Home Categories light novel Looking forward to your visit: Old Street Wagashi Shop·Kurimaru Hall
Under a blue November sky with long tails of banded clouds, a man walks on the Orange Road in the afternoon. Hitoshi Kurita, a handsome young man with black hair. Kurita, who has an oval face but sharp eyes, is wearing a military jacket with a plush collar, with his hands in his trouser pockets. Occasionally, I would see people dressed like punks coming towards me, but for some reason, when they met Kurita's eyes, they would all nod and say hello. "Mr. Kurita, you have worked hard!" "Thanks for your hard work!" "Ok." After Kurita responded with a perfunctory manner to the greeting that seemed unsightly in this area, he continued on his way.

This is Asakusa, an area with a beautiful old tradition that permeates the unique atmosphere of the old town. Asakusa experienced large-scale development in the Edo period, and it still retains a strong old-fashioned style. It is a downtown area that can represent Tokyo. The streets here are very distinctive, lively and varied, and there are many old shops with a long history scattered around.For example, the first bar in Japan to launch electric brandy, or the Qiangmai noodle shop frequented by great writers, etc. Having said that, the residents here do not think highly of themselves because of this, but retain the ancient human touch and warmth.For example, when encountering tourists asking for directions, some people will kindly and carefully tell them how to go;

Even Kurita, who is not a tourist, once encountered a clerk whom he had never met before lending him an umbrella when he was sheltering from the rain in a convenience store. In the present, when it is easy to lose human touch, this is a place that still retains human touch. Kurita runs a store on the Asakusa Tangerine Road, which is so humane.Although it was past noon, Kurita had just finished his lunch and was about to return to the store. A tiled roof and a reddish-brown door curtain in a calm tone appear ahead of the road. "Kurimarudo", which says on the signboard, is a wagashi shop and sweets shop. It is a long-established shop that has been in operation since the Meiji era.

Kurita walked to the back of the store, glanced at the dried persimmons hanging beside the store, and entered the store through the staff entrance. After entering, there is a small traditional style kitchen.The small kitchen is narrow, and at most only a few people can walk around in it.The unique slightly sweet smell of beans hits the nostrils and makes people feel happy. A long row of historic pots and various sieves are arranged on the surrounding shelves, the old double-slot counter is against the wall, and there is a commercial rice cake maker in the corner of the kitchen. A large stainless steel workbench was placed in the center of the kitchen, and a master who was younger than Kurita, Nakanojo, was standing in front of the workbench.

Scissors, triangular scrapers and other modeling tools specially used to make wagashi are scattered on the workbench. "Huh... Brother Li, why did you come back so soon?" "It won't take long to have lunch." Seeing that Nakanojo's work had come to an end, Kurita asked indifferently, "How is the situation?" "Very good. Although I feel like selling melons to Lao Wang when I say this, I feel that I have done a pretty good job." "Yes." The wagashi chef named Nakanojo came to work in the store three years ago. Nakanojo came to the store as an apprentice immediately after graduating from junior high school. He is eighteen years old this year.Although he is only one year younger than Kurita, his innocent personality makes him seem younger.

Nakanojo is wearing the white chef's uniform he wears every day, and a white Japanese chef's hat on his head.Although he had a cropped head when he first started his apprenticeship, he has grown his hair long since he inherited the shop from Kurita, and he has dyed his curls a bright brown color with a perm. Nakanojo's nature is serious, but there are also many rash parts in his personality, so he is easy to get along with. "show me." Kurita approached with the intention of taking a look at Nakanojo's confident masterpiece, frowned and said, "Huh? What is this?"

"Brother Li, stop making trouble, you can tell what it is just by looking at it!" "Barnacles?" "No... there shouldn't be such things as barnacles in the winter scenery." Nakanojo has been busy practicing wagashi since the morning, and this time he made camellia renkiri. Lianqie refers to the raw fruit that is added to the white bean paste and kneaded into a dough, and then shaped to show the style of the four seasons.Tea parties often use lianqie as the main pastry. When tasting lianqie, you can enjoy both taste and appearance at the same time, but you must have an aesthetic feeling in terms of styling skills.

When it comes to the practice of this season, it will remind people of snow or the shape of spring.For example, most of them will adopt the shape of pine tree, camellia or red plum covered with a layer of snow. Nakanojo's comprehensive skills in this area are not proficient enough, so he often practiced spontaneously, but the current results are still not satisfactory. The cut petals he made were distorted and ugly. Nakanojo's work faithfully shows how hard he practiced, but it's also not aesthetically pleasing. "There's a knack to shaping things like this. Lend me."

After Kurita washed his hands at the counter, he took over the triangular scraper and began to help with the trimming. "Huh? The whole feeling is suddenly different." Nakanojo said with wide-eyed eyes. "The tip of the petals needs to be smoother. You can't apply force when shaping, and you have to move quickly. If the temperature of your hands is transferred to the stuffed dough, this alone may deform the wagashi." As a wagashi master, Kurita has excellent craftsmanship.Technically, he is also very confident. Nakanojo stared straight at Lienkiri, who had been modified by Kurita's skillful hands, and muttered, "I see, as long as the middle part is made smoother... um... you are indeed Li-ge! From the fourth generation owner of Kuritamado The suggestions that come out of my mouth have always been so clear and critical!"

"Don't tell me these things, it's really annoying. And why do you keep talking 'bitter, bitter' over there, you are impatient!" "The little ones dare not!" When Nakanojo responded with a hearty smile, a voice suddenly came from the store: "What's the matter, Ali? You're already back, Ali." "I'm just telling you guys not to keep yelling, 'Bitter, bitterer' all the time!" Akagi Shiho opened the curtain and entered the kitchen. Shiho is a woman in her mid-twenties with a deep profile and a strong appearance.She has long hair, dyed a dark brown color, tied in several loose braids at the back of her head.

Shiho is a part-time employee hired by Kurita to be a waiter half a year ago, and he is an indispensable person in the store.Her job scope includes greeting guests, operating the cash register and other miscellaneous chores. Even the assistant job of making wagashi is not difficult for her. In addition to selling wagashi in the store, Limarudo also opened a sweet tea room. Although the refreshments provided by the Amami teahouse are the same as those sold by Kurimarudo, and the scale of the teahouse is not too large, and the seats can only accommodate twenty people, Kurita and Nakanojo alone will still be too busy. The current division of responsibilities at Kurimaru Hall is that Shiho is in charge of the tea room and sales of wagashi, while the two master chefs are responsible for making wagashi in the kitchen. However, the number of customers coming to the store has decreased recently, and the store is always raising mosquitoes. Shiho had a cheerful smile on his face, with canine teeth showing between his lips. "It won't lose a piece of meat if you call it. Let's not talk about this, A Li, a guest wants to look for you." "Find me?" "The guest has been waiting for you since just now, go quickly." "Really, who has no common sense? If you want to come, don't make an appointment first." Kurita scratched the back of his neck and walked out of the kitchen.
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