"The store on the corner has new owners. I think they're Chinese," Mom said, pointing to the sign in the window.

Inside the store, I was surprised to see Pham, the new boy at school. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I live upstairs," Pham said. "This is our store." He was helping his father stock shelves and stopped to take me for a tour. He showed me all the different foods. "On Tuesdays, we make fresh tofu," he said proudly. "You can come and watch."

Now, if you're a kid like me, you probably never heard of tofu. Well, I learned a lot from my new friend Pham. Let me clue you in…

I couldn't wait for Tuesday to come around and right after school, I ran to the store. Pham said they were doing an experiment with a new type of soybean. I wondered what kind of experiment they could do with a tiny, yellow round bean, the size of a pea.

First, Pham's father and mother soaked the soybeans the night before. Then they cooked the beans and strained them to make milk. Afterward, they curdled the milk to make tofu. It was amazing. When it formed, tofu looked like a blocks of cottage cheese.

Mom really got excited about cooking healthy meals when she saw all the fresh vegetables and dried mushrooms in Pham's store. That's when we became vegetarians.

Mom and I went to the library to find some vegetarian recipes. She discovered books on Asian cooking. "Do you know that tofu was invented in China thousands of years ago?" she said excitedly. "Then it spread through Asia."

"We can experiment with vegetarian cooking from all over the world," Mom said. "Vegetarians are people like us but they do not eat meat. They eat vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and beans to keep healthy."

By reading, I uncovered that soybeans are so special they could make world hunger go away in a short time if people would care to plant them. The soybean is a protein powerhouse with calcium to help bones grow strong.

There are so many things a person can make from soybeans: soymilk, bean curd, soybean oil, and soy flour. And it's fun to grow bean sprouts on your windowsill, to put into a salad.

Now Mom uses tofu in place of eggs, cheese and meat. She makes tofu subs for lunch or tofu stir fry. Last Sunday we made "shish kebobs" with pineapple, tomato, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and marinated tofu.

For desert, Pham and I baked Tofu Chocolate Chip cookies. Here is our recipe:

Tofu Chocolate Chip Cookies

1½ cups of whole wheat pastry flour
¾ tsp baking powder
6 oz of carob or chocolate chips
½ cup of chopped nuts
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ pound soft tofu
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, chocolate and nuts. In a blender combine sugar, oil, tofu and vanilla. Mix the liquid with the dry ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto an oiled cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown.