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Gwen looked around as she made sure the magazines were off the couch. She was a little nervous. She had Kori upstairs photosynthesizing or whatever she does with sunlight, there was Cindy who was cooking something that smelled good, in a weird way. But this was the first time Erin had been invited to her home for dinner.
"Cindy, how's it going in there?" She looked to the front door. Erin would be here any minute.
"Is good food!" Shin-Hye assured from within the kitchen. She'd been in there all day! She'd cleaned the fish, cooked bean sprouts, made Kimchi, made all kinds of other little salads. She'd boiled, braised, and roasted all sorts of things. "Everything go very goodly!" she assures Gwen again, "Also have beer- is cold! And Soju! Take long time to find Soju, I find! Good to drink with Agwi-jjim!" she assures her friend as she goes about her cooking and preparing things.
Sure enough, Erin didn't take long. She couldn't swing around on webbing herself, but with the symbiote at her back she could make do. Dropping down behind the now-familier house the asian woman's symbiote-wrapped form shifts its 'clothing' to more mundane looking jeans and a T-shirt, her mask melting back into the ties that keeps her hair back in that neat bun. Tapping on the door lightly, the woman shifts a little nervously. She herself had always done the cooking, but it had also ment she'd been on 'home ground'. This was going to be interesting, after all they'd been through Erin still got the occasional butterflies in her stomach.
Gwen was pondering telling Shin-Hye that she wanted to stick to the Cokes in the fridge when she heard the knock at the door.
Take a deep breath, and relax. Shin was a good cook.
Shin is a good cook.
She opened the door and smiled when she saw Erin. "Erin! Come on in!" She held the door open for Erin to enter the house.
By the time the door was open, Shin-Hye was prepping the table. Chopsticks! (And forks and knives and spoons) On the table. It smells pretty good- a seafood dish, to be certain, but most certainly of East Asian origin. The tang of soy sauce. The spice of chili and the fragrance of vegetables more common in East Asia. Shin-Hye is singing to herself as she sets everything up, beers on the table in a bucket, with ice. The Soju- a Korean rice liquor set out with glasses. Some of these things she'd gotten on her own- how she paid for them? Who knows.
"Friend is here?" Shin-Hye wonders as she peeks out of the kitchen towards the knocking on the door. "Hello Gwen's Friend! Am Shin-Hye, happy meetings!"
Funny enough, for a girl who'd grown up in a restaurant and in 'chinatown' no less, the scents aren't exactly unfamilier. There's a brief blink of confusion as Erin is lead in before she smiles to the blonde, placing a light 'peck' at her cheek in greeting. "Heya Gwen, thanks for inviting me around!" she begins with a smile, only to blink and turn around at the voice of another, bowing her head in greeting towards the other woman poking her head out of the kitchen. "Erin, nice to meet you!" she calls out in returned greeting before tilting her head at Gwen. "New friend? Oh…I was going to bring cola but it got a little shook up and burst…"
Gwen smiled wryly. "Erin, I would like you to meet Moon Shin-Hye, lately of North Korea. Shin, this is Erin Yu. Her father owns the Chinese restaurant that serves the best Chinese food in the city." She winks. "I'm long overdue for inviting her here, and I felt that your dishes might be better than my meatloaf."
Cindy beams wide over to Erin, switching to very nearly perfect Mandarin, <"Welcome! I'm very glad I'm able to cook for you, Erin. I hope you like Korean food. I'm afraid its all I know how to cook."> she says, bowing her head several times, <"It is a good Anju! Very high quality ingredients. I hope you'll like it!"> Then, back to her broken English, "Very happy to meet new friend, Gwen." she offers, "Dinner ready, very good fish! Ugly fish most tasty fish, you see!"
A smile, Erin answers back in the same language. <It's a pleasure to meet you too. I'm sure it will be delicious, and most of what I know how to cook is chinese food, so we're even!> Grinning at her own attempt at humor, she switches back to English, nodding at Gwen. "Anything you make, I'm sure I'd like, but it'd be nice for both of us to rest and let someone else do the cooking. The meatloaf can be next time."
Gwen nods and chuckles. Then she looks to the table, holds up a finger, then says, "Give me a moment." She heads into the kitchen, the room resonant with the results of the cooking. As she begins taking out pop bottles, she calls back, "I'm actually looking forward to the meal, without really knowing what it is I'll be eating." She brings out four Cokes, settling them in the ice with the beers.
