The dining table in the kitchen studio. After everyone was seated, John clapped his hands together and then gestured towards the array of plates spread out in front of each of the girls.
"Alright. Here we have proper macaroni and cheese with a béchamel sauce and a hearty marinara italian sausage blend on the side. There's fresh tiramisu and gelato in the fridge being chilled for dessert. Cannolis are resting on the countertop. And we even have a proper Naples-style Margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. Now, dig in."
Hope reached out first, taking a spoonful of her marinara sauce before pouring it over the macaroni. After that, she took a bite.
Juliet looked over, her olive green eyes filled with expectation. "Well, Hope?"
Hope was quiet. Then she let out a nervous laugh and said, "Um... I still like Craft Mac and cheese better?"
Juliet stood up and started pacing, muttering Italian curses under her breath.
Rin giggled and pointed a fork at Hope. "Your tastebuds are the opposite of Riri's, huh?"
Hana nodded. "They must be! Riri can taste everything... but Hope can't taste ANYTHING."
Hope turned a bright red and said, "Th-That's not true! This is good! Really! It's just... I like Craft better!"
Juliet pinched her fingers in both hands together and shook them at Hope. "What isa wronga witha your tasta buds!?"
Erie laughed as she scooped up a spoonful of macaroni. "Oh, you know it's bad when Julie's Italian accent starts slipping out instead of the New York one..."
John sighed and sat down with his own bowl of macaroni. "It's a lost cause. I thought that cooking for a girl with perfect taste would be difficult. It turns out the impossible task is cooking for a young woman with no taste..."
Hope huffed and said, "That's not true! It's just that pasta doesn't get that much better, you know?"
Juliet let out a loud gasp and said, "You take that back!"
Hope crossed her arms and said, "I won't! I stand by it! The difference between a five dollar pasta bowl and a fifty dollar pasta bowl is next to nothing!"
Juliet actually started turning purple. But then she let out a deep sigh and sat back down in her chair. "...Fuhgeddaboudit..."
"Woooow." Erie looked at Hope and said, "You made her devolve to a stereotypical Italian mobster accent."
Hope rolled her eyes and kept eating. "I don't get what's the big deal about pasta anyway. It's just noodles, sauce, and meat. The difference between cheap pasta and expensive pasta isn't even that much."
Juliet twitched.
John chuckled and then looked over at Xuan and Wu, sitting on his left and right. "Are you two alright?"
Xuan nodded, causing her black hair to bob. "Yes, Father! These noodles are yummy!"
Wu nodded too, making her white bangs shift. "It's tasty! But I like soup noodles more!"
Hope's eyes lit up and she said, "Oh! Me too! I love pho!"
Rin blinked. "What's that?"
"Fah?" Hana tilted her head. "Is it like that meme? FAH!" She pumped a fist in the air.
Hope giggled and said, "No! Pho! It's like, a rice noodle soup dish with a broth and everything..."
Erie took a bite of her pasta and then looked genuinely offended. "You're a stickler about pho but not pasta? When all you need to make pho is toss in a bone and some spices before pouring the broth over noodles?"
Hope gasped. "You did NOT just say that!"
John fed Xuan a bite of mac and cheese and said, "Pho is just an inferior spring noodle soup. I will die on this hill."
Erie nodded. "Yeah. It's just a knock off."
Juliet slammed her hand on the table and said, "You take that back!"
Rin slammed her hand on the table too and said, "Objection! ...What are we objecting?"
Juliet pointed at John and said, "Pho is amazing! Especially traditional Vietnamese style! I won't have you blasphemize it!"
Hope nodded. "Yeah! Thai pho is best!"
Juliet paused. Then she looked at Hope. "...Thai pho?"
"Mmhm! They use pork and lemongrass with lime leaves! It's refreshing!"
"PORK?! IN PHO?!" Juliet jabbed a finger at Hope and said, "Are you a walking food criminal?!"
John casually fed Wu a slice of pizza and said, "See? Just a knock off. I will die on this hill."
Erie rolled her eyes. "It's just meat, spices, broth, and noodles. That's about as generic as can be. Like, if we're talking about soup noodles, ramen is superior."
Hope and Juliet both spun to look at Erie.
