"Theresa, you need to concentrate and learn this recipe. It was passed down from centuries ago, my mother inherited it from her mother. This recipe is a generational blessing, and it is used to prepare a soup to heal our children who battle with this hereditary running nose", Paulina said to her daughter as she was preparing a delicious soup for Theresa, who was having a running nose.
Mom, the mint leaves go so well with the broth, the two combo gives a nice aroma. I can't wait to taste the soup, and the curry, oh my! Smells so nice, too", Theresa replied to her mother with a smile, trying to change the topic.
Theresa had never had any interest in learning the recipe for the soup as she believed it was too archaic for her generation, though she enjoyed taking the soup when being prepared by her mother to cure her runny nose, which affects her so much during winter.
"Mom, the soup is almost done, right? I can hardly wait to have a taste", Theresa said.
Her mother scuffed as she knew Theresa wasn't paying attention to all she had been saying.
"It is ready; get a bowl to let me dish for you; I added chicken to it so that you can enjoy it while it performs its magic on your nose," Paulina replied.
"No wonder I was perceiving chicken; I thought you added chicken stock to it," Theresa said with a cunning smile.
"I asked you to pay attention to the recipes and how it's been cooked, but you weren't listening to me, anyway; here you go, enjoy", Paulina said as she handed over the bowl of soup to Theresa.
Theresa gulped in the soup and enjoyed the tender chicken in it. Anytime, anyone had to have a runny nose at home, Paulina always made sure to prepare the soup until she passed away. After her demise, there was no one to continue as Theresa, who would have been her successor, never picked interest in learning while her mother, Paulina, was alive. Theresa was in the university when her mother passed away and she continued living in her mother's house. After two years of graduation, she got married and her husband moved in with her. She began her family too, and just as expected, she was still battling with a runny nose every winter, which she uses medications for instead of cooking the family soup. Her cousins that did come around when her mother Paulina was around to get the soup no longer came for the soup except when there was an occasion and she needed to celebrate with Theresa. They've all given up on the soup since none of them knows how to prepare it.
It was then Theresa realized what she had lost. She could not treat herself or other family members to the soup because she didn't know the recipes and how it was being prepared, and neither did she see her mother's journals where she kept all her writings. After Paulina's demise, her belongings were packed into the store room, and it had not been opened since then. Theresa gave birth to a baby girl whose name is Tia. She didn't have a running nose condition, but Theresa did tell her about the soup and how she lost the opportunity to master the recipes and the preparation. Tia felt bad about this but there was nothing she could do about it.
As Tia grew, she wished she could be the solution bearer, but how would she go about it? When she was sixteen, she began searching the house to see if she could find any lead to the soup recipes or preparations but found nothing. Out of curiosity, she opened the storeroom that had been locked for years, even before she was born. The room reeks of foul odors and thick cobwebs everywhere, which makes it difficult to walk or see clearly, but she never gives up. On the first day of Tia's search, she couldn't achieve success as the room was so unconducive for her, she had to leave.
"Mom, why did you keep the storeroom locked for so many years? It should be opened, grandma's memories are kept hidden in that room", Tia said to Theresa later in the evening of her first search.
"You've gone to the room, right? I've heard you, young lady; I will call up a cleaning company to come to clean the place up tomorrow", Theresa replied.
"Thanks, Mom, let's light up the memories of grandma. I never get to meet her; her memories are the only things I'm holding onto, they should be cherished, not hidden away in a dark room", Tia replied.
The next day, a cleaning company showed up at their residence and cleaned the storeroom thoroughly. After the cleaning, Tia quickly returned to the room to continue her search. She searched but couldn't find anything or Paulina's journal.
"Didn't grandma have any records of these recipes and how it's being prepared? Tia asked herself after searching for a long time.
"Does this mean this golden gift of our family has gone into extinction?" She sadly asked herself.
"Mom should have paid more attention to it then; how I wish grandma was alive; she would have taught me how it's being prepared," Tia further said.
As Tia was about to go out of the room after a fruitless search, she had the urge to check the big box kept in a corner that contained clothes. She reluctantly moved towards the box and opened it. She hissed after seeing it contained clothes. She closed it back and headed out, but her mind was insisting on checking the big box. She went back to check for the second time, put the clothes out of the box then saw a small carton box underneath. She opened and there lies Paulina's journal.
"Wow, I've just hit the jackpot," Tia said as she rushed out of the store room in excitement. She sat on the sofa in the living room flipping through the pages of the journal one after the other. After reading for a few minutes, she came across the hidden treasure she had been looking for, the recipes and preparation of the soup. Without thinking twice, Tia rushed to the mall to get the ingredients, and on getting home, she tried the step-by-step guide in the journal. After the preparation, she tasted it and the taste didn't come out so well. She was a bit discouraged and After her mother Theresa returned from work, Tia explained her findings to her and gave her the soup to taste.
"Oh Tia, you are just amazing, just like my mother, she never gives up or back down, and I'm glad you took that from her, but baby, this soup is awful; it's not tasting nice at all", Theresa said jokingly.
"I know, Mom, it's my first time; I can't be as perfect as grandma on my first trial. Give it some time; I will come back stronger than you can ever imagine", Tia said confidently. Once in a while, Tia would try out the cooking, but the desired result wasn't attained yet; she promised herself and her mom that she wouldn't give up until she got it right.
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