Chinese New Year extra: The morning of New Year’s Eve (from De Ge’s perspective)
My name is Jiang Zaide. I am a designer. I am in my 30s and have little hair. I am now married and have children. What I am most worthy of bragging about to others is not my annual salary or my college entrance examination scores, but my younger brother—— Jiang Feng.
Speaking of my little brother Jiang Feng, everyone must be familiar with it. He is the chef of Tai Feng House and ranks number one on the celebrity chef list (I would like to regret the death of Mr. Peng here, but my little brother really deserves the title of number one). 1), the glory of the Jiang family, my cafeteria master...
Sorry to say too much.
My biggest dream was to work hard, save money, live across the street from my younger brother, go to my younger brother's house for food every day, and live a happy life without worries about food and clothing.
Who would have thought that this dream would come true in advance when my younger brother also got married a few years ago. Professor Li (actually I should call him my cousin) gave me a courtyard house as a wedding gift.
Although my younger brother later said that he could not accept such an expensive wedding gift, so he bought it from Professor Li and issued an IOU. Our whole family still moved in in advance and became neighbors with Professor Li. (And the debt has not been paid off yet. After all, more than one billion is too much)
Of course, these are digressions that are not worth mentioning. The point is that since then, I have been able to drink hot porridge cooked by my little brother every morning.
I'm not telling you, my porridge cooking skills are far superior to other dishes he cooks. Even Jiang's Ginseng Soup, which is so popular among some diners, seems to me to be just porridge with sea cucumber added.
After saying so much, you may not know what I am going to tell you. Today I just want to tell you that my status in my heart is absolutely extraordinary. It's not a level.
It all started on the New Year’s Eve morning of the first year we spent in Peking after we moved into the courtyard house.
That year, my little piggy hadn’t been born yet. When I was having the New Year’s Eve dinner, I didn’t have to worry about whether the little piggy didn’t get the food and I had to pick it up for him. Yueru wouldn’t blame me for only caring about myself and not caring about my son. .
I'm not telling you, there are so many dishes on my little brother's craft table, he can eat enough even with his eyes closed. How could my son, Jiang Zaide, not be able to get food at the Jiang family's New Year's Eve dinner? It’s so embarrassing!
I have said too many digressions, so let’s get back to the point.
Everything starts from the morning of the thirties.
As one of the people in the family who knows my little brother’s schedule best, I deliberately set an alarm clock for 6 o’clock that morning, because I knew that my little brother would definitely get up before 6 o’clock in order to be busy with the New Year’s Eve dinner.
As long as I can get up on time with Yue Ru on my back at 6 o'clock and help my little brother prepare breakfast, I will definitely be able to eat the small stove specially prepared for me by my little brother.
Don't ask me why I have to do this behind Yueru's back. Xiaozao really doesn't have enough food for two people.
I vaguely remember that it was very cold in Peiping that day.
When I walked out of the room in my pajamas, left the living room and walked to the atrium, I almost sneezed due to the cold wind and woke up Juan Lian in the next room. Fortunately, I held back, otherwise Juan Lian would have woken up.
When I tiptoed to the kitchen, as expected, my little brother was already cooking porridge.
I could smell the aroma of meat coming out of the pot. My little brother was cooking his favorite preserved egg and lean meat porridge.
My little brother always cooks preserved egg and lean meat porridge in the morning. He puts a large pot of porridge on the stove and boils it over high heat. It only takes a few dozen minutes to cook it. Serve it in a large bowl. The rice grains in the bowl are plump and sticky, the preserved eggs are finely chopped, and the lean meat is long. When I drink it, I also like to sprinkle some chopped green onion as a garnish.
After one bite, the rice-flavored preserved egg and lean meat porridge is piping hot and slides from the esophagus into the stomach. At this time, it is paired with two fried dough sticks, a bowl of beef noodles and two poached eggs. It is simply not too wonderful. The porridge can be eaten three times. bowl.
When I went in, the porridge was not ready yet, and my little brother was making noodles.
I'm not saying it, my noodles are really average.
I was the only one who came in. The boy was obviously a little surprised: "Brother De, why did you get up so early today? The preserved egg and lean meat porridge will not be ready for twenty minutes."
I chuckled: "I couldn't sleep. I thought you must be busy in the kitchen, little brother, so I thought of coming over to help you."
The younger brother looked very touched: "Great, I haven't prepared the fillings for making dumplings today. Brother De, if you are free, please help me cut the radish shreds."
Although my knife skills are not very good, it is more than enough to cut some shredded radish for making dumplings.
I cut the radish shreds conscientiously according to my little brother's instructions. I swear, I was fully focused on cutting the radish for the first 10 minutes, until I found that my little brother was frying the sauce next to me.
