Chapter 43 Birthday
Another month has passed in the blink of an eye.
During this month, besides the daily chores of lighting the stove and heating the kang (a heated brick bed), feeding the chickens and dogs, all that was left was eating and drinking.
Life may be ordinary, but I feel at peace and content.
However, even the slightest change at home makes me incredibly happy.
However, two major events are about to happen in the family.
The first big thing is that the watermelons and strawberries I planted have ripened.
The second big thing is that my birthday is coming up soon.
I plan to do two important things together on one day.
That is, on my birthday, I plan to cut a ripe watermelon and then pick the first batch of ripe strawberries.
I haven't eaten fresh fruit for several months.
We usually eat apples, oranges, and frozen pears; we've never had a chance to eat fresh fruit like this before.
Besides, these are grown by myself, so the first time I eat them, it has to be a special occasion.
On my birthday, I got up early to heat up the stove and the heated brick bed, and fed the chickens and dogs.
Then I started preparing the birthday feast.
Here's a menu: milk-flavored steamed buns, fruit platter, cumin beef, crispy pork, stir-fried cured pork with chives, and chicken stew with mushrooms.
With steamed buns, five dishes and a soup, that's enough to eat.
Since I can't make a cake, I'll just make myself a milky steamed bun.
First, pour three bowls of noodles into the basin.
Then add one-third of a packet of milk powder, three spoonfuls of sugar, two spoonfuls of oil, and then pour in the dry yeast.
Finally, add warm water to the flour and stir until it forms a smooth batter.
Cover it with plastic wrap and place it on the heated brick bed in the east room to ferment.
At this point, cut the beef into pieces about half the size of a mahjong tile, and then marinate it with oyster sauce, sesame oil, thirteen-spice powder, vinegar, and scallion segments.
Slice the cured pork, cut the chives into sections, and soak the mushrooms in warm water. Once all the ingredients are prepared, start cooking.
First, stew the chicken. Heat oil in an iron pot, sauté scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant, then add the chicken pieces and stir-fry together.
Add appropriate amounts of soy sauce, thirteen-spice powder, and oyster sauce, stir-fry until fragrant, then pour into a clay pot.
Add warm water to the casserole dish to cover the chicken, then add salt and a small amount of sugar.
The casserole was placed on the stove in the east room and simmered over a low flame.
By this time, the dough for the steamed buns has risen. Mix it together and knead it into a dough.
Pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a child's fist, roll it into a ball, and steam it directly in a pot.
After the steamed buns are steamed, start stir-frying the vegetables.
Pour a lot of oil into an iron ladle, put the crispy pork in to fry first, take it out and fry it again.
The deep-fried pork belly is now ready.
Place it in a nice plate, sprinkle with some barbecue seasoning, and put it directly on the dining table in the east room.
Then comes the cumin-fried beef. The marinated beef chunks are also put into the hot oil and fried, then checked twice.
Once the oil has been drained, pour the beef chunks directly into a nice-looking plate.
Sprinkle some cumin powder on top and serve directly.
The fried beef and crispy pork smelled especially delicious, and the two little dogs were jumping around with envy.
Don't throw away the used hot oil. Pour it directly into an empty peach canning jar, and you can use this oil directly for cooking in the future.
Leave some oil in the pan, heat the pan and add scallions, ginger and garlic.
Once the scallions, ginger, and garlic are fragrant, add the sliced cured pork. Stir-fry the cured pork until it becomes fragrant, then add the chives to the pot.
Stir-fry briefly, then add vinegar and soy sauce from the side of the pan, stir-fry again, and remove from heat.
At this point, the chicken is almost cooked, so put the soaked mushrooms directly into the casserole and simmer together.
Looking at the time, the milk-flavored steamed buns should be ready soon.
Lifting the lid of the large iron pot, a rich aroma of milk and flour wafts out along with the steam.
The steamed buns were large, white, plump, and round.
It is very soft and elastic when gently pressed with your hand.
I used a spatula in one hand and my other hand to gently lift it out and place it in the basin, then covered it with a lid.
It was placed directly on the table in the east room.
