Chapter 158 - Food Critic

We walked out of the house and then asked the cab to drive us home. We cheered and finally went to sleep.

The day had been pretty much tiring but I could say it was better than I had expected and that the meeting went pretty well. I couldn't believe Cameron had officially become a member of our family and that we could finally tell the entire world about our relationship.

If my mother accepted him I was sure she would eventually accept Carol too, she may take longer and have some difficulties at the beginning yet I was sure Carol would be in the family soon as well.

The next day I went to the company and took care of the main things there.

I called a marketing team to have them work on a name and a logo of my company.

They made me see a few options of what could be the logos and the theme of the company based on engineering and cars but none of those caught my attention. Until I had the idea of a potential logo composed of a ruote of a car in the middle of a desert. That meaning behind it could be that the car won't even stop in such a particular route to cross, yet it may reach unattainable destinations (such as the desert) thanks to its speediness.

The team seemed to appreciate my idea and said they would start working on it. They left about one hour later so I began to call the people who applied for the jobs and talk to them telephonically before eventually asking them to come for an interview.

Out of ten people I had called for a quick telephone interview only three of them caught my attention and seemed adequate to ask them for another meeting.

Two of them were young women as I wanted to focus my company on a woman-based system, yet the third one was a male but he was too experienced to be left out. He had a perfect curriculum with many international experiences and even collaborations with huge cars brands such as Jeep and Toyota.

I walked out of the palace and then drove home, when I got inside I saw Joanna had filled the table and the chair surfaces with tons of ingredients and was browsing through at least four different recipes books I had never seen before in my house.

"What's going on?" I asked perplexed walking to the table.

"I am freaking out Lily! I just found out tomorrow a critic will to the restaurant and then he will post the review on his articles. I need to find new recipes for the menu!" She spoke hastily out of breath as she browsed through the books and then began to measure the ingredients.

"I had been working on the menu the entire day but I just can't find original recipes to revisit!" She beat the batter energetically as she simultaneity gazed down at the recipe. 

"Do you need help?" I asked her as I frowned and reached her to begin clearing the wrappers of the ingredients she used.

"I need advice and an extra dose of patience and calm for tomorrow. I doubt I will sleep tonight for the stress I had built up during the day. But it's fine I can use the night to cook."

I shook my head and walked closer to her, I took her hands and removed them from the pages of the menu to join them together.

"Calm down Jo." I whispered, "you shouldn't do complicated dishes. Just keep it simple please and do the dishes you know best."

One of her specialties was the zucchini and goat cheese ravioli.

"You can make the ravioli!" I said as I remembered how good she cooked the pasta.

She sighed and tilted her head to the side, "maybe that dish is too simple for the occasion."

I doubt it was too simple, she just underestimated her capabilities. I was sure sometimes simplicity could win over technic and exaggeration.

"What else could I do besides the ravioli?" She asked me in a desperate voice willing to listen to any idea just because she was too tired to continue planning new recipes.

"Maybe the cheesecake and filet of beef wellington?"

She nodded, "fine I will try. And add some trout with roasted vegetables to the side. I hope he will like the simplicity of the menu."

Joanna continued to cook and meticulously refine the menu whereas I decided to drive to a takeaway so that she at least didn't have to cook for us in the meantime.

We spent the evening tasting dishes and thinking of more potential recipes she could offer the critic to surprise him.

It took about three hours before we finally cleared the kitchen and went to sleep. 

***

The next day when I woke up Joanna was already gone, she only left a note on the table telling me she went to the restaurant earlier than usual, purposely to start washing and preparing the vegetables.

I drank a coffee and ate a banana and then I dressed up, she needed all my support that day since I hadn't seen her that nervous and agitated in a very long time so I waited till it was almost lunchtime and then I visited her.

I asked the owner of the place if I could get inside to check on Joanna and he nodded before pointing at the door where she was cooking inside. 

"Hiii!" She smiled at me. "Come in!"

She was cooking fast and was so dedicated that she didn't even lift her gaze to cheer me. I spotted a chair in the back so I went to sit there, "I will stay here to watch you! I can't wait to see you cooking!"

The waiter opened the door spreadly with a serious look on her face as she tensed her jaw.

Joanna dropped the fork nervously as she noticed his tensed facial expression. "Is the critic here?"