Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 69 – Side Story: Ameh Memories
Eating curry bread brought back a whole bunch of curry-related memories came rushing back.
Martha’s curry is incredibly delicious, but it also made me crave the curry we make at home too. I suddenly felt like eating our usual curry.
There’s the curry from the gyudon shop I used to eat at as a student which was also good, the delicious curry at Kihamuya, the seafood curry at the all-you-can-eat curry buffet I went to with friends that had no visible shrimp anywhere but was somehow rich with shrimp flavor, the curry at the yakiniku place packed to the brim with the best cuts of meat leftover from the staff meal—each one different, each one delicious in its own way.
So, I’d like to talk a little about curry.
I want to say it out loud!
But talking to myself would make me seem suspicious, so I asked Kirara and Mimi to help me out and nod along.
“Sorry, but I’m going to talk kind of fast, could you just throw in the occasional ‘uh-huh’ or ‘oh, really?’ for me?”
“Got it.”
“Uh-huh.”
Alright, here we go.
“First off, our household curry is kind of fancy. Why? Because the roux we use is expensive.
Back when the cheap stuff was really cheap, you could get a box for under 100 yen.
But the curry roux we always used? Even when it was on sale, it was around 248 yen.
These days, even the cheapest version of that brand is in the 300-yen range, and with tax, it’s over 400 yen. It’s scary. It’s shocking.
But we can’t go without that roux at home anymore…
It’s a bit of a splurge. But it comes with this separate bouillon packet, which is like some kind of stock concentrate, and adding it really enhances the flavor.
And man, it makes it taste absolutely amazing. The aroma is just different somehow.
It tastes good even with basic ingredients, but if you splurge on the ingredients, it gets even better. Like, I use high-quality meat, you know. That makes it incredibly delicious.
But then every time I add high-quality meat to curry, I always remember this post I saw once, something like, ‘People who waste high-quality meat—meant to be enjoyed simply with just salt and grilling—by throwing it into heavy sauces like sukiyaki… I just can’t believe it!’
And I’m like—well too bad, we throw that fancy beef right into curry at our house!
By the way, if you want to make the best curry, apparently the best method is just to follow the instructions written on the package exactly. Use the exact listed ingredients, cook exactly as directed. That gives the best results.
But when people make curry, they would always want to add their own twist to it.
You get things like: add coffee, add a square of chocolate, grate in some garlic, grate in an apple, stir in honey… so many variations you can try.
Oh! Speaking of honey—this reminds me of a time in college when a friend tried to cook curry for me.
They added honey to finish it off at the end, but then the honey just poured out—like whoosh—just all at once.”
“…When are we supposed to say ‘uh-huh’?”
“…Yeah, this is kind of hard…”
“So my friend tasted the curry and, slowly shaking their head, said, ‘I’m sorry. I can’t let anyone eat this.’
Meanwhile, I’m sitting there starving, waiting for dinner to be done, and I’m like, ‘I don’t care—just hand it over!’
But they’re like, ‘No! This isn’t curry anymore—it’s Ameh!’
I reached for the pot, but they ran off with it, and we ended up chasing each other around the kotatsu. It was so silly we both burst out laughing.
Eventually, they let me try it—and I’ve never had sweeter curry in my life. To this day, I haven’t encountered another “Ameh” curry that could top that one.”
“Here!”
“Uh-huh!!”
“Speaking of curry, it brings back memories of school lunches. The school lunch curry was always SO good. I don’t even know why—it was just strangely, ridiculously delicious.
Bucket? container? Whatever you call those soup-sized containers that held all the food. Well, they’d put curry in it, and when they open the lid, this amazing curry smell would hit you.
There’s one particular school lunch curry memory I’ll never forget, back in elementary school. I can’t remember what grade I was in when it happened.
I think it was probably when I was in 4th grade or so. One of the lunch helpers was carefully scooping curry from the metal container, trying not to give too much or too little to each plate.
when he noticed something that got caught on the scoop, the ladle, and they looked closer and was surprised ‘There’s a hamburger steak in here?!’
School curry usually only had onions and carrots for ingredients, so everyone was surprised. We talked it over as a group and decided to give that one and only thing that looked like hamburger steak to the teacher. So we put it on the teacher’s plate.
The teacher was so touched., he said, ‘Maybe it was a special hamburger patty that was added to enhance the curry broth… and you kids are giving it to me? What good kids you are.’
“Oh… r-really…”
“So then the teacher picked up the hamburger with his chopsticks, it cracked open and turned out to be a lump of curry powder.
Perhaps the lump in the curry had made the surrounding curry extra spicy. Or maybe because of all the excitement he had felt earlier, or maybe from the spice, the teacher ended up eating that curry while tearing up a little.
He was a bit of a sentimental, funny, and kind teacher.”
““…Yeah…””
“Phew! That felt great! Thanks for listening!”
“Y-you’re welcome… I guess…”
After telling my story, I really did feel refreshed. Curry just brings back so many memories. Ah, I just remembered another one… but…Kirara and Mimi both seem weirdly tired now.
Mimi opened her half-closed eyes, and said with a cute, round face.
“Tonight’s dinner is definitely curry!”
…
Wait, no, Mimi, listen—I don’t have rock solid abs made of curry roux, okay?
Also… how do you even know such niche bodybuilder chants? Are you digging through my memories or something?
But… okay, fine. Let’s make it.
The curry roux is a little pricey, but I’ll have my usual curry.
I’ll make it mild so Kirara can eat it too. And I’ll add lots of honey to Kirara’s portion.
I’m sure It’ll probably be sweet enough to qualify as Ameh.
Just gotta make sure I don’t leave any lumps of roux this time…
Curry really does get tied to our memories, doesn’t it?
By the way, these random curry stories not connected to the plot are usually written when the author is really busy…
Tl note:
“You must have had sleepless nights to get that toned”- correction for a line erroneously translated during saki’s first interactions with mimi.