Entertainment starting from the windy place

Chapter 200 The Moon Also Shined on Me
The Winter Solstice is as important as the New Year, but it is a small reunion for people.

Today is the winter solstice, and everyone in the courtyard is busy preparing dinner and celebrating the festival together.

"Add water, small amounts and multiple times, pour slowly."

Hearing the command, Chen Mo slowly poured the cold water in the bowl into the flour, while Xu Hongdou quickly used chopsticks to stir the flour into flocs, and then kneaded it into dough with his hands.

There was no way. Chen Mo was good at cooking, but he didn't have the skill to cook pasta, so Xu Hongdou had to be the main force and he could only help out.

This is also a point that Chen Mo has always found magical. It seems that families in the north all have the skill to knead dough. Whether it is making dumplings, buns or noodles, they can knead the dough easily.

Although Chen Mo's family lives in BJ, they are of solid southern descent and do not have the pasta gene.

When southerners talk about making dumplings, they subconsciously think of buying dumpling wrappers outside, and rarely think of kneading the dough at home.

Because in the subconscious of southerners, "kneading dough" should be a very troublesome process.

Xu Hongdou's fair hands were seen kneading and pressing the dough in the basin a few times, and the dough soon formed into a ball. In the end, it became "three shiny", with the basin, hands and dough shiny.

After kneading, Xu Hongdou covered the dough with a smaller bowl and clapped her hands: "Alright, let the dough rest for a while before kneading it again."

"What is the purpose of this 'awakening'?" Chen Mo asked humbly.

Xu Hongdou hummed twice, looking very pleased.

But she knew that Chen Mo always looked down on her when it came to cooking, and she had no idea how many times he had "made fun of" her soy sauce cooking skills.

"The purpose of letting the dough rest is to loosen its strength. Kneading the dough is to loosen its strength, so as we knead it, the dough gradually becomes hard. At this time, we have to wait for a while to let the dough loosen and soften before we knead it again. Knead and rest the dough three times, and the dumpling skins that will be cooked later will be translucent and not broken."

Xu Hongdou recalled what Liu Guiqin said when she taught her, and repeated it to Chen Mo.

Chen Mo nodded. "But I see that some of them need to add eggs and cornstarch. Why is that?"

"Well, what do you think?" Xu Hongdou asked back.

Chen Mo thought for a moment, "If it's not for adding flavor, then it should be for the texture. Flour can be divided into high-gluten and low-gluten. I see that you used high-gluten flour to knead directly without adding anything. If you added something, was it to change the gluten properties of the flour?"

Xu Hongdou nodded without changing her expression, "Well, you know it."

Chen Mo blinked, "Why do I feel like you're waiting for me to come up with an explanation myself?"

Xu Hongdou glanced at him and said, "I'm asking you to think for yourself. What you come up with is your own."

"Really?" Chen Mo looked suspicious. "I remember when I was in school, the teacher was asked questions that he didn't understand in class, and it seemed like this was how he fooled us."

Xu Hongdou turned around and said, "It's time to mix the stuffing, otherwise you won't be able to wrap it later."

Chen Mo smiled and said mischievously, "Why don't you go back later and ask someone? It's no good learning something only knowing how it is but not why it is, Teacher Xu."

Xu Hongdou pretended not to hear. For someone who used to be able to talk about having a cat at home without blushing or getting nervous, this was just a small scene now.

"Boss Chen, we need help urgently!"

In the sink next to the stove, Nana looked at the crabs that were about to crawl out in panic, but she didn't dare to eat them.

Chen Mo walked over, grabbed the crab swiftly, opened the shell, removed the gills, and crushed it into four pieces.

"What are you going to do?"

"Stir-fried crab with rice cake is a very special dish in our Jiangsu and Zhejiang area."

After processing the crabs, Nana became much more relaxed, but her technique was still a little unfamiliar.

In particular, when Chen Mo saw her throwing sugar around like it was free, his eyelids twitched.

One spoonful, two spoonfuls, still not satisfied, add another half spoonful.

"Isn't this a bit too much sugar?" Chen Mo reminded tactfully.

"No, local cuisine tends to be sweet."

Nana still felt it was not enough, so she added another half spoonful, "A little more."

Chen Mo smacked his lips. He felt choked just by looking at him. "No wonder you like making desserts."

At another stove next door, Barley was stirring the pot methodically, looking much more reliable.

"Da Mai, is this glutinous rice?"

Chen Mo stretched his head and took a look, and saw that the pot was full of delicious food.

Da Mai smiled and introduced, "In Hunan, we eat glutinous rice during the winter solstice. We add some oil residue, red dates and other things, and simply season it with pepper and salt, but we must make sure the rice crust is left. You can try it later. It's delicious."

"But this time I put bacon in it. Teacher Hu was teaching Little Gourd to sing a few days ago, and Xiaochun brought it over."

Chen Mo listened and nodded, "Home-smoked bacon, good stuff."

In Yunnan, there is a custom of slaughtering the New Year pig and smoking bacon at the end of the year.

Among them, the most famous is Xuanwei ham.

Chen Mo walked out of the kitchen area and caught Chen Nanxing who was wandering outside, "What are you doing?"

Chen Nanxing was drinking something happily from a small cup. When he saw Chen Mo coming over, he gestured:
"Would you like a drink? Nana's family sent this osmanthus winter wine from Suzhou. I heard that this wine is only sold for about ten days a year, and it will be gone after that."

