Yan Feng returned to the basement of the Templar Church, just as he had done last night and the night before, when he returned to the basement, he saw Gilgamesh lying on the couch enjoying red wine.

"What an ugly face, Qili. What interesting happened to you? ”

Yan Fengqili did not reply, but closed the door with his backhand, and sat down silently on the other sofa that was not occupied by Gilgamesh.

"Heh, this is the first time I've seen such a reaction in you."

Gilgamesh sat up, took out another goblet, rinsed it with a little liquor, and then poured in a small half glass of red wine. put it on the table and pushed it in front of Yan Feng Qili.

"The night is still very long, have a drink with this king, and talk about what you have seen today. This king has a hunch that your story will be interesting. ”

………………………………

"Berserker, how is it tonight......"

Kenneth opened the door and was about to say something, but was startled by what he saw.

Dressed in modern clothes, Berserker holds Sakura Maki in his left hand and two large plastic bags in his right hand, which contain various ingredients and bottles and cans. The image of a husband who is forced to carry things when he goes out with his wife.

Zhao Yun put the cherry blossom on the ground, and the bag was still in his left hand.

Seeing Kenneth looking at himself with a very peculiar expression mixed with surprise and questioning, Zhao Yun looked at Kenneth and asked:

"What's wrong?"

"Berserker, what are you doing here?"

Kenneth pointed to the shopping bag in Zhao Yun's hand.

"After going to Weiyuanchuan, I took Sakura to buy some vegetables. It's normal, what's wrong? ”

"Grocery shopping?"

"Isn't it commonplace to buy the ingredients you use to make food?"

Kenneth and Zhao Yun looked at each other in confusion at the same time. Neither man understood what the other meant.

After staring at each other like this for a few seconds, Zhao Yun patted his head. Suddenly he asked:

"Isn't it possible, Mr. Kenneth, that you haven't seen anyone else cook?"

Kenneth recalled, and nodded.

Thinking about it, Kenneth was born in the magic family Ermelo, and he is a magician genius who has risen to prominence since childhood, and he became the monarch of the clock tower at a young age, so it would be strange for such a person to understand the process of cooking in ordinary people's homes. It's better to say that even if their maid cooks, Kenneth must have never seen it.

In this case, it is only possible to make an impression if you see it with your own eyes.

"Anyway, it's not early. I'm going to cook. Mr. Kenneth, if you are interested, you can come to the kitchen. ”

"No, I'll stay here. I have some ideas about the insect magic of the Makiri family, and I want to take a closer look at these marking insects that are used to replace the magic circuit. ”

Kenneth held a dead Marker in his hand.

After most of the magic circuit was destroyed by Emiya Kiritsugu's origin bomb, Kenneth went from being a practical to a theorist. For some seemingly boring questions, he also has a lot of energy to find the difference.

"Well, I know, then Mr. Kenneth, you can continue to study, Sakura-chan, do you want to play here, or go watch me cook?"

Sakura ran over in three or two steps, raising her hand expectantly to indicate that she was going into the kitchen.

"Okay, then come with me."

The mansion of the Makiri family has a long history, and although it has been built for a long time now, the kitchen is a must-have for every household, and the Makiri family is no exception. Even due to the wealth of the Maki family, the space left for the kitchen is quite spacious.

Due to the Holy Grail War, most of the members of the Maki family have gone on "annual leave", and only a few remain. The kitchen of the Makiri family is much smaller at the moment, and the kitchen is unusually clean due to the lack of use. Fortunately, the spices and stove are still in good place, and there is no problem with normal use.

Zhao Yun opened the storage cabinet placed in the corner of the kitchen, and sure enough, most of the unused and unopened spices were stored in a tightly sealed mouth. He even found an almost brand new cassette gas stove inside.

"Mirin, salt, bonito flowers, and there is even a soaked kelp here, that's just right...... I bought fresh ginger slices and shiitake mushrooms, but the sun-dried shiitake mushrooms have a stronger flavor and are used to enhance the freshness. ”

Mirin, bonito flakes and kelp are all condiments commonly used in Japanese cuisine.