"Here is Agwi-jjim!" Cindy announces as she begins to spoon it out for her new friends, pointing at the salad and condiments on the table. "Kimchi, ganjang (soy sauce), Gochujang (Sweet and spicy chili paste). Kimchi and gochujang is spicy. Is good for cold weather! Good energy for cold weather, bring heat. Heat good for body." Shin-Hye says, mostly for Gwen's benefit. Its probably something that Erin has heard before in terms of food and Eastern Thoughts on 'chi/ki' energy.
"Other food is Agwi-jjim. Ugly Fish cooked with steam. Good fish. Chewy. Also have rice!" And properly cooked rice, at that. "STicky rice. Good rice!" she beams bright, "And beer and Soju! Is traditional to drink with friends with dinner like this. Very good luck."
Sitting herself down at the table, Erin was certainly not off-put by the exotic look of the dishes. They were close enough to home and more than a little pleasent smelling. Watching Gwen return with the soda, she already fishes for her chopsticks and makes to take the first taste of the meal. Perhaps if Cindy was intending to open up her own restaurant, her family was about to get a little competition. A lot of Westerners couldn't tell the difference after all, but for Erin? She was already considering all the things she was going to ask about what had gone into their meal.
Gwen looks at the food. It looked pretty good, actually, even if it smelled a little unusual. She closes her eyes and bows her head for a few moments, then looks up again, picking up a fork, and takes a deep breath. "Okay…let's try it." She takes a bite, looking thoughtful for a few moment, then begins nodding, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. "MMMmmm."
<"I made it less spicy than we used to eat at home. I didn't want to make it too spicy for Gwen. I'm not sure how spicy people in New York like their food- if you want it spicier, put the Gochujang in it- very good. I also have chili powder."> Shin-Hye offers in Chinese, before again switching to English. "Am not sure how spicy you like food, Gwen- if want spicier, like Korean spicy- put this in." she points to the Gochujang, "And maybe Kimchi. Kimchi goes with everything. Is Korean ketchup!" she says with a grin as she leans over to grab a beer for herself and popping the top with a bottle opener. Tink! hiss!
"She's tolerated most of my food," Erin speaks, staying in her perfect English. She'd clearly had plenty of practice with it, but that's what American schooling will do for someone. "And she hasn't caught fire yet." A wink at the blonde, the chinese girl continues digging in to her meal, clearly happy for the indulgence and the luxury of another cooking. "So how did you too meet?" she questions, trying her best to focus on the meal and the question through mundane means, rather then the urge to 'probe' the answer telepathicly from the surface thoughts of Cindy.
Gwen looks thoughtful, then swallows, reaching for a bottle of Coke and opening it with the bottle opener. "Actually, I think that is Shin's story. I came into it at the tail end of it, but I'm sure Shin can tell you. I'll just be over here, wolfing this down." She smiles to Cindy. "This is really good!"
Cindy beams wide to Gwen at the approval of her traditional Korean meal. "I am glad you are liking it, Gwen! It is good food." She takes a sip of her beer, eating as she goes on. "We meet recently. Gwen give me help, and let me stay. I have no where to stay." she says, practicing her English as she goes. "Come from Korea. Times are still very bad in Korea."
A nod at the rather simple and slightly vague but no less valid answer, Erin finishes her mouthful before continuing on. "So you're staying here with Gwen until you can find your own place?" she asks lightly, taking one of the cokes Gwen had brought out and waiting for her turn with the bottle opener while looking to the blonde. "That's sweet of you to do that for someone, especially someone you just met."
Gwen smiles, her cheeks coloring a little. "I seem to be making a habit of it. Not two weeks ago, I took on a tenant. Turns out she has no place to go. An expatriate, exiled from her country." She sips her coke. "It is something for me, too. This house has been so quiet since I lost my father. It's doing me good to have some life in here again. So I confess to having an ulterior motive."
"Yes. Shin-Hye would like a place for herself. For now, she will stay with Gwen. Gwen is good friend." Cindy says with a bright smile. "Am very happy to meet her." she admits again, with a bright smile. "Also happy to make new friend, Erin! Friends are good to have in new place."
"Well, if you're feeling lonely you're always welcome at the store, but maybe I should have been coming around here more often!" She says with a win. Cindy's words earn a smile and Erin nods, taking another mouthful of her serving she smile. "Friends make all the difference, especially when you're lost."