Food: Taking the twins to kindergarten to be chefs

With the arrival of mid-December, the winter chill quietly intensifies and the temperature gradually drops, as if every wisp of air has condensed into ice crystals, and you can feel the biting chill with a light touch.

In this season, the days are miserly shortened while the nights are greedily lengthened, wrapping the world in a deep blue-purple.

Today is the winter solstice, the day with the shortest day and longest night in the year. It seems that even the sun is reluctant to show up early and is reluctant to rise.

On this cold morning.

Huang Jun held Qingqing and Weiwei's tender little hands and slowly walked out of the gate of the community.

All of a sudden.

An even more biting cold wind blew in their faces, carrying with it the unique chill of winter, causing the family of three to shiver slightly involuntarily.

Looking around, I saw the trees on both sides of the street swaying gently in the cold wind. The dead leaves were like fragments of time, dancing on the ground, spinning and telling the unique tranquility and loneliness of winter.

I originally thought that the distance to the kindergarten was only a short distance, and I could walk there to enjoy parent-child time, exercise my body, and enjoy the fresh air in the morning. I never thought that the cold today would be so oppressive. I couldn't help but regret not driving the Wuling car to go.

But going back to get the car at this moment is obviously not the best option.

"Qingqing, Weiwei, come, Daddy will take you flying for a while..."

As Huang Jun spoke, he squatted down, carefully tightened the collars of the two little ones, then gently picked them up at the same time and set foot on the path leading to Doraemi Kindergarten.

"Dad, am I heavy?"

Qingqing snuggled in his warm embrace, with concern glittering in her eyes.

I’m mainly worried that dad will be tired!
Huang Jun raised a doting smile and shook his head gently, "It's not heavy, not heavy. Holding my Qingqing is like holding a warm little sun in my arms. No matter how cold the weather is, I can feel the endless warmth."

Seeing this, Weiwei was not to be outdone. She gently pulled Huang Jun's collar with her little hands, raised her innocent little face, and asked in her baby voice, "What about me, Dad? Am I not heavy either?"

"of course!"

Huang Jun lowered his head, gently fell on Weiwei's smiling face, and replied lovingly: "You two are daddy's little babies. Holding you is like holding two little suns. No matter where I go, daddy's heart is warm."

Although the two little ones are getting heavier, making hugging them more challenging, it is not a problem at all for Huang Jun as his arm strength is enough to handle it easily.

When Qingqing heard that she had become the "little sun" in her father's heart, she immediately took action, covered Huang Jun's face with her little hands, and said with a smile: "Dad, your face is cold, let me add some warmth for you~"

Don't even say it.

Children have a lot of energy. The moment her little hands covered his face, Huang Jun felt as if there were two hot packs on his face.

It’s especially warm!

"Daddy, let me warm your face... um... I'd better warm your forehead!"

Weiwei was also eager to try, but seeing that Huang Jun's cheeks were already occupied by her sister's hands, she had to settle for the next best thing and reached out to cover his forehead.

Fortunately, no one told Huang Jun to cover his eyes, otherwise, he would have to grope forward in the cold winter wind.

Huang Jun felt the innocence and warmth from the children, and his heart was filled with happiness. He smiled and said, "They are really my two intimate little cotton-padded jackets, so warm~"

"Hee hee~"

Qingqing and Weiwei smiled at each other, and that pure happiness floated in the air.

Arriving at the kindergarten gate,
The two little guys came down from Huang Jun's arms and, as usual, happily greeted Yang Yuxi and Xie Jianing: "Teacher Yang, Teacher Xie, good morning!"

"Qingqing, Weiwei, good morning!"

Yang Yuxi and Xie Jianing both smiled and waved at them, then reached out and took the hands of the two little ones, "Teacher will take you to the classroom!"

"Then I'll have to trouble you two teachers..."

Huang Jun expressed his gratitude in a gentle and elegant manner. At the same time, he waved to the two teachers and the children. When he was about to turn around and walk towards the kitchen, he was stopped by Yang Yuxi's gentle voice: "Qingqing Dad, please wait a moment. Can I talk to you for a moment? I have something to talk to you in private."

Before Huang Jun could respond, she naturally pulled up his sleeve and led him to a quiet corner.

"Teacher Yang, do you have anything important to talk to me about?"

Huang Jun asked curiously with a hint of confusion.

Yang Yuxi lowered her eyelids slightly, a blush appeared on her cheeks, and she opened her rosy lips and said softly, "It's like this, the first of next month, that is, January 6th, is my father's birthday. He has always praised your cooking skills and always wanted to taste the delicacies you cook in person one day. Therefore, I dare to ask you to come to my house on that day to help prepare a special birthday party and give him an unexpected surprise. This means a lot to me..."

