Chapter 051 Fish Head Pancake
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan foolishly thought that they were coming to the city hotel to eat, but who knew that the car drove directly to the department store.
The two children had never been here before, and they were truly shocked by the dazzling array of goods.
"Is this where we buy butterfly cakes?" Wen Xuan asked, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the familiar iron box in the window.
Wen Jiajia pinched her fat face and said, "Yeah, I don't know how many butter cookies went into your stomach."
Wen Xuan smiled and said, "So we are here to buy butterfly cakes today?"
No way! Wen Jiajia went to the second floor.
She walked in front, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan followed behind, and Wei Dai was at the end to prevent the two girls from falling.
"Sister Huang, isn't Mr. Yu at work today?" Wen Jiajia asked the salesperson when she arrived on the second floor.
Because she comes here so often, she has become familiar with several of the sales clerks here and even knows their shift schedules.
Sister Huang was knitting a sweater. When she saw her coming, she put down her things and said, "Hey, Old Yu's wife gave birth today, so I'm here to take over for two days. Look at her belly. It's twins again. Tsk tsk, it was the same last time. You tell me, his family has five children now. Old Yu is almost worried to death."
Wen Jiajia was surprised: "Although everyone calls him Lao Yu, Lao Yu should be less than 30 years old."
Sister Huang laughed and said, "Of course not, she's only 28."
Wen Jiajia understood that she was actually only 27, or 26, because people nowadays are considered to be in their twenties.
She sighed, "But I really can't have another child."
Two of the three pregnancies were twins, which was a huge burden on the mother. And it was clear that the baby had the twin gene, so there was no guarantee that the next birth would be twins.
Huang picked up the sweater and continued knitting. She looked around and whispered, "I'm telling you, don't tell anyone."
"I won't say!" Wen Jiajia leaned closer to listen.
Sister Huang: "How can a stingy person like Mr. Yu be willing to take two days off to go to the hospital this time? The hospital is only ten minutes away from our store. When his wife gave birth to her first two babies, he went directly to the hospital without taking any leave."
"Yeah, why?"
Sister Huang lowered her voice: "Because he went to get a vasectomy."
Wen Jiajia suddenly realized: "No wonder you need to ask for leave."
Sister Huang laughed and said, "Don't tell anyone. Old Yu never told anyone about this. I only heard about it from my sister-in-law, who works in the hospital. Old Yu went there when his wife was giving birth, so he definitely didn't want anyone to know."
Wen Jiajia nodded, indicating that she would definitely not tell.
"By the way, what are you going to buy today?" Sister Huang asked, "You came with your wife, which is rare. I haven't seen your wife for a long time. Are those two girls next to you your nieces?"
"Yes." Wen Jiajia smiled, "I'm here to buy a radio. It's the Red Flag radio that I had my eyes on before."
Sister Huang actually went to the radio counter and said, "You didn't show up after watching it at the beginning of last month. I thought you didn't want to buy it anymore."
"How can I do that? I'm trying to save money."
"You are fooling me, you have to go downstairs every now and then to buy butterfly cakes, milk candies, fried dough twists, etc., and you need to save money."
Sister Huang has been working here for several years. It is rare to see someone who comes to the department store to buy things as frequently as Wen Jiajia. This shows that she has no shortage of money in her daily life.
Wen Chun had good hearing, and when he heard the word "radio", his ears perked up. He asked Wei Dai in surprise: "Uncle-in-law, are we here to buy a radio?"
"Yeah. Are you happy?"
"Happy!" Wen Chun laughed happily, "I really like listening to the radio."
Her passion for the radio never faded, but she always felt a little uncomfortable when she went to Xie's house to listen to the radio.
Sister Huang said, "You came at the right time. The one you saw last month was sold. This one was just brought in from Shanghai yesterday. It's the same Hongqi 307, 7-transistor 3-band radio. It's beautiful, isn't it? It reflects light when placed under the sun. It's newer than the previous one."
Wen Jiajia looked left and right, and the two children, including Wei Dai, came forward to take a look.
Sister Huang said, "In addition to the Hongqi ones, we also got two other brands this time. Do you want to take a look at them?"
Wen Jiajia nodded. Since she was already here, she might as well take a look. Maybe there are others that are better.
Sister Huang introduced: "In addition to the Red Flag radio, there are also Feilo, Haiyan and Mudan brands. Feilo is from Shanghai Factory 2, Haiyan is from Shanghai Factory 1, and Mudan is from the capital, and I heard that it sells very well. Oh, the supply and marketing cooperative on Qiaotou Road also sells Haiou brand. My brother and sister-in-law use Haiou brand, and it's also pretty good."
