Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

Volume 3 - Ch 2.13

One of the most basic rules of financial stability is to ensure that you will only buy as much food as you will need, no more, no less, and that is the rule that I want to stick to no matter what!

After we finished buying the high-quality bread from the baking lady, we went back home through the portal in the Adventurers Guild.

Since this bread is so large, lets split it between the two of us.

Are you sure thats all right, master? You wont be hungry with just half of it?

Oh? There it is. The issue of the size of the bread I brought up just now.

Why would I be? This much bread is way too much for one person to handle by themselves.

Really? Because I was always under the impression that the bread should always be baked to such a size that will ensure that one loaf is going to be enough to feed exactly one person.

One loaf of such size is meant for just one person? Are people really such a heavy eaters around these parts?

I dont know about the people being heavy eaters, but Quratars bread is one of the best in the empire, to the point where it became Quratars staple food. Also it is rare to have meals with so much meat and vegetables like we had yesterday, so bread naturally became of such a considerable size in order to cover the lack of other ingredients while still ensuring that the meals people eat will leave them filled up and not hungry from morning to the evening.

Oh yeah, thats right. I totally forgot that the standard of this world is not three meals a day but just two: breakfast in the morning and dinner late in the evening. I am used to having three meals a day and so I usually ate each of them in a lighter version in order not to overstuff myself, but it looks like I will have to switch my line of thinking in that regard to fit in with the rest of the people living in this world as well.

Now that I think about it, we did ate quite a lot for that dinner yesterday, huh?

Umu. Normally a big loaf of bread would be enough for dinner, and as much meat and vegetable-based side dishes as we had yesterday would only be reserved for feasts made on special occasions.

Bigger bread as a substitute for normal side dishes in a meal? That is actually a huge difference in comparison to the modern-day Japan.

Is that so? Well, that is one of the things that we approached differently back where I come from, but I will try to remember that things are different here and take those differences into account as much as I can.

Yes, thank you and sorry for troubling you with such an insignificant matter, master.

Since you brought it up, then it means it was not insignificant.

That being said, yesterdays dinner was pretty great (putting the somewhat bland taste of the food without the spices and seasonings aside) while remaining relatively simple in my opinion. Not to mention that it was my first time helping to prepare the meal since I came here. Now that we are not living in an inn anymore, we have to cook every meal ourselves. Leaving their preparations entirely to Roxanne is always a possibility, but if I decide to take that option, there will be no guarantee that every meal she will be preparing for me will be at least on the level of that pot-au-feu or even better (which would be preferable, if I am to be honest), so in order to be absolutely sure about the taste of the dishes we are going to prepare, I will have to participate in the process of making them every single time, because that dinner yesterday made me realize something: even though she said that she is quite good at making pot-a-feu, her actual cooking skills are probably not all that different from my own, and that boils down to simply boiling and baking stuff until its edible.

Well, if I will make some of the dishes myself then it should not be too much of a problem. Ever since my mom died when I was a young kid I had to learn cooking from the very basics in order to get by all by myself, so while I cannot say that my skills are enough to make something that could be described as genuinely tasty, I can at least vouch for my dishes not turning into culinary crimes as soon as I touch the kitchen utensils. Another problem that I will have to tackle will be the difficulty to replicate the taste of the recipes I know without access to modern-day Japan ingredients, spices and seasonings, but once I get used to cooking without them, I am sure I will be able to whip up something that will be able to get a passing grade when it comes to the taste.

Today, in order to test the waters with my culinary abilities I decided to prepare something relatively simple: ham and eggs. It is the pinnacle of the easy-to-prepare meals that only requires you to fry the ham and then slap some sunny side up eggs on top of it, but in this world it should pass for a true delicacy.

..

Hmm overall, I have to say that this turned out pretty well. I wonder what is Roxannes opinion about it?

Well, what do you think, Roxanne? Are ham and eggs to your liking?

Of course, master. Even if the dish you prepared looks simple, it is actually tastier than I anticipated.

Thank you. The one you prepared is also pretty delicious.

The side dish that Roxanne prepared to go with my ham and eggs was ohitashi (TL Note: Japanese blanched greens with savory broth; a side dish of blanched greens in a soy-based marinade) made from leafy vegetables that were boiled in the broth with the addition of the Rock Salt we obtained from our earlier bout in the Veil Labyrinth. Combined with the ham and eggs, they made a surprisingly harmonious combination. Having the bread to go along with them was also a good choice on my part. It is nowhere near the level of fanciness you would get at a restaurant or a diner, but whats the most important is that the taste turned out alright, because lets face it: with this worlds lack of technology, even the simple task like baking ham and eggs could have gone south really quickly if even the smallest mistake was made, leaving us with either burned scraps or something that tasted like shit. Roxanne also deserves the words of praise. As far as I know, stewing the bouillon was ntot an easy task even in the modern-day culinary world, but she managed to get it just right (TL Note: right enough to impress Gordon Ramsey?).

Its been some time since I last had the chance to prepare ham and eggs, so Im glad that I didnt lose my culinary touch.

Ham and eggs, is it? Its my first time eating such a wonderful dish! What a great treat!

That bread is a nice addition as well. I am honestly surprised how good it tastes.

Todays bread is unspeakably soft and delicious. So that is the difference between a common item and a luxury item? Because if so, then spending a little bit more money would be a small price to pay if it would mean that we could eat meals as good as this one every day. I know that I said that we have to be careful with our spending, but eating is this one area of life where being stingy on purpose will actually do you more harm than good.

Oh, but, uhm I know it might be a little late to bring it up, but is it really all right for me to be eatin the same thing that you do, master? I also didnt help all that much with the preparation of todays meal, so I feel like I only troubled you today.

Do not worry yourself with things like that. When we delve into the Labyrinths, our bodies are our most important assets, so it is absolutely crucial for us to keep them well maintained and in optimal condition, so you can simply think about it like that.

Thank you. I will definitely do my best not to disappoint you, master.

The entire loaf of that high-quality bread cost me 8 Nars, and we ate it all during this one meal after splitting it with Roxanne so that each of us would get half of it, which would mean that each of us paid 4 Nars for his half.