The Wooden Disk offered the best economically feasible salad buffet in the mall. Which was probably why Kahan found himself being stubbornly dragged there by his girlfriend Nikita. And he thought the clothes-shopping spree just before this had been bad enough.
“Hey, that savory pancake place we just passed had a lot of space…” he tried valiantly.
“Kahan ‘Engine’ Ingchupathripatidiwan, you are not going to worm your way out of this – not even with pancakes!”
Kahan couldn’t help smiling just a bit. Nikita was one of the few people outside his family who could get his full name right on the first try. He resumed his earlier look of despair when the facade of The Wooden Disk came into view.
*
The events that led up to this fateful moment began yesterday, when they’d ordered pizza for a movie night. Nikita had ordered some Italian-sounding thing with bay leaves and other healthy stuff on it. Kahan had ordered a bacon and pepperoni pizza with extra bacon.
“When was the last time you ate a salad, Engine?” Nikita had asked after trying to burn a hole through his pizza with her glare.
“Why would I? That stuff is for, like, rabbits.”
Nikita had gasped.
“You did NOT just say that! I eat salads all the time!”
“And that’s why you’re such a cute little bunny, Nikki – hey! What was that for?”
“That does it! Tomorrow, I am taking you to a salad place, and you will learn to appreciate it!”
*
“You know, I didn’t expect the plates to look like Frisbees.” Kahan twirled his one lazily in his hands. “I guess it makes sense though. I mean, if they used completely flat ones, all the salad would probably fall out.”
“My one has a cool design on the edge too,” chirped Nikita, who was clearly enjoying this a little too much. “Okay, let’s go serve ourselves. Come on, Engine!”
“Do we have to? I don’t mind sitting down for a bit longer…” said Kahan, now stirring his drink with his straw.
“Aren’t you hungry though? I figured you would be after all the walking we just did.”
“No, I’m fine.”
His stomach grumbled so loudly that the people at the nearest table were jolted out of their conversation.
“Er. That wasn’t me…”
“Kahan, don’t be such a baby about this. Look, I’m not going to oversee you like a nanny, alright? Just go serve yourself with whatever looks good at the buffet. The choice is amazing, seriously!”
“Do they have bacon at least?”
Nikita rolled her eyes.
“They probably have bacon bits, yeah.”
“Fine, let’s get this over with.”
*
A little while later…
“What is that!”
“You said serve myself with whatever looked good, so I did.”
“You don’t have a single fruit or vegetable on your disk!”
“Hey, I resent that! I have rice, don’t I?”
“Rice is not a vegetable!”
“It comes from a plant, it should be!”
“Also, that’s not rice.”
“What!”
“It’s bulgur, I think. It’s actually pretty healthy, so good choice there! Still not a vegetable though.”
Kahan groaned. Nikita sighed.
“I had a feeling this might happen, so I took the liberty of putting together something for you instead,” she said, while swapping their plates on the table. Kahan would have protested, but he also felt a little bad that she was going through this much trouble for him.
“You know, you didn’t have to – whoa, what is all that goo on the salad? It smells familiar…”
“It’s red curry dressing! I know you like the taste of red curry, so I went all out with it.”
“They had dressing? I didn’t even notice.”
“It’s right next to all the greens, dummy! Then again, you probably avoided that section like the plague… look, just take one bite, and if you don’t like it, I promise I’ll give you back your… ugh, I can’t even call this a salad with a straight face.”
Kahan decided to comply. Nikita was pretty familiar with his taste buds after all. Plus, the salad he was about to dig into was surprisingly not all that green.
He took a bite. It had mushrooms, baby corn, spinach, some greenish-yellow thing he didn’t recognize that was surprisingly starchy, and of course the red curry dressing… huh. It was… tasty. And Nikita hadn’t even put bacon bits in it! The insides of his mouth were properly tingling with joy. Was that really spinach he had just eaten?
“Soooo, what do you think?” asked Nikita, although something in her voice hinted that she already knew the answer.
“It’s… not bad.” Kahan didn’t want to admit defeat so easily.
“Engine, dear, I can see your eyes sparkling, you know,” chuckled Nikita. “Do you want the rest of it too?”
It may have been the hunger, and it may have been how thoughtfully put together the salad in front of him was. Either way, he dug in without hesitation. With a warm smile on her face, Nikita tucked in to the bulgur and bacon monstrosity that Kahan had put together. Which, to his credit, also tasted really good, though in a far meatier and guiltier manner.
