Chapter 414: Surprise for Mom and Dad: The Children Are Willing to Put in the Thoughts and Thoughts

The stars and the moon are going to prepare a surprise for their parents today.

Originally, their parents didn't come back all night, and they were quite worried. Fortunately, grandpa went out in the morning and when he came back, he brought the news that their parents were safe.

The brother and sister finally breathed a sigh of relief.

What’s even more gratifying is that not only were my parents fine, they also successfully helped Uncle Xiao Jin catch the bad guy.

In order to celebrate for their parents, the brother and sister went to the kitchen with their grandfather to learn how to make cakes.

Because there is no oven at home, we can only use coal stove and other cooking utensils to simulate it.

However, this is not an easy task, because the characteristic of the oven is that the heating is even, while the characteristic of the briquette stove is that the heating is concentrated at the bottom.

In order to diffuse and utilize the heat of the coal stove, an intermediate link - water or air - must be introduced.

The former can use the heat and humidity of water vapor to heat and expand the cake batter, while the latter uses heated air to simulate the closed baking environment of an oven.

The three generations of grandparents and grandchildren put their heads together and found a huge iron pot on a clay stove, a clay pot that their father used to boil medicine, and borrowed a larger stainless steel steaming rack from a neighbor. They also washed their own stainless steel steaming rack and the aluminum lunch box that they used to bring meals to grandma and set them aside.

Now that we have the ingredients, it depends on how they operate it. In this regard, they must accumulate experience from scratch, so we need to prepare more cake batter, a full basin, which is enough for them to fail four or five times.

Next, we will formulate operational procedures and conduct practical exercises.

There are two specific strategies.

The first one is steamed cake.

The three generations of grandparents and grandchildren placed the iron pot on the coal stove, put on the stainless steel steaming rack, and then poured well water into the pot. The amount of water should be relatively large, enough to ensure that the iron pot will not dry out during the steaming process of the cake, but not too much. If the steaming rack is submerged when it boils, it will be counterproductive.

After the water boils, put the aluminum lunch box containing the cake batter on it and slowly steam the cake batter.

This method failed twice. The first time was because the amount of water was not controlled well, causing the steaming rack to be submerged in water. The bottom of the cake was cooked too early, and the top was cooked later. The final product was half old and half tender, and it tasted very bad.

The amount of water was well controlled the second time, but unfortunately water vapor dripped into the cake batter, causing the cake to be too watery. The solution was to stick a piece of wax paper wrapped in brown sugar on the cake batter.

I finally succeeded on the third time. However, this kind of steamed cake will be moister and softer, with a delicate taste, a bit similar to steamed cake. The finished product is not as soft as the one made in the oven, and it does not have the unique burnt flavor of the oven.

The fourth time, the brother and sister added red dates, melon seeds, and raisins to the cake batter. After taking it out of the pan, they embedded a few sweet and sour pickled plums on the surface of the cake. The finished product looked very good, but the brother and sister have not tasted it yet. They are just waiting for their parents to come back and present their treasure.

The second method imitates the Dutch oven.

This time I chose a thick casserole.

Unlike iron pots, casseroles have stronger thermal conductivity, but correspondingly, their heat storage capacity is stronger than that of iron pots, and casseroles can achieve an almost airtight effect. At this time, placing the casserole on the stove and using the heat of the stove can simulate the effect of stewing.

This time, there is no need to add water to the pot. Instead, find a brick and place the aluminum lunch box filled with cake batter on it to prevent the cake batter from directly contacting the bottom of the pot.

After covering the pot, leave only a small gap at the air outlet under the stove, and then bake it slowly over low heat.

The most difficult part of this method is the control of firepower. Fortunately, the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren had prepared for the worst from the beginning, so they used the smallest heat, the longest time, and the most sufficient patience to conduct this experiment.

This method is carried out simultaneously with the first method. Therefore, only when the fourth pot of steamed cake is successfully baked over there, the good news comes from the baking cake here: it’s done!

This time, there were no nuts like red dates in the cake. After it was out of the pan, Xiaoyueliang specially drew two cross-dividing lines on the surface of the cake, and then poured four kinds of jams she made by herself on the four fan-shaped areas. They were: mulberry jam made from mulberries produced in the local suburban commune of Yicheng, plum jam made from plums picked from the plum trees by Yuhu Lake, yellow peach jam made from yellow peaches given to my grandfather by the retired leader Guo, and apricot jam made from apricots sent by someone unknown and placed on the mailbox at the door.

Mulberries have a rich and sweet fruity flavor, are purple-black in color, and look crystal clear and very tempting.

The acidity of plums is particularly prominent, and their color is between red and purple, which is very beautiful. When making plum jam, the skin and flesh are usually left together. The jam is rich in pectin and tastes very good.

Yellow peaches are not like honey peaches, which turn brown when made into jam. However, yellow peaches maintain a fairly stable golden color, which, combined with their sweet flavor, is extremely eye-catching.

Although apricots are more sour than yellow peaches, they are not as sour as plums. They are a kind of jam with a particularly good combination of sourness and sweetness. Just smelling the rich aroma will make your mouth water.

In short, it is not easy to make these four kinds of jam. For example, when making mulberry jam, the cleaning and stem removal process is particularly demanding on your patience, and it is easy to get your hands covered in purple and red color.

Fortunately, this hard job was taken on by my brother, so now his hands are like bird claws, which is very funny.

When making plum jam, one needs to carefully consider the amount of sugar to add. Too much will make it too sweet, and too little will make it unbearably sour. In the end, the brother and sister tried many options and chose a taste that was sour but slightly sweet.

Making yellow peach jam is relatively easy, but the more troublesome part is peeling it, and it also takes a long time to concentrate it.

