🐿🐿🐿
SINCE my test run had received a highly favorable reception yesterday, I wasted no time. Promptly on the next day, I called the houses of the elderly beastfolk who had helped me out one by one then confirmed with them in advance by asking, “Do you think you’d like red wine braised meat for dinner tonight?”
After calling the last household, I borrowed Rei’s delivery van and drove off to purchase groceries. Eventually, I returned to the kitchen that was flooded with cardboard boxes of food, food, and more food. So that I could get to work, I put on my apron, fished out my tools, and began preparations.
Since I was cooking in bulk, I decided to leave the vegetables to my trusty blender. I would also use two large pots at the same time. I was in the middle of meticulously cleaning these tools when Kon arrived with his usual announcement of, “Incoming!”
He darted in and ran directly to the bathroom. After efficiently washing his hands, he came into the kitchen, and his eyes grew as wide as saucers upon seeing the mess. His nose twitched as he sniffed a few times, then he raised his voice cheerfully. “Oooh! It looks like you’re up to something interesting! And this smell! I can tell that you made something super-duper YUMMY!”
I couldn’t suppress a chuckle at the excitement in his voice. Somehow, I managed to keep my laughing fit in check as I replied, “Yeah. Yesterday, I did a test run of making beef loin braised in wine. It went well, so today’s the full-on cooking session. I’m making it to thank all the people who have helped by standing guard over us, our house, and our orchard.”
“Whoa! Seriously?!” Kon exclaimed. “That dish sounds awesome! Awww, Mikura, you’re no fair! You and Techi secretly enjoyed all the good food while I wasn’t here!”
“I-I mean, you were busy with your marriage interview with Sayori yesterday, weren’t you?” I protested. “I can’t exactly just summon you over while you’re doing that, and I’ve heard that sometimes, these marriage interviews can last over several days. I didn’t know when you’d be free, and I can’t exactly wait for you forever…”
Kon huffed. “Sheesh! I know! But still! You could have just sent a text to me on my phone!”
I hung my head. “Y-Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, I’ll do that next time…” After a moment of hesitation, I cautiously asked, “By the way, how did the interview go?”
“The interview was…” He paused, dragging his sentence out. “It’s a bit embarrassing, so I’ll tell you later! More importantly! What is braised beef?! What does it taste like?!” He stamped his feet in the heat of the moment before nimbly rushing up onto the counter that had a selection of tools and ingredients on display.
I’m personally more curious about the interview than the beef though, I thought with a wry smile before I gave him a brief rundown about the recipe and what kind of food it was going to be.
After listening to my explanation, it seemed that he wanted to help me out, because he ran back down into the living room, changed into his coverall apron, then came back to the kitchen. “Okay then, we’re supposed to start with the veggies, right? We throw them all into the blender and go whoosh?”
As he spoke, I assembled the blender, which I’d finished cleaning, and placed it next to the sink. “Yep,” I said, nodding.
First, I washed the carrots, peeled them, and cut off the carrot tops. After cutting them roughly into smaller pieces, I tumbled them all into the blender.
When I was done, I gave Kon his first mission. “Chef Kon, could you take care of turning the blender on and off? When you press the button over here, it will start spinning and going whoosh. Keep pressing it down until the carrots inside the blender look like juice. But if the entire blender shakes violently or makes a very loud noise, let go of the button for a while and press it again if there’s nothing wrong. Or, call out to me first before you do anything.”
I explained, “Sometimes, the contents get stuck in a weird place that causes a lot of burden to the blender blade, and if you keep pressing the button, the blender might break altogether. This is a slightly more difficult job than usual, but I’m trusting you on this, Kon.”
Kon nodded with a severity I’d never seen before on his face. He placed both of his tiny hands on the button steadily before pushing it down solemnly.
The blender started up. The blade spun and made a normal noise—there didn’t appear to be any problems. Yeah, everything should be fine. I nodded to myself before I continued peeling more carrots.
Whenever I finished prepping the carrots, I transferred them into the blender, which Kon operated. Then, I would pour the resulting mixture into a large mixing bowl. We repeated the same process with onions. Once we had enough for two big pots of braised beef, I moved on to cutting garlic, putting seasoning on the meat, and sprinkling flour. It was the exact same recipe as yesterday—the only difference was the amount I was making.
When we got to the step where I simmered the meat in the pots, I left the heavy lifting to the stove. The two of us sat with a thud on our seats and let out a huge sigh simultaneously.
“It feels simpler than usual,” Kon began, “but it’s a lot of work because there’s so much to make.”
I rolled my stiff shoulders. “Yeah. If it were a more complicated recipe or a recipe that needs more complex seasoning, it might have been impossible to pull it off with just the two of us.”