Christmas Dinner

Dinner was prepared by Catherine and Henry, who was visiting. In addition to the ingredients they had at home, Henry also bought some fresh fruits and vegetables at the supermarket on his way there.

Considering that she is nearly ninety years old, it's impossible to prepare only heavily oily and salty dishes. In fact, even Catherine herself can't tolerate overly strong flavors.

She just likes to complain, that's all. It's just that others forbid her from eating it.

Just like the champagne Charlize brought, Catherine only took a big sip the first time. After that, she would at most moisten her lips, and most of the wine ended up in the stomachs of Henry and Charlize.

Although he doesn't have a nutritionist's license, Henry can still make food delicious and nutritious.

Food that tastes good but is too salty, or that is nutritious but tasteless, only proves one thing: employers don't pay nutritionists or chefs enough, so they create these wasteful dishes.

It's not that difficult to be thorough in every aspect. It just takes a little ingenuity and a bit of effort.

So these three friends, who are not related by blood, prepared a sumptuous Christmas dinner for themselves, even though Christmas hadn't officially arrived yet.

Moreover, the dinner Henry prepared had a unique feature: a wide variety of dishes. Even if you only took a bite of each dish, it would be enough to make the two ladies present feel stuffed.

But there's no need to worry about leftovers, because Henry can devour everything on the table. He practically eats the plates and cutlery as well! Although Charlize and Catherine had both witnessed Henry's appetite before, seeing it in person again still made these actresses, who have to control their figures, quite envious!

Even though one of them is semi-retired, her age still prevents her from overeating.

Catherine watched the man elegantly stuffing food into his mouth, and heaven knows how those two adjectives ended up together. She was inexplicably a little angry. "Henry, don't you think you're too fat? How much do you weigh now?"

They ate and talked naturally. Henry replied, "Two hundred pounds, I weighed myself just recently. It should be alright, I don't have a belly." Unlike women who would hide their weight, Henry was so frank it was almost infuriating.

Besides, only they know their own situation. Henry isn't the effeminate, skinny type, but he's not a sumo wrestler either. He has a build similar to a heavyweight fighter—big, but not the bodybuilding type.

Actual strength - considering the Kryptonian template, while it might not be able to destroy an entire Earth with a single punch, it could certainly flatten a mountain.

Because he lacked defined muscle lines, some people perceived him as fat. In the eyes of women driven mad with jealousy, he was utterly worthless. In the eyes of the first Hollywood queen, Catherine Hepburn, he was no different from a chick. She slapped away Henry's outstretched hand reaching for the last pudding and discussed with Charlize about splitting it.

It's important to know that the pudding, served as dessert, was made per person, one pudding per person. No matter how much the two ladies insisted that they were full, stuffed, and couldn't eat anymore, they still didn't give up the pudding.

When they snatched the last pudding from a dejected Henry and shared it, their emotions were like going between heaven and Hell, a rollercoaster ride even more intense than a sauna.

While marveling at the deliciousness of the dessert, they were also terrified by its exorbitant calorie count. Just one bite, and they'd probably have to run several kilometers tomorrow to burn off the calories. Then another bite—and another. Henry sat beside them, watching the two of them swallow the pudding, their faces filled with regret. But as long as they had something in their mouths, they felt like they were in heaven.

Their expressions changed in a blur. The sheer brilliance of their facial expressions made it undeniable that these two were truly deserving actors.

It's a pity the camera was in Los Angeles; otherwise, this scene would have been filmed and permanently documented.

After the three of them finished eating, Henry and Charlize worked together to wash the dishes. Then they sat down at the table.

Open a bottle of old red wine that Catherine just took out of the cellar.

The label was so old and faded that it was hard to read. The old lady pushed the bottle of red wine in front of Henry, and the Kryptonian, who was visiting, opened it without a second thought.

The corks on these old wines are quite difficult to handle; they can easily break if you're not careful, and the broken cork might fall into the wine. While it won't necessarily affect the taste, you'll end up with large pieces of cork in your drink, which can somewhat spoil the experience.

However, this was no big deal for Henry; Catherine had all the necessary tools for opening a bottle. So Henry first took a blade that was almost needle-shaped and scraped around the edge of the bottle where the cork touched the bottle to make them less sticky.

Then slowly screw the corkscrew into the aged cork. The process should not be too fast, otherwise the brittle cork will be crushed.

Finally, use moderate force to pull the cork out. Don't pull too fast or too hard. Otherwise, when you pull out the corkscrew, it will only pull out the loosened part, and the whole cork will still be stuck in the bottle.

Henry performed this process slowly and meticulously. He had no choice; if he were too rough, everyone would be left drinking red wine with broken corks.

But these slow movements were surprisingly beautiful. Catherine and Charlize watched Henry perform with great pleasure, their eyes glued to him for a moment.

When the cork was successfully pulled out without leaving a trace, the two women almost screamed together.

The moment the cork was pulled out, the aroma of the wine immediately filled Henry's nostrils. With his exceptional sense of smell, it was the first time he had ever smelled such a complex red wine.

It's not an unpleasant, strange taste, but rather the subtle, self-sealing of all the flavors in an old wine after years of aging, allowing it to develop new aromas.

Henry first poured a small sip into the glass, swirled it, smelled it, and then drank it down in one gulp, just like a seasoned sommelier.

"Yes, he still needs to sober up."

Charlize exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, I can already smell the aroma! Do I really need to let it decant?"

He poured a small sip into each of their glasses. "Try it first to see how it tastes right after opening. This red wine will taste even better after it's been decanted."

Meanwhile, Henry poured the red wine into the decanter. He held the bottle by the bottom, his thumb inserted into the groove of the base, and the grape-colored wine flowed down like silk.

All of these actions are to allow more of the wine to come into contact with the air, accelerating the oxidation process and releasing the flavor.

Charlize Theron was amazed by the first small sip. Although she wasn't a sommelier and had never tasted truly fine wines, she could still clearly sense the extraordinary nature of what was in the glass.

"Catherine, what kind of wine is this? It's so delicious!"

"A gift from Howard. It's said to be a bottle of wine that Napoleon commissioned to be made to celebrate his coronation, stored in Hitler's wine cellar after the Allies captured it. Apparently, only five bottles were ever produced."

The Kryptonian, pouring wine, froze, awkwardly watching the old woman smell the aroma of the empty glass.

Good heavens, this isn't just fine wine, it's an antique!

Napoleon was crowned in 1804, so this year is 1994. Exactly 190 years old for this wine.

Even disregarding its age, its commemorative value is unparalleled. It was commissioned by Napoleon for his coronation, and was part of Hitler's collection.

If you put this up for auction, you could probably get several houses for it.