With Nieces!
Whimsy Additional Chapter
Today we are going out with the cute girls Edelgard and Adeltraud. The destination is the shopping district in the city.
The nice girls wanted to hold a tea party and invite Sieg, so I volunteered to help out.
“Dearest Uncle, you really know how to make reception goods?”
“Of course.”
This time it wasn’t a normal tea party. We will be serving confection and jam that we made on our own, different from the n.o.bles in the area.
As to why such a tea party was organised, it was because the princesses found a book called ‘the tea party in the little forest’.
In the story, there is an animal princess who made confectioneries with berries from the forest, and tea from wild herbs, and then invited the queen of the neighbouring forest over to a tea party. After reading that, they said that they also wanted to try such a tea party.
While browsing the plan Edelgard wrote, we went shopping.
On the picture, there is a type of round cake with the a hole in the centre, and a small baked good with two kinds of jam and fruit.
“This round cake is?”
“……Lemon pie.”
“I see.”
The usually quiet Edelgard did her best to explain. Though she said lemon pie, it seemed that it was different from the idea of pies back home. For the crust, they used one that is made by folding many layers made from flour and b.u.t.ter. I tilted my head when they said that it was crunchy, but I thought that there won’t be any problems if I have advice from the kitchen staff.
“For the lemon pie, lemon curd is necessary.”
“Lemon curd?”
Lemon curd is something made by clotting lemon, apparently made by heating the juice with b.u.t.ter, eggs and sugar.
“We have pesticide-free lemons, so they’re perfect for making lemon curd.”
Since even the peels are used, it is recommended to not have pesticide.
“Then we’ll have some please.”
Other than lemons, we bought ingredients for other jams, such as strawberries, oranges, and grapefruits for making juice. We then proceeded to other shops.
While I was talking with the shop lady, Edelgard and Adeltraud were hiding behind me. Maybe it’s the first time they were this close when they’re shopping, that they’re embarra.s.sed.
Next we went to the a shop that handled goods for baking.
Here, we bought moulds for baking cake, tools for hollowing out the pie, and jars for jams.
“Waa, oneesama, look, it’s pretty.”
They ran around the store as if the quietness from before was a lie. There weren’t other customers, so the shop lady kindly let us pick out what we needed.
Other than the tools, we also bought flour for baking, walnuts and dried figs.
After returning home, the three of us cooked. We washed our hands cleanly and then divided the work.
“Edelgard, please weigh the sugar, and Adeltraud please hull the strawberries.”
I also asked other servants to supervise their work. Though I’m not leaving the dangerous work to them, there are many sharp knives and tool as well as fire in the kitchen.
As for what I did, I brought out a pan to boil fruits to make jam.
It was a copper one I borrowed from the head chef here. The heat conduction is superb, that the fruit is boiled down very nicely.
“This is a specialised pot, called a jam bowl.”
If fruits are boiled for too long, the flavour dissipates slightly. Thus, the copper pot for making jam is an essential tool because one can cook quickly with it.
After I returned to the cooking table, I focused on making orange jam.
First, I washed the orange with lukewarm water and peeled it. The peels are also washed with lukewarm water. The peel is then thinly sliced and boiled to remove the bitter taste. In fact, only the squeezed juice is put into the pot.
After that, it’s boiled with sugar in the pot. The sc.u.m has to be removed during the process, and it’s done once the mixture becomes thick.
While I made orange jam, the sisters made strawberry jam.
Strawberries, sugar and lemon juice is put in a pot and boiled as the sc.u.m is removed, and it’s done once it has a pretty red colour.
The finished jams were then stored in sterilised jars.
Next is making fig and walnut cake. This was very simple.
The dried figs are shredded into small pieces, and the walnuts are cracked into small bits.
b.u.t.ter softened in water, egg yolk, sugar are mixed, and then flour and milk are added. Once they’re mixed well, fluffy whipped egg whites are added with a wooden spatula to make them easier to break. Finally, fig shreds and walnut bits are added then the dough is poured into a mould that has plenty of b.u.t.ter applied, then baked.
The cake that has small grains of figs and crunchy walnuts becomes mellow if left for one day, that it becomes better than when it’s freshly baked. I asked for it to be stored somewhere where the sunlight does not reach it.
After making jams, the sisters made biscuits.
