First Dish

It had been a week since the teary-eyed encounter the young Alex had with the old man that owned the restaurant out front. Afterwards, Alex had been taken in by the old man and had begun working in the restaurant ever since.

While his work originally consisted of only making food in the back, the old man soon realized that he was ignorant to a number of topics that would be considered as common knowledge to others.

As such, Alex soon found himself set on a strict schedule of a mixture of education and cooking. After he began cooking, Alex soon found that the feeling of a puzzle would crop up in his mind whenever he was cooking.

However, he also learned that the more complex the idea he came up with, the less of a warm glow would suffuse items.

What this meant was that the puzzle had to be solved by him using his own ingenuity rather than relying on this gift he had been given.

Due to this, Adam rapidly found his cooking improving, his mind working at full capacity to create the best dished he could.

Soon, another realization struck him as he continued cooking. The more knowledge he had of a subject regarding cooking, the harder something could be where that warm glow would still suffuse it.

After a long time of pondering, Adam eventually realized what this warm glow truly was - a representation of his imagination. While he wasn't completely sure as to why it took on the shape of a puzzle, Adam figured it may have something to do with the fact that he had loved brain teasers from a young age, loving the challenge brought about by them.

With all this in mind, it was no surprise to find Adam currently sitting within his room, his eyes closed as he appeared deep in thought.

However, if one were to look closely at his thoughts, they'd come to realize that he was actually sitting in a white room within his mind, a large puzzle laid out before him with around 1000 pieces to it.

This was the hardest challenge he had faced yet, and what had sparked it was when Adam had the idea of, 'What if I were to create my own dish?'. Feeling grateful to the Old Man for taking him in, Adam had long been pondering on ways to repay him. The way he eventually settled on was what he knew best - cooking.

However, rather than simply cooking a great meal for the Old Man, Adam instead decided it may be better for him to create something new for the restaurant to bring attraction to it.

He hoped that by gaining popularity toward the restaurant, the Old Man could see his dream of having a flourishing business come true. As a result, this project was what Adam had put the most time into since he had started working at the restaurant. That was the reason if one were to look at the puzzle before him, they would notice that it was nearly complete, only missing around five-six pieces.

These pieces however, were proving nigh impossible for the young Adam to find. He had already pieced together what type of meal would be the most popular in the region, a name for it on the menu, and had even learned how to cook it decently well.

However, what he couldn't manage to figure out was how to make it unique to them and what could elevate it above the level of other restaurants.

You see, the restaurant ran by the Old Man was nothing more than a small diner that sold some of the traditional dishes in Nevada such as Mixed Spanish Paella, Homemade Onion Rings, Prime Rib Roast with Horseradish Sauce, and some Classic Shrimp Cocktail.

Adam didn't truly see any reason to add another dish to this, finding these to already be sufficient. However, Adam felt that the dessert options were rather limited, with only Basque Cake and Cheesecake as options.

However, Adam both lacked the confidence and felt that there wouldn't be much of a hype for an entirely new dish to their restaurant.

As such, Adam chose to instead focus his attention on the two desserts he had here.

After overhearing some conversations from the customers while bringing their orders to the table, Adam had learned that people viewed their Basque Cake as rather bland, finding some of the rivalling restaurants to be much better.

As such, Adam figured that he could try and make an improvement to their recipe, adding his own spin to it that could hopefully create a delicious version that may be able to attract new customers.

However, what he didn't expect was how difficult this task would be, as evident by the over 1000 piece puzzle he was now forced to solve. As he sat there in contemplation, Adam slowly thought through his problem, 'Think Adam, what is the basis of a Basque Cake? It's the dough made of baking powder, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, eggs, butter and salt. Then there's the pastry cream or the jam, the jam typically being made from cherries. The more popular of these two options being the pastry cream considering the sweet flavor to it as opposed to the more tart flavor of the jam.'

As he thought to here, Adam's eyes lit up, his mind having finally come to a solution. And as this thought appeared in his mind, the pieces of the puzzle slowly began to appear in his mental image, slotting themselves into place. 'So, if people seem to enjoy both, why not try combining the two? Still, the opposing flavors of tartness and sweetness might take away from the overall flavor of the cake. What might I be able to do to counteract this?' Alex thought to himself, the puzzle now only missing one last crucial piece before his project would finally be complete.

