60 60 Making Wagashi 1

"Miyuki don't tease me like that but thank you I hope that you are right." Amelia gets up and places the handkerchief down on the desk and goes to the door. "Can you show me to the kitchen?"

"Of course. I will lead that way to the kitchen." Miyuki follows Amelia out then starts to lead the way back to the kitchen. "So if we walk this way you will see rooms. On the right is the banquet room we used yesterday and this is the kitchen." Miyuki opened the door to the kitchen. "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Miyuki." The chef turns and sees the lady beside Miyuki. "Young mistress. It is good to finally meet you." He bows to Amelia. "I am Keijiro but everyone calls me Kuma. I hope that you are getting enough to eat."

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Amelia and the food that has been served to me has been amazing and more than enough, thank you."

Kuma looked at the girl and smiled, "I can see why the Young Master chose you, you are a sweet girl. Welcome to the house. If you ever have any food requests you can just ask me or Miyuki and I will whip it up for you!" He laughed heartily and pulled out the white beans to make wagashi. "You are lucky, the Madam does not normally allow others to use the kitchen."

Edna walked through the door. "Keijiro, what type of rumours are you trying to spread to my daughter-in-law?" She glares at him ferociously.

"Mother Edna, did the tea ceremony go well? Also, Kuma-san told me that you do not usually allow others in the kitchen so I must be special. This is a lovely kitchen and has some amazing things I have never seen before." Amelia looked around and touched the beans.

"Oh, that was all, then there is no cause for concern. I do not normally allow others in the kitchen but you are of course an exception to the rules." Edna turned and smiled at Miyuki.

"Of course, that makes sense to me. What shall I do first? I am not used to this. This is my first time making wagashi sweets." Amelia smiled and looked at Edna.

"Oh, that is right let me get the pot." Edna bent down and pulled out a big black pot and placed it on the counter. "First, we will add the beans and the water. We will cook all the white beans. Keijiro already soaked and peeled the beans for us."

Amelia picked up the bowl of beans then added them to the pot and looked at the depth. "This seems to be really big but I trust you." She smiled and waited to see what she could do next.

Edna pumped water and carried it over to the pot and added it to the beans. "Kuma, please carry this to the fire for us."

"You got it, Madam." Kuma lifted the pot as if it weighed nothing and placed it over the fire.

Edna smiled and picked up a bamboo wooden spoon. She walked towards the fire. "I will show you how to stir them." She slowly turned the bean just to make sure that the water was heating up properly and that the beans weren't going to stick together.

Amelia followed and watched, "Do we need to constantly stir the beans or is it every so often?" She saw that the water was still cold.

Edna looked at Amelia, "Sorry dear. When I start I tend to check the beans a lot. When you first start to cook these beans you want to be careful and not burn them but when you are first starting there is a chance that the beans will clump together to you have to make sure that does not happen. Wagashi treats are normally made to go with the tea ceremony. I sometimes make a red bean paste to go inside but I thought that we should do one kind today."

"It is alright mother Edna. I do not mind and your explanation tells me what you are doing. I want to be able to help you out as much as possible." Amelia looked at the pot smiling and watched as the water started to bubble.

Edna stirred the pot and once the beans had expanded she smiled. "Kuma, can you take this to the usual spot?" She stepped back leaving the spoon in the pot.

"Sure thing!" Kuma quickly comes over and moves the pot to the shorter counter. "Here you go, ladies."

"Thank you, Kuma. Amelia, next we will add cold water to cool it down all at once. It will change the look of the bean. Once it boils off we will be able to skim the foam off carefully but we do not want to take off too much." Edna goes to the pump and starts to get more water and adds it slowly to the beans.

Amelia watched and helped stir the beans as they cooled. "This is really interesting." she saw the foam start to form but did not start the skimming process.

Edna started to skim the beans and looked at Amelia. "This should be enough." She stops what she was doing and looks at the beans happily. "Kuma can you drain the water for us?"

Kuma comes over and drains the water and goes back to cooking.

Edna picks up a smooth wooden stick and starts to crush the beans. After they were all mashed, she added sugar and salt. She began to gently fold it in.

Kuma lifted the pot back to the heat. "There you go."

Amelia watched as the mixture went from a slightly liquid state to a more solid form. "Wow, I am amazed. This is really something that I thought I would not be able to see."

Edna adds a little rice flour to help the mixture become even more solid. "Next we will colour the beans and make the wagashi."

Kuma moves the pot back to the counter and gets out of the way and goes back to prepping lunch. "Amelia, would you like some soup with your lunch today?"

"Soup? I would like that, please. Thank you for being so considerate." Amelia bowed and watched Edna.