All the grub!!!!

Wolfe had been on a few jobs now and was getting the hang of being out and getting around. Hell, he had even made it all the way out here to the City of Lavantir. He had heard there was a guild out this way, but he really didn't have any clue to be honest. He was here for one reason and one reason only.

The Food.

He was craving some good seafood, and aybe even some sushi, and what better place to pick some up then an island city. He had ended up in this city by mistake. His body finally gave out on him like it did every once in a while and he ended up passing out while on the boat trip. Maybe it was the calming rocking of the waters that helped, but truthfully he didn't care. He had really needed some rest as not sleeping was starting to catch up to him. However, he had over slept and when he awoke this was the last island on that boats route. So what the hell? why not.

Wolfe had only been on the island for a few hours and had made his way through at least 3 different restaurants already. He had ordered multiple things off of each menu, but had not been extremely impressed. Luckily however, the food had not been bad either. Bad food was one of the only things he truly hated. Almost as much as his father. Not sure if it was a curse of blessing, but Wolfe could eat 6, 7, 8 full plates of food for one meal before he was done, so him loving to try food from different places was was at least one upside to it.

This place though was the best had tasted so far on the island and he was loving it. Plus this place had good sushi, and that was a rare find period. He was on his third full plate of covered in sushi and his mind wandered into sushi heaven as he motioned for a forth plate. As he received his forth plate he reached into his bag and pulled out fairly large book and placed it on the table. The put his bag down again and then flipped open the book and started reading it intently as he continued to eat his delicious sushi.

"Enjoying the food bud?" Magna said walking over to the man who had allegedly ordered four plates of sushi so far and still seeemed to want more. In fact, looking at the orders this man had pre-ordered around 8 plates of the stuff. Now whilst Magna had no problems with people who enjoyed food and could eat a lot of it he thought it worth checking that this man was actually enjoying everything and not leaving half a plate of the stuff. To his surprise and delight though the man really was eating all of it.

Magna was a chef by trade and was working here part time to increase his knowledge of sushi and other cuisine of that nature. It was good to expand one's repertoire. It also allowed him to work on his language skills which was pretty useful as well. "Fancy anything in particular for your next plate?" The man was reading and eating, but this didn't seem too rude to Magna. After all, if he could make the food better suited to the guest then that would benefit everyone.

Wolfe was stuffing yet another wonderfully tasting piece of sushi in his mouth when he heard a voice from in front of him. He was so entranced by the book and food he didnt even notice the man walk up to him. Wolfe freaked for a second and swallowed the sushi as he looked up and saw the man standing there. Wolfe had to take a second before his brain would work. He shook his head real quick for a second to get his mind straight before he spoke "Yes, yes... yeah i really am enjoying the food. It is really good. I am assuming your the man behind the delicious food i keep stuffing in my mouth. That being said, bravo! I get around alot, so i eat...ALOT... as you might be able to see. I love great food, and i wont lie, one of true hates in life is terrible food. For what it is worth, this is some of the best i have had, and i love it." Wolfe just smiled as he looked up at the man

Then when the man asked if he would like anything in particular that really got his mind racing. He had to stop for a second and focus. As soon as he did, it hit him, and he knew exactly what he would ask for. He could help but smirk as little as he looked up to the man with a twinkle in his eyes "Why yes. I know exactly what would be amazing, and i would love to have it. It is interesting to say the least. i desire to taste Fugu Sashi at least once, and by a chef i know could make it delicious. If you think you are up to it, i would love to have some of that." Wolfe couldn't help but smile at the idea of eating fugu sashi. It was something he had been waiting for, for a very long time.

"Happy to serve and thank you for the compliments" he said with a bow and then headed back to the kitchen area. The man had requested a rather difficult to make dish. Fugu Sashi. A dish made from Fugu which was puffer fish was highly poisonous particularly in the case of the eyes, liver and ovaries. Only certain parts of it could be eaten and those were hard to get without causing the poison to be released and destroying the dish. A truly difficult to make dish. He stood in the kitchen calmly and asked for some fugu to be brought over. The owner seemed worried, but he had seen Magna's skill over the past few days and so brought it over.

Magna exhaled deeply and looked at the puffer fish. It had to be done precisely or it would be a failure. It was a dish he had only prepared once or twice. First he had to remove the skin. This was done by cutting around the mouth precisely and pulling it off. Once the skin was removed the jelly that now coated the fish had to be washed off with salt. The skin, once the spines were removed with careful and precise skill was sent off to be cleaned and blanched. It could be eaten  and was quite delicious. It would be used for a salad. The eyes were removed next and now came the hard part. The fish had to be gutted without damaging the liver or ovaries. If they burst then the poisons would be released into the flesh and thus ruin the dish.

