What Did You Eat Yesterday?
What
did you eat yesterday? I started my day without breakfast as always,
unless some readers count a cup of coffee as part of it which would
then quite effectively dispute the past ten-odd years of my life as
breakfast free. Before any nutrition enthusiast or somebody along
those lines walks up and starts lecturing on the utmost importance of
having the most important meal of the day, let me simply say that I
run just as fine with a cup of milky brown fluid since anything more
than that would probably mean excess which in turn would yield no
benefits except for a couple of unnecessary trips to the toilet that
seemingly represents good digestion but is in fact a huge pain in the
ass, pun absolutely intended. Anyway, lunch was slightly overpriced,
piping hot fishball noodles at a foodcourt. It was delicious though.
Dinner was rice with fish fillet, sunny side-up and sausage, plus a
large Coffee Jelly Milk Tea. Nothing fancy, nonetheless it made my
stomach quite the happy intestine. Some readers might ask, don't you
cook? Yeah, but that would be once in a blue moon. Unless I have the
culinary expertise of attorney Kakei Shirou from the manga series
'What Did You Eat Yesterday?' by mangaka Yoshinaga Fumi.
The
first chapter begins with a fellow attorney in the law firm throwing
the above question to his other co-workers one day. While most
wouldn't really bother recalling since anything that goes down the
food tube and such is probably far too trivial, Shirou actually
rattles off in explicit detail his entire menu, much to the shock of
his colleagues. What makes the situation way more surrealistic is the
seemingly huge effort required to churn out those dishes, yet in
Shirou's case the whole episode feels like one of those cooking shows
by some famous English chef or something. Indeed, the manga sets the
culinary cum gastronomic happenings as important catalysts for life.
Shirou brainstorms and prepares each meal with love and pride.
Naturally, he shares such moments with Yabuki Kenji, a talented
hairstylist who shamelessly (?) sticks to the same salon for more
than ten years. Kenji is also Shirou's roommate and partner. Their
encounter and eventual permanent coupling are given some light in one
of the chapters. Rest assured though in case any reader jumps six
feet backwards at the mere mention of men in love with men, the manga
strongly dwells on Shirou's cooking and such just like its
counterparts. Intimacy between Shirou and Kenji if any is largely
implied, and their interactions are mostly everyday, light-hearted
banter with occasional serious deviations like family issues and
relationships with other people. In other words, this isn't
considered the typical BL (the series is classified as a cooking
manga).
Speaking
of relationships with other people, Shirou has an interesting episode
with a housewife Tominaga Kayoko. Both became friends over an
enormous watermelon that was on sale at the greengrocer. However,
before that was a rather shaky start which involved persecution
complex due to a totally innocent depiction of an unbelievably
handsome middle-aged man devouring a big slice of watermelon on a hot
day that eventually led to a comical though not too willing
declaration from Shirou. In any case, Shirou went on to forge
friendly bonds with Kayoko and her family.
As
for Kenji, his eloquence is a tool for excellence and quite
unfortunately, disaster as well. Kenji's co-workers have marvelled
just how capable he is at dealing with quirky customers. One
particular customer simply blabbers in a single breath her preferred
hairstyle, overwhelming just about everybody else. Kenji smoothly
takes over and gives the customer not only what she has requested,
but also a very good reason to patronise the salon again. Because of
that, the owner has no choice but to keep Kenji around.
I
suppose that I can't end the post without sharing some of my
favourite dishes from the manga. I have only read until the second
tankoubon (there are nine volumes to date) but I reckon that it is
sufficient. Strawberry jam (not quite a dish but it's the first thing
that pops out of my head), Oven-roasted Chicken, Milk Jelly with
Black Syrup...hmm...
Eccentrically
Yours.
Written
by J.Fluffysheep ♪
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