The Heartbeat at the Tip of the Tongue

Word count: 1860

Matcha Opera Cake

“Now, who will be the winner for this turkey dish?” Winston clapped, and received the card that the staff passed him, rubbed his chin, and didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

This made everyone who was there be filled with curiosity.

“Stop kidding around Winston! Hurry reveal the results ba!”

“Be careful that people don’t throw a plate at you!”

Winston coughed, and slowly said: “this is a turkey dish, and honestly, there is a large disparity between the number of votes! I’m not sure is the lacking party will have a chance to catch up. The total number of judges who chose the turkey main dish is 22 people. Among them, a total of 13 people chose the same dish, which is Jiang Qian Fan and Lin Ke Song’s cornmeal turkey burrito!”

The sound of applause rang through the crowd.

Lin Ke Song blinked at Jiang Qian Fan: “we received 15 votes? I didn’t hear wrongly right?”

“You didn’t hear wrongly.”

Jiang Qian Fan’s words were just spoken, when Lin Ke Song jumped to wrap her arms around his neck: “That’s wonderful! That’s wonderful! I knew everyone would like it!”

Jiang Qian Fan opened his arms, letting Lin Ke Song hug him tightly, a few seconds later, he tightened his arms, and patted her back saying: “this isn’t the final results. Don’t forget, we still have 3 more desserts.”

His expression was calm as the water, couldn’t see great sadness or happiness.

Lin Ke Song’s heart too followed and calmed down.

“Yes, there are still 3 desserts…… and the winner will only win for a moment! And happiness is only for a moment!”

The nervousness that she had before the pk competition dissipated, leaving a sense of satisfaction.

Whether the votes that she and Jiang Qian Fan receive later will be able to surpass Jessica and Iris, she will not stick the label of a failure on herself easily.

And Jessica had her brows furrowed, leaning on the edge of the counter, gritting her teeth: “that can’t be…… how can it be? This dish of ours, no matter the heat, seasoning or combination is flawless!  How could it have lost so easily? Was there covert planning? These judges must have been prepared by Jiang Qian Fan beforehand! To continue this competition, will only be self-inflicted injury! We …….”

“Are we going to withdraw from the competition?” Iris methodically placed the plates with desserts on the pushcart, compared to her impulsivity from before, she now seemed very calm, “then let every laugh at the Quentin family for being sore losers? Mother, don’t forget, that the 60 judges were chosen by Winston and the well-known people of the industry. If you say that they were arranged by Jiang Qian Fan beforehand, then it’ll mean that the entire industry is trying to mess with the Quentin family? Even if the response to us isn’t great, so what? Even if we lose, we have to lose with dignity.”

Jessica exhaled: “alright ba, if this competition is fair, and not a show that Jiang Qian Fan has made with you and I, then with the difference of 6 votes, we will be able to get them back with the matcha opera cake and blueberry pie!”

At this time, Winston reminded everyone that the time had come. The desserts were pushed out of the back kitchen, and placed in front of each judge.

Iris lowered her head towards the loudspeaker, and looked towards Winston saying: “Mr Winston, this pk has already reached its final round. I have a little request.”

“Oh, what request?” Winston had on a slightly interested expression.

Iris seemed stern and serious: “from the start of the competition, from the appetisers to the main dish, there was always a specially invited critic to comment about out dishes, resulting in us participants having an understanding for the other party’s dishes based on the views of another. This isn’t helpful at all to the exchange and learning of both parties. If editor Winston doesn’t mind, I hope that the last round of competitions will allow us to comment on the other party’s dishes.”

Jessica was very pleased with the suggestion her daughter made. Commenting on the other party’s dishes from their perspectives with the taste buds of head chefs, and finding the flaw in the other party, is way better than leaving the results of the competition to these judges who had close to no understanding of cooking techniques. Even with a loss, as long as they are able to understand, win or loss can only represent the sovereignty of the tastes of the judges, and not the professionalism of the chefs.

“En! I like this suggestion!” Winston looked towards Jiang Qian Fan and Lin Ke Song saying, “how do you think about this suggestion?”

Lin KE Song gave a big wide grin, this was exactly as she wanted.

Just how did Jessica Quentin’s matcha opera cake taste like, without waiting for Jiang Qian Fan, she’d already nodded.

Winston couldn’t help but laugh, he said to Jiang Qian Fan: “I believe you too will not reject this opportunity to let Ke Song learn and grow.”

“Of course.”

So the 3 of them left the back kitchen, and went to the dining table, and sat with the judges.

The opposite of Lin Ke Song sat Iris. Iris’ gaze was as cold as ever.

