thenearshore | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Kuroyukihime and everyone
What: The Rise Kujikawa School for Culinary Arts strikes again
When: May 23
Where: The local supermarket
Summary: In light of new living quarters, Hime decides to help with dinner preparations as a thank you.

Potential food poisoning ho~
[ Maybe you should have seen her wandering around the grocery with a basket in her hands, muttering to herself. It's clear she's looking for something in particular, turning jars this way and that to check what exactly what she's looking at before putting it back down. Looks like that's not going to do. ]

Rei-kun did say he wanted things for beef stew... was it beef stew?

[ Dammit, she should've written this down.

But she does stop at another rack. Something's caught her eye and she's reaching for it. However, it's a bit too high up and she can't quite reach it. That's not going to stop her though.

However, it's also something that's clearly not supposed to go in beef stew. It could be wasabi. Or pickles. Or extra spicy mustard. Or banana flavored milk. Or orange marmalade. Or canned whipped cream.

Help a poor girl out? Steer her toward something more fitting? Whatever Nagisa and Sakon eat that day will be in your hands. ]

--

Closed to Rei Ryugazaki
[ She had been following Rei the minute they got to the supermarket, taking note of what he wanted to make and what she had to do. However, she hadn't quite taken note of what exactly he needed.

And then she was gone.

It'll be about five minutes that she comes back with the basket practically loaded with stuff that doesn't go with whatever he told her was for dinner - as well as four sets of instant noodles. ]

I took the liberty of trying to find whatever you needed. Hopefully, this is satisfactory.

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[Surprisingly not, Hibiki came in prepared, with a shopping list and all. Once he spots a familiar face, however, he puts collecting the ingredients he needed on hold and walks closer to greet Kuroyukihime, who seems to be in the middle of doing her shopping.]

Hello, we meet again. [He reaches for the banana milk and hands it over.] Are you planning on preparing something special?

[A dessert, that's what he has in mind while asking this question.]

So we do. Hello, Hibiki-kun.

[ She nods her thanks to him, looking the banana milk over before deciding this would be a good idea and placing it in the basket. ]

Just dinner for tonight. A few things came up and I thought to show my appreciation for my new housemates by doing my share of work.

And yourself?

[He watches her silently when Kuroyukihime puts the milk in the basket. Well, it may be rude to keep asking questions, but he can't help being curious.]

Dinner, is it? And the banana milk is an ingredient for...?

[Nothing weird about sweet snacks for dinner...although he has a hunch that may not be the case here. Hence the questions.]

I'm simply looking for sweet rice flour and a few other things.

I'd thought it would add an interesting flavor to the beef stew Rei-kun has planned. Some people do add milk to stew, don't they?

[ Do you see what hell she's bringing upon this world, Hibiki?

There's a pause as she considers what he's looking for. ]

About the rice flour... I believe I saw some a few aisles down. What else did you need?

[He does. He certainly does. And it hurts.]

They do to make it thicker, but...it isn't supposed to be flavored.

[He can't argue with the fact that it would add an interesting flavor, but maybe he can save some people...]

Fresh strawberries, but...maybe we should go through your list first, instead.

It isn't?

[ And she seems genuinely surprised at this point. Though there's a pause as she considers this idea. If it isn't flavored then maybe it was just for thickening purposes? Or to make it richer at least...

She does turn back to him at the mention of a list. ]

I'm sure Rei-kun had a list with him but we seem to have gotten separated. I don't suppose you'd met him before? A rather tall, lean boy with red framed glasses and blue hair.

It is not.

[He tries not to sound too rude and strongly emphasize that banana milk does not go well with any kind of meat.

However, Hibiki does look a bit relieved that she came here with someone who supposedly knew something about beef stew and its ingredients.]

I haven't met him yet, that's true. But if you two got separated...shouldn't you be looking for him?

[ Alright, alright, she can take the hint. If it won't fly in the stew, she won't consider it. It's going back on the shelf.

