Chapter 21: The Plate of Embarrassment and the Future Cheesecake, Part 2
...until Vic the bouncer finally arrives at the scene and defuses the tension right before it mutates into a full-on bar fight.
And he does just that with his patented mean stares that send chills to the spine of anyone who's unlucky to see his flaring eyes.
"We're sorry, we're sorry!"
The arguing men apologize many times to the bouncer.
Good thing they're not yet drunk, or this would've been a hundred times worse.
And as a stipulation, the two who just argued will never talk about politics again.
"Instead, you should talk about how to eat chocolate cornets," Vic suggests.
The two just nod as they indeed shift the topic, while Vic returns to his usual position.
"Chocolate cornets? Hmm… I recall my niece enjoying one."
"Did she eat the tip or the custard-filled bottom first?"
The man who's a licensed architect just mouths off some words before punctuating them with "…I dunno."
Good. Peace is back again here at this bar.
Now to continue the conversation about bikes and cities.
Susan explains further…
"You see, when people use bikes, they just park their bikes somewhere in the sidewalks and pick up something to buy or grab a bite before going back to their bikes and blasting off somewhere. This bodes well for the establishments that are on the streets, which allow for more human interaction.
"Meanwhile, with cars, scores and scores of suburbs were being built and are being built to this day… and what do we get? Isolated families with isolated homes, stratified along cheerless streets. And the children? They grow up too sheltered, unprepared for life's real challenges, and will be facing mental health issues because they've interacted little with the world outside their immediate family bubble. Not to mention the harmful effects these gas guzzlers have on the environment. In short, suburbs are meant to serve cars, not people.
"And that is why my friend's argument holds water nowadays. What good is an exquisitely-designed home by a famous architect… if the family living inside it is broken and dysfunctional?
"But with roads… once we get them right and return them to the people in place of cars, we will see a thriving economy, where everyone lives in true harmony."
"Uh-huh. I really visualize your point."
As someone who's living a righteous life nowadays...
I remember many of my contemporaries whose families are victims of this stratification scheme, and I feel sorry for them.
As for myself…
Nope. Don't think of dreary things now.
And speaking of non-dreary things…
Felicia approaches us with a simple dessert on a simple plate in tow.
She expounds, "Hey, everyone! I want to give your opinion on something that will be added to our menu in the coming days."
Aurora senses the smell coming from the plate.
"Hey… ain't that… cheesecake?"
"It's not just your ordinary cheesecake, loves. It's what I call… 'The Future Cheesecake'!"
Like the one with nanomachines… whoops, what am I thinking?
The head cook expounds further, "The ingredients are being kept under wraps for now. But you'll be getting first dibs on tasting it!"
It turns out the first ones who will test-taste this… "Future Cheesecake" are us employees… and Aurora herself.
And thus, for this moment, she hands out four small plates, each containing a slice of the cake, to us three and Laurent.
She commands us, "Alright, then. Help yourselves, and tell me what you think of the taste."
We immediately take our first bites of the cheesecake…
...and we can feel our taste buds getting stirred by something.
And that stirring is followed by…
"Wow! This is so delicious!"
We four declare this at the same time, with much joy.
This… this very cheesecake…
It has the perfect blend of its most essential ingredients – cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and eggs.
The result is a blend that is ultra smooth and ultra creamy, that we feel something rising within us, and it's not in any way sensual.
And as to the flavoring Felicia added… well, it's a trade secret, and only she can reveal it at the most opportune time.
Most likely, that secret flavoring is what lends to the proposed name of the cheesecake itself.
Felicia can only comment, "Well, it seems from your faces and gestures, you're all satisfied with the dessert, huh?"
We all nod in agreement.
"Alright… but this is just the beginning. Tomorrow, I'll have The Future Cheesecake tested on random customers, and I sure hope they are as satisfied as you are. Furthermore, I'll have you taste-test another proposed dessert of mine, since this is actually one of the first desserts I plan to add to the menu. Our boss told me this, basically."
"I see," Leigh reacts with glee. "Well then, break a leg with the next dessert, OK?"
"Thanks for the well wishes, Leigh."
After going back to our talk with Susan, we three decide to call it a night and go home a few minutes from midnight.
The next day.
It seems people are now guessing over social media which desserts will definitely enter Mushy Baby's Drift's menu, as the customers who went last night witnessed the employees' overwhelmingly positive reactions regarding the cheesecake they taste-tested.
Yup, it's all good publicity.
***
Great going, me!
My patented "The Future Cheesecake" is an astounding success with my fellow employees!
Now for the next dessert I plan to place on the menu...
My mind trails me back to the times I've spent in the kitchen with mom and aunt.
One day, they had a quite huge stockpile of mangoes of different variants coming from India, the Philippines, and here in the United States.
The common denomination of all those mangoes they accumulated?
They were all sweet, with the right amounts of fructose, the naturally-occurring sugar found in all kinds of fruits, that minimal to no added sugars should be needlessly added.
I asked my mom and aunt…
"How'd you get those mangoes? It looks like we can feat on them for weeks!"
My mom extolled, "Oh, these? We got these as surpluses. It seems at this time, there's an oversupply of mangoes in the entire world. This means the farmers that produced them have fatter wallets now."