Aftermath (3)

***

Taste-testing is fundamental in cooking.

Whether you're making soup or a seasoned side dish.

Even a star chef can't guarantee the taste of a dish they haven't tasted.

This was something I always emphasized whenever I cooked,

and Erika, who always ate whatever she could while claiming to taste-test beside me, knew it well too.

"So, you mean that tasting the tofu to see whether it turned out well turned into a meal?"

"That's just like you, Teacher. Your summary is spot-on."

And that was also why the tofu meant to celebrate my release had disappeared.

"Well, at first I only taste-tested the scraps left over after shaping it, you know? But it was harder than I thought to make exact cubes out of tofu. So I kept eating the scraps......."...