Chapter 226 - My coworker is my best teacher (1)

“Have you passed?”

As soon as Min-joon left the office, Janet asked him in a slightly nervous tone.

Instead of replying, he gave her a relaxed smile.

Janet let out a sigh and said, “You failed again.”

“Cheer up. I thought you could make it a moment ago.”

“Well, I’m going to get her approval by all means.”

Although she was already rejected five times, Janet was still determined to impress Rachel.

Her eyes were glaring confidently, suggesting she was going to get her approval by all means.

At that moment, Min-joon said, beaming, “I hope you can get her approval after me.”

“Shut up.”

She sharply snapped and turned to the cooking table. Grinning at her, he headed to the table where Chloe and Martin were waiting for him.

Looking at him, Anderson asked, “Looking at your expression, I guess you have passed, right?”

“Oh, you’re right. I’ve passed it!”

“Wow, congratulations! So, your recipe is finally on the menu?”

Chloe asked with her eyes sparkling.

Min-joon said, turning up his mouth slightly, “It’s going to stay on the menu this Christmas season. If I’m lucky, it might keep staying on the menu for one more season after Christmas.”

“Awesome. How come you can put your recipe on the menu so fast, and that at a three-star restaurant?”

“I think Chef Rachel has really given you a good chance. I’m glad it seems to have paid off. Anderson, are you going to do the same thing?” asked Martin, looking at Anderson.

As if embarrassed by his unexpected question, Anderson cleared his throat and avoided his gaze.

“Well, I’m preparing my own recipe gradually.”

“You have beat Min-joon almost always, but this time, you lost.”

“What do you mean? This is not a win or lose game. Just because you get it done quickly means you are winning the game,” said Anderson in an angry tone.

Martin smiled playfully, waving his head.

“I was kidding. It’s a joke.”

“What has brought you here anyway? If you’re done, please go away.”

“Dang it. Do you think I’m here without any reason? Why are you so mean?”

“Well, my answer depends on whether you are here on business or not.”

When Anderson said that, Min-joon looked at Martin quietly.

If Martin had any business about them, he knew what it was.

As if he was put on the spot, Martin fidgeted with his fingers and looked at them.

“I’ve got some business to talk with you.”

***

“I’m glad you are doing fine, Min-joon.”

“I would like to invite you one of these days. It would have been nice if you had not been so busy at the factory. Oh, I’m sorry to say that.”

“Haha, as you know, I’m blessed because I am busy working during the recession these days.”

“How are your family members doing?”

“Well, there were times when we felt distant toward each other, but we have no problem at all now. Maybe he might not want to express his feelings because he didn’t want to make me worried. I think I have to try more.”

“I think everything will be alright. Lucas is a good person. Jesse and Janet are all nice.”

“Thank you for saying so.”

Min-joon felt Lucas was smiling bitterly on the other side. He smiled faintly, which was hardly seen by Min-joon.

“Lucas, you know what? I’m almost always making jellies these days.”

“That’s a lot of fun. Do you like it? I mean jelly.”

“At first, I was sick and tired of it, but the more I understand it, the more I understand that the world of jelly is quite wide.”

“I think you are finally becoming a perfect cook. As for jelly, it is…”

Lucas lavished praises on the jelly for some time. Although most of what he said was redundant, he mentioned quite a bit of information that Min-joon found helpful to his cooking.

When he hung up the phone, Ella, who had been massaging Lisa’s shoulders for a long time, asked, sticking her head out, “Uncle, who is it?”

“Oh, he’s my friend.”

“Is Jessie your friend?”

“No, Jesse is the daughter of my friend. By the way, were you overhearing my conversation?”

Instead of answering, Ella hid her face behind Lisa’s head. Min-joon smiled bitterly, thinking he had a little stalker fan like her. He then looked at her hands on Lisa’s shoulders, who was busy massaging her mother at the moment. Watching her pressing on her mother’s shoulders with her plump and small hands, he felt her massaging praiseworthy and funny.

“Lisa, do your shoulders feel relaxed?”

“Absolutely. You see my daughter is massaging me now!”

Although she answered gently, she apparently looked tired rather than refreshed.

Of course, she had her daughter massage her because she was tired.

