The Daily Life Of A Foodie In The Office - Volume 1 Chapter 68 Ch68

“Homemade with love. In other words,

I licked the spoon and kept using it.’”

– Spicy Goulash

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In the office, Delilah was watching a short video sent by her sister in the chat group. It was a video of her nephew, Kael, eating his rice with his little action figures around his plate. He was eating and at the same time, talking to his toys, as if they were his little friends.

Delilah was taking a short break after meeting with some employees who wanted to have a talk in regards to their training. Although she did agree with some of them, wanting to choose their own training programme, there were others that she had to reject since it wasn’t applicable with their job description. It had taken her nearly the whole morning to meet up with them and it was not even done. Tired from the meet-ups, she decided to continue the next morning and spend the afternoon in the afternoon to relax…. No, working.

She had gone for an early lunch that morning after the meet-ups. She thought she needed some ‘brain food’ after all those talking. Although it wasn’t much, the kimbap [1] was still satisfying. She had the whole roll to herself, filled with spicy beef, egg, carrots and yellow pickled radish. Compared to sushi, kimbap tasted a bit sweet due to the sesame oil that they were using for the rice and the fillings made it more fulfilling, exploding it more with varieties of flavours; tangy and a bit crunchy from the carrots and radish.

She bought the kimbap at a small shop on her way to work that morning. It was fortunate that the shop opened early at seven o’clock in the morning so she got time to drive over before heading to the office.

After watching the short video, she went on to watch more videos shared by her friend, Stitch. Everyday Stitch would send her a couple of videos via her social media and Delilah would enjoy watching them. There were times that she was also tempted to make the food from the cooking videos. And one of them was the simple no-bake chocolate lava cake. Instead of an oven, it was suggested to use a steamer.

Thinking back, she recalled that her father had been using the steamer at home quite a lot lately. He claimed that it was better to use the steamer to reheat food since it won’t make the food dry, especially those with sauces.

She then rewatched the video once again, memorizing the ingredients that it needed and recalled again that she does have all the ingredients required at home. She then let out a sigh. Even if she has all the required ingredients, she wonders whether she has the energy to make one later. Or whether she wouldn’t be that lazy to make one.

While she was watching the video and at the same time, chatting with Stitch, exchanging video links, she suddenly received a text message from Howard. Curious, she paused her video and swiped open the text message.

She began to frown once she was done reading the text messages. Apparently, he had arranged for an instructor to meet her that afternoon. He gave her an excuse that he wasn’t able to meet the man because he has a gout. And that his gout was acting up. He immediately sends approval to the man to meet Delilah without telling her beforehand.

She let out a sigh of frustration. It was a good thing that she had cleared her afternoon. Or she would have to last minute cancel the meet-ups, which she did not like to do because she doesn’t want to be known as someone who likes to last minute cancel or change plans. Even if it was only once. There was a saying that says, ‘People will always remember the bad things you did and always forget the good things you’ve done.’

She quickly texted Howard back, asking him the details and the reason why the man wanted to meet. It seems that the man wanted to talk about the training that was being offered in the company. But from what Delilah remembered about that specific training module, it was cancelled due to lack of trainers. The trainer who used to teach that specific module had quit the company a couple of years ago, moving to another company.

Delilah sighed in resignation. This is what she dislikes the most where there is a lack of communication. Before he offered the class, he should have asked her whether it was available or not. But then again, that training module was empty for so long that how could he (Howard) not know about it?

Looking at the wall clock near the entrance of their office, she saw that she had less than an hour until the man arrived. She sighed again as she slumped over her table. She was planning to slack all throughout the afternoon. But it seems that supervisor of hers has come and spoiled it.

While waiting for the man to arrive, Delilah began to print out some brochures for the meeting. Instead of driving a potential customer away, she rather ask him to try one of their other training classes and at the same time, offer some of their products for him to buy. Other than training classes, they also offer products related to the training modules.

Soon after, she received a call from Bella, saying that there was a man who was looking for her. Delilah thanked Bella and told her to guide him to the guest sitting area at the lobby and that she will be going down in a short while.

