Chương 86: She Combs the Beaches For Eatables
A sailor, striking up a friendly conversation, asked her. "Oh? Does that mean yer some sorta gourmet chef?"
Robin closed one eye. "Not quite." She chuckled. "It's just that cooking is my hobby, and these folk happen to like what I make."
"Oh? A pity. There be a chefs competition in this here city starting tomorrow. Ifn's yer food's as good as they think it is, ye may want to think about entering it fer a go. I hear the winner gets an audience with the Lord Protectorate."
Robin's head lifted up at those words.
"Is that so? I didn't see any flyers or notices."
"Yer not likely to. It was announced at the public square nigh on two days ago. Now everybody knows all about it. If ye want to hear more details, just ask a local guard. They'll be happy to tell ye all about it."
Robin and the others exchanged glances. The whole company was looking at her with expectant gazes. Robin sighed, scratching the back of her head.
"I suppose I am entering the contest then!" She said with resignation.
"Don't worry, Robin! You'll do great!" Gerard assured her.
"That remains to be seen." Robin shook her head. "I need to check the rules and limitations, first. I am also still missing a few ingredients. Looks like I'll have to go gather some, myself, tomorrow."
"We can help!" Ponzu replied.
"Yeah! I'll help you!" Gerard said enthusiastically.
"All right then, get to bed right after dinner. We need to get up early if we're going to gather enough ingredients before the contest." Robin said.
"Okay!" Gerard exclaimed.
-----
"Ugh, why did I say I'd help you gather ingredients!" Gerard was regretting the words he said yesterday. His bare feet squelched through the cold, wet sands, and slapped on mossy rocks in the early morning twilight.
"It can't be helped. If we don't gather the seaweed now, we won't be able to find fresh ones anymore. And right now is low tide." Robin replied right before exclaiming "Oh! It's a lovely long strain of Kombu!"
"Robin! I found something that looks like your drawing! Come look!" Ponzu called from a bit farther away.
"Really!? I'll be right there!" Robin hopped from rock to rock, trying to avoid the wet sands as she hurried over.
"Yes! This is it! We've finally found some Nori seaweed!" Robin laughed as she caught sight of the stringy brown algae hanging down off a half-submerged pole of driftwood that was lodged firmly between two rocks.
"While I really want to take all of it, In order to make sure that it can keep growing, we shouldn't take more than half." Robin instructed the others. But, even that half turned out to be a lot, as the piece of driftwood was long, and there were many strands hanging down from it.
Robin happily gathered it into a large waterproof bag, before placing it in her magic bag with the other kinds of algae she had recognized.
"Okay! We are officially done gathering ingredients!" Robin announced.
"Thank goodness!" Gerard exclaimed. "It's so cold I don't think I can feel my toes!"
" Hmm, you might want to put on a pair of sandals instead of your shoes, Gerard. You don't want to have sand rolling around in them, because it is a nightmare to get rid of." Robin warned, before happily adding "Now we just need to take the seaweed back and process it."
"What! This is a weed too!?" Gerard exclaimed.
"It's only a weed to those who are ignorant of how tasty it is." Robin snorted. "Many of the most tasty seafood dishes can be made with seaweed."
"Really!?" Gerard exclaimed, excited.
"Have I ever lied to you before, lad?" She asked him bemusedly.
"Nope! But doesn't that mean that now your food will be extra tasty?" Gerard grinned happily. He liked it best when there was tasty food to eat.
"Okay, let's get back. We all need to warm up a bit and these seaweed need to be prepared." Robin chuckled.
~~~~~~~~~
With Ponzu's help, Robin made a tasty dashi with seaweed, green onions, and mushrooms to warm them up. It was too bad she couldn't find tofu. But, she didn't have the equipment to make it, so she could only put tofu aside for a future project.
In fact, many fermented products like miso, tofu, and pickled plums weren't available in the market. There were plenty of pickled vegetables and spices available, though. As it was spring, many local spices were flowering in bright colors from window boxes in the port city.
For the nori, first, she rinsed all the salt water off it. The seaweed had already absorbed so much salt inside that it really didn't need any flavor enhancing. With Ponzu's help she was able to shred it into a pulp. Then she quickly blanched the pulp to get rid of any residual bitterness.
Draining the nori well, she then pondered how to go about turning it into sheets. The specialized clear baking matts that she was used to were not there.
Robin scratched her head a bit. She had planned to bake the sheets in the oven, but she still needed to roll them out into sheets, somehow...
Finally, Robin hit upon an idea. She took out her final pieces of paper baking sheet. She placed the drained nori directly on the pan, and placed the baking sheet on top. After using the rolling pin to smooth it out, she had Ponzu put the pan in the oven for about twenty minutes on a low heat setting.
When it can out, although it was far more flexible than the store-bought versions, it was a good sheet without holes or empty spots. If processed into regular sheet size, there would probably be six to eight pages of nori present. Robin could definitely use this now.
As for the kombu, Robin dried several strips in the oven to crinkle into a crumbled seaweed topping. But for the most part, she kept it fresh in her magic bag.
"Okay, what time is it?" Robin asked.
"A little bit before noon." Gerard replied.
"And when does registration end?" Robin asked.
Ponzu narrowed his eyes in thought. "I think I just heard two ladies passing by the window say it ends at noon."
Robin abandoned all thoughts as she immediately dashed out the door.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Ponzu yelped.
"Me too!" Gerard called after them, but he was soon left behind as his legs were not as long as the other two.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Robin arrived just in time to enter at the last minute.
"Whew! That was close!" She laughed, as a few passersby gave her some odd looks. She had rushed by them in her haste to get the the contest registry.
"Okay, the contest is in the afternoon. we're completely free for the time being. What shall we do while we wait?" Robin asked.
"Are you sure you'll be able to do it, Robin?" Gerard asked. "The man at the register said only local food products are allowed, no imports."
"Heh heh, don't you worry, kid. I have a plan." Robin said.
It was a good thing she had opted to buy locally grown products to preserve the freshness. Even if there were less amounts available, she still had some local sesame, poppy seeds, and even some dried sriracha peppers.
"Oh, that's right!" Robin recalled her parcel quest, and turned to ask a local girl for directions.
"Hello! Do you know the way to the local blacksmith?" Robin asked.
"Eh? Oh! Sure, he's down this road a ways. You turn left at the adventurers guild, and then right at the marketplace entrance." The girl pointed out.
"Thank you! Here's some cookies as a token of my gratitude." Robin gave her a small bag of meringue cookies.
"Gee thanks, mister!" The girl said, as her eyes lit up. No matter where you went, all girls like sweets.
This girl was no different. She immediately took out one to try. Upon tasting the melt-in-the-mouth sweetness of the cookie, her eyes opened wide with delight. But when she looked around to ask the big bro what kind of cookie it was, she could no longer see him on the road.
Now she looked at the remaining cookies, and smiled as an idea came to her. She wanted her friends to try some of them, too. After all, one sweet was good to keep to yourself, but many sweets are definitely for sharing!
The girl innocently headed down the street, the almost magical bag of sweets clenched in her hands.
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