#aneverydayhiro

ivan-t-your-love:

“Oh, thank you so much.” Ivan took a moment to look at the poor little one. It hurt him to see her so uncomfortable. “Annalise here has started teething recently. The poor dear’s been awfully fussy. I just wish I could make the pain go away.”

“I understand, I imagine this is challenging for the both of you,” Hiro said, nodding. “Here, follow me for a moment,” he added hastily, leading them away from the drafty front door to a chair by his desk, where the man could sit.

While Hiro had felt unsure about leaving the city, he was enjoying getting to reunite with those he knew in Konohana. Today he was on his way to visit Nori, a close friend since a young age, after over five years away. It wasn’t like they hadn’t kept in touch in that time, but still, it had felt too long since they had spent time together like they used to.

Bringing tea leaves as a sort of housewarming gift, he made his way over through the thin layer of snow covering the town. He knocked on her door, hoping that she was actually there. The thing was, she didn’t actually know he had returned. Hiro had been hoping to make it a surprise.. It had been a surprise for everyone else as well, except for Ayame of course.

Hiro got up from his desk to see a man enter the clinic, holding a crying baby in his arms. Putting his work down immediately, he went to go see them. “Yes, of course. The resident doctor here is out right now, but I should be able to assist you.”

Why, thank you for the generous donation! 

@aneverydayhiro

    Farming in Bluebell had always had Lillian focused on tending to her livestock, and very rarely did she ever have to cross the mountain into Konohana in her daily routine. Today however, had started with a broken horse cart, and the only solution was across that mountain.

   With her rucksack slung over her shoulder, Lillian began to walk over to the rustic Asian-styled town, only knowing she had to find Kana’s shop over to the east of the village. Georgia didn’t speak to fondly of the man and his shop -- and Lillian hadn’t the chance to form an opinion of her own as she’d only seen the horse fanatic at festivals. 

After much deliberation, Hiro decided on matcha cheesecake. He loved matcha sweets; partly because the health benefits of matcha tea made a great excuse to eat what he really knew were unhealthy foods...

With all the baking, cooling, and other prep long done, he set a slice of his dish gently in front of each of the judges. He had been really worried how this would go. But he used the best ingredients he could find, kept all of Yun’s advice in mind, and thankfully it all appeared to have worked out.

“Well, this.. today I’m presenting slices of matcha cheesecake, on a cookie crumb crust topped with dark chocolate sauce. Uh.. desserts with matcha are something that Yun, a shopkeeper in my town, had taught me about some time ago, and I wanted to take it further with a cheesecake recipe I learned on my own recently.

“I started by making the crust, mixing cookie crumbs, butter, sugar and salt, and pressing them into the bottom of a springform pan.” He liked that step; the texture was always soothing in a way. He wished he could do it again now.

“While the crust was chilling, and the oven preheating, I began to prepare the actual cheesecake part. I blended softened cream cheese, cornstarch, and more sugar and salt. I added cream as I mixed to soften it further, and some citrus juice as a balance to the matcha flavour. Uh, although the matcha powder wasn’t in yet; it was added last, after eggs were beat into the batter.”

“Then.. the crust was sufficiently cooled at that point, so I poured the batter on top, and wrapped the pan in tinfoil. Um, this was to keep water out when I put it in a water bath. The water bath helps it cook smoothly. So I put the cheesecake and water bath into the oven for an hour, allowed it to cool inside once it was done, and transferred it to the fridge to chill overnight, before I cut it and served it to all of you. Oh, wait, and before I added chocolate sauce as well, sorry.”

He sighed slightly as he finished explaining the process. He felt confident in the dish, but had underestimated how difficult it could be to gather one’s thoughts to discuss it clearly. He felt his explanation may be scattered, or awkward.

“The flavour of the matcha,” he began, careful not to use the word bitter, even though thats what it was, “is meant to balance the sweetness of the cheesecake, and the acidity of the citrus juice. Ah, it may look like mint, but the taste is really nothing like it. It’s..subdued? It’s hard to explain, but I hope you find it appetizing and inviting nonetheless.” 

Hiro gave a small bow, realizing he had been holding his breath just the slightest bit.