Chapter 229 - My coworker is my best teacher
Looking back, Kaya often served as the greatest adviser to Min-joon when it came to cooking. She had no other choice. Although Kaya's cooking skills were as good as Min-joon's, she was the best in the world as far as her gastronomic sense was concerned.
When others superficially discussed the pros and cons of a dish after tasting it several times,
Kaya noticed at a moment what was lacking in the dish and what needed to be improved specifically.
When he thought that he could make use of her great gastronomic sense, he could not help but smile. At that moment, Anderson said with a sigh as if he couldn't figure out what he was up to. "I know you're a stupid donkey, but can you stop acting like that in the workplace?"
"Why, is it hard for you?"
"It's been hard for a long time, man."
"Good. It's going to be hard like this even in the future."
Anderson stared at Min-joon sharply. But Min-joon avoided his gaze while whistling.
At that moment, Janet approached and presented a plate to him.
"Try a bite of it."
"Don't you know I have already had a lot today? Kaya would be mad at me if I got fat."
"Let me pay the price for you. So, just try it first. I'm really confident this time."
"You said the same thing every time when you brought me your sample dish."
"But this time, I'm serious."
"I think I heard that, too…"
Min-joon looked at Janet with a suspicious look then looked down as if he could not help it.
Jumbo shrimp cannelloni. Beef braised with vanilla. The turkey was cooked using the sous vide technique before its skin was glazed. After putting them all in his mouth one by one, he nodded with a light smile and said, "Definitely, it tastes much better than the last time. Previously, the turkey tasted rather bland, but not now. It looks like you used something other than the typical honey. Is it pomegranate honey?"
"That's right. Well, it's funny I am giving you grades for guessing the ingredients right. I thought about it while cooking. I realized that I could not control my secret greed while making this. I thought of enhancing its savory texture with a sour flavor as much as possible, and this is the result."
"Yeah. You finally found the answer."
Min-joon smiled at her. She felt through his bright smile that he was sincerely congratulating her on her progress. But she wasn't very used to seeing his expression like that.
So, she glanced away and said in a hard voice, "Thank you for not tipping me off about the recipe. I think it makes more sense to realize it by myself."
Understanding of her own cooking section.
That was the most crucial thing that was lacking in her dish. It wasn't just her. That was the same for Anderson and Havier. They succeeded in making decent dishes, but they lacked the skills of properly balancing the course.
Anderson's carbonara was too burdensome to eat a lot, but it didn't suit the section that would decorate the main course when offered in small amounts. Janet's cooking was the most unbalanced. Shrimp, stuffing, and turkey, it was a plentiful dish with all the right ingredients, but it was not good enough to serve as the main.
But he could not downgrade it as an appetizer. The only workable solution to this was to offer it as the first of the main course.
Besides, it would be much better to make it even more stimulating with the next course in mind. In that respect, Janet's dish right now was flawless as a course.
"I think it's fine this time, Janet. I think you can pass."
"I hope so too."
"Then, you won't bother me anymore?"
"No. I have to come up with a menu for the next season."
"Give me a break, man," Min-joon said with a sullen look.
Only then did she smile faintly and headed to Rachel's office.
Looking to the side, Min-joon saw Havier's reaction. Although he was cheering for Janet, he was full of anxiety at the same time, fearing he might be the last to get Rachel's recognition.
And his anxiety soon became a reality.
When the kitchen door opened again, Janet's plate was empty.
She was smiling in satisfaction.
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"Hey, Anderson. Do you want to die?"
Anderson was in for Kaya's swearing as soon as he went back home.
Anderson looked at her as if he was tired.
With her arms folded, she was staring at him with glaring eyes.
He asked in a weary voice, "What's the matter this time?"
"I heard you told Min-joon that if you were a woman you would hit on him. Did you really say that?"
"I didn't say that. I just said I would kiss him."
"That's what it is. Could you make me feel you're not my rival?"
"Ah, dang it! You guys are the same all the time. Why don't you take my joke as a joke?"
"You are very poor at cracking a joke, right?"
"Well, I can even if I'm poor at it. Do you think I should not even crack a joke? Stop it anyway. Clean up the floor. What the heck… The living room is so dirty."
