It was taking much longer to earn her freedom back than Veronica had bargained for. She still didn't know how long she had gone without the system, but it had now been more than just a few months since she had unlocked the third floor. Where she had once been willing to go without food or other luxuries as she rushed through building new floors in preparation for the day adventurers would once more walk the halls of her dungeon, she couldn't help but feel differently now.

So, she no longer planned to rush through things at all. Instead, she was planning to take her time building the floors while also keeping herself entertained. One such method involved cooking a full meal every night. It would be ideal to keep in the habit of cooking so that she could retain the muscle memory to be proficient at it. Plus, it couldn't hurt to maintain what little Human connection she had.

It was well known that food tended to have an association with memories for people and she was no exception. If anything, most of Veronica's memories tended to revolve around food. When she was little, she'd cook all sorts of meals in the kitchen with her mother. Her father was equally skilled at cooking, but he seemed to have more of a specialty for grilling, smoking, and roasting meats while he mother was more well-rounded.

Then, later, when she went off to college, she had spent hundreds of hours learning from chef instructors and those in charge of the kitchens at her various jobs. She had also tried out housekeeping, janitorial, and receptionist desk jobs as well, but they just didn't quite suit her preferences that well. Besides, what she had truly wanted was to run her own business, which meant learning how to deal with high stress situations and manage others, not just how to scrub dirty sinks and tuck sheets under mattresses just right.

Regardless, there weren't any customers to look after right now and her brownies could keep house in an empty inn just fine without her breathing down their necks. So all she had to worry about now was taking care of her own needs. Luckily, she was used to cooking the dishes for her tavern ala carte. Had she been used to cooking for large groups and suddenly tried to cook for one, she doubted the transition would be quite so easy. As it was, it took some time to get back into the habit of cooking after so long without doing it.

For tonight, she was planning to make a pozole soup, mushroom tacos, and pumpkin tamales. The pumpkin had finished roasting a little while earlier and was now cooling on a nearby counter. It'd be ready to scoop out and be turned into a delicious pumpkin filling for the tamales in a little while. For now, she had to concentrate on the soup as it would take a while to cook.

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First, she carefully chopped the onions. Her chef instructors had taught her a method for getting perfect cubes by cutting the onion in half in a particular direction so you'd end up with the 'hairy' side on both halves of the onions. So, it took no time at all to get it chopped up.

The peppers were similarly simple to cut. Just quarter them, cut the seeds out by running the knife long ways along the pepper wedge, and then finish cutting into smaller cubes. Then it was into a saute pan alongside the onions for a quick cook just long enough for the onions to turn translucent. Next, it was off to a sauce pan alongside some pork shoulder, hominy, garlic, water, and seasonings.

It would need to simmer for a while, so she decided to take care of the pumpkin tamales while she waited. She'd need to keep an eye on it, but a low heat would ensure it didn't burn while she was distracted.

In a mixing bowl, she added corn meal, sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Then she carefully mixed it to ensure there were no big clumps. After checking on her soup, she got to work scooping out the roasted pumpkin before mashing it into a smooth consistency with a fork. That was then added to the dry ingredients alongside some butter, milk, raisins, and cream cheese.

Nearby, a bowl with dried corn husks that had been soaking in water rested. Veronica quickly grabbed them and started to fill them with the pumpkin filling while keeping an eye on her soup. It was already starting to smell quite good, but she'd have to add more ingredients to the soup later after it cooked down some more. Still, she couldn't help but smile in anticipation as she enjoyed the mouthwatering scent of the savory soup.

As soon as the tamales were done being filled, she got ready to steam them. She would have to cook the wild mushrooms and grill the corn tortillas for her tacos while they cooked. This way, everything would be ready all at once. Due to the mushrooms cooking in mere minutes, they had to be prepared last. The rest of the ingredients were things like fresh cheese or premade corn tortillas that merely needed to be heated up, so it really was a simple dish.

To drink with her meal, Veronica decided to have some pineapple tepache. The fruit in it meant it would have some sweet notes while the fermentation would balance it out with some bitterness. It wasn't a strong drink, so she wouldn't get anywhere close to getting drunk from it. However, that was hardly her goal. It just seemed right to have everything match one theme.

Even while trying to cook for one person, the soup and dessert would no doubt be enough for a week. She'd have something else for the entree tomorrow, maybe some sopes. They were listed on the light fare menu, but they'd work just as well as the star of the meal. Maybe if she was feeling generous, she'd even share some of the dishes with her brownies later. The goblins hardly cared what they ate, but they could always have any leftovers she didn't want at the end of the week.