Volume 2, Chapter 27: Let’s make a textbook.
Olivia began working at the café a week after that. After finding someone to take her place at her job and talking with the relief home, she appeared on the café’s doorstep with a bright and hopeful expression.
“Starting today, I will be in your care.”
“Miss Olivia! You’re here. The pleasure is mine.”
Risa had already spoken to everyone about Olivia. Helena and Alan had never met her before, however, so Risa introduced her. Olivia smiled and greeted her new colleagues while Alan stared at her, smitten.
“Alan, just so you know, Miss Olivia is a mother with a four year old son.”
“What?!”
Alan looked shocked before slumping in disappointment, failing to notice Helena glare at him unhappily.
Oh? Risa thought, but she said nothing, content with watching the budding sprout grow on its own.
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Now that there were more employees at the café, there was one more thing to do—the culinary department. Risa wondered whether she could still accept the offer after putting it on hold for so long. However, when she told Royce she would do it, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Apparently if Risa hadn’t accepted, all talks of establishing a culinary department would have fallen through. Royce was unable to find suitable candidates other than Risa and Head Chef McKinnies. He needed them on board before he could even obtain a budget.
Hearing his explanation, Risa worried even more that she wasn’t suited for the job. However Royce’s proposal was the same as Risa’s thoughts when she opened the café.
I want to spread good food and improve the food culture of this world.
She had no reason to refuse. Before Risa knew it, the fog of her worry dissipated. How long would people wish for her cooking? She felt so stupid to have worried about that.
Anyone would prefer good food over bad tasting food. As long as someone felt that way, a chef that could make better food than Risa would appear in the near future. To that end, she would invest in that future, in the children.
With new resolve, Risa began to work on the structure of the culinary department.
First, she began with the school facility. After all, construction would take a lot of time, so it was best started earlier. They would need lecture halls for lectures, dining rooms to try out new recipes, and changing rooms to change into chef uniforms.
Most importantly, they needed kitchens. They required a set amount of space so multiple people could cook at the same time, on top of the space ovens and fridges took up. They would not need anything special, but she wanted them to have all the necessary equipment.
Once she had the general idea, she went to all the experts. She presented to designers, magical tool smiths, furniture makers, and others. Her contact from the palace brought drafts to the café, and her days of meetings in the storage room on the second floor continued.
Sometimes she would ask her café employees for their opinions. Although they were all from different departments, like the chivalry department and the general education department, Zeke and Alan were familiar with the structure of the school as it was their alma mater. Helena and Olivia would also point out some interesting things only possible from their perspectives as women unfamiliar with the school.
The blueprint was finished, and construction for the school facility began.
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Next was the textbook. She thought about a curriculum that would make children who were complete beginners to cooking masters in three years. This was the first time Risa would officially teach cooking, so she started with a general outline. She jotted down important skills while she reflected on what she did back in home economics class.
As it was a curriculum, not only would they learn culinary skills, but they would also have to acquire all the knowledge behind them, like characteristics of ingredients and nutrition. There would have to be final exams as well, just like the other departments. To that end, some form of classroom learning would be necessary. These questions tortured Risa, as she had never learned anything of the sort.
Not only that, but it had not even been two years since she had come to this world. She was unfamiliar with the ingredients and the regions they were produced. Every day she would go to the Ashley Company and the street markets to learn.
She could only leave this to someone else more well versed in the matter. She asked the contact from the royal palace to find an expert in food and food culture. Meanwhile, she would think about culinary skills.
She tried to think of easy recipes that would introduce skills in tiers and help with mastery.
However, this was surprisingly difficult.
First, a recipe that would not use a knife or fire. Next, a recipe that used a knife, a recipe that used fire, then there were recipes that would teach skills required to make desserts and bread. She spent a lot of time here as she simulated the recipes in her head.
Even more troublesome than thinking up the recipes was articulating them with proportions and clear instructions. When she just started the café, she had written down the recipes to sell at the Ashley Company, but she hadn’t done that ever since the café got busier.
As she stopped writing recipes, Risa eyeballed most things. She had some notes jotted down for cakes and other food that required strict ratios, but she didn’t write notes for all of them. All the recipes she had eyeballed, she would have to use time and energy to figure out the specific measurements for.
“Hmm, so five tablespoons… of miso…”
She gave the food she made to record measurements to her employees as staff lunch. She made a simple vegetable and egg miso soup. This was the first time she had made the ever familiar miso soup with measurements. She dissolved the measured miso into a pot of pre-boiled water, reheated it, then turned off the heat before it boiled. She let out a sigh, tired by the extra energy she used.
Just then, Alan, who had finished preparations for the café to open, peeked over at the notes Risa had jotted down.
“So it looks like this in numbers?”
The royal kitchen, where Alan used to work, did not follow recipes either. After all, there was no person kind enough to teach him in the royal kitchen. Theirs was a society where knowledge was stolen with the five senses.
He learned by watching his senior chefs cook, so Alan had a sharp eye for observing other chefs. Coupled with Risa and Zeke giving him constructive criticism, he grew remarkably fast. He was already in charge of most of the simpler items on the menu.
As if soaking up all of Risa’s knowledge like a sponge, Alan nodded to himself as he read the scrawled recipe of miso soup.
Alan’s most important characteristics were his love for eating and his curiosity for new things, which often translated into his fast speed as he moved across the kitchen. Lately Risa began to wonder whether small things like these were the source of his extraordinary growth, and therefore important qualities of a chef. Risa herself also had much to learn from him.
“Alan, could you move these to the second floor?”
“Yes!”
She pointed at the pot of miso soup and asked, and he pulled his eyes away from the recipe and replied brightly. He picked up the pot filled with five servings of miso soup with no effort at all. Despite not inspiring much in terms of masculinity, he was still a boy. So Risa thought as she watched Alan.