Chapter 325 - 212: Avocado’s Information

Chapter 325: Chapter 212: Avocado’s Information

The main filling in takoyaki is octopus, but other ingredients can be added according to personal preference.

For the authentic Japanese style, you’d usually add cabbage, and then maybe some shrimp or other ingredients.

He didn’t have any vegetables on hand right now. Using only octopus would make the flavor profile too one-dimensional, not enough to give him a sense of happiness.

’Since I’m already making them,’ he thought, ’I might as well make them truly outstanding.’

This wasn’t just for Erica’s request, but also so he could earn some Happiness Points for himself.

If he went through all this trouble and couldn’t even feel a little bit of happiness from it, wouldn’t that be a complete waste of energy and ingredients?

With that, he immediately began to mentally mix and match ingredients.

"The ingredients I have on hand are grouper, sea cucumber, blue crab, coconut, and mango. It seems a bit limited."

Rehydrating the sea cucumber would take time, so it was out of the question for now. Besides, sea cucumber itself is flavorless, making it a poor choice for the filling.

Mashed potatoes don’t have much flavor on their own; they rely entirely on seasonings. This meant he had to combine the natural flavors of the ingredients themselves to create a relatively stunning taste.

’Octopus... what ingredients would go well with it?’

He closed his eyes and pondered for a moment. When he opened them again, he had made up his mind.

He stood up, put on his Hat Lamp and bamboo basket, and headed toward the hillside.

"Go to the beach and see if you can find some purple sea urchins. If not, blue crabs are fine too. I’m going to take a look around the bamboo forest."

"Okay, be careful!"

As he passed Bartel’s temporary camp nearby, Lin Chen instinctively glanced over and saw that the guy was still wrestling with his roast meat.

The deer meat skewered on a branch was noticeably smaller, SIZZLING in the flames and dripping juice from time to time.

The juice dripped onto the charcoal, kicking up puffs of black smoke that in turn charred the surface of the meat.

Bartel seemed long accustomed to this. He would roast for a while, pull the skewer from the fire, slice off a few pieces with his military knife and stuff them in his mouth, then put the skewer back to continue cooking.

Lin Chen didn’t watch for long. A few quick glances were enough for him to understand the guy’s roasting method.

This technique of eating while you roast is commonly used for roasted leg of lamb back home. The cut is simply too large to cook all at once. By the time the inside is cooked through, the outside would be dry as jerky, so you have to slice and eat as you go.

But for this guy to be roasting a whole deer leg like that was a bit much—a classic case of making things harder than they needed to be.

’With all that time, he’d be better off scouting the area to find a good spot to build a proper shelter.’

’But that’s his business,’ Lin Chen thought. ’I’m in no position to tell him what to do.’

The forest at night was exceptionally quiet. The only sound was the occasional, sudden rustle of leaves, caused by some unknown bird or monkey.

"My reason for coming to the bamboo forest is simple," he said, speaking to his stream. "The bamboo shoots I gathered last time were delicious. There was a downpour just this morning, so by my calculations, new tender shoots should be sprouting by now."

Being on his own for the first time in a while, he couldn’t help but talk to himself. As he climbed the slope, he also remembered to open his wrist device to check the audience’s comments.

The recent comments weren’t anything special. Most were just urging him to cook more, and quite a few were asking when he was going to go into the ocean.

The audience didn’t know his skill level in the water. They assumed he’d chosen a coastal location because of the abundant food in the sea and to avoid being restricted by hunting regulations.

His not going into the ocean for the first few days was understandable. After all, it rained every two or three days, he had to move his shelter, and there was just too much to do.

But now that the shelter was built, with only the interior work left to do, the relieved viewers could no longer contain their anticipation. They were dying to see the captivating underwater scenery.

Lin Chen explained to the camera with a wry smile, "Everyone, please be patient. Tomorrow, I’ll build a bed first, then gather and store some firewood and food to make sure I can get through the next downpour, which could happen at any time. Only then will I consider going into the sea."

"Going into the ocean isn’t a simple matter. Even though I can swim out from the shallows, swimming and diving are extremely taxing activities. Add the constant pull of the waves, and it’s very easy to get swept away after a dive when you’re exhausted."

"I’m sure none of you want to see me drop out of the competition early due to a lack of preparation, right?"

"I already have a plan. For diving, the safest method is to build a raft. That will give me a place to rest on the surface of the water."

"The raft will naturally be made from bamboo, but securing it will require a lot of cordage. I’ll need to use either tree bark or vines, and that’s the only real challenge right now."

As he shared his plan with the viewers, he arrived at the bamboo forest before he knew it.

After a week of continuous harvesting, the outer edge of the forest was visibly thinner, but the impact on the forest as a whole was almost negligible. It could even stimulate the roots to sprout more new stalks.

The beam of his Hat Lamp swept across, revealing glistening droplets of dew still clinging to things inside the dark bamboo forest.

He looked up. The dense bamboo leaves were packed so tightly they almost completely blocked out the sky.

"No wonder," he mused. "There’s limited sunlight in the bamboo forest, and it feels like there’s hardly any wind. The slow rate of evaporation creates the perfect conditions for bamboo shoots to grow."

Passing through the area of cut bamboo stumps, he officially stepped into the forest proper.

He crouched down, his bright beam lingering on the surface of the fallen leaves and weeds on the ground.