Hokuou Kizoku to Moukinzuma no Yukiguni Karigurashi

When I woke up, my wife had already got up. This happens because she’s an early riser. Maybe because she was out for a stroll, my son’s cradle was empty as well, which caused my shoulders to go limp. I touched the blanket, but not even the warmth was there. Very sad.

At my bedsides, the clothes for today were hung up.

Shirt, tie, vest, trousers and belt. Sieg picked them out every day. While thinking, the way she does these things without saying a thing is the cutest, I changed into them.

I brushed my teeth, washed my face and also shaved my beard while I was at it. I combed my hair and properly braided it as well.

When I finished tidying up, I headed to the dining room for breakfast.

Father-in-law was at the dining hall. It seems like he was working at the ranch again. I help in the morning only about once or twice a week. I want to help more, but unfortunately I am weak to mornings.

Father-in-law goes out to the ranch every day early in the morning, so I admire him for being a diligent worker.

“Father-in-law, good morning.”

“Morning.”

He greeted me with a smile again today.

He is dependable and he loves his family. He’s completely different from a prodigal father somewhere.

Really, he is the epitome of an ideal father. I became envious of Sieg.

When I told him that, father-in-law told me a splendid thing.

“Ritzhard-kun is also a proud son of mine.”

“F-Father-in-law!”

I’m so happy I want to hug father-in-law! Or so I thought, but I stopped myself because he might not be used to it.

While we were smiling at each other, grandfather arrived at the dining room. He had Arno in his arms. Sieg followed in shortly after.

“What, there are two suspicious people grinning at each other.”

He called our delightful father-son time suspicious. How cruel.

Arno was left to a servant and placed at a cradle at the edge of the dining room.

It seems like the three of them were out on a stroll. Grandfather boasted it proudly.

As we talked, the topic shifted to the ranch. Then I remembered something.

“Ah, come to think of it, father-in-law, can I have some milk?”

“I don’t mind, but what are using it for?”

“I’m planning on making ice-cream today.”

When I told him the story, father-in-law gladly agreed to help.

Other than that, you’ll probably need eggs and cream, he said and promised fresh ingredients from the ranch.

“Would it be alright for Edelgard and Adeltraud to make it with us?”

“Yeah, I suppose there won’t be any problems as long as you don’t give them too much.”

“Thank you.”

Some time ago, I heard of parents who don’t want to give ice cream to their children, so I was a little worried.

“As I thought, would it cause stomachaches?”

“Ritzhard, that’s not the case.”

“Nn?”

According to grandfather, ice cream stores use diluted milk and a lot of artificial colouring, and some stores even have harmful substances, so that was why he didn’t want to give them ice cream. This time, we’re using milk from the ranch, so there won’t be any problems.

Grandfather was well-knowledgeable about the ice cream stores in the city.

Soon afterwards, the nieces, their mother and mother-in-law came in. My brothers-in-law had already headed to work so they’re absent.

It was time for breakfast with all the family present.

After the meal, I asked my brother-in-law’s wife for permission to make ice cream with the sisters.

Surprisingly, the nieces who were originally city kids never had ice cream.

One reason was because they were sickly.

From hearing about the sudden event of making ice cream, Adeltraud jumped up and down in joy, and Edelgard blushed happily.

“Dearest mother always said that only princesses can have ice cream.”

Edelgard nodded at that as well.

Today you can specially have it, when I told them that they looked joyful.

What lovely princesses, I thought as I felt like hugging them.

After I showed them the ice cream maker, the glint in their eyes brightened even more.

When I told them grandfather brought it, they looked at him with admiration.

“This a magic passed down through fairies.”

“Uwaa, amazing.”

“!”

“……”

Grandfather said something irresponsible again.

It seems like father had been talking about fairies with the sisters.

When I looked towards Sieg for help, she also was smiling awkwardly.

Since there was no reason to destroy the young sisters’ dreams, I accepted it without saying a word. f𝚛e𝗲𝔀e𝚋𝑛o𝘃𝒆𝗹.c𝗼𝒎

As for the measurements, the patissier will help so there won’t be any mistakes.

“Now then, let’s begin!”

“Yay~”

“……Yes.”

For making ice cream, we headed to the dining room where there was a wide table.

Grandfather brought over a reading chair and had Arno on his lap. Today his role seems to be a supervisor.

The ingredients are milk, eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla, ice and salt.

First, we sliced open the vanilla beans and took the husks off.

“Dearest uncle, what are these?”

“These are dried vanilla beans. The sweets smell nice when you put them in.”

“Hehh~”

The pod-shaped fruit is a spice that gives off a sweet scent. The vanilla essences sold in stores are systhesised fragrance made from putting vanilla beans in alcohol, or so the cook said.

