As the rest of the menu was already going to be a lot of work to keep up with, it was necessary for the dessert menu to be kept simple. Having most of the options either able to be summoned in a completed state or be able to be prepared ahead of time by Veronica herself was the only way she'd be able to manage everything. It wouldn't exactly be a good thing if the tavern only had a small handful of guests and they were still forced to wait a long time to receive even the most basic of orders. Everything needed to be able to be prepared and sent out in a timely manner so she could rake in as many dungeon points as possible.
So, she ended up deciding to make the two cheapest desserts: coffee jelly and yuzu jelly at 10 DP each. However, while she had received coffee jelly in a mason jar as a tribute previously, it would cost 10 MP just to create one and it wouldn't stay fresh forever. At that cost, it would be more cost-effective in the longterm to research and create the individual ingredients so she could do the preparation herself.
Would you like to spend 30 DP to research a french press using the [Base Resources] glass and steel?
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Would you like to spend 30 DP to research a large jar of ground coffee using the [Base Resources] coffee beans and large jar?
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No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a large jar of pectin powder using the [Base Resources] pectin and large jar?
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Would you like to spend 20 DP to research a bottle of yuzu juice using the [Base Resources] yuzu and glass bottle?
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She already had ingredients like sugar stocked in the tavern's kitchen and she could always repurpose wine glasses for holding the desserts since she had researched them previously. The desserts would be relatively simple since she'd just need to sweeten the coffee or yuzu juice while it was boiling hot before mixing in the pectin powder. After letting it cool just enough, she could portion it into individual serving glasses and refrigerate them until it was time to serve them to customers. Of course, whipped cream would also need to be added on top just to make it that much more special, but she already had bottles of heavy cream and sugar, so that would be easy enough.
The next most expensive desserts on the menu would be slices of red gooseberry and rhubarb pie and acorn spice cake with buttercream icing. She had previously received the pie as a tribute, but it was still necessary to research a boxed form in order to make transport and storage easier.
Would you like to spend 60 DP to research boxes of red gooseberry and rhubarb pie using the [Base Resources] cardboard and red gooseberry and rhubarb pie?
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Yes
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Would you like to spend 60 DP to research boxes of acorn spice cake using the [Base Resources] cardboard, acorn flour, wild yeast, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, sunflower oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and milk?
Yes
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The system being able to make cardboard boxes without tape or glue to keep them together was always weird, but Veronica was hardly going to question it. That didn't matter as much as having a usable product. Since she had previously received something made using acorn flour, she hoped having a cake made with the same ingredient would make it seem more interesting to her patrons. As much as she wanted to offer exciting new dishes, it was equally as important to make her guests feel comfortable, after all.
The last three desserts she planned to serve would all be frozen treats. A vanilla malt shake, a cappuccino gelato, and a hot caramel sundae would offer plenty of variety while also being easy enough to whip up at a moment's notice. The only hard part would be manually mixing the shake since she didn't exactly have an electric milkshake mixer she could use. Vanilla ice cream, vanilla custard, vanilla gelato, coffee gelato, vanilla malt powder, and shortbread cookie crumbs ran her 370 DP. Meanwhile, glass sauce bottles, bottles of caramel sauce and coffee sauce, a jar of glass straws, and a set of hand crank egg beaters cost a total of 130 dungeon points. However, that was the last of the ingredients she'd need to stock her kitchen with.
The hot caramel sundae would require vanilla ice cream topped with shortbread cookie crumbs and hot caramel. Using a glass sauce bottle would allow her to heat it up in a pot of water while not getting as hot as metal could. She'd have to use a folded kitchen towel as an oven mitt to avoid burning herself, but she was sure it would be fine. As for the cappuccino gelato, that would involve layering vanilla and coffee gelato before dousing it in a coffee sauce. The vanilla malt was super simple with milk, vanilla custard, and malt powder mixed together before being topped with whipped cream. Well, outside of how much of a pain it would be to mix it. The egg beaters would make preparing whipped cream easier, but weren't quite suitable for mixing something as thick as ice cream.
With the menu fully prepared, all that was left was to fill the tavern and kitchen with the necessary furniture. Luckily, she already had most of the things she needed researched, which would save her a good bit of dungeon points. The keg system the blacksmith helped the Elf siblings procure was set up against one wall with a jade counter in front of it. Then some leather bar stools were placed in front of that. Rugs led from the entrance to the tavern to the kitchen entrance with branching paths where necessary.
In the other back corner of the tavern, Veronica set up some partition walls for two bathrooms. These would just have toilets, sinks, and a towel rack with luxury towels. She didn't need a whole public bath in her tavern, just a spot where drunkards could quickly get to a toilet. The walk down to the public baths was a bit farther than she really wanted to make people walk, after all.
The main seats consisted of wooden dining tables and benches, which ran her 20 DP to research. Fireplaces were set up on each side of the room with another green rug in front of them. On top of those she placed a wooden sofa and coffee table, which she had previously had in the reception area before she replaced them with nicer furniture. Other than that, there were just potted peace lilies along the outer walls of the tavern to serve as decorations and bring some extra greenery to the room.
The kitchen was similarly kept quite simple. A whole wall was lined with magic refrigerators while another large section of the kitchen had extra kegs for storage. Next to the door to the tavern she set up two sinks with plenty of counter space for washing dishes. Even if she could replace the dishes, it would take away from the mana she needed to spend on creating more ingredients, so it was better to just make one of the siblings help with the dishes.
Finally, there was the cooking area, which consisted of magic wood stoves and more jade counter space. There were shelves to hold the dry ingredients behind the dish station and next to the kegs. So, the area directly beside the refrigerators was exclusively for rows of stoves and counters. As she was worried about not having enough fridge space, at the last minute, Veronica decided to add even more fridges against the back wall of the kitchen.
It would still be a while before she'd have all the fresh ingredients stocked in the kitchen as there was still a limit to her mana. However, she was more than satisfied with the result of all the hard work she had put forth, thus far. It wouldn't be long now before it would be time for the opening day of her tavern!