"You really don't know what ice cream is, Ma?"
"No. What is it, dear?" she asked, her curiosity piqued.
"It's like a cold, sweet, smooth, creamy treat made with cream, milk, a sweetener, flavorings like vanilla, and toppings like fruit bits."
"I see... And how do you know about it? How did you come up with this?" she asked, slightly suspicious. Makes sense.
"I, uh... dreamt about it. I wanted to ask you if you could help me make it. I think it'll be fun. I actually have the whole recipe down."
"Recipe?"
"Yup, but it's going to be a family secret, so don't give it away to anyone else besides Dad."
"Hm. Okay, what do you need? I'm in the mood for something sweet anyway."
"Uh... We need granulated sugar, cream, of course, let's get a pound of strawberries, and vanilla essence..."
"Dear, we already have vanilla and sugar at home."
"Oh, right. We also need ice and two plastic containers—a small one to hold the mixture and a bigger one to contain the smaller one, which we'll fill with ice and salt to shake it up and solidify the mixture into something smooth and creamy."
"The salt is there to make the ice colder, right?"
"Spot on, Mom."
"Well, let's get moving then, shall we?"
We exited the apartment complex and walked through the streets, passing by the local market to buy all the ingredients. I also took the opportunity to check out the prices of everything.
40 ryo for a pound of strawberries, 30 ryo for a kilo of potatoes, 80 ryo for a pound of steak, 50 ryo for a kilo of granulated sugar, 20 ryo for 400 ml of heavy cream, and 30 ryo for a liter of milk... I still have no idea how much that is for the average person since I have no source of income as of now.
In total, it was 90 ryo for everything. She paid, and we headed back to our apartment. I also noticed that the plastic felt different... Is this vegetal plastic? It feels like it. Maybe oil isn't a thing in this world.
It makes sense considering there are no products with petroleum derivatives, like cosmetics, cars, and things like that.
"So, what now, Amai?"
Heh, get ready for one of my very infamous recipes from back in my world!
"Oh, uh, first we'll have to prepare the mixture. Let's get the sugar and pour it into the pot, along with a small bit of water. We'll have to keep stirring until it melts down into a thick, hot syrup."
"Mkay." She grabbed a pot, put it on the stove, poured half of the juice in, and began stirring. I just observed from a chair. I hate being a short child.
Minutes passed, and the sugar slowly changed colours, from white, to orange, into a thick, hot, gooey syrup.
"That's good enough. Let's turn the stove off and keep stirring. We should probably move on to the ice cream mixture now that we've got the sweetener. Can I keep stirring?"
"Here you go," she handed me the wooden spoon. "Just be REALLY careful, okay? Hot syrup is not something to mess around with."
"Yeah, I'll be careful, Ma. Now, just pour the milk and heavy cream into a bowl, and add the vanilla flavoring. Once this syrup cools down, we'll add it as well."
"And then?" she inquired as she did what I told her while I kept stirring the still-hot, bubbling syrup.
"We'll add that mixture, like I said before, to the small container. Then we'll put that inside a bigger container with salted ice cubes and shake it, shake it, shake it!"
She chuckled, and we waited for the syrup to cool down while we kept talking. Once it did, I took a spoonful and blew on it just in case—this stuff is HOT. I tasted it... Yup, sickly sweet as expected. We poured just enough into the mixture and kept stirring and tasting until I was sure we had the sweetness I wanted for the end result.
"Okay, now we need to chop small and large pieces of strawberry to pour into the second small container," I said eagerly, and she quickly got to work.
Holy crap, she's fast! I've never seen her chop anything, so this is a first. Must be ninja stuff. Gordon would be jealous of her chopping speed, heh.
"W-Wow... Okay, pour them into the container, and we'll put both of them aside. Let's fill the large container with ice and pour salt on it."
"Are you sure this is how it goes?" she said, a bit doubtful.
"Yeah! You'll like the end result, trust me!"
"If you say so..." She then took quite a few ice cubes from the fridge and poured them into the container. Not a lot, but it'll do. Salt rained down on them, covering each cube.
We put both containers inside the ice-filled one, closed it, and my mom started shaking it over and over like I said (because I don't have the stamina, duh!). Occasionally, we switched every two minutes because it was really fun to jostle the bag.
This went on for ten minutes until I told her to stop to check the state of the mixtures. We took the vanilla one out and opened it. Oooooh... I immediately grabbed a spoon from the table and smoothly scooped up a perfectly thick serving of ice cream.
I grabbed a cup and put the spoonful in there, handing it over to my mother.
"Tell me what you think, Mom."
She took the spoon and had a tentative bite, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Wow, this is amazing! So creamy and sweet!" she exclaimed, her face lighting up with a smile as she took another bite.
We heard the door open.
"I'm home and done with work... What are you girls up to?"
Jun... Perfect timing.
"You won't believe what Amai made! Come here and taste it." She served him his own cup full of the frozen dessert.
He took the cup and inquired, "What is this...?"
"She calls it 'ice cream.' Just taste it!"
He took a spoonful and felt the cold, sweet vanilla cream melt in his mouth. "This...!" He quickly devoured the entire creamy treat. My dad has a sweet tooth, hehehe!
"How did you come up with this?! We can sell this stuff; it's insanely good! Amai, what do you think about opening up a store?!" he asked me, clearly excited. Was it really that good for the season?
"Uh..." I pretended to be oblivious to what he meant. He was falling right into my trap.
"I agree, this dessert could sell really well, especially to the Akimichi. What do you think, Amai?" my mom replied, still in ecstasy.
I decided to answer shamelessly and accept their request.
"Well, if it helps Mother and Father, I guess I can't deny you—" All of a sudden, I felt myself being lifted up. "Eeeep!"
"We are going to be very fine business partners, kid!" he said proudly while holding me up in the air.
Let me down, damn it! I swear I'll freeze you like a popsicle!!