D5 LA: Totally Honorable cup of tea (closed)

[Ikoma Eichiro]

"I suppose, but there is also the story behind the gift." Eichiro smiles wistfully, "Others may give him a bottle of something or other, but no bottle will be like mine if I present it correctly."

"Will you be seeking to craft something perhaps?" Eichiro asks, "Or maybe give something that you have a good story to tell about?"

[Kaito Haruki]

"My craft is food, so I could, but would that be rude? Giving food at a feast as a gift? Maybe I could make a dessert, but then I would need to find one that would work. If I know anything about Ginkarasu-san, it's that he would have found a way to sell his family's mochi to the people connected to his friends."

[Ikoma Eichiro]

"Maybe instead you could write a recipe for something new. Something that represents your time here as his guest. Something you wouldn't be able reproduce again."

[Kaito Haruki]

"Ah, but cooking is not like other arts in that way. Anything you have a recipe for should reproducible, assuming you had access to the ingredients. The beauty in cooking is less in the individual dishes themselves, but in how often you can replicate them. Imagine if you would a swordsmith who had to make a weapon every hour or their lord would perish. How many do you know that could do that every time over the course of a war?"

(Ooc, that probably sounds wrong, having trouble making my point.)

[Ikoma Eichiro]

"Hmm, I guess I was just thinking like what a shugenja might do as an offering to the kami. Writing a poem and letting the air kami take it for themselves or something like that." He nods, "but it is your gift to give. I know that everyone has put a lot of thought into it, and that it will be a great time of surprises not only for our host, but for us as well."

[Kaito Haruki]

"Regardless, there are new techniques one needs to learn. I think I will show off some that I couldn't before. Did you know adding Sake to a cake batter adds an umami element to it? That means I can finally incorporate all of the basic tastes into a single cake."

[Ikoma Eichiro]

Eichiro recognized some of those words. "Would that also include some of the inebriating effects of sake though? I suppose you wouldn't use enough of it to be a problem, unless for some reason someone ate the entire cake all in one sitting."

[Kaito Haruki]

"That and the inebriating effects are lessened when exposed to the intense heat of an oven or stove. It leaves the taste but not the buzz. The only reason I wouldn't have been able to before is because chefs are expected to test elements of their dish during every step. That's why every servant in a kitchen is well fed."

[Ikoma Eichiro]

"I suppose I wouldn't know," Eichiro says, "i couldn't be a cook. Wouldn't be able to enjoy the full range of tastes, not a big fan of salty things."

[Kaito Haruki]

"Really? Salt is the basic taste that gives you the most trouble, usually it is bitterness in most."

[Ikoma Eichiro]

"Really don't care for it, bitterness is ok, sweet in moderation but spice or heat, that's the ticket." Eichiro produces his now ubiquitous small container of wasabi, the copper in his eye still a little pronounced. "I've gotten pretty good at adding just the right amount as needed for my tastes, but I'm sure it'd be too much for the average rokugani pallette. "

[Kaito Haruki]

"I don't know much about it, but there is a bunch of nuances in growing ingredients for food. Who knows, perhaps you will find a way to make a new kind of spice that can give you the kick you want without having to use too much. Wasabi is surprisingly expensive."

[Ikoma Eichiro]

"It is rare, only a few places in Rokugan that can support the Wasabi leaves needs." He puts the container away, "Thankfully one of them is near my home, but if I am stationed elsewhere I suppose I'll need to find alternatives as you say."

"Not sure my Lord would want to support a non-necessity. I haven't tried too many of the Unicorn spices, maybe they would have something acceptable."

[Kaito Haruki]

Haruki takes out a fan and gets in closer, "Can I share a trade secret without it getting out?"

[Ikoma Eichiro]

Eichiro pulls out his own fan, "Whatever is spoken behind a fan is a private matter, so of course."

[Kaito Haruki]

"Most chefs use horseraddish instead, far more cost efficient and most tounges are not trained to spot the difference. If you're an honest chef, you would charge a bit more for every dish you serve it with and call it a premium cut, but if not. . ." He doesn't finish the last bit of that sentence expecting Ikoma-San to catch on.

[Ikoma Eichiro]

"Accept no substitutes," Eichiro says, "Thanks for the tip, Isawa-san."

"While we're back here, what do you make of the treatment of Hitoshi-san?" Eichiro asks conspiratorially, "we had a friend warn us that something might happen, but it has been difficult for him to say the least."

[Kaito Haruki]

"Well, let me just say this, if you want to ramp up the spiciness, there is only so much you can do until you jave to stop calling your dish food."

[Ikoma Eichiro]

Eichiro nods, "Then perhaps someone should watch the pan."

He closes his fan quietly, and sips his tea.

[Kaito Haruki]

"Ah, but a single movement of the hand could fling the oil. There's a reason for standard procedure in a kitchen, less chance for accidents."

(End scene?)