Level 2.5

"You'll catch me, right?" - "Always."

Yu Banshan held his skateboard out to Tian Sisi to take. She had on elbow and knee pads, her helmet on tightly. The image reminded him of his high school days when he first learned to skate. Her big brown eyes glanced up at him, hypnotizing. It had been moments like this that the knew he could never deny her anything.

"You said you wanted to try." Yu Banshan reminded her, his tone teasing. They were at a skate park on a small ramp while younger kids were flying by without any extra padding.

"I did." The image of him riding the board had been enough to entice her to learn with another vision of them riding side by side in the sunset made her yearn to learn faster. Tian Sisi took the board, dropping it at her feet. She took one step on it, feeling it rock back and forth trying to understand her balance. Yu banshan held onto her hands, steadying her until she fully jumped on.

"You'll catch me, right?" Tians Sisi had a death grip on his hands. Panic slowly coming once she realized she had left solid ground.

"Always." He smiled at his girlfriend walking a few steps with her. Her smile and confidence on the board grew with each passing second. Moments like these were ones Yu Banshan never wanted to give back or lose.

Are you feeling lazy, but still want some sustenance? Great, because I'm going to help you feed yourself without much effort.

Out of 10 on the difficulty scale, 1 being you literally just buy it and eat it, and 10 being you work in a gourmet restaurant, this is probably a 2.5.

Ingredients:

One eggplant

Tomato sauce (like for spaghetti, with chunks of tomato)

Some kind of cheese (it doesn’t actually have to be parmesan. I used mozzarella because that’s what I had. But parmesan would probably be better. We’re lazy though, so just go with the easiest thing possible!)

Garlic

Oil (olive oil, vegetable oil, grape seed oil, whatevs)

Breadcrumbs – optional, but advised

Slice your eggplant into rounds. Throw some salt on all the pieces, and let them sit on a plate for 30 minutes. (If you are too impatient for this step, that’s fine, but your eggplant will be a little more bitter.)

While your eggplant is sitting there being boring, chop some garlic up into little pieces. However much you want (or have).

After 30 minutes, rinse the salted eggplant pieces off. Pour some breadcrumbs on a plate with some salt and pepper. Cover the eggplant pieces in the breadcrumbs. If you’re skipping the breadcrumbs, proceed to frying without them.

Meanwhile, start pre-heating your oven to 300 degrees F or 150 degrees C.

Heat your oil in a pan, medium to high-ish. Be careful with this step! I have been burned by oil many times while cooking, and it hurts.

When the oil is hot (ish) fry your eggplant pieces. Just a little, you’re not trying to cook them all the way through or anything.

Get a baking pan with sides that go up. It doesn’t need to be too big. Cover the bottom with tomato sauce. Stick your eggplant in. Cover with tomato sauce, sprinkle your garlic on top of that, and add your cheese on the very top. Bake for 30 minutes (ish. There’s a lot of estimation when you’re a lazy cook).