Chapter 575: New Year
February 1, 1984 is the last day of the Year of the Pig.
After this day, it will be the Spring Festival of the Jiazi year of the lunar calendar, and the cycle of the twelve zodiac animals will begin again.
On New Year's Eve, heavy snow fell in the north of the Republic, and the New Year atmosphere suddenly became intense.
There is no doubt that our compatriots all have a strong Spring Festival complex.
But in Ning Weimin’s memory, the Spring Festival thirty years later became increasingly boring.
Especially for a small boss like him, it is actually worse than failing.
Why do you say that?
Because thirty years later, the Spring Festival has only a formality and has lost its spiritual connotation.
The New Year's gift alone is enough for him to drink a pot, not to mention the economic losses caused by going out of business.
The Spring Festival is actually a kind of folk culture.
Since it is culture, it needs a carrier for inheritance.
Don't look at the old people in the past who cling to the traditions that look ridiculous to the younger generations.
But in fact, it is precisely these lengthy traditions that continue the national culture and imprint the Spring Festival, the most sacred and heartwarming festival, in the hearts of every Chinese.
Without those particularities and rules, even the firecrackers to welcome the Spring Festival are not allowed to be set off.
The Spring Festival will be boring, leaving only a sumptuous banquet, which is no different from the usual dinner parties.
The Spring Festival will gradually fade from our hearts, and we will feel at a loss - is this still the New Year?
It is precisely because of this that on New Year's Eve, at six o'clock in the morning, Ning Weimin, who had fallen asleep at twelve o'clock last night, was lifted up by his master Kang Shude and assigned Give him a bunch of errands.
He didn't complain about lack of sleep, and went about his business honestly, doing everything according to the old man's instructions.
First place the "Five Offerings" in front of the portraits of your parents.
Then it's time to clean the house thoroughly, sweeping every corner, and then dump out the dirt.
All dirty clothes saved must also be washed and not left for the coming year.
The water tank should also be cleaned, and of course, store as much water as possible.
The most important thing is the amount of coal for the fire. You are usually reluctant to refill it, but there is no need to be stingy during the Chinese New Year.
The brighter the fire, the better. The room must be warm.
Anyway, I have to try my best to do all the work that can be done before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and try not to do these menial tasks during the Chinese New Year.
When Ning Weimin finished these chores, Kang Shude also finished writing this year's Spring Festival couplets and the word "福" in thin gold style.
After the two of them posted it together, it was time to wash their hands, prepare the ingredients together, and go about making the dumplings.
Ever since he had eaten this refreshing and greasy dumpling with vegetarian filling, Ning Weimin felt that this kind of dumpling without meaty taste was the perfect match for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Otherwise, after filling up the stomach with a table of good wine and good food, eating oily dumplings will be boring.
This thing is good, not to mention the meaning of "a peaceful and peaceful year". The filling is made of shiitake mushrooms, yellow flowers, fungus, vermicelli, winter bamboo shoots, gluten, dried white tofu, glutinous rice cake box, and sesame salt. Another treat for the tongue.
To be honest, Ning Weimin had the idea of plagiarizing dumplings like this to "Tan Palace".
But then I thought about it, I couldn't prepare for the fact that I would be separated from "Tan Palace" in the future, so I had to leave some "private dishes" for myself.
But it’s a pity that you can’t put the dumplings in the pot after they are wrapped. If you want to eat them, you can only wait until evening.
Because in addition to the seasonal issue, "Zhang Dashao" and Sun Wufu will also come over tonight to get together and have a lively New Year's Eve dinner.
They are all alone, so this can be regarded as a group hug to keep warm.
Of course there is no reason for Ning Weimin to enjoy it first and have a boring meal alone.
So the question arises. Looking at the old clock, it’s almost half past eleven, what should I have for lunch?
There is no chance of eating out. Ning Weimin is a very humane leader. He gives employees one more day off than other units. Yesterday, he closed the "Tan Palace" and made another profit. Quite a good reputation.
As for other restaurants and restaurants, to be honest, he really looks down on the quality of those places now.
And think about "Zhang Dashao's" craftsmanship and the amount of chicken, duck, and fish at home.
To be honest, he really didn't want to consume too much "combat power" at noon, so he just wanted to eat vegetarian food.
For this reason, after thinking about it, a brilliant idea came up.
"Old man, let's just eat glutinous rice noodles."
Rice dumplings are a unique type of pasta in Beijing.
