"Curry….curry….ah here it is!" Yuki exclaims, pointing at the page as I stop my hand from turning them. "Chicken curry rice!"
"Good eye, Yuki." Taking a sticky note to mark the page, I quickly scan over the ingredients we need. "We may not be able to make the sauce from scratch tonight, but other than that the ingredients are simple enough."
"Toshiro, here's all the seasonings we have!" I look around and see Natsuko placing all the oils and seasonings on the table.
"Thanks, let me check which ones we need for the curry." Salt, pepper, oil, soy sauce, honey….it looks like we have them all. The fridge has virtually no produce, just convenience store stuff, so the rest of the ingredients will have to be bought at the supermarket.
"Okay then, we're going out in ten minutes!" I say, closing the book and signalling everyone to go change.
"Yuki your shirt's on backwards!" I hear in the background as I change in my room. She must be so excited to go to the market that she forgot how to wear a shirt. That's a relief, as I've been worried how she's been handling the past few weeks. Natsuko's energy definitely helped to lighten the mood in the past few days
Five minutes later, I turn off the lights in my room and meet them at the front, impatiently waiting to go shopping.
"Let's go!" Natusko says while already halfway out the door.
+++++
"Ah, lots of food…." Yuki notes as we enter the grocery store. "And….people." As she says this, I feel her hand tighten on my jacket.
"Don't worry, they're just doing the same thing we're doing: finding stuff to cook dinner," I assure her, "though you can stay with me and help me find what we need, okay?"
"Mmm."
"And then, we can look for some snacks," I look at her, and her face brightens.
"Mmm!" she repeats, which I can't help to grin. All right, this should work!
"And Natsu--huh?" I turn my around, and somehow Natusko in the past few seconds disappeared. My phone starts vibrating, seeing I just received a new message notification.
Natusko: Sorry, I started wandering and bumped into Suzu-chan! I'll get the apples and potatoes right after!
What a popular girl she is.
"Okay here's the stuff we still need then….400 g chicken thigh, 1 ginger root, curry mix, 1 apple, 2 potatoes, 1 onion, 2 carrots, and garlic. Natsuko will get the apples and potatoes, so we can meet up with her when we get the rest of the produce. Did you get all that Yuki?"
"Uh….chicken…."
"Chicken first, good choice," I nod in agreement. Going around the store, I pick up the chicken, curry package, ginger, garlic, carrots, and onion. As the cart started filling up, Yuki would look at the cart and then at all the rows of produce or foods that pass by to the left or right.
"I don't see Natsuko yet, she must be talking a while," I sigh. "Well, looks like you get to choose the snacks for tonight."
"Tonight?"
"I was thinking we could watch a movie after dinner so--"
"Movie--" she says, and a real big smile forms on her face. Gah, my heart might explode at this rate! She really likes late-night movies in the living room, where we would get our pillows and blankets and watch together. Come to think of it, the last time this happened was over Christmas break. "We can decide what to watch over din---"
"Here you go Toshiro!" Natsuko reappeared in front of our cart just as we were turning into the snacks aisle. "We need snacks for movie night, right?"
Wait, how did she know I was planning that tonight? Nevermind that, there's still way too many snacks, and it's only your favorites!
But unfortunately for you, Natsuko, I'm about to do what they call a "pro gamer move."
"That is true, but did you manage to get the apples and potatoes that you promised?"
A bead of sweat forms on her forehead.
"And you know this is too many snacks, but I'll cut a deal. The faster you can go and get the apples and potatoes, the less time I have to put these snacks back. A game of speed…." I shift my feet into a start position, smiling at her as a smirk forms on her face as well. "When you're ready."
"Hope you're ready to have mostly my snacks later!" she says as she starts running off. She could definitely smoke some of the track team members already.
"Alright Yuki, go ahead and get your snacks! I'll bring the cart and put these away!" Without a second thought, Yuki zooms ahead of me as I scoop a large amount of snacks out of the cart to return them.