Wen Jiajia listened to all three radios, but perhaps because of her preconceived notion, she still thought the Red Flag brand was the best looking.
"So it's still the Red Flag brand?" She turned to ask Wei Dai.
Wei Dai nodded. He thought they were all about the same.
Wen Jiajia then asked Wen Chun and Wen Xuan again.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan didn't know much, but since their aunt said the red flag brand, they also pointed at the red flag brand and said it was okay.
"Okay!" Wen Jiajia took out the bill, "Sister Huang, I want this Red Flag radio."
Sister Huang sighed. In just half a year, people bought radios, bicycles and watches from her.
All that's missing is a sewing machine, and we'll have the three of them.
Don't listen to what many people say when they get married, they want three things and one thing. In fact, if you can get two of them, you are already amazing. It's hard not to envy someone like Wen Jiajia who bought three things in half a year.
When going downstairs, Wen Jiajia was walking in front again.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan followed behind him, with their heads held high and their chests puffed out, looking extremely dignified.
Wei Dai was the last one, holding the radio, feeling as if he was holding a bomb.
This thing can't stand being dropped. If it drops, it will lose fifty yuan out of a two hundred yuan item.
When Wen Jiajia came to the first floor, she saw two pairs of sneakers for children. She looked at the soles and found them to be relatively soft, so she bought some for the two children.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan are so fond of wearing shoes that it is difficult for the two sisters to wear a pair of cloth shoes for more than three months.
"Do you want to buy anything else?" she asked Wei Dai.
Wei Dai looked around and saw some wool. He asked her, "Do you want some wool? You can make a scarf with it."
Wen Jiajia shook her head: "I like white."
The wool in the cupboard is green.
But after thinking about it, she could buy some sweaters for Wei Dai. She found that Wei Dai's only winter outfit was a military coat. Oh, now he has two.
So Wen Jiajia went over and bought three kilograms of wool, using up all the wool purchase certificates in her hand.
After shopping, I went out and stopped when I passed by the vegetable market.
Wei Dai was guarding the radio. The two children were worried and overcame their curiosity about the vegetable market and stayed beside the radio with Wei Dai.
"In case of a robbery, my uncle-in-law will go after the radio and we will watch the bicycle," said Wen Chun.
She thinks bicycles are also important.
Wen Jiajia: "...Nonsense, no one would rob in broad daylight." She was speechless, then ignored them and walked into the vegetable market.
By this time, all the good meat had been sold out. Wen Jiajia walked around the butcher shop and finally bought only two pork ribs, preparing to take them back to make winter melon and bone soup.
The meat is really fragrant at this time, and the bones are cheap. You don't need a ticket for two ribs, you can take them away for only 1.2 cents.
Moreover, there is still meat on the ribs. The butcher shop always takes into account people who love to eat meat and chew bones, and will not remove all the bones to the point that flies would slip if they stood on them.
After buying the pork shanks, I bought a fish.
Everyone in my family likes to eat fish, whether it is boiled or braised.
Wen Jiajia looked around but didn't see any silver carp. She wanted to eat chopped pepper fish head, but unfortunately she couldn't find any.
"Master, do you have silver carp?" Wen Jiajia asked.
This old man always sat next to the fish stall, and Wen Jiajia often saw him.
"Bighead carp?" asked the master.
"Yes...it's also bighead carp."
Fish have many different names, and they are called differently in different places.
Silver carp is also called bighead carp, fathead carp, and male carp. Wen Jiajia has eaten it frequently throughout her life. Wash and marinate it, add chili peppers and steam it in a pot. It only takes more than ten minutes to steam. It is delicious with rice or noodles. It is a quick dish.
"The bighead carp is long gone, but if you want to buy the bighead carp head, we still have it." The old man said. Unlike other fish, bighead carp can be sold separately from the head.
Wen Jiajia was surprised: "What I want is the fish head."
The master pointed to the stall next to him and said, "This one has it."
Wen Jiajia went to buy them immediately. As expected, when she asked about silver carp heads, the fishmonger took out two fish heads from the stall and said, "There are only two left. Which one do you want? They were just killed this morning. You can tell by the eyes that they are fresh!"
"Thank you, comrade. I want the big one."
"The big one weighs almost six kilograms!"
Wen Jiajia insisted, "I want a big one."
When the time comes, half will be chopped pepper and the other half will be braised and steamed.
"Okay!" said the stall owner.