Kahan had always been one to say things like “Engines run on oil, not leaves!” But now, as he polished off the remaining bits of salad on his disk, he was beginning to think that an alternative source of fuel might not be so bad every now and then.
“Hey, that savory pancake place we just passed had a lot of space…” he tried valiantly.
“Kahan ‘Engine’ Ingchupathripatidiwan, you are not going to worm your way out of this – not even with pancakes!”
Kahan couldn’t help smiling just a bit. Nikita was one of the few people outside his family who could get his full name right on the first try. He resumed his earlier look of despair when the facade of The Wooden Disk came into view.
*
The events that led up to this fateful moment began yesterday, when they’d ordered pizza for a movie night. Nikita had ordered some Italian-sounding thing with bay leaves and other healthy stuff on it. Kahan had ordered a bacon and pepperoni pizza with extra bacon.
“When was the last time you ate a salad, Engine?” Nikita had asked after trying to burn a hole through his pizza with her glare.
“Why would I? That stuff is for, like, rabbits.”
Nikita had gasped.
“You did NOT just say that! I eat salads all the time!”
“And that’s why you’re such a cute little bunny, Nikki – hey! What was that for?”
“That does it! Tomorrow, I am taking you to a salad place, and you will learn to appreciate it!”
*
“You know, I didn’t expect the plates to look like Frisbees.” Kahan twirled his one lazily in his hands. “I guess it makes sense though. I mean, if they used completely flat ones, all the salad would probably fall out.”
“My one has a cool design on the edge too,” chirped Nikita, who was clearly enjoying this a little too much. “Okay, let’s go serve ourselves. Come on, Engine!”
“Do we have to? I don’t mind sitting down for a bit longer…” said Kahan, now stirring his drink with his straw.
“Aren’t you hungry though? I figured you would be after all the walking we just did.”
“No, I’m fine.”
His stomach grumbled so loudly that the people at the nearest table were jolted out of their conversation.
“Er. That wasn’t me…”
“Kahan, don’t be such a baby about this. Look, I’m not going to oversee you like a nanny, alright? Just go serve yourself with whatever looks good at the buffet. The choice is amazing, seriously!”
“Do they have bacon at least?”
Nikita rolled her eyes.
“They probably have bacon bits, yeah.”
“Fine, let’s get this over with.”
*
A little while later…
“What is that!”
“You said serve myself with whatever looked good, so I did.”
“You don’t have a single fruit or vegetable on your disk!”
“Hey, I resent that! I have rice, don’t I?”
“Rice is not a vegetable!”
“It comes from a plant, it should be!”
“Also, that’s not rice.”
“What!”
“It’s bulgur, I think. It’s actually pretty healthy, so good choice there! Still not a vegetable though.”
Kahan groaned. Nikita sighed.
“I had a feeling this might happen, so I took the liberty of putting together something for you instead,” she said, while swapping their plates on the table. Kahan would have protested, but he also felt a little bad that she was going through this much trouble for him.
“You know, you didn’t have to – whoa, what is all that goo on the salad? It smells familiar…”
“It’s red curry dressing! I know you like the taste of red curry, so I went all out with it.”
“They had dressing? I didn’t even notice.”
“It’s right next to all the greens, dummy! Then again, you probably avoided that section like the plague… look, just take one bite, and if you don’t like it, I promise I’ll give you back your… ugh, I can’t even call this a salad with a straight face.”
Kahan decided to comply. Nikita was pretty familiar with his taste buds after all. Plus, the salad he was about to dig into was surprisingly not all that green.
He took a bite. It had mushrooms, baby corn, spinach, some greenish-yellow thing he didn’t recognize that was surprisingly starchy, and of course the red curry dressing… huh. It was… tasty. And Nikita hadn’t even put bacon bits in it! The insides of his mouth were properly tingling with joy. Was that really spinach he had just eaten?
“Soooo, what do you think?” asked Nikita, although something in her voice hinted that she already knew the answer.
“It’s… not bad.” Kahan didn’t want to admit defeat so easily.
“Engine, dear, I can see your eyes sparkling, you know,” chuckled Nikita. “Do you want the rest of it too?”
It may have been the hunger, and it may have been how thoughtfully put together the salad in front of him was. Either way, he dug in without hesitation. With a warm smile on her face, Nikita tucked in to the bulgur and bacon monstrosity that Kahan had put together. Which, to his credit, also tasted really good, though in a far meatier and guiltier manner.
Kahan had always been one to say things like “Engines run on oil, not leaves!” But now, as he polished off the remaining bits of salad on his disk, he was beginning to think that an alternative source of fuel might not be so bad every now and then.
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