The One Where The Lines Get Kinda Blurry

The One Where It Gets Cheesy

It was 7.16pm when Jen looked at her watch. "What do you fancy for dinner" she asked as they arrived back at the house and made their way into the kitchen via the side door.

"You" came David's swift reply as he swept her in to his arms for a long and intense kiss, his tongue meeting hers with passion as they delighted in the rush of feelings and desire that such a simple connection could induce.

"Mmmmmm" breathed Jen as she pulled away following a few highly enjoyable and intimate minutes. "You doing that to me will never get old" she said with an affectionate smile. "But right now these guys are hungry" she indicated to the three dogs swirling enthusiastically around their legs, "and actually so am I." She winked as she added, "plus I have a feeling we'll both need plenty of energy for later so shall we eat first?"

David laughed as his stomach rumbled loudly almost on cue, "I guess I agree with you" he said through his smile, "so what are the options for dinner?"

"Well actually, I wondered if maybe you could show me how to make your favourite pasta dish the way you like it? You know, the cacio e pepe one? I got the stuff in and thought maybe it would be nice to cook it together. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea" he said, "I'd really enjoy that."

"Good, I hoped you'd say that" she answered, smiling from her eyes. She set about getting the various ingredients and cooking equipment needed, in reality there wasn't much of either, and set them on the counter in front of them.

"I just need to let the dogs out for a run then I'll be back to watch and learn."

Five minutes later she was back, David having already set a pot of simmering water on the hob to which he'd added the spaghetti, and finely grated a pile of the pecorino cheese.

"There's really not much to it" he said as Jen reappeared by his side. "So, I like to make the sauce in a separate pan, otherwise the cheese stays a little lumpy." He'd already put a second, heavy weight skillet on the hob to heat and into it he threw a large handful of black cracked peppercorns. "We'll let these toast for a minute or two to release extra flavour" he explained.

Jen cuddled into him from behind, "you sound like a real chef" she replied with a giggle, "I'm impressed."

"I don't know about that" he grinned in return, agitating the contents of the pan with a few shakes of his wrist. "So, next I add a little butter, and a little olive oil. Not too much because otherwise it'll be too runny, and you can always add more if needed." He did exactly that, scooping up a little butter with a smooth knife and adding it along with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. He kept the pan moving, coating the peppercorns as he did so and making sure the heat wasn't too high to burn the butter. "Now the fun part" he grinned, moving Jen in front of him. He dropped the grated cheese into the pan. "Now we have to stir this really slowly and gently until it's all melted" he said, taking her hand in his so they were stirring the mixture together. "You have to make sure it doesn't stop moving or it'll stick." Their hands were circling together, David's other hand wrapped around her waist as they did so.

"This feels strangely sensual" she said, turning her head around to look up at him.

"It kinda does" he agreed, moving his hips in time with their wrists and laughing as she joined in the semi erotic kitchen dance.

"Ooooh it's melting, what now?"

"Just kept stirring" he said, checking the spaghetti that had been bubbling away. "That's almost done so now all we need to do, once it's completely melted, is add in this cooked spaghetti and stir it through."

"It's getting quite thick, is it supposed to?"

"It's ok, when we add the pasta we'll just ladle it in rather than drain it so some of the cooking water will thin it out a little."