Food Intelligence King

Chapter 116 A Small Gift for Kindergarten Teacher Li (Two more chapters tonight)
Millet and pumpkin porridge is easy to make.

First, rinse the millet. Then peel the pumpkin and have the little girl scoop out the seeds and pulp, then cut it into small pieces about the size of a fingertip.

Bring water to a boil in a clay pot, then add the millet.

Once the rice has puffed up, add the pumpkin.

Adding some glutinous rice would be even better, as it would make the porridge thicker.

But since we're having steamed buns with it tonight, the natural sweetness and soft, powdery texture of the pumpkin will suffice; there's no need to add any sugar.

It has a subtle sweetness, a blend of grains and pumpkin.

While I was cooking porridge, Ms. Lin came home from get off work.

After washing their hands, the whole family participates in home cooking.

Ms. Lin was responsible for rolling out the remaining dough pieces.

With her skill level of 50/100, she can roll out a universal roll that is thin on all four sides and thick in the middle, except for being a little slow.

Under her father's guidance, Chen Taotao started doing it herself.

He also picked up a steamed bun wrapper.

But that little hand wasn't big enough to hold it.

It can only be placed on a cutting board covered with a layer of dry flour, like folding a quilt. First, put the filling in the middle, and then pinch the dumpling skin towards the middle.

It looks a bit like a dumpling, and a bit like a large wonton.

There are definitely not eighteen pleats on the bun, but there are more than one.

It's neither round nor square.

It's still leaking some filling.

Perhaps learning Go was somewhat helpful, because Chen Taotao was quite focused throughout the process, without getting distracted, and carefully kneaded a bun.

After finishing, she even reached out the back of her hand and wiped her forehead.

"I'm exhausted."

With a bit of flour on her forehead, the couple looked at her and smiled at each other.

But when the little girl looked up, she found that her father had already made many steamed buns.

Then he excitedly said:
"You're so amazing, Dad! Make me a little bunny."

For Mr. Chen, who specializes in pastry, the simple design is no problem at all.

It's still the same dumpling skin wrapped around the filling. The top isn't pinched or pleated; it's just simply sealed. Then, the small dough lump is pinched off and rolled into a ball.

Look for the shape of the rabbit.

Then cut out two little tufts for ears. From the bottom of the body, cut out four rabbit legs.

Chen Zhou showed it to her:
"Look like?"

"It looks just like it! This must taste delicious!"

After steaming, it becomes a plump rabbit.

We always keep some green vegetables at home, and today we bought two pumpkins. I borrowed some color to make the dough; I rolled the yellow ones into sticks and pressed the green ones into slices.

When placed next to a rabbit, it says, "Little white rabbit, white and white, loves to eat carrots and green vegetables."

As for the awful-looking steamed bun that Chen Taotao made.

It became the little girl's way of expressing her feelings to her old father.

It was too shabby to be presented to anyone. At dinner, Chen Zhou ate the "steamed buns" his daughter had made in just a few bites.

Considering that steamed buns are prone to collapsing if left in the refrigerator after being made,

Furthermore, you shouldn't make a five-year-old get up at six o'clock to make eight steamed buns.

Chen Zhou thought to himself: I'll have my wife bring her to the store to pick it up tomorrow morning.

The next day was Wednesday.

At noon, another Mr. Mai came to the community canteen to deliver flour.

This Mr. Mai is very self-aware.

I'll arrange the food for the community canteen at noon, planning to have a meal here after finishing my work before leaving.

Master Mai shared a table with two students from No. 2 Middle School.

As he ate, he said to the shop owner:

“My colleague told me that your steamed buns are especially delicious, and asked me to come over around noon.”

Chen Zhou received a positive review from Mai Xiang Ji employees.

After finishing his meal, Master Mai chatted with Chen Zhou for a couple more minutes:
"Mr. Chen, when you come to deliver the goods next time, it will be exactly half a month later. The R&D team from Maixiangji will also come with me, so it might be earlier than today. I'm reminding you again so you don't forget."

