Chapter 15 - Love Soup
Hearing the term "love soup" made Mana stiffen. How many times in her previous life had she toiled diligently for hours to make this soup for Liam, simply because he would say he wanted it? Now that she thought about it, Liam was never around when she sat in the kitchen and meticulously carved various vegetables into little heart shaped medallions and stewed the soup for hours on end so that it would be absolutely perfect? Even the croutons and the bacon bits and the parley leaves had to be heart shaped, or Liam would throw a fit. So, while she was slogging in the kitchen for half a day…was he busy running his nefarious activities outside and making plans to kill her and her family and acquire all their property? How had Mana completely failed to see through his façade…? What she still couldn't understand was why Liam had done it. She had never known him to date anyone else…although he had always been a little on the flirty side. Could it be that Liam had worn a mask and pretended to be the proverbial "good man" in front of her family for all those years…while his actual character was like that despicable Prince Liam she met in this world?
And to think, she would be served love soup in a restaurant in another world! But this soup looked different from the one she used to make. The base was a creamy gold with perfectly round little pearls of many, many shades floating in it – clearly the convenience of magic! Perhaps she could make love soup with her own recipe one day for Papa, Big Brother and Raven – after all, her soup really had been delicious and her family had absolutely loved it.
Mana was grateful that she had spent some of her time in the summer palace wandering in the kitchen and talking to the kitchen staff. Thus, she had managed to learn that most of the vegetables in this world were exactly the same as that in her original world, and even had the same names. However, there were also quite a few unique things here which she had never seen or heard of – perhaps Raven could figure those out, she thought.
Mana looked up to see Raven eyeing her with concern.
"Are you all right?" he asked in a low voice. "You looked sad and angry for a moment."
Mana felt strangely touched and flattered by his attention. Truly a good child, she thought to herself. She smiled and him and said, "It's fine; just a passing thought. Should we try the soup now?"
Raven nodded.
The two of them dipped their spoons into the steaming soup, pushed the colourful pearls aside and tasted the rich golden liquid first. Mana's eyes widened in shock. She knew this base like the back of her hand. This was her recipe! Exactly the same! She didn't know what the pearls were and doubted she'd be able to identify all of them (or whether they could be crafted without magic at all) – but this base, this rich gold liquid…that was exactly her recipe, the one her mother had taught her.
Eyes laced with a tinge of nostalgia, Mana grinned at Raven. "Potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, lemon, parsley, coriander, oregano, white button mushrooms, pumpkin, jalapenos, red paprika, black pepper, white pepper, salt, sugar, cheese and butter. And a dash of balsamic vinegar."
Raven stared at her, struck speechless. The manager was so shocked that he dropped the bottle he was holding. Fortunately, it was made of metal and didn't break.
"Amazing," Raven said reverently, rapidly writing down everything she had just listed. "I missed two of those completely."
Mana giggled, pleased with herself. "Which ones?" she asked him., thinking that it was already amazing that he had managed to figure out almost all the ingredients by himself, given he had never seen this or tasted this soup before, let alone made it. She had a cheat code, but he didn't.
"Pumpkin and white pepper," he replied.
Mana nodded. "It is very difficult to figure those two out," she said. "If I didn't look for those two flavours specifically, I'd have completely missed them, too. The flavour of the pumpkin completely blends in with the carrots, potatoes and sugar – but this creamy texture wouldn't be there without it, and once you concentrate on the texture, you'll find a hint of the pumpkin's flavour."
Raven dipped in his spoon and took another sip. His eyes widened in realisation. "You're right," he said. "And the white pepper…because the bite of pepper is much stronger than the colour of the soup if only black pepper was used…and there's not enough of the flavour of the black pepper's skin!"
Mana clapped her hands in delight. "Bravo!" she said. No wonder he was known for his brains, she thought.
"Well done!" the manager cried excitedly, pulling up a chair and sitting down near them to watch. "No one had ever gotten all of that before!" He rubbed his hands together. "But Princess Mana, Prince Raven – can you identify all the pearls correctly?"
