In the nature of things, when one is faced with something burdensome, they feel everything would go well when they get it off their chest, and they feel confident that they won’t be scared after they solve their problems. But once they overcome a crisis, they may trip over another one, which is nothing, compared with the previous one, but never stand up again even though they know that it’s nothing once they go through it.
That was the case with Min-joon. He thought there would be no problem in the kitchen once he solved the Downey issue, but he was wrong. First of all, it was the recipe. Creating a recipe that would thrill Downey and Min-joon himself was different in terms of difficulty.
As for the fried cauliflower that Min-joon made for Downey, he could include it on the menu by simply improving it a bit. However, his goal was not to include it on Rose Island’s New York branch menu.
‘What kind of dish do I want?’
It wasn’t Rachel’s dish he was aiming for, nor was it June’s dish or Dave’s or Mansik Hong’s. It was not their dishes that he had experienced until now. He wanted to make his own dish that combined all the merits of their dishes. He wanted to make such a dish. Maybe that was too big for a chef with cooking level 8 like him.
‘These days, I feel like I’m not controlling the kitchen fast enough.’
From the moment his control of the kitchen was over 70%, there was a marked decrease in his command of the kitchen. Originally, it was easy to get 90 points out of 100 if one studied, but it was not easy to get 100 points. Perfection was not easy for anybody.
And now, Min-joon was in another small seminar for that perfection. It was a seminar hosted by June. At the seminar, June summed up the change of the New York culinary world, the types of spices and recipes that people preferred, and the trend of recipes.
Of course, it wasn’t just June alone who was the speaker. All the participants were chefs or owners of the famed restaurants where people couldn’t eat a slice of bread unless they put their names on the waiting list.
“People are getting more and more used to spices. If you look at the cilantro, for example, customers who used to eat it well in the past complain about its weak scent.”
“Today Americans use the right amount of spices on average from a global perspective. In the past, they didn’t have to use a lot of spices. As a matter of fact, they could not because they could not accept its strong scent.”
“In a way, they have come to use it more freely than before only now. They used it occasionally in the past, but they are now using it very much in cooking today.”
“What’s important is control. If you add more ingredients, you can make the scent stronger, but its match with other flavors will be subtly distorted. It’s not that people are insensitive to the scent and they don’t feel it, but their tolerance has gone up. Do you understand the difference?”
June answered their questions in a calm voice. With the participants nodding as if they understood, someone said suddenly, “I think it would be okay to use jelly as well. You can feel its scent almost like a taste because of its trait. As for the scent, you would not normally feel, you can feel its strong scent if you put it in the jelly.”
“But the problem is that it feels like the taste, not scent. And above all, it’s difficult to blend jelly into the dish, and the process of making it itself is by no means simple. Honestly, I wonder how many of you here mainly deal with jelly dishes.”
Min-joon nodded at her words. He also liked to cook with jelly, but it was by no means easy. The taste of jelly could be completely different if it measured slightly wrong, and the process of dissolving and hardening gelatin, agar, agar, etc. was never simple.
Min-joon turned to the side. There was somebody whose eyes were shining quite a bit because of their mention of jelly. He was Lucas.
Min-joon whispered to him in a calm voice, “How do you like it here?”
“Just awesome!”
It wasn’t simply because of their conversation. Lucas knew many of them. He saw some of them in magazines, and there were some who any American interested in cuisine could know.
The seminar place looked like a banquet hall where only the notables of the culinary world gathered. And it was none other than Min-joon who brought Lucas here. When Min-joon started a new challenge in this land, it was Lucas who took care of him the most. So, he wanted to pay back by sending Lucas an invitation to this seminar.
Shortly after the brief discussion was over, the participants started looking for their acquaintances and exchanged greetings. At first, Min-joon took Lucas and introduced him to those he knew, but he soon learned that he didn’t even have to. There were lots of them who knew Lucas better than him. Although he ruined his career because of the broadcast, he was once the president of a jelly company that once dominated the US market.
When Lucas was talking to the new participants about the beauty of jelly and the people’s growing desire for the scent of jelly, June approached Min-Joon and opened her mouth.
“You look happy.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you are smiling happily.”
“Well, I’m happy indeed if that’s what you really think,” said Min-joon with a smile.
At that moment, she asked something, as if she suddenly thought of it.