Jessica’s sitting posture looked very elegant, a kind of rich person’s aura flowing out of her, compared to Lin Ke Song who found everything fascinating, she was very calm and mature.

“Qian Fan, I think you understand, that conquering your opponent is much more difficult than conquering the 60 judges.”

“Of course. The capturing ability of your sense of taste is far better than the average person. So I look forward very much to the important suggestion that chef Quentin has made.”

For the conversation that these 2 made, Lin Ke Song didn’t even register a single sentence. Her eyes were fixed on the plate in the waiter’s hands.

Matcha opera cake was placed on the table. A rectangular cake, with a diagonal line in the middle, one half showing the green of the matcha, while the other side was a deep and rich chocolate black. From the chocolate side, the thick and even crumbs curled on the cake, a crystal clear plum jelly leaned gently on the cake. Lin Ke Song suddenly had an image about a young lady leaning on the opera house, having a bath under the sunlight.

“Eat ba.” Jiang Qian FAn turned his head in Lin Ke Song’s direction.

Like they were not tasting the works of the opponent, but like they were leisurely having afternoon tea in some cafe.

“En!” Lin Ke Song lifted her little fork, and gently scooped up an edge of the cake.

“Say what you think.” Jiang Qian Fan turned his body, holding his head, even though he couldn’t see, his gaze had fallen on Lin KE Song’s pursed lips.

His elegance and calmness, to him, was that everything was relaxed and at ease, really having nothing to do with winning or losing.

“The matcha cake layer is really amazing! Especially the cake layer…… to be able to achieve this fluffiness yet not lose the texture, eggs, egg white, flour and butter proportions must be very precise! As long as there’s a loss of balance this happiness of the mouth having a massage will be gone! Even though matcha powder was also added into the cake, the powder was very fine, naturally blending with the flour, not a little bit of astringent feeling! The chocolate is also prepared amazingly! I have never eaten such delicious chocolate in the market before! Soft and smooth but maintaining the integrity of the chocolate, the slightly bitter taste and the fresh fragrance of the matcha powder blending together, is impeccable ah!”

Without knowing, Lin Ke Song had already finished a whole piece of cake.

Jessica’s lips curled at the edge slightly, she’d already known long before that her cake was perfect, Lin Ke Song would never be able to find any flaw.

“Chef Qian Fan, I am looking forward to your comments too.”

Jiang Qian Fan lifted his fork, his fingers feeling the edge of the plate. Because of the placement, he could not be sure of where the cake was placed.

Lin Ke Song covered the back of his hand, and helped him move the fork, to the edge of the matcha cake, and gently cut down.

Jiang Qian Fan then put the cake into his mouth, he only had a bite, then placed the fork down.

“Perfect combination, no matter if it’s the control of the amount of vanilla bean used or the sweetness, i believe that even if guests who are adverse to sweet foods will be unable to resist this kind of cake, like the melodious voice echoing from the opera house under the warm sun of a winter’s day. The food critics place the matcha opera cake as Chef Quentin’s signature dish, it is indeed a well-deserved title.”

“I believe Chef Jiang Qian Fan’s matcha opera cake will also be perfect without argument. After all, you have absolute taste, and today will not be the first time you have tasted this kind of cake that I make, so I believe it will be a breeze for you to copy.”

Even though the mouth said those words, Jessica didn’t think that her cake could be presented by the other party. After all, this wasn’t the work of Jiang Qian FAn alone, there was still Lin Ke Song. Jiang Qian Fan’s eyes were inconvenienced, the process of making the cream, including the melting of the chocolate and more all needed Lin Ke Song’s judgement. Lin Ke song was the variable of this dessert.

Jessica took up the utensils, and took a look at matcha cake in front of her, from the top part of the cake to the bottom layer, this let her clearly observe the layers of the cake.

When the fork cut open the chocolate, and squeezed into the embryo of the cake, grazing past the matcha cream, it was obvious that the texture was very soft, she had to use almost no strength, but the cake didn’t change shape due to the softness, the most important part was the distinction between the layers of cake, even the cream and chocolate ganache thickness and texture were just perfect. Even without putting it in her mouth, Jessica knew that its texture was very perfect. All that was left was the difference in flavour.

But Jiang Qian Fan was confident and precise in adjusting the flavour, Jessica knew that picking out a flaw in the flavours would be very difficult.

And Iris who was beside her had already spoken: “I wish to know just how this vanilla syrup was made. The aroma of the vanilla is thick and pure, according to logic, the amount of vanilla used shouldn’t be little. But if too much vanilla was used, and the cooking time too long, a residue will be left in the syrup, destroying the original fragrance.”