Smiling and chatting as the group walks out of the storage room, they all immediately become excited as standing in front of them is one of the three judges of Home-cooked Miracle, Morgan Durand. Jia Hyson frowns inwardly. Morgan Durand was meant to be the judge on Maddy's side. This side should have been hosted by the nicest judge- Olivia Rivers.
Quickly, Jia Hyson let his discontent go. It's no big deal, he supposes. Even though Olivia was kind hearted, she was certainly not soft, and all three judges were very impartial to anything that wasn't their own taste buds.
In almost every cooking competition, there were always three judges with three types of personalities- the nice one, the cold one and the hot one. Morgan Durand was the cold one. A stern, aristocratic Frenchman with an eye for presentation and high class cuisine. Despite being the oldest at fifty-six, Jia Hyson (not so secretly) found him the most attractive and was quite a fan.
This was probably the main reason why he didn't mind the plot being slightly altered in this manner.
Jia Hyson: 'Ah, my male ice god Morgan! Look at those cold eyes! That slicked back salt and pepper hair! The lines on his face that make him look so severe and terrifying! Such a villainous tyrant!' (*♡∀♡)
Bebe: 'Bebe cannot understand the host's tastes.'
Jia Hyson: 'Let me try to explain this to you simply.'
Bebe:
Jia Hyson: 'Sweet, salty, sour, spicy, icy, bitter- they are all to my taste... Especially if they come with a strong jar of vinegar.' ╮(╯∀╰)╭
Bebe: (╬ಠ益ಠ)
"Welcome home chefs," Morgan Durand's strong French accent reverberated through the room, perfectly in sync with the light and airy voice of Olivia Rivers. Clearly, they had practiced this in order not to disrupt each other. Though while the female judge seems enthusiastic, Morgan seemed downright bored as he surveyed his group. "It seems like we can’t make a miracle out of you yet."
Jia Hyson: 'Aah, even his sneer is cute! Too domineering! Daddy~' ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ )
Bebe: 'Please... please shut up...'
At this point, the duo of judges started explaining the rules. In consideration for the end result, the judges took turns talking, each voice clear and loud enough for the other side to hear as well so nobody missed out. Two hours were provided to make three plates of food befitting the theme. Olivia's side was given the theme of day and Morgan’s was night, making everyone from either side feel the same amount of stress at such vague themes. Jia Hyson, who had mentally prepared to make a dish befitting the theme of day, also wanted to cry. At least the food cupboard will be open so he has the chance to change his mind midway.
"Your time starts... now!"
Everyone rushes to the food storage in a mad dash. Adrian in comparison, runs toward the closest bench and starts frantically writing ideas in the given notepad provided.
"I have no idea what I'm doing," he confesses to the camera who was stalking him, giving it a wry smile, he tilts his head toward the storage area filled with shouting and what sounds like actual physical violence was happening in there. "It's better if I plan it out first then go in when it's less... dangerous."
Morgan Durand, who was still standing in front of the room, watches the model with assessing eyes, a hint of approval in his expression. Olivia, who can see him clearly, slides her way next to her fellow judge. "Someone caught your eyes already? That was fast," She teases before her eyes rest on the person Morgan was looking at, raising her eyes in disbelief, "Adrian Marshall the model? I thought you didn't like him."
"I thought he wouldn't take this competition seriously," Morgan corrects, "I was wrong."
She nods as she continues watching the handsome boy, "Planning is an essential part of cooking, while some people are talented enough to make it on the fly, it is still very good to have a habit like this. He must have some strong mental fortitude."
Jia Hyson: 'ying ying ying I don't know what to do! Bebe save me!'
After crying out in his heart until he was satisfied, Jia Hyson quickly wrote down his ideas. Unfortunately, his special skill - sandwich making- couldn't be shown off here, but with the combination of his past experience of tasting different food and Adrian's skill, there’s no way he would fail in the first round where everyone's skills are just as low as the bar.