After a long while of pondering on what exactly this last piece could be, Adam finally realized that there was no way he'd be able to solve it cooped up in his room.

As such, Adam soon rushed down the stairs of the house and into the restaurant below it, rushing past the diner area and into the kitchen, not forgetting to give his 'Hello's' to the regulars of the restaurant as he passed.

Soon, his figure blurred into the kitchen, his eyes scanning his surroundings. "So, the issue is the contrast between the two flavors right? And clearly people prefer the sweeter pastry cream more, so it would be better to lean into the sweetness of the Basque Cake would it not?" Alex mumbled to himself, opening the kitchen fridge before reaching into it, pulling out a number of ingredients.

In his hurry, Adam didn't even notice as the figure of the Old Man seemed to appear behind him, a slight smile on his face as he watched the young Adam move around the kitchen in a blur of baking, a fond smile on his face as he seemed to reminisce about the past before slowly turning around and exiting it, leaving the teen to his own devices.

~~~~

It had been a day since Adam had finally made his discovery, and he could currently be seen standing within the kitchen with large bags under his eyes signifying the lack of sleep he had gotten the previous night.

He had instead found himself forsaking sleep entirely as he labored away within the kitchen, slowly bringing his dish to life. It was only now however, that Adam had finally completed what he had been trying to accomplish all along.

Resting before him was that of a cake, one anyone from the region would instantly recognize as that of a Basque Cake. However, there were some noticeable differences to it such as the color of the filling, it containing a yellow-ish tint to it.

However, at this moment, the completely exhausted Adam slumped to the ground, his mind finally giving in to his need for sleep now that he had finally accomplished his goal.

As he rested on the ground however, the figure of the Old Man once more returned to the kitchen, the look of reminiscence still locked on his face as he looked down at the young Adam. "I remember when I used to stay up just like this in my younger days, creating new dishes as I competed with that old fart Sen. I wonder how he's doing these days, maybe I should give him a call." The Old Man muttered to himself, bending down and picking up the rather small form of Adam before carrying up to his room, placing him in his bed before looking down at him with a fond smile on his face.

Finally, the Old Man slowly made his way down the stairs once more, now heading back into the kitchen. This time, he came to a stop right before the dish Alex had finally finished making, a look of wonder on his ever-smiling face.

Grabbing a fork from the drawer as well as a knife from its holster, the Old Man cut into the cake, making a slice for himself. Pulling the slice out, the Old Man cut off a piece of it with his fork before bringing it up to his mouth and taking a bite.

After doing so however, the Old Man's eyes widened in shock, his expression sporting a blush for a moment as he was brought back to memories from his youth.

With his eyes closed, the Old Man began mumbling to himself, "The kid clearly added a jam to this cake, yet he seems to have left the pastry cream within it. However, he seems to have taken a different approach to the jam as to retain the sweetness of it." Rolling the food around in his mouth, the Old Man slowly picked out the flavors within, his eyes eventually widening as he continued,

"I see! So young Adam has instead chosen to forsake the tartness of the cherry jam in place of creating his own. And with this rich juicy flavor, there's only one fruit this could be from - peaches. He seems to have made his own homemade peach jam and used it within this Basque Cake, creating his own original take on it. The sweetness of the pastry cream seems to combine perfectly with the sweet flavor of the peach, the fruitiness of it only seeming to enhance the flavor. As I bite into this dish, it seems capable of reminding me of the sweetness of youth - of my first love!"

The Old Man mumbled to himself, his eyes closing once again as his mind rippled, remembering to a period now nothing but an ancient memory of his first encounter with, and the subsequent adventures that followed, his meeting with his first and only love.

Of the dates he would take her on and the first kiss they shared, of the sweet taste of her lips. After a while, the Old Man eventually snapped out of his dazed state, finding a few tears lining his eyes as he reminisced the past. "It seems that boy has a much greater talent than I had previously realized for cooking!" He muttered to himself, head turned as he looked up at the ceiling as if he could see the figure of the young boy now resting in his bed just above.