Giannis eagerly tore apart the packaging in which was enclosed his new blender. The cardboard and plastic material was no match for his excitement to finally begin making smoothies at home. In no time at all, the blender was in parts on his countertop.
Sticking out his tongue in concentration, Giannis wondered how the parts went together. The manual was undoubtedly buried somewhere in the pile of shredded packaging on his floor, but it couldn’t be all that complicated, could it? Having never seen a blender before, the only thing Giannis had to go by was the picture of the device that had been on the front of the box. The big cup thing had to go on the bottom thing, so Giannis grabbed those two parts and pressed them together until they seemed to click into place.
The final component of the blender was the power cord. That part he could understand, and soon, the blender was plugged in, standing alone on the counter.
Giannis had never really cooked before. He could make things in the microwave, but he had never used the oven or stove to make himself a meal. The only time those things had gotten any use was when his parents had visited. Now, as he retrieved milk, mangoes, and strawberries from his refrigerator, he realized that he had no idea what he should do with them. Setting these things next to his new blender, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he got to the name he wanted.
“Hey Khris. It’s Giannis.”
“What’s up?”
Giannis looked at the fruits. “Remember how you said that I can making smoothies at home? Do I just put fruit in blender with milk and make it blend, or…?”
Khris laughed. “If it’s a fruit with a peel, you gotta take the peel off first.”
“Oh! With a knife, just cut off the peel!” Giannis would have forgotten about that step if he hadn’t been reminded. “But strawberries don’t have a peel, so just put them in?”
“Take the stems off first. And don’t forget some ice cubes.”
Giannis open his freezer door to get at the ice cube maker. His family’s refrigerator in Greece had not been appointed with such luxurious features, and he still smiled every time he retrieved one of the perfect crystalline cubes from the tray. “Ice cubes. Yeah, I have some. Thanks Khris!” Having learned all he needed, Giannis ended the call, removed the cover on the blender, and dropped in the ice. Now, he had to locate a knife to cut the fruit with.
Looking through a few drawers, he finally found one that contained a chef’s knife. It was a lot bigger than a normal dinner knife, but the skin on the mango looked very thick, so the extra size would be very welcome. Holding the mango down with one large hand so it wouldn’t roll away, Giannis pondered what the most effective technique would be for removing the peel. However, his desire for a homemade smoothie was intensifying by the second, and his ponderance quickly ended. He began to simply cut off the parts of the fruit that were attached to the peel.
Eventually, Giannis ended up with an angular nugget of mango that was about half the size of the original fruit. He cut it up into four smaller pieces and then dropped them into the blender. In doing so, he noticed that his ice cubes had melted. He almost went to get more when he remembered that he still had to take the leaves off the strawberries. After taking his time with the first couple, he became frustrated that a smoothie was still not in his hands, and he used the knife to roughly cut the tops off the rest. These went into the blender on top of the mango.
Not knowing how much milk was necessary, Giannis simply poured in a third of the carton. He retrieved some more ice cubes and put them in as well, then replaced the cover. Now, he was ready to blend.
There were a lot of buttons on the blender. Squinting at the small screen, Giannis read the word “blend”; did that mean it was ready to blend without even hitting a button? He would soon find out. He hit the “start” button and nearly jumped out of his shoes when the blade began to whirr loudly. Regaining his composure, he again hit the button, this time for about twenty seconds. When he stopped, he took a close look at how his smoothie was coming along. It looked very smooth and colorful, much like the ones he got at the smoothie store at the mall. Figuring it was good enough, he located a glass (he knew where those were) and poured the contents of the blender into it.
Giannis was trembling with excitement. If the smoothie worked, he would be able to drink them all the time at home, and not have to pay as much money. He put the glass up to his lips and took a sip.
It was delicious! Very soon, the entire smoothie had been consumed, and Giannis smacked his lips, enjoying the prominent mango flavor. It had been a little watery and a little chunky, but the taste rivaled that of the ones he bought in the mall.
Feeling an incredible lightness in his heart, Giannis wondered if he had enough fruit left to make another.