It was so comfortable being home after so long. Shi-u prettily decorated the display case with the medal he received this time. Even though it was a bronze medal, it was meaningful as it was his first time participating in a world competition. I told Shi-hyun to tell me if there was anything he wanted, but Shi-u said nothing came to mind and he would tell me later.
"What should we have for dinner?"
It had been a while since I cooked, so I was wondering what to make.
"Jae-won-ah."
"Why?"
He came running as soon as I called him.
"Is there anything you want to eat for dinner?"
"Dinner?"
"Yeah."
"Are we eating something yummy?"
"Yeah, now that I think about it, did Daddy make you something delicious when Mommy wasn't here?"
"Yeah! We grilled meat, ate chicken, and ate lots of ramen."
Meat? Chicken? And ramen? I noticed Jae-won was looking behind me instead of at me. Suddenly, behind me? When I quickly turned my head, Shi-hyun had his index finger to his lips.
"What does he want me to be quiet about?"
"Hahaha, it's nothing."
"What do you mean nothing? You should feed the kids well, did you just eat out all the time?"
It's not that Shi-hyun can't cook... why did he do that?
"It's a hassle."
It's true that it's a hassle, but you should feed the kids good stuff. Even if restaurants these days use good ingredients and pay attention to hygiene, the nutritional balance isn't great.
Well, just from Shi-hyun's reaction and what Jae-won said, I could tell what happened. He didn't cook properly and just ate out or ordered delivery.
"They're growing, you need to feed them well."
"That's good enough."
When I glared at Shi-hyun, he avoided my gaze and ran away.
"So, Jae-won, what do you want to eat?"
"Nana, noodles! Milk noodles!"
"Milk noodles? Is that all you want?"
"Yeah!"
I want to feed him something more delicious... If I ask Saet-byeol, she'll definitely say meat. Shi-u is sleeping, so I couldn't ask him. For now, I'll make noodles for Jae-won and the others can eat something else.
What ingredients do I have? I checked the refrigerator and it was empty.
"Shi-hyun-ah?"
I quietly called Shi-hyun, but there was no answer. It was a frustrating situation.
"Shi-hyun-ah!?"
When I called again, Shi-hyun came rushing over.
"Why is the refrigerator like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why is there nothing in it?"
Shi-hyun smiled and answered.
"What do you mean nothing? There's kimchi, side dishes, and milk, isn't that everything?"
He wasn't wrong. There were dried side dishes and kimchi-like side dishes. But the most important ingredients were missing.
"There are no ingredients."
That's right! There were no food ingredients! I couldn't cook anything even if I wanted to.
"Is there... not?"
"Yes! I was going to make dinner, but there are no ingredients at all! You should have gone grocery shopping while you were home."
"No, then we can just order delivery...."
He wasn't wrong, so it was hard to say anything.
"Sigh, let's go grocery shopping."
I asked Jae-won and Saet-byeol if they wanted to go, leaving the sleeping Shi-u behind, but Saet-byeol said she didn't want to go.
"Are you sure you don't want to go?"
"Yeah, I'll stay home."
"Okay."
I went to the nearby mart with only Jae-won. First, I put in the ingredients I often use for cooking and the ingredients the kids like. Ham, sausage, imitation crab meat. Looking at the ingredients, I thought of Kimbap, so I added Kimbap ingredients as well. And the last place I stopped was the butcher shop.
"Hmm...."
The prices of the meat were a bit expensive because there were no items on sale.
"Let's buy pork belly first."
Shi-hyun grabbed the pork belly without even checking the price. Well, I don't need to worry too much about the price, right? Did he spend a lot of money going to Japan this time? Thinking about that, I thought I could just let this go. That's because I thought I had spent a lot of money, so I checked my bank account, but there wasn't a big change in the balance even after spending that much. I was dumbfounded at how much money I had accumulated.
So, I decided to take it easy. It's important to eat delicious food and eat your fill, even if you spend a little more money.
"Yeah, buy it, buy it."
I looked at other meats. Shi-hyun was grabbing more than 10 Geun of pork belly, so I should look at something else.
"Hmm... spare ribs?"
Looking at the large spare ribs, I was tempted. It would be good for barbecue, and it would be good for stew. Or, it would be delicious to put kimchi in it and make kimchi stew, right? I think it would be better than just grilling it?
There's also the method of using an air fryer.
"This is it!"
Having decided, I bought a whopping four pieces of long spare ribs. It's an amount that makes you wonder how we'll eat it all, but it would be one meal for Shi-hyun.
"Oh? Spare ribs?"
"Yeah, I'm going to try a variety of things."
I came up with several menus and needed to buy more ingredients to match. I went to the sauce corner and put in barbecue sauce and garlic salt.
"More than that, where's Jae-won?"
I thought he was next to me until just now, where did he go?
"Mom! This!"
As if he couldn't be a gentleman, he appeared as soon as I brought it up. Jae-won was holding snacks in his hand.
"Are you going to buy snacks?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, put it in."
"Awesome!"
Jae-won brought and put in several snacks, not just one. Thanks to that, the cart was already full.
"Is this enough?"
"Hmm... should I buy some fruit too?"
"Yeah, buy a lot when I'm here so you don't have to suffer alone."
"Tch."
I finished grocery shopping by buying a few Korean melons and oranges. When I went home with the luggage, Saet-byeol was very happy.
