Figuring Out Life*

2 | Two Steps Forward

CHAPTER 2

Two Steps Forward

Amused.

"Shreya," I heard Mina called me.

I turned back around and walked with her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I think I had a weird interaction with Karthik," I said.

"It looked pretty normal to me," she said.

"But didn't he look not annoyed?" I asked.

"Why would he look annoyed? He's always happy when he's annoying you," she said.

"True... But he looked happy because I insulted him this time," I said.

"Hmm... That is weird. Maybe he's a masochist?" she suggested.

"Maybe," I chuckled. "I'm gonna eat lunch, then work on our presentation in the library. Wanna join?"

"Can't. I've got work today, but I'll send you what I've looked up so far later tonight," she said with a little guilty smile.

I gave her a genuine smile, "Yeah, that's alright. See you next week."

"See you."

As she left, I felt a pang of jealousy. I wondered when I would start working too.

---

A week later, the practical class started and I was a little nervous. I mean, I was always nervous, but that was just the regular I'm-not-the-best-at-this-why-did-I-choose-this-oh-it's-too-late-to-change-course-now nervousness. This time, I was nervous that the plan I made to get through this class may fail. I didn't exactly know what would happen then, but I knew it would be bad.

After the teacher checked my workplan, the class started as usual. We went to the pantry, prepared ingredients, and weighed everything after each process. The cool thing about today is we got to use the vacuum machine and the combi oven to sous vide our food.

And so far so good. The couscous was being cooled, and the sauce was simmering on the stove for ten minutes. So as I waited, I started to clean used bowls and utensils. Clean as you go, as they say. Just then the teacher came to my bench and asked, "How are things going?"

"The couscous is cooling and the sauce is cooking. I'm just cleaning until the sauce is done," I said.

"What about the lamb, did you sear-" she stopped talking as her eyes were directed to the unopened pack of diced lamb next to the seasoning and oil I had weighed.

She took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth, "You need to sear the meat and cool it before the meat and sauce can be packed in the vacuum bag. You can clean after all of that is done. Okay?"

"Yes, chef," I said, not daring to look at her face as I rinsed my soapy hands.

After I did what the chef said--individually portioned the lamb and the sauce in a bag, vacuum sealed them, and placed them in the combi-oven--there was only about an hour and a half left of the class. Just enough time for everything to be cooked and chilled, combined, then put in the microwave to check how long it needs to reheat. I ended up wasting a little more time waiting for my couscous to be more pliable since I over-cooled them. But it's okay since I made it with just enough time to, of course, clean everything.

When I gave the teacher a plate of the reheated food, she tasted it and said, "It's good. The lamb is soft, the couscous is a little clumped up, maybe take it out of the blaster sooner. The sauce has a good consistency. It's good. But your time management is just... Please be more mindful of that, okay?"