The two children grinned at him. "We'll try!" they intoned together.
They quickly picked up the obvious ones first based on their colours and flavours, and between the two of them, managed to identify most of the pearl flavours, like tapioca, beetroot, black olives, pimento, green peas, corn, nata de coco, kafir lime, bell peppers of different colours, shitake mushrooms, bacon, eggs, cabbage, leeks, celery, rice, six different kinds of lentils (three of which were unique to this world and unknown to Mana – but Raven identified those). After that came the more complicated pearls with multiple colours in each of them. Raven and Mana identified five such pearls – if they could guess these correctly, they'd be able to win the challenge!
Mana picked up the brightest one and put it in her mouth. It was a mix of bright pinkish red, dark blue and orangish yellow, with the three colours swirling magically. Raven copied her action.
"Cranberry, blueberry and…" Raven shook his head despondently. "I don't know the third one.
"I'm not surprised; it is native to the Emerald Kingdom and only grows in a very small area and only in winters," Mana told him. "We have some in the imperial palace in the capital city. "It's called cape gooseberry."
"Indeed!" the manager said. "Our chef uses a special heirloom magic recipe to preserve and dry them so that we can use them in summer as well. There are less than ten restaurants in the entire Emerald Kingdom which have cape gooseberries available in summer – and all those restaurants have a family member from our chef's family. No one else outside their family is able to make these!"
Mana and Raven were suitably impressed. Then they picked up the second one, white with pink, red and green stripes.
"I can taste prawn and crabmeat…but I don't know the third one," Mana said.
"It's kind of freshwater fish from the Pearl Kingdom, called silha," Raven informed her. "It is very small and very bony, and notoriously difficult to rear! How on earth did you manage to find this?"
The manager went slack-jawed for a moment and then shook his head with a laugh. "What a fantastic pair you two make!" he said. "You are absolutely right, Prince Raven. It is indeed silha, and our chef's wife is from the Pearl Kingdom. She rears it."
Mana gave Raven an appreciative thumbs up.
Raven's cheeks turned rosy.
They picked up the third pearl, with several shades of green.
Mana gave up on this one almost immediately. "Cucumber is one – and I have no idea about the others," she said. She made a face, not liking the flavour at all.
"Broccoli, raw mango, raw papaya and celery," Raven said confidently. "Have another one with the liquid, it'll taste nice.
Mana was sceptical, given this really odd combination, but did as told anyway. Her eyes widened in surprise – it really did taste nice with the soup base! How was it possible?
Raven smiled mysteriously.
The fourth one was simpler – It was ground beef with tomato-garlic sauce. Mana was fascinated by how they had managed to condense ground beef into such a tiny pearl perfectly. She suddenly felt that cooking magic was well worth studying.
The fifth one was a mix of several types of nuts – the standard cocktail mix. Mana was too lazy to list them out, so Raven named them one by one diligently.
Mana and Raven looked at the manager expectantly. The manager smirked.
"There is one more," he told them with a smug smile. "But it will only appear at the bottom of your bowl when you've finished the rest of the soup."
By now, all the guards and servants accompanying Mana and Raven, as well as several customers who came in after them, had finished their own soups and were watching them with interest, eager to know if someone could finally crack the mystery of the famous love soup!
Mana and Raven tucked into their soups ate silently for a while, savouring the flavours. The most amazing thing about the soup was that the pearls didn't affect the taste of the soup base at all. It was only when Mana put them together in her mouth that the flavour in the pearls and mixed with the creamy base, and the result was magical.
"This is the best soup I've ever had in my life!" Mana declared, polishing off the last spoonful.
"It's the same for me," Raven said. "My compliments to your chef," he told the manager.
The manager beamed. "And now, the last thing!" he declared dramatically.
A shiny brown ball the size of a nail appeared in the centre of their bowls. Mana's eyes shone with excitement. Could it be what she thought it to be?
Mana and Raven picked up the ball from their respective bowls and put it in their mouth at the same time. As the rich, creamy, sweet flavour flooded her mouth, Mana nearly cried tears of joy.