The Unpronounceable

I remember being sat in the bathroom, tense after a long afternoon in the kitchen with my friends… or so I thought they once were.     It was the waning days of the summer coming to an end, and at the time it couldn’t have been any better at that point if I even tried, yet time seems to settle such feelings in the heart of the naïve.

We were simply kids who were learning the sways and moves of the mind taking in the world of sensations, which excited us most; taste being our simple sensation that day.

I still feel as though we could’ve settled that simple mistake I had made, yet such retrospect never came to us as we went out separate ways that evening afterwards, but I jump ahead of my own writing, it started with an idea…

As Francis stared glance around the room, boredly taking in the details again and again, he sat up with an idea, he said “Hey mate, do you still have that cooking book you got from your nans house? “, and Josey answered him “ Oooh, yea that would be something I’d love to give a go actually, Tom? “.

I looked up and nodded at Josey “ that sounds like it’d be fun, lets give it a go I spose…”

I still remembered the excitement they had for this idea, not knowing the future implications that would unfold for these trio of friends.

We grabbed that book, and we went to my house for this lovely little kitchen crusade, yet like the namesake of this, would start with zeal and joy, yet turn into disaster and melancholy of those attending.

We were sat at the table and thought on the dinner ahead… We agreed to something simple for tonight’s meal, so we looked through the cookbook together.

Josey made it hard to find a good quick meal, since she kept saying “oooh that so good looking” and “That is scrumptious not gonna lie….” At every page we flipped…

Francis just stood around and looked through the cabinets for ingredients to use but was a bit of a fussy guy when it came to anything really. He’d say something like “that looks like it finally going” or “That’s something I guess” without really settling on anything.

I flipped through after Josey and finally found something for our hungry palettes, yet I wish I knew at the time what that quick decision would mean for us…

I had decided to stick with some ramen noodles recipes and looked through the pages with Josey, while Francis dug through the cupboards for some proper noodles, other than the quick insta stuff I usually ate alone…

Josey stared at the pages and waffled on about some “that is so umami if I ever seen it” yet I looked at her and wondered if she even knew what that meant… I certainly didn’t at the time.

Francis would glance over and see the page and just nod, only having scanned the ingredients to see if it suited him… I wondered how particular this guy was going to be about every selection…

I know my feelings at the time were simply enjoyed on the time spent with these two, but now I look back with bittersweet feelings.

I got up and scrounged together many different ingredients and put them on the table in front of us… Vegetables, Herbs & Spices… and Sauces as well.

I told them what kind of meats my mom had gotten since the last grocery trip, and they thought about it… both nodded in agreement when I said, “We should use beef, itd be easiest.” And I threw the package of stew beef in the sink to defrost in hot water, Francis staring at it and he asked “ is that really sanitary,” but I just shrugged at his comment and turned around…

That’s where it started that evening

I began to chop up some veggies, and whilst I was doing that, Francis and Josey started to go through the next few ramen recipes and pushed through the ingredients lists with speed. unluckily enough, I had the idea to keep our ingredients in front of us to make it quicker... which would lead to this evening woes…

I finished chopping and seen them staring at a certain recipe and I knew they finally chose something…

I read through the list and nodded… I got the water boiling for the ramen, and Josey sat in excitement as Francis put away the unneeded items, leaving only a few items on the tables…

Herbs and Spices, Veggies

And Sauces…

I began to cook the veggies, starting with some onions which of course, lead to us tearing up; seemingly preamble to my current feelings, but I shouldn’t jump too far ahead…

I grabbed the beef and began searing the pan with its delicious drippings, letting it soak into the onions… I grabbed my moms favorite vintage wine… it was empty, so I skipped that step, simply using beef broth from the cupboard for flavor.

That’s when I look back at the list of ingredients and I squinted at that dreaded entry… that word that torn my confidence asunder, shattering my ego to pieces

I hear a knock at the door and I catch my breath, I ask “whos there…” in a voice quiet with anxiety , words with fletching to my sore weary throat… “come on man it wasn’t that bad… it was pretty funny man…” said my ‘friend’ Francis…

Josey knocked afterwords, and she said, “Come on Tom, the noodles are going cold now, we want to eat together, come out.”

I open the door and look at these two people

“Is nobody going to say it…” I ask, and they look at each other… laughter bellowing again as I look to the floor.

Francis is to busy laughing, and he grabs me by my shoulder and walks me to the kitchen to take a seat with him and Josey sits down giggling as well.

Francis calms his laughter and looks to my face… he sees the weary look and he told me “Come on it wasn’t that bad man, its just something that really got us good… “

Josey looks up and nudges my shoulder “its not that embarrassing, just let it go and enjoy the noodles, you really know how to follow the book to the letter.”

And I look at that word that started this and I sighed, wondering if the time spent in the washroom dreading the shame of my inabilities…

I look at them and ask “could you two even say it if you tried, cause it something that really bugged me when I asked you to read it…”

The two friends look at each other and a silent agreement seems to be broke, by the uttering of that word…

“Worcestershire Sauce?” both say, and I finally know the unpronounceable word, which I fumbled to many times before….

I laugh and it finally gives way my feelings of shame, betrayal and only some embarrassment. I think that I’ve been too harsh to my two friends as we slurp away at the beef ramen noodles… it needs a bit more flavor and I look to Francis and ask, “hey can you pass the…sari aka sauce” and he stares at me and back at the green topped bottle, noodle half slurped….

I have been stumped by yet another sauce, and I think maybe I wasn’t harsh enough as I see the grin grow on Francis…

I will not hear the end of this when school comes, and they have to tell the others about it…