The Whipping Turn

Paris - Meet the family

One thing about Jenna having her own key now, was that she could go straight the boys apartment and start dinner. One thing that Jean and Oliver were unsure of, was the dinner provided.

On Wednesday, about ten days after she got back from London, Jenna knew she would beat the boys back to their place. Jean had been called out at 330 that morning and it was bad, which meant a long day, and Oliver had a late training exercise to run.

Jenna decided to make a beef noodle dish. It was a bit of a bastardisation of a couple of cultures but Roland was a successful experimenter and Jenna had learnt a thing or two. Plus it was simple and good as a leftover.

She had not mucked around in, what was obviously, Oliver's kitchen much so she wasn't sure of his pantry staples and grabbed a bunch of korean sauces, some egg noodles and greens like bok choi and broccolini from the large supermarket near the station. Beef stirfry was added as the main component since it worked well with the sauce and she knew the boys liked their red meat. It wasn't a fancy meal but it should be tasty.

The stirfry was frying, the combination of chill, garlic and sesame oil wafting through the kitchen and her Spotify blaring, when she heard the click of the front door and Oliver stepped through.

She turned down the music slightly and called out a hello. The kitchen speaker had seemed vastly under-utilised, having never seen it in action, and Jenna had connected her phone to it earlier. Was that ok? Honestly, she'd never heard a sound from the thing.

"What is that? Is that...noodles?" Oliver had dumped his bag by the bench and was now peering over her shoulder.

"Hey!" Jenna turned slightly and kissed his cheek. She stirred quicky. "Yes, it's beef stirfry with veges and egg noodles."

"Whats the red stuff?"

"Ssamjang. And some BBQ sauce. And a bit of soy."

"Sam...jan."

"It's Korean."

"And it's for us?"

Jenna took the pan off the heat and turned her full attention to Oliver. "Oliver. Are you scared about dinner?"

"Noooo." But he eyed the pan suspiciously. "Whats the green stuff?"

"Baby broccoli and Bok Choi."

"Right. What's playing?"

Jenna looked at Oliver. "That's Florence."

"Florence."

"Jesus, Oli. Do you live under a rock?" she took pity on him, turned down Florence and her own machine, and dished up.

They sat down at the small table and Jenna watched Oliver while he pushed the food it around in his bowl.

"Oli, I get its not what your mother used to make, but try it. You might like it."

Jenna watched as her staunch solider tentatively placed a single piece of beef in his mouth and chewed slowly.

"Didn't you eat foreign foods in the army?" She questioned, taking in her own hungry mouthfuls.

"Not much. On tour there was a lot of rations, but they were based on home-type meals. And basics, like rice. Plus, I've never been to Korea." He grinned across the table at Jenna. "This is not bad though." He shoveled in a bigger, brave mouthful.

"Why'd you stop? The tours."

"Ah, well, some stuff went down on my last tour but mostly I got old and settled down with the love of my life."

Jenna heard the reference to what was obviously something hard and chose to ignore it. Oliver would talk about it if he wanted to. She went with an easier question. "Do you miss it?"