It's mealtime—actually, it wasn't quite mealtime, but because the duck and goose Shiller brought smelled so good, they moved the meal time up to ten in the morning—all of them began feasting.
Undoubtedly, the moment Shiller's goose and duck were sliced open, only the bones were left. If it weren't for Wanda's quick reflexes to stop Venom from swallowing the whole goose in one bite, even the bones would be gone.
The taste of the roast duck and goose indeed lived up to everyone's expectations. This stuff is actually well-suited to American tastes: fragrant and greasy, dipped in plum sauce and sugar, it's sweet and sour. Rich in fat, the meat is tender and juicy, and both the duck and goose are fat with plenty of meat, mostly without needing to gnaw. If you can eat fried chicken, you can eat this. If America had a tradition of raising ducks and geese, this would definitely be the most popular Asian snack in America.
Everyone was eating with oil dripping from their mouths, even including Carter, who had been yelling for days about managing her figure, Stark, who had been eating too many cheeseburgers and had to lose weight, and Venom, who had devoured a 12-person lava chocolate cake the previous night.
"I really want to eat the Doctor's brain," Venom roared, "so I can know the recipes for all these delicious dishes!"
"You can forget about it," Eddie said, "Having the recipe alone is useless. I heard Tony say he experimented at least 20 times, and each time the heat and taste were different. Are you expecting me to roast duck for you every day?"
"Why not? You should at least give it a try!" Venom insisted, "Let's go ask him for the recipe. You have to try it at home, I want to eat this!!"
Eddie was left with no choice but to brace himself and ask for the recipe, but it was clear he wasn't the first, as Shiller was already explaining to Steve and Nick how to control the heat.
Nick was holding a duck leg and chewing on it. He looked a bit disheveled as he snatched this duck leg from Stark. And the other duck leg was evidently with the birthday boy Steve. His eating was more restrained, but still managed to gnaw it down to the bones in just a few bites.
"Perfect," Steve remarked, "Even though I haven't tasted all the dishes yet, I must give this rating, I think this is the best dish today! Absolutely! Doctor! You'll never disappoint anyone in this regard!"
Shiller laughed, then began sharing the recipe with them. Soon after, he also tried other people's dishes and had to admit the food judge was right. Wanda's Provence stew looked very appealing, but the taste was a bit bland, with nothing beyond the taste of fresh vegetables being stewed. Perhaps Wanda just likes her food mild.
Natasha's Olivier salad was very refreshing. Shiller also really liked the nut rye bread she baked and specifically asked her for the recipe. However, Natasha reminded him, "This bread has to be eaten heated, or it will harden like a stone after it cools."
Shiller recalled that the rye bread he ate as a child was cold, and those Soviets would soak them in soup to eat. Because Shiller had a compulsion back then, he ate one dish at a time and absolutely wouldn't mix any dishes together, so he could only taste the dry and hard rye bread.
Coulson's cake was quite ordinary, just a normal chiffon cream cake taste, but the fondant decorations on top were skillfully peeled off and saved. As expected, Steve gave him a set of shiny little cards, a very rare cowboy edition from the West.
Stark's cheeseburgers, which Shiller had tasted before, but it seemed Steve really liked them. Steve originally liked beef, and Stark's cheeseburgers had been reduced in salt, allowing him to scarf down two in one go. Stark was smug once again.
"Cyborgs are really great," Shiller whispered in Stark's ear, "If you eat like this, the mecha won't fit you again."
Stark's expression instantly clouded over, his eyes surveying the cyborgs present. He had just seen Natasha eating a cheeseburger, devouring a whole duck leg, having a plate of cream cake, a palm-sized piece of Tiramisu, and more than half a glass of mulberry wine, and yet her abdomen hadn't changed at all.
Stark couldn't help but curse: "Damn cyborgs!"
Among the other dishes, Shiller was pleasantly surprised by Charles and Erik's roast pork knuckle. It was incredibly fragrant, with tender melt-in-your-mouth skin, perfectly salted and sweet, and when held by the bone and gently shaken, it had a jelly-like texture. Even the broth shimmered, perfectly paired with rye bread to soak up.
Although Charles said he made it with Erik, Shiller felt this must have been Erik's doing. After all, Charles was British; what good food could he have ever had?
Unexpectedly, Magneto had this kind of skill. But thinking about his younger years running around makes it understandable.
