#cooking class

Your boyfriend came home to you fanning the smoke out the window with a towel.

    “Did you try to cook again?” He had asked you with a chuckle. You pouted when he said that. “I thought we said we'll leave the cooking business to me, Jagiya. You got demoted to dishwasher remember?”

You just wanted to try and surprise him but unfortunately it went horribly wrong, like usual. Either you over salted the soup, manage to burn something or forgot to add some ingredients so the food tasted off. And everything always resulted in a mess. Whether you were cooking by yourself or with your boyfriend. Sigh, it was like cooking hated to see you coming.

So when you saw that there was an ad for a couples cooking class to be held in your area, you thought you might as well jump the gun. Cooking was something your boyfriend enjoyed doing, you wanted to share that enjoyment with him too.

    “Jagi!” You hop on the bed later that night where your boyfriend is peacefully laying. He puts his phone down and opens his arms for you to come cuddle with. You didn't have to wait for a second invite, you go and lie between his arms.

    “Yes, baby?”

    “You know how I'm a bad cook and whatever?”

    “Yes...?” He looks at you warily, like you had done something but you didn't know how to tell him.

    “Why are you looking at me like that? I didn't do anything bad, promise.” You laugh.

    “Well when you start a sentence like that.. what am I supposed to expect?” He laughs with you.

    “What I was trying to tell you was that I signed us up for a couple's cooking class this Friday. I thought it would be fun.”

    “Oh honey, you're so going to burn everyone and that building down.”

    “Hey!” You pout.

    “Kidding.” He kisses your pouty lips. “A cooking class sounds nice.”

⪩⪨

It was a hot day outside but you didn't feel the heat, protected by the air conditioning that hums softly in the background of the couples cooking class. You and Wooyoung stand at a table as the teacher goes on to tell the history of the food you are to make today, which was mandu. There are two other couples joining the class as well, standing at their respective work area. The ingredients all laid out on the tables, awaiting to be used.

    “Now, let's start with the mandupi. Put two cups of flour into the bowl...” The teacher instructions.

You open the bag of flour, passing it to Wooyoung who puts exactly 2 cups into the bowl in front of him. Following the teacher, you manage to put the kosher salt and water in the bowl without fucking it up. You would consider that a win. You were going to pass the bowl to Wooyoung so he can mix but he stops you—taking your hand gently, wrapping your fingers around the smooth wooden spoon. You poke your tongue in your cheek, you mix carefully until all the ingredients turn into a round dough lump in the bowl.

Wooyoung puts the plastic over the dough just like your teacher instructs, putting it aside to rest.

    “We did it.” You smile at him and he pats your head.

    “We'll leave the Mandupi to rest for let's say ten to fifteen minutes. But you can let your dumpling wrappers to rest for even longer, like thirty mintues. Anyway, let's get started on the filling. Take your ground pork, your ground beef, and put it into your other bowl.”

The meat went into the big bowl along with some salt, toasted sesame oil and ground black pepper. The sound of gloves snapping onto skin echos in the room as everyone pulls on their gloves to mix the meat. The feeling was odd, mushy but it was rather fun. When the meat was mixed, Wooyoung pushes it to the side of the bowl as per the instructions.

Next you begin chopping the buchu that was washed and dried prior while Wooyoung chops the shiitake mushrooms and half an onion, everyone tears up a bit from the onion scent that fills the room. You finish cutting, and add some oil on the chopped chives and place them into the bowl next to the meat. Wooyoung puts the onions and mushrooms in another bowl.

    “Add a teaspoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of sugar and a two teaspoons of the sesame oil to the mushrooms and onion.”

    “Wanna mix, baby?” You nod, and he passed the bowl to you.

You mix the ingredients carefully with your gloved hand. Wooyoung takes care of the tofu, squeezing it in a cotton cloth to get rid of the liquid. He seasons it with a bit of salt and some sesame oil before mixing it with a gloved hand. You dump mushrooms and onions in the big bowl with the other ingredients and then Wooyoung did the same with the tofu.

The teacher walks around, looking at everyone's progress and praising everyone's work.

    “Good job everyone. Lastly you must add the mince garlic, it's about three cloves. After mix everything together.”

The garlic was added to the rest of the mandu filling. There was more hand mixing, the sound of meat and other foods squelching, and soft chatter fills the room.

    “Who knew making mandu would be so much effort.” You sigh, squeezing and poking the ingredients until they were completely combined.

    “It'll be so worth it though.” Wooyoung's already dreaming of the delicious dumpings.

The teacher instructions the class on how to roll out the dough. First you take the dough that was resting out of the bowl and put it on the dusted tabletop. You begin giving the dough a knead. Wooyoung comes behind you and kisses your neck making you blush. His arms go around you so he can reach the dough, helping you knead it. The dough was fine now. You give him a little kick, making him chuckle. He backs away to roll out the mandupi into flat circles.

The last step before frying the mandu was to actually assemble the dumpings. The teacher tells everyone how much filling to put in the mandupi and how to pinch the dough close. Everyone gets to work making the dumpings, more idle chatter going around between them and their partners as the pinched the dumpings shut.

Pinching dumpings wasn't as easy as you thought. They came out in wonky shapes or sometimes you would add a little too much and it wouldn't stay closed. That part was kinda frustrating but you power through.

    “What? How do your dumplings look so perfect? It's unfair.” You whine quietly. Wooyoung's looked like they were from a freaking restaurant.

    “I've made dumplings before, Jagi. Lots of practice prior. And yours don't look too bad.”

    “You don't have to lie, Wooyo. Mine looks like a sorry excuse for a deformed Pillsbury doughboy.” You deadpan.

Wooyoung bites his lip and you know it's to keep himself from laughing. The man at the closest table to yours snorts at your comparison after overhearing. You sigh.

    “At least one of us can make pretty dumplings.”

There were small cook stoves on the table top and a pan that was heating up oil on top.

    “I really don't trust myself to cook the mandu.. maybe I should make the dipping sauce instead?”

    “Didn't you come here to get better at cooking?” He gives an amused smirk. “You can't keep avoiding the heat, baby. Besides, you'll be alright.”

And indeed you were alright. ...for the first part.  You flip the mandu to cook the other side, actually surprised you didn't burn it. It looked almost perfect!

    “Baby do you see that golden brown? Maybe I did get better at cooking.” You pump your first in the air.

    “Nice! I told you you would do alright.” Wooyoung smiles, mixing soy sauce, vinegar, green onion and other things to make a dipping sauce. “Wanna taste?”

You hum a little tune, happy that you did good. You move over closer to Wooyoung to taste the sauce. You eyes light up and you give him two thumbs up.

    “Woah. Yeah maybe it was a good decision to let you make the yangnyeom jang.” He chuckles before adding some extra seasoning.

You watch him stir the mixture in the bowl. His sleeves are folded above his forearms giving you a clear view of his flexing muscles and the veins the go up his arm. You couldn't lie, the sight made you want to drool more than the mandu ever did. Your breath hitches when he looks at you. ...he actually looks past you.

    “Jagi—?? Fuck.” He quickly moves over to where the pan is, your eyes widen.

Um yeah. You kinda burnt the other side, but it's still edible..! For the most part... Yeah you got banned from using a stove for the time being, Wooyoung took care of frying the rest of the mandu.

It was a fun experience to say the least. You definitely felt closer to Wooyoung even if you did stress him out at last few minutes of the class. You and him agreed in the car that Wooyoung's still gonna be the cook of your relationship. You however got moved up to assistant chef since you proved you could be helpful when cooking. In the end, all that matters was that you and Wooyoung had fun. And that you guys had delicious mandu to take home.

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