She looked up from the plant. "I figured you might want some company out here. It's good of you to have kept up the gardening when I forgot to."

I said nothing. It was the first time I'd been complimented by my mom. Usually she complained about my lack of shared interests with her. She never called me a bad kid or anything, but it still didn't improve our relationship. At her words though, I merely shrugged. "I like gardening."

"I do too." Mom replied, moving onto the next plant. She fingered the leaves tenderly. In that moment, I learned that my mom could be another teacher to me. Just as dad taught me about cooking, mom could teach me far more about gardening than the books I was reading could. "If you want, you can leave the rest to me, Chocolate. I imagine you might be a little busy in a few minutes."

Puzzled, I looked up at her. Mom had a big smile on her face as she gestured toward the front yard. I put the watering can down and peeked around the corner of the house. There, on the lawn, was a car. A car that neither of my parents drove. A car I'd never seen before. I looked at her incredulously.

"It's for you and Cinnamon, but I figure you might wanna take it for a test drive first." With a wink, mom dug into her pockets and fished out a pair of keys. She tossed them lightly toward me. I was so surprised, it was only my finely tuned reflexes that enabled me to catch them. "Go on." Mom urged.

"Thanks!" I managed before running toward the car. I slid into the leather seat, inhaling the new car smell. Then I inserted the key into the ignition and turned it, reveling in the sound of the engine's purr. I carefully reversed out into the street and grinned. Oh the possibilities were endless. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going, but I'm definitely taking advantage of this.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Chapter 16

Dear Diary,

My name is Chocolate Savory and I am--. Okay, no. This sounds really cheesy, like some sort of stupid tween-romance novel.

Let’s try again.

See that girl in the picture? That’s me, Chocolate Savory. I know, my name’s weird, but apparently everyone in this family is named after a spice, food, or beverage. It doesn’t bother me though. I secretly really love eating chocolate. Wait. Does that count as cannibalism? I dunno. Anyway!

I’m a twin. My sister’s name is Cinnamon. That’s her, photographed below.

Technically, Cinn’s older but it’s only by one teensy minute. I really don’t even understand how we can be considered twins. After all, we’re totally different, and not just in looks. She's a blonde, I'm a brunette. How much more different can we get? Lemme tell you. Pretty darn different.

Well, we do have a few things in common. Very, very few. Both of us enjoy a good game of chess and that's where the similarities end. I enjoy the traditional game. You know. The one where you actually sit down at a real chess board with real chess pieces.


But not Cinn. Oh sure, she'll try her hand every now and then at the real thing, but she prefers the virtual version of chess. She can spend an entire afternoon staring at the stupid computer screen, playing with her stupid online nerd friends.


I don't get it. I really don't. What's the appeal? What's the fun in clicking a mouse to decide where your pawn will go? It's not just virtual chess that I don't understand. It's electronics in general. I hate computers and tv. Whoever invented them should rot in hell.

I mean really. What happened to losing yourself in the pages of a good book? Nooo. Now they have all these e-books where you can read online. You can do just about anything online these days. Which I hate. Stupid electronics. Our house is full of them. You can't enter a room without there being some sort of technological thing.

The only exception to that rule is my room. The one I share with Cinn. Oh I know she wishes we had a computer of our own and I know she's been begging mom for the past year to get her one for our bedroom. Thankfully, mom isn't that lenient, insisting that she'll have to make do with using the family computers upstairs. Good. I would loathe having one of those demonic devices in our bedroom. The closest thing to an electronic in our room is the toy oven.

I don't mind that one so much though. I'm the only one that uses it. I'll have to admit, my muffins aren't the greatest, but dad eats them just the same. I think he's trying to encourage me to learn how to cook seeing as I'm the only one that's shown interest in that. According to dad, our family is full of amazing cooks. I wouldn't know seeing as my grandparents are dead, so I obviously can't ask them. Speaking of family though...

