Love of the Dragon Warrior

Bake Off!!!

There were a lot of ideas about what other kind of activities to do with with the large group of girls. Po had gotten to know them a little through the interviews and the kung fu sparring, but that certainly wasn't enough time to know if he connected well with any of them. Well, except for Madame Zhou, but Po was admittedly curious about the coconut cake she had mentioned earlier when she had first arrived at the Jade Palace. It was actually dwelling on this idea they gave him the idea to do a baking contest.

"I have an old family recipe I wanted to share," he admitted while the giant group was gathered in the kitchen finishing off breakfast. "But I'm sure you guys have yummy cakes or pastries you could make too."

"Naturally," Madame Zhou admitted. "I've had years of practice!"

"My dad and I love making chocolate chip cookies!!" Xiao-Niao offered. "I can make that."

Tai Lin frowned. "I haven't baked anything in a while, so I don't know how good it would come out," she admitted. "I can try, but I'd hate to disappoint everybody with something gross."

"Hey, that's okay," Lam assured her. "If you have trouble, you can just ask us for help."

"If we do that, we should start right now!" Lu-Shi exclaimed. "That way we can be ready to judge after dinner."

"After breakfast is cleaned up, I would hope," Shifu warned sternly.

"Yes, Master Shifu. I wouldn't leave a mess," Lam assured him. "That's not my nature."

With the idea set in motion, the girls began to excitedly talk about what they would be making, though they kept it somewhat hushed since they didn't want Po to guess who made what. (They had decided to deem it a surprise). As Tigress got up from the table, clearly not in the middle to listen to the banter, Ordai looked over at Viper and asked her what she enjoyed baking. Viper was a bit caught off guard by the question, but quickly admitted she couldn't really bake that well.

"The best I can do is cake," she said. "And even then it usually comes out dry."

"It's not so bad when you put frosting on it," Crane told her with a smile. "You make good chocolate frosting."

"Thanks...."

Ordai was surprised at this. "You can't bake?!" she exclaimed. "I assumed you were the baking type."

"Actually that's more Tigress," Mantis corrected. "She doesn't do it a lot, but she's pretty good at it."

"I have more important things to do than stand for 12 hours or more in the kitchen," the Dragon Warrior remarked.

The girls looked at her with some surprise, though Xiao-Niao was the first to speak on behalf of the whole group. "You bake?!" she exclaimed. "When we were hanging out during the Winter Festival, I kind of got the impression that you weren't really into fun stuff, like music or dancing or...well, baking."

"Wait, let me get this straight!" Jai-Rong piped up suddenly. "You can't dance, but you know how to bake?"

"I can't bake," Lam interceded on the master's behalf. "Cooking is a lot easier for me. Baking is very rigid. One wrong move and it tastes like the Dead Sea or the Sahara Desert."

When the table gave her a weird questioning look, she quickly added, "My family gets invited to cook in different countries sometimes."

"Aw! That sounds like fun!" Jai-Rong pouted. "I've never been out that far west before!"

"It's an adjustment," Lam told her.

"Okay then, Master Tigress," Destiny said, trying to move the conversation back to the original subject. "What's your favorite thing to bake?"