She does, however, seem momentarily thoughtful. ]

Mm... It's what I was doing to begin with. Then I decided if I was looking around for him, I may as well see if there was anything I could get on my own while looking.

That's certainly not a bad idea, actually..quite efficient, too. Maybe I could offer my help?

[Just in case!]

With looking both for ingredients and mister Rei, that is.

[ See? Her intentions were pure, albeit misguided. But there's a nod back at him. ]

I did recall seeing him around the produce section earlier... but I turned around and may have lost him.

[ Her head tilting slightly though. ]

However, I'd just come from there and saw no sign of him. Perhaps he's moved on by now.

That's very likely. He may be waiting for you at the exit, perhaps.

[And, who knows, maybe he has gotten the right ingredients...]

Have you gone there?

[Okay- Grocery shopping. That's an easy task, right? At least it should be an easy enough, considering the fact that he already had a list of items to get to hold the four of them over for the next couple of weeks. He even made took into account of any Add on Sales that may of grabbed their attention, but the one thing that Rei didn't take into account was the fact that Hime was just like the other residents of Fort Ramen-For-Meals. Just taking a peek into Kuroyukihime's basket and Rei felt a shriek bubble in his throat. How in the world can he work graham cracker pie crust with beef stew? Or mint with Sushi? And... And is that Grass? How in the world did she manage to get just a patch of grass?!?]

... I.... I am sure that I can figure out how to work them into our meals somehow....

[ You like the wheatgrass, Rei? She heard it was good for digestion so why not take a patch? There's also a whole canned chicken in there somewhere and a couple of canned hamburgers. For easy consumption while on the road. ]

Are you sure? I thought it was a bit much but I wanted to find things that would be useful.

[ There's a pause though as she tilts her head at him. ]

..what exactly were we making for dinner again?

[Davesprite still doesn't really have a stable income source, so the grocery store isn't much his preferred hangout. But he's not really familiar with some of the food they keep around here, so it works in his favour to try and start picking up knowledge he might be able to use to give Hajime a nice surprise one of these days.

Though the voice is familiar, Davesprite doesn't initially remark on the barely overheard beef stew comment. It's not until he's passing overhead and sees Kuroyukihime reaching for something that definitely does not go in any kind of stew he's ever heard of that he floats downwards to put a taloned hand in front of what she's trying to get.]

Look, I don't know what kind of insane incomprehensible cooking shenanigans go on in your god's temple, but if you're trying to put that in beef stew I'm gonna have to disallow it unless I get front row seats to the disaster as it happens.

[ There's a moment of surprise as that talon pops into view. It gets her attention and makes her pull her hand back, looking up at him with a small smile of greeting. Hey, at least it's a familiar face. ]

Disaster? I'm sure it won't be that bad.

[ Again, considering that small pot of fermented bean paste. ]

I thought it would go well with beef.

[In all honesty, Davesprite doesn't even know what that tastes like, he just knows that anything with the word "fermented" in it probably doesn't have any right being in most meals. While he's not the best cook in the world, he thinks he probably has enough vague knowledge to save whoever she's cooking for from food hell, and he covers the pot with his hand as if hoping she might forget it exists if he hides it long enough.]

Okay, counterpoint, anything that has "fermented" or "bean" written on it is the kind of dark horror food only spoken of in whispers, and this has both so it's obviously at least twice as ruinous to any good meal. [Obviously.] Did someone just send you out to craft a meal without a proper list or anything or is this just personal experimentation, I feel like this is important information to have.

[ Alright, alright... she'll leave the fermented everything alone. Though that jar of kimchi is kind of tempting. Cabbages work in stew, right? And kimchi's supposed to be good?

But she does decide to address his question instead. ]

Rei-kun was here a moment ago but I think I've lost track of him between the produce aisle and the cleaning supplies. He was the one in charge of cooking so I decided to find some things that could be useful while we were separated.

