What A Dream Wants

"Hello, I'm the Home Economics teacher, Mr. Vaughn." A young male teacher said. His voice was rich and attractive. Being one of the youngest teachers here, his messy brown hair and deep blue eyes made him the subject of gossip for many students and teachers alike. His eyes were described like an ocean, and they truly seemed like the depths of one, enigmatic and profound.

"So, in this, classroom, we learn about cooking and other household matters. It'll be fun!" He smiled,

his dimples showing. He was wearing a white apron on top of his jeans and his shirt.

Mr. Vaughn put his glasses on.

"In cooking, we have five basic flavors. Sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, and umami. These flavors comprise the fundamentals of what we taste."

"Then, there's texture. Soft, chewy, crunchy, hard, and more. This is the reason why so many vegan burgers can be flavored like beef, but still not taste like it. Science has made huge advancements in this regard, and now we can make vegan burgers taste like meat and feel like meat."

"Next, there's temperature. Whether something is served hot or cold can have an influence on the flavor that you receive in your taste buds."

"Spices are extremely important too. The presentation of food is fundamentally important, and so is the smell. Smell complements taste, and without a good presentation of the food, and an enticing smell, the person you're serving may not feel obligated to eat at all."

"There's a whole lot of science to cooking, chemistry to be exact, but also biology and other technical skills."

He took off his glasses.

"Even though it's the first day, I want to do a demonstration," He said, holding a mischievous smile. "Who wants to help assist me in preparing this recipe?"

Immediately hands shot up.

He randomly called on someone, and they stood up.

"What's your name?" Mr. Vaughn asked.

"Sad," He softly said.

"Sad?"

"My name's Sad."

"I'm sure your name is great." Mr. Vaughn said, oblivious.

"No, my name is Sad. Like S-A-D, Sad. Last name Ramen."

"Well, we have Sad here, and we also have Ms. Happi in this school." Mr. Vaughn laughed goodheartedly. "Anyways, do you know how to make ramen?"

Sad was silent for a second. He stared.

"Yeah..." He replied.

"Well, traditional Ramen recipes are decently easy for beginners, so it's always a good demonstration for those learning how to cook." Mr. Vaughn explained. "Follow my instructions, Sad."

"However, there's an exception to ramen, as opposed to a normal chicken broth. The chicken stock has to have tare, miso, or soy sauce in it. So usually, tare and soy sauce is a ten to one ratio. Miso is a bit more than a ten to one ratio because it isn't as salty. Tare can include mirin- a type of rice wine, dashi, vinegar, sake, spices, ginger, garlic, and oils. The number of spices you add directly influence how spicy the ramen will be."

Sad started to reach for the ingredients.

"But since we're pressed for time, and I can't explain the different types of tare in a few minutes, we'll just use the store-bought version!"

Sad Ramen stared, and then added 1:10, store-bought tare to broth ratio, into the soup.

"Secondly, we have the noodles. There's a saying, the heavier the soup, the lighter the noodles. Since we're not making a light tonkotsu udon today… although we may make one later-"

Tonkotsu, a boy sitting in the corner of the room, flinched.

"We'll use curly, thicker noodles." Mr. Vaughn finished off, oblivious to any inner turmoil that was happening at the moment.

Sad started to reach for the dough.

"But, since we don't have the time for that, we're just gonna use premade noodles."

Sad stared.

"Finally, the toppings! Ramen usually has a hardboiled egg- slightly gooey, some green scallions, pork, and other toppings. Now it's time to assemble the ramen together."

Sad assembled the ramen.

The fifth-period bell rang.

"That's how you make ramen!" Mr. Vaughn grinned. "Now I want you guys to try, using the ingredients that you guys have."

Steven tried.

In his pot, shining brilliance and the shimmering broth could be seen. He assembled the ingredients together, creating a beautiful base, and wonderfully handcrafted noodles, and tangy tare, all in the matter of minutes.

He would not let food be blemished. It would be a blasphemy towards food.

"Wow, that's good." Mr. Vaughn said, surprised, looking at Steven's creation, oozing in aroma and subtle sweetness.

He walked around, peering at other creations, offering pointers.

After a while, the class was about to end.

"Thanks for the good work," He said to Sad. "Of course extra credit!"

Sad was about to say something when-