As she said this, she clasped her hands together, made a "please, please" gesture, and looked at Huang Jun with expectation in her eyes.

“It turns out to be such a happy event.”

Huang Jun smiled warmly when he heard this. He nodded slightly and responded, "Of course."

"Thank you so much, Qingqing Dad!"

Yang Yuxi's eyes were shining with joy and gratitude: "Then we have happily decided. I will come to pick you up in person when the time comes, along with Qingqing and Weiwei."

"Okay, it's a deal."

Huang Jun nodded again to confirm, and then added: "Then I'll go get busy now, see you later."

After that, he turned and walked towards the kitchen, stepped over the threshold and entered the busy kitchen.

"Aunt Lin, Aunt Li, good morning!"

Huang Jun greeted Aunt Lin and the others, then he turned his gaze to Lv Pengfei and Jiang Shuihan who were busy preparing, and greeted them warmly: "Anchor Lu, Anchor Jiang, good morning, you two, you are here so early!"

"Good morning, Chef Huang!"

Lu Pengfei and Jiang Shuihan turned around together and greeted Huang Jun with a smile.

Usually, they mainly take pictures of lunch, and sometimes they also take pictures of children learning to cook with Huang Jun.

But today was different because it was the Winter Solstice. Liang Yinqiu specifically asked them to record the beautiful scene of the traditional custom of making wontons in the kindergarten during the Winter Solstice. That was why the two of them rushed to the kindergarten so early.

"Then I'll trouble you two for a while!"

Huang Jun was fully armed and after disinfection, he led the two of them into the operating room.

Qian Guoxiang was concentrating on preparing various materials needed to make wontons. Huang Jun walked up to him, examined the progress, then nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

At the same time, Jiang Shuihan and Lu Pengfei were busy and orderly placing the filming equipment one by one.

Huang Jun faced the camera and said as usual: "Dear parents, today, we will explore the secrets of making the traditional delicacy of the winter solstice - crepe wontons. So, how can we make this bowl of crepe wontons with good color, aroma and taste? Everything starts with making the wonton wrappers by ourselves..." Huang Jun poured medium-gluten flour on the chopping board, bent his four fingers, and a 'big hole' was left in the middle of the flour. He sprinkled some salt into the "big hole" and said as he worked: "This salt can make the noodles more elastic. Add some egg white, it can make the noodles more sticky and not easy to fall apart."

He slowly added a little water to the flour, making it into a paste first, then added the remaining water and continued stirring, stirring the flour into snowflakes.

at this time.

He began to knead the dough vigorously, kneading in all the dry powder that had spilled on the chopping board.

After he kneaded the dough repeatedly with both hands...

Not long after…

Smooth, delicate and elastic doughs were kneaded by his skillful hands!

He picked up the plastic wrap and said to the camera: "The kneaded dough should be covered with plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. During this time, we will make the delicious stuffing. We use green shrimps, peel the shells and remove the shrimp threads, and cut into small pieces, but don't hit the shrimps easily. It is easy to break all the tendons of the shrimps by hitting them, so that a large part of the chewy taste will be lost. After the shrimps are processed, the sandwich meat will be chopped into meat stuffing..."

Fortunately, Qian Guoxiang had already helped chop the shrimp and meat fillings, so he didn't need to bother with the chopping process anymore, so he went straight to the stage of mixing the fillings.

He added some salt, sugar and a little white pepper to the minced meat to make it taste better and less fishy.

He put on disposable gloves and stirred the meat filling at a constant speed in one direction, while stirring, he reminded: "The key is to beat out the gelatin in the meat filling, so that the taste will be fuller."

He poured in some of the onion and ginger water he had prepared in advance, and added it to the minced meat in batches, stirring in the same direction. Each time he added it, he continued to stir in the same direction. He emphasized: "The stirring direction must be consistent, otherwise the minced meat will 'rebelliously' spit out water, and the amount of water spit out will be twice as much as it absorbs, affecting the final taste."

stir!
Keep stirring!

With each vigorous stirring, the meat filling gradually shows extraordinary vitality and toughness, becoming chewy, firm and integrated, which also indicates that the meat filling is well beaten.

He poured the crystal clear shrimp pieces in, continued to stir evenly in the same direction, and cleverly added some sesame oil to add an attractive aroma to the filling.

Still following the unchanging stirring direction, patiently blend all the ingredients into one.

After the filling is mixed, he sets it aside, waiting for its flavor to settle, then walks to the chopping board and peels off the plastic wrap covering the dough one by one, preparing to make the wonton wrappers.

He explained as he made the dough: "The secret to making crepe dough as thin as a cicada's wing lies in technique and patience. First, sprinkle a layer of wheat starch on the chopping board to prevent sticking, then press the dough lightly with your hands until it is flat, and then use a rolling pin to slowly roll it out from the middle to both ends, rolling it up and down until it is a rectangle, and then roll it up with a rolling pin..."

