The round four-happiness meatballs were not chewy at all, yet not soft or chewy.
The meatballs are chewy yet tender, fresh and rich yet sweet, coupled with the unique aroma of wild rhinoceros pork rich in meat protein. Such contradictory yet unified flavors appear in the same dish, making it impossible to stop eating.
He noticed that the greetings gradually faded away, and the five members of Xia Chujian's team were all busy eating.
Only Xia Yuanfang was holding a glass of freshly squeezed Green Yiguo juice and looking at everyone with a smile.
Her eyes always inadvertently swept across Zong Ruoan's face, and then looked at Xia Chujian.
Xia Chujian ate with great joy, her eyes and mind focused only on the dishes she wanted to eat, and she used all her cleverness to figure out how to grab the dishes.
Xia Yuanfang's mouth twitched, knowing that he was overthinking.
The dishes on the table for this New Year’s Eve dinner were particularly rich.
In addition to the four dishes totaling twelve bowls made by Xia Yuanfang, there were also twenty-eight dishes brought by Zong Ruoan, of course the four staple dishes were not included.
The dishes on the entire rectangular dining table were clearly arranged.
One-third of the table was filled with Xia Yuanfang's dishes.
The large white bowl with blue and white decoration is simple and unpretentious, and it can be seen at first glance that it belongs to a wealthy family from the lower class of Mulan City.
The other two-thirds of the table were filled with dishes brought by Zong Ruoan.
They are all served on various plates and soup bowls that look like jade.
Each plate is solid color without any patterns. Although the colors of the plates are slightly different, it can be seen that they are all in the same color scheme.
It was a light green with a hint of dove gray, extending from the bottom of the plate or soup bowl to the top, like a gradient from light to dark.
It was like the color of the sky at dusk after a rainy evening.
Under the illumination of the restaurant lights, these simple and elegant dinner plates or soup bowls have an indescribable elegance and refinement, making people even forget the various New Year's Eve dinners they hold.
Because they themselves are fine works of art.
When Zong Ruoan took out the food and put it on the plates, Xia Chujian and his team were filled with amazement and curiosity.
But after tasting the various dishes and soups inside, their chopsticks all turned to the large white-bottomed, blue-and-white bowls of the Xia family that looked full of the flavor of life.
Although Xia Yuanfang only made four dishes, the portions were very generous, with each dish filling three large bowls.
But despite this, everyone devoured her dishes like whirlwind and finished them all in just half an hour.
All I can say is that what gives a dish real dignity is not the container that holds it, but the diners who swallow it.
No matter how beautiful the packaging is, if it has no real inner flavor, it will not be chosen by gourmets.
After finishing the meal that Xia Yuanfang had prepared, which made them unable to speak but bury their heads in the food, they patted their half-full stomachs and began to exchange greetings on New Year's Eve.
For the remaining hour and a half, everyone ate and chatted while eating the 32 dishes that Zong Ruoan brought, and it felt a bit like the New Year.
This was the first time that Zong Ruoan realized what the saying "there is always someone better than you" meant.
He sighed and said, "...I am indeed narrow-minded. Ms. Xia's cooking skills are undoubtedly the best in the entire Beichen Empire."
When Zong Ruoan said this, it really meant a lot.
Even Li Fu was surprised and asked, "Colonel Zong, you are not just being polite, are you? We are all honest people and we will take it seriously!"
Xia Chujian nodded repeatedly, her eyes shining like stars, looking at Zong Ruoan like that, as if to say "I will take it seriously"!
Although it wasn't a very pretty face, it looked exceptionally cute in Zong Ruoan's eyes.
He smiled faintly and said, "If it wasn't delicious, I could keep silent. But since I praised it, it must be really delicious. What I just said is pure gold."
Song Mingqian and Ping Qiong exclaimed, "Wow!" and gave Xia Yuanfang a thumbs-up: "Aunt Xia is awesome!"
Ye Shijie said, "Since Colonel Zong said so, Aunt Xia's cooking skills are indeed extraordinary. We always come here to eat for free, which really makes us feel bad."
In their opinion, Zong Ruoan came from one of the most wealthy families in the Beichen Empire and even often participated in palace banquets in the imperial palace.
So what he meant, if he was not being polite, was that Xia Yuanfang's cooking skills were truly amazing.
Zong Ruoan smiled and said, "If Ms. Xia wants to open a restaurant on Beichen Star or Shaofu Star, I will definitely help her. Such skills will never be buried no matter where they are."
Xia Yuanfang didn't care. Cooking was her hobby besides studying, and she didn't care what place she ranked.
Just as he was about to politely decline, Xia Chujian said, "Colonel Zong, you're not right. Why should I become a chef just because I'm good at cooking?"
She clearly didn't drink any alcohol, but her cheeks were rosy, as if she had natural rouge.
Zong Ruoan found it interesting and said, "Since you are such a good cook, why can't you be a chef?"
"Of course, that's because my aunt has more skills than just cooking!" Xia Chujian waved his hand generously, "My aunt used to be a senior researcher at Li's Pharmaceuticals! If she hadn't suddenly fallen ill three years ago, her achievements now would be limitless!"
But after she finished speaking, she immediately added, "I don't mean to look down on chefs. Cooking is a serious profession, just like us bounty hunters. I once thought about opening a restaurant to make money... but then I realized I didn't have the capital to open a restaurant, and it would take too much time, so I couldn't go to school, so I gave up the idea."
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