🐿🐿🐿
ONCE I finished prepping the bitter melons, I checked over my inventory again and confirmed that I had all the necessary ingredients. I did all the prior preparations I could so that I was ready to start cooking at any time.
Then, I went to the bathroom, cleaned it, and filled the bathtub with hot water in advance. There was nothing left to do now, so I lounged in the living room until I heard the energetic voices of Kon and Sayori.
Techi came back with the kids. She was the first one to say, “I’m home.”
Kon was second. “I’m baaack!”
Sayori was third. “Hello, I’ve come back.”
They went straight to the bathroom, washed their hands, then went to the shower and bathing area. I checked that everyone had gone in, brought over towels and a change of clothes for everyone, and placed it in the basket of the changing area.
Then, I moved to the kitchen and did the finishing touches for dinner. Other than bitter melon chanpurū, there was also boiled spinach in dashi soy sauce, as well as clam miso soup. I figured the trio should finish their bath soon, so I began making lemonade.
I already shared the recipe for lemonade, but there was one thing you had to be careful with: don’t put too much honey. The sweetness and aroma of honey was extremely potent and overpowering. Adding too much would dampen out the refreshing taste of lemonade, which wasn’t ideal.
That said, having too little honey meant that you couldn’t enjoy the sweetness that you look forward to in a lemonade, so I had to be a good judge to get it just right. As long as I succeeded at this, I could make the perfect lemonade. This tasty and refreshing drink would blast all heat and fatigue away.
The aroma and taste of honey was different depending on the type you used. I didn’t really have good advice for how to get it right in one go—it was something you had to learn with experience.
Deciding I’d use sparkling water instead of normal water, I fetched the chilled sparkling water from the fridge and large glass cups. Sometimes, adding honey right off the bat would cause it to cling to the bottom of your cup, so I poured in a small amount of water first.
Then, I added two slices of lemons and honey to each glass cup before slowly filling the cups with more sparkling water. Sparkling water reacts to the lemons and fizzes dramatically, but I didn’t want all the bubbles to be gone before we could enjoy the drink, which was why I was going slow. I was equally gentle as I stirred the drink with the spoon I’d used to transfer the honey earlier. Once the golden sheen of honey was distributed throughout the drink, it was ready.
Now, as for whether I squeeze the lemon slices to add the juice into the lemonade or get them to eat the lemons as they drink… I guess I’ll let everyone decide for themselves.
As I carried the finished lemonade onto the low table in the living room, the refreshed trio came in as well. They greeted me again.
“Mikura, I’m home,” said Techi.
“Mikura! I’m baaack!” Kon chirped.
“Good evening, Mr. Mikura, I’m back.” Sayori dipped her head in greeting.
They each settled in their seats and reached for their cups. Techi lightly squashed her lemon slices with her spoon. Kon drank the lemonade vigorously, leaving his lemon slices suspended in the drink. Sayori sipped on her lemonade slowly, savoring its aroma and taste.
Techi nodded to herself. “Your lemonade never fails to impress.”
Kon beamed. “The lemons aren’t that sour! This is good!”
Sayori held up her cup firmly with both hands. “It smells wonderful.”
I sipped on my own cup of lemonade as I said, “This time, I’ve added a couple more steps and tried starting by making lemon-infused honey. And yeah, putting in a little more time and effort definitely shows. The sweetness and flavors of the honey has seeped into the lemon, so its sourness should be mild, making it easy to eat.”
Techi raised an eyebrow. “Not just lemons, but even honey? Sounds like we’ve got a rather lavish drink here.” She took another slow sip, rolling the drink on her tongue and tasting it thoroughly.
In contrast to Techi and Sayori, who enjoyed their drink unhurriedly, Kon had already finished his lemonade in the blink of an eye. Now, he was busy nibbling away at the lemon slices left behind, not even sparing the peel.
I watched him absentmindedly as I began my routine trivia session. “In America, lemonade is a popular beverage that children would make and sell at drink stands. But due to various circumstances, such as budget, sometimes they don’t use lemons at all, instead using citric acid as a substitute. They’d add citric acid powder or citric acid tablets sold in pharmacies, along with sugar into water, mix it, and sell it as lemonade.
“I know it sounds a little halfhearted, but it still tastes like genuine lemonade. Interesting, right? Other than that, I’ve heard that there’s something called pink lemonade. For this drink, you use a spice called sumac. It’s red and sour and reportedly tasty, but I don’t see it very often in Japan.”
Techi inclined her head with intrigue. “Interesting… You mentioned it’s a spice. Would it have a spicy smell like chai or cinnamon? I prefer lemons then.”
On this summer evening, I happily engaged in a lively chat with Techi about trifling things that technically weren’t of any importance.
I continued, “On that note, the word ‘lemonade’ has a slightly different definition depending on the country. In some places, they say that a non-carbonated drink with lemons is lemonade while a carbonated lemon drink is called lemon squash. In another, I read that all fizzy drinks are categorized as lemonade, including coke. There’s also red lemonade. I heard there are also countries where you add alcohol to it. The variation is fascinating.
“Oh, and on that topic, I mentioned this to Kon before, but we’ve got a fizzy drink called ramune in Japan, right? That’s apparently based on the word lemonade too, just corrupted.”
Techi nodded. “Ahhh, ramune. We also drink that in the Wilds during the summer festival. They’ve got those glass marbles in them, and playing with them right after we finish the drink is the best part.”
“Mmhmm.” I recalled my experience with the beverage. “I’d drink them during summer festivals, when I’m having lunch during my summer holidays…ah, and at the beach. For some reason, Gramps had an obsession with serving ramune with yakisoba, and I remember thinking that I didn’t really understand why you’d pair them together.”
Techi shrugged, a fond smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Tomiyasu did have a thing for strange combinations like that. He’d pair Napolitan pasta with apple juice, ramen with barley tea, omurice with orange juice… I couldn’t understand it either. He never strayed from these combinations… Maybe there’s some kind of reason he was so fixated about it?”
I frowned and mulled over it. “Hm… I don’t know either, but I have a guess. Back during Gramps’s time, people still weren’t used to western or foreign food. Maybe he remembered the combinations the first time he ate them, or the combinations he first saw on TV, and those stuck. Speaking of drinks, when he made barley tea, he’d add small amounts of salt and sugar, and it tasted weird… Now that I think about it, it was probably to prevent heat stroke in summer.”
We became more invested in our idle talk than I’d expected, and the mood only got livelier when Kon and Sayori participated too. Our chat went on for a good while—long enough for our miso soup to go cold, and I ended up having to reheat them.
Eventually, our topic went from random things to our plans for the summer ahead. This was when Kon got excited and listed one thing he wanted to eat after another. Sayori looked at him and giggled to herself.
As for Techi, this is what she had to say: “I feel like summer with you, Mikura, is going to be different from the summers I’m used to. My gut’s telling me it’s going to be fun.”
I gave her a soft, happy smile. “We certainly have a lot of things to look forward to. Our orchard, the summer festival, summer ingredients, making umeboshi… I honestly can’t wait.”
She replied with a big, sweet smile of her own.
This early summer night trickled by peacefully and delightfully in good company, and I was sure that I would be blessed with many more such nights from now on.