Turning on the laptop, she sat comfortably on the chair. The instant she was connected to the net, the alarm that signaled that she had an email. She looked hopeful and was not disappointed to see whom it is from.
It was from Jaguar Chen.
“You would not like this, but you should see this.” The message read and it had an attachment.
Smile squinted while looking at the attachment and she suddenly turned into a raging mad woman, and threw her laptop on the floor. She glared at broken gadget and a moment later, smiled and laughed hysterically.
She had quickly devised a plan.
========================================================
It’s a bright Saturday morning and yet, Reina was home alone. Sherwin had gone out of town for a meeting with another client yesterday and stayed there overnight. He was due to come home late afternoon today.
Reina had just finished watching a cooking show. She was very fond of watching these shows, however, she doesn’t seem to have the knack for cooking. It is always either undercooked or overcooked and she would often end up having fast food delivered to her house.
This time was different, though. After watching the show, she had an impulse to go to the kitchen and find something to cook.
She smiled. Now she had found a way to repay Sherwin’s kindness and gentleness a few nights ago.
She shook off her thoughts about that night and went to the kitchen. She opened the fridge but to her dismay, there was nothing inside that she can cook. She closed the fridge door, a bit disappointed.
“How can I thank him now?” she thought. “I can’t very well cook, much less recognize the stuff they put in the food.”
Her face suddenly brightened, “This calls for an emergency.”
With that, she dashed to get her phone and dialed Chrissie’s number. Her best friend had the talent for cooking.
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Chrissie was standing at the grocery entrance waiting for Reina to arrive. She looked lovely in her all-white ensemble. A mixture of anticipation and excitement was evident on her face.
It’s been a while since they saw each other and she missed Reina, too.
Minutes later, Reina was seen running and puffing toward her. Looking like a harassed princess in pink separates.
“Chris!!” Reina screamed 50 ft. away from her.
Chrissie smiled and waved.
Reina hasn’t changed one bit.
The women hugged each other tightly and laughed and went inside. They grabbed a cart and went.
“So, tell me again,” Chrissie looked at her friend. “You called me just because you needed my help on how to cook and what to cook.”
Reina nodded, not looking at her friend.
“And since when did Reina Yang cook?” inquired Chrissie.
“Since today?” Reina replied.
“Hmmm… Why the sudden interest in concocting something delectable?” Chrissie pressed, a teasing gleam in her eyes, “I bet it has to do something with someone equally scrumptious like the former dorky turned hottie we know… like my cousin-in-law!”
“Shut up, Chrissie! By the way, how’s Matt?” Reina asked to divert the topic. Her plan worked as Chrissie Yan-Li began to blab and gush about her oh-so-sweet-and-thoughtful-and-wonderful-and-sexy-the-list-grows-longer husband.
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Reina and Chrissie went back to the bungalow as soon as they finished buying the ingredients. Since they were pressed for time, they had decided to cook relatively fast, easy and yet sumptuous food that could be finished in an hour or less. They prepared a full meal with appetizer and desert.
For starters, they made a salad from lettuce, chives, olives, chopped onions and garlic and cherry tomatoes and dressed in a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil. They also chose to steam a large fish and made a homemade mayo for the dip.
Reina watched as Chrissie took out the blender and put an egg yolk in it with a dash of pepper and a pinch of salt.
“Now,” Chrissie said as she turned it on. “Make sure to mix this really well until you have an emulsion before dropping in the basil, and mix it again.”
Chrissie closed the lid and pushed the button again to ensure that the basil is properly distributed. While mixing, she opened the top of the lid and slowly poured in the olive oil.
“Always remember not to mix everything all at once,” Chrissie instructed Reina.
“Why?” Reina tilted her head and asked.
“Look, see how well it blends together with the yolk mixture?” Chrissie pointed out.
“Uh-huh,” Reina nodded.
“If you mix them all together at once, after a few minutes, the olive oil will separate from the yolk. But if you slowly pour it in while mixing the yolk, it will have a nice consistency, like this,” Chrissie turned off the blender.
“Ohh!! So how much oil should I pour in? And how long do I mix it?” Reina asked while pouring the mayo into a small bowl.
“It actually depends on you,” Chrissie replied while washing her hands. “If you like the consistency to be light, then just pour a little and blend it for a couple of seconds, but if you want it thicker, more oil and about a minute or two on the blender.”
“Right!” Reina mentally recorded it in her head.
Now they are onto the pasta. They boiled a pot of water while steaming the fish.
Reina had just started to saut the garlic and onions when they both heard a car approaching and they stiffened. Reina ran to the front window to check who it was. Her eyes widened when she saw it was Sherwin slowly turning up the curve.
She panicked.
“Oh my God!” she scurried back to the kitchen and informed Chrissie that Sherwin is home.
“Chris, I’m sorry but you have to go out,” Reina was almost breathless.
“I know…but the sauce…” Chrissie hesitated.
Reina was shoving her out the back door. “You already told me what to do and I can handle it.”
Chrissie looked doubtful. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes…now, go!” and shooed Chrissie out.
She breathed deeply and composed herself. She walked back the stove and asked herself, “Now, what’s next?”
She checked the other pot if the water was boiling. After which, she dumped a spoonful of salt and submerged the noodles in it. She took a ladle and mixed the noodles.
Then she tried to recall Chrissie’s instructions for the sauce and actually did a pretty good job. The sauce smelled wonderful and tasted fine.
“Not bad Raine, not bad,” she convinced herself.
She then stretched her back. “Oww…my back hurts! I never thought cooking could be very tiring!” So, she went to find a chair and sat on it while waiting for the noodles to get ready.
She found a magazine and decided to read. However, she got absorbed in reading that she forgot the noodles
Reina didn’t realize this until she smelled something burning and remembered she was cooking! She ran into the kitchen quickly turned off the stove but it was too late.
The noodles were perfectly burnt!
Reina was mortified! Cooking the noodles was very simple and yet, she could not do it! Now what? They can’t have just the sauce and it’ll take a few more minutes to cook the noodles again. She felt so disheartened. All her hard work turned to nothing. She sat back on the chair and covered her face and sobbed.
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Chrissie never really left the vicinity and was watching Reina, well, it was more like spying on her. She was talking to her husband while doing all the spying.
“It was really funny when Rain called,” she told Matthew. “And all she wanted was for me to teach her how to cook!” Chrissie laughed.
“Oh, oh, wait!” Chrissie told Matt. “The food burnt!”
“What do you mean, how?” Chrissie asked. “Of course, Reina doesn’t know how to cook and she had to push me out the back door because your cousin arrived.”
“He doesn’t know. It’s a surprise.” Chrissie explained. “I gotta go. I can’t take this anymore, with Reina crying and all.”
“Love you!” she ended her call and continued to watch her friend.
But little did Chrissie know, her husband Matthew, called Sherwin.
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Sherwin had just parked his car but still did not get out. He knows Reina’s home because all the lights in the house are on. He smiled as he remembered how she looked the night he brought her home.
Sherwin stayed in his car a good 15 minutes in memory lane before going out and unloading. His phone rang and Matthew’s name appeared on the display.
“Yup?” he answered. “I’m good. I just got home.”
“Hey man!” Matthew said. “I heard you built a new house and it’s the same as the house we had in Thailand.”
…