Chapter 1

Cooking with Abuela

On Saturday afternoon, Sofia rushed over to Abuela’s house. Abuela was making arroz con leche for the church supper.

Sofia loved helping her abuela cook, and her abuela loved spending time with Sofia.

Abuela stirred the rice in a giant pot. Sofia went to the pantry to get the sugar.

“¡Cuidado!” Abuela called. “Be sure to get the container with the red lid, not the green one.”

Just then, the doorbell rang. It was the next door neighbor, Mrs. Flores.

“The special ingredient for your arroz con leche,” Mrs. Flores said, handing over a small bag.

Sofia snuck around the corner to listen. She was curious. What did Abuela put in her rice pudding that made it so special?

“Gracias,” Abuela said. “I am glad you had some. I did not want to go shopping again.”

Sofia quickly got bored and hurried back to the kitchen. She grabbed a container filled with white crystals.

She was not paying attention. Her mind was still on that little blue bag.

Sofia did not notice that she took the container with the green lid, not the red one.

“Add three cups of sugar to the pot,” Abuela called. She was still talking to Mrs. Flores.

Sofia carefully measured three cups. She poured them into the pot and kept stirring.

Then Sofia put the container with the white crystals back in the pantry and cleaned up.

She was proud that Abuela trusted her to help.

“¡Muy bien!” Sofia said when they were finished cooking.

“Would you like to take a little home for tomorrow’s breakfast?” Abuela asked.

“Definitely!” Sofia said.