These flavors are so spicy -- how did she expect Yuki to eat these? Or me?
Yuki returns with a stash of snacks --- the good snacks. It pays off that we both have similar tastes when it comes to snack foods.
At this time I already managed to clear most of the previous snacks out when an idea formed in my head. I keep one on top while storing our snacks under some of the other groceries.
Just as we finish, Natsuko runs around the corner, apples and potatoes in hand. She dumps the bags in the cart, eyeing the snack bag on top.
"Looks like you couldn't get everything back, so I'll call that a win." She lightly skips forward, basking in her "victory" lap around the cart.
"Alright, guess it's time to pay for this." I exhale, as Yuki quietly giggles at my side.
Approximately thirty seconds later….
"Wait, where did those snacks come from…." Natsuko asks, wide-eyed and mouth agape. "They're all your favorite snacks! But! Toshiro!!" Yuki's now the one skipping around, albeit just around my jacket as I placed the items on the scanner.
"You can run fast, but don't underestimate your sister's power when it comes to snack shopping," I tease.
"Toshirooo!!!"
+++++
"Well….here starts the hard of the night," I groan, staring at the device in front of me. Obviously, this device has revolutionized the cooking industry for people and families around the world. A technological masterpiece combining precision in its cooking ability with efficiency. However, the manual for this device is nowhere to be found, so I am now facing the first task of mastering the trade of domestic life. While I may not have specifically trained for this moment, I believe I am prepared to use my intellect and reasoning to conquer this challenge, once and for all. "So it begins…."
"Toshiro, why are you talking to the rice cooker?"
"Be quiet Natsuko, do you even know how much water to put in?"
"Nope, but talking to it won't give you an answer either!"
Thanks, Natusko. You're a real help right now.
"Rice….curry rice…." Yuki hums, flipping through the pages of the notebook. "There's a lot of recipes here."
"That's good, a lot of meals to try out," I comment.
"There's even one for plain rice!"
"Plain rice, that's not much of a meal --WAIT!"
That's the key! The notebook was open to one of the last few pages, and the title read "White Rice." It even has simple directions like how much water and cooking time!
In about a minute, the rice setup has been completed and should be ready in about 20 minutes.
"Now for the main ingredients."
Cutting board, two knives, chicken, apple, carrots, onion, ginger, garlic. Reading over the instructions, one could tell how much detail was put into each direction.
Like the fact that the potatoes need to be cut and soaked in water for about ten minutes first….interesting. Task: completed.
"Cut the carrots and onion into pieces shaped like apple slices…." Taking the knife and chopping them isn't too difficult. This is probably not the right technique, as my right hand is definitely going way too high, but it is getting the job done.
Now, I need to peel the apple. How am I supposed to peel an apple?!? I'll shortcut and just chop off the skin -- the curry doesn't need that much apple anyway.
Cutting the chicken into cubes -- let's quickly change knives -- huh, my technique is not working? The chicken just jiggles around the knife and doesn't cut.
"To cut the chicken thighs, move the knife horizontally over the chicken repeatedly like sawing wood."
Ah, that works. Eventually everything else is prepped, and the cooking part is ready: two pots.
One pot is for boiling water, and I add a cube of dehydrated chicken stock to it once it is boiling. The other pot is to throw all the other ingredients in. Add oil to it and start the cooking. Estimated time to finish: 40 minutes. First, add onions, stir, and wait for it to change color. While this happens, mix the chicken, ginger, two garlic cloves diced, salt, pepper, and mirin, or sweet rice wine. Adding this mix to the pot of onions, I now wait for the chicken to change color.
"Big bro, the water is boiling!"
"Thanks Yuki, can you get me one cube of the chicken stock?"
"Okay!" One minute later, the chicken stock looks done, and the chicken looks good. Now….pour the stock into the other pot.
Okay, some of it spilled, but that is fine. Now there's this grater, and if I rub the apple on it repeatedly, it should come out in shreds -- neat!
"You're getting apple on the floor!" Yuki laughs.
