thenearshore | Closed

"I'm pretty sure they will." It's common enough as a festival food Ginia would be surprised to not see it. Especially when the fish is a symbol of Ebisu.

"What kind of filling would you put inside one?"

"Um..." That's a tricky question! There's so much to chose from. Red bean paste is probably delicious but so is chocolate! But... What was the other word?

"Custard. Because I never tried that before!"

For Romeo's sake, Ginia will make sure there's custard taiyaki at the festival. She leaves a note and looks over the gathered suggestions. Salmon soboro for the family, also onigiri options. Soup and/or onigiri for the festival, red sea bream preferably, but they'll see what they can get. And finally, making sure there's taiyaki and seeing what fruits are in season.

It's a good list to work with. She'll have to get more input from the kitchen staff for the festival as a whole, but shopping for the family seems doable.

"Can you pull up the soboro recipe? I want to write down the ingredients for shopping."

"Okay!"

Luckily the sticky notes mean it is easy to find the recipe again! This method really works!

He leans over the book to read out loud for Ginia to write down.

"They need salmon, it says salted salmon but that there's a recipe on the next page to make it salty if you just got normal salmon. Then you need sake and mirin! And rice if they are making it to eat with rice!"

Ginia writes down the ingredients (an easy enough list to remember) in her phone, mulling on whether she should buy extra to bring back to the temple. No, it'd be more helpful to see if anyone needs snacks or other supplies picked up from the store.

"If we're going to the store, is there anything you or Elfnein need while we're there?"

"I'll go and check the list!"

He grins and dashes off towards the kitchen, sure enough he comes back a few moments later with a list and some money from their food buying jar.

"Just a couple of things!"

There's enough time to send a message to her temple and get suggestions on the best places to go to before Romeo returns.

"Ever been to a seafood market before?"

A seafood market? Romeo shook his head! He's not been to many markets truthfully. For the most part he and Elfnein relied on the refilling fridge for food and it's just lately, now they have found fun in cooking more complicated things that they have ventured down to the Near Shore for food at all.

"Is that where we are going, miss?"

Ginia nods. Instead of explaining it (though it does speak for itself), it feels better to simply let him experience it. After making sure they have everything they need, it's a matter of shrine hopping back to Kyoto. Between that and a quick bus ride, they arrive at a large seafood market in Kyoto.

Inside there are rows of different vendors, all with a variety of tanks and display cases of some of the best seafood Japan has to offer. Fish of all species, shellfish, if it can be fished up in the ocean and eaten, it's here. Some are still alive, others have already been processed down. It's full of people buying and shopping; Ginia lets Romeo roam so he can get a better look, but keeps a close eye on him.

Adventures with Ginia are always fun! This time they go on a bus! Then to the seafood market which is just as magical as the name suggested! Romeo wandered, pressing his face close to tanks, standing on tiptoes to look into counters. The crowds are thick and he has the disadvantage of being a shinki, where a group might part to let a curious child through to look at things they can't and don't for a child they don't notice.

But Romeo doesn't seem to mind much, he does glance around a few times, to reassure himself that he can still see Ginia. It's so busy on the Near Shore sometimes he feels like if he got lost he would be lost forever!

"I didn't know there was so much fish in the whole world!"

It helps Ginia's tall and easy to spot in the crowd. A few different stands have salmon, but Ginia is content to take her time and look over everything before deciding where to buy from. Her temple wants some too so it's best to find a place she can buy a good amount at a good price.

"This is only a small amount of what's in the ocean." Ginia signs to him. They pause by a tank with a colorful parrotfish. Its scales are almost jewel-like blues and greens, a spectacular sight. It certainly stands out among the more neutral tones of other fish. "This one is a parrotfish."

Only a small amount... But he's seen the ocean! It's huge and so it's no surprise there are so many fish!

Good job probably because there are so many people too! He looks into the tank, "Wow!"

That was an amazing fish! "Look at all the colours!"

He sort of wishes he had asked Elfnein to come, she would have liked this colourful fish!

"The fish was caught in Okinawa. It's a warmer climate, like Hawaii. There are lots of colorful fish there." She hasn't had a chance to go there herself, but she's certainly seen her share of pictures and videos. Though she'll likely be there for business and not entertainment, snorkeling there seems nice.

Hm, maybe if the party idea takes off, she can arrange an outing there. It may be self-serving, but does it really matter if everyone has fun in the process?

"Remember to look for stands with salmon, okay?" She'd love to give Romeo the opportunity to enjoy seeing everything, but they need to stay on task too.