This little rugrat photographed above is my younger brother, Parsley. He's a lot younger than Cinn and I, given that he was born a couple of years after we were, but he's alright. He gets along with Cinn better than me. I think, though, that it's because whenever mom buys us candy from the convenience store, I usually steal his share.

And this guy? That's dad, Curry Savory. He's currently a resident at the hospital, but he swears he's on the verge of a promotion. I always wondered why he went into medicine when he said our family was made up of cooks. Shouldn't he be a chef at some fancy restaurant? Not that he doesn't know how. Dad makes a mean spaghetti and I always look forward to eating dinner every night. When I asked him about that, he said that a good cook doesn't always have to stick to just one thing.

"It's good to be well practiced in lots of things, Chocolate." Dad told me that one evening. "Why become a chef? I love to cook, yes, but I also love helping people. That's why I started the path of a doctor. I can cook the foods I love for my family and friends, and I can also help others when they most need me. Does that make sense, my little Chocolate?"

I still don't get it. I told him I did, though, just to shut him up.

Enough about dad. This lady here is my mom, Selena Savory. Mom's not the type to cook. She prefers the stuff before cooking, aka gardening. In fact, mom's reviving the garden outside is the reason we hardly ever go without fresh fruits and vegetables during meals. I love my mom, really I do, but apart from an interest in gardening, we don't really share much in common. I don't get to see her as often as I see dad. You'd think it'd be the other way around, but nope. Mom's either at the office, editing the articles for the newspaper, or at home, busy, clacking away to finish her novel. See? Evil technology strikes again! At least dad always has time for a game of chess with me. I can't wait until I'm older. Then I'll rid the house of all these stupid computers.

Lucky for me, getting older isn't going to take too long. It's me and Cinn's fourteenth birthdays today. None of our relatives could make it, so we had a private, quiet party at home.

Cinn, my poor, unfortunate sister. She's been working hard on growing her hair throughout our youth, but being the klutz that she is... well... let's just say she had a little accident. She tripped at school the day after our birthday and wound up getting gum that some stupid kid had thrown on the ground tangled up in her hair. There was no helping the beautiful tresses. Nothing could get the sticky mess out. So in the end, Cinn had to cut it.

Cinnamon had hoped that she'd only have to cut off a little bit, but in the end, the damage was so bad, she'd been forced to get a pixie cut just to get rid of the mess. She cried as the hair dresser snipped away those beautiful golden locks. I know it sounds mean, but I just couldn't help sneaking away during the event to sneak a giggle. I mean really. Crying over hair? What a dumb thing to do. In the end, Cinn got used to her hair and actually really likes the style. It compliments her face given that she was also prescribed thick glasses, the result of spending too much time in front of a computer screen.

Why doesn't my family get it? Technology is bad. Mom hardly spends time with any of us kids because of the computer. Cinn needs glasses - and probably tripped because she couldn't see, thus causing the loss of her hair - because of the computer.

But no. My family doesn't understand. I'm the only sane one in this house. I stay away from computers and television and I've wisely kept my hair cropped short to avoid any bubblegum disasters.

My name is Chocolate Savory, and this is my story.

Interlude

Okay, here are the potential heirs! I had a lovely time with the Savories, and can't wait to see what will happen to them next :)

Chocolate Savory

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Traits: Evil, Technophobe, Light Sleeper

Cinnamon Savory

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Traits: Genius, Loser, Virtuoso

Parsley Savory

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Traits: Athletic, Eccentric

Who will be the heir, and what is in store for the Savories next?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Chapter Fifteen

"Curry!" Selena cried out. "How are you? It's been such a long time!"

"It has," I said awkwardly, looking down at my shoes. "And, well, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Really?" Selena asked, a little confused. "What is it?"

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And then all the things I wanted to say flew out of my head. My brain was whirring at top speed but no words were coming out.

So I did the only thing that made any sense at all. I kissed her.

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"Was that your question?" Selena asked afterward, sounding a little amused.

"Um..." I was lost for words again. "Yup, pretty much."

"Well, then," she said softly. "The answer is 'Yes'."

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Then she kissed me, and I lost track of the world for awhile. When we broke apart at last, I knew that I was no longer alone.

