Food Intelligence King

Chapter 61 Beating the Summer Heat with Watermelon

When Chen Taotao came out of kindergarten, she and Chen Zhou were all smiles and seemed to be in a particularly good mood.

"What happy thing happened to you this time?" Chen Zhou asked.

"I was the first child to be picked up from school today, and it was my mom and dad who came!"

Chen Zhou took his daughter's small schoolbag.

"I'll come to pick you up at this time every time."

"That's great, Dad. If Mom had come to pick me up, more than ten kids would have already left."

Chen Taotao's ten fingers aren't enough.

Chen Zhou helped her by saying, "There are thirty children in your class now. If your mother comes, you will be either fifteenth or sixteenth in line."

"correct."

Chen Taotao didn't actually know if what her father said was right or wrong.

Of course, the old father was just guessing. But his guess was probably pretty close to the truth.

Chen Zhou patted his daughter's head.

"After dinner, I'll take you to play in the water in the neighborhood. There will be other children there too."

"So beautiful!"

Chen Taotao responded excitedly.

However, if Ms. Lin goes over after getting off work and having dinner, they will only be able to catch the summer cooling activities, and it is unlikely that they will be able to eat the limited watermelon.

Chen Zhou planned to buy two from the intersection.

Take it home, wash it, put it in the refrigerator, and eat it a little later. That will be just right.

While picking out watermelons, the watermelon seller chatted with Chen Zhou for a bit.

They even mentioned Chen Zhou's steamed bun stall—

"A while ago, my business was booming because there was a steamed bun vendor at the entrance of the neighborhood next door, and there were always long queues, which brought a lot of customers to my place."

It seems he moved away these past few days; I haven't seen him set up his stall. And besides, I haven't tried his steamed buns yet.

Chen Zhou smiled and pointed it out to him:
"You might not know this, but he switched to breakfast and opened a shop in this neighborhood. You can try it sometime; it tastes really good."

"It's still here! I thought it had been chased away by the city management officers." The melon seller's face lit up with joy. "I'll definitely go and try it when I have time."

Chen Zhou reminded him, "Morning or noon is fine, but noon is better because there are fewer people then."

"Okay, thanks, bro."

After carrying two watermelons, Chen Zhou could no longer hold the little girl's hand.

So Chen Taotao circled around her elderly father, doing Brownian motion.

She peeked out from the left and asked curiously:
"Dad, was that uncle talking about you?"

"it's me."

As Chen Taotao spoke, she circled around to the right again, "Then you should tell him that the steamed buns are super delicious."

"Tell your uncle next time you see him."

"I will talk to him!"

When I get home, I take care of the kids and cook.

Chen Zhou's culinary skills can be enhanced through points redemption.

It saves you from some of the hard work and training.

Chen Zhou thought that, even if he didn't have to be a master in every aspect, he should at least make up for his shortcomings and move towards specialization.

After opening a store, in addition to earning more money, you will also gradually accumulate more points.

We can now loosen up a bit.

As for recipes, there's an old saying: "A bad person racks their brains, but a fool can't outwit them."

Good food is good, but bad food has its own unique tricks.

Therefore, innovation can wait until later.

For now, we'll rely on the existing recipes and make slight adjustments based on local tastes and actual business conditions.

Regarding cooking, Chen Zhou has recently gained some insights and experiences:
In culinary skills, knife skills and heat control are obviously unrelated. However, when it comes to making a specific dish or two, the principles are actually similar across different dishes, making it less rigid.

Take pork as an example. Whether it's used to make steamed buns, meatballs, stews, or braised dishes, the gamey smell must be properly removed beforehand.

There are several ways to prepare it, including adding scallions, ginger, spices, and rice wine, blanching, deep-frying, and so on.

Choose the appropriate option based on the subsequent cooking steps.

For example, if the alcohol flavor doesn't dissipate when placed in a steamed bun, you have to work on other aspects.

Upon closer reflection, if we disregard the connections between people,

The true purpose of food may be to bring people closer to nature through cooking techniques.

Of course, the relationship here is one of eating and being eaten.

After quickly cooking two dishes, Ms. Lin arrived home.

The family of three enjoyed a nice dinner.

Chen Taotao is full of energy; after finishing her meal, she wants to drag her parents out the door.

Ms. Lin called out to the father and son:

"Wait a minute, you two," she said, and sprayed some floral water on them.

Then he took three small plastic stools and handed them to Chen Zhou.

Without Ms. Lin, this family would most likely be covered in bites tonight.

The Sunshine City residential community has more than 1,000 households, with nearly 3,000 people of all ages, so any event held in the small square is always a lively and bustling affair.

The older kids, being stronger, occupied the center position at the bubble party.

The smaller children were splashing around in the water and bubbles.

They were all having a great time, supervised by several parents.

Chen Zhou has indeed become quite popular in the neighborhood recently, and many neighbors know him.

People would come up to say hello every now and then.

"Bringing the kids out to play!"

"It's good to open the shop in the morning now, so I don't have to cook at home myself."

"I haven't had it for a few days, and I've really been craving it. Your steamed buns are definitely one of the best I've ever had."

It's a community store, with so many neighbors watching. If the steamed buns aren't made well, they won't even pass the test at the doorstep.

Gradually, seven or eight parents gathered around Chen Zhou.

I can't name most of them, but they look increasingly familiar.

People would chat about steamed buns for a bit, start a conversation, and then just chat idly with each other.

As we were chatting, one of the mothers suddenly mentioned, "They promised we could eat free watermelon, but we've run out of it now?"

Immediately someone chimed in, "Yeah, I just went around and didn't even see a watermelon rind."

This guy's wife teased him, "Yeah, why don't you just fall down!"

Chen Zhou thought to himself, with only thirty available, it's definitely not enough for so many people to eat and take away.

So he told Lin Yifan to look after the child.

I went upstairs again.

A little while later, he brought over the watermelon he had cut up from his house:
"This is a limited edition too, so please don't be shy and share it. I didn't do any special promotions for the opening, so I'm just treating everyone to some watermelon as a small token of my appreciation."

People exchanged polite words, but ultimately couldn't resist the temptation of chilled watermelon.

"From now on, I'll only eat your steamed buns. Pfft."

"Support, we must support it. Pfft."

"Mr. Chen, your business must be doing really well."

Chen Zhou replied with a smile, "We're all neighbors, no need for bosses."

In addition to the watermelon, Chen Zhou also prepared two garbage bags to prevent anyone from littering.

The father who had just fallen looked at Chen Zhou with more approval in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)