Night 47: Exusiai, Nine-Layered Chocolate Cake and Apple Pie
The Late Night Diner is a part of Rhodes Island's canteen. That goes without saying – to whom had anyone ever heard of a diner in the boiler room?
As the name implies, it opens around midnight. There are only a handful of customers at a time.
Operators off their night shift could take an order and bring back to their quarters. Night owls could sit dining-in while leeching off the Diner's wi-fi. The Doctor would come for instant noodles from time to time.
Drinks are in the cooler. Anyone burdened by their own thoughts could take one and chug it down, anytime.
Menu? No such thing exists. What the Chef prepares is what you get. It all depends on his mood of the day.
Welcome to the Rhodes Island Late Night Diner. In here, you might even meet a familiar face or two.
It had been a slow night.
There were no rowdy drunks in the Diner tonight, nor party gatherings that swarmed around tables. There was not even any take-out orders. It made the Chef think. Rhodes Island must be invaded by the Reunion again like last time, he thought, and everyone was too busy defending the bridge to come here for food. Yet there was no sirens and emergency announcements, thus the Chef pushed this thought aside. Even though there had not been a customer visiting his humble joint, a responsible cook would never let his stove lie dormant. He had decided to make some chocolate cake just in case some Sanktas showed up for sweets.
The cake base was made from a pound cake recipe. He mixed the batter with light cream and fresh cystmilk, along with baking powder and whole fowlbeast eggs. It would make sure that the cake would be smoother and denser in texture than chiffon cake, and still retain the soft sponginess of one. The batter with added cocoa powder was mixed till thickened, then was poured into a mould and baked. When it was ready and cooled off, the Chef cut the cake base into 1/3 inch slices. He slathered on each slice a thick layer of chocolate ganache and stacked them on top of each other, till after about eight or nine layers. Finally he poured chocolate sauce from the top and let it flow down the cake, making a shiny coating. When all was done, he put the glistening and lethally sweet pastry on the top of the display cabinet. It was then ready for his customers.
According to the Chef, he learned it from the head chef of the Columbian presidential estate. The head chef's cake had been the favourite of many presidents, so much so that even after he had retired the presidential estate re-hired him for multiple occasions. It was until one first lady had decided it was detrimental to the president's health by taking in too much sugar, and his illustrious career had thusly came to an end. Although it was said that even with reduced sugar in the recipe this cake still occupied the first page of the presidential estate's menu. There was even a photo of a famous former president examining the cake fondly accompanied with the menu.
The Chef adjusted the cake's angle and counted down slowly in his head. The well-designed ventilation system would spread the sweet scent precisely down the hallway outside. It would only take twenty, or rather, eighteen seconds for the first Sankta to pop up before him.
"Penguin Logistics always gets the job done! Yo, boss, there's a delivery for you!" As the Chef calculated, a Sankta girl came into the Diner and greeted him on the other side of the counter. It was only that her uniform was not that of the Rhodes Island. "Oh nice! Chocolate cakes. Boss, can I have some?" She asked.
This one was a quite popular person on the land ship. From newly on-board interns to the Doctor, almost everyone had something delivered by her at some point of their stay. Quite a few times the Chef had took express deliveries of fresh ingredients off her hands. Even when the weather was terrible and her uniform was covered in mud stains, the card boxes in her hands would always be pristine and undamaged. "Exusiai" was the name she called herself. Yes other Sanktas on the ship knew the exploits of another very famous "Exusiai" back in Laterano, although her acts of fame was rather...complicated. Still, the Chef cared not whether his customers had any dark or sordid history. As long as it was not the Diner's kitchen she was about to blow up, it was alright in his book.
He cut a small wedge from the cake and placed it on a plate. The semi-solid chocolate filling and the sponge-like softness of the cake base stacked tall together. Just the sight alone would entice anyone's craving for sweets, even more so when the Chef dropped a small spoonful of strawberry jam beside it.
When Exusiai munched on the cake along with the fork in her mouth and with her eyes shut, savouring the sweetness of the cake, the Chef was busy opening his delivery package. "Ey little angel, it says the sender is you." He said and opened the box. Inside the box was stacked full with bright red apples. The faint aroma of the fresh fruit spread pleasantly in the air.
"Ah yeah. I remember now!" Exusiai smacked her palm on her forehead. "These are the ingredients for apple pies. I'd like a one if it's ok. I sent them here through Penguin Logistics so I won't forget about it, but I still kinda did." She chuckled.
Apple pie – another that was ranked high on the Sankta's Must-have Sweet Pastry List. The Chef had kept pre-prepared pie dough in the fridge all year round just for this occasion. He took one lump out and rolled it into a skin, then cut with a round mould and put it in a pie tin. He covered it with a piece of aluminium foil and placed a few weights inside to prevent the skin from expanding too much in the oven. When it was baking in the oven the Chef started working on the filling. The apples Exusiai provided was of top quality – sweet to the taste and crunchy in texture, as well as filled with juices. He cut a few into chunks and boiled them in a pot with sugar, cinnamon powder and honey. When the juices from the fruit chunks seeped out he gradually added in starch water. The binding effect of starch water when heated could thicken the filling and prevent the bottom of the pie from too soggy and starting to crumble. After some time, the Chef had a taste of the filling with a spoon, then added two more spoonful of sugar into the pot. When it came to Sanktas, there was no such thing as too much sugar. Even with all the added sugar they might still find it not sweet enough.
"I heard many Sanktas know how to make excellent pastries." The Chef took out the golden pie crust out from the oven. "Adnachiel mentioned he could make some twenty different types. I figure someday I should invite all the Sankta operators here for a pastry sampling party."
"Ah...well." Exusiai said, scratched the back of her head. "The only thing I know how to make is apple pie. But my taste buds never lie! Oh also boss, could you please make the pie crust look a bit nicer? I want to save some and share with Texas and gang as a celebration. For a job well down in Siracusa."
"Sure. You just have to wait a bit longer." The Chef said.
There were many ways to make crust for apple pie. A lazy baker could cover the filling with a large piece of dough skin on top then poked a few holes and call it done. Yet some others would go for another extreme and use carefully braided dough strips to make a delicate web. Although the taste of the two would be the same, the latter would create an entirely different gastronomic experience with its visual component alone. As for the The Chef, he chose to cut the left-over skin into small strips and placed them criss-crossed atop the filling. Using a small knife, he carefully cut the protruding bits off, then decorated the space between the edge of the crust and the skin with a beautiful frill. A layer of beaten egg yolks and a sprinkle of sugar later, he placed the pie into the oven again. When the crust turned into the brilliant colour of gold and the sugar had melted into brownish spots, a well-crafted apple pie was made. The Chef placed the steaming pie before Exusiai, and with it a glass of warm cystmilk. A porcelain jar of sugar was also placed beside her in case she wanted more sweetness in her pastry.
Exusiai cut a wedge off the pie. The amber coloured apple was soft and sticky with a strong scent of cinnamon. She puffed, blowing air onto the piece of pie and sent it into her mouth. "Ouff, hot-hot-hot! Really tasty though! Your work is terrific, boss! I'll just leave the rest of the apples to you here then. As for payment..." She took out her meal card, yet her hand stayed in mid-air and not proceed with payment. She stared at the Chef, and a few seconds later let out an apologetic grin. "Um, boss...the trip to Siracusa was not for business, so Emperor docked our pay till next month. So can I just..."
"You can choose to do all the dishes." The Chef placed the receipt on the bar counter. His other hand the came in and gripped firmly on the plate with the apple pie in it. "If you don't pay, I will have to take it away." He said.