Tam has Hot Buns - RPLOG
Participants
Date
21/4/480
Log
The Tanuki Express cart is set up in pride of place in the market central square, and a number of small tables and umbrellas have been set up inside a rope barrier to form a sort of temporary cafe. A pair of sandwich board signs are advertising a free taste testing to a limited number of customers, along with a little disclaimer that what you get is what you get and don't complain because you get it for free! The tanuki proprieter himself is leaning on his cart, stacked with covered baskets. He smiles happily as beings come to enjoy an experimental lunch on him. "Come on in!" he calls out, "Just a few more and we can get started."
A small smile from Flora, though she looks, perhaps, a bit confused. "Inside where? Under here? That is still outside, yes," she concludes, even though she does, in fact, move under the umbrellas. "Nothing spicy, nothing super salty, yes," the cat offers... Well, technically, she isn't complaining, at least.
With other beings beginning to mill around the display, a skunk merchant meanders in closer with her thick plume of tail nestled against her back. Jynx peeks past others with a basket nestled into the crook of her elbow, murmuring very softly to herself, "I wonder what's going on?" Heading in closer, she's drawn in, "Mmmn, what have we here?" in a cheery tone. She glances both at the other beings about as well as at the raccoon vendor.
And before long, a third person arrives! A timid, scraggly mouse girl! Blinking, and immediatly recognizing the stand owner from last she was around! Glancing around, curiously checking to see if there's anyone else she recognizes around before she walks "Into the establishment" with a flick of her tail.
"Come in, come in," Tam says, ushering beings to tables, "Just take a seat! I've got a real treat for all of you!" The burly tanuki goes over to his cart and collects an armfull of covered baskets, depositing them on tables.
After there is a large basket on each table, he lifts the cloth cover off one and bids others to do the same.
Inside is a collection of golden brown buns, wrapped in several different colors of paper, red, blue, green, and brown. Aside from the wrappers, the fried buns look pretty much uniform.
"I hope you are all hungry!" Tam calls out, "Enjoy your lunch! All I ask is that you bring me the wrapper of the bun you like best as you go and drop it right here on my little cart!" He points out a little box made for this purpose beside him. "Enjoy! And I'll come 'round and see how ya'll are doing!"
Flora seems... Hesitant at best. Peculiar at the worst. She takes a couple of sniffs of the different buns, weighing them, tossing them from paw to paw. She isn't exactly eating them yet. One of her guards, on the other hand, is already digging in, while Flora continues with her strange, if thorough investigation...
A little squeek emits from the skunk as she's ushered into a seat by the burly raccoon, and she settles down, smoothing her dress into place. Watching the display, she follows suit and looks over the various buns on the playyer, ears flicker-flicking, "Oh my! Choices, choices... Mmmn, I shall go with the least appetizing-colored wrapper, first!" Gingerly, she plucks up the blue-paper bun and gingerly peels away the wrapper and giving an experimental sniff-sniff before she sinks her teeth into the downy flesh of the bun.
Vaerinthia takes her seat summarily with the others that're gathered around, ears flopping with a gentle twitching motion of her tail. Giving each of those warm buns a good look-over before closing her eyes and grabbing one at random! She goooooot-.. Green! Shrugging, peeling the wrapper off and digging into it!
The fried buns are beautifully cooked and artfully wrapped. The bread is a perfect golden brown, and really, they all look pretty much the same.
Jynx finds that the bread is perfectly crisp without being crunchy and the bun is warm and delicious. Just under the bready surface, the strong flavors of mint and lamb become readily apparent, along with a miriad of other, subtler spices.
Vaerinthia's green wrapped choice is equally flaky and warm, though her first bite is filled with a savory green sauce of some kind, with little bits of shredded chicken inside.
Tam saunters around, chatting with all the beings testing out his wares and waddles up to Flora's table. "Hello there, Highlady!" he greets her, "Everything alright there?"
