The Daily Life Of A Foodie In The Office - Volume 1 Chapter 75 Ch75

“TV cookery is very like internet p*rn,

The overwhelming majority of its audience will never get

to act out what’s happening on screen.”

– Skint Foodie

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It has been a couple of months since Delilah and her cousins have prepared for their trip to Japan. And tomorrow morning will be the day they will fly off.

The night before the day they take off, Delilah had been checking her things, crossing off her checklist on the items that she had planned to bring. She did not want to bring much since they would be moving out of their BnB [1] after four nights to another place. She did not want to drag a large suitcase all the way to the station and all over the place. She decided to bring only the necessities; a couple of pants, a few shirts and undergarments. As for a coat, since they will be going during the winter season, she needed one. Though, she doesn’t own one, luckily, her friend was kind enough to lend her one. And it was also fortunate that they have the same size too.

Once she was done with all the packing, she went to sleep, hoping that things will go well tomorrow.

Three hours before take-off, Delilah was already awake and all done with everything. After saying goodbye to her father and sister, she went to the airport with her brother. Her father and sister couldn’t send her off at the airport since it was a working day so only her older brother was available. Bryson was fortunate enough to have a lenient boss who allowed him to take a couple of hours off in the morning to send Delilah to the airport. It helped too when his boss was their aunt.

Few minutes later, they arrived at the airport. Bryson dropped her at the airport entrance where the departure hall was and told her that he will go and see her later since he needs to park the car. Delilah nodded and went to the trunk of the car to grab her luggage and backpack.

After her brother had driven off, headed towards the designated parking lot, Delilah wheeled her luggage, going straight for the entrance, with her backpack hoisted up on her shoulder. While walking, she grabbed her phone from her pocket and immediately checked her text messages to see whether Shay or Farah had texted her.

After a quick scroll, it seems like there was none. So, she shot them a text message, instead, asking whether they had arrived or not.

Inside, there were many people as children ran around, playing with each other, young a.d.u.l.ts standing as they talked among themselves, their loud voices contributing to the noisy din of the airport. There were also elderly people who were chatting while sitting down. Occasionally, there would be some flight attendants walking, heading towards the departure area, with their similar small luggage wheeled behind them.

While waiting for their reply, Delilah looked around for an empty seat. She doesn’t want to stand too long lest she got tired.

Seeing an empty spot beside an elderly couple, she quickly walked over and sat down. Returning a smile to the elderly couple beside her, she pulled her luggage close to her and took off her backpack, placing it beside her luggage on the floor.

Just as she was about to check her phone again, a text message just arrived. It was from Shay, telling her that she was about to arrive in a few minutes.

Delilah quickly replied, asking what about Farah?

Shay replied with an ‘I don’t know.’.

Delilah could only sigh.

A couple of minutes later, Bryson arrived with both of his hands tucked in his pockets. He looked around first before standing before Delilah. “Where’s Farah and Shay?” he asked.

Delilah shrugged. “Shay said that she will arrive in a few minutes. I don’t know about Farah. She hasn’t replied yet to my text,” she answered.

Just then, a dark-haired woman with glasses rushed over to them. And when she stood before the two siblings, she was breathing hard as if she had been running. She looked like she was about to kneeled over as she bent her body, her hands on her knees. Behind her stood a medium sized luggage. Apparently, she had been running, dragging the luggage behind her. It was fortunate that the luggage had wheels or she would become more tired trying to carry the luggage.

Both Delilah and Bryson turned around and were amusingly surprised to see that it was Farah. “Why are you so tired?” Delilah asked with a laugh.

Farah let out a long breath before standing up straight. “Feck!” she cursed out loud, not noticing the shocked and disapproving look from the elderly couple beside Delilah. “I thought I was late so I ran!”

Delilah and Bryson both laughed. “Who dropped you here?” Bryson asked.

“Hector dropped me here. That dem brother of mine woke up late. That’s why I was late!” Farah fumed, her hands on her h.i.p.s.

Bryson elbowed her, silently warning her to stop cursing. Farah frowned at first, wondering why he kept elbowing her. She then followed his gaze to the elderly couple, who were still looking at her with a reproving look and began to flushed red. She bowed her head many times, apologizing for her cursed words.

The two siblings stifled their laughter at the sight of Farah apologizing, looking away as they hid their sniggering from the latter.

After the elderly couple looked away, having their own private conversation, Farah turned away from them and saw Delilah and Bryson’s shoulders shaking from laughter. She narrowed her eyes and smacked Bryson on the shoulder while kicking Delilah on the calf. “Stop laughing. It’s not funny!” she hissed.

