At around seven o'clock in the evening, Grandma Qiao's meal of four dishes and one soup was finally ready!
Su Keke was eating fruit in the kitchen while helping Grandma Qiao.
Looking at the table full of delicious dishes, Su Keke thought that Grandma Qiao was amazing! She could make such delicious dishes just by looking at the recipe.
The first dish was squirrel fish, which was the one that Su Keke saw Grandma Qiao smearing flour on her hands when she first arrived in the kitchen. She asked if it was fried fish.
Su Keke had seen this dish at a food competition before, but today was the first time she had eaten it in real life.
Grandma Qiao's mandarin fish was raised in the Su Keke space pond. It weighs more than 4 kilograms and is very big.
The fish head and tail were fried until slightly curled, and the scale-like fish meat in the middle was fried golden and crispy. The sauce poured on top was sweet and sour, and Su Keke could already smell the sweetness of tomato and sweet and sour before she started eating.
The second dish is called Pagoda Meat. As the name suggests, it looks like a pagoda. The ingredients of this dish are simple, just pork belly and pickled mustard greens.
But the method requires a lot of knife skills, as the square pork belly must be cut thinly and evenly without cutting in the middle. Grandma Qiao cut three pieces of pork belly, and only managed to keep it from breaking when cutting the fourth piece.
Since the family couldn't find the pagoda mold mentioned in the recipe, Grandma Qiao shaped the sliced pork belly into a stainless steel funnel, which barely resembled a pagoda.
This pagoda is a bit round, haha!
The third dish is Kung Pao Chicken. Before the natural disaster, this dish was available in restaurants of all sizes, and many families would also prepare this dish for their New Year’s Eve dinner. Grandma Qiao said that she had made it before, and when she saw it in the recipe today, she really wanted to make it.
Because Grandma Qiao was familiar with this Kung Pao Chicken, she made it very quickly.
While helping out, Su Keke even secretly ate several fried peanuts.
The fourth dish is a vegetarian dish, which is very simple to prepare. Grandma Qiao said it is called garlic-flavored shredded lotus root.
Normally, people eat lotus root by cutting it into slices. Su Keke has never eaten lotus root cut as thin as potato shreds.
Grandma Qiao cuts some green and red pepper shreds, stir-fries the peppers and minced garlic until fragrant, then pours in the chopped lotus root and green and red pepper shreds, stir-fries quickly for three or four minutes and is ready to serve.
Finally, there was a soup, which Grandma Qiao introduced as Three-Flavor Tofu Soup.
The main ingredients are tofu, fungus, shiitake mushrooms and tomatoes. Finally, the soup is thickened with some starch, making it a bit sticky. It should be very warm to eat in winter.
Su Keke looks a bit like Hu La Tang, but Grandma Qiao said that the taste and texture are completely different from Hu La Tang.
"Coco! Which dish do you want to eat first?"
Grandma Qiao was very satisfied with the dinner she cooked, except for the three pieces of pork belly that she cut badly.
She said it shouldn’t be wasted and should be saved for making pork with preserved vegetables tomorrow.
"Squirrel Mandarin Fish! I want to eat this! The aroma is making me drool!"
Su Keke ate a mouthful of rice and then a large piece of fish. The crispy, sweet and sour taste went really well with rice.
"Hmm...it tastes good. Fortunately, it didn't fail. I put my best effort into making this dish."
Grandma Qiao picked up a big piece of fish and took a full mouthful. She was quite satisfied with the taste of what she had cooked.
Grandma Qiao said that it was her first time to eat this dish, and she didn’t expect that she made it herself. She felt a special sense of accomplishment!
Before the natural disaster, Grandma Qiao had planned to go to Suzhou for a few days. The small bridges and flowing water there had always attracted her, as well as the squirrel fish. Many people went to Suzhou to eat this dish.
Su Keke also contributed a little to the preparation of tonight's dishes, so they tasted particularly delicious to her.
An hour later, a 15-pound fish was gone, as were the pagoda meat, Kung Pao chicken, and garlic-flavored lotus root shreds.
Even the last dish, the three-fresh tofu soup, was drunk up by the two of them.
Su Keke also ate a large bowl of rice and was now half lying on a chair, rubbing her belly.
"It's over! I'm too full!"
Su Keke looked at Grandma Qiao's embarrassed smile and pointed at her belly.
"Go to bed later tonight, don't lie down! Get up and sit up to digest it first!"
While Grandma Qiao was talking to Su Keke, she was already clearing the CDs from the dining table.
Although Grandma Qiao eats a lot of vegetables, she eats less rice. So, tonight, only Su Keke is full!
…
Another week passed peacefully.
On this day, the government issued a notice to the public, officially starting the cleanup of Lingcheng city.
Except for the elderly and children, other young and middle-aged people at the resettlement site must unconditionally participate in the cleanup work.
Residents of the Lanshan base can also sign up to participate in official cleanup and scavenging missions.
The official website provides three meals a day, and you can also get 15 points every day.
The working hours are relatively long. Everyone has to start work at 7 a.m. on an official truck and return at 7 p.m.
With 15 points per day and three meals included, many people are still willing to go.
The only people who have formal jobs now are government office workers and staff at official breeding bases.
Others used to be able to travel far away to scavenge, looking for scrap steel, plastic boards, old doors and old furniture, etc. to exchange for points with the official website.
Some went out to sea to fish, catch river crabs and shells, and set up stalls in small private markets. At that time, with the help of relief food, they could barely make ends meet.
Since the earthquake, everyone has been huddled in this small area of Arashiyama. No one dares to go to the main city area, for fear that another earthquake will occur.
The victims at the resettlement sites are also provided with three meals a day by the government.
However, ordinary residents of Lanshan Base live on the points they have accumulated before, and are now already stretched to the limit.
Many people signed up this time, including Chen Da, Lei Mu and Lei Wenbin.
Early in the morning, shortly before daybreak, several large trucks were already parked in the middle of the road at the official base.
Those who completed the registration received a rice ball from the official staff.
The fragrant rice was wrapped with crispy and sweet dried radish, which was still warm in the hand. Everyone happily squatted on the ground and ate it.
Chen Da is now very familiar with the father and son of the Lei family. The three of them found a quiet corner and started to eat breakfast.
There were a lot of people setting out this time, and the whole road was noisy.
"Uncle Chen, you're having breakfast here! I knew you would come and sign up! We can be co-workers again! Hahaha!"
The person who spoke was Lin Xiao. He brought those talented people with him. After signing up and receiving the rice balls, he looked for Chen Da or Lao Li and the others in the crowd.
"You guys are great! You've become much fatter after not seeing you for two months. It looks like you're living a good life!"
Chen Da patted Lin Xiao on the shoulder and introduced them to the Lei family father and son with a smile, saying that they were Su Keke's younger brothers and his former co-workers at the construction site.
"Hello, Uncle Lei! Hello, Brother Wenbin!"
After hearing Chen Da introduce that the father and son of the Lei family were friends of their boss, Lin Xiao and the other three immediately became attentive.
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