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 Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2024 7:02 pm
Mel sighed at the dish she managed to put together for the class. The assignment was “beef wellington” but she somehow managed to make a large and in charge, overly fancified pig in a blanket. Or cow in a blanket, she supposed; it was beef, after all.
It wasn’t actually that bad. Even her teacher had said so, but she was her own worst critic when it came to cooking (and a lot of other things, but that was a whole other can of worms). To top that off, she hated to waste food, so whether or not it turned out how it was supposed to, provided it didn’t make her throw up then she forced herself to eat it. Or as much of it as possible before it finally went bad, which usually meant eighty to ninety percent of the dish.
It was a good thing she worked out regularly.
Sighing, she glanced over at her neighbor’s finished dish, and then at her neighbor. “Yours looks really good,” she said, managing a small, still friendly smile.
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Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2024 7:25 pm
Cooking was something she'd always loved and Mahari had been learning to cook more American foods as well as foods from elsewhere, slowly but surely, and she had made a good dent in this self imposed mission. However, she wanted to make even more things, to broaden her own horizons in terms of food, and so she had signed up for a cooking class not that long ago.
The first few classes were good, all dishes she'd not made before, today was another dish she'd never made adn she had done well. Not as well as she'd hoped but it wasn't bad at all either. It was all about how cooked the meat was and her's was a bit too done. She hadn't exactly liked cooking with beef, and was planning to ask if she could sub in another meat, because her family didn't eat beef. Changing the meat used would also chaneg the cooking and perhaps the tempature as well. All things she'd need to ask about - after class.
Looking over to the one poraising her Mahari nodded slowly. "It came out well enough ,the meat is a bit too done. I think I will try it again but perhaps with another meat." She spoke softly, smiling at the blond.
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Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2024 7:41 pm
”It’s a tricky sucker,” said the blonde with a little wrinkle of her nose. It was clear that she was trying to work past her frustration at the failed dish, and it was mostly working. It helped to have someone friendly to chat with, at least.
Glancing back at her own dish, hers had the same issue, as well as a few others that the teacher had pointed out. She didn’t normally rush through things or skip steps in prep, or even go against anything the teacher said just because she had her own plans or ideas for a dish, but somehow she managed to also have the dreaded soggy bottom.
No sense in dwelling on it for too long and ruining a chance at a pleasant conversation. Who knows? She might even manage to make a new friend. Turning back to her neighbor, she proceeded to ask, “If not beef, though, what would you use? Chicken, maybe? Pork?”
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 1:26 pm
"I was thinking lamb, I don't think it would work with chicken, but lamb might work. We don't eat pork or beef in my home." It was something she'd never even cooked with and wondered if that wasn't part of why she'd messed up and had it come out well done. She didn't think a white meat would work though for this dish but a red meat, like lamb, should work.
"I'm thinking of asking the instructor after class what she thinks of lamb instead, and what I should adjust for as far as time and tempature." Assuming that would make a difference, though she hoped it wouldn't be too big of a difference.
"I should have told our instructor at the start that anything using beef or pork I'd need an alternative recipie for, which includes a different protine even if I can make it here the correct way it won't work at home." No one would touch it and none of her families friends would either, as nearly all of them were hindi as well.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 6:11 pm
”Ooh, lamb! Forgot about that one.” She didn’t cook too much lamb, actually, which was probably why. She enjoyed it just fine, but she just preferred beef. Mel glanced over to where their instructor was; she still had about half the class to comment and critique. “That’ll probably be another fifteen minutes or something,” she offered a rough estimate.
She had some questions of her own, mainly going into specifics of what she did wrong. She would be ready with her notebook and pencil this time, so she could jot it down. If she pared back the amount of ingredients maybe she could manage to make a bit-sized version that would hopefully be harder to ruin. As a bonus, because it’s smaller, if she did fail it would be less failed meals for her to eat.
“I’m Mel, by the way.” Smiling, she extended her hand to complete her greeting. “Even if I did completely butcher this recipe, I’m not a total novice in the kitchen.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 6:34 pm
Taking the offered hand, shaking it, she smiled. "Mahari, and I'm not a novice either. I cook a lot for my family, I'm just trying to find new things to introduce everyone to." Especially the one night a week when everyone gathered to eat a meal together. It was really a massive family event every week, which meant a lot of cooking was done, and to introduce new options was something Mahari wanted to bring to the table for everyone.
