Hey Code Phoenix, I feel your frustration with the controls and I really don't like how I am forcing the players to adapt to my control scheme too! Anyway, I think you're thinking too much of the game's features... It's a very "lite" game, so I can give you my response to resolve some of your confusions:
1. Having a house/house to the south: There's no access at all, I did not program any new areas for that. You already have the best house overlooking the hills/fields in the distance. The NPC mentions houses to the South, but it's just me saying that "hey, there's more to the village so you're not the only dweller here!".
2. On item combinations: There are no such mechanics here, and also please forget about herb+fern=potion mechanic in this game! The elder gives a tip that says the potion will be refilled by the amount of herbs you have (up to a max) before each quest, so that's the usage for herbs. Frankly I initially wanted to implement a combination system but I don't have enough item variety to justify this mechanic, so Honey became a weapon crafting material instead!
3. On food/meal/BBQ: Talk to the NPC near your house with a cauldron. Her name is Calla. She will tell you that you'll need 5 Beast Meat to have a meal. So if you have it, you can get a random buff!
4. If you check the notice board near your house (starting point), you can see the stats on how many/how fast you killed each monster. You'll see SM and LM which indicates how many types of small monsters/large monsters for the game. In short, there's 6 large monsters! As a shortcut, you can get some glimpse on who they are by checking the weapon materials. :)
I don't ever expect complete patience in finding out everything I've implemented in the game, so I'll be happy to answer any questions to minimize confusion. Again, I'm very happy to even have someone playing the game!