Wouldn't have been meant as a joke. I just figured we could do without the redundant statement. [ Lockwood's tone is warm, though direct. ] Cooking, especially for other people, is a gift. I can manage cheese on toast and boiled eggs, but it's George who cooks the real meals; usually after a difficult night.

[ He won't say it directly, but the inference is there. Food was a universal comfort, and cooking it -especially for others- was a comforting act. At least in Lockwood's experience. Perhaps people who sat at Lucrezia Borgia's table might have felt differently. ]

The man. Is he your family, or a friend? [ Lockwood's tone tries to make it clear that he doesn't set any higher significance on one relation over the other. Friends are just as important as blood relatives, in his experience, and he's not trying to pigeonhole Kasuga one way or another. Just asking about him and who he is to Zhao. ]