Marta watched with curiosity as Ezra went over to a shelf a pulled down a metal box. Marta took a peek while he was looking through it and saw it was filled with recipes. All hand-written, probably passed down for generations. It made Marta smile, though it was slightly bittersweet for her. Just spending these two days around Ezra has made her realize, as much as she loves her parents, they lacked in that family bond and closeness that Ezra seems to have with his parents. Marta and her parents didn’t have many traditions, aside from a couple little things around Christmas, and they definitely didn’t have family recipes handed down from grandparents and their parents before that. No need to dwell though, maybe one day she would be joining Ezra’s family.

Marta’s smile grew, teeth showing, when Ezra said they would bake cookies. Her sweet tooth was itching now. If Marta could learn how to bake cookies, she would never have to worry about sneaking treats. She could just make some up herself. When Ezra explained this was his grandmother’s recipe, and it was the first thing he learned how to bake, Marta felt a warmth grow in her heart. He was including her in something special, and it made her feel special, even if that wasn’t his intention.

Memorizing was something Marta is very good at. Growing up, her piano teacher made her always memorize her sheet music for whatever piano piece she was learning that week. Because of that, the skill of remembering things became easy for her. She remembered numbers, dates and names very well. So when Ezra was reading part of the recipe out loud, Marta was glancing over his shoulders and memorizing all the measurements as quickly as she could. Even though Marta has not baked, she is still educated and has learned the fundamental measurements. She knows how many teaspoons make up a tablespoons. And how to cut a whole cup of something into parts. Maybe baking wouldn’t be too hard.

Her excitement growing, she followed Ezra into the back and watched as he pulled all the necessary ingredients and prep-items they would need. She looked at everything on the counter, already thinking of the first step of the recipe she had read. She looked up when Ezra said they could bake something else, she quickly shook her head.

“Cookies are perfect! The sweeter the better… plus apricots are my favorite.” she said, with a small wink as she walked up to the counter. 

She bit her lip gently, and took a deep breath, the same way she always did right before she was about to play the piano. She reached over and grabbed the biggest bowl that Ezra got out. She spotted the cream cheese and butter and brought them over to her and looked at them. Ok now she was stumped. She knew she needed 4 oz of cream cheese, but cream is solid. How do you measure a solid using liquid measurements? She looked at Ezra for a second, a slightly puzzled look on her face, before glancing back and seeing a glass jar with markings on the side. She picked it up and saw there were measurements on it, like a ruler, and noticed one side said ounces. So carefully, she scooped the cream cheese into the jar until it measured 4 oz.

After a few minutes of checking and re-checking, Marta had the first part of the mixture in the bowl, ready to stir. She looked around for a minute, at a lost for what she was suppose to stir with to make everything “fluffy”. Having being stubborn and not asking for Ezra’s help, she was now stuck. 

Letting out a slightly defeated sigh, she looked at Ezra, “OK now what?”