Upon hearing this, Chen Mo joined in critically, took a sip, and nodded, "Drinking rice wine on the winter solstice has a unique taste."

"Really?" Chen Nanxing raised his eyebrows. "After drinking the wine, you can have a bowl of chicken soup from my pot. It will definitely make you feel better."

Chen Mo smiled and said, "Drinking chicken soup on the winter solstice in Nanjing?"

"Yes, and eating tofu."

Chen Nanxing said: "During the winter solstice, the day is the shortest and the night is the longest. The air is cold and yin. Chicken soup can dispel the cold, and tofu symbolizes purity."

"I'll go stir-fry some vegetables and tofu later when their stove is free. It's simple and light." "Hey, don't just drink by yourselves, give me a sip too."

In the yard, Hu Youyu sat beside the charcoal stove, flipping and roasting glutinous rice cakes.

The glutinous rice cake was brought over by Aunt Agui in the afternoon. There is a custom in Dali of eating glutinous rice cake during the winter solstice.

Chen Mo poured a cup for Hu Youyu and took it over. He then sat down beside him to see which pieces were grilled and took a piece to taste first.

In this festive atmosphere of lively reunion, the dishes are most delicious when they are "sneaked in" during the preparation stage of the banquet.

As soon as the food comes out of the pot, I grab a piece and swallow it whole, even though it burns my mouth. The taste of it is indescribable.

To date, one of Chen Mo's most profound and happiest memories of his hometown is that during festivals like the Chinese New Year, the whole family would gather together, and when the dishes were served and they officially sat down to eat, the young boy would touch his round belly and realize that he was already half full.

"Why are you eating already? Come and make dumplings."

From inside the room came Xu Hongdou's call.

"Coming." Chen Mo responded vaguely, finished the glutinous rice cake in his hand in a few bites, clapped his hands and stood up.

Seeing this, Hu Youyu smiled knowingly and took sips of the winter-wine in the cup. While drinking, he couldn't help but look up and glanced at the empty room on the second floor.

"Hello, Qingya."

Hu Youyu suddenly turned around when he heard the voice and saw Chen Nanxing in the room holding a mobile phone, waving and greeting the people in the video, and then turned the camera to other people in the kitchen.

Su Qingya looked at the dishes prepared by everyone and suddenly said "resentedly": "Wow, after I left, did you eat so well?"

Chen Mo was rolling out dough, he looked up and said with a smile: "Of course not, who told you not to stay for two more days."

"Oh, I didn't expect there was such an event, and the room has expired, Boss Chen." Su Qingya joked.

"The room is expired, go to the landlady. You said you wanted to stay for two more days. Does she still have the nerve to charge you?"

Chen Mo kept looking aside, Xu Hongdou rolled his eyes, not wanting to bother with him, turned around and asked with a smile:

"Qingya, have you eaten dumplings? Or do you guys eat tangyuan?"

Su Qingya sneered, "We don't eat dumplings and glutinous rice balls here."

"Then what are you going to eat?" Nana poked her head out from behind.

"In Sichuan and Chongqing, we eat mutton during the winter solstice."

"Wow, that means we're missing your great dish." Da Mai also appeared on tiptoe.

Su Qingya smiled and said, "When there is a chance, come to Chengdu and I will treat you to a meal."

Xu Hongdou joked, "No need to wait, we are really going to Chengdu in two days."

Chen Mo raised his eyebrows, "I'll go find you to set up the dragon formation then."

"Really? You want it."

Su Qingya agreed cheerfully, and then asked curiously: "Hey, is there one person missing?"

"Oh, Teacher Hu is there." Chen Nanxing turned the camera of his mobile phone to the yard.

Hu Youyu smiled and raised his hand, but before he could say anything, a voice came from the other end of the video.

"Little one, it's time to eat."

"Right away." Su Qingya replied, then said embarrassedly, "My parents are calling me."

Hu Youyu waved his hand and said, "It's okay. Go ahead and we'll talk next time."

"Okay, I'll leave then."

Chen Nanxing responded: "Okay, we'll chat in the group later."

At the end of the video, Chen Nanxing also joined in making dumplings.

The dishes were served one after another, and the dumplings were wrapped and put into the pot. Finally, Chen Mo made a mint fried pork ribs to finish.

"Come on, everyone, happy winter solstice, cheers!"

"cheers!"

Everyone started eating and chatting.

As they chatted and laughed, three rounds of wine and five dishes were soon served.

Hu Youyu asked with a smile: "Do you feel like something is missing?"

"what?"

“How can we have a meal and drink together without music?”

Everyone understood and applauded, "Then please ask Teacher Hu to sing a song for us."

Hu Youyu exhaled the alcohol, took the guitar next to him, and introduced: "This is a new song I wrote."

Chen Mo became interested after hearing this.

Hu Youyu smiled slightly drunkenly, without any extra words, he just plucked the chords lightly and began to sing:
"There are many colors of flowers, but I don't have a favorite color. I love the clouds in the sky, but my hands are dirty and I can't touch them."

The melody is cheerful and the lyrics are plain and simple, but they make people feel helpless and lonely.

The moonlight was bright in the quiet night, as if it was drawing eyebrows for the sweetheart. A slightly hoarse singing voice echoed from the small courtyard to the lonely night sky:
"I love all the beautiful women in this world, but they are not mine. How I wish you could become my flower that never withers, but time will not let you stay forever."

Of course I knew that it was not my moon, but for a moment, the moonlight did shine on me.

(End of this chapter)