"Flora is inspecting the buns, yes. That is what mister Tam wanted, yes?" the she-cat offers, as she continues investigating basically everything about the buns, save for taste. Her tails flick behind her, and her ears twitch atop her head.
"Any of them spicy? Flora does not handle spice well, no. Flora would like to avoid that."
Flora's guard, meanwhile, is digging into a blue-wrapped bun
Jynx worries the contents from the lately blue-wrapped bun, sure to roll its flavor around on her tongue. Smacking her lips to airate inside her mouth, the skunk takes another few bites, quite thoughtful of the taste combination before setting the half-eaten bun down. She glances about for some water to clean her mouth with for a fresh viewpoint on the next bun, picking up the one with the red wrapping. This, too, she peels and sinks her teeth into.
Vaerinthia blinks and tilts her head with an arched brow as she stares at the bun-.. Or more specificly the green sauce. Licking her short cropped snout with a little shrug. She definately likes the taste! But the sauce looks.. Unsavoury to say the least. Greens shouldn't be in food, mhm!
Tam scratches his head as he watches Flora's thorough investigation. "Yeah," he admits, "The red ones are kind of spicy, I guess. Nothing to scare of a Shralestan, but I guess it might be hot for a Cliffsider." He turns a grin on the mink, munching on her food. "Whaddya think?" he asks, "Is the mint alright? I wasn't sure on the amount."
There are pitchers of water and a few little tin cups set about on the tables, for exactly the reason Jynx wants them. The red wrapped bun IS fairly spicy. Not painfully so, but there is some definite pepper in that! The savory red sauce has little slivers of some sort of red pepper along with sliced nuts and tender meat.
As for the green-filled bun, well, whatever the taste, that green is not going anywhere. The buns are fairly small though, leaving lots of room to sample everything!
"Flora will avoid those, then. Flora was never good with spicy food," the she-cat concludes, as she opts for one of the brown-wrapped buns, juggling it for a moment, before breaking it in two and examining the insides first, before taking a bite, IF it looks apetizing enough. Can't be too careful, after all.
When she red sauce touches her tongue, Jynx castches some of the flavor and lightly ferrets through the mouthful, experimenting. Finding the slivers and feeling the light heat of the contents, she dips her head to deposit it onto the wrapper. Plucking up a piece of the meat out from it, she gives that a light chew, enjoying the tenderness, but the heat seems to be off-putting, for her.. Lightly combing her tongue off with the edge of the wrapper, she takes a thorough drink of water before moving on to the brown-wrapper one.
The bun in the brown wrapper breaks open quite nicely. Inside is a smooth, brown paste or ganache with crushed nuts inside. Without taking a bite, it is no sure bet as to the flavor, but it looks like it must be chocolate.
Tam, seeing that the Highlady is busy making scientific observations on his cookery, turns away and visits a few more tables, eventually winding up by Jynx. He looks at the discarded wrappers at her table and smiles. "Already tried a couple, then?" he asks, "What do you think? Anything you'd come back for in all that?"
Flora raises her brow momentarily, before having a taste of the bun. "This is... Curious, yes," she concludes after a moment, before taking a sip of water, and moving on to one of the green buns, where she proceeds to repeat the entire process.
The firmed texture of the ganache mingled with the hazelnuts does create quite the appealing combination of sweet and rich in Jynx's mouth. She's careful to move it around with her tongue... ahhh, a good way to really remove teh damage of the spicy oils from the red peppers, indeed. She looks up and quickly swallows the bit she'd been savoring over, "Mmn, well, I can't say much for the red or the blue except that I did enjoy how tender the meat was in teh red, if it weren't for all that heat in it. As for this one." She wags the recently brown-wrappered bit, "It's very delicious, but very rich! It would definitely have to be a treat that has some time between. Definitely would come back for it, but, I'm afraid I'd have to keep those times a bit apart lest I die from all the sweet opulence!" She deftly finishes off what remains of the small bun before starting the unwrap the green one, "I'll let you know about this one soon, though!"