'Bebe, bring up the recipe for squid ink pasta.' He orders as he sketches out his final idea feeling confident. Since Bebe can see the finished image in his mind, it makes a noise of appreciation and brings the recipe to the forefront of his mind.
'If there's blue food coloring, Bebe recommends you add a drop or two to make a more vibrant color.' It prompts, getting a little excited.
After writing down the main ingredients he needs, Jia Hyson smiles in satisfaction before running off to the food storage... only to stop just before reaching the area to turn back with his tail between his legs and awkwardly snatch his forgotten notepad with embarrassment.
The cameraman: '...'
Morgan: '...'
Olivia: '...'
The contestants already working on their benches: '...'
Bebe: '... How is your memory so bad?'
Jia Hyson: 'I also don't like this spicy chicken memory! Don't look at me!' ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)
With a renewed determination to win, he quickly grabs the ingredients he needs and runs back to his station to start cooking. The large room was soon filled to the brim with the sounds of sizzling, frying and amateur chefs explaining what they were currently doing with their ingredients to the cameras. Jia Hyson, who had already established his appalling memory, didn't bother to hide it anymore so whenever a camera rolled toward him, they would always see the beautiful man muttering to himself as he constantly checked, rechecked, and checked again the things he wrote in his notepad while cooking his food.
"I see," Olivia giggles as she once again slides to snoop at the other side, "it's not as much as that he's prepared, it's more that his memory isn't very good. He's really very cute isn't he?"
Morgan didn't say anything but the fact that he didn't deny it all, already spoke a lot. In the future, when the season aired to the public and Jia Hyson saw this scene, he was so ecstatic he jumped up and hit his toe on his lover's coffee table.
"Twenty minutes left!"
"Fuuuuuuuccc-" The person behind him swears followed by the sounds of pots and pans falling. Jia Hyson silently agreed with the sentiment but didn't dare look back, too busy worrying about his own dish. He had forgotten to boil the water and is constantly switching between cursing Bebe for not reminding him and begging any god listening to help heat his water faster. Luckily, everything else was going relatively smoothly. His homemade squid ink pasta was ready to be cooked, his salmon was frying and his buttery garlic prawns and squid rings were waiting to be cooked in the last fifteen minute, and the salmon skins were drying in the oven.
Cooking was so stressful! Jia Hyson once again sneers at this world's male lead. This competition was so hard and yet he can still think so greedily about sex with his sister ah? Really, such talent, such confidence!
While Drake Lanzoni was frying up some potato crisps and was excitedly thinking about Adrian's surprise expression when they meet, unknowingly, his true identity was being blackened beyond repair by his own beloved.
"Fifteen minutes!"
"Boil, boil, boil!" Jia Hyson chants frantically, throwing more salt into the pot of water. Once a few bubbles started to pop up, he wasted no time in dumping his freshly made pasta inside. "Cook, cook, cook!"
His salmon was resting and that was pretty much the only thing that was finished, as Jia Hyson rushed to fry, chop and stir like he's never done before. Luckily, now that the tension had reached a fervor pitch, Bebe had decided to be more active in its help, reminding him to check the sauce and making sure nothing was burning. At the very least, it was no longer so mentally demanding on him who has no memory nor attention span.
In the last five minutes, only then could he take a breath and just focus on aesthetics. Twisting the midnight blue pasta into a hill shape, he crunches up the crispy salmon skin and dusts it over so they glittered like stars against the night sky. Jia Hyson can't help but grin proudly at how well it looks before he places a fat piece of salmon on top.
Bebe: 'Why does it look like a pink whale is being swallowed up by a whirlpool?'
Jia Hyson looks a little helpless at the comment. While the bright pink of the salmon complimented very well and accentuated both the juiciness of the fish and the elegance of the star studded squid ink pasta, the salmon he picked was indeed too plump. The weight has caused the little pasta hill to flatten, it really did look like something sinking into the ocean. Not to mention, it took up too much space on the plate, leaving no room to add his prawns and squid.
