Chapter 5 Author’s noodle recipe!

’Remember, your daughter is different from your wife. While your wife might want to be pampered all the time, your daughter needs personal space. Don’t go invading her privacy - that makes her think that you don’t trust her. Oh, and, when giving gifts, don’t buy what she wants, make what she wants. A daughter finds shopping with her parents especially when they’re older weird, and embarrassing in front of her friends? And, you might want to make a good impression on her friends first. Daughters always compare their parents to others. When was the last time she had friends over? Exactly. Ask her to have friends over, and garner good impressions from them. She’ll soon fall as well.’ I raised my hand towards the sky as a gust of wind breezed around me. It rattled my shirt, as the cool sensation soothed my skin. And there, I stood, as the wind brought about thousands of cherry blossom petals that flew past me, I raised a prayer. Sir Esber, my heartfelt condolences. I have no experience in parenting and my bullshitting will probably, no, most likely, definitely end up embarrassing you. As you are my first customer buying my advice, I shall give a prayer. May your relationship tighten, like bondage in S and M animes. May Fiona bless you. Amen. The wind howled, like an agreement from the heavens, as I overlooked the valley and the melancholic sunset. I brought my hand down to my chest and closed my eyes. F’s in the chat. Daddy, what are you doing? .... Daddy was blessing someone. Yeah, right. I was blessing them with misfortune - their wellbeing and success. Fiona cranked her head sideways with a finger on her lip. Mmm! I can’t resist! Her pondering face was too cute... Come, you must be hungry after waking up. Let’s go and get something to eat! _______________ Want to eat fast food? That’s a burger. It’s a sandwich with bun, beef patty, and some vegetables. Those are french fries. They are potatoes that have been fried in fat and oil. Eewk! So greasy. No good. How about some steak? Why is it not cooked, daddy? ... It’s too hard to chew! ... What a picky girl.... Well, I suppose she is from another world. Fiona pouted. She rubbed her stomach and said angrily, Daddy, I’m hungry! Those food taste bad. Why don’t daddy cook something? Huh? Me, cook? Ive live on take out and instant noodles for almost the past 6 months.... and, the last time I cooked... I shuddered. The boom. The sirens! But it’s my Fiona asking.... damn! I grit my teeth. I’ll have to do my best not to blow up the kitchen.... Okay, let’s go back. Daddy will cook some noodles. C’mon. ________ I took a deep breath and rolled up my sleeves. Okay, let’s do this! Place beef bones and vegetables in a large baking tray, then generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 220°C for an hour. Add them them into a soup pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low, cover and allow to simmer. I should probably speed up this step. Fiona! Could you heat up the pot just a little bit? Yes, that’s right. Then, separate the stock from the bones and the vegetables. Remove any meat from the bones, roughly chop it up and add it to the stock. Throw away the vegetables. Bring the stock to a boil and for about 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the oil to a frying pan and sear on medium high heat on both sides for about 4 to 5 minutes. Ho-hott! Take out of the pan and let rest for 5 minutes, then thinly slice. Put noodles in a bowl, then top with chopped vegetables and thinly sliced beef. Fill the bowl with ladles of soup and serve! Here you go, Fiona! Daddy’s homemade noodles! I said, placing the fish in front of her. Fiona took a whiff and grabbed her spoon. I watched with expecting eyes as she took a long slurp. C’mon, c’mon! Please be good! That was my second time cooking noodles... at least there weren’t any explosions this time. I hope I don’t poison Fiona... Oh god, she’s drinking the broth... Is it too bland? Too salty? Why is she chomping on the beef so ferociously? Is it too tough? Uncooked? Did I not sear it on both sides? And she’s picking at the vegetables! It must be because they aren’t cut into equal pieces! What am I going to do... Fiona’s gonna hate me... Fiona set down her fork. I gotta make it up to her! I scrambled to get some napkins and wipe her face, knocking over my serving of noodles in the process. Daddy, you dropped your noodles! Aw... what a waste. They tasted really good! Twang. Twang. Cupid’s love arrow just struck my heart. Nothing’s tastes as good as your praises, my little Fiona. I wiped her mouth gently. Do you think other people would buy and eat it? Hmm..yes! But why are you asking? Grown up stuff... she pouted. Okay, fine. I’ll tell my curious little kitten. Daddy needs to make some money, so we can set up a restaurant and sell these noodles. Money isn’t an issue with Fiona here. If I just leave her, some traffickers will just pick her up. I can just tell Fiona to stun them, and we can leave with their money! Hmmmm..yes. The problem is getting back to her world. Does the general population even know about another world? If not, then how will they know how to get back? Fiona came out of a transport array that was set up from her mother... so she cannot set up one herself. I can assume if someone in this world knows about the other one, it would have to be the government or those higher standing families. I need to attract their attention then.... but how though? I have nothing outstanding about myself, only Fiona... Daddy? Daddy? You’re thinking about something again. I said yes! Fiona really likes Daddy’s noodles. she said whilst tugging my shirt. Aha! That’s it! Fiona! I jumped up and grabbed her shoulders. Fiona, do you have anything from your world? Cultivation things? Huh? Umm, F-Fiona only brought some pills... Fiona the Alchemist has entered the chat! Fiona’s dream of daddy cooking delicious noodles everyday has left the chat... ___________ Actual recipe used, but revised and vague cause it tasted terrible. Or I can’t cook.