On Truffles and Spice
15:20 - Totsuki, Japan - Second year
Hayama Akira doesn't know when he'd first started watching his girlfriend cook (though if you'd asked Yukihira or Kurokiba, they'd tell you he's been pining after her forever). The glass panel between their adjoining test kitchens makes it easy enough; some days, she works on rare Chinese medicinal ingredients, most he's never even heard of.
More often than not, however, Arato Hisako throws herself into the practice of cuisines she's not yet mastered, learning and cooking and reading.
She is, after all, a perfectionist.
Today, she's working with chocolate, a byproduct, he supposes, of yesterday's tangle with soon-to-graduate desserts-queen, third year Akanegakubo Momo. It had been a close fight, with two of the three judges leaning towards Akanegakubo's box of almond-covered amaretto truffles.
So of course Hisako would be folding and whipping furiously, magenta brow knitted in concentration.
He watches as she tempers the chocolate and cream, candy thermometer held steady in her small, but firm hands. At least six bowls sit around her work-surface, a variety of different fillings and coatings. Apricot. Freeze-dried berries. Coconut. Honeycomb. He lets out a soft chuckle. She's probably testing recipes to determine the reason for her defeat.
Which probably means…
"Get over here." Hisako's voice is muffled, but he can just make out her words through the walls. He grins; she jerks her head impatiently towards the door. "Come on, I spent all last week helping you perfect that tagine."
He tries for feigned indignance as he pushes through her door. "Didn't see you complaining then."
"Shut up." She's rolling a small round sphere of chocolate in a coating of flaked ginger when he siddles up to her. "Try this. I made it last night."
"Is that why you look like you haven't slept?"
She shoots him a look. "Just eat the damn truffle."
By all accounts, it's a well-made truffle. He's not much for sweets, but even he can appreciate when so much effort has been put into a single perfect morsel. The chocolate is well-tempered, creamy and smooth, bitter, and yet perfectly complemented by the sharp, sweet, and spicy jolt of ginger. "Bentong ginger?"
"A friend of my father's just got back from Malaysia. What do you think?"
He sucks on the insides of his mouth, then nods in thanks as she hands him a glass of water. "Not bad."
"Is that it?" She crosses her arms, clearly disappointed. "Can you taste the palm sugar?"
He swallows. "Yes. And the coconut, too. It's good, but it's still not as good as Akanegakubo's."
Hisako lets out a sigh, and he can't help but to feel a little guilty for putting that face on her. Still, she gives as good as she takes, and he knows she can take a lot.
Her response proves just as much. "I know."
"I'm sure you'll come up with something. What else did you work on?"
"Oh, this you'll like." A rogue-ish, slightly playful smile parts her lips. She waves a small jar in front of him, beautiful red flakes within. "Turkish Aleppo pepper. I made a chilli oil from it, and incorporated it into another batch of ganache."
He frowns at the jar. The labelling is all-too-familiar to him. "Isn't that—"
"It's not stealing if you were technically in the room when I took it."
He shakes his head. "You could've just asked. I'll ask Jun for an extra jar."
Hisako grins, then bends to retrieve another chocolate-filled piping bag from her chiller. "Thanks. Anyway, try this and tell me what you think."
The next chocolate she hands him is unasumming at best. Dark, glossy, peppered with just the smallest flecks of red. It tastes exactly as he'd imagined – smoky and sweet, with just the slightest hint of citrus.
"Hot."
She frowns. "Oh."
"Don't look so glum. It's not a bad kind of hot." He reaches over for the piping bag and makes another, careful to roll it into the perfect sphere. Ganache. Coating. Peppers. A quick glance through her seasoning rack yields the object of his search. He finishes off his truffle, then holds it up to her lips. "Try this."
"I already put salt in there." Hisako rolls her eyes, but eats the truffle off his fingers anyway. The frown upon her face upends as she chews. Half a second later, her cheeks are blooming a soft pink. "Oh, shit."
He can't help but be smug. "What do you think?"
She looks straight into his eyes. "Hot."
He doesn't bother to hide his amusement at Hisako's playful insinuation. Hayama Akira is full of himself, after all. "Smoking hot."
She kisses him lightly on the lips. "Not quite yet. But I'll show you smoking hot later if you take me out to dinner."
He grins. "Bring the chocolates."
