After finishing his croquettes and filling up on soft white bread and refreshing soup, Alef requested his post-meal treat. “Excuse me, could you bring me dessert?”
The waitress had just happened to pass by. “Of course! Please wait a moment.”
She vanished into the kitchen, then came right out with his dessert in hand. “Sorry for the wait! Here’s your coffee jelly.”
“Ooh! Thank you,” Alef said gratefully, peering at the dish sitting in front of him. The square black confection in the wide-rimmed glass honestly looked like some sort of thinly sliced slime, yet it was Alef’s favorite treat.
The mage rubbed his stomach once, making sure he was full of hot food. He felt you needed to ensure your stomach was already satisfied when digging into something truly delicious. An empty stomach made everything taste good—hard bread, cold cafa. So, Alef’s way of doing things was to save the tastiest food for when he was full. Something good even then was truly delicious.
Yeah, I’m satisfied. Now to dig in. Alef picked up his spoon. First, a single mouthful.
Looking at the small jar of cream, he decided he’d eat his first bite of coffee jelly without any on top. He grabbed a spoonful of the firm black dessert and brought it to his mouth.
Mmm. Delicious.
The jelly had a smooth, unique texture and a mild, subtly sweet cafa flavor. It was cold, but not nearly as chilly as ice cream. It put up no resistance, falling apart in his mouth. Enjoying the sensation for a moment, Alef swallowed. The jelly that’d once pleased the tip of his tongue slid down his throat into his stomach.
I wonder how they make this? Alef couldn’t help asking himself that question every time he visited the restaurant.
He had no idea how coffee jelly was prepared. The restaurant sold hardened mixtures of fruit juice, milk, and eggs; Alef surmised that those contained an ingredient similar to one in coffee jelly. He remembered how, when fresh fish caught at the oasis were cooked in soup at night, the entire dish congealed by the time the sun rose—could that also be caused by this ingredient?
Mulling it over, Alef took another bite. Given that I get to enjoy coffee jelly now, who cares, I suppose, he thought, enjoying his full stomach and the jelly’s smooth texture.
At any rate, it would take a lot of research before he could make this stuff from scratch. Even if he could, it likely wouldn’t taste as good as the coffee jelly the restaurant served. Magic was a mage’s realm, and food was a cook’s.
Alef moved on to the next way of enjoying the coffee jelly, grabbing the cream sitting beside the dish. “Cream” was fatty milk containing relatively little water. Just a bit… A thin stream of cream poured into the glass, tracing white lines on the black jelly. Perfect.
Having drizzled the rich white cream onto the translucent black jelly, Alef watched as they mingled, producing a lovely shade of mahogany. He took a spoonful of jelly and ate, deeply satisfied with the new flavor. When you added cream, coffee jelly became the complete package.
First, Alef tasted the cream’s rich dairy flavor; beneath that, he picked up on the savory cafa’s refreshing taste blending with the cream. Since they hadn’t completely united yet, the coffee jelly still showcased two different flavors. Eventually, they combined, mimicking the taste of a café au lait. A single bite of coffee jelly brought Alef those three amazing tastes, which was part of why it was so incredible.
Mm. All coffee jelly really needs is cream. That coffee-jelly parfait is too crowded.
As far as Alef was concerned, coffee jelly with cream was the epitome of food experiences. It was complex but not overly so, allowing the diner to appreciate the interplay of the cream and cafa. He kept digging in with his spoon, each bite of coffee jelly confirming the excellence of the last.
Eventually, the coffee jelly vanished from Alef’s dish, leaving behind swirled pools consisting of remnants of deep brown cafa and milky white cream. Alef promptly drank the mixture and heaved a sigh of satisfaction. That was wonderful. The aftertaste of cafa remained on his tongue, and his stomach was joyously full. He decided to head home and get to sleep while those sensations remained.
Alef rose to his feet and placed the precise number of copper coins on the table. “Master! I’m leaving the fee here!”
The master was used to this. He poked his head out from the kitchen and grinned at Alef. “Got it! Please come again!”
“Absolutely. I’ll be back in a week,” Alef answered with a smile.