Few minutes later, Delilah found herself sitting across a man, about her age, lanky and tall. He was wearing glasses and a dark blue shirt and brown slacks. His hair was neatly combed back, giving him a slightly carefree look yet smart-looking. He was grinning at Delilah as he watched her reading the papers he had passed to her. Apparently, other than wanting to attend the class, he was also taking the opportunity to apply for a job. Normally, Delilah wouldn’t accept any CVs like this but since he had more or less shoved his CV to her, there was nothing she could do but read. Though, she has a feeling that the man was more likely to come here to ask for a job, rather than to attend a class. And what irked her more was the fact that the man kept bringing up Howard’s name as if he was trying to show that he was close to Howard.

But haha, too bad for you, mister! Howard does not pay for her salary, the company does!

After she finished reading his CV, she placed the papers on the coffee table in front of her and began her questioning. Not interview questions but rather, questions of his expectations about the class that he wanted to enroll and when would he be available and the duration.

She could tell how unenthusiastic he was about the class and silently fumed about how he wasted her time. Visibly, she put a forced smile on her face. And before he could start on another conversation about applying for a job there, Delilah immediately stood up, picked up the brochures that were left on the coffee table and handed them to him. She thanked him for his time and questions and hoped that he will, instead, join any available classes that they offer. She picked up the CV and handed back to him as well, saying that she would not be needing it at the moment. They were not hiring and she suggested for him to send them his CV when they open a vacancy.

And before he could say anything again, Delilah quickly left the room and as she was walking back to her cubicle, she was muttering some curses underneath her breath.

When she arrived at her cubicle, she saw a text message coming in her phone. And when she saw who the sender was, she rolled her eyes and decided to reply to it later. She sat on her chair and began to play her mobile games, trying to calm her mind.

Few minutes before office hours have ended, only then Delilah closes her game and reads the text message from Howard. It seems like he was asking how the ‘interview’ go. This made Delilah feel more annoyed because of the fact that it looks like he knew that the man came over for an interview, not a class. In the end, she just replied that it was alright. She really has no mood to talk with him, playing nice.

After she left the office, she immediately went straight home. Although her mind was still buzzing with irritation as she recalled the ‘waste-of-time’ meeting, she felt her stress fading out when she stepped into her house. She could feel her nose twitching from the tangy smell of fish curry sauce. She went to the kitchen and saw her father cooking at the stove. Beside him on the table was a plate filled with ‘roti’.

He looked behind him when he heard a noise and saw Delilah looking at him. “Welcome home,” he greeted.

Delilah grinned. “I’m home,” she replied as she placed her work bag on the table. She then sat on the dining table, propping her chin on her palm as she watched her father continue cooking. “What are you cooking, dad?” she asked.

“Made some ‘roti’ and fish curry sauce,” he replied.

After a few minutes, he switched off the stove and scooped everything into a big serving bowl. He then carried the plate of ‘roti’ and the big bowl to the dining table.

Delilah immediately got up to fetch another plate and a small bowl for herself. She then returned back to her seat and helped herself to the ‘roti’. She also scooped some sauce into her small bowl for her dipping sauce. She likes how her father made the ‘roti’ crispy. It was soft and smooth to touch; easily torn by hands. Hence, she used her hands to eat, rather than using dining utensils. For ‘roti’, it was usually accompanied with a dipping sauce which was either beef rendang sauce, fish curry sauce or chicken curry sauce. For Delilah, she loved fish curry sauce because it was sour yet spicy, giving a kick to her taste buds.

She tore a piece from the ‘roti’ and dipped it into the small bowl of fish curry sauce. She ate it and there was a burst of flavours exploding in her mouth. The ‘roti’ feels soft yet crispy. Added with the fish curry sauce, the ‘roti’ literally melts in her mouth since it was soaked with the sauce, making it softer. She liked how the sauce mixed beautifully with the ‘roti’ since the ‘roti’ was nearly tasteless, just a hint of sweetness.

The two father-daughter enjoyed eating their meal in silence. After finishing the ‘roti’, Delilah even licked her bowl cleaned. The fact that her father had used fresh fish for the curry made it even more delicious. This is DEE-finitely handmade with love.

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[1] Kimbap – Korean Sushi Roll