Tam grins at Jynx, "Glad you like it," he says happily, "Try the others!"
The burly tanuki wanders around, making small talk and getting feedback from the beings in attendance, while other beings rubberneck outside the roped off "Cafe." Eventually he works his way back to Flora and her guards. "Find anything you DO like?" he asks.
"Flora never said Flora disliked anything. Flora just said Flora can't handle spices. The chocolate is... Interesting, yes. Not something Flora was expecting, but interesting," the she-cat offers with a smile, before trying the green curry one, tails twitching lightly behind her.
Peeling away the green wrapper, Jynx takes a bite, tentatively, into the bun. She saved her favorite color for last, and as she mulls it over, she doesn't regret it. The sweet savory of the green sauce with hints of a more green flavoring mingled with the bun and the slivers of chicken plays off fairly well in her mouth. Though the chocolate one was quite the delectable treat, this would certainly be an item she'd come back for agin and again... if only its meat was more of the tender, chunked sort like had been in the red wrapper one! She takes her time in finishing off this bun.
Tam's pleasant smile is unshaken by Flora's lukewarm reaction to his cookery. "Just trying to spice things up a bit," he says, "I figured it would be good to have something new and exciting for this Promise Faire of yours! And it's gotta be something you can hold in your hand, right? So you can walk around and see all the sights!" The big tanuki looks thoughtful for a second, a slightly foreign look on his round face. "So," he tries, "What do you wanna see in a bun?"
"It isn't bad. Flora isn't saying that, either," the she-cat offers with a smile, before shrugging lightly. "Just unexpected," she continues.
"Meat, some of that peanut-sauce of mister Ernest, thickened a little more to not be runny. For example. But the chocolate isn't bad, either," she offers with a small shrug.
"Or marinaded meat, yes. Like with the red ones," she offers, as she points out a bun that has been broken open. She may not have -tried- it, but she did analyze it.
"Any other things mister Tam wanted to know?"
Jynx lightly daubs over her lips after she's finished the last bun and plucks up the green wrapper. For her, it's the winner. Rising from her seat, she heads over to where the wrappers are supposed to be deposited before retaking her seat in case there is anything more she needs to do. She looks towards the raccoon expectantly.
"Noted, Highlady," Tam says with a wink, "I may have to look old Ernie up, see if he'll share his recipe with me. And nothing else I need to know. You all just put the wrapper for your favorite in my little box and I'll be happy as a pig in the mud!" The burly tanuki makes another round, chatting with people about the things they liked and the things they disliked, occasionally taking notes on a little pad of paper with a nub of a charcoal pencil. He wanders back toward Jynx and smiles at the skunk. "Well, miss?" he asks, "What did you think? Anything I oughtta know?"
Flora nods, and drops the brown wrapper into the box, shrugging lightly. Her guard, meanwhile, drops in a red wrapper. Soon enough, both Lady and guard are leaning back, with the Lady readying her bag to head out once again. "Flora unfortunately has other things to attend to, yes. Guests to welcome and so on, yes. Final things to arrange for the fair."
"Mmmn, there were parts I liked about some while parts I didn't enjoy as much. The use of pain as a flavor wasn't as good, but the meat was quite tender in that one. If oyu used that preparation of meat and mingled it with the green sauce rather than the red, I think it would be absolutely delightful. Teh green sauce one was my favorite, but the meat choice seemed just a little lacking in being slivered and such. A juicier meat to go with teh savory and sweet, I think!" She beams, "but, thank you so much!"
Tam nods and smiles at Jynx, taking several notes. "This is great!" he says as he moves to thank other departing eaters, "Tam's Curry and Dessert Buns are going to be a great addition to the Tanuki express! Thanks all for your help!" The tubby tanuki smiles and bows and waves and shakes hands as beings depart. Looks like the Tanuki Express is going to have a new dish!