[On one hand, that's slightly reassuring, but on the other that probably means this is mostly happening due to some guy's ignorance to his accidental unleashing of the cooking apocalypse, which is the exact opposite.

He'll take his hand off the bean paste for the moment, but he points at his shades and then at her to indicate that he's still watching what she tries to grab.]

I'm gonna hope to whatever god is relevant to this sort of thing that he's vetting that basket before you leave, because I'm pretty sure the definition of useful here is a many-legged eldritch beast that changes its form depending on viewer, exact angle, and time of day.

[So that sentence escalated quickly, but the point is that her "useful" here is just one leg and viewpoint of the things man was not meant to know.]

[ She raises one hand with her palm up, just to show him that she isn't touching anything else... and likely won't be so he doesn't have to worry.

For now. ]

That may likely be the god of the kitchen... though I can't be certain if we have one in attendance to begin with. Of course, Nagisa-kun could be of some help - provided he doesn't encourage any kitchen-related shenanigans to begin with.

[ And she seems perfectly serious, too. ]

[Well, Davesprite can't really take that any less seriously than the low level of seriousness he takes most things, because his talons are already tapping the shelf a bit when she mentions kitchen gods.]

Not sure about in attendance, but since there's at least one temple diner and half the temples seem to grow enough food to support a small country I'd be looking real fucking askance at the high-ups if there wasn't at least one kitchen god here. And some healthy shenanigans are fine, we just don't need to be starting Kitchen War III here. Or World War Kitchen, whichever one sounds more serious.

[Because obviously, the gravity of this extremely serious situation cannot be understated.]

Well, they are gods to begin with. It wouldn't surprise me if they managed to grow enough food to feed the entirety of Japan at some point...

[ At least that's what she thinks. There's a hum of thought though as she turns her attention back to her companion. ]

Tell me. What would you put in stew if it were up to you?

[While he could pursue the undoubtedly entertaining topic of exactly what the net output food growth of a bunch of random gods with land that seems to burst with life however little anyone gives a damn about it, Davesprite's given a moment of pause by that question. He's never really been a cooking sort, and he doesn't really trust himself not to fuck this up almost as badly as Kuroyukihime was probably going to, but after a moment, his cool expression settles into something a bit more casual as he decides it's worth a shot.]

If you're working with beef and especially with stew, you're probably gonna want to start with the vegetables. Stew's dominance over soup is born of the chunks of random meat and veg making it an actual meal instead of a thing you're condemned to after major surgery, focus on that and you can't go wrong. Probably. [Hopefully.]

[Ruri stops, she just wanted some noodles for dinner but she sees someone preparing a meal, quite possibly with love so she walks over and responds in her usual deadpan voice.]

"Do you need help? If you tell me what you are cooking I know a few recpies and looking at your basket, I'm not 100% certain that beef, strawberry milk mix and...."

[She peers at what is being reached for]

"Natto.... Mix well."

[ Yes, love... but it's rather misplaced. There's a pause as she considers the natto from a distance. ]

I thought it would add an interesting flavor, that's all...

[Ruri ponders for a moment then looks at the girl.]

"May I ask what you are trying to make? Once I helped out at a restaurant so I may be able to help."

[Or at least help some poor idiot not get food poisoning. Ah love. Worst ingredient ever.]

[ Gosh, Rei did tell her what he wanted to make... she really should have written this all down. ]

He did mention making beef stew sometime during the week. Are you sure natto wouldn't improve the flavor?

[Pair well, perhaps there were some genius chefs that could pull that off. Odds were one of the Nadesico cooks could handle it, but Ruri always figured it was best to error on the side of stupidity and inexperience.]

"Generally beef stews should be kept simple. Especially if a man is involved. They tend to prefer to have the beef be the center and everything else simply enhance it. Not something to pair with the beef flavor. Maybe carrots instead?"

