#Chapter 66: Practice Makes Perfect

Abby My office is silent as I scroll through the new emails that have landed in my inbox. My fingers drum on the desk, anticipating the one email that I’ve been waiting for the most—the details of the upcoming cooking competition. And then, there it is, bolded and marked with high importance: Cook-Off Competition Details. Taking a deep breath, I click on it. The email is concise but packed with information. Attached to it is a long list, detailing every possible dish that might come up during the competition. My heart rate quickens as I scan the list. Some dishes I recognize, ones I’ve made a thousand times over in my career, but others are unfamiliar, exotic even, presenting challenges I’ve never faced before. I won’t know which three dishes I’ll be asked to prepare on the spot. Which means only one thing: I have to practice all of them. Every single one. Grabbing a notepad, I jot down a list of ingredients I’ll need for the more exotic dis