Food Is Love!

Recipe 2: The First Taste

Dedicated to Golden_Darkness67 and Miss_Stragic

Alice Flonne's POV:

"...sigh...what should I cook today?"

"Huh? What are you saying?" Alex overheard my thoughts and asked me.

"Oh! I-it's nothing! I'm just thinking aloud..." I shyly replied. "Just wait there and I will fetch some food for you."

I then turned to my refrigerator and saw what is left in it. I will not go out of the market to buy some goods until tomorrow morning...so what is left is just onions, garlic, some vegetables and eggs.

Oh yeah...I just cooked giniling and some steamed rice for my lunch earlier. But...for my guest here...I need to be a little bit more scrumptious for him.

I took out some onion and garlic from the refrigerator, and I sliced and diced it...while I took out two eggs, cracked it and collected its yolks in a bowl. Now, I transfer a cup of steamed rice into the wok and added the onion, garlic, and the egg yolks. While I toss the mixture up to make it more delicious, I started to sing a lullaby to spend some time...

"Lalalala...lala...lalalala..."

Well...I inherited that talent, my mother usually does the same...humming while cooking...especially if she is making a large buffet in some occasions like fiestas, birthday parties, Christmas and New Year, or even in every last Sunday of the month...when my father gets his payday. My mother always cooks the most delicious food in town, as compared with me...

"Umm...Alice, can I ask something of you?" Alex's inquiry disrupted my deep thinking.

"Yes, you may do."

"Alice, why are you in a school uniform...and sleeping in a bench in the middle of the afternoon heat?" Alex finally asked me. "You are supposed to be at school, right? Classes will not end before sundown."

His statement snapped my nerve. I stopped from what am I doing right now and looked at him...very angrily...

"HEY MEANIE! WEARING A SCHOOL UNIFORM DOES NOT MEAN I'M A STUDENT?!" I scolded at him. "EXCUSE ME! FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I AM ALREADY GRADUATED IN COLLEGE WITH A DEGREE OF CULINARY ARTS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP! NOW, DON'T TELL ME THAT I DON'T HAVE A RIGHT TO WEAR A SCHOOL UNIFORM, OKAY?!?!"

"Alright! Alright! I understand you!" Alex responded in fear. "I'm just only asking! I'm not intended to desecrate you...all I wanted to say is...umm...you look cute with that...umm...outfit...sorry..."

My face blushed once again with his compliment...without any warning, my anger dissipates...and quickly...I returned to my cooking without saying a response to him.

Within minutes, the egg fried rice is done. I immediately pour out the rice into the plate, and put the giniling on top so that I can be warmed it up a little...

Alex's POV:

"Here you go..." Alice simply put the plate of my lunch in front of me. "Come on, eat up."

The smell of Alice's cooking reached my nostrils...hmm...this is the first time I ever encountered such...delicious smell. For years as a frycook in fast food restaurants, I only smelled patties, chicken and potato strips...being fried to the crisp...the smell of mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, pineapple chunks and vegtable and chives...decorating the round, crispy pizza crust...being roasted to perfection...and the smell of fruits...being squeezed and crushed...to create the sweetest juices in town...nothing more, nothing less.

And now...right in front of me...is a brand new creation...fried rice...colored with the yellowish tanginess of egg yolks...topped with ground pork seasoned with potato and carrot bits, garlic and onion slices...and perhaps...a magic touch.

With a spoon, I carved everything that I got...and carry it into my mouth. There I experienced...a mouthful of indescribable sensations...the Alice's giniling and fried egg rice...is so delicious...that my own definition of such is started to change...from the crispy...and greaseful taste of the fast food...to the tanginess and scrumptiousness that comes from the combination of egg, meat and vegetables...something that I never tasted before...

"Hmmm!!! This is good! I should have more!" I can't stop myself from complimenting the dish...that I tried putting the leftover giniling over a burger bun! Good thing that I have a bundle of it in my bag. I will just get it and I will be on my wa-huh?!?!

"SLAAP!!!" But Alice quickly grabbed my hand, restraining me to do so.

"Huh? What's going on here?"

"It's that...a hamburger?"

"Huh?! No! It's just a bun!" I explained. "I will just put your cooking in-"

"No! You can't!!!" Alice quickly replied. "You can't desecrate my cooking! When I put it on the plate, you must eat it on the plate, and that's it!!!"

"Hey! What's wrong with putting your giniling into a burger bu-"

"Burger, huh? I knew it!" Alice then makes an evil grin towards me. "Well then, get that greasy and dangerous fast food away from me!!!"

"Greasy?! Dangerous?! Excuse me! But in my five years as a frycook in a fast food restaurant, I never saw a customer being hospitalized or dying because of my fast food! In fact, I am making the most delicious and most healthful fast food in town!" Then I offered the "burger". "How about you try it for yourself?!"

"FINE!!!"

Alice snatched away the "burger" from me and take a bite...not knowing that the filling of the "burger" is the giniling that she herself has cooked. She munched...and munched...and munched...and slowly, her anger has turned into contentment...as she savor the taste of the "burger"...

"Hmm...actually, this is not bad!" Alice smiled while commenting on what she is eating right now.

"That's because you are eating the same food that you cooked for me!"

"WHAAAT!!! How could yo-oook!!!" Alice never finished her complaint as she is started to choke. "Oook!! Ple-please...help me...oook!!!"

I ran to her aid...wrap my arms around her stomach...and push it...trying to plug out anything that chokes Alice. The drama lasted for moments until...

"...aaaah...huff...huff..." Alice's breathing becomes normal. "Phew! I owe you one...thanks, Alex!"

Alice smiled brightly at me...as a gratitude from saving her from choking. From that moment, I knew...that I already have her trust...and I have a chance to befriend her.

"Hey! What are you waiting for, Alex? Your lunch's not done yet! Hehehe!!!"