Min-joon asked in an anxious voice, “You must be tired because you are going to do the dough yourself. Why don’t you leave it to your cook or baker?”

“Just like cooking, when it comes to baking, it’s very important for you to make something with your own hands. If you make it with a machine, it’s a different story. But we rely on our hands more than on a machine at my bakery.”

“I respect your mindset, but I’m afraid you might ruin your health.”

“If I massage my Mom like this, she won’t get sick. So, don’t worry, uncle,” Ella replied with a smile. She was a good and pretty child. So, Min-joon seemed to care more about her.

Lisa laughed, putting her hand over Ella’s hand, and said, “That’s right. Thank you for your concern, Min-Joon. But you don’t have to worry. Every mother is always strong.”

“Well, I think they should…”

Min-joon wanted to tell her that all mothers should be strong, not that they were always strong.

He wanted to remind her that the name ‘mother’ involved responsibility, not strength, if it meant they should make their children walk on even if their feet were blistered instead of healing them.

‘Who are you to talk to me like this?’ Min-joon thought to himself.

Lisa was just his coworker. Of course, her daughter Ella regarded him as his real uncle, but it didn’t mean he was qualified to point something out to her. Nobody deserved to do so. Besides, if Ella was with her, nobody, including Min-joon, was supposed to blame her or point something out to her, for parents were supposed to be perfect in front of their kids.

“Yes. Lisa is strong. I still think you had better find a way to make your work a little more comfortable. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Help? Well, as I said earlier, baking takes a lot of a baker’s care. It would be nice if you could introduce someone who is good enough to make the dough for me. But usually, any good qualified man is employed everywhere…”

“Okay. I know a guy who comes to my mind right now. He’s probably in charge of a bakery right now.”

“Well, I can get by anyway.”

“Mom, shall I do it for you? I make bread well.”

Ella stuck her face out to Lisa’s cheek. Lisa pinched her chin gently and smiled.

“All right. Ella, all I want is that you just listen to me well, okay?”

“Okay, Mom.”

“Your hands must hurt. It’s hard, right? Come over here and lie on my lap. It’s time you took a nap.” Ella came up on the sofa and lay down on Lisa’s lap. Looking at Min-joon, she waved her hand and said, “You want to lie down, too?”

“I’m in big trouble if I lie on your Mom’s lap.”

He smiled awkwardly and shook his head. Holding back the urge to nudge her chubby cheek, he stood up and said, “I’m going to the kitchen. There is a lot of stuff my kitchen guys want me to take a look at. Please have a good rest.”

“Oh, sure. Let me take a nap and join you. Give them good coaching,” said Lisa with a smile.

Coaching them? What he referred to was not the cooks, but the demi chefs. They were none other than the men that he coached.

As soon as he got to the kitchen, Havier complained, “Hey, Min-joon, how come you talked so long over the phone?”

“Oh, I was busy with other stuff after hanging up the phone. So, did you get a sense of how to make powder sauce?”

“Yes, I do, but the thing is how to bring out the taste.”

“I think Havier is really not a good fit for molecular cooking. Don’t spend time working with him. Come here and try mine. It’s a jelly made from apricots. I am going to offer it as a separate dish, but I want to serve it with a turkey. What do you think?”

Janet handed out the plate to him. It was the same dishes she always prepared before. Jumbo shrimps cannelloni, braised beef, and turkey. What was different this time was that she cooked the turkey in the sous vide method and put the jelly on top of it.

Janet and Havier, who had been insisting on authentic cuisine in the beginning, had no choice but to turn their attention to molecular cuisine after their dishes were repeatedly rejected by Rachel. They suspected that the reason why she didn’t pass their dishes was because she wanted them to focus on molecular cuisine.

Rachel did not try to tell them clearly why she rejected their dishes. In the end, the only clue that they could get after thinking hard and agonizing for long was Min-joon because he passed her test. And the biggest difference between their dishes and his was in the use of molecular cooking. After all, the solution to their headache was making molecular dishes like Min-joon.

Min-joon could ask them why they wanted to seek his help rather than Rachel, but they felt much more comfortable about him as their teacher because she was really eccentric.

‘Yeah, I know it’s very hard to figure her out.’