Veronica was slowly working on building up her tavern and its kitchen, but things were going very slowly. She kept having to take breaks to take care of other things and it was already quite time-consuming to plan out a proper menu and stockpile supplies. It likely didn't help that the [Base Resources] she had were quite limited in terms of ingredients to use. While she could likely send the siblings back out to buy more supplies, that wasn't exactly an ideal solution either. She'd just be painting a target on their back before they were fully prepared to defend themselves, which would result in her losing the only helpers she had managed to secure.
As a lot of the research she had to do was similar enough, she decided to organize everything into a list based on type. She planned to first research a suitable storage container then all of the variations with the ingredients in them that she'd need in order to fulfill orders.
Would you like to spend 16 DP to research burlap bags using the [Base Resources] hemp and undyed thread?
Yes
No
These burlap bags were going to be used to store sunflower seeds, rice, flour, sugar, chickweed, watercress, Alaska violets, pea shoots, and spearmint. As such, she also had to research bags of those items, which resulted in her spending an additional 440 DP. Where things like the seeds and baking ingredients came in 50KG bags that were quite large for 30 MP each, the plants came in 10KG bags for 20 MP each. Plants like watercress were lighter while taking up more space and also required an open bag, instead of a sealed one, in order for the plants to breathe, so the design was a bit different. Still, the hemp bag would make it much easier to carry the ingredients around and store them.
Would you like to spend 26 DP to research rolling bins using the [Base Resources] wood and steel?
Yes
No
In the commercial kitchen Veronica had worked in, they always had rolling bins with transparent plastic lids that could be lifted to open. It made it easier to get ingredients like flour and sugar out when you needed to use large amounts of it for a recipe. The container was also better suited for long-term storage. That was why she spent another 210 DP for a flour, sugar, and rice variation. If she needed an entirely new container and wanted to take care of the problem in an instant, she'd make a bin full, but she'd have to use the burlap bags to refill them when she didn't have access to the system menu.
Would you like to spend 10 DP to research spice shakers using the [Base Resources] glass and steel?
Yes
No
These were, of course, for holding seasonings that would be used to flavor the various recipes the tavern would serve. While she might need other options in the future, she decided to just make salt, black pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, ground ginger, and ground cinnamon variations for now. That ended up costing another 126 DP for all of them, which wasn't too bad considering there were nine seasonings to choose from. Honestly, at 7 MP per shaker full, the cost to spawn them in really wasn't too bad either. It was only because she'd have to stock the kitchen with several months worth of supplies that it would take a while to prepare everything.
Would you like to spend 20 DP to research wooden crates using the [Base Resources] wood and nails?
Yes
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No
These would make it easier to carry heavy produce [Items] like apples, carrots, and onions. Funnily enough, the system tended to charge 1 MP for a single produce [Item], but making it into a crate full of them only cost 20 MP each. Still, she couldn't complain about only spending 120 DP to research the three crates full of produce when it could have been far worse.
Would you like to spend 20 DP to research large glass jars using the [Base Resources] glass and steel?
Yes
No
Another 280 DP later, Veronica had variations for grated BBQ roasted seaweed, grated parmesan cheese, shiitake mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, radishes, blackberries, and currants. While she planned to make most of the foods she'd be serving in the tavern from scratch, roasted seaweed could too easily go wrong when done by an amateur. The seaweed could end up overseasoned, soggy from oil, or burnt during the cooking process; all things Veronica preferred to avoid.
As she already had normal-sized glass jars unlocked, Veronica did the next batch of research without researching a container first. 110 DP was spent on jars of minced garlic, minced ginger, vegetable bouillon cubes, and boar bouillon cubes. She also had squirrel meat that she had received as a tribute previously, but it could taste a bit gamey and wasn't suitable for the menu she had planned. While boar was also a bit troublesome compared to pork or chicken from her old world, she couldn't exactly use them if she didn't have them available.
Would you like to spend 20 DP to research glass bottles with corks using the [Base Resources] glass, cork, and iron?
Yes
No
These were similar to wine bottles, but were a common choice for storing cooking oil. Since the cork could easily be removed and replaced as needed, it made for easy storage. An additional 220 DP was spent to research bottles of sunflower oil, white vinegar, blackberry vinaigrette, yuzu garlic dressing, milk, and heavy cream. As salads would be part of the light fare menu, she needed some dressings, but preventing the mixture from breaking was tricky, so it was safer to get it pre-made by the system.
There was only one last group of [Items] she had to research to take care of the light fare menu now and it was mostly odds and ends. Still, they had their place in the kitchen too, so she couldn't skip them. A final 126 DP was spent on cardboard boxes with wax paper that stored saltine crackers, cattail pollen biscuits, and pine bark bread as well as ceramic pots of butter and white kitchen towels. The cardboard boxes would keep the bready [Items] fresh and the kitchen towels could be multipurpose both for cleaning and covering the pine bark bread while it rested on a cutting board in between uses.
The actual menu would have sunflower seeds for 5 DP per serving. They'd be freshly sauteed in a pan with salt and sunflower oil or butter. Then there was BBQ roasted seaweed for 5 DP and apple slices with a caramel dip for 10 DP. She was planning to make the caramel fresh in the kitchen from heavy cream, butter, and sugar. Technically, it would be ideal to include vanilla in the recipe, but she was also debating whether she actually wanted to make all the caramel from scratch or if she'd end up having it pre-made as well. She'd have to wait until she prepared things for the dessert menu to decide for sure. Either way, the baking ingredients would be good staples to keep on hand.
For soups, she was planning to serve a Japanese clear soup and a creamy mushroom and rice soup. Both would cost 15 DP per bowl, but could be prepared ahead of time to varying degrees. The clear soup's broth could be made ahead and then reheated to order, but needed fresh scallions and thinly sliced mushrooms to be cut to order. She already had scallions thanks to Elora and Eldrin, but she was just going to store them in glasses of water, so she hadn't bothered with separate containers being researched. The mushroom and rice soup was what she needed the shiitake and crimini mushrooms for, among other things.
Finally, she was planning to serve a chickweed salad and a pea shoot salad. The first would require chickweed, watercress, wild violets, blackberries, currants, and the blackberry vinaigrette. Meanwhile, the pea shoot salad needed pea shoots, radishes, spearmint, and the yuzu and garlic dressing. They were a bit strange when compared to the salads served in her home country, but they were very much based on real salad recipes she had made in one of her international culinary classes. Besides which, Veronica was sure that including ingredients that she had been given as tributes would increase the likelihood of the menu being to the local's tastes.
Overall, she had ended up spending 1,744 DP today to prepare all of the ingredients for the light fare menu. While many of these new [Items] would serve as the basis for other portions of the menu, it was still a lot to spend in one sitting. She was glad that she still had 11,607 dungeon points left as she was still trying to reserve, at least, 10,000 DP for when she unlocked the next floor, but she wasn't sure how long that would last. Hopefully, the long and tedious process of stocking the kitchen would allow her enough time to earn some more dungeon points.