| Inventor: The Chopping Board | |
July 24, 2015
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| A woman in her mid-thirties came to the inventor's office and started to tell of her concerns: She was a skillful business woman, so she said. The other day her boyfriend came to her apartment and she served him some of her handmade dishes. After one bite, the boyfriend became quiet. He ate a bite from another dish. He looked up at her and said that he remembered that he had an appointment and left. There were several dishes that remained untouched. She was very shocked. After that she asked her boyfriend about the dishes, he explained. His mother died young and she was a good cook. After his mother's death, he ate mostly pre-made food and he had certain expectations about homemade cooking. He knew no woman should be blamed by their skills of cooking. He apologized to her many times. But, the more he apologized, the more her heart hurt. She thought for the first time in her life that she wanted to make good food for him, and so she came here. "Butc" the inventor said, "Didn't you have an idea to go to a cooking school?"
She became annoyed and said, "To tell you the truth, before inviting my boyfriend over, I checked out some cooking websites like, 'Get your boyfriend's heart by this dish!' In fact, I cooked one of their recommendations. But my dishes were disastersc" She looked about to cry. He was upset, "Ok. Ok. Maybe I can make something for you. But before that I need to know how your food is bac not good. Can you bring some of your dishes next time?" Her face brightened, and said, "I did." She took a container from her bag and opened it. There were four types of food. She handed him a fork and he picked up a small hamburger and ate it. It was too salty and from the texture inside it seemed raw. She was looking at him with a pitiful face, so he just swallowed it. She asked, "What do you think?" The inventor took a sip of coffee and said that it was not so bad but maybe it should need some improvement. He promised her that he would invent a gadget and told her to come back again one week later. After her leaving, he thought about why she cooked that bad. Does she suffer from a tasteless disorder or something like that? But she pointed out that the coffee he had served tasted good. He had found out recently the way to make really good coffee. He was a complete amateur about cooking. He called a friend whose wife was a cooking advisor. When he met her, she said that bad cooks have certain tendencies: 1.They don't follow recipes. (They are somehow (without reason) confident about their own way of cooking.) 2.They rarely check the taste in the middle of their cooking. (So the result varies depending on the day.) 3.They cut ingredients carelessly. (Ingredients' size varies, and so when some are suitably fried, others are uncooked (or too burnt).) 4.They are less experienced. (Maybe they hate cooking.) 5.They don't prepare well before starting to cook. (So when cooking, they sometimes become upset and make mistakes.) One week later, she came back to the inventor's office. The inventor showed her a gadget that he had invented. She looked suspicious. It looked just like a chopping board. With a smirk, she said, "I hope you don't want me to simply practice cutting vegetables on this chopping board. I already invited my boyfriend this weekend." The inventor looked uneasy but started to explain how to use this machine. After a week she came back to the inventor's office wearing a broad smile. She reported: She cooked 'beef stroganoff'. At first, she wondered if it seemed too difficult for her but it was one of the machine's recommendations. He explained that stews or soup-type dishes are easy to manage the heating temperature of the ingredients because boiling temperature is around 100 degrees Celsius so it's good for beginners. She felt offended to hear 'beginner' but continued to explain the details of the cooking date: "The board machine sent the information about the ingredients of this dish to my smartphone, so I could buy ingredients the day before the day I cooked. On the day my boyfriend came, I got up early and started to cook. The machine showed the process suitably on the board itself. When I cut the potatoes and carrots and onions on it, the machine showed a laser beam with grid lines, so I could cut each of the ingredients the same size. Seeing the same sized vegetables, my motivation went up. I fried the meat and some vegetables before boiling. The machine gave me the advice not to fully fry the meat because it would be boiled at the end. It sounded logical. After completing the dish, the machine instructed me to cook the same food again. I was surprised but I had no choice. And I repeated to cook this dish ten times! In the middle of this work, I cursed the instructions, but remembered, at the time, why I felt strange to buy this huge amount of ingredients that were needed for only two people, my boyfriend and I. But after a while, I realized my cutting skills were improving, and the cooking time became shorter and shorter. I started to enjoy it, like a sport. At the end, the machine instructed me to taste all ten of the beef stroganoffs. After tasting, I was surprised that, even though I cooked them all the same way following the set instructions, each tasted different. I came to know the depth of cooking. I chose the best one, and served it to my boyfriend. He was very happy and said it was the most delicious beef stroganoff that he had ever eaten." She took a container from her bag and opened it. It was beef stroganoff. The good smell filled the room. She served it into a paper bowl and handed it to him. He tasted it. It was very good. She said, "This is the number two of the ten." He felt a bit jealous of her boyfriend, but she cheerfully said, "It's a joke. I newly cooked ten beef stroganoffs this morning, and they were better than before, so this is the best of my life. I wanted to put my appreciation into this cooking. Thank you so much." Her smile was beautiful. The inventor ate another spoonful of the beef stroganoff and had to think that it might be time for him to look for a girlfriend. |
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*pitiful : Someone or something that is pitiful is so sad, weak, or small that you feel pity for them. (Co)
*disorder : disorder is a problem or illness which affects a person's mind or body. (Co)