Now all that's left is the fruit platter, so I carefully walked over to the vegetable dish.
There were five watermelons in the vegetable basin. I picked the biggest one and tapped it. It had a slight echo, so it must be ripe.
So he quickly and decisively picked the watermelon.
Then I picked the biggest and reddest strawberries, and picked a total of 11 strawberries.
Back in the kitchen, I felt a sense of awe and kept repeating to myself, "It has to be cooked through, it has to be cooked through."
With one cut, the watermelon made a small "pop" sound, and a crack gently appeared.
Hearing this sound reassured me a little. Every time I heard the watermelon gently crack open, it meant it was ripe.
I carefully cut it in half, then pried it outwards with two fingers.
Success or failure hinges on this one move.
The bright red watermelon flesh was fully exposed to the air, accompanied by the refreshing aroma of watermelon.
The flesh is reddish with a hint of pink, and the watermelon seeds are dark brown.
This means the watermelon is indeed ripe, but not fully ripe. Fully ripe watermelon seeds should be pure black.
But it doesn't matter, it'll be fine once you get used to it. I don't expect perfection.
Then carefully cut the watermelon into small pieces.
Eat the very last little bit at the very edge and see if it's sweet or not.
It has a refreshing aroma, is very juicy, and is indeed quite sweet.
I'm so happy! This is the first watermelon I've successfully grown, and also the first one I've ever eaten.
Wash the strawberries and put them in the same plate as the watermelon, with each type of fruit taking up half the space.
Then, place the fruit platter on the table, and the birthday feast is complete.
Every dish looked delicious. The fruit platter was colorful and appealing, the stir-fried cured pork with chives was reddish-green, the crispy fried pork was golden and crunchy, and the cumin beef had a rich color.
Every dish looked exceptionally delicious.
I couldn't help but take a picture with my phone to commemorate this first birthday since the extreme cold apocalypse.
First, pick up a milk-flavored steamed bun and take a bite. It's very soft and has a rich milky flavor. If you chew it carefully, you can also taste a distinct sweetness.
Picking up a piece of chicken thigh meat, the skin was soft and tender, and the meat itself was very chewy.
This is the characteristic of farm-raised chicken; even after stewing for a long time, it won't become too soft and mushy, but rather chewy and springy.
The chicken was stewed until very flavorful, and the seasonings were also very fragrant, adding a unique flavor to the farm-style chicken.
I couldn't wait to pick up another mushroom. The mushroom was soaked in the soup and it was crunchy when I ate it.
Then I couldn't wait to try stir-fried cured pork with chives. The cured pork was salty and fragrant, and the chives were sweet and refreshing.
It's chewy and has a crunchy texture, it's absolutely amazing.
Cumin beef goes without saying; it's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes.
Combined with the aroma of cumin, it's simply irresistible.
Crispy fried pork is also crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, but the taste is different.
Crispy fried pork is a must-try, as it offers the delicious crispiness of deep-fried food.
Feeling a bit greasy after eating fried food, I quickly ate a slice of watermelon and a strawberry.
It felt refreshing and delicious, it was absolutely amazing.
When you've almost finished eating, serve a bowl of chicken soup as a final touch.
The chicken soup wasn't too salty. After taking a bite of steamed bun and a couple of sips of chicken soup, it was so delicious it made my eyebrows fall off.
This is all nutrition, the kind of nutrition that no one else would even dare to dream of in an extremely cold apocalypse.
We finally had a satisfying meal, and apart from the stir-fried cured pork with chives, most of the other dishes were left uneaten.
There's nothing to be afraid of left. Since it's so troublesome to do it once, of course I want to do more.
Chicken stew with mushrooms can be saved and reheated for the next meal, which is actually more convenient.
Cumin beef and crispy pork can be eaten up completely as snacks.
After eating and drinking its fill, the two puppies were whimpering with longing.
I added some chicken to the chicken broth and tore two large steamed buns into pieces and mixed them in.
Then I put it in the dog bowl, and the two of them immediately pounced on it and devoured it in the blink of an eye.
I had a very fulfilling birthday. Happy birthday to myself!
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