"Okay, take care, sir." The flour used in the shop is mainly high-gluten flour because it's used for a lot of leavening.

All-purpose flour is the most versatile; it's used for the dough of soup dumplings and several kinds of snack pancakes.

As for problems, Chen Zhou has indeed encountered them.

Unlike meat, flour isn't necessarily better the fresher it is.

Flour harvested in June and July coincides with the wheat harvest, so its quality is not very stable, and steamed buns sometimes stick together.

However, when we first started setting up our stall, it wasn't very big, and being small made it easier to turn things around.

Once we establish a long-term and stable supply relationship with distributors, we won't need to go to the market to find aged wheat flour ourselves.

As for the employees of Mai Xiang Ji, people from the sales department and the delivery department have already come to the store, and the technical department will be coming soon.

Chen Zhou didn't know how many departments their company had left.

That's about right.

at the same time,

Near Sunshine City, the Fifth Kindergarten of Guangming District.

After handing the children over to their caregivers after they finished eating and taking a walk, the kindergarten teachers finally began to enjoy their own lunch.

The meal allowances for kindergarten teachers are different from those for the children.
They are shorter than children, so they sometimes eat in the cafeteria and often order takeout.

Of course, today is Teachers' Day, so the principal has also improved the food standards for everyone.

Compared to her colleagues, Teacher Li had two more lunch boxes.

Because some children gave her steamed buns and millet and pumpkin porridge on Teacher's Day.

However, I was busy all morning and didn't have time to move it, so I could only put it in the refrigerator and reheat it at noon.

After opening the cover, Teacher Li first smoothed out the sticker and stuck it onto the phone case.

My colleagues at the table curiously examined the little gadgets in my lunchbox:

"These steamed buns look quite nice."

"Is the design a little bunny?"

Teacher Li said proudly, "It's Teacher's Day today, and my student gave it to me! She told me it was a steamed bun. We'll each have one."

Gift cards should never be accepted; they are not only risky but also put psychological pressure on people.

Although a banner might earn a twenty-yuan salary, it represents more of an honor that the kindergarten principal values.

Therefore, it is the small tokens of affection from children that are most heartwarming and comforting.

"Which little kid is so sensible?"

"Chen Taotao from the senior class."

"Oh, I think I know, recently her dad has been picking her up, and she's always the first one to leave."

Teachers remember very well which student left the classroom first.

There's only one serving of millet and pumpkin porridge, so it's hard to divide.

Teacher Li enjoyed it all by herself, taking only a small sip.

Although it wasn't freshly cooked, it was a gift from a child, and it warmed not only my stomach but also my heart.

The bunny-shaped steamed buns... Chen Taotao said she helped, and Teacher Li believed the little girl.

But it also shows that Chen Taotao's parents have really good cooking skills.

They could all open a shop now.

It tastes great too. The meat filling is rolled into a ball inside the little rabbit, glistening with a little meat juice, making it fresh and delicious.

Teacher Li had heard that the steamed buns at a nearby community canteen were quite famous.

Although they live very close to each other, their working hours conflict.

When the steamed bun shop is open, they are usually at the kindergarten, waiting for parents to drop off their children. By the time they finish get off work, the community canteen is closed.

The steamed buns made by Chen Taotao's parents are really good.

Teacher Li was simply curious: I wonder if that shop's food is even better than the one this parent made?
Her colleagues around her each grabbed one. After tasting them, they discovered that they weren't steamed buns at all.

"Oh, it's a steamed bun, and it's filled with meat."

"It feels soft and squishy, ​​like the clouds in the sky."

Kindergarten teachers are all incredibly good at sweet-talking. They shared their colleague's steamed buns and practically showered the little rabbit with compliments.

One of the teachers said to Teacher Li, "My partner once bought me the signature steamed buns from the community canteen, and that's about the same thing."

(End of this chapter)