He exhaled deeply again and then removed the white cloth tied around his wrist and tied it around his head before slamming his hands together. A fire appeared behind his eyes and with  rapid, precise movements he perfectly gutted the fish. He was now in super serious cooking mood. With the guts removed and disposed off in a fire he began to rapidly fillet the fish against the bone turning it into true sashimi. The head he disected into three parts. These would be made into a stew called fugu-chiri. The fins he had dried out and cooked in hot sake

When it was finally all prepared he nodded and looked over at the owner who was trained in fugu preparation who also nodded. It seemed that everything was prepared. Magna carried it through himself and placed it in front of the man. "Fugu-chiri, with fugu sashmi and yubiki salad made with despined fugu skin. No sense in wasting it when you have such an appetite right? Oh we also have some Hire-zake" he said with a smile. The arrangement was quite clever. The salad and stew were placed diagonally away from eachother. The sashimi then was formed in such a way that the complete pattern formed a perfect yin-yang symbol. He'd even served the salad in a white bowl and the stew in a black bowl. The hire-zake was served on the side perfectly suited for sipping.

Irina left through the front doors of the guild hall with a rolled up piece of paper in hand, following behind her was a young teenage girl who had thus far had only introduced herself as Nova, and had never mentioned her last name. Irina was heading off on a job and in her haste she had forgotten to pack dinner, as did Nova who had barely gotten out of bed. Their progress was halted when Irina's unusually empty stomach growled. "Nova I need a snack." Irina bossed as she turned around to face the girl who just frowned. "I didn't have a *yawn* chance to pack food." Nova attempted an excuse which was followed by a long pause which was suddenly broken by Irina. "We are off to buy lunch." Irina announced as she turned around and marched down the road finding the first place to eat which happened to be a sushi restaurant with a peculiar man with simular eating habits to Irina it seemed. "I want 12 full plates of sushi on the double and another 8 to go." She bellowed causing Nova to stare in awe. "did she just say 12?"

Wolfe watched as the man went to the back to make his requested dish. He had only ever tasted the dish once a long time ago, and could only remember it being amazing. Since he has some time he went back to his plate the cook had just brought out to him and wet back to reading.

As he continued reading he started to mumble things to himself as he tried to make the best of what he was reading. This book was no joke, and ideas on this level were not taught or talked about on the average level of most mages. Basic theory of magic was pretty simple,  as the basic elemental type magics shared a lot of base spells across the board. If you ran into 2 fire users then it would be common for them to share a few spells, and the same for any element. However, once you stepped away from the basic elements things got a lot different. Each wizard could manifest magic in any way, allowing them to turn anything from their life into the magic they could use. Take his new friend the cook, he could very well use cooking magic, or a smoker could use smoke magic. This book took what most mages took for granted as a very simple concept and broke it down it the very core. If someone was to really understand this kind of information, they could very well create magic that was so complex it could even border insanity.

Luckily before his mind could wander into that kind of territory the young cook came back out with Wolfe's requested dish. Wolfe almost wanted to thank the young cook for being too perfect with his timing. The thing he hated more then anything in his life was his father, and the issue was that to understand more about himself and what his father had done to him he would have to become more like his father. The truth was that was a very dark path and this book was an easy way onto that path. It was the very same type of stuff that his father had obsessed about.

Wolfe took a second to drag his mind out of the dark place it was going as he looked up at the cook and smile "Oh, thank you." Wolfe reached up and took the plate from the cook and placed it in front of him. Wolfe was very taken by the dish, as it was very well put together. It was exquisitely put together and he could see the man took alot of pride in his work. Wolfe picked up his chop sticks and took the very first bite from the the plate. He took a second as he let the taste sink in. He let out a loud breath as he spoke "ahhh..... Absolutely delicious! this is perfect. The dish not only taste delicious but looks absolutely amazing. You do your title proud as a cook. This is exquisite. I must ask the name of the m..." Wolfe's statement was cut short just before he was about to the cook's name. Two young women had walked in and just ordered 12 dishes of food. Wolfe had to turn and look at the young women as he was shocked to hear someone other then himself make an order like that.

"Happy to serve." he said though it seemed he timed this almost too perfectly as he said it to Wolfe at the exact moment that he was asked for what was essentially 20 plates of sushi. 12 for now and 8 to go. That was an impressive amount to say the least. He'd thought Wolfe had a high appetite, but this was pushing it even further. It seemed that they would have to eat his words because those words to him were a promise. Now he had to cook for them. He bowed and headed back into the kitchen. They hadn't specified the sushi they wanted but there was plenty of different types on offer.