And making apricot jam is probably the easiest.

In short, although Xiaoyueliang did the most work in the jam-making project, his brother was not idle either. He was either helping grandpa or helping Xiaoyueliang wash fruits. He was very hardworking.

In the end, the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren were able to serve only three finished products on the table.

In addition, my grandfather went to the market to kill a chicken and stewed mushroom chicken soup.

I made a little bit of rice. After all, there was chicken soup and cake, and I guess Mom and Dad couldn’t eat much rice.

After the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren finished their preparations, it started to rain heavily. Grandpa called the police station and learned that uncle had caught the bad guy and brought mom and dad back. The brother and sister finally breathed a sigh of relief.

While waiting for their parents to come back, the brother and sister had nothing to do, so they sat at the door, listening to the rain and reading.

Just as I was engrossed in watching, a familiar voice was heard in the alley.

At first, the brother and sister thought they had misheard. After all, the heavy rain was really too noisy, and from time to time there was a rumbling sound overhead like rolling wheels, which easily drowned out the human voices.

However, when the brother and sister lowered their heads to read again, the sound came again intermittently.

With excitement, with anticipation, with desire.

The brother and sister looked at each other, almost unable to believe their ears. After a moment of stunned silence, they dropped their books and rushed out.

Just like that, Yao Weihua, who was walking, was hugged by two little kids who ran over, one arm on each side.

The excited shouts were the best reward for him. He looked at the two children who had grown a lot taller, and was so excited that he couldn't be more excited. He quickly pulled the two children under the umbrella, talked with a smile, and walked into the yard -

"Are you stupid? It's raining so hard, and you don't even hold an umbrella?"

"I was too excited to fight!"

"Yeah, I don't have time to hold an umbrella. Uncle, I miss you so much!"

"Uncle misses you too. Don't act like this in the future. If you catch a cold, uncle will be worried."

"You won't catch a cold if you get wet in the rain for a short walk. We're in good health!"

"That's right, my brother and I haven't had a cold in two or three years."

"But your parents have a cold."

"Ah, then I'll go find some cold medicine!"

"Then uncle, you go eat. My brother and I made a cake. Come and try it. I'll go to the clinic and call someone to give me an IV!"

As soon as Yao Weihua entered the main hall, he saw the two little ones running away.

One of them went into the room to look for medicine, and the other took the umbrella from his uncle's hand and flew into the wind and rain like a swallow.

Yao Weihua had no time to stop her, and was afraid that Xiaoyue, a little girl, would be in danger if she ran out by herself, so he had to ask Yao Zhizhi for an umbrella and quickly chased after her.

Yao Zhizhi comforted him, "It's okay, Jiaojiao and Yiyi are back, they will follow Xiaoyue. Brother, run slowly and don't fall."

Yao Weihua didn't have time to talk and chased the moon without looking back.

Yao Zhizhi was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. She rubbed her drowsy forehead and looked down. There were three cakes of different appearances on the dining table.

She was very curious and looked up and asked, "Dad, did you do this?"

"Yes, we three made it. The jam was made by the moon, the cake batter was made by the stars, and the steaming and baking methods were thought up by the three of us. Do you want to try it? Or should we wait for your third brother to come back?" Yao Jingzong could tell at a glance that his daughter and son-in-law were not in a good state. Their faces were too red.

He quickly touched his daughter's forehead and found that she had a fever. He quickly went to the west room to take the thermometer that Xingxing had found and asked Yao Zhizhi to take her temperature.

Yao Zhizhi felt that her condition was actually fine. Apart from feeling a little dizzy and a little weak in the feet, the other symptoms were not very obvious.

She handed the thermometer to Qi Changxiao and asked him to take the temperature first: "You went into the water, so your condition might be worse than mine. You go first."

"Into the water?" Yao Jingzong didn't know that his son-in-law was actually the murderer chasing after him from the canal. He turned around and touched Qi Changxiao's forehead. It was indeed scalding hot, so he turned around and went to boil water. "You two take a break. I'll go get some bath water. After you take a bath and eat, lie down and rest."

Qi Changxiao took the thermometer and sat down listlessly beside the eight-immortal table. He clamped the thermometer and looked at the three delicious cakes. He couldn't help but smile: "You see, this is the meaning of having children."

Yao Zhizhi also smiled. The thing might not be worth much money, but the child’s thought was the most important.

Moreover, it is so rare that children are willing to spend time and effort to prepare surprises for their parents in such hot weather.

Adults have to complain when they enter the kitchen, let alone children.

At this moment, Yao Zhizhi was overwhelmed by boundless sweetness.

Even though the cake hasn't even entered my mouth, my heart is already filled with sweetness.

Of course, Qi Changxiao was also sweet, so sweet that he mistook the thermometer's reading of 38.9 degrees for 39.9 degrees, and scared himself.

Yao Zhizhi took it and looked at it, then sneered, "Are you crazy? If it was really 39.9 degrees, would you still be talking here? It's 38.9 degrees. Let me see how high it is."

Qi Changxiao held his forehead helplessly, he was indeed so happy that he was confused.

After Yao Zhizhi took the temperature, she saw that it was 38.3 degrees, which was indeed not as serious as his.

The two of them were leaning back in their chairs, thinking clearly, when Xingxing came over with two bowls of boiled water and some cold medicine.

The two were very relieved. After taking the medicine, they got up to find clean clothes and prepare to take a shower.

When Yao Zhizhi came out with the clothes, Yang Shuming also arrived.

She picked up the umbrella and handed it to Qi Changxiao: "Go wash it first." Then she invited Yang Shuming in, "Brother-in-law, sit down. Tell me what's going on."