“What’s going on with Irregular Lab?”
“Well, so far so good. But it seems they are beginning to show some weakness. In other words, what you and I were worried about.”
“If they already begin to show it, it will get worse over time.”
“Well, let’s wait and see if they can overcome it,” he said, shrugging.
Meanwhile, June glanced at some of the participants. She selected them very carefully. Not all of them were chefs or restaurant owners. Some of them were very rich guys who didn’t know how to use their money but tried to shop around restaurants for good food.
“Don’t you think they are miserable? Those guys over there, I mean.”
“Well. I’m not in a position to judge whether they are miserable or not.”
“Look at their clothes and watches. They cost over $100,000. If they are anxious to stand out like that, it means nobody notices them if they don’t wear luxurious accessories.”
“I’ve heard you mentioning it several times.”
“I want to live a life to the extent that I don’t have to wear luxury goods,” she muttered in a calm voice. He felt she was a bit weird, but he seemed to understand it for some reason.
She said slowly, “I want people to look at me because of my accessories, but because of just myself.”
“Well, I think you’re living such a life already.”
She smiled at his words.
“Thanks.”
***
“Min-joon’s on a roll these days.”
Anderson said in admiration while checking the Star Book. Ella, rolling on the carpet at the moment, jumped up and looked at Anderson.
“What’s up? What happened to Uncle Min-joon?”
“Look at this.”
Anderson showed Ella a picture. In the picture, there was a picture Min-joon posed with several star chefs at the seminar. Of course, Ella didn’t know who they were. She quickly lost interest in it and laid back on the carpet.
“I want to see Uncle Min-joon.”
“He’ll be here soon.”
“When?”
“By the time my baby is born.”
Saying so, he stroked Janet’s swollen stomach next to him. Her baby bump was now noticeable. Because of her baby bump, she was thinking of taking a vacation. Ella raised her body and put her hand over her belly. Then she took off her hand in surprise.
“He’s kicked me!”
“Yeah, I know,” said Janet with a smile.
Ella looked at her belly, as if she felt it was scary or strange, then she reached out. Then she withdrew her hand for fear the baby would kick it.
While she kept doing it repeatedly, Lisa told her in a wary voice, “Ella. Stop it. Don’t bother Janet.”
“I didn’t bother her.”
“It’s okay, Lisa. You can touch it.”
“Did you hear?” balked Ella while pouting.
Lisa was trying to say something to Ella, but she sat down on the sofa next to her, grasping her forehead as if she felt dizzy.
Janet opened her mouth, looking at Lisa anxiously.
“I don’t think I am in a position to say this, but are you having a hard time, Lisa?”
“Well, I’m better now thanks to Marco. I’m not working that hard, compared with what I did in the past.”
“Yeah, I agree. But that doesn’t mean you are not overworking yourself these days. Take care of yourself. Otherwise, you might collapse. Last time you fell, I was wondering if I should call an ambulance.”
“It was good you didn’t. I pulled myself together quickly. It costs a lot to get treatment at the hospital,” Lisa said with a smile.
It was natural that Janet was worried about her. Lisa used to overwork herself as a rule, but recently, it was too clear that she worked too much. She often fell in the kitchen and had bloody noses many times.
To be honest, Janet wondered if she was a workaholic or if she just wanted to push herself too hard. Letting out a sigh, Janet looked at her.
“Please don’t get sick. If you get sick, you won’t be able to achieve all of the things you have in mind.”
“Don’t worry. I’m still young. I’ve nothing to do with things like illness.”
“I don’t really believe you when I look at your pale face.”
Lisa laughed bitterly at Janet’s sneer. She could not get upset because Janet said that out of concern for her health. At that moment, Ella sat on Lisa’s lap and looked up at her with a restless expression.
“Mom, are you sick?”
“No, I’m not. She is just overreacting. Don’t worry.”
“I hate you if you are sick.”
She hugged Lisa tightly.
Lisa patted her head and opened her mouth.
“Mom never gets sick.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m your Mom,” said Lisa with a smile. “I’ve got Ella that I should protect. How can I get sick? So don’t worry. I’ll never get sick if you don’t allow it.”
“I won’t allow it all my life,” Ella replied strongly.
Lisa smiled at her though she was tired at the moment and said, “Well, I won’t get sick all my life, Ella.”
She was really serious about it, but…
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