Kombu can basically be regarded as kelp, both of which are algae plants of the order kelp, but kelp belongs to the kelp family, while kelp belongs to the pterophyta family, and the taste is also different;

Bonito flower is derived from the deep-sea bonito that has been baked and dried many times, the dried bonito is a very hard ingredient, and can even be used to make murder weapons, and must be cut into very thin shavings with a special planer before eating, so it is called bonito flower, and the shadow of bonito flower can be seen in all kinds of Japanese broth, which originated from the takoyaki (octopus balls) in Osaka, Japan, and is often used in the ingredients;

As for mirin, it is a kind of alcohol condiment, which is characterized by a relatively sweet taste, and most of the basic functions of alcohol seasoning have it, but mirin also has the effect of tightening protein, which can prevent the ingredients from being cooked when cooking food, especially fish, and miso is also a common seasoning for traditional Japanese tempura dipping sauce and eel grill.

After selecting some seasonings that will be used later, Zhao Yun returned to the kitchen counter with bottles and jars, put on a clean apron hanging at the door of the kitchen, and began to cook.

At the edge of the kitchen counter, about one meter and two high, a cute little face poked out, full of curiosity.

"Uncle Zhao, what are you doing now?"

A pot of kombu, which is the main ingredient of Japanese dashi, is boiling on the stove, and on the kitchen counter, Zhao Yun skillfully cuts the back carapace of the shrimp with a knife, and gently picks out the shrimp meat of the bamboo shrimp with the tip of the knife, while explaining:

"Of course, I'm making hot pot, and when the water in the pot boils, I can add all kinds of ingredients to it. At the end, the flavors of all the ingredients are mixed together, and it is very delicious. ”

Sakura nodded as if she didn't understand. Seeing her curious look, Zhao Yun couldn't help but touch her smooth forehead with the back of his hand that was not stained by the slime of the stick shrimp:

"If you want to see me cook, just move the little stool next to you, Sakura, you're not tall enough now. When you grow taller, you can cook for yourself. ”

So, Sakura took her two short legs and brought a chair behind the kitchen counter.

Zhao Yun's attention returned to the board,

Slice ginger, cut green onions obliquely into sections, remove the roots of enoki mushrooms and quickly rinse them with water, draw a cross knife edge in the center of the brown side of fresh shiitake mushrooms, coring cabbage, cut the stems into sections, cut the leaves into large pieces, and carefully wash the shellfish again, especially the surface of the carapace with a brush to avoid impurities from entering the pot.

The cod meat bought from the supermarket has been cut into long strips, and although it is okay to put it directly into the pot like this, in order to make the fish more firm and flavorful, Zhao Yun added salt to the surface of the fish and marinated it slightly, and alternated the fish with hot and cold water, and dried it with kitchen paper.

These basic ingredients are prepared with ease and are all done while the kelp in the pot is boiling.

Just as Zhao Yun was thinking about the seasoning matching, Xiao Sakura, who was standing on the stool to his right, pulled his sleeve:

"Uncle Zhao, the water in the pot is gurgling!"

"That's when the water is boiling, Sakura, you have to remember, if you see the water in the kitchen pot like this, remind the adults to turn off the heat. But don't touch the buttons and electrical outlets on the cooktop. There's water here, and it's easy to get electrocuted. ”

Zhao Yun turned down the heat, took out the kelp in the pot with chopsticks, and added an appropriate amount of soy sauce, mirin, ginger, salt and cooking wine. After that, add the various ingredients.

Cabbage petioles, enoki mushrooms, fresh shiitake mushrooms, cod, bamboo shrimp and other ingredients that need to be cooked for a long time and are not easy to mature are put into the pot first, and materials such as chrysanthemum, green onions, tofu, clams and other ingredients that are not suitable for long-term boiling are put into the pot later.

The production of hot pot is very simple, as long as you master the selection and seasoning of ingredients, the final product will not be very bad. The ingredients Zhao Yun chose tonight were all relatively light seafood and vegetables, and the soup was basically relatively clear without red meat.

After the soup base in the pot boiled, Zhao Yun took out a small half spoonful of soup from the pot and poured it into the tasting plate. Hand it to the cherry blossom who was carefully observing from the sidelines:

"Sakura-chan, how about you taste it?"

"Zi~"

After tasting it, Sakura's eyes immediately widened, and then she sucked up all the soup in the small plate.

"Delicious!"

The flavors of the ingredients are cleverly combined in the soup, creating a rather wonderful taste experience that lingers on the tongue.

"Well, it seems that there is no problem with seasoning. Sakura, go and call Kenneth and tell him it's time to get dinner. ”

"Okay!"

Sakura jumped off the stool and bounced all the way to the auditorium to find Kenneth.

Zhao Yun took out a pair of chopsticks and took out the ginger slices and shrimp heads put in the pot one by one.