He explained this to the cooks in the kitchen who all look startled. "I'll prepare the 8 to go if you prepare the 12 for now?" Magna suggested. The men nodded and began to rapidly prepare sushi. Not only did they have 12 dishes to prepare for this one pair they also had other dishes to prepare for others.

Magna on the other hand only had to focus on the eight. HE decided that bento boxes would be the way to go and decided to prepare four different types. So two sets of four. The first would be a nori bento that was a bit of his own creation. He'd learned a lot of tricks on his travels. It utilised a lunch jar with three boxes. The first box contains three side dishes: Isobeage, fried cod, and dried tuna. Next is a bacon and onion miso soup. The true star of this portable bento is the Nori Bento portion, utilizing Nori Flavor Bomb drops, small drops that explode like roe, releasing a wave of nori flavor in every bite! Each successive portion was said to by tasters to stir up memories of one's childhood days!

AS he worked on this pairing the first three plates of sushi went out. These were Chirashizushi. A bowl of rice topped with a variety of raw fish and vegetables. This one was Sake-zushi which used rice wine instead of rice vinegar in the rice and was topped with shrimp, sea bream, octopus, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots and shredded omelette.

The second set was a mixture of 12 different sushi items A colorful arrangement of Temari Sushi, it is meant to be eaten in a specific order. Each successive sushi is more delicious than the last. Using a bit of his magic he added some liquid nitrogen into the container to add a feeling of mystery and preserve the sushi for its unveiling. This one was popular with women tasters more then men as it was was said to be like an edible jewellery box.

The next set prepared by the chefs was Inarizushi. This was a pouch of fried tofu filled with sushi rice. Normally that was it, but these chefs decided to form cone sushi which contained green beans, carrots, and gobo. It was from an island if he recalled.


The two ones he made he had prepared before. The others would prove more difficult. He decided that he would prefer another set of fugu and present that as the third dish. It was difficult to make, but he was proud of the acheivement. This would be served mixed with the rice to form a Gomokuzushi.

The third set was Hoshomaki. Negitoromaki in fact. This was small cylindrical pieces with nori on the outside filled with scallion and chopped tuna. It was more of a pallette cleanser than anything else.

Now came the fourth dish. He decided to fill it with ehomaki. If they were taking it to go they would need good luck and the seven ingredients of ehomaki were said to be very lucky. The ingredients included kanpyō, egg, eel, and shiitake mushrooms. He also used some mackeral and a few other ingredients, but of course the centre piece was the rice. He went for the rice prepared with sake. However, rather than normal sake he decided to use some of the Hire-zake instead.

As this was finished the fourth set of three plates went out. For this a block-shaped piece is formed using a wooden mold, called an oshibako. The chefs lined the bottom of the oshibako with the toppings, covered them with sushi rice, and then pressed the lid of the mold down to create a compact, rectilinear block. The block is removed from the mold and then cut into bite-sized pieces. This was known as oshizushi and focused on mackerel, which reminded him of the mackerl burgers he had once made. Shame those were cooked and so didn't really count as sushi in most people's minds. It also wasn't in his mind because it wasn't served with rice. He would of liked to get more people to try it.

He took the twelve items out helped by three other chefs and placed them in front of the customers. "Take these when you are ready." he said. "And I hope you enjoy."

Irina sat down and waited for her dishes of sushi to show up, her stomach was making her very impatient Nova came and sat down next to her. "Um, I'll just have one plate please." Nova asked not being able to order her own, and she seemed to have a vibe that Irina wasn't about to share her order. Irina tapped her finger waiting for her order to arrive even more impatient. "Damnit I'm hungry" She complained loudly.

Finally her sushi arrived all 12 plates of them and as soon as they arrived they seemingly vanished as Irina wolfed them down shocking Nova completely at how fast she could eat. Irina held up one of the empty plates to a red haired chef before he could even finish saying stuff about hoping and enjoyment. "More please!" Irina demanded with a quiet emotionless tone, she seemed to be a bottomless pit today and Nova hadn't even had a chance to eat herself. Nova could only be seen with her eyes and mouth wide open, even she knew here appetite couldn't rival that of Irina's now. "sh-she asked for more?" At this point Nova might as well have been afraid.

Wolfe watched as the woman who ordered all the sushi sat down and the woman who came in with her took a seat next to her. Wolfe could tell that they were opposites, as one them was obviously very dominate and the other seemed very submissive in her speech and actions. Wolfe did however take notice of something on the dominate ones arm. As she moved he arms to seat herself, he notice what he thought was a guild mark. However, he didn't recognize it. if he had seen it correctly it looked like a rose. Even if he was right he didn't know a guild that had anything to do with roses, so right or wrong, it didn't really matter.

