I found one. It took a lot of searching and the place isn't all that nice but I finally found a butcher's shop. I thought there would be something like this with how many non-ponies there are in a city this big, even if they're not super common, but to actually see it brings a tear to my eye. I don't know the names of different cuts of meat in this world, I can barely order at most stores even if I know what I'm getting, but I could still read the price tags and managed to buy a piece of some kind of bird meat from the elderly gryphon behind the counter. It cost me 5 bits so I could afford to do this once or twice a week and barely notice the expense. From there all that was left was the preparation.
It's true I still don't have proper cookware but at this point I really don't care. I've got a hot piece of metal and some meat. I don't need anything else. Well, I need a bit of neutral oil and salt, but few things are cheaper or easier to find. Pouring a little bit of oil on the metal plate that formed the top of my stove, I waited until a drop of spit on it immediately and vigorously boiled before preparing. Cutting off thin strips of the meat with my pocket knife, I rubbed a bit of salt into each side and laid it out on the surface, making sure to drop it away from me to avoid burning myself. As soon as the bottom looked done I skewered one end with the knife and flipped it over, letting the same side get just as done. I didn't have anything good to use for a plate besides the wooden table but it barely mattered. To have my first taste of something other than raw vegetables in weeks, to have my first taste of properly seasoned meat since coming to this world, the damn things slid down my throat as soon as I knew they wouldn't burn me.
Like all good things, though, it eventually came to an end. The strips did get progressively more burnt as the uncontrolled fire kept heating the metal, something I noticed but didn't care about enough to stop eating, but in just a few minutes I was scraping the bone. It took me a couple minutes to realize how full I was, I had eaten what felt like at least half a pound of bird meat, but my mind was already turning to what I could do once I had proper cookware. It would probably also be good to figure out what that meat was, it was closest to turkey but with some nutty and oily undertones, but I could worry about that later. Besides, the flavors started giving me some great ideas moving forwards.
In the short term my main needs are seasonings and some kind of basic saucepan or shallow pot. Once I've got those I can make some pretty nice meals with just meat, vegetables, and water. I'd also like some forks and spoons so I can eat things and move food without using my pocket knife. After that comes a deep, heavy-bottomed pot with a lid and a good wooden spoon. In terms of ease-to-deliciousness ratio few things can beat a good stew. Moving beyond that, though, will start requiring multiple pots and utensils and better ingredients and things, which brings me back to making money. You've gotta spend money to make money and I think it's about time I start painting my figures beyond just a couple accents. I think I'll only start doing it with a few of them, I was never too much of a painter, but once I get some practice in I think it'll help me move towards selling faster and to richer ponies.
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Paint is still expensive but at least brushes aren't. Still, spending a decent chunk of what I had saved up on a few bottles of pigment was a pretty big setback. They'll at least last a while if I'm careful though. I did three to start with and the first was real bad. I mean just horrible. Then, remembering the advice of the only person I knew who actually painted miniatures, I tried thinning my paints out. The result was... still really bad. I cannot paint patterns or new details for the life of me with basically no experience. With the third, though, I think I managed to cheat my lack of skill. I've gotten better at whittling and the model itself looked good so I just followed the wooden figure to a t. Colors only changed along creases and lines I had carved. Texture came from spreading a layer of paint and wiping it off the rough wood surface, a trick I had learned from making latex Halloween masks. I didn't try and make a new painting on the figurine. I just focused purely on making what I had made a bit better and it worked.
The one downside to this approach, and the reason I started with something else, is that it'll make doing specific characters a lot harder. I can get a line a lot nicer with a knife, especially since having it pressed in place means I don't need to worry about my hands shaking, but that line carries with it a lot more risk. I can't take a notch out or make a line I can't paint over with a paintbrush. With a generic person this doesn't matter, it can often be worked around or turned into something, but for character-specific details I'll have a lot more to worry about. Still, at least I have a lot of wood to work with. I just might need to up the price a bit on any more detailed characters I do since I'll likely need to either take my time or do more than attempt. Now that I think about it I could probably stand to up my prices in general if I moved to a market in a nicer part of the city. I won't charge a lot but maybe two bits a figure or two for three?