Worth the Risk Read Free Page A

two rounds of the contest. Each school would have a winner; then the winners would compete in a final round for the grand prize. She could just imagine the hours Amber would spend in the kitchen.
    “Who’ll judge?” Amber wanted to know.
    “Chefs from restaurants in the area,” replied Brad. “They’ll be looking for something different…unique. A dessert that’s healthy and lower in calories.”
    “They’ll taste like…yuck,” protested one of the boys.
    Just then the timer went off, signaling the truffles were ready to come out of the refrigerator. The leader of each team went to retrieve their cookie sheet. Naturally, Amber was a leader. She proudly displayed the collection of quarter-size brown truffles to her teammates.
    “Amber’s a natural cook,” commented Mrs. Geffen. “You can teach the basics but there’s a certain flair some people have that others lack.”
    Lexi couldn’t help saying, “I just wish she was as interested in her other subjects as she is in cooking.”
    “Her grades are average,” Mrs. Geffen said quietly. “Maybe you expect too much.”
    “I want her to have the opportunity to go to college.”
    The teacher looked thoughtful for a moment. “Amber might do better to attend junior college first.”
    Lexi didn’t want to disagree with Amber’s teacher, but she believed that if her sister applied herself, she could be in advance-placement classes. Lexi was afraid that junior college might be too much like high school and Amber would become bored, drop out and take any job she could get.
    “Speaking of school,” Mrs. Geffen said, “how are you doing?”
    “Very well. I’ll complete my master’s in business administration soon, and this summer I’ll prepare to take the CPA exam in the fall. I need to get a part-time job in an accounting department. Firms hire grad students and let them work until they pass the exam. I’ll start interviewing next week.”
    “That’s fabulous,” Mrs. Geffen said. “You’ve worked really hard.”
    Lexi watched as the class devoured the chocolate truffles they’d made. Even Amber ate both of hers, knowing her blood sugar level would spike. Did she engage in such risky behavior to provoke Lexi or because she couldn’t resist sweets?
    “You rolled those truffles in cocoa powder,” Brad said, raising his voice to get their attention. “Does anyone know where cocoa powder comes from?”
    That was a great question, Lexi thought. A lot of kids believed food came from a package in the supermarket. Amber’s class had learned about planting and harvesting in the Recipe for Success program back in the fourth grade.
    “It’s ground-up chocolate,” called out one of the girls. “Like from a Hershey bar.”
    Brad chuckled, a deep masculine sound that took Lexi by surprise. It made her want to laugh along with him. For some reason she hadn’t expected the chef to have a sense of humor. “Not exactly, but you’re on the right track.”
    Amber was waving her hand furiously. Brad nodded at her.
    “Cocoa powder comes from cocoa beans, not from a candy bar. Candy bars are made from cocoa.”
    “What does a cocoa bean look like?” Brad asked.
    “Like a coffee bean… I think,” Amber replied.
    Lexi silently admitted that’s what she thought, too. She’d seen pictures but never actually held a cocoa bean.
    He pulled a foot-long yellow pod out of a shopping bag. “This is where chocolate comes from. Before it’s processed it grows on trees in warm, wet places in Africa and South America.
    “You open the pod.” He demonstrated by splitting the plant with his pocketknife. “Inside are the smaller pods that make up the cocoa that becomes chocolate when processed.”
    “Who do you think was the first European to see cocoa beans?” Mrs. Geffen asked the class.
    No one had an answer and Lexi wasn’t sure she knew. She guessed it must have been one of the Spanish explorers.
    “Who discovered America?” Brad