With a bit rush to the dining hall, I manage to arrive there before my family starts lunch. The plate already arranged in the table in front of each chair. I see my father, my stepmother, my uncle Jason, my sister Eliza and my half-sisters already there and also our guest today, Gandolf also already sit on their chair.
"Hello, father….am I late for lunch?"
"You came just in time Henry, take a seat and let start lunch today"
I take a seat on my chair and after my father makes a short prayer like we have breakfast this morning, we start our lunch. The first dish is one piece frikadel and croquette for the appetizer. Except for Gandolf who only see this dish for the first time, my family there already take their fork and dip their frikadel and croquette on the sauce and start munching it.
"Gandolf, this food is the first dish that Henry made, called frikadel. Try it, I guarantee you'll never forget the taste"
My father promotes the frikadel for Gandolf to taste.
"Yes…yes…this really new dish, I never see this kind of foods before"
Gandolf takes his fork and imitates the way we eat he frikadel. After taking one bite, Gandolf's eyes suddenly widened and exclaimed
"Delicious! Really delicious!"
"Hahaha…and there're still more to come, Gandolf"
"Uncle John, do you eat this kind of food every day?"
"No, we only start to eat this kind of food around one week, since Henry created it one week ago"
"Brother Henry….if you don't mind….can I have the recipe of this frikadel? I want my father to taste this dish too"
"No problem. Actually this food today also will be served during the banquet. So this lunch is some kind of test food for the banquet hahaha"
"Thank you very much, brother Henry"
After frikadel and croquette, the next dish served is the noodle dish. Actually, it's a bit off when noodles placed as the soup but it doesn't matter. Let me see how Craig's teaching applied to this noodle by castle cooks. I open the lid that covers the noodle bowl. Warm steams floating out from the bowl carrying the freshness and fragrance of the noodle soup. I see in the soup of noodles, there are some leeks, fried onion, and some chicken meats that sliced thinly. If there's also pickles and chopstick, this noodle will be perfect, but despite the absence of pickles and chopstick, this noodle's taste is good enough.
Gyoza which served to accompany noodle also still feel warm and crispy. Eating the noodle and gyoza together bring memory about my previous world. Although not completely similar to ramen in Japan, it's enough to ease the longing feeling to my homeland in my previous world.
"Uncle John…what is this food name? This food also taste delicious"
"I only know this bite-size snack here, gyoza. Henry, what is this soup name?"
"That's noodle, father. This single dish actually can cover three dishes at once, the soup, side dish, and main dish. It can fill your belly and make you full just by eating one big bowl"
"Oooh…that's practical. We don't need to use too many plates and bowls just to eat"
"Yes. This noodle also can be brought to the journey. Just dried them and boil them again in water when you want to eat"
"Hohoho…that's great! We can choose what we want to eat when we on the journey. Not just dried meat and hard bread any more"
Gandolf gulped his saliva when hearing the advantage of having the noodle for ration in the journey.
"Brother Henry…can I get this noodle recipe too?"
Actually, I don't mind to give him the recipe, but if he asks every dish recipe without I get anything, it feels I become the losing party.
"Brother Gandolf, how about you send your cook here to learn? That will be better than I just give the recipe. Your cook can learn directly and ask what they don't understand on site. If you send them tomorrow, they will be a great help during the banquet the day after tomorrow"
Gandolf slams his fist on his palm. He looks surprised and also excited with my suggestion
"Brother Henry, that really good thinking! Can I send my house's cook here, really?"
"Of course you can. But I will make them work hard in here in return"
"No problem. When I arrive at home later, I will gather my cooks immediately and told them to come here to learn this delicious food"
We laugh together for the agreement that we just made. In my side, I will get more labor to work in the kitchen, while in Gandolf side, he can eat delicious food after his cooks return with new dish recipes. This noodle dish also quickly disappears into their belly along with gyoza that accompanies the noodle. I secretly noted some things that can be added to make this noodle more delicious in the future. I also noted the business opportunity to sell dried noodle as food commodity from our territory later.
The next dish serves after noodle, potato curry, undoubted also get its taste praised by our guest Gandolf. Since my father and my sister Eliza already taste this curry before, their reaction not as high as our guest.
The lunch ending with satisfied expression from people who sit on the dining table. My stepmother even smiles to my sister Eliza when seeing the empty plate in front of her. Our guest, Gandolf, also looks enjoy lunch that served in our castle. My father is grinning from ear to ear when seeing this joyful situation and secretly give me a thumb. Since the lunch is already over, my stepmother and my sister excuse their selves to leave the dining table, leaving us, my father, my uncle and our guest Gandolf, in dining table to continue our conversation.