[ Well, she has to admit that does seem like sound advice. There's a small raised brow though at the bit about a man being involved. ]

Well... there is a man involved... several, actually but one of them will be doing the cooking.

[ At the mention of carrots though, she leaves the natto alone and reaches for.... a jar of pickled carrots. ]

Will these do?

[So she cooks like Yurika. This may require more than simple suggestions.]

"For things like this fresh is always better. Let's go to the vegetable area and you can tell me more about the people who will be doing the eating. That should help find good ingredients."

By all means. Lead the way.

[ Fine. She'll set down the pickled carrots. ]

I'd been staying at someone's temple so I thought helping with supper would be a good way to show my appreciation.

[Ruri nods a bit. Helping out, Ruri tried that too and wasn't very good at a lot of the more mundane aspects for a long time so she feels a bit of sympathy. With that she walks over to the fresh vegis.]

"No, I understand that. There was a time when I was taken in too."

[Looking at the produce she ponders]

"You probably want carrots, celery, and potatoes. Some people like mushrooms, other people don't. More than that it tends to be how fancy you are feeling."

[ She does tilt her head slightly at that bit about being taken in but decides against it. If it was anything this one would be willing to share, then she would.

But there's a nod there as those vegetables are listed off. ]

I did hear Rei-kun mention carrots and potatoes... maybe we'll pass on the mushrooms for now. I can't vouch if Nagisa-kun and Sakon-kun are the kind who like them.

[Ruri nods at that and starts looking]

"Sometimes leeks are nice, and Akito did certain things with scallions and udon noodles that were very good. Though he was a professional, and added them towards the end. I still mess that up so, take that into consideration."

[With that thought Ruri goes from deadpan, to almost sad for a second, letting out a small sigh]

[ Akito? She doesn't recall meeting anyone by that name but with how she looks while speaking of this Akito, Hime can only assume he was someone she was familiar with.

She does nod though at the bit about the scallions before offering a smile back at her as if encouraging her to speak.]

And you? How did you like beef stew?

"Hrm."

[Ruri ponders at that, she doesn't eat it all that often. Beef is a bit heavier than what she prefers but she thinks of all the times she's had it.]

"Use chuck beef, onions, red potatoes, carrots, leeks, and garlic. There were some other herbs, but I don't know what they were. Wait...."

[She ponders more, if Omoikane were here, he could at least look the networks for the recipe she liked, if it existed on this Earth but here she was supposed to be Omoikane and know everything. Wait, that was what she was told, so with that she closed her eyes.]

"Thyme and Rosemary, with a little cornstarch. Wine made it too sweet. With a nice cup of pearled jasmine tea."

[All Schuldig does is laugh at first.]

Sauerkraut? That's not beef stew you're thinking of, that's a reuben sandwich.

[Yeah he's just wandering the aisles looking for people to mess with, basically.]

I thought it would add an interesting flavor to the stew, at least.

[ There's a pause of thought at that... though she does put the sauerkraut down. ]

Then I suppose mustard wouldn't work, either?

[He shakes his head.]

Oh it would - onions are more traditional. Mustard would make a hell of a curry, though.

[One wonders if she could possibly make that too.]

[ And a soft hum at the mustard before putting it in her basket. ]

Then it might be best to get some now just in case we decide to make curry later in the week. I'd heard about people putting unorthodox ingredients in stew and curry...

[ A glance back at Schuldig. ]

How do you take your beef stew?

The three greats, of course - onion, celery, carrots. Potatoes, naturally.

[ Like the best kinds at Höfbrauhaus. He gestures downward, then swirls his finger as if in a spot. ]

Slow-roasted all day with the beef. After that you've got options. Thicken it, add peas, and pour it into a crust for Shepherd's pie. Otherwise, just add herbs at that point for at least another three hours.

[ He sighs dramatically. ]

If you haven't eaten it in München it's just not the same. Shame you can't get there.

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