Wen Jiajia also asked him to help chop off the fish head, then paid him and left with the fish head.
Wei Dai waited for a long time: "What did you buy?"
"Bones and fish heads." She hung the rope tied to the fish head and the cloth bag containing the bones on both sides of the handlebars of the bicycle, then sat on the bicycle and hugged Wei Dai's waist tightly: "Let's go!"
Wei Dai smiled and rode his bike out of the city.
The clock strikes eleven, the sun is at its brightest, and the shadows on the ground are gradually getting shorter.
When I got home, it was too late to eat the winter melon and bone soup, but the fish head soup with pancakes was still okay.
Wen Jiajia sent Wei Dai to wash the fish while she steamed rice and kneaded dough in the kitchen.
After the rice is cooked, it is steamed in a wooden barrel and the noodles are almost fermented.
The cake she wanted to make was Thousand Layer Cake, which is simple to make and easy to soak.
The Thousand Layer Cake is fried in oil, and Wen Jiajia also adds chopped green onions to enhance the flavor.
Green onions are wild onions. They will continue to grow after being cut, and they will dry up very quickly when it rains. Therefore, there is no need to grow green onions at home.
The freshly baked cookies are golden and crispy, and the fragrance can be smelled a hundred meters away. Even Wen Jiajia couldn't help but take a couple of bites.
After making the pancakes, I started to stir-fry the vegetables since the rice was almost steamed.
Stir-fry the vegetables first. Wen Jiajia likes eggplant, so pick a few to eat.
But she had eaten too much fried eggplant, so today she decided to try a different way of eating it and make rotten eggplant.
Rotten eggplants must be made with green eggplants. In a few decades, the streets will be full of purple eggplants. Rotten eggplants made with purple eggplants are not delicious.
If you want to make rotten eggplant, you must first peel the eggplant, remove the stems, and steam it in a pot.
After steaming, pour oil into the pot, sauté the minced garlic and then add the eggplant into the pot and stir-fry.
During the frying process, the eggplant is mashed. Wrap the fried minced garlic in the eggplant mash.
Because the fire was too strong, Wen Jiajia didn't dare to delay any longer and quickly put salt and soy sauce into the pot. She only took the eggplant out of the pot when it had a slight soy sauce color.
After making the rotten eggplant, fry a hibiscus omelette.
The hibiscus was given to me by Teacher Shen this morning. My family has date trees and osmanthus trees, and the Xie family next door also has persimmon trees and hibiscus trees.
This is the flowering period of Hibiscus mutabilis, which lasts for a long time. However, once it blooms, it will wither within a few days and it is easy to attract bees and ants, so it needs to be picked and eaten immediately.
These past few days, Wen Jiajia has received hibiscus from Teacher Shen every day, and she uses it together with green leafy vegetables to make soup.
The soup is smooth and very similar to Amaranth soup.
But today Wen Jiajia plans to fry it with eggs, which is also very delicious.
After washing the hibiscus, pick the petals and put them in the egg liquid. Pour the egg liquid into the hot oil. The fried egg yolk will have a hint of pink and looks good.
The last one is the fish head steamed bun.
The fish head was braised in brown sauce, and Wen Jiajia added extra sauce.
The sauce is soybean paste. The authentic soybean sauce made by Sister Bao has a very authentic and fragrant taste. Even Haitian made decades later cannot compare to it.
When it comes to food, living in a courtyard is especially good, as you can enjoy food from all over the world.
After the fish head was cooked, Wen Jiajia also put some green onions and celery on it.
Wen Jiajia believed the conclusion that she hated coriander because the genes in her body hated coriander. She was obviously a coriander addict in her previous life, but in this life, she couldn't eat coriander!
The kind that makes you feel sick the moment you eat it.
No wonder she didn't think of planting coriander after she traveled through time. She planted celery and even ginger, but not coriander. It was not until she came here that she remembered about coriander. It turned out that the original owner's body instinctively hated coriander.
Wen Jiajia put the frying pan on the stove. The frying pan was just big enough to hold the fish head and the soup from the fish head.
There is charcoal fire in the stove, so you can cook while eating, similar to grilled fish.
"It's time for dinner!" Wen Jiajia shouted out the window.
It seemed that Wei Dai had gone out to chop wood, and he came back carrying two loads of firewood, not much, only about seventy or eighty kilograms.
Wen Jiajia carefully carried the stove to the small table next to the table and asked Wei Dai: "Has the logistics department agreed to let people go to Beishan to chop firewood?"
