Teresa at The Haunted Wordsmith’s Story Starter Challenge today is:

“Haven’t you done that enough?”

Jordine had gone to see a movie with her friends called, “Julie and Julia”, where a woman named Julie decided to cook every recipe in famous chef, Julia Child’s book, “Mastering The Art of French Cooking.” She took this as a sign from God that she wanted to cook every recipe in Gordon Ramsay’s book, “World Kitchen,” as her name Jordine, was just a few letters different than Gordon.

Jordine methodically bought every appliance and kitchen tool in the list in the book that she didn’t already have, with a goal of starting the recipes on January 1. Jordine’s boyfriend, Garrett, loved to eat, so he was looking forward to Jordine’s adventure.

January 1, the cooking commenced, and both Jordine and Garrett were enjoying the experience. Every day Jordine had a new creation to prepare and every day Garrett had a new flavor experience. At least at first. Through January, it was fabulous, as January is a blah month; the new dishes brightened every evening. But as holidays and vacations started to come up, Jordine was not interested in celebrating them or going on vacations. Her quest for completion came first.

By mid-June, Jordine was halfway through the book, and Garrett had started living as a single, except for the nightly meal he was expected to taste and comment on. On the 4^th of July, he begged Jordine to go on a picnic then join him for fireworks that evening. Jordine looked up from the salad she was preparing from a recipe on page 300 and said, “Garrett, you know I can’t do that.”

Garrett, exasperated, said, “Haven’t you done that enough? Take one day off. I need you, and I want to spend time with you.”

Pausing in her dicing of the peppers, Jordine rolled her eyes, then said, “OK.”