Food Memoir -Michael Tesfaye

It is a typical weekend, there is nothing to do. That is until I remember that there is a bake sale on the coming Tuesday. The bake sale is for a group called ‘Boys’ Empowerment’. We raise money and awareness for issues in the community.

A few days ago, we were talking about who would bring what to the bake sale, how much each item costed, and how to convince people to buy at the bake sale instead of the nearby corner store.

“Is anyone going to bring cookies? How about muffins?” Jesse, the director of Boys’ Empowerment, asked.

“I could bring some homemade chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies. Also, I could bring some corn muffins,” I replied.

Now, as soon as I remember, I rush to the kitchen as fast as I could.

“Sophia!” I call to my sister. “Do you want to help us bake some muffins and cookies? We could really use your help!”

“Sure,” Sophia replies.

Sophia is my younger sister. Although she is only nine years old, she is extraordinary at baking. One time, she made muffins completely alone that surpassed store-bought muffins.

Then, our mother walks in.

She is an outstanding baker, who makes out-of-this-world cookies and stupendous muffins. She can make gluten-free cookies that taste better than normal, store-bought cookies. We needed her help more than anything.

“Okay, let’s get out the ingredients. Please take out the recipe,” I say.

“Here,” Sophia says, as she hands me the recipe.

“How many cookies and muffins should we make?” my mother asks me.

“Hmmm… maybe 60 cookies and 36 muffins,” I reply.

We follow the instructions of the recipe, my mother doing all of the work that requires and oven, as my sister and I work on the batter.

“We are going to need five batches of cookies and three batches of muffins, if we use batches of twelve,” Sophia informs.

“That is correct,” I tell her.

My sister takes out a spoon from the drawer and takes a spoonful of batter.

“Mmmm… This is delicious!” she exclaims.

“Yes! This is amazing!” I say, as I take out another spoon and have a spoonful.

By the time we are done, we know that we have made a mistake. They are so amazing, that we would need many more cookies to satisfy everyone.

“I wish I knew they would be this good before we made them, I hope these would be enough cookies,” now it is too late to make anymore cookies, since we used our last eggs and ran out of baking soda. And now, it is late night on Sunday and we should be going to bed. Tomorrow is a school/work day and I won’t get much free time to bake anything, or shop for the ingredients.

“At least they are delicious, the customers will be amazed and lots of money would be raised to allow people to end the lack of education,” Sophia said hopefully.

“We are going to raise $48 if these cookies and muffins sell, and maybe reach $130 from what everyone else brought, that is pretty good,” I said.

“Yes, HEAF [Harlem Educational Activities Fund, which is the organization we are donating to] would be very grateful for the money we raised,” my mother said.

“Yes, yes they will,” I confirmed.