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I could tell you about the countless days we spent together, learning about each other, laughing, kissing.

I could tell you how she confessed that she'd always had a crush on me, but never known what to say.

But it all comes down to the moment when I brought her back to the bridge to ask her another, different question.

"What's the big surprise?" Selena asked. "We haven't been back here since the day we started dating!"

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I thought of Mom and how happy she would be as I got down on one knee in front of Selena.

"Selena," I began. "When we met on the bridge before, I was lost for words at the sight of you, and I still am today. Without you, I feel empty and lost. I can't imagine life separate from you anymore. Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Selena cried. "Yes, I can't believe this, we're going to get married!"

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We had a private wedding right there on the bridge. There was no sense in waiting when we couldn't think of a more perfect time or place than at sunset in the most magical place in all of Sunset Valley.

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After that, time sped by. I got a job at the hospital, and planned to work my way up until I was a real doctor. Selena got a job working for the local newspaper. Her dream is to be a famous journalist, and I'm confident that she'll achieve it.

Then came the day when Selena came home from work and rushed to the bathroom, puking. The same thing happened the next morning. I was scared that she might be sick, until I took her to the hospital and we discovered that she was pregnant!

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I was so excited for the upcoming birth that I read any pregnancy book I could get my hands on. I needed to be ready to handle the baby, of course!

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Selena spent most of her time gardening. I had kind of... well, neglected it while I was living alone, but she planned to bring it back to life.

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One day I was leaving work when I noticed that Selena was walking in.

"What's going on?" I asked, worried.

"Oh, I'm just giving birth," she said calmly.

"WHAT??" I yelled. Needless to say, I fell into a bit of a panic and followed her in.

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A few hours later, we drove home with not one but TWO babies. Selena had twins! Two beautiful girls, Chocolate and Cinnamon Savory.

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The girls kept me up late, but I was happy than I'd ever been before. I loved having a family of my own.

One day, we took the girls to the park to meet Cammie and Opal and Sage and Shaun. It was great to see everyone again. I finally forgave Sage for starting his own family. I realized that he hadn't been trying to abandon me.

Opal had grown up a bit... bald. I told Cammie that, just in case she hadn't noticed, and Cammie refused to speak to me for a whole five minutes. What a drama queen!

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When Selena became pregnant again, I hoped that she would have a little boy. I loved the girls, but to be honest I did feel a bit outnumbered...

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Chocolate grew up into a very cute toddler, though we began to notice that she had a bit of a mean streak. She liked to take Cinnamon's toys from her and break them, just to see Cinnamon cry. We're hoping that she grows out of that phase.

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Cinnamon grew up nicely as well. She was such a sweet toddler, always nice to her playmates. She also slept through the night consistently, something we did not expect from Chocolate.

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When Selena went into labor this time, I was a little less panicked. As in, I didn't scream or freak out. Okay, not very much at least. I was composed enough to drive her there.

Selena gave birth to a boy, Parsley Savory. I'll admit, I was a bit thankful she didn't have twins. One pair was enough, thank you very much. We both agreed that for now three kids was the perfect size for our family.

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Why is it that time goes by so fast when you're happy? It wasn't long before it was time for Parsley to become a toddler. He was absolutely adorable, and I had the feeling that someday he'll be a heartbreaker. But not yet, thankfully!

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Next came the girls.

Cinnamon seemed a bit confused, but happy to be a child all the same.

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Even as a toddler, Chocolate was plotting all the wrongdoings that she'll be able to get up to. I admit, I fear for the world a bit with her set loose...

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As for me, I was content. I had everything I had ever dreamed of: an amazing wife, a great family, the perfect job. Somehow, I had made all of the drama worth it.

I suddenly remembered my promise to have a wonderful family and make them happy. I'd like to think that I have done that. I still have a lot of my own story left to complete, a story of love, happiness, and family. Somehow, I know that it's a story that doesn't need retelling. It's time for my children to begin their own stories, and to see where their lives take them.

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