The shop was quickly emptied and renovations began.
On the first day of work, Ganli personally went to the site and found that the craftsmen were all very skilled, which put her mind at ease.
The renovation would take ten days, and there were still many things to prepare for the restaurant's opening... After inspecting the place, she entrusted the affairs to Gan Mingyi and began to prepare for other matters.
She first went to the blacksmith shop to order three large pots, and then went to the ceramics shop to order two hundred sets of simple and elegant white porcelain rice bowls and plates.
After purchasing various odds and ends, three days had passed, but Gan Li still dared not stop—the restaurant menu was still undecided, and Old Man Gan had urged him several times already.
Ever since Old Man Gan learned that his daughter wanted him to be the head chef of the restaurant, he had been taking it very seriously, afraid of disappointing his daughter. However, with the shop's decoration already halfway done, there was still no sign of the restaurant's menu, and he was so anxious that he developed blisters on his lips.
Ganli couldn't bear to see her elderly father wait any longer, so after arranging other matters, she didn't go out that day, but stayed at home to start drafting the restaurant's menu.
Ganli felt that to open a restaurant, having only one dish of braised pork and boiled pork slices was not enough. Even if she was confident, she couldn't expect customers to order these two dishes every time they came. She needed to offer more other dishes.
Fortunately, she was a food blogger in her previous life, and her daily job was to taste delicious food. She had eaten a lot of food, and with a little thought, she came up with many dishes with pork as the main ingredient, such as braised pork with preserved mustard greens and sweet and sour pork tenderloin...
However, these dishes are either savory or sweet, so the flavors are not varied enough.
She pondered for a moment, then mentally called out to Maria: "Check how many merit points I have left?"
[Host, you still have 140 merit points!] Maria's voice rang out.
One hundred and forty? That's right.
After completing the mission in the county town last time, she received two hundred merit points. As soon as she got them, she unlocked the shelves in the hygiene products section, spending sixty merit points in the process.
There are 140 left... She asked, "How many merit points are needed to unlock the vegetable section shelves?"
[Host, you're also sixty!]
Without hesitation, she said, "Unlock it for me!"
Maria didn't waste any words. After deducting sixty merit points, she helped her unlock the vegetable section shelves.
Upon hearing the system unlock notification in her mind, Gan Li immediately slipped into the supermarket, ignoring the various vegetables around her, and headed straight for the chili pepper section.
When she saw that pile of red and green chilies, she was so happy she wanted to cry! Heaven knows how wronged she was, someone who loves spicy food, to only be able to eat dishes made with dried chilies these days!
Now it's all good!
She excitedly returned to the house, picked up the charcoal, and added several more dishes to the menu. Stir-fried pork with chili peppers, stir-fried spare ribs with fresh chili peppers, twice-cooked pork... In the end, she listed a total of twenty dishes.
After writing this, Ganli stretched and felt completely refreshed.
The twenty dishes were all carefully selected by her, each with a different flavor. She believes there is bound to be one that will win over the taste buds of diners.
After resting briefly, she picked up the menu, got up, and went to the Gan family's house. Before she even entered, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Dad! I've decided on the menu, come and take a look!"
Old Gan was sighing in the yard when he heard his daughter's voice. He immediately perked up and rushed over, his voice full of anticipation.
"Is the menu finalized?"
However, upon seeing the paper Gan Li handed him, his face fell again: "This... this Dad doesn't recognize either!"
Upon hearing this, Gan Li slapped her forehead, realizing how foolish she had been.
"Dad, actually, I read this aloud and had Tian Tian write it down... I remember the recipe. Let me tell you, I'll make it for you to try again. You've been making this for many years, you can learn it after watching it once!"
So, over the next few days, Ganli personally cooked all the dishes on the menu, teaching her how to make each dish step by step.
Old Gan also put in the same effort he had when he was learning the craft from the old master chef, studying each move with exceptional seriousness.
From morning till night, the Gan family's kitchen is filled with all sorts of tempting aromas.
Braised pork belly, braised pork with preserved mustard greens, sweet and sour pork, stir-fried pork with chili peppers... every dish is a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate, making one's mouth water.
The Gan family is now living a much better life, eagerly anticipating mealtimes every day, and their lives are even more wonderful than during the Lunar New Year.
"Dad, your cooking is absolutely amazing! It's even better than what you used to make at Baifulai!" Gan Mingyi mumbled his praise while gnawing on a rib.
“That’s right, Dad. If your cooking skills were in town, the place would be packed every day!” Gan Mingli chimed in, adding a piece of braised pork to his own bowl.
Zhao said, "I think Father's cooking skills are indeed good, but if it weren't for my little sister coming up with so many recipes, Father wouldn't be able to cook them."
Hearing his family's praise, Old Man Gan was overjoyed, and the wrinkles on his face smoothed out considerably.
Hearing his daughter-in-law's words, he wasn't angry at all. He just smiled and said, "That's right, my daughter taught me very well!"
Only Ganli looked worried.
Although the dishes tasted pretty good, for some reason, she always felt that something was missing.
However, the problem wasn't with Old Man Gan's cooking skills, but rather with the ingredients.
Pork from that era had a strong, unpleasant odor. When she made braised pork and boiled pork slices, she used a lot of spices to mask that smell.
However, when making stir-fried pork and sweet and sour pork, because these two dishes are relatively simple to make, even if cooking wine is used, it still cannot cover up the taste of pork.
It tastes good, but upon closer inspection, there are still some flaws. It's fine for family meals, but if you were to open a restaurant, it would probably need some improvements.
Ganli pondered to herself.
But she couldn't possibly raise pigs herself just to get tasteless pork... After thinking it over, she came up with the idea of the supermarket she carried with her.
After unlocking the hygiene products and vegetable sections, she still had eighty merit points left... She gritted her teeth and summoned Maria in her mind.
[Maria, how many merit points are needed to unlock the raw meat area?]
Maria's cheerful voice quickly echoed in his mind: [Would you like to unlock the raw meat section? For just eighty merit points, you can take home some delicious meat!]
Ganli: "..." Listening to Maria's sales pitch, she felt a pang of pain in her heart.
Eighty! Won't that mean all the merit points she painstakingly accumulated will be gone again?
It's really hard to earn money, but easy to spend it.
But there was nothing she could do. Besides, she thought that the supermarket could automatically replenish its stock. She had spent this "money" but could save a lot of money on purchasing goods. So, it wasn't a loss.
Moreover, the raw meat section not only contained pork, but also beef and mutton. Beef was one thing, as it was forbidden to eat beef in this era, but mutton was different. She could take any mutton she wanted, even if it cost eighty or ninety coins per catty!
Once the shop is settled, she can add a few mutton dishes and make a good profit.
With that thought in mind, she didn't hesitate any longer and spent all her merit points to unlock the raw meat area.
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