Romeo hadn't seen any colourful fish in Hawaii but then again he had been on top of the water, not under it!

But yes! Salmon, that's why they are here!

"Yes miss! I will go find some salmon stalls!"

"Don't wander too far, there are a lot of people!" Well, as long as she can keep an eye on him. It's a series of rows so even if he did wander out of sight, there are only so many places he'd go. Romeo is young and curious, but he's a sharp kid. It'll be a good experience for him, seeing the different kinds of fish and other edible sea life.

Ginia studies the stalls, keeping an eye out for red sea bream or other seafood that would work well in a soup. Clams are a good option, maybe something like scallops or fish balls too. There's also looking for kombu and katsuobushi too. She whistles absently to herself as she juggles studying the stalls for options and value and watching Romeo.

He sticks close, weaving through the market in a way only small children can. This time his attention is more focused, he is on a hunt!

Food is still tricky, he knows what a lot of it tastes like and looks like in certain contexts but seeing it all like this, salmon looked very similar to other fish!

But he did his best, pausing to read signs and studying the counters. Finally he waved his arms towards where Ginia was.

"Here miss Ginia! I found some!"

Ginia is still learning about the different kinds of fish and what they look like, so she too is carefully reading signs. It helps good salmon has a very distinctive color. She joins Romeo and smiles as she looks at the salmon. The color is very nice and the cuts are a good side. Decent price too.

"Good job, Romeo. You want to look for salmon with a rich color like that. The brighter the color the better."

Ginia takes a picture to note the price and stand location.

"Remember, we want to compare a few places before making a purchase. That way we get the best deal."

"The brighter the better?" Well that was a good sign to look out for! If they were going to try and find the best deal then he would try and find the best salmon!

He darted off again, looking for the brightest salmon in the whole market! Every time he saw a salmon stall he copied what Ginia had done and took a photo of the sign and the price on his phone.

There are a few different factors to work with. The color and freshness is important, but so is price and quantity. For the family to use, she'd like to find the best side, something they can both salt and cook on its own. For her temple, they've assured her a lower quality with a greater quantity is fine.

By the time they've finished looking over all the stands, they have a good list to work with. Ginia looks through all the pictures and compares the stalls to a map of the space, circling a few stands.

"I think this stand is the one we'll go to for the family." She points at two other circled stands. "I need to stop here for some fish for my temple. Did you see anything you wanted?"

Romeo peered at the map in fascination, it was interesting that there was a map here! He can sort of follow it, thanks to all the map work he and Elfnein had done when they were tracking down the lost pets! He nods at the two circles on the map, he's sure they can find them again!

At the question he blinked. "Um... We could get some salmon too." That recipe had looked delicious. There were many many interesting things here but it was a bit overwhelming to make a choice!

"The first stand would be good. If you need money, let me know."

She has a full wallet and plenty more to spare. There's the hunch Romeo will probably insist on paying on his own, but Ginia can always throw some money into the collection box at Elfnein's shrine at some point. Donations are donations after all.

"By the way, thanks for coming shopping with me again. It's been fun."

"It's really fun! Thank you for bringing me here! I got money so it's okay!"

He hopes it's enough, he doesn't really understand the money... They use it so rarely that he hasn't practised that much. But he hopes he brought enough! It would be embarrassing if he hadn't!

"Let's get what we need from this stall first and then go to the other one!"

If he doesn't have enough, Ginia certainly has enough to cover things and then some. In some ways she has the opposite problem; with so much money to spend, she doesn't really think about the cost of things. As long as it goes back into the economy, it's fine. With their path laid out, Ginia gives Romeo's shoulder a gentle pat. Time to finish shopping, get everything delivered so they can finish up this prayer and go home.

The fish gets bought, Romeo needs help with the money, he really isn't confident with what all the coins mean but the man behind the counter is kind enough and helps him count it out.

Soon all the fish was bought and ready to be delivered. "I hope the family get to have a really tasty meal, miss!"

Romeo liked it when he got to help people and this prayer had been fun to fulfil!

Ginia's portions of fish require a bit more boxing up and shipment over to Ebisu's shrine. If the couriers find it a little strange such a large portion of seafood is going over there, they don't say anything. But a good part of the work is done, the rest she can handle on her own.

"I hope so too. Thank you for your help, Romeo, I couldn't have done this without you."

He's a helpful one and good company too. Ginia makes a note to invite him along on more scenic prayers. The experiences will be good for him.

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