mesbooks Chapter 139 Good Omen
Chapter 139 Good Omen
Time flies, and a few days passed in a flash. Shen Youyou really racked her brains these days to figure out how to cook ten dishes.
Candied yam, pork ribs stewed with yam, bamboo shoots fried with bacon, sweet and sour black fish, steamed carp, braised catfish, sour bamboo shoots and grass carp fillets, golden thread fish soup, stir-fried bamboo rat, and the last one is yam fried with winter bamboo shoots.
For this dish, Shen Zhiqiu took a few men to dig through the snow and brought back some winter bamboo shoots.
There is no way because the ingredients are limited.
Grandpa Shen was extremely happy as he looked at the busy crowd. The old man did not expect that he could really eat ten dishes this year.
"May there be plenty every year. We have so many different fish dishes. This is a very good omen."
The old men and women did nothing today. They just sat on the kang and chatted peacefully.
Father Shen was also infected by the atmosphere: "Yes, I never thought that we could have ten dishes for the New Year in this period."
The little kids from each family were all dressed very neatly today. As the saying goes, "clothes make the man, and saddles make the horse." Although they didn't have new clothes, they all wore their best clothes, which were washed clean and dressed neatly.
Tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year. No matter what, we must greet the new year in our best condition.
The little kids are now all there, all surrounding Shen Youyou.
Shen Youyou's group occupied the six stoves in the cave, and now there were wooden barrels and basins on the ground.
There are basins and buckets of soaked pine nuts inside. They have been soaking since last night, and the shells of the pine nuts have been softened.
The older sisters, Shen Daya, Wang Taohua, Shen Cuiya, Shen Xingya, Guo Daya and Shen Yingzi, were skillfully using bamboo steamers to steam the softened pine seeds again.
Shen Youyou was directing them in an orderly manner to ensure that everything went smoothly.
About an incense stick of time later, several pots of steamed pine nuts were poured into bamboo baskets and quickly placed on the kang to bake to remove excess moisture.
The little kids stood quietly by, nervously watching their sisters' every move, fearing that they would disrupt the process of making pine nuts and thus not be able to taste the delicious pine nuts that their sisters had talked about.
After all, in other years, even if we picked some pine nuts in the mountains, our parents and grandparents would take them out to sell for money. They would never be willing to eat them themselves.
When the moisture in the pine nuts was basically dried out, Shen Youyou began to instruct the sisters to fry the pine nuts.
She also reminded her sister who was in charge of lighting the fire to pay attention to controlling the heat so as not to affect the final taste.
Shen Daya and others rolled up their sleeves, picked up shovels, and started frying pine nuts in unison.
In the pot, there were only pine nuts, no sand or salt added.
Without sand, salt cannot be used to fry pine nuts.
For them, it is good enough to eat fried pine nuts.
"Yes, just keep stirring until you see all the pine nuts crack open."
Shen Youyou observed the sisters' operations and gave instructions.
Seeing the sisters’ skillful movements, I believe that they will all become good cooks in the future.
The sisters nodded one after another, indicating that they understood, but their hands did not stop working at all. They were concentrating on frying the pine nuts, striving to do their best.
The entire rest area is now steaming and filled with water vapor.
Shen Youyou is definitely the type of person who would create conditions even if there are no conditions, and still enjoy life.
This year during the Chinese New Year, she will not only serve ten dishes, but she will also prepare some snacks for everyone.
Dry-fried pine nuts, pine nut cakes, and some chestnuts I picked earlier that were left but not ground into flour.
Sugar-roasted chestnuts and candied walnuts. The other sisters who are free are now sitting on the ground and smashing walnuts with small stones.
It's not that she is heartless. She has to eat these precious things even when she is fleeing from famine. She also knows that she can take these things with her and sell them when the time comes.
To be honest, I have had this thought before!
But after repeated consideration, they decided to eat by themselves. Firstly, they had limited manpower and no cattle or horses, so they could only push the food around.
There were so many things to bring with me when I set off again after the Chinese New Year, including dried fish, kudzu root powder, dried bamboo shoots and other food, as well as other luggage and Eucommia bark.
They can eat some pine nuts and walnuts now, and continue fishing after the New Year to supplement their food.
The second is that there are not many pine nuts, and the pine nuts may not be full due to the drought, and there are also very bad pine nuts.
Just pick and choose and eat them yourself to avoid taking up space. He didn't plan to sell the walnuts, and there weren't many. Shen Zhiqiu meant to give them to the children to help nourish their brains.
No one had any objections. As they said, they would just do whatever Shen Zhiqiu arranged. It was their own children who ate it, not other people's children.
Which parent doesn’t want their child to be as smart and likable as Shen Youyou?
After the pine nuts were fried, they were poured back into the bamboo basket: "Sisters, please have some people peel the pine nuts. At least one basin is enough."
Shen Yaya and a few others responded and quickly stepped forward to peel the pine nuts.
Shen Youyou squatted down and taught the sisters some tips: "We soak the pine nuts in water and steam them so that they will be open when fried. Don't peel them with your fingernails. Peeling too much will hurt your fingernails."
As she spoke, she picked up a pine nut, peeled one open, and inserted half of the peeled pine nut into the opening of another unpeeled pine nut. With a gentle twist, the whole pine nut was split into two halves.
"Huh! So simple?" Several young ladies exclaimed in surprise.
Shen Youyou nodded: "That's fine, even if you peel more, your nails won't hurt."
As a result, the sisters quickly followed Shen Youyou's example and separated the pine nut peels very easily.
"Yoyo is so smart. You can always find a good solution."
Shen Yaya said as she threw pine nut shells into a winnowing basket nearby, saying that the pine nut shells thrown into the winnowing basket could also be used to make fire.
Shen Yuanbao brought a group of kids with him: "Sister, we can do this too."
The little kids behind her were so excited that they almost drooled at Songzi, but they didn't forget to ask Shen Youyou for permission, and they shouted in their childish voices, "Sister, we can do it."
Shen Youyou listened to the shouting and looked at the sparkling eyes, and said with a smile:
"Of course you can, but each of you can only eat ten pine nuts to satisfy your cravings. You can't eat more than that. The rest have to wait until everything is ready and everyone can eat it together. Okay?"
The kids all responded in unison: "Okay!"
Shen Youyou then said to Shen Yuanbao, "Yuanbao, you are the older brother now. You are responsible for sending a plate to grandpa and grandma, so that they can eat first. If you have delicious food, you should honor the elderly first, understand?"
The more you praise Shen Yuanbao and let him take the lead, the more obedient he will be. He nodded and happily went to bring pine nuts to his grandparents.
The little guy Shen Luming was following behind him.
The old men were chatting, all lamenting that this year was more meaningful than spending it at home.
Shen Yuanbao took Shen Luming in with the roasted pine nuts in their hands.
Most of the old men could eat it, but Grandpa Shen had some difficulty eating because he had few teeth left.
That's it. I peeled one and put it in my mouth: "It smells so good!"
Old Man Shen grabbed a handful, and the little kid Shen Luming immediately climbed onto his grandfather's lap, staring eagerly.
Old Man Shen held his little grandson in his arms and gave him some peeled pine nuts to eat.
Shen Luming wanted to eat it very much, but he did not forget what his sister said, and said in a baby voice: "Grandpa, eat first."
Old Man Shen nodded, ate one himself, and said with a smile, "Good boy, Grandpa has eaten it, you can eat it!"