Seafood, and Tasty-looking Meat
Good evening, I'm currently making our dinner in the inn kitchen.
We'd have liked to eat out but the food were all stupid expensive.
5000 en per serving, what are they, fine dining? They're your ordinary restaurants too, as much as rip-off as the ones in Ginza.
We can't afford to spend that much per person every meal so I'm resigning to cooking our meal myself. Walking around sampling food like back then is only for special occasions.
Forgive your dad for not earning enough. Eh, quit it with the farce? OK, let's get to it.
Today's menu is tempura served over a bowl of rice. Feels like I've been making nothing but fried stuff lately, wonder if our cholesterol level is alright. It should be fine since I use vegetable oil though...
I was planning to serve sashimi but the two girls have never eaten raw fish and not really big on the idea so... Well, there's no rushing it.
I cut white meat fish, ring-cut squids, cut a bit of the un-veined shrimps, rub them with a mix of water, starch and sake before leaving them for several minutes wrapped in a clean cloth to take off the moisture.
If I don't do that, oil will fly everywhere when I fry them. Might make the stove catch on fire too... I recall that time I fried stuff for the first time in Japan. All the flying oil, it was hot and made a mess of my kitchen...
In the meantime, I mix egg and water, add in flour to make the batter for tempura. I heard leaving them not too mixed makes it crunchier.
Then I add in the cut fish, squids and shrimps onto the batter before sprinkling more flour on top and putting them into a pan with oil heated up to 170 c (with Menu's help).
Once they've stopped bubbling, I take them off the oil onto an oil draining tray before making cuts on the surface.
Once I'm done with the seafood one, I mix the remaining batter with cut Rock Onions and Red Carrots, before frying them as to balance our nutrient intake.
Raw vegetables are probably better. I'll go with a lighter one tomorrow.
Then I boil dried seaweed in water, take it off once the water starts boiling and add in sugar, soybean-like thing, and sake to make a mirin sauce substitute.
It's done once it's turned viscous enough.
Lastly, I put tempura on top of a bowl of aro rice and drip the mirin sauce on top. Done.
I add bowls of premade miso soup I had on Item Screen, to make it look like a set meal.
"Dinner ready, I've got more sauce if you need more."
"Uwah, so many fried shrimp and squid!"
"These won't lose to restaurant dishes..."
"Thank you, it's worth making them hearing you girls say that. Let's chow down."
""Let's.""
After saying that in a chorus, we bit on our pick.
I start with shrimps. Umu, shrimp tempura is supreme after all. The crunchy sensation is unbeatable. The sauce has just enough sweetness too, I should leave a bit as a sample.
"The fried vegetable is so crunchy and sweet, it goes well with the sauce. So good."
"The fish, squid and shrimps all have different textures and taste too, yet they go nicely with the crunchy batter! I can't stop my spoon!"
"Chew them properly, the food isn't going anywhere."
"Speaking of spoons, Kajikawa-san you always use those two sticks whenever you eat. Are those 'Chopsticks'?"
"They are, are you not familiar with them?"
"Frankly speaking, I've never seen anyone using those before Kajikawa-san. I know stories about heroes-sama eating with them in the past though."
<<Chopsticks are not commonly used in this world. Some people who revere heroes may try to use them during meals, but most do not know the proper way to.>>
So you're telling me I look like I'm trying to mimic heroes?
...Maybe I'd better start using spoons and forks. But it feels too late.
Well, we've gotta get up early tomorrow, I should get to bed after showering.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
The day after, we took the same herb gathering and magic beast culling commissions before heading to Monster Prairie.
By the way, our receptionist, Naima was taking a day off as a consequence of appraising all the herbs I brought yesterday. Sorry 'bout that.
...The substitute receptionist handed over our commission cards with a twitching face. Guess I should settle with only 30 pieces today.
"I can already deal with rabbits no prob now. This stuff is easier than I thought~."
"No being careless. They may be weak but a right hit on your vital may prove fatal. Don't let up."
"Yes ma'am~."
Looks like they're doing alright over there. She should reach Lv10 in half a month time at this rate.
But losing half a month of leveling for me and Alma is a bit painful. Yet we can't just take Reina along for the ride.
<<She has had practical experiences in Magic Beast Cave, as such she should be fine as long as you do not go in too deep.>>
...Well, she's gotten strong enough to play tags with High Cave Bears, I suppose she should be fine if she's careful.
But just to be safe, we should spend around 10 days safely leveling at the outer circumference first.
Waiting until she's got enough practical combat experience shouldn't be too long.
Hm, some Horn Rabbits are coming my way.
Go to Reina, not me you guys. Turn into her exp fodders.
『Kiiyii!』
Stab stab
The horn rabbits kept charging at me while I dug out herbs.
Due to the gap in our Attributes, it doesn't hurt at all, my HP doesn't even decrease by one but it's so annoying, stop that.
『Kiki!』
『Kiii!』
『Ki!』
Stab stab stab staaab
Quit with with the incessant assaults. You can try attacking me at the same time all you want, there's no point.
But man, these rabbits sure don't look cute at all. The one I kept as a pet in my elementary school days had a cuter face.
But they sure seem fleshy. Their meat must taste good.
...Maybe I should give rabbit meat a try for today's dinner?
『『『!! Kiiiyiii!!!』』』
...They ran away at full speed the instant that thought crossed my mind. Our precious exp and meat...
"Hikaru, don't intimidate those rabbits into fleeing just because they annoy you. Divert them here to Reina."
"No I didn't intimidate or anything you know? I just thought those rabbits looked like they'd taste good for dinner."
"That's probably even scarier to those rabbits..."
Umu, what a shame.
I've gotten plenty of herbs already, nothing to do now.
Ah, right.
"Rather than waiting for magic beasts to come our way, how about I transport them here by sliding just above ground."
"...You'd normally think that'd end up badly to the transporter, but you'll probably be fine considering earlier, might be a good idea."
"Please don't bring me anything too strong. I feel like Kajikawa-san's gonna come out with a bear in tow or something."
"Oy oy, I'm not gonna play around for your leveling. It's a matter of life or death."
"O-of course you won't, sorry..."
"At most, I'll just grab some wolves."
"No no, wolves are bad news enough! Please keep it to rabbits!"
She took care of 15 magic beasts on the first day which is probably enough, but there's no harm in making it even more efficient.
With me transporting the beasts here, it should double that amount.
That enables a high pace leveling without damaging her practical combat experience.
Alma and I can refill her mana when she's running short.
Now then, time to go look for some handy-looking magic beasts.
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