Wolfe did watch the two women out of the corner of his eye as he went back to reading and eating. He waited till the cook brought out her requested food, and was surprised when she asked for more. During the time he had been watching and waiting he had finished the newest plate of the Fugu Sashi, and one of the other plates he had waiting to finish as well. As the cook went to head back to the kitchen Wolfe waved his hand as to get the cook's attention "I will also take another 3 plates as well. As for request, i have none. So far everything you have brought out has been delicious and i have loved it all. By the way i was about to ask your name as i would love to have a name to associate the memory of this amazing tasting food to. My name is Wolfe." Smiled at the cook.

(sorry, i didn't want to be an ass, but i figured he wouldn't with hold his name from Wolfe. if this is an issue, let me know and i can change it)

After getting the name of the cook he thanked him again and went back to reading as he waited for the set of food to come out. Wolfe watched out of the corner of his eye to see if this woman would actually eat all the food she had ordered. He was intrigued to say the least.

Magna just sort of stopped and stared as he saw the 12 plates of well prepared, hand crafted, delicious food be wolfed down as if it was nothing. On top of that the woman demanded more. There appeared to be no sign of joy or want in her voice. Just an emotionless tone. Her companion had requested just a single plate and had been presented by the head chef of the restaurant with the more traditional floral arrangement of Fugu Sashmi. Hopefully, she would enjoy it and her emotionless companion wouldn't take it from her.

The man, who introduced himself as Wolfe (which was a peculiar name though he wasn't one to judge, and thanked him for his food. He too requested more, but he seemed generally enraptured with the food desiring it not just to fill his belly but to savour its flavour. In the time the woman had eaten her 12 plates he had only eaten the four fugu dishes he had prepared. It was still rather quick, but a lot of it was easy to eat. Very tender so it practically melted in the mouth.

He bowed to them. "Rightio coming right up." with that he headed back to the kitchen where the chefs seemed quite happy. It was pushing them to their limits, but the restaurant was making a fortune off these two guests.

He decided that he would prepare two sets of three dishes. Three for the bottomless pit and three for Wolfe. He also, though he hadn't been asked, prepared one for the bottomless pit's companion.

The first he would prepare would be Makizushi or norimaki. These were cylindrical pieces formed with the help of a bamboo mat. The dish was wrapped in seaweed and contained many ingredients. He formed these into Futomaki otherwise known as eho-maki. These were 'happy direction rolls' and it was said if you stood them up and let them fall it would point you towards happiness. He'd prepared some for her takeaway sets. Whilst he prepared this first he decided to serve it last. Hopefully, it would point them towards the door or at least the woman who seemed to be eating just to fill her belly. He liked to satisfy customers, but she was just a bit too much for him. He liked to see people enjoy his food. She just ate and didn't even savour it.

Fortunately, he was told by the chefs that some narezushi had just finished its preparation. cycle. These took six months to prepare so they were lucky that these had finished. They also lasted another six months so it was good. These were good ones too made from really tasty fish.

The third dish he would prepare would be Oshizushi. With this a block-shaped piece is formed using a wooden mold, called an oshibako. The chef lines the bottom of the oshibako with the toppings, covers them with sushi rice, and then presses the lid of the mold down to create a compact, rectilinear block. The block is removed from the mold and then cut into bite-sized pieces. Oddly for sushi only cooked or cured produce was used in this and he decided to use some mackerel cooked in a very particular way. He summoned up some canned mackerel. The chefs around him were amazed he could use magic, but were also very curious about what he was going to do with the mackerel.

"I'm about to make a brand new dish. Oshizushi style mackerel burgers Though I guess i'll call them oshizushi sababaga." he said with a grin. e opened up the can and drained the juice into a bowl. He mixed breadcrumbs, mackerel, onions and eggs and lightly fried them with some salt and pepper using the poelle technique to make the edges crispy. He mixed ponzu with the mackerel juice and potato starch that been diluted with water to make a sauce. His keen sense of smell and hearing identified the burger as being ready and he flipped it out onto the oshibako with a spatula. With precise chops he cut the mackerel into tiny pieces Then he added some sushi rice made with rice wine. The sauce he made was served in a small pot on the side. Once it was prepared he and some of the other chefs took the dishes out and presented them.

"Try our new dish the Victus style Oshizushi sababaga followed by some narezushi that has just finished preparation and finish off with the lucky ehomaki" he said with a smile. "If you stand it up and let it fall naturally it will point you to good fortune." He was most interested in what they would think of his new dish.