It was grandpa’s birthday, so CC and NAME decided to make a lasagne, his favourite Italian dish, as a surprise. CC took the Bella Italia cookery book off the shelf and searched for the recipe.
“It says here that we’ll need tomatoes, cheese, pasta sheets, mushrooms and beef,” said CC, “we should write this down on a bit of paper so we don’t forget them at Vittorio’s shop. Have you seen my pencil, NAME?”
“Where was the last place you remember seeing it?” asked NAME. “Retracing your steps is a good way of finding something you’ve lost. My uncle did this to find his pocket watch, but he couldn’t explain why it ended up in the gorilla pen at the zoo.”
Together, NAME and CC searched high and low for the missing pencil. They looked next to the leaning tower of biscuits in the cupboard, behind the grand piano in the library and down by the Cannelloni Crew fort in the woods but it was behind CC’s ear all along!
With the mystery of the missing pencil solved it was time to visit Vittorio’s shop. He stocked all the finest foods from Italy and getting all the things on the list was really easy. He even threw in some Parmesan cheese as a birthday present for grandpa!
Now it was time for the cookery magic to happen in the kitchen, so NAME and CC put on their chefs’ clothes and together they set about weighing the ingredients, ready to make the best lasagne in town.
“I think,” said NAME, looking up, “that this is grandpa’s favourite dish because it’s easy for him to eat with his false teeth!”
“I think so too,” agreed CC, “but if you ever tell him that he shouts ‘silly donkey’ in Italian!”
The pair laughed as they cooked the meal and built up the layers of meat, pasta and cheese sauce that makes lasagne such a popular Italian dish. When it was cooked they took it to grandpa’s party and everyone commented how delicious it tasted and wanted to know what their secret was.
“Well,” said NAME, “the best tip we can give you is, always remember where your pencil is!” and everybody laughed, enjoying the party.