The other small desserts and cookies made by others were also quite tasty, with it being obvious that everyone put in a lot of effort. The diners also showed appreciation, and whether they were cyborgs or not, everyone ate heartily. The large amounts of dishes brought by so many people were almost all finished.
After the meal, everyone lay back on the sofas to digest, and of course, the men started discussing politics, from the October Revolution to the War of Independence, from the Pacific War to the Atlantic situation, but actually without any real insights, purely spouting off. The main debaters were Stark with his "Congress is a pile of dog shit" and Steve with his "It's already pretty good, you have no idea back then".
The ladies mostly went to see the children. Carter had a rough time giving birth, and the child was weak when born, so they hadn't dared to disturb them. Now that they were recovering, they naturally went to see the cute little baby.
Though there was a prediction that Little Tommy's powers would burst out today, with the Scarlet Witch among those who went upstairs, even if Eternity's child was lying there, it wouldn't matter.
After the meal was digested, they went to the pool in the backyard to play. Iceman blew air at the pool, and the water immediately turned icy cold. Everyone else dove in and started splashing each other like crazy.
Natasha didn't go in, claiming the water was too cold and bad for the health, but from the way she stared at the topless muscle-bound men, it was clear that health wasn't her primary concern.
Bucky chose to stay on the shore with her, while Barton decided to get in the water. It's hard to say who won between the two, but Shiller knew that neither seemed to be a match for Natasha in their first bout.
The report from Elders Council Hospital indicated that Bucky lost three punches and two slashes to Natasha, while Barton lost two arrows and a taser gun shot, both showing signs of overindulgence.
Shiller didn't get in the water. He never swims and doesn't quite understand why these Westerners jump into the pool at parties. He just sat in the shade nearby, listening to the laughter and noise from the pool.
Just as Shiller was starting to get sleepy, he suddenly saw everyone in the pool scrambling to get out. He didn't understand what was happening—was the pool leaking electricity?
He went over to check and found that Shark-Dog Jeff was swimming inside, with a shark fin sticking out on the surface.
"Wait," Steve scratched his head, saying, "we're supposed to be swimming in the pool, not the ocean, and there are no sharks in New York's sea!"
Stark also looked around, clearly puzzled. Everyone looked bewildered, not understanding how a shark could appear in the pool, something clearly not a toy but alive.
Only Wanda dashed forward, diving into the water, and brought Jeff out. "Oh, my cute little shark! You're here too! Don't scare people like this! Let me teach you how to blow bubbles, okay?"
Watching Wanda come ashore with Jeff, the others became even more confused. Peter opened his mouth but closed it again, then asked, "Did I see it wrong earlier? A shark with four legs?!"
Stark had already started fiddling with his phone. He pressed the voice command key and said aloud, "Reed Richards! Hurry and get down here from upstairs! Are you conducting some dangerous biological experiment again?!!"
Soon, Reed came down looking nonchalant. Susan's face was a bit flushed. It seemed that the two had intended to do something but were interrupted.
"A shark with legs? Are you insane, Tony Stark? You've only had two cocktails and got this drunk?! Need me to remind you that sharks don't have legs?!"
Then he turned his head and saw Jeff learning how to blow bubbles with Wanda.
"What the heck is this thing?!"
Susan's eyes lit up. The other ladies also rushed over, each taking turns holding Jeff, petting and kissing him.
"Okay, I know this must be a conspiracy against the men," Nick said, curling his lip, "this little guy uses his cute face to attract all the pretty ladies' attention, while every male at the party gets completely ignored…"
"Isn't that perfect? We can finally play some real water games." Stark grinned, and with a quick turn, he pulled Reed into the water beside him. A big battle ensued.
When they were pulled out of the pool by their respective family members, it was nearing dusk. Then, they inevitably started exchanging drinks. In the glow of the sunset, glasses filled with different colored fruit wines clinked together, and splashes burst into the golden twilight.
"Gift time!" Steve clapped his knees and said, "Come on! Let me see what you've prepared! This time, I won't hold back; I'll be honest in my evaluations. You'd better not try to fool me!"
"Doesn't matter, I'm already ahead," Stark said, crossing his arms, "I firmly believe no one could possibly give a cooler gift than mine."
"We've all prepared carefully," Nick said, "although Steve doesn't easily go back on his word, I think he could definitely award joint first place. Don't you agree?"
"I'm confident," Peter said, "you won't believe what Gwen and I came up with."
"Alright, let's get started!" Steve clapped his hands and said, "Clockwise order, Eddie goes first."