Delilah chuckled, her laughter dying down at that moment. The three of them then began to talk with each other; both Delilah and Farah talking about how excited they were and Bryson kept reminding them not to forget this and that.

Shortly after, Shay finally arrived with Ava who was walking beside her. They looked around and saw the three of them at the sitting area. They quickly rushed over with Shay dragging her luggage behind her.

“Are we late?” Shay asked, as she stopped in front of them.

Delilah stood up and picked up her backpack. She then hoisted it up her shoulder and replied, “Not really. But we should check-in our luggage now that we’re all here.”

“Are you all going straight to the gates?” Bryson asked.

Delilah looked at Shay, who in turn looked at Farah. Farah frowned when she saw that they were leaving the decision to her. She let out a sigh and said to Bryson, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Bryson nodded. “Then I’ll just go and get to work,” he said. He then turned to Delilah and nodded.

Delilah just waved him goodbye.

Ava, who had just arrived with Shay, groaned. “But I just got here” she whined.

Farah pinched Ava’s cheek. “That’s what you get for being late,” she said.

Ava just pouted because she knew it was her own fault and that the others know it couldn’t be Shay since she’s hardly late.

After saying goodbye to the two of them, the three women quickly went to check-in their luggages and get their plane tickets. After they were done, they went straight to get their passports checked and stamped. And then they went to the gates, at the departure hall as they waited for the time to board.

It was then, Delilah’s stomach began to growl loudly, eliciting glances from nearby people. She flushed red in embarrassment as she touched her stomach with both hands.

Both Farah and Shay laughed out loud. Shay then beckoned Delilah over, saying, “Let’s go and eat first. Didn’t you eat any breakfast?”

They walked around the waiting area until they stumbled upon a small restaurant. There weren’t many people inside so there were still a lot of empty tables inside. It was a quaint little restaurant with little plastic flowers in a pot decorating each table. The atmosphere gave out a comfortable feeling as soft music was being played in the background.

The three women went in and sat down at an empty table, which was near the exit. After placing their bags on the floor, each of them grabbed a menu each, which had already been placed on the table earlier and skimmed through the pages.

Just on the side of the restaurant wall, there was a wall television. It seems to be playing a cooking show. Coincidentally, the chef in that show was showing how to make Egg Mentaiko Rice bowl. And another coincidence was that the restaurant they were dining at that moment also served the dish. And because seeing how delicious it looks on television, Delilah decided to order that similar dish.

After the three of them had placed their orders, they fell into a pleasant conversation, reviewing what they were going to do once they landed and so forth.

A couple of minutes later, their food arrived. As mentioned earlier, Delilah had ordered the Egg Mentaiko Rice bowl, which was served in a dolsot [2]. This surprised her, seeing it being served in a dolsot since they weren’t in a Korean type of restaurant. She inwardly shrugged to herself and thought that they probably want the food to be hot.

Careful not to touch the pot, she used a spoon to scoop some rice and egg with the sauce. Blowing a bit on the hot food, she then took a bite. The smooth sauce melted together with the fluffy scrambled egg and rice, making Delilah inwardly m.o.a.ned in bliss. The soft colour of the mentaiko sauce looked tantalizing pleasing against the yellow bright scrambled eggs. Although the mentaiko sauce has a very strong umami flavor to it, it also has that bit of sweetness and sour in it. She liked how even if the sauce has a strong umami flavor, it doesn’t overwhelm the other bits of rice and egg.

Just as they were done with their meals, there was a call for boarding. It was their flight!

The three women quickly paid for their meals and rushed out of the restaurant, heading straight for the gates. They then queued in line for passport check.

The journey took more than 8 hours of flight travel. And luckily, Delilah was the sort of person who is able to sleep in the airplane. So she put on her earpieces and switched on her music player. With that, she went to sleep, only waking up to go to the restroom or when it was meal time.

Since their flight was in the early morning, they should have arrived in Japan in the afternoon.

Soon after, they arrived a few minutes before estimated time. When the three women and the other passengers got out of the plane, using the boarding bridge, they could already feel the cold breeze from outside. The feeling of it made Delilah more excited and how it seems unbelievable that she was actually in Japan!

When they entered the airport, there were so many unfamiliar words written in Japanese on the sign boards. It was fortunate that there were some English words, which made it easier to read. Everything in sight seems fascinating as the three women looked around in awe as they walked, heading straight for the arrival halls.

As Delilah looked for a free wifi so that she can contact her family back home, she thought to herself, ‘Food, here I come!’

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[1] Breakfast and Bed

[2] stone pot made of agalmatolite, Korean type of stone pot