Wei Dai washed his hands and walked in: "You still don't want to, I picked this from Xiao Fei's house, I will go to the troops to chop it in the afternoon and then give it back to him."
Wen Jiajia: "…Why bother with this?"
Wei Dai was speechless. "Look outside the window. There is no firewood left. There are only two sticks of firewood in the kitchen. Is it enough for cooking in the evening?"
It’s really not enough! Wen Jiajia smiled to ease the embarrassment.
"Eat, eat," she said.
The fish head is really fragrant. Wen Jiajia was worried that the taste would be a bit abrupt after adding the sauce. Who knew that the aroma of the sauce and the fish combined very well, and the soup was even more delicious.
Wen Jiajia only filled half a bowl of rice, then scooped a spoonful of rotten eggplant and mixed it on the rice, saying, "It tastes good this way."
Wen Xuan trusted her aunt very much and learned to eat like her.
Wen Chun, on the other hand, still had some requirements on the presentation of dishes. She felt that this rotten eggplant with a bit of rice dumpling color was a dark dish no matter how she looked at it.
It was not until Wen Xuan took a few bites of rice that she believed that rotten eggplant was really delicious.
Fish head pancake is only better than rotten eggplant.
Wen Jiajia dipped the still crispy cake into the gurgling fish soup, boiled it, and soaked it before picking it up.
When it enters your mouth, the aroma of green onions and fish soup blooms on the tip of your tongue. Although it has soup, you can still taste the crispiness of the cake.
"Oh my god, it tastes better than pickled fish!"
As soon as Wen Xuan took a bite of the fish head steamed bun, her eyes widened, and her two chubby legs dangling under the table swayed in pleasure.
Come on, Wen Jiajia thought, you just love new things!
I have eaten pickled fish many times at home, but this is the first time I have made fish head soup with pancakes. After eating it a few more times, you will feel that it is just average.
Wei Dai ate half of it, and suddenly asked Wen Jiajia with a half-smile: "Why don't you put coriander in it?"
Wen Jiajia rolled her eyes and said, "You did it on purpose. Even a big guy like that can't stop you from talking."
Last time she added coriander to the soup, she vomited. She saw the shock in Wei Dai's eyes, and she always felt that Wei Dai seemed to have guessed something.
But how could she explain this? Could she say that she was a person from decades later? That her soul accepted coriander, but her body avoided it? That was too absurd.
——
After dinner, Wei Dai went out, and Wen Jiajia blanched the bones, washed them, and then stewed them in a casserole.
The sun is scorching, and it feels a bit like summer. My face starts to feel hot after staying outside in the sun for a while.
She hit the thick cotton jacket and quilt with a wooden stick, causing dust to fly out of the cotton and into the air.
The thick cotton jackets and quilts were clearly placed in the cupboard, which was not easily opened, and I had no idea where all the dust came from.
After beating, the cotton padded quilt became extremely soft. I lowered my head and took a deep breath, which was filled with the scent of the sun.
After knocking on the clothes and quilts, I returned to the living room, where the two children were playing the radio.
Wen Jiajia said, "Don't press the buttons randomly or you may damage the radio." She didn't know how to repair this thing.
Wen Chun pouted: "Aunt, you look down on me, I can press it, I have pressed it many times at Xiaoyi's house."
She pressed the button twice, and there were two "sizzling" sounds, and a clear sound came out of the radio.
"Oh, you really can!" Wen Jiajia gave Wen Chun a thumbs up, "Auntie can't do that."
Wen Chun raised his head proudly and pressed a few more times, and the original news channel instantly jumped to the story channel.
"Auntie, come and listen to the story. It's about the Three Kingdoms." She greeted Wen Jiajia hurriedly.
Wen Jiajia ignored her and took advantage of the good weather to clean up the kitchen. She said, "It's so loud, I can hear it in the kitchen."
Wen Chun didn't care. He just sat there with his hands supporting his head, listening to the story attentively.
It really is a story about the Three Kingdoms. Wen Jiajia never expected to hear it on the radio.
She moved all the pots, pans, and utensils in the kitchen outside, then boiled some water and washed the wall next to the stove twice with the hot water.
People these days are short of oil. Although her family is better off, their oil consumption is still lower than that of most families in a few decades.
Therefore, there are not many oil stains on the wall around the pot.
The stove is tiled and she would wipe it after cooking every day, so there wasn't much dust on it.
Once you've cleaned the cabinets, stoves, and other areas, you can move on to cleaning the floor.
This time, she even searched the spaces under the cabinets and on the back of the rice jar. She actually cleaned out the dried corpse of a cockroach that had been dead for who knows how long.
