NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20 - Episode 020: Headhunter, Cooking with a Little Girl
Episode 020: Headhunter, Cooking with a Little Girl
“Alright then, see you again!!”
With cheerful farewells, a young man wearing glasses and looking serious left the shop.
It had been a week since his first visit, and he had become a regular at Ack’s shop.
Though his demeanor had softened, his inherent seriousness remained unchanged, and he still didn’t have many friends.
No one at his workplace would imagine that he would come to play with cute monsters at the Fluffy Café.
“Yeah.”
Ack, too, expressed gratitude to the young man who always visited and watched his back as he left.
“Well, I’m off too.”
“See you.”
“Yep.”
And another regular joined in.
It was the craftsman, Clauf.
After the young man with glasses started coming, Clauf also began to show up at the shop occasionally.
Though not as disheveled as the young man, Clauf, with Roll on his knee, would pretend to be nonchalant while petting Roll—a fact Ack was well aware of.
The young man liked Snow, while Clauf favored Roll.
Even though there were only these two customers, it was still a step forward.
“Let’s clean up.”
“I’ll handle it.”
As the sun was about to set, he closed the shop. Since there were only two customers, closing didn’t take much time.
After finishing the cleaning of the shop area, he cooked using the leftover ingredients as a staff meal.
Food should never be wasted. That was also Ack’s policy.
“I want to cook too.”
During dinner, Tina brought up this topic.
Since she didn’t feel like she was contributing much, she probably wanted to increase what she could do, even if just a little.
“We have a day off tomorrow. Want to give it a try?”
“Yeah.”
Ack’s shop was closed for two days a week.
And tomorrow happened to be one of those days.
On holidays, he usually spent leisurely time with Tina and Snow, or went shopping for groceries, making it perfect for teaching cooking.
Since Tina was enthusiastic, he decided to give it a try right away.
However, he wanted to start with something really simple at first.
First, learn how to enjoy cooking together.
Just like with drawing, Ack’s educational policy was to prioritize enjoyment.
“Today, we’re making gyoza.”
“Gyoza?”
“Gyoza is a dish where minced vegetables and meat mixed together, called filling, are wrapped in round dough and then fried. First, let’s make the filling. Help me with that.”
“Got it.”
The first dish Tina would make together with Ack was gyoza.
He chose gyoza because, apart from chopping vegetables finely, it didn’t involve using a knife, and they could have fun making it together.
Since it was dangerous to give Tina a knife right away, he wanted her to get used to cooking first.
“Mix the seasoning, minced meat, and vegetables together.”
“Okay.”
Ack handed Tina a bowl and gave her instructions.
“Mm, mm.”
Tina put minced meat, vegetables, and seasoning in the bowl as instructed and started kneading earnestly with her small hands.
Her figure was earnest and adorable.
Ideally, it would be better to knead quickly so that the heat from the hands wouldn’t transfer too much, but since it was the first time cooking with a child, there was no need to be so strict.
During that time, Ack prepared the dough for wrapping, made gyoza sauce, set up the magic hot plate on the table, and took care of various other preparations.
Since stretching the dough was a bit challenging, this time he had Tina knead the filling and wrap it together.
“It’s good now. Wash your hands.”
“Got it.”
After it had been kneaded enough, they finished, and now it was time to wrap the filling in the dough together.
“You close it like this.”
While showing Tina a sample slowly, Ack wrapped the filling in the gyoza dough.
“It’s difficult.”
“It’s okay to fail.”
At first, Tina struggled to do it well.
“I did it.”
The gyoza Tina wrapped for the first time didn’t close properly, and it had an uneven, irregular shape, unlike Ack’s gyoza at all.
“You did well.”
“Hehe.”
However, Ack praised her without reproach. Tina smiled happily.
If she were scolded every time she failed, she might eventually stop trying new things for fear of being scolded.
To prevent that from happening, for things where it’s okay to fail, he would let her fail as much as she wanted to erase the negative impression of failure.
“It’s fun.”
Every time Tina wrapped one, the misshapen gyoza increased on the hot plate. Nevertheless, they gradually started to take on better shapes.
And with that, smiles multiplied.
*Sizzle*
After arranging them all, he heated up the hot plate. Once the bottom got a nice brown color, he added water and covered it.
After waiting a few more minutes and hearing the sound of dryness starting, he uncovered it.
The gyoza were done.
“You eat it by dipping it in sauce like this. Be careful, it’s hot.”
“Yeah.”
After showing her how to eat it, Tina imitated and dipped the gyoza in sauce before putting it in her mouth.
“!?!”
However, she ended up spitting it out due to its extreme heat.
“Are you okay?”
Handing her a cold drink, Tina took it eagerly to escape the heat and cooled her mouth, avoiding any harm.
“You blow on it first and then eat it slowly.”
“Yeah.”
While dealing with the fallen piece, Ack showed her the example again.
*Blow, chew*
This time, she chewed it properly after letting it cool.
It was still hot. But unlike earlier, she managed to eat it without spitting it out somehow.
The meat juice spread throughout her mouth, harmonizing perfectly with the sauce.
“It’s delicious.”
“Eat plenty.”
“Yeah.”
Seeing Tina’s smiling face, Ack also wore a gentle smile.
The two of them, along with Snow and the others, thoroughly enjoyed the gyoza until they were full.