I"m still drowning in my thinking when the door knocked and my maids come from the open door."Henry…we bring the dinner"
"Oh, hey girls…just put on the table as usual then we have dinner together"
Clara, Claire, and Carina enter my room with the dinner meal in their hands. The arrange the food and eating utensil in the table as usual, but I can see curiosity in their eyes over the tray covered with a lid that already present on the table before.
"Don"t open that tray yet, girls, it"s something I will give to you after we finish have dinner. It won"t be a surprise if you open it now"
"This is for us, brother Henry? Yay! Let"s eat now…let"s eat now please?"
Ah, Carina is so cute when she acts like that. Her shiny black hair reminds me of girls in my previous worlds. Although there are some other people who have black hair in this castle, Carina is the only female with black hair. Most people here have brunette or blonde hair like European people. But Henry"s red hair can be called rare because it"s unique family heritance from Harvard family which only me and my father had in this castle.
"Okay…let"s eat. You girls must be already hungry from working all day"
We take our respective seat like usual and start the dinner. Tonight"s menu is tempura that I just teach to the castle cooks, accompanied with boiled potato, fish tacos, and vegetable soup. Although in my previous world tempura mostly a.s.sociated with shrimp, and eaten with tentsuyu dipping sauce, a mix of dashi stock, soy sauce and mirin sweet rice wine – with grated ginger or daikon an optional extra, those ingredients is almost not available in here especially mirin. I start thinking to make sake distillery here so I can get mirin as the ingredient. Shrimp or prawn can be acquired if settlement in the beach already formed.
If we have rice now, maybe I can make Ten-don, unfortunately, there"s no rice yet. Ten-don is a bowl of rice with tempura on top that has had a sauce of concentrated soy sauce, dashi and mirin poured over it; this is a popular type of donburi dish.
I"m busy with my thought and almost not realize that my three maids waiting me take a bite first.
"Henry…why you"re only staring at the food?"
"Hah? Oh sorry to make you all waiting. I"m just thinking how to make this food better. Let"s eat now"
After finishing the soup, I continue with the tempura.
I take the fork with my left hand and knife with my right hand. After cutting the boiled potato in smaller cuts, I take tempura with a fork, dip it in the sauce and put it in my mouth. After taking a bite, I take the potato cuts with a fork and put it in mouth then chew it together with tempura.
"Mmmm…not bad, the taste is okay"
Clara, Claire, and Carina immediately follow my eating ways. Ah, I understand now, they not accustomed with tempura and didn"t know how to eat it. Same with tacos, I must tell them how to eat it at lunchtime.
"How about the taste, girls?"
"Delicious, as usual, Henry"(Clara)
"Mmm…crispy coating and soft fish meat mixed well in this food" (Claire)
"Derizious..blo Hendri" (Carina)
Ah, Carina"s replies with mouthful condition sound funny and cute in my ears. I"m waiting they finish their meal before I show them my surprise. After they gulp the last bites of the tacos in their hands, it"s time to give them the surprise.
"Okay girls…I know you are impatient to see what behind this lid, right?"
I take the tray and place it in front of me.
"Yes! Yes! Please show us, brother Henry!"
Carina is the most excited between my three maids to know what behind the lid.
"Won"t you make a guess first?"
It"s not fun if I just open the lid and show them what behind the lid. And carina is the first one to answer
"Fooooood!" (Carina)
"Yes! But what kind of food?"
"Mmmm….candy?" (Carina)
"No, Carina, this is not candy. C"mon…what else?"
"Pastry?" (Clara)
"No, Clara…unfortunately this is not pastry. But if you want pastry, I will make it later"
"Cake?" (Claire)
"No Claire, this is not a cake either"
They think hard but can"t think something else besides what they already mention.
"We don"t know brother Henry….please show us now?"
"Hahaha….alright alright. I"ll show you what inside this lid"
I pull up the lid slowly to make a dramatic effect for them. They shift their head closer to the tray to get a better look. And when the lid finally removed… a long "WOOOOAAAAHHHH" comes from their mouth, followed with "wonderful", beautiful", "pretty", "lovely" and other similar words.
"Brother Henry…what is this?"
"This is a result from the cooking technique called garnishing. Vegetables and fruits carved into some shapes to improve their look"
"This can be eaten? It"s too pity to eat this lovely flower and bird"
"Of course you can eat it. It made from vegetables and fruits, will not last for long. Come, girls, pick anything you like from there. Claire, why don"t you try this carrot bird? It"s good for your beautiful eyes"
I lift the plate and offer it to Claire first because she sits in front of me, but also because I"m pleased with her service this afternoon.
Claire blushing when hearing my praise but her hand pick the carrot bird that I suggest her to take.
"Carina, you like strawberries, right? Try these strawberry roses"
Since I and Carina already acquaintance from when Carina brought to the castle in her 5 years old age, more or less I know what she likes and dislikes. I shift the plate to Carina and with excited eyes, Carina picks one of the strawberries there.
"Aaahh...it"s a pretty rose, brother Henry"
After Carina take her pick, I shift the plate to Clara
"Clara…pick anything you like from there, try the tomato, it"s good for your skin"
I almost also say tomato good to prevent breast cancer but I hold it. I don"t know if they already know about cancer yet. Rather than busy explaining what cancer is, I"d better keep it for myself.
Clara takes the tomato as I recommended and put it on her mouth and start chewing it.
"Mmm…so fresh and sweet. I"m not too fond of tomato but if it can be eaten like this, I think I can eat a lot of tomatoes"
I put the plate on the table and let them take whatever they like after the first try. I make them in sufficient amount to make they able to eat the same item twice. Watching their happy face when eating the dish somehow make me also happy.