Softened b.u.t.ter, sugar and milk were mixed, then flour and corn flour were stirred in. The dough, once it became glossy, was stretched thinly into flower shapes. The surface was then punctured with forks to create small holes, then baked on a tray to create crispy biscuits. It’s not that sweet, so we’ll be having jam with it.
It’s over for today, and the rest will be done tomorrow. We made quite a bit of confectioneries, so I praised the princesses for that.
Th next day, we also worked before lunchtime.
First we made lemon pie.
I asked Edelgard and Adeltraud to make lemon curd.
For the crunchy pie crusts that I was making for the first time, I did it with the head chef. First, I kneaded flour and b.u.t.ter then added water and salt to the dough. It’s mixed until the powdery texture is gone, then it’s kneaded into thin pieces then left in a cool place for a while. After that, the dough is folded and bent many times to finish the crusts.
The crusts are baked in a tray like biscuits.
Then it’s finished by putting lemon curd on top.
Just that, the grapefruit juice might not have got done in time, so I enlisted help.
“Somehow I made it in time! I think?”
“Dearest Uncle, this is amazing! Everything looks delicious!”
Edelgard nodded at Adeltraud’s words.
I patted the angelic princesses’ head to recover fatigue, then went on the final preparation.
The place for the tea party is a garden full of spring flowers.
On the table brought from the mansion, a white tablecloth was laid on top and cute cups were laid out in a line. The confectioneries were arranged on a plate that has three layers, and the jam was placed on the table with a ribbon.
The cooled grapefruit was brought over from the kitchen. The preparations for the tea party was complete.
“Both of you, you did well!”
“……Dearest Uncle, you too.”
“You did your best!”
“Is that so? I’m happy to here that.”
Mufufu, we laughed and stared at the completed table.
It was almost time for the appointment, so I asked a servant to bring the guest over.
Meanwhile, I quickly changed.
“I made you wait.”
Sieglinde appeared, being towed by a servant. On her head, there was a large decoration made of eagle feathers.
“……Good afternoon. Erm, thank you for, coming.”
Edelgard had a headband that had rabbit ears.
“The Queen of Eagles, we were waiting for you!”
Adeltraud had bear ears.
Both were so cute that I wanted hug them.
We decided that we will dress up like the animals in the book. The well-made animal ears were made by my skillful mother-in-law.
“Princesses, queen, I serve you this juice of the blessings of the forest.
Today, I am a butler, wearing a tailcoat and a trendy black necktie, serving my masters and my guest.
Seeing me like that, Sieg laughed while hiding her mouth with a fan.
“Queen, is there something strange?”
“No, I just thought that the dog ears fit you well.”
“……”
It’s not a dog, but a wolf…… However, it Sieg says “Hand!” I think I would gladly offer a hand, so I couldn’t really deny that I was like a dog.
The jams and the confectionery we put effort into making received good comments. Just by seeing the princesses smiling from enjoying the baked goods, I felt happy.
In the middle, father-in-law came back from the ranch with a dog. The sisters then chased the dog around the garden.
Father-in-law ended up getting chased as well, that I ended up laughing.
“Ritz.”
“Yees.”
When I turned around to her, she beckoned for me.
Since I was a servant today, I kneeled down on one knee.
“What might it be, queen.”
“No, I just wanted to thank you.”
“What do you mean?”
When I tilted my head in wondering, Sieg thanked me for making the sisters’ dream come true.
It seemed that Edelgard and Adeltraud were very much looking forward to the tea party today.
“Here, a reward.”
Sieg put on jam on a biscuit that was broken down into bite-size, then held it out. When I opened my mouth, she put the biscuit in my mouth.
While I munched on the biscuit, Sieg patted my head with the wolf ears.
“It was nice.”
“That’s nice.”
“However,”
“?”
“I’d like something sweeter, queen.”
“?”
Sieg tilted her head and held out a jar of jam, but I shook my head.
“Please give me a kiss.”
“!”
Just from me asking for a kiss, Sieglinde’s expression changed. Maybe it was cheeky for a servant to ask for treasure worth gems. I immediately apologised.
“Erm, I overstepped my boundaries. Please forgive me.”
“No, it’s alright, but father’s gaze is.”
When I gazed into the garden, I found father-in-law looking over here.
I stood up and ran towards them while waving my hands in the air, joining them in the game of tag.
It was at night that I would receive my sweet reward.
Like so, the fun tea party with my nieces ended.