Melody's Melodies

Chapter-7

SET DAY

After a whole week of practicing cooking, and cleaning the mess of course, I was there standing under the huge blinding lights on the sets of 'Pinch of Yum' season-2. It was a feeling- a chilling thrill, mixed with nervous happiness. But the nervousness took over. The set was huge. A very big studio with lots of busy men and women running with either a phone or a book in hand, and the fixed cameras at every single end, a very big cooking bowl and vegetables hanging from the center of the studio, with a big banner saying Pinch of Yum. It was a sight to see. The other competitors from various states, even abroad, were huddled in groups with their families cheering them and giving them motivational speeches. My mom, dad and Madeline were there too! On seeing my dad, many of the kids ran up to him to get a selfie with him. Being a celeb's daughter has its own perks. The kids wanted a picture with me too.

There were 10 competitors for the Pinch of Yum title including me. They came from all kinds of backgrounds. My mom never gives me motivational speeches. Its just cookie, always. Dad on the other hand, is a man who regularly gets invited to huge official gatherings. So I got some tips from the pro like never lose self confidence, and not to get nervous, manage your time wisely and many, many more.

After sometime, all the parents left and we, the competitors were put into one room , cause we were supposed to "get to know each other". That made no sense howsoever as we were competitors, but it was good in a way. There were 5 girls and five boys in total- Ivory, Acadia, Renesmee, McKenna, and Asher, Jacob, Zane, Phoenix and Li Wei. Many of them looked nervous, especially Li and Acadia. They looked around my age, so I went up to them and made chitchat. They seemed really nice! After sometime when we were done talking, we were called. We timidly made our way to our cooking spots, each one which had a box set up on the table. Then suddenly, a man landed on top of the stage from the hanging cooking bowl. Holy Goddess of Apple pie, he was The Adele Ambrosia, who is like the biggest show host ever. If he was gonna be our host for the show, then season-2 should already have a trillion viewers. He had a booming voice which echoed across the entire set- Good Evening America! How u doin?(he said that with a wink and McKenna fell, like she literally lost her balance)We have here ten charming, lovely, cheerful contestants ready to rock! Are we ready? Lets go! And then all the lights fell on us. We had to open the box in front of us and had to make any dish, with the ingredients given. It was ROUND ONE-THE MYSTERY BOX. We were given half an hour to complete the cooking job and an extra five minutes for plating.

When I opened the box, I found a packet of rice flour, some basic condiments like salt etc., a potato, some cherry tomatoes, an onion, some chillies and some other veggies. Now, a dish from all this. I thought 💭 hard and a recipe which Sita once told me about popped. I had never tried it out, but it was made with exactly all these ingredients and was a perfectly balanced dish. This dish was called 'Appam'. If I took the risk and cooked it properly, I had the chance to impress the judge. Not wasting anymore time, I took the rice flour and made a thin batter. I took a pan, poured the batter, swirled it around, put it on the stove, then Bam! Indian pancake ready to go! I made three appams. Then for the side, I planned on making a delicious potato curry. I cut the veggies, boiled em, mixed some spices, some water, coconut milk, and done. I had like 2 more minutes to go, so I did the plating real quick. Adele asked us to take our hands off the dish. I had a look at what the others had cooked. Renesmee had a fancy smoothie jar, Zane's plate contained something fish-y, Phoenix had prepared a hamburger. Everyone's plate contained something interesting and impressive! Season-2 was gonna be tough.

It was time for the judge to taste our dishes. Our judge today was a leading hotel owner. We lined up, and he gave comments on how we could improve. Zane's hamburger 🍔 had no lettuce, so he looked kinda dejected. When my turn arrived, my hands literally started shaking(I hope the people can't see it on tv:p). He took a bite of the appam dipped in potato curry, and said "Isn't this appam, a south indian traditional? Good job, I must say Miss.Mington. A little more salt in the curry, that's all." I was delighted and relaxed. My Appam worked out! Credits to Sita! Yay!

Keep Holding On,

Melody Mington 🎶