In order to facilitate eating and take into account the flavor of the soup base, he took out the shrimp meat of the bamboo shrimp, put the shrimp meat and shrimp head into the pot at the same time, and used the shrimp head to give the flavor of the shrimp in the soup base. He had cut all the ginger slices into large slices before putting them in the pot, and now he had taken out all the large pieces of ginger slices to prevent them from being eaten by young Sakura and Kenneth, who had lived in the island country for a short time.

The taste of chewing ginger slices directly is probably something that not many people will like. In particular, children's sense of taste is very sensitive, and it is basically unacceptable to spicy and stimulating tastes.

He hoped that Sakura Maki would be able to eat the most delicious things tonight. It's a good idea to forget about the unhappiness of the past year.

The pot was covered with a lid to seal the boiling heat of the hot pot and served it out on the cassette gas stove he found in the cupboard.

Walking out of the kitchen, it was the dining room, and when Zhao Yun came out with the cassette stove and pot, Kenneth and Sakura were already sitting at the table.

The dishes and chopsticks have been prepared before, and only the main topic of tonight - assorted hot pot is here.

"Hot pot is coming, be careful when you eat it."

Lift the lid of the pot, and bursts of white mist rise. When the first heat dissipates, pink shrimp meat, green chrysanthemum, white green onions, enoki mushrooms, brown shiitake mushrooms with white cross patterns, clams, cod, triangular tofu, in a pot, all kinds of ingredients are arranged in a neat circle, and the orange-yellow soup that wraps the ingredients is bubbling.

The food in front of them stimulated the eyes, nose and taste buds, and the three people sitting around the table moved their chopsticks and spoons.

"Hahu~Hahu~"

Sakura picked up a piece of triangular tofu with great difficulty, and kept blowing with her mouth.

Kenneth is not used to using chopsticks, so instead of using the "clip" method, he directly uses chopsticks to "pry" a piece of meat and stuff it into his mouth. Although adults are more tolerant of heat than children, what has just been taken out of the boiling pot is piping hot after all, and Kenneth is also puffing out his mouth and panting.

Seeing the two of them eating happily, the corners of Zhao Yun's mouth hooked up with a smile. He took the bowl in front of Kirizakura, took a lot of vegetables from the pot and put it in.

"Put it in a bowl first, and then you can eat it directly when it cools. There's a lot more in the pot, eat slowly. Mr. Kenneth, would I like to give you another spoon? ”

The clams are full of umami, the fish is firm and delicious, the shrimp is slightly sweet, and the chrysanthemum, cabbage, and tofu are full of soup, and the color, flavor and flavor are beautiful. Served with a hot and clear soup base that mixes the umami of all ingredients, every bite you take is a warm feeling.

……

A "fierce battle" ended, and the ingredients of a whole pot were wiped out by the three of them. Even the youngest Sakura Makiri ate a lot, half-lying on a chair, holding her round belly.

"Would Sakura want to eat more?"

Sakura shook her head, her stomach was full. Kenneth, an adult, however, is clearly not fully satisfied.

Zhao Yun had expected this situation a long time ago. After all, he doesn't put a lot of ingredients in the pot, so he also prepares a little staple food in the kitchen to fill his stomach.

Zhao Yun stood up, turned off the gas stove, and after no longer rolling in the pot, he used a colander to remove the foam on the surface of the soup and threw a slightly green ball of soba noodles into the pot.

Soba noodles that have been boiled in water and cooled are stirred in the soup with chopsticks, soaked and heated for a few minutes with the residual heat of the soup base, and then removed.

was eating soba noodles, Zhao Yun turned his head and saw that Sakura had his fingers on his lips, looking directly at the chopsticks in his hand, so he smiled, he picked up a few noodles, and then moved to Sakura with a bowl below.

"Taste it, right? But don't eat too much, eating too much will make your stomach uncomfortable at night. ”

Jian Kiri's eyes lit up, and she took a bite of the noodles held by Zhao Yun's chopsticks, chewing the taste of the noodles and soup with a happy face.

This was the first time she hadn't felt lonely at dinner since she came to Makiri's house.

Years later, whenever Kirizakura reminisces about the past, she always thinks of that day, the first dinner that the eternal young man who regarded herself as an elder and called her uncle made for herself.

Since then, this is the memory of the "taste of home" of Sakura Makiri, and it has also become the most important taste memory in Sakura Makiri's life.