Shepherd's Pie | Carry On

(Originally posted December 2017 for Fiction Kitchen Podcast Episode 34: Carry On.)

He shoves a casserole dish into my arms, then grabs some forks. “Milk?” he asks. “Coke?”

“Milk,” I say. I’m grinning, I can’t stop grinning. He puts the carton on top of the casserole, grabs some cloth napkins from the drawer, then heads back up to his room. It’s a struggle to keep up.
. . . .
I sit down next to him, and he takes the casserole dish from me and casts a quick, “You’re getting warmer!”—then opens the lid. It’s shepherd’s pie.

“Do you need to eat?” I ask. “Or do you just like it?”

“I need it,” he says, scooping up a bite, avoiding my eyes, “just not as much as other people do.”

“How do you know that you’re not immortal?”

He hands me a fork. “No more questions.”

We finish the shepherd’s pie, eating out of the bowl on Baz’s lap. He chews with his hand over his mouth. I try to remember whether I’ve ever seen him eat before.… I finish the milk. He doesn’t want any.

When we’re done, he sets the dishes outside his door, then starts a fire in the fireplace with his wand.

—Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Yu-topia Katsudon | Yuri!!! On Ice

(Originally published Jan. 2017 for Fiction Kitchen Podcast Episode 53: Yuri!!! On Ice.)

 

[Yuri's mom places the Yu-topia katsudon meal in front of Victor] 

Victor: Wow! Amazing! 

Yuri's Mom: Our specialty, katsudon, extra large! 

Victor [takes a bite]: Vkusno! Delicious! Too good for words! Is this what the gods eat? 

[Yuri's mom giggles & skips away in the background] 

Yuri [blushing]: I'm glad you like it. 

—"Yuri!!! on Ice", Episode 2

Edible Fly-by-Night Flower | Mary & the Witch's Flower

          "...There in the hidden corner behind the snowberries, growing in the shelter of the fallen bough, was a little clump of flowers such as she had never seen before.
          The leaves, set in stiff rosettes, were of a curious bluish-green, mottled like frogs, and above them on slender stems hung the flowers, clusters of graceful purple bells, whose throats were streaked with silver, and whose pistils, like long tongues, thrust out of the freaked throats in stabs of bright gold.
          Mary knelt down on the fallen branch and gazed at the flowers, while beside her sat the little black cat, waving his black tail, and watching her out of his green, green eyes."

–The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart

Pineapple Curry | Splatoon Manga

          Happy release day (US) to volume 3 of the Splatoon manga by Sankichi Hinodeya published through Viz Media AND the release (US; Jun. 12 PM, EU; Jun. 13 AM) of the Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2 on Nintendo Switch!

          The recipe below is inspired by a scene in the first Splatoon manga where the inkling Goggles blasts out of a turf war in order to chow down on some special curry so he can charge up for a powerful attack and win the game (we also learn in this volume that he loves pickled plums and prefers his ice cream in a cone). ;)

Onion Focaccia w/ Steak & Raspberry Sauce | Delicious in Dungeon

          Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoko Kui is such a fun manga full of dungeon crawling, monsters, and food! In a nutshell, the premise is a group of adventurers working their way down the levels of a massive dungeon (it's like its own world, it's own ecosystem) and making delicious meals of the various creatures they come across so they won't have to keep leaving the dungeon to resupply! The meals are also made with the nutrients and energy they need for adventuring in mind. :)
          There are other aspects of the story like saving a party member from being digested in the belly of a huge dragon, discovering the mystery of the dungeon-world like who created it, how is it sustaining, and what is at its heart (was it a wizard-king and is there a great treasure??), and learning about the various races that make up the dungeon, including the adventurers from the world above.