"There's a lot of meat!"
"Yeah, we're going to make spare ribs."
"Eugh! That sounds delicious."
"Mom will make it delicious for you."
With Shi-hyun's help, I prepared the spare ribs. These days, hygiene is thorough when slaughtering, so there was no need to remove the blood. First, I prepared spare rib kimchi stew, then I prepared oven-baked ribs. I was busy trying to make several at once.
"Can I wrap this in aluminum foil and put it in?"
"Yeah, when it's cooked, you can apply the seasoning."
Shi-hyun wrapped the spare ribs in aluminum foil and put them in the oven.
"This is oven-baked, huh."
"Yeah."
Now, I just needed to solve the barbecue with store-bought sauce, and then there was salt-grilled and Gochujang-seasoned ribs left. These two could be boiled in water and then cooked in the air fryer.
The pot had to be big because there was a lot, and it was annoying because I was short.
"I'll do it."
"Please, when it looks like it's cooked enough, you can throw away the water."
While Shi-hyun was doing that, I made the Gochujang sauce. I made the sauce by putting sugar, starch syrup, and garlic in a Gochujang base. When I took a quick taste, it tasted spicy and sweet. The kids can't eat spicy food well, so I put in sugar to make it sweet, but it seemed too sweet.
"Well, it'll be okay."
What if it doesn't taste good? I was a little worried. If the kids don't eat it, I'll give it to Shi-hyun.
"Did you say to put in bay leaves too?"
"Yeah, you have to get rid of the gamey smell."
Shi-hyun immediately put the bay leaves in the container into the boiling water. When the meat was almost cooked, he took it out of the water, removed the moisture, and sprinkled Gochujang sauce and garlic salt on top.
With this, the preparation for garlic salt-grilled and Gochujang-seasoned ribs was also finished. I put this in the air fryer and cooked it for additional time. The house was full of the smell of meat.
The oven smelled, the kimchi stew smelled, it was really strong.
"The meat smell is so good."
"You like it that much?"
"Yeah! Chicken and stuff is good too, but what Mom makes is better."
Oh my? Why is Saet-byeol being so flattering?
"Really?"
"Yeah! Eating out is good too, but what Mom makes is special."
I know she's being flattering, but it felt good. I stroked Saet-byeol's head.
"Okay, let's eat deliciously for dinner."
"Yeah!"
When I finished cooking, it was earlier than the usual dinner time.
"It's a little early, but shall we eat dinner?"
"Yeah, it smells so delicious."
"Saet-byeol, will you wake up your Oppa?"
Shi-u slept on the plane and kept sleeping when he came home. It seems like the fatigue he had accumulated was great.
"Yeah, leave it to me."
I prepared the milk noodles that Jae-won would eat for the last time. I boiled plenty of noodles so that other people could eat them too. When Shi-u woke up, we ate dinner. Was it because I cooked with Shi-hyun after a long time? It was fun.
"Okay, eat deliciously."
"Thank you for the food!"
The children looked at the various meats and wondered which one to eat first. Shi-u ate kimchi stew first, Saet-byeol ate salt-grilled ribs first, and Jae-won ate barbecue first.
"Shall I have this one?"
I was worried about whether the Gochujang sauce was done properly, so I tasted it first. It was spicy, but the sweetness was also strong, so it was neutralizing it well. Still, the spicy taste remained in my mouth at the end, so I thought the kids wouldn't like it.
Contrary to my worries, the children ate well. They said everything was delicious, so it was worth cooking.
What was better than anything was that it was a dinner with all the family together after a long time.
*
Shi-u, who returned to his normal life, went back to school. Somehow, the news that Shi-u had won a medal got out, and a banner was put up, which made Shi-u suffer.
"It's because there are kids who make a fuss over nothing."
I couldn't really agree with the saying that it was nothing, but I just let it go.
"It's because they're all jealous of Shi-u."
"If they're jealous, they can do it themselves."
Haha... it's like seeing Shi-hyun from the past.
I enjoyed my returned daily life. Was cooking for the kids and cleaning the house this enjoyable? It was so enjoyable that I couldn't control it.
Shi-hyun told me not to go abroad next time, but I might have to think about it a little. I've become so used to being with the kids and doing housework that it felt awkward not to do it.
"More than that, Shi-hyun, why are you off today?"
"Why?"
"Isn't it time for you to go to work now?"
"Ah, you don't know?"
What don't I know?
"Two S-Rank Awakeners were selected while you were in Japan."
"Really?"
"Yeah, those people are working hard to get recognized, so you can rest."
It was a strange reason, but if Shi-hyun said so, then it must be so.
"Anyway, wouldn't you like to go on a date?"
"What?"
"The kids are all out anyway, so we have nothing to do."
It was sudden, but there was no reason to refuse, so I agreed.
"Okay, let's go."
Shi-hyun smiled brightly, but it was so dazzling that I momentarily avoided his gaze. He's already handsome, but when he smiles so purely, the destructive power is strong.
"Don't smile like that."
"Why all of a sudden?"
"Anyway, never smile like that outside."
How old is he, and he still doesn't age? No, he's gotten older, so his mature charm has become stronger than before.
"Anyway, don't smile."
"Okay."
I enjoyed a date after a long time. I don't know why the destination became a motel in the middle, but anyway, it was fun. If it weren't for Jae-won, he would have kept me there all day.
It's hard, it's hard.