Hope let out a strangled squeak and then said, "You think ramen is better than pho?!"
Juliet crossed her arms, physically restraining herself from grabbing Erie. "Ramen is NOT superior to pho! It's completely different!"
"Yeah!" Hope nodded. "And if we're talking about soup noodles, curry noodles are the best!"
Juliet nodded. "That I can agree with! Laos Curry Noodles are amazing."
"Huh?" Hope looked at Juliet. "But Thai Curry Noodles are the best! It's so creamy!"
Juliet visibly short circuited. Then she blinked and said, "Why would you want a creamy curry? Ew?"
John groaned. "Stop arguing about food cuisines and eat the danged pizza." He grabbed a slice for himself and murmured, "This was a mistake... No, this was a learning lesson. If Alphy and Betty were here too... No, if Meggie and Yue were here..."
Erie ate a slice of pizza and said, "Why would it be worse if Alphy and Betty were here?"
Rin perked up and said, "I know! It's because Betty nee-chan likes sugar on everything and Alphy nee-chan's tastes are weird! Like, she sometimes eats cereal with water because she's too lazy to get the milk."
John snapped a spoon in half. "Alphy does WHAT?!"
Wu gasped, covering her mouth.
Xuan giggled. "Even we know to not do that!"
Hana nodded. "Mmhm. And she likes blending cereal and milk into smoothies. She sometimes adds bread for texture."
Juliet reflexively scooted back in her seat, making it screech. "Oh, my, god."
Erie gagged.
Hope blinked. "Is that bad? It's just a milkshake, isn't it? Like blending a cookie with milk!"
Juliet looked at Hope and said, "That is NOT the same thing and you know it!"
Erie nodded. "Yeah, no. Adding bread in for texture..." She paused. "Wait. What kind of bread? Because if it's like raisinbread or cinnamon swirl, it's alright."
Rin giggled and said, "You'll never believe it... but sourdough."
Juliet let out a strangled scream.
Erie covered her mouth, actually turning a bit green.
Hope gasped. "That's nasty! ...Wait, but I guess the sourdough would make it savory...?"
John covered his face and murmured, "What are these cursed food combinations...?"
Hana laughed and said, "Well, you can blame Aneue! She's been making normal fruit smoothies and protein shakes and bought a blender. But then Alphy got a hold of it and started experimenting..."
"Of course." John sighed. "Alphy WOULD do that..."
Even though it was converted to gap moe, the Dao of Destruction is drawn towards devastation...
And devastation was born from experimentation.
"...At least she isn't doing things like pickle juice fruit smoothies."
Rin paused.
John paused too. "Rin. Rin, no."
"Onee-chan doesn't do that... but Aneue does? She says it's good for recovering electrolytes?"
John stood up and walked over to the fridge. "Forget it. I'm eating a whole pan of tiramisu to forget about this cursed food conversation."
Juliet jumped out of her seat and said, "Give me a bowl of gelato, Johnny. I need to numb my brain of this... this anathema."
Erie got up too and grabbed a handful of cannolis from the countertop. "I'm gonna need all of these..."
Hope looked around at everyone's reactions and frowned. "...Is it that bad? Everyone has their own tastes, right?"
John paused and looked at Hope. Then he thought for a bit. And after that, he said, "It's like making tamales with rice flour."
Hope screamed. "NO! YOU TAKE THAT BACK! NOOOOO! BLASPHEMY! STOP! TAMALES USE CORN FLOUR! EVIL, EVIL MAN!"
Erie blinked and said, "Huh? Isn't that just Masa then? You know, the Filipino tamales? You just make it sweet."
Hope let out a strangled sound. Then she was quiet and sat back down. She looked at John and said, "...Okay. I understand. Please give me some tiramisu, Mister John."
John slid over a giant bowl for her and nodded. "Eat up."
Rin giggled and then secretly high-fived Hana under the table.
Hana giggled too and then winked at Rin.
John noticed.
But he decided that, after today, he had dealt with too much hassle to bother commenting on it.
So he just scooped out some tiramisu for Xuan and Wu, handed the twins a spoon each, and then immediately dug into a fresh pan of tiramisu all for himself.