"Oops, I'll move this over the pot." Now the apples are going into the pot.
Time to let it boil lightly for fifteen minutes. Wait I forgot the carrots! How could we not add these nicely cut carrots that required a lot of effort on my end in this curry? Carrots are now in, perfect.
Once the fifteen minutes are over, add the potatoes. Cook for around twelve minutes, then start adding the curry slowly, stirring as needed. About two spoons of soy sauce, and give a few more minutes of cooking at low heat till it's the right thickness.
"Dinner's about ready!"
+++++
Three plates of chicken curry rice are now in front of us, steaming hot. Natusko takes a deep inhalation, and her expression brightens. "It smells good! But what about the taste?" With her spoon, she takes a bite.
I follow with my own spoon, and Yuki goes in third.
Several seconds pass to no comment, just chewing and tasting. In my opinion, it's a pretty good curry: not restaurant quality or Mom's quality, but for a level 0 cook following a recipe down to the word -- not a failure.
But the test comes from the two people also sitting at this table, and--
"It's delicious!" they both yell.
"Really?"
"Mm! Good job!" Yuki reacts, stuffing more of the curry into her mouth.
"Maybe you aren't a horrible cook after all --" Natsuko teases.
"I doubt that, after wasting and spilling and looking like a fool in the kitchen….I'll have to get used to that in the future." I laugh it off, though on the inside my brain cells have been jumping with joy. A success!
The dinner conversation shifts between tangential topics, like Animal Crossing, Natusko's talk with her friend Suzume, or Suzu-chan as she calls her. More of the curry rice is served, though I realize in hindsight that I made more than necessary, so there will probably be leftovers. The great news from this is that the entire cart came out to around 2000 yen, including all the snacks. Without it, it came to 1200 yen, which is a steal!
"Ah that was good," I note, putting my chopsticks down on my empty plate. Looks like we all are about finished.
"Movie time!" Yuki pipes up, getting her plate and heading towards the kitchen. Natsuko and I follow as we put the plates in the sink.
Fast forward about ten minutes and Yuki and Natsuko have their pillows in the living room, waiting for me to return.
"What to watch then--" I ponder, scrolling past different movies. The TV was showing movies that I watched recently: Konosuba, Fate Heaven's Feel -- maybe not the most family-friendly animated films.
"How about a Studio Ghibli film?" Yuki asks, and with that Natsuko starts smiling.
"Oooh, yes, maybe Spirited Away?"
"Yeahh!"
Spirited Away. A classic film where for two hours Miyazaki Hayao messes with our tears and heart strings.
"Oh boy, let me grab the tissue box."
+++++
So Natsuko's blowing her nose and Yuki's in the waterworks phase. The film's less tear-jerking in a sad way, which is reserved for a film like Grave of the Fireflies. But this is emotional in its own way.
My phone vibrates again, and I see its a message from Ryoto:
Ryoto: What's up Toshiro! You doing well?
Me: Yeah, been feeling better lately. Watching Spirited Away with Natsuko and Yuki now.
Ryoto: That sounds great! Tissue box?
Me: Yup, what're you up to?
Ryoto: Just chilling now, I was out with Megumi earlier. Hey, you free tomorrow afternoon?
Me: Yeah, what are you thinking? Also did you treat her well?
Ryoto: Of course! We wanted to come visit tomorrow, you know like the good old days.
Me: You say good old days, but we were all together at your place three weeks ago. And then earlier than that for my birthday.
Ryoto: You get what I'm saying! So tomorrow's good?
Me: If you came unannounced I wouldn't have minded haha.
Ryoto: Alright Bro, see you then!
Me: Mhm
Ryoto and Megumi-san are coming tomorrow, huh. That'll be fun.
These two girls here like it when they're around too, so it looks like this weekend will turn out just fine.
Yawning, I sink a little further into the couch, the softness of the pillow making sleep more enticing. The ending of the movie starts to blur in my mind, and in this sequence the heaviness of my eyes slowly drift me off to sleep.