一如正離子和負離子相輔相成，不善烹飪的我和如同美食家的她，在試做與試吃之間，也漸漸達成了某種平衡。

By Joan Donaldson

星靨 選注

Following my sophomore year of college, an older woman hired me to be a housekeeper at her summer cottage on Lake Michigan.[1] Miss Bartow had been one of the first American women to earn a doctorate in chemistry and had taught that subject at the University of Illinois. Every summer she traveled north to Michigan.

While studying for final exams, I daydreamed about her private beach, until suddenly other thoughts rippled[2] through my mind. Housekeepers must cook; Miss Bartow would expect me to produce three meals a day. I scribbled a note to her explaining that I only knew how to make pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, and grilled cheese sandwiches, but I would try to cook what she liked.[3]

Miss Bartow wrote back, “You’re a geologist[4]; cooking is like chemistry.”

Mostly what I could remember from geochemistry was how ions shared their electrical charges in order to create stable situations.[5] While writing out the chemical formula for the mineral pyrite (FeS2), my professor had pointed out that when the iron and sulfur bonded, their charges balanced each other.[6]

I felt like a negative ion desperately seeking a positive ion.[7] But too soon, the big day came, and I moved to the cottage.

Miss Bartow handed me The Joy of Cooking. “Study this, and you’ll learn to cook.”

Sitting on my beach towel, I read her cookbook, but the mass of recipes was overwhelming and the symbols confusing.[8] Even worse, to create a dish, such as cabbage rolls, I had to flip to various sections in order to reference the techniques necessary.[9]

I stared at the waves. I needed easy recipes for main dishes, and I needed them now.

I called my mother. “Could you please send me some simple recipes, and could you please ask the women at church for some, too?”

Throughout my childhood, a cluster of surrogate aunts from my church had nurtured me.[10] Mary DeBuck had introduced me to quilting[11]. While cleaning up after church suppers, Mrs. Stankowitz had listened to me ramble on[12] about school, and Mrs. Carlson had encouraged me to write. Mrs. Means had even accompanied our youth group on a work camp to a Navajo reservation and had spread her sleeping bag among our gaggle of teenage girls.[13] Like my parents, these women wanted me to succeed in life.

My mother sent a stash[14] of recipe cards, and letters from her women friends arrived. Sometimes I had to copy handwritten recipes into my new notebook. Some people sent recipes clipped from magazines that featured “cooking for two.”

I tried Peg Bullock’s chicken casserole[15] and re-created my mother’s potato salad. I kept reading and experimenting. Miss Bartow never complained. I suppose it was because she had taught undergraduates for decades. She was used to being patient.

One August evening, I placed a small salmon pie[16] in front of her. Steam rose from the biscuit topping, and the white sauce oozed over the glass dish.[17] Miss Bartow sniffed[18]. The air smelled of celery and butter.

“One of my favorite dishes! from The Joy of Cooking,”she said.

“Page 241,” I chirped, and buttered a biscuit.[19]

Miss Bartow was right. Cooking was like chemistry, and thankfully the women of my church had provided a diligent undergrad with the necessary resources to successfully balance the culinary equation.[20]

Vocabulary

1. sophomore: 大學二年級；housekeeper: 女管家；cottage: 小別墅；Lake Michigan: 密歇根湖，北美洲五大湖之一。

2. ripple: 感覺等擴散。

3. 我草草寫下一個紙條，向她解釋我只會做烙餅、巧克力奇普餅和烤奶酪三明治，但我會盡量做她喜歡的。

4. geologist: 地質學家。

5. 我能記得的地球化學主要就是離子如何共享其電荷以創(chuàng)造其穩(wěn)定位置的。

6.在寫出礦物黃鐵礦（二硫化亞鐵）的化學公式時，我的教授就指出：當離子和硫磺相結合時，它們的電荷會彼此達成平衡。

7. 我覺得自己就像一個正在拼命尋找正離子的負離子。

8. recipe: 菜譜；confusing: 令人迷惑的。

9. 更糟糕的是，為了做一道菜，譬如甘藍卷，我不得不翻查該書的多個地方以參考必要的技術。

10. surrogate: 代理人，代用品；nurture: 養(yǎng)育，照顧。

11. quilt: v. 縫被子。

12. ramble on: 閑聊，漫談。

13. Navajo reservation: 瓦侯保護區(qū)，瓦侯族人口約25萬，維持著放牧的生活方式，是目前美國殘余印地安人中最大的一族；gaggle: 〈口〉散亂的一群。

14. stash: 儲存。

15. casserole: 焙盤菜，砂鍋菜。

16. salmon pie：鮭魚派。

17. 蒸汽從松餅頂端冒出來，還有白色的醬汁從玻璃餐盤中溢出來。Ooze: （濃液等）緩緩流出，滲出。

18. sniff: 以鼻吸氣，嗅。

19. chirp: 尖聲地說，嘖嘖咂嘴；butter: 抹黃油于……上。

20. diligent: 勤奮的；undergrad: 〈口〉大學肄業(yè)生，（尚未取得學位的）大學生；culinary equation: 烹飪方程式。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）