Vanilla will be used as is, so the resulting ice cream will be an extravagant product where one can fully enjoy the original taste.

The milk was put in, and then vanilla was put in. The fire was put out before it started boiling.

“Did you measure the sugar?”

When I asked the sisters, the sugar was properly prepared.

Since they were free, they were watching Sieg split the egg yolks and whites.

As for the egg whites, I thought of making langue de chatwith it, so I asked a nearby servant to take it to the kitchen.

First the egg yolks were whisked properly and then sugar was put in.

Once the rough texture was gone, vanilla was added in.

Next, in the bowl of sugar, egg yolks and vanilla, the milk from before is poured in then stirred.

To make the texture on the tongue feel better, it was filtered through cloth and poured into a pot, after which it was heated with weak flames. If it’s heated too much, lumps form so we have to be careful.

After a while, the fire is put out then the contents are moved into a bowl. The bowl is placed in ice water to cool it.

“This mixture of milk, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla is called ‘crème anglaise’.” [1]

It means sauce from a foreign country.

Apparently this sauce comes from a certain country so it’s named after that the country.

The ingredients are the same as custard, but there’s no flour in this so this one is in liquid form.

While the crème anglaise was being cooled, cream and sugar were whisked in a bowl. Once it became sticky, I stopped stirring.

I asked Sieg to mix the chilled crème anglaise and whipped cream.

Meanwhile, I mixed ice and salt and placed them in the outer layer of the ice cream maker.

After sprinking some more salt on top, the preparation is complete.

The ice cream mixture is then poured into the inner pot, after which the lid is shut tightly.

Afterwards, if the handle is turned for about thirty minutes, the ice cream is complete, or so the manual said.

I turned the handle while receiving expectant stares from the sisters. It was a little a little tough so I became a little teary.

As I turned the handle, the sisters tirelessly watched…… no, attentively watched me. I appreciated it, and even got a little teary-eyed.

In the middle, Sieg asked if she should take over, but I told her the feelings were enough.

Thirty minutes later, when we opened the lid in anticipation, there was a nicely formed batch of ice cream.

First off, to see if the flavour was alright, I asked our expert, grandfather, to sample…… I mean taste. Right, I had him taste the flavour.

“Hm. It’s pretty good for a beginner.”

“Uwaa~~ what a relief!”

Since it received passing marks from grandfather, we scooped ice cream onto bowls.

A servant arrived timely with langue de chat, so I placed them in ice cream.

“Dearest uncle, this is?”

“Langues de chat. Snacks made using egg whites.”

“Could it be, that you used the egg whites we did not use?”

“Correct!”

Meaning ‘cat tongue’, langue de chat is a dessert from overseas.

I also heard about it from the kitchen staff. The ingredients are egg whites, butter, flour and sugar. It’s a baked biscuit with a light texture. Like the name cat tongue suggests, it was flat and long. The light texture and the sweetness do not stand out, so it goes well with the ice cream which has a deep flavour.

The used tools were being taken away by servants. Arno fell into deep sleep in his cradle.

Now then, we’ll have the ice cream before it melts.

First, I watched the sisters have them.

The moment they put some in their mouths, their eyes shone so brightly that stars might have come out of them.

“Delicious!”

“……M-Magical.”

I ended up grinning as I watched them happily have ice cream. They really are lovely princesses.

I wanted to keep staring at them, but then the ice cream will melt so we started eating as well.

Just what sort of texture would it have?

As my heart pounded from the mysterious food in front of me, I scooped up a bit and put some into my mouth.

“Uwa, delicious!”

The moment I said my impression, grandfather burst into laughter.

“Grandfather, is there a problem?”

“Problem!? Your eyes are shining like a child’s!”

“Were there stars in my eyes.”

“Really, making me laugh.”

“Did I really have such an expression~?”

I didn’t, did I? When I looked at Sieg while asking that, she was hiding her mouth while her eyes were open thinly. She definitely was laughing. I felt a little embarrassed.

But ice cream was really tasty.

Using fresh milk, the ice cream was rich in flavour, while the texture was smooth. The way it was cool and melted in my mouth was like magic.

When I had some ice cream with a langue de chat, the crispy texture and the soft milky flavour harmonised in my mouth. The sweet scent of vanilla was indescribably good as well.

I felt moved, that it was a luxurious and elegant dessert that I couldn’t’ describe well.

The nieces praised that it was an amazing magic.

It was a magic that required a lot of strength, but they enjoyed it so I smiled along.

The first ice cream making was a great success.

In the afternoon, we went on a forest stroll to the lake with Sieg and Arno, but that is a story for another time.

[1] Crème anglaise (French for “English sauce”) is a light pouring custard used as dessert cream or sauce. (Source: Wikipedia)