"Three minutes!"
... he really misses just being a simple writer.
Swearing under his breath, Jia Hyson uses his long legs to sprint towards the shelf of bowls and plates. After scanning them for a moment, he finally picks out a long dark blue rectangular plate to bring back. Instead of three separate plates, why not one large plate to share? Laying the pasta onto the plate, he uses some chopsticks and a fork to manipulate it to form waves, occasionally twirling some pasta here and there to place a little prawn on top with a squid ring around it, they looked like cute little seafood Saturns.
He even went so far as to boast about his little planets in front of the camera like a child seeking praise, unknowingly throwing meng and giving his original mature elegant older brother appearance another critical hit.
Bebe: 'Host, your taste is unexpectedly quite childish.'
Jia Hyson: 'But it's very cute ah! Do you not like it?'
Of course, even though the plating looked charming, the placement of the fat salmon steaks still hasn't been decided. The fatty salmon was the main meat of the dish, and while Adrian was good at cooking red meat, Jia Hyson personally enjoyed seafood and had trained himself to cook a perfectly done fish. If the salmon wasn't on the table, his skill presented on the plate would be cut by half.
"One minute."
In a fit of panic, Jia Hyson grits his teeth and tears up two of the three pieces of salmon into shreds to sprinkle around the dish with the crackling skin. Then stares at what he's done and regrets it almost immediately.
Bitterly, he squeezes a lemon over the end result, adding salt and pepper as well.
"-aaand that's time! Step away from your stations!"
Jia Hyson groans and buries his head in his hands. He really didn't know what he could have done with the fish but clearly, it shouldn't have been what he did. Hopefully, the taste will make up for the messy presentation.
Morgan who had been walking around, silently assessing everyone's works and even quietly asking a few questions, cleared his throat, drawing everyone on this side of the room's attention. "We will be judging the other side first. For now, you may all have a small break, feel free to chat amongst yourselves or go to the monologue room to record anything you want to say."
With an anxious heart, Jia Hyson turns to face the bench behind him. A burly man who was sweating like a pig looked back at him and they exchanged uneasy smiles. "How did you go?" Jia Hyson asks, recalling that the source of a lot of the swearing throughout the cooking time came from this man.
"Shit," The man laughs awkwardly, "totally blanked on the theme, you?"
Jia Hyson laughs as well, after all there was no better way to cultivate a friendship like joking about their mutual failures. "I may have taken the brief a little too literally." He smiles bitterly, taking a step to the side and gesturing to his dish. The man leans over and chuckles at the sight.
"Well, you definitely can't deny the theme I suppose. I get the prawn planets, but what's the other stuff?"
"Salmon." He shrugs not wanting to explain before looking over at the man's dish. "What did you make?"
The man's face instantly turned embarrassed, after all while Jia Hyson's dish looked like it had been finger-painted by a child that gave it a sweet, homely charm, his own meal was...
Jia Hyson: '...'
Bebe: '... you know what, if everyone else's is like this you may actually win.'
"It.." Jia Hyson struggles to find something to say, "Did you also use squid ink to get that color?"
The other man shakes his head, looking even more ashamed, "Didn't occur to me at the time, I just used regular old food coloring."
"Ah, well, if the steak is cooked perfectly and the sauce tastes good, I'm sure you'll be fine," he comforts faintly. In his heart though he can already see the man going home.
Because he made a black steak. With a runny black sauce. Or maybe he made black sauce that ended up staining the steak. And staining the potatoes and the mushrooms and the plate... there was really no color anywhere. It was a little scary.
Jia Hyson: 'I want to write a horror story about this. The protagonist and his friends are captured and is forced to eat this pure black food that tastes like oil and tar, tears and snot stream down their faces as they choke down the food shaped poison. One even vomits but has to lick it up while everyone horrifiedly watches. If despair had a taste then this would be it, and then it's revealed that the meat is actually-'
Bebe, who can see the images in it's twisted host's head: QAQ
Comments (0)
See all