"Brother, are we eating preserved egg, lean meat porridge and fried noodles this morning?" I asked.
"That's right." The little brother nodded, "Brother De, if you want other toppings, there is still a piece of braised beef in the refrigerator that I braised before. I can make you beef noodles, Qiqi's kimchi and Jiyue's mother's There are still a lot of pickles left, which you can eat with porridge.”
I was overjoyed, thinking that my little brother really loved me. There was only one piece of braised beef left in the refrigerator and he didn’t keep it for himself but for me.
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but be so moved that my eyes became wet. I speeded up the cutting of radish, determined to make my little brother feel that the braised beef he gave me today was worth the money.
Because I wanted to eat beef noodles, while I was frying the sauce, I took the braised beef out of the refrigerator and heated it up. I cut it into thin slices. Each slice of beef was evenly thin and thick. I could see the distribution of shredded meat on the beef from two meters away. .
My little brother gave me a whole piece of beef without any secrets. Not only that, he also poured a spoonful of the soup stock that he prepared yesterday for tonight's cooking on the noodles. The taste reminds me of the soup stock dishes I eat during New Year's Eve. This beef noodles with stock soup seems to be a warm-up for tonight's New Year's Eve dinner.
Although it’s not the first time I’ve smelled or eaten noodles with dashi soup, it still makes me salivate every time I smell the delicious chicken soup.
No matter how many times I eat it with my brother's cooking, it feels like it's the first time.
Sure enough, the early bird gets the worm, and the diligent brother gets the meat!
I ate the entire bowl of beef noodles covered with beef and covered with an egg in one go. After finishing the meal, I was still unsatisfied and wanted to eat another bowl of fried noodles. Unfortunately, the fried sauce is still in the pot and the preserved egg and lean meat porridge is not yet cooked in the pot.
I thought about the beef I had just eaten, and I just felt that the beef was braised a bit below the standard. Either it was not delicious, or I felt that with my skills, I shouldn't have braised beef like this.
Maybe it was because it had been stewed in advance and stored in the refrigerator for a long time and there was only one piece left. It was a bit woody and the taste was not as good as the beef dishes my brother used to make.
But this is a small dish specially opened by my little brother for me. The kindness alone is not comparable to the beef dishes I usually eat.
Sure enough, I am the most important brother in my little brother's heart.
After cutting the radish for another ten minutes, I cut all the pieces I could. My little brother seemed very happy to see that I cut so much so quickly.
"Brother De, it will take some time for the fried sauce and preserved egg and lean meat porridge. I used the largest pot today, so the porridge will take a lot longer to cook than usual. There is no heating in the kitchen, and you are still wearing pajamas and it is so cold today. , It snowed last night. Why don’t you go back to your room to rest and come back for breakfast in half an hour?”
Under my younger brother's concerned urging, I returned to the room and quietly played with my phone without disturbing Yueru.
After about half an hour, I woke up Yueru and asked her to get up for breakfast, while I went to the kitchen first.
When they arrived in the kitchen, Juan Qing and Juan Lian were already squatting on the ground eating noodles with bowls in their arms. I saw an empty bowl next to the stove and someone must have finished eating and left.
The kitchen was filled with the aroma of preserved egg and lean meat porridge and noodles with soybean paste. The aroma of the beef noodles I had eaten earlier had completely dissipated. No one would know that I had secretly eaten beef noodles behind their backs.
"Brother De, you woke up quite early, but Brother Cheng got up earlier than you. Brother Cheng has already finished eating and gone back to the room." Juan Lian twitched in between eating noodles and told me that my second brother had already finished breakfast. information.
"Oh, really? Then he got up quite early. I thought I got up early enough today." I pretended to be stupid.
Juan Lian continued to eat noodles without doubting his presence.
I glanced at the basin next to the chopping board and found that my little brother had even chopped the minced meat.
"Brother De, if you want to eat noodles, cook them yourself. The fried sauce is in the bowl. Carrots, cucumbers, and celery are placed in the basin next to the fried sauce. I covered it with a lid. If you want to eat, add it yourself."
"Okay." After I said that, I went to order a bowl of noodles for myself, scooped out a bowl of preserved egg and lean meat porridge and drank it in large gulps.
"Brother De, the fried sauce I made today is particularly delicious. You can add a little more when you eat it. The salty one is also delicious!" Juan Qing raised his head and said.
I nodded perfunctorily, thinking that you guys didn't get to eat the beef noodles that my little brother made today.
Although it's not that delicious, my little brother made it specially for me.
specialized! This is a series that will be written from multiple personal perspectives. It is considered a special New Year chapter. (Actually, I have a more special extra that is almost finished, but it’s not suitable for the New Year, so I’ll leave it for later.) Happy New Year to everyone~
(End of chapter)