Chapter 245 – Bear-san Gets Her Picture Book Examined (1/2)
We finished off the taste testing session with some pudding. It was very delicious and made more or less perfectly, so I had no problems with it at all. The fruit toppings also made it look quite luxurious. Hmm, ice cream would do well as a pudding topping too.
「Yuna-dono, thank you for your help today.」
I honestly didn’t know how much my critiques would help them. All I had done was give them my unprofessional opinion, after all.
Also, since quite a few of their cakes were creative and surprising I had obtained many recipe ideas which I could share them with Elena-san to improve the cake menu at my shop.
Not to mention all the breads I hadn’t managed to eat: I could bring those to Morin-san to try out.
「No problem; any time. Everything was very delicious.」
「Thank you! We are really happy to hear that.」
The three chefs looked delighted at my final verdict.
I wasn’t really some masterchef, so they shouldn’t be that excited, though.
Looking around, I noticed that there was a lot of leftover food as they had baked entire cakes but just the two of us ate them.
I proceeded to ask them what they planned to do with the cakes, and they explained they were going to bring them to the castle and distribute it to the soldiers and maids.
I wished they had told me that from the beginning… I wouldn’t have tried so hard eating everything.
I lightly rubbed my belly, deeply regretting my actions.
Due to my full-body suit, I wasn’t sure if my stomach was bulging, but it should be fine as long as it wasn’t seen by others.
Thinking about new recipe ideas I had obtained while rubbing my stomach, chawanmushi suddenly jumped into my mind.
「Oh, that’s right. Zelef-san, this is a newly made dish of mine.」
I said and took out some chawanmushi from my Bear Box.
Zelef-san’s face brightened while suddenly whole room turned to me with darker expressions.
「Yuna-chan… Wouldn’t you also have some for me, perchance?」
Eleanora-san said something terrifying.
I couldn’t believe that she still wanted to eat even after eating all that food…
「You can still eat more?」
I asked her, thinking she might just be joking.
「Of course. I must try this new dish of yours, after all.」
She sounded serious enough…
「Okay, but don’t blame me if you get fat.」
I couldn’t really do anything about it, so I brought out one more serving of chawanmushi.
Noticing Shaila and the other two chefs kept looking at me, I realized they must want some as well.
「Umm, would you like some too?」
「We can?!」
「If you don’t mind giving us such a treat, then please.」
「Sure…」
I took out a serving for each of them.
「This looks quite similar to pudding but it’s warm.」
「The dish uses eggs as well, so that’s why it looks similar.」
Everybody quickly grabbed a spoon and began tasting the chawanmushi.
Most of ingredients were easy to obtain, but the matsutake weren’t as popular as in my world, they were much harder to come by. If I ended up teaching this recipe to others, it would be easier to have it without matsutake included.
「It’s soft like pudding at the same time also also completely different.」
「Yeah.」
「Yuna-san, this is delicious!」
They all appeared to enjoy it.
「There are quite a few ingredients inside.」
「This doesn’t appear to be a dessert dish, though.」
Well, that was left to individuals to decide.
For me personally, it made me want to eat it together with rice.
「Zelef-san, here’s the recipe.」
I handed Zelef-san a piece of paper with the recipe for chawanmushi noted down.
「I do say this everytime, but are you really sure I can take it?」
「Of course. Just make sure you make this for Flora-hime.」
「Okay, but I think you should give it directly to Flora-hime first. If I gave it to her first, she’d think I thought of this recipe myself. 」
Only after I nodded did he take the recipe from my hands.
「Yuna-chan, aren’t you being too kind to children? You’re like that to Fina-chan and my daughter too.」
「You really think so?」
Eleanora-san immediately nodded.
I didn’t have the intention of spoiling them. They were good kids, so there was nothing wrong with being kind to them. If they were selfish, I wouldn’t treat them as kindly. I would most likely just ignore and avoid them.
「Well, Fina and Noa are both good children. Not to mention the children at the orphanage and Flora-hime as well. I wouldn’t do the same if they were selfish and unbehaved, though.」
「Fufu, I’m happy to hear you praise my daughter as such.」
She said with a big smile, clearly pleased with my comment.
Right next to me, Shaila looked over at Zelef-san holding onto the new recipe.
「Head Chef Zelef!」
She said loudly while raising her hand vigorously.
「What is it?」
「Can you please teach me that recipe as well?」
「Obviously, I can’t.」
「No way… 」
Shaila fell to her knees after Zelef-san shot her request down instantly.
Her depressed reaction was completely exaggerated.
「Dear uncle, you’re so unfair!」
She lifted her face, glancing at Zelef-san as she said that.
「Call me Head Chef.」
Zelef-san corrected her again.
Wouldn’t uncle be fine too?
Was keeping a hierarchical relationship that important even with relatives?
「Yuna-san.」
Shaila got up and looked at me, her eyes pleading me to teach her.
「I’m only telling him the recipe so that he can make it for Flora-hime.」
「I will also make it for Flora-hime!」
「There’s no way I can leave the cooking for the royal family to you.」
Shaila’s strong reply was immediately shot down by Zelef-san, making her depressed.
The other two chefs, who listened in on the conversation, also also wore disappointed expressions.
Zelef-san, on the other hand, simply kept reading the recipe while ignoring the three of them.
「So, this dish really uses eggs, huh.」
Lately, a lot of the recipes I had been bringing him used eggs…
「By the way, are you doing okay on the egg front?」
He required eggs fo so many recipes, so I worried he was running low.
「We have a place that we can get eggs from in the neighboring village, so we just had to increase the amount. It was a bit difficult to do so at the beginning, but that was taken care of.」