His hands kept rolling the dough, and every time he pressed down, there was a slight "dong dong" sound between the rolling pin and the dough.

With every roll of the rolling pin, the dough extends outward obediently, as smooth as a mirror without a single wrinkle.

His technique became more and more skillful, and while his speed increased, his accuracy did not decrease in the slightest, as if the rolling pin had become a part of his body, reaching the state where man and the pin became one.

When a perfect rectangular wonton wrapper appeared in front of everyone, he was not satisfied with it.

He just shook his wrist lightly, and the rolling pin skillfully rolled up the dough. Then he twisted his hands vigorously, and the dough drew a smooth arc in the air and landed steadily on the chopping board.

After unfolding, the wonton skin was so thin that light could pass through it. His craftsmanship was so superb that Lu Pengfei and others present were dazzled. They felt that their eyes could hardly keep up with his fast movements.

"Wow, this craftsmanship is absolutely amazing!" Lu Pengfei widened his eyes, looking incredulous: "It's as thin as paper, and it's so even, it's amazing!"

"Yes, Chef Huang's cooking skills would probably take him ten to eight years of practice to reach this level!" Jiang Shuihan's eyes were full of admiration.

Huang Jun used a knife to cut the wonton wrappers and said modestly with a smile: "No, no, it's just practice makes perfect. As long as everyone is willing to work hard and practice more, they will definitely be able to make such good wonton wrappers."

"Chef Huang, making wonton wrappers requires more than just hard work. You can do it with more practice."

Qian Guoxiang picked up a piece of wonton wrapper that Huang Jun had dropped when cutting, examined it carefully, gently pulled it, and exclaimed: "Look, this wonton wrapper is as thin as a cicada's wing but not torn, tough yet elastic, transparent and extensible. It is truly a rare food masterpiece and a work of art!"

After saying that, he carefully placed the wonton wrapper on a transparent plastic bag with the recipe printed in dense small characters.

Lu Pengfei and others all looked over...

then…

I was so shocked that my jaw almost dropped on my shoe.

"Oh my god, I knew that the wonton wrapper was very transparent, but I didn't expect it to be so transparent! Every word on the plastic bag is clearly visible, as if it was printed directly on the wonton wrapper!"

Lu Pengfei widened his eyes, his fingertips trembling slightly, almost touching the seemingly translucent piece of art, but was afraid of destroying this precious exquisiteness.

"Yes, the technique of making wonton wrappers can be applied for intangible cultural heritage!"

Jiang Shuihan quickly took out his cell phone, eager to record the miracle of this moment.

"I have seen countless wonton wrappers in my life, but I have never seen such a thin and yet tough wonton wrapper! Chef Huang's craftsmanship is truly amazing!" Qian Guoxiang praised repeatedly, and felt even more ashamed of himself...

Huang Jun just smiled indifferently and continued his smooth movements.

As time passed quietly, the chopping board was gradually covered with wonton wrappers rolled as thin as a cicada's wing and of precise size.

"Assistant Chef Qian, Aunt Li, Aunt Lin, let's get moving, or we won't be able to catch breakfast."

As Huang Jun was greeting, he skillfully picked up a stack of wonton wrappers from the table and flicked them lightly with his fingertips, and one of them floated lightly into his palm.

Then, with his right hand, he accurately scooped up a small spoonful of about seven grams of filling from the filling bowl. The spoon drew a graceful arc in the air and landed steadily in the center of the wonton wrapper.

With lightning speed, he pinched the edges of the wonton skin, folded, twisted and pressed, and a square, angular wonton was quickly born in his hands.

As he continued to cook, he said to the camera: "After the wontons are cooked, wrinkles will form on the surface, which looks very beautiful. This is the origin of the crepe wontons."

Not long after...

All the wontons have been neatly arranged on the tray, and the shape of each wonton is almost exactly the same, as if they were carved out of a mold.

Next, Huang Jun started to prepare the soup base.

He first put some salt, sugar and a little white pepper into the bowl to enhance the flavor.

Next, add boiling chicken broth to dissolve the three ingredients.

Also add a little lard and sprinkle some dried shrimps and seaweed in.

"Putting the seaweed in now is to soften it a little so that it can fully release the flavor of the sea."

When he saw the water in the pot was boiling, he started to put the wontons in. While putting the wontons in the strainer, he continued, "You can't just throw the wontons into the water to cook. You have to put them in the strainer first to scald the bottom of the wontons. That way, when the wontons are completely immersed in the water, they won't roll around too much. Turn to medium-low heat and slowly cook the wontons. That way, they won't break or leak..."

As he was talking, the wontons in the pot started to float up, which meant they were cooked! (End of this chapter)