"I think I messed up as well this time, I'm not used to cooking beef." She never cooked it because it was something her family didn't eat, along with pork, but she knew how to make lamb and chicken as well as various kinds of fish.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 7:09 pm
”Nice to meet you! And I just love food and cooking in general, so I do it for me. But I do love to share!” She shifted in her seat so she was more facing Mahari as opposed to her ruined dish. She was all smiles now having met someone who she seemed to have at least one very important commonality with.
“My family’s all out of town so I mostly cook for my friends and coworkers.” She didn’t let on that being away from her family was quite a bummer for her, but she had a pretty good life here in DC and couldn’t see herself moving back home at this point. At least not for the foreseeable future.
On her comment about her dish’s outcome, Mel looked over at it curiously. “Looks better than mine, at least.” Which she hoped sounded like the compliment she meant for it to be.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 7:19 pm
"Thank you, I'm glad mine looks good even if it is over cooked." She knew it was, didn't need their instructor to tell her that, but she'd been told as much as well. "That's good, that you like to share with coworkers and friends. I'm sure they enjoy it." Maybe she should do that and cook for some of her own co-workers? She was certain some of them would very much enjoy some of the dishes she could bring in.
"What types of food do you like, any particular country or maybe one you want to try dishes from?" Mahari very much wanted to try asian food, authentic, and learn to make some of the dishes as well. She was hoping they'd learn that while here, a lot of the dishes were heavy in vegetables as well and that was healthy and she did try for healthy dishes for ehr family.
"I'm hoping we learn some asian dishes myself." Watching as the instructor was going over someone elses work, it seemed they'd done very well, and the amount of people needing review was dwindling slowish...soon everyone would be done and than she could question their instructor.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 7:40 pm
”Korean dishes, actually,” she said while at the same time pushing down the thoughts surrounding the reason why that was the case, “or yeah, Asian dishes in general. I love pad thai, for instance, and pho. Oh, and I have a friend whose Vietnamese egg rolls are to die for. There’s also some Filipino dishes that are interesting. They have this peanut butter based soup, for one, and also a blood soup that I’m curious about.”
She could go on forever, really, but she stopped herself. One-sided conversations weren’t as fun, after all.
Glancing over at the instructor, she was just about at the end of the line, so she nodded toward the front of the class. “Looks like she’s finishing up faster than I thought. Last time we had to get in line to ask her any additional questions. She might do that again, so just have your notebook handy in case we have to move.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 7:47 pm
"Korean dishes...that does seem popular now." It seemed that in recent years Korean culture was very popular, and before that it had been Japanese she thought. "I'll pass on the blood soup but the peanut butter one sounds...intereting." She was hoping to learn a lot of noodle dishes from asia personally...though Thai food also sounded good. Vietnamese wasn't one she'd thought of but that was another country as well.
"Of course, I remember the last time when people went up with questions." Grabbing for her notebook Mahari got herself ready to jump towards the desak and ask the instructor questions.
"Perhaps we can exchange numbers after this and meet up...to try some food around the city?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 7:55 pm
”Yeah! I’ve got a Notes page pinned on my phone with a list of a bunch of dishes I wanna try from all over the place. Slowly working my way down it, but everyone who knows me knows I love recommendations so the list just keeps growing.” She laughed lightly at that, her cheeks turning a faint pink at the admission. It was nothing to be ashamed of, and she certainly wasn’t, but some people might find it excessive.
When Mahari grabbed her notebook, Mel glanced again toward the instruction and saw that she was now making her way to the front of the class again. Mel grabbed her notebook and pen at that point as well, and got ready to hop into the queue alongside her new friend.
At the offer of exchanging contact information, Mel beamed and gave an enthusiastic nod of her head. “Definitely!”
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 8:03 pm
"I agree, recommendations are good." Or, in her case just smelling the foods her co-workers brought in for lunch. She would, every time, ask what they had and ask for recipies. It was well known in the hospital pharmacy that Mahari would ask for recipies and compliment the smells of what everyone brought in. If beef or pork was inti she'd always find a way to use something else and present it to her family for everyone to try. Most of the time it all went off well, with very few failures, especially the children in her famiyl - always so willing to be adventerous with their food!
Grabbing her pen as she stood up, as their instructor approached her desk, Mahari was ready to go. "Once we've had our questions asked we can exchange information on the way out. I think we could enjoy exploring the cities food options together."
And the instructor was there - at the desk. Mahari was hurrying over, motioning for Mel to follow her. "Come on, let's go." Smiling at her the other.
(FIN)
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