“Huh!”
Wen Jiajia curled her lips in disgust. This thing gave her a headache whenever she saw it, but she just couldn't kill it completely.
She saw this thing in the summer and ran to the hospital that day to ask if there was any medicine to kill cockroaches.
There was no such medicine in the hospital. Wen Jiajia had no choice but to ride her bike to a pharmacy in the city to ask.
The pharmacy also didn't have the medicine, but they gave her a folk remedy - mashed potatoes with boric acid.
She has potatoes, and she also knows where to find boric acid!
Boric acid is common in pharmaceutical factories and its price is quite low because the local chemical factories produce it. Brother factories support each other. Wen Jiajia once went there with Director Xue.
However, boric acid from pharmaceutical factories is regulated and cannot be released, but boric acid from chemical factories can be released.
So Wen Jiajia went back to the factory and asked Team Leader Wei to ask his friend at the chemical factory for two spoonfuls of boric acid. After returning home, she steamed two potatoes, mashed them into mashed potatoes, added boric acid, kneaded them into small balls, and placed them in corners such as the kitchen and living room where cockroaches were likely to appear.
But what can I say...I can't be sure how useful it is, because at that time she only saw two small dead cockroaches at home, and the big cockroaches would still crawl.
Wen Jiajia later tried the method of adding baking soda and sugar, and the method of soapy water, but they still failed to kill the cockroaches.
Finally, as the weather got colder, the cockroaches disappeared on their own and my house became cockroach-free.
This time, when she saw the dead cockroach, the long-lost nausea came over her again. She quickly picked it up and threw it outside the yard, burying it in the mud as fertilizer. She felt that throwing it into the water would pollute it.
The sanitation was done at two o'clock and the kitchen looked brand new.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan also listened to the radio until two o'clock. The two children who usually took a nap were particularly energetic at this moment. Wen Jiajia listened carefully while washing her hands. At this moment, the radio was talking about the Battle of Red Cliffs.
It is foreseeable that the story of the radio will become the background music in the home from now on.
I heard that after a few years, the two children had a lot of strange stories before they even started primary school.
Wen Jiajia considers herself a very open-minded parent and she does not forbid her children from listening to the radio.
After all, a radio is not a mobile phone or computer and will not have any impact on your vision.
But she would not allow someone to listen to the music for hours on end, to the point of losing his appetite and not wanting to eat or drink.
So Wen Jiajia also sat aside and listened with great interest. After the Battle of Red Cliff was finished, she turned off the radio and said, "Okay, there's no sunlight in the yard anymore, let's go out for some exercise."
"Oh, auntie!" Wen Chun fell to the side of Wen Jiajia, holding her arms and twisting them vigorously, "Listen for a while, just a little while longer."
Wen Jiajia pushed her head away and said, "It's no use being cute. Go out and exercise. You've been listening to it for three hours. It's time to give the radio a rest. Whatever you haven't finished listening to today will be played again tomorrow. You can listen to it tomorrow."
Wen Chun wanted to say something, but when she saw the oppressive look in Wen Jiajia's eyes, she didn't dare to speak anymore.
"Go out for a run." Wen Jiajia patted her butt. "If you really have nothing to do, go dig up earthworms for the chickens. It will be even colder soon, and you won't be able to find earthworms even if you want to."
She drove the two children out and Wen Jiajia went to collect the clothes.
After putting away the clothes and quilts, Wei Dai just came back.
"Have you finished chopping wood?" Wen Jiajia asked, "It seems Xie Yang next door also went to chop wood after you left."
Wei Dai carried two loads of firewood to the small shed outside the kitchen, then went to the living room and gulped down two gulps of water, saying, "Today, the logistics department organized the people living in the bungalows to chop firewood. We brought them back with donkey carts. There are still several loads outside."
Wen Jiajia asked him, "Do you want me to help?"
Wei Dai shook his head and went out again: "It's dirty, just stay at home."
"Okay." Wen Jiajia sorted out the two loads of firewood he had just brought back.
The firewood is placed next to the back door of the kitchen, covered with a small shed so that it won't get wet unless it rains too heavily.
Wei Dai carried seven or eight loads of firewood into the yard, and the pile of firewood became higher and higher.
Finally, the shed could no longer hold the firewood, so he put the last two loads of firewood in the utility room. Looking at the full load of firewood, the couple felt safe.
There is no other way. Stockpiling firewood is an instinct in the DNA of rural people. When winter is approaching and there is not much firewood, I feel empty inside.
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