Director Wang is increasingly smug and looks several years younger.
The fat man, him, and driver Zhou were all old acquaintances.
Considering the presence of children, Director Wang made a point of sitting in the passenger seat today, which speaks volumes about their relationship.
As soon as the fat man got into the car, he teased him, "Director Wang, what's making you so happy? Are you having an affair?"
Enraged, Director Wang turned around and yelled at him, "You're the one having an affair!"
Afterwards, he said to Master Zhou, "By the way, Old Zhou, let me tell you, this kid came to my place last time to help receive foreign guests, and he just hugged that blonde, blue-eyed Russian beauty! Good heavens, I couldn't get anyone to pull him apart!"
The fat man angrily explained, "Slander! That's pure slander! That's just their etiquette from the Russian side. Besides, I only touched them briefly, I didn't even dare to put my hand down properly, there were so many people watching!"
Director Wang winked: "Oh~ so you only went because we weren't here. So we're the ones who got in your way? It's alright. Do you still want to see Martha? I can arrange it for you."
The fat man tried a different approach to extricate himself from the situation: "Director Wang, you can't do this! My daughter is still in the car!"
Director Wang then scratched his nose sheepishly and turned to make a face at Chen Mengqi.
But the little girl wasn't easily fooled. In her clear, bright voice, she asked the fat man, "Daddy, what is Masha?"
The fat man explained to her, "Masha means ocean goddess. There are at least eight hundred or a thousand people named Masha there, just like Cuihua here."
Martha & Cuihua; What kind of twisted logic is this? Not to mention Director Wang was amused by the fat man and burst into laughter, even Chen Mengqi, a little girl who had never seen a foreigner before, was giggling.
The fat guy easily got away with it.
Speaking of Masa, she wears long dresses that expose her shoulders even in the dead of winter, without worrying about getting frozen shoulder.
And he has no sportsmanship! He came up and rammed into the guy with the ball, and then, taking advantage of the fat guy's unpreparedness, used a move called "Flaming Red Lips" to sneak up on him!
"..."
Visiting a high-ranking leader's home is just like paying New Year's respects to adults when you were a child.
My face was practically ache from smiling so much; they were all leaders, and I couldn't afford to offend any of them.
As soon as the big boss saw him, he said happily, "The master chef is here! You're in for a treat today. Fatty has prepared several dishes that you may never have tried before."
Since everyone present was an acquaintance, the fat man wasn't too reserved. He patted the satchel at his waist and said, "There's really something good in here. I started preparing three days ago to deal with it properly."
As they were talking, they saw Chen Mengqi. It was freezing outside, and the little girl was dressed very warmly. She was wearing a light blue satin jacket, which looked like it was too big, and the long hem covered her gray trousers. Only a pair of fluffy little cotton shoes were visible on her feet.
The little girl had a small knitted bag slung across her shoulder, and she smiled as soon as she saw the big boss; her "Hello, Grandpa~" almost melted the big boss's heart.
Ignoring the presence of so many leaders, the senior leader stepped forward, picked up the little girl, and teased her, "Why do I feel like you've gotten fatter?"
The little girl protested anxiously, "I'm not fat, I'm not fat, Grandpa is mean."
Children's innocent remarks made everyone burst into laughter.
After following the aunt into the kitchen, she asked curiously, "What did you bring today?"
The fat man took a plastic box out of his bag, opened it, and saw that it contained sea cucumbers!
"This is the sea cucumber I asked you for before. I soaked it thoroughly before I dared to make this braised sea cucumber with scallions in front of the leaders today."
The aunt exclaimed in surprise, "Fengzeyuan's braised sea cucumber with scallions?"
The fat man nodded: "I wouldn't say it's exactly the same, but it's definitely not inferior to his."
The auntie curiously picked up the box and smelled it, then asked in surprise, "There's not a trace of fishy smell, Fatty, how did you do that?"
The fat man explained to her, "The most difficult part of this dish is the process of rehydrating the sea cucumber."
Sea cucumber, along with ginseng and bird's nest, is one of the eight delicacies of ancient and modern times.
Especially the sea cucumbers produced along the coast of Shandong, which like to live in the sandy and muddy seabed of shallow reefs and only grow in places where seaweed is abundant, have thick flesh. It is difficult to cook them to the point of being flavorful!
The fat man and the aunt explained, "When soaking sea cucumbers, the container you use must be clean, and your hands must be thoroughly washed, without a single drop of oil; these things will melt if they come into contact with oil before they are fully expanded... Secondly, before putting the dried sea cucumbers into the pot, you need to give them a 'steaming' treatment, which involves placing ginger slices at the bottom of a steamer and steaming them for 50 minutes. Then, pour them into clean water and boil them for a few more minutes, allowing the sea cucumbers to gradually absorb water. Only after they have cooled down can you cut them open and remove their mouths."
The fat man rattled off a whole bunch of things, and the aunt's eyes were practically popping out of mosquito coils as she listened: "Goodness, is making this stuff really that difficult?"
The fat man chuckled, "This is nothing! To properly rehydrate sea cucumbers, you have to soak them in ice water overnight. They'll slowly expand in the low temperature. It's a slow and steady process, so you can't rush it. The next morning, boil them in a pot, with ice water ready beside you. While they're still hot, scoop them into the ice water to cool them down quickly. Then do this once during the day and once at night, alternating between hot and cold soaking."
The aunt counted and exclaimed, "Doesn't that mean it takes three days just to soak it?"
The fat man held up the box and said to the aunt, "The sea cucumbers prepared using my method are not only big and beautiful, but they also don't have a fishy smell at all. And look how big they are now, they will still be the same size when they are served."
The aunt curiously stretched out her hand and compared it to the sea cucumber: "It's the same size as my hand now. It's hard to imagine that it was so small before."
As the saying goes, "Bring out the flavor to what has flavor, and bring in the flavor to what has no flavor." This process of bringing out and bringing in flavor is precisely the key to making this dish well.
Once the "flavor release" step of sea cucumber is done well, it's time to move on to the second step: figuring out how to make it "infuse" with flavor.
To allow the otherwise bland sea cucumber to absorb the flavors of other ingredients, it needs to be infused with broth for the first time.
When the fat man mentioned stock again, the aunt couldn't help but ask him, "You always bring your own stock, what's the secret behind it?"
The fat man chuckled: "Actually, there's no secret. I just put in whatever I have. Like last time you gave me ham, chicken, duck, and pork hock, I just used those four things to make a big pot of soup."
Is there any explanation for this?
"Ham is used to add saltiness and umami to the soup; chicken is used to enhance the aroma; duck is used to enhance the flavor; pork hock can make the soup thicker... It depends on what you're making, different ingredients are needed to make the broth."
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