Chapter 538

Noodle Dishes
“Alright, let’s start making noodles!”
““Let’s staaart~!””

Today, we borrowed part of the kitchen, and I decided to go ahead and make some noodle dishes for Syl’s request.
… Well, truthfully, I also just really wanted to try using the brand-new noodle machine we got.

“Allen, Elena, can I ask you two to make the udon dough again?”
“Okay~”
“Leave it to us~”

While the kids worked on stomping the udon dough, I worked on preparing a large batch of pasta dough.
Once the doughs were ready, it was finally time for the noodle machine. I decided to start by testing some flat pasta.

“This thickness and width feel great. As expected of Sol Ojiisan.”
““Ohhh~ looks good~!””
“Now to cut it…”

When you put dough into the noodle machine, it rolls it out nicely and cuts it, then the strands flow out.
So you have to cut the length yourself.

“Done! Alright, next.”

Next was the udon-cutting attachment.

“This thickness is perfect too.”
““Looks good~!””

The udon came out just the way I imagined. Truly, Sol Ojiisan is incredible.

“Now I’ll just cut it to a suitable length—”
“”You’re cutting it?””
“Hmm?”

I was about to cut the udon into lengths just like the pasta, but the kids stopped me.

“I wanna eat it just like that.”
“I wanna slurp the long one.”
“… Like this?”
““Like that!””

They wanted to eat the udon without cutting it.
If I remember right, there was a regional dish where a single long noodle fills the whole bowl. One-noodle udon, or something like that?

“Umm…”

I placed the entire long strand of udon into a bowl I took out of Infinite Storage.

“Whoa, this actually looks like the perfect amount.”
““Looks great!””

The ultra-long udon strand was just about one adult serving.

“Alright, let’s try eating it as is.”
““Yayyy!””
“Yeah. Though today I think I’ll make a cold broth instead of a hot one.”
““Ohh, that sounds tasty too!””

I guess I’ll make cold tanuki udon—cold broth with homemade tempura bits.

“So, we’re having udon for lunch then?”
“I wanna eat pasta too!”
“Just a little bit is enough!”
“Hahaha, if it’s only tasting portions, you can manage, right?”
““Yeah~””

So, I boiled a huge pot of water and started cooking the long udon just like that.
Oh, and the pasta too. Tempura bits as well. I haven’t made the pasta sauces yet, but since Infinite Storage can keep freshly boiled noodles as-is, that’s really convenient.

“Oh, right! Let’s boil the soba I made earlier too.”

I had prepared the dough before, but never cooked it.

“Ah…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well… it broke a little. Looks like I failed…”

The udon and pasta were fine, but the soba was already breaking apart as it boiled.

“Is it ruined?”
“Can’t we eat it?”
“No, it’s not inedible.”
““Then let’s eat it!””
“Alright, let’s try it~”

We rinsed the soba in cold water and tried tasting it.

““It’s good, you know?””
“Yeah, the flavor’s fine.”

Dipped in noodle sauce, the aroma was stronger than expected, but the taste itself was good—actually pretty tasty.
But the noodles lacked firmness.
I’m not experienced with soba making, so I couldn’t tell if the weak texture was from too much water in the dough, not kneading enough, kneading too much…
Boiling time should’ve been fine, and it wasn’t dried out since it was in Infinite Storage.
Well, I’ll just have to practice more. Soba making needs repetition.

“Let’s eat this soba another time.”
““Not today?””
“We’re eating udon and pasta today, remember? We can’t add more.”
““Right~””

Right, no more dishes today. Soba can wait.

“Alright, next is tempura bits and pasta sauce. —Allen, Elena, what kind of pasta do you want?”
“Mushroom?”
“Oh yeah, when we picked mushrooms, you said mushroom pasta sounded good—
… wait, no, you didn’t say that, did you?”
“I didn’t hear it.”
“But I wanna eat it.”

Mushroom pasta was just something *I* wanted in my head.
Turns out the kids wanted it too.

“Alright, mushrooms for the ingredients. Then for the flavor… Japanese-style, cream, soup-type, peperoncino, butter-soy—”
““Butter-soy!””
“Got it. Butter-soy it is.”

While I muttered flavor ideas that would go well with mushrooms, the kids immediately settled on one.
If it’s butter-soy, I can add scallops too.

But Syl wants noodle dishes because she saw us eating them, right?
In that case, maybe something I’ve made before is better?
That leaves squid-ink pasta and carbonara.
Oh—and I kind of want to eat meat sauce pasta too.
… Well, *I* do!

“Let’s just make them all!”
““Make them, make them all!!””

I didn’t even say what I was thinking, but the kids cheered anyway.

For Syl and the other gods, I’ll send one serving of the long udon per person.
As for the pasta, four kinds on big platters with small plates to portion out.

“Alright! Mushroom butter-soy pasta, squid-ink pasta, carbonara, and meat sauce pasta. Four kinds. For tasting, we’ll do mushroom and meat sauce, okay?”
““Yes!””
“Great, let’s get cooking.”

So I made the sauces, toppings, extra noodle broth, and finished the dishes.

“Okay, it’s done!”
““They all look sooo good!””

The kids cheered when the food was ready.

“Alright, let’s send these first, then we’ll eat.”
““Let’s eat~!””

I sent the udon and pasta off to Syl quickly, and then we started our own meal.

““…………””

The kids bit into the end of the one-noodle udon and silently kept slurping and chewing.
… Are they planning to eat it from start to finish in one go?

“Don’t choke, alright?”

I warned them just in case.
They nodded silently with puffed-out cheeks, still chewing.

Well…
They probably liked it.

What do you think about this chapter?