It means to grate the zucchini into shreds, add eggs and noodles and mix into a paste, then mix with the auxiliary ingredients, heat the pan, pour a little oil, pour in the batter and spread it flat (round), and brown both sides.
But because zucchini is used, this thing can only be eaten in summer.
And this thing is not decent, it has to be poured with garlic juice, which is the preference of the lower class people.
Outside restaurants and snack bars don’t sell it, so you can only make it at home.
To put it bluntly, Ning Weimin thought of this bite because he had eaten too much good food.
But the old man didn’t want to fulfill his wish today.
This out-of-season eating made the old man who was strict about rules feel disgusted. The key point was that the old man also felt a little aggrieved.
"You really dare to think! What a waste? Where can I find it for you? Come on, you can figure it out for yourself. I have been serving you for a year, and today is the last day. Just let me go. Hey, we don’t know how to talk about it, right? When the day comes that I can’t move, can I count on you?”
That’s all. It is said that Ning Wei's civil affairs are at a terrible disadvantage.
"Okay, then I'll find a way myself, but... what should you do? How about I serve you today? I'll give you a bowl of noodles, and some rice rolls. Dried tofu..."
"Hey, that's right. But it doesn't need to be so troublesome. In fact, your heart is stronger than anything else. In this case, I will leave the kitchen to you, and I will eat whatever you do."
This old man is easy to serve!
When he came to the kitchen, Ning Weimin felt like he was the master of the house, and he felt indescribable excitement and excitement.
After all, this is a rare opportunity for him to cook now, and it is such an important day. If we take into account that his current status and position are different
then he has to show off his skills in order to show that he can work both in the hall and in the kitchen!
How else can a restaurant's top leader convince the public?
I’ve never heard that Dongfang Bubai can’t sew clothes...
Ah, bah! Frustrated!
Just like that, talking to myself and playing with myself, while looking around and touching.
Not long after, Ning Weimin had found suitable materials.
A few radishes, a few eggs, flour in the dough bag, a big head of single-clove garlic, a green onion, all together.
He peeled the radish, grated it into shreds, beat in the eggs, and mixed half a basin of batter. Seeing that the batter was a bit bland, he added two more eggs.
After a while, the batter mixed with flour, shredded radish and eggs was stirred by him into a yellow color, exuding a strong egg fragrance.
Turn on the gas stove again, and the blue flames of the gas, which can only be enjoyed by a few wealthy families nowadays, started to rise.
With caution and energy, Ning Weimin popped out the browned radish pieces one after another in the pan.
Finally, pound the garlic juice in a garlic mortar and pour in soy sauce and vinegar, perfect!
Only the mushy radish that had just come out of the pot, he carried it to Kang Shude with confidence, and the fragrance filled the room.
As expected, the old man praised it as soon as he saw it.
"Well, you really do have a hard-working attitude. Your job as restaurant manager is not for nothing. I have already smelled the fragrance coming from the kitchen in the house..."
< br>
After picking up the chopsticks and tasting it, I gave it a thumbs up.
“Okay, it’s delicious, delicious, and not a fake product. This shredded radish pancake is quite delicious.”
Ning Weimin is a beauty, but that’s what he was wrong about, he shouldn’t get carried away , exposed the nature of escape.
He actually corrected me righteously.
"Old man, this is not shredded radish pancake, it is dumpling. I made it with radish instead of zucchini."
Then he tried hard to please.
"How do you like it? It tastes very delicious. Have you ever experienced eating shit in winter? It was your disciple and me who came up with such an idea. Look, the branches outside are bare and there is heavy snow. The sky is flying, and there are ice flowers on our windows. How lucky you are to be able to eat in such a cold weather! In the past, even the emperor in the Forbidden City was not so lucky!"
< br>If he shows off like this, isn’t he asking for trouble?
Who is the master? Yes or no?
I saw the old man say "hehe" in a displeased manner, "Okay, you actually made a mistake with me?"
In the blink of an eye, Ning Weimin was asked.
"Then I have to ask you, what is a mess? What word should this word be?"
After being stunned for a long time, Ning Weimin said less confidently, "Isn't that just a random nonsense next to the word "rice"?"
This almost made the old man laugh out loud.
"You really opened your mouth! If it were so simple, would I still ask you?"
Ning Weimin is also a bachelor.
