Absinthe

I swear to God Jiwoo was hopeless. There's nothing I hate more in this world than unnecessary drama, and he was drama personified. Ergo, I hated him.

Wasn't he the one who wanted to be friends? And weren't we both in our 30s? What's the big deal about giving each other advice? The more I thought about the whole thing, the more annoyed I got.

I shrugged and decided to let it go. The rest of the day was a blur, like every other day we had spent so far in Chef Maxwell's course. The only difference was that I could feel some unexplainable tension in the air.

It couldn't possibly have been the heat because the air conditioner was set at 20 degrees, which was cool enough. And yet, I could see beads of sweat trickling down Nico's forehead. I could also hear the steady tapping of Vivi's foot against the wooden paneled floor. And Jiwoo was pretty much staring into nothingness.

The next thing I knew, I was already in the kitchen for our daily OJT.

"Throw this garbage away!" shouted Chef Karl.

I was already on the verge of crying because I had no idea what was wrong with the crab meat I had prepared. And to think that it was the 7th time that my crab meat was getting chucked into the bin.

"Sorry, Chef," I muttered. "If you can just let me know what's wrong—"

"Get the fuck out of here if you don't know what you're doing!"

I felt Jiwoo's hand on my wrist as he dragged me back into our corner.

"Smell this," he said, gently lifting the plate against my nose. "You need to blanch this for about 2 to 3 minutes to completely remove the briny smell. Customers with sensitive taste buds and nostrils can detect this from a mile off."

I looked back at Jiwoo, my eyes tearing up. I had washed the crab meat thoroughly, but he was right: there were traces of its briny odor left. It was faint, but it was still present.

"Thank you," I murmured.

Jiwoo ruffled my hair. "I'm sorry about earlier. It must be the lack of sleep." He then grinned at me, but I wasn't ready to forgive him yet. I mean, yes, he helped me with the crab meat issue, but it didn't erase the fact that he had been a total jerk earlier.

"Service!" I heard the head chef shout. We all looked and saw Vivi gleaming in delight as her Cantonese fried noodles were approved for serving.

two," Jiwoo said, smiling in

approved for use, and afterward, I

crispy yet melted in your mouth. I don't really know how she did it, but it was the best siopao I had ever tasted. Her Cantonese fried noodles were nothing short of amazing, too. They were spicy and sweet

knew he really was deep inside, and both Vivi and Nico didn't seem as nervous and agitated as

Chef Maxwell sent someone

two and a half hours to prepare our dish that will include all of the flavors we had identified

the

sole fillets, charring some tarragon, and incorporating that charred tarragon scent into the fish. Next, I grilled the soles on high heat to caramelize their outer layer before adding

some white wine vinegar and added some diced shallots, spring onions, horseradish, cucumbers, and a few oysters. When I was happy with the taste, I

finished with his as

those damned éclairs. Otherwise, he would fail, and I won't be seeing his handsome face

time's up!" declared Chef Maxwell.

went straight to Nico's station and

soy sauce with apple puree and sprouting broccoli. I incorporated the flavors of pork fat,

Maxwell took a bite and chewed it for what seemed like

"And the seasoning?"

and

what you got wrong. The flavor paste I gave you had white pepper instead of black. Good job, though. You have identified all the flavors except

pass? Did we have to get everything perfectly? Or were mistakes like Nico's acceptable? God, I was getting more and more nervous

to

strong presence of roasted smells

tasted the dish, and again, he took his time before

sultanas in it. While the two are identical, there is a slight difference in their acidity and

to my station next, and boy was I sweating bullets. After I explained

subtle and absolutely hard to identify, especially when combined with other strong flavors. That is why it's paired perfectly with this grilled sole. Very impressive, BJ! I am very proud of you. However, I believe the breadcrumbs that you used are from

I nodded.