***

Bette and Tina finished their first cooking class and loved it. They were now at their local organic food market picking up some groceries and getting the ingredients for some of the new recipes that they’d learned to make that afternoon.

“Oh my god that cooking class was fantastic. I mean I was just expecting some variations on basic green leafy salads but the meals we prepared today were amazing. I mean the Zucchini one, and the one with carrots and beets were really good. I never even think of beets when I shop for veggies. Angie loves carrots; maybe we can try her with beets and see if she’ll go for it.”

“We can try but I’m sure she’ll like my favorite better which was the one with the slow-roasted cherry tomatoes with arugula and green beans, topped with the toasted pine nuts and feta cheese. It was to die for.”

“Well let’s get ingredients for several of them and we can try them out this week. We definitely need to keep going to these classes. I mean the price is so reasonable for everything that you get and the people were so nice. It didn’t matter your skill level, they made you feel good”.

“I’m all for it. Let’s see if we can schedule an evening one next time so we can make one of the full course dinners. Since they offer international cuisine why don’t we try foods from different countries each time?”

“That is a great idea babe. I noticed that they had Moroccan, Japanese, Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Jamaican, Thai, Indian, Cajun, even Persian. We could experience the world through these exotic foods and never leave home”

“We better stick to our workout schedules then because we’ll be packing on the pounds if we start eating like that several times a week”.

“Oh babe; it’ll just be more to love!!”

“I couldn’t love you any more if I tried baby.”

“Oh you are such a charmer. I love you too.”

They finished their grocery shopping and headed home. They’d called Alice on the way and she agreed to meet them at the house with Angie. They invited Alice to stay for dinner and tried out their new found cooking skills. They grilled fish and made a couple of the salads as side dishes.

In all the years Alice had known Bette she’d never seen her so happy in the kitchen preparing a meal. As a matter of fact she hardly ever saw Bette in the kitchen preparing meals. Whenever Bette had invited her to dinner in the past she usually found her rummaging through the kitchen drawer where she kept the take-out menus.

Alice sat back and watched as Bette and Tina moved around the kitchen as they prepared their first home-cooked meal together. They’d picked up a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc that they had tasted at the cooking class. They enjoyed their wine and prepared the meal as Alice and Angie regaled them with stories of how they’d spent the past 24 hours.