*
In less than an hour, Hannah and Michelle stepped into their hotel room. Their luggage had already been delivered, and there were two luggage racks set up in the very places that Hannah would have chosen. She walked over to her suitcase and snapped it open to take out the extra copy of the recipes that she’d brought with her. She was still searching for the file of recipes when she heard Michelle give a low whistle.
“What?” she asked, turning around to look for her sister. But Michelle wasn’t standing next to her luggage rack.
“Where are you?” Hannah called out.
“I’m out on the balcony. Come out here, Hannah. The view’s incredible!”
Hannah left her luggage rack, which was in an alcove, and entered the main part of the room. “It’s a suite!” she gasped, gazing around at the separate bedrooms, two of them, and another room that probably contained the bathroom. One peek inside the partially open door proved her theory correct. But it wasn’t just an ordinary bathroom. It was a bathroom with two rooms, one containing the largest, most luxurious, innovative shower that she had ever seen, with multiple jets protruding from the walls and a built-in waterproof sound system for those who liked to shower to music.
“Just wait until you see this shower!” Hannah called out to her sister, rushing out the door, through the living room, and onto the cold balcony. But the balcony wasn’t cold. The tile was warm on her feet, and Hannah’s mouth opened in surprise a second time.
“It’s heated,” Michelle said, stating the obvious. “And it’s covered, too, so the snow can’t come in unless it’s a blizzard. I can hardly wait to come out here at night! We could be perfectly comfortable, even on a cold night, sitting in those chairs and looking out at the city lights. This is the biggest and fanciest suite I’ve ever seen, even in the movies. It’s like our very own luxury apartment. I can’t believe that the Food Channel gave us a suite like this!”
Hannah sighed and then she smiled. “I don’t think that the Food Channel gave us this suite.”
“What do you mean? You said they told you that they would provide our accommodations.”
“And they probably did pay for a perfectly nice room. But I think Ross got an upgrade for us. That’s what he did on the plane.”
“The Food Channel didn’t fly us here in first class?”
“No, they paid for two round-trip tickets in coach. Ross used his frequent flyer points to upgrade all of us to first class.”
“Tell him thank you for me. The plane food was even good. One of my roommates told me that all I should eat on the plane was cheese and crackers because the food was so awful, but I had the tuna wrap and it was really great. What did you have? I was so busy talking to P.K., I didn’t even notice.”
“I didn’t have anything. I slept all the way here. Ross had to wake me up when we got ready to land.”
“You must have been tired.”
“I was, but I’m not now. I am a little hungry, though. I brought some Soft Chewy Milk Chocolate Cookies with me. Would you like one?”
“I’d like one and then I’d like more. I love those cookies. They smell like summer afternoons on the front porch.”
“You’re right. They do. The only thing we’re missing is the mosquitoes.”
“I could live without those.” Michelle followed Hannah back inside and waited until she found the cookies in her suitcase. “Shall we unpack and then take a walk to get a feel for the city?”
“Sounds good to me. Ross and P.K. are going to be busy all afternoon, getting their equipment in order. And the Food Channel car doesn’t pick us up until six.”
“That’s for orientation, right?”
“That’s what they told me. We have to sign a bunch of papers and then we get to walk around our cooking stage and examine the contents of the pantry. Tomorrow morning’s our time to practice. The sheet the Food Channel representative gave me at the airport says our time slot is from ten to one.”
“And the competition is at seven that night?”
“Yes, but we have to be there at six. And then we fly out the next afternoon to the hometown of whoever wins the hometown challenge.”
“That’ll be Lake Eden,” Michelle said confidently. “Everybody said your Magic White Chocolate Soufflé is the best thing they’ve ever tasted.”
“I just hope the judges agree.”
“They will,” Michelle said with a smile. “You’d better bring the recipe with us so we can check to see if they gave us everything we need to bake it.”
“I’ve got it all ready to go.” Hannah patted the file she’d placed on the desk. “Let’s eat while we walk, Michelle. This suite is a little bit too fancy for me. I might get to expect luxury like this and that means I’ll be really disillusioned when we get home and go back to living an ordinary life.”
SOFT CHEWY MILK
CHOCOLATE COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.