"Okay, old man, please stop trying to bully people. It's not that I don't understand your deep meaning, but I know you too well. Since I know that I have let you seize the topic, then I Why are you still resisting? In front of you, the Tathagata, I am just a monkey. The more clever I am, the more embarrassing I will be in the end. It is better to take the initiative and lie down. You can save your energy and I can learn more. If you don’t push me under the Wuzhi Mountain, I will think of you.”
Now the old man is really happy.
"You boy, it's a pity that you didn't go to Tianqiao and left the ground. Okay, as you are so self-aware and filial today, you cooked me a meal. I will give it to you again. Let me make it clear to you.”
“Speaking of this word, the word you mentioned is indeed well-known to people in the capital, but it is wrong because it can only be used. Zucchini cannot be used with other vegetables. What do you mean by the word "paste"? Isn't it just beating into batter and forming a cake on the pan? What does it have to do with the word "cucurbit"? Yes! ”
"When it comes to describing cooking skills, it is obviously more correct to use 'Stand'. In the past, I also heard someone say that it should be the word '烀' for 'fire' and 'hu', but that is not correct. Because that word refers to It's roasted in the stove, and the real word is "烃白豆". So what's really going on? Mr. Song told me that this kind of food originally used "hu (hu) seeds" as the raw material.
"Gourd refers to gourd. Its scientific name is 'Bianpu', its common name is 'Gourd seed', and it is also called 'night blooming'. It is native to Africa, which is now called Africa. This thing is not cold-resistant and is found in southern my country. It is widely cultivated and has white flowers. The tender fruit is like a loofah, long and cylindrical, and is green and white like a gourd."
"The use of gourds in cooking dates back to the Ming Dynasty when Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, established the capital. Before he became emperor, he was named King of Yan. The folk story of "The King of Yan swept the north" was about him. Changling among the Thirteen Tombs is his tomb. Zhu Di moved the capital from Jinling to the capital. The country was named Yongle. During the process of moving the capital, Zhu Di forced the peasants in some areas south of the Yangtze River to move north with him. At the same time, a considerable number of family members of the officers and soldiers also entered the capital area and settled there."
"But the living habits were different. It will change. In summer, people like to eat home-grown gourds, which are delicious when fried or made into soups. However, gourds like to be warm and moist, and some immigrants bring melon seeds from their hometowns. I tried planting them in my hometown, and they actually produced melons, but they were not as big as those in the south. At that time, food was in short supply, so people still followed the southern way of eating, grating the tender gourds into shreds, adding some coarse grains and salt, and stirring them into a thick paste with water. , spread on the griddle to make vegetable pancakes to satisfy your hunger. This is a staple and non-staple food in one, which saves the cost of cooking. "
"The griddle is different from the discus pan in the north. It was also made of pig iron, smaller in size, with a slightly protruding belly in the middle, and a shallow edge around it, which was slightly thicker than the pancake pan. Later, people in the north also followed this method to make pancakes. Since gourds are not produced, zucchini has to be used instead, and the taste is almost the same. It is still rumored to be called Hutanzi. In fact, the original name should be 'Huzi Tan Cake', and later it should also be called 'Hutanzi'. ”
"Gourds have a green smell, which northerners are not used to. There are bitter elements in gourds, which are inedible and are easily poisoned. In mild cases, people may have diarrhea after eating them. I think this may be the reason why we northerners switch to zucchini. One of them, right? "
Ning Weimin likes to hear old things like this, which can make him feel connected to this ancient city.
Although he is a child without parents, he is in this city with a long history. The more he knows about the old things here, the more he understands how he should live.
This may be called a sense of belonging.
Just like today, after cooking a meal, you can hear what happened in the Ming Dynasty. It was worth it.
But just when he was happily trying to praise Kang Shude, the old man quietly stopped using his chopsticks, as if he had remembered something.
Suddenly turned around and asked him.
“Hey, for Wei Min’s sake, when you went to the kitchen, you didn’t just make this plate of shredded radish pancakes, right?”
“Well, yes. Just this one plate. What's wrong with you? It's not enough. What else do you want to eat? Can I cut you some cold vegetables? "
"No, I mean, You’ve peeled this radish, but what about the radish skin?”
"Carrot...radish skin? Throw it away..."
"Ouch, you prodigal son..."
Ning Weimin's eyes widened and he asked in disbelief.
"In this Chinese New Year, is there nothing to eat at home? You are not even worried about the radish skin, are you?"
The old man was so angry that he put down his chopsticks on the table, " There was a "pop" sound.
"If you were my biological son, if I said this to you, I would have to starve you..."
(End of Chapter)