Anderson grumbled, looking around the living room. There were clothes, kitchen utensils, and snack bags littered all over the living room.
Kaya said sarcastically, "Hey, don't try to speak to me as if you're my boyfriend. They might misunderstand you and I are dating."
"We're roommates, right? I think I can point it out like this as your roommate. Did you forget the contract you made with me?"
"To talk about the contract, I said I would do the cleaning, but I never said that I would do it often."
"Are you going to insist on it like that?"
This time, Anderson opened his eyes sharply and glared at her.
Not to be outdone, she also stared at him fiercely. At that moment, Min-joon hugged her shoulders and led her away.
"Don't quarrel. I don't want to hear you guys yelling at each other as soon as I come back home. I'm tired. I worked for fourteen hours today."
"I know. Why don't you move to a more comfortable restaurant? Rose Island is weird. Most restaurants don't offer a special menu during lunchtime as you know."
"Well, I think we offer a special menu during lunchtime because we've just reopened. Starting next year, we're planning to offer a special menu only during dinner time, so we are going to be more relaxed than now. Now we need more work to improve our skills as well as grow our restaurant more. Anyway, we receive more compensation as a reward."
"I know you're saving almost all that money."
"Well, it's hard for me to spend it…" Said Min-joon, laughing awkwardly.
Average Americans weren't very obsessed with saving. Min-joon felt that they spent all the money they made, so they built credit scores then made a loan from the banks based on their credit scores.
If they saved money due to their uncertainty about the future, it seemed that most of them were confident about their future. Over time, they would have more job careers, along with an increase in their salaries and improvement in their standard of living.
Min-joon said, looking at Kaya, "I know you're not familiar with overconsumption either. Are you using up your money?"
"No, I haven't used all of my savings, but I'm not trying to save. I'm going to buy a good house right away when it's up for auction."
"Oh, does my girlfriend have her own house then?"
"Huh, now you are looking at me differently, are you?"
"I wish I treated you better."
"Just do what you're doing now. That's enough."
"You guys are a joke…" Anderson sighed, shaking his head.
This kind of love stuff was getting on his nerves.
'What an idiot I am! Did I come here to watch them flirting like that?'
Annoyed, Anderson sat on the couch and picked up the TV remote control.
When he stopped it after changing the TV channels several times, he noticed a familiar face on the screen.
"Oh, it's Chloe. Which channel is this?"
"Man, don't you know what channel it is? It's a Grand Chef competition rerun. Look! I just saw your face a moment ago."
"Oh, I feel a bit strange. By the way, my skin looks pretty good on TV."
Anderson fiercely expressed denial when Min-joon spoke.
Kaya glanced at Anderson slightly then looked back at the screen again.
It was pretty early in their relationship when Min-joon and Kaya weren't even close yet.
On the screen, Kaya was seen speaking to Min-joon sharply. Embarrassed, she looked back at Min-joon.
"How could you be so nice to a guy like that?" Asked Min-joon.
"I told you, I respect him as a cook," said Kaya.
"Really? Does that make any sense? At the time, what you saw was one grilled eel. Even if he made a good dish, how could you treat such a rude guy so nicely? Honestly, you were already hooked on him at that time?"
In the end, that was what Min-joon wanted to hear from Kaya. He pressed and stroked her head with his fingertips, grinning at her. She leaned against his arm with a satisfied smile.
While the TV show was going on, Anderson said finally, "I think Havier must feel the same right now as those who failed at that time."
"Havier? Oh, that guy demi chef? What's the matter?"
"Well, he's the only one who has not yet got Rachel's approval of his first recipe. Oh, Anderson and Janet passed her test today."
"Oh yeah. Congratulations!"
Kaya congratulated Anderson half-heartedly. Anderson didn't respond. In fact, he didn't expect her heartfelt congratulations from the beginning.
Min-joon put his arm around her shoulder and said, "Sometimes, I wish you were in the same hotel kitchen as me because I learn a lot while working with my coworkers as a demi chef. I would like to learn from you, Kaya. I mean your cooking world."
"Well, you can learn from me here at home, right?"
"Cooking tools are not enough. So, I feel frustrated sometimes."
At that moment, Anderson cut in and looked at them in an irritated expression, "I don't know anything else, but why don't you teach me how to massage my hands and feet?"