In recent days, Jiang Feng has been troubled by one thing, that is, Miss Huang Lingwei’s birthday is coming soon. What kind of birthday gift should he give?

First of all, Jiang Feng would not consider anything that could be easily bought with money.

After all, Huang Lingwei's family is well-off, so it might be an exaggeration to say that she lacks nothing, but she does not lack most things, and the things she lacks are not something Jiang Feng can afford.

Since we can’t consider the value of the gift, we can only focus on the thought behind it.

There are many inexpensive but thoughtful gifts, such as folding paper cranes and lucky stars, but these are things that little girls like to do, and Jiang Feng, a grown man, naturally can't come up with such gifts.

After thinking about it for several days and losing countless brain cells, Jiang Feng finally came up with a very special gift. This gift can be summed up in one word - eat!

Yes, after thinking about it for a few days, Jiang Feng decided to personally prepare a unique dish for Huang Lingwei on her birthday, which she most likely had never eaten before.

This delicacy is the "Poshuiguai" created by Bailiang County, also known as "Luoshuibao". It is a unique delicacy made by the people of Bailiang County every year during the birthday of Guanyin.

It is no exaggeration to say that in Bailiang County, nine out of ten women who are the head of the family will make "Poshuiguai". This thing is just like dumplings in the north, and every household makes it.

Although "Po Shuiguai" is made by almost every household in Bailiang County, it is just like cooking. Some people make it taste particularly good, while others make it taste really hard to describe.

And Jiang's mother is an expert at making "Poshuiguai".

Jiang Feng decided to learn from his mother.

When he told his mother about this idea, Jiang's mother was surprised and asked, "Do you want to learn how to make a 籺 (Poshuiguai) from me?"

Jiang Feng hummed and said, "Mom, is this difficult to learn?"

Jiang's mother said, "It's not that difficult, but why do you want to learn this? If you want to eat it, I can cook it for you!"

Jiang Feng chuckled and said, "I plan to use this to find you a daughter-in-law!"

Jiang's mother's eyes lit up when she heard this, "Xiao Feng, what's going on? Do you have a girl you like?"

Jiang Feng nodded and said, "I have a crush on a girl. Her birthday is coming soon. I really can't think of a good birthday present for her. After thinking about it, I decided to learn how to make glutinous rice dumplings from you. I will make it for her on her birthday as a birthday present!"

Jiang's mother said with a smile: "How can you be like this? Girls nowadays are very particular about rituals. You have to give a gift to someone on their birthday!"

Jiang Feng sighed, "I also wanted to give her a gift, but she doesn't need anything. I've been thinking for a few days and can't think of any creative gift. I might as well make her a delicious meal!"

Jiang's mother asked curiously, "Where is this girl from?"

"She is from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. I met her last time when I sent my aunt home."

At this point, Jiang Feng smiled and said, "Mom, don't ask so many questions for now. I haven't even started dating her yet. Once I get her, I'll tell you in detail!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang's mother could only suppress her curiosity and asked, "Xiao Feng, do you really want to learn how to make rice dumplings?"

"Of course it's true."

Jiang Feng responded, and then asked: "Mom, how long will it take to learn this?"

Jiang's mother smiled and said, "I can't tell you the exact time, because some people can learn it right away, while some people can never learn it no matter how hard they try. Anyway, you should try to learn it first. If you can learn it, that's the best. If you can't, then I'll make it for you, and you can pack it up and take it to the girl to eat!"

There are two ways to eat Po Shui Guai. One is to eat it right out of the pot, and the other is to fry it after it cools down.

The two ways of eating have their own flavors and are both very delicious.

Jiang Feng nodded and said, "Okay, then let's learn how to make it first. If you really can't learn it, you can just bring the finished product over to her to eat!"

…

There are two major difficulties in making glutinous rice dumplings. One is the glutinous rice dumpling flour (skin), and the other is the glutinous rice dumpling filling (filling).

Non-glutinous rice flour is made by soaking glutinous rice and indica rice, beating them into powder, and then adding water to knead it into a dough. The ratio of glutinous rice to indica rice and how much water to add when kneading non-glutinous rice flour are all learned from experience.

There is also glutinous rice cake. Different families have different tastes, but it is generally recognized that the most delicious glutinous rice cake is the combination of pork, eggs, and garlic. If conditions permit, you can also add some crab meat to enhance the flavor.

At this time, Jiang Feng was kneading the dough under the guidance of his mother. It was neither easy nor difficult. If no one guided him and he had to figure it out on his own, it might take him a long time to make the best-tasting rice dumpling skin.

Now that Jiang Feng had the guidance of his mother, an experienced expert, he was able to successfully knead the dough!

Next comes the most important part.

First, take out half a bowl of dried crab meat and soak it in water, then start chopping the pork.

Choose pork with a suitable balance of fat and lean meat, not all lean or all fat. After chopping the pork, you need to fry the eggs. Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir them evenly. Then fry them in the pan until both sides are golden brown. Then take out and chop them.

Next is to chop the garlic.

When making glutinous rice dumplings, you must use local fragrant garlic. The kind of all-season garlic does not have much garlic flavor, and the glutinous rice dumplings made with all-season garlic will not be as delicious as those made with fragrant garlic.

After cutting the garlic, it’s time to fry the most critical step: stir-frying the garlic core.

Jiang Feng learned step by step under the guidance of his mother.

When he was young, he often saw his mother making glutinous rice dumplings, but he was just eager to eat them and didn't care how they were made. Now, in order to give Miss Huang an unexpected surprise, Jiang Feng is really studying hard.

No one knew whether it was the power of love or Jiang Feng had a natural talent for making puppets, but under his mother's guidance, he operated step by step and successfully made the Po Shuiguai.

When I tasted it after it was cooked, I found that it tasted very good. Although it is not as good as my mother’s cooking, it is also a very good product!

Of course, this doesn’t mean that he really can do it. He has to do it himself from start to finish and make the dumplings without his mother’s guidance, and the taste must be no worse than this time, only then he can be considered to have truly learned it!

So, for the next few days, Jiang Feng didn't go anywhere and just stayed at home thinking about making rice dumplings.

It was the first time I tried it without my mother’s guidance, and I managed to succeed, but the taste was hard to describe.

After discussing the reasons with his mother, Jiang Feng started his second and third experiments. His progress was very obvious with each experiment.

Today was Jiang Feng's fourth experiment on his own. With the experience from the previous times and knowing clearly where the problems had occurred, Jiang Feng felt that he was doing it particularly smoothly this time.

He had a feeling that the taste this time would not be worse than the first time when his mother was guiding him throughout the process.

Soon, the Poshuiguai was cooked. Jiang Feng quickly scooped one for each of his family members and said, "Dad, mom, brothers and sisters, come over and try it. How does it taste this time?"

The family members were very considerate and came over to pick up the bowls and start tasting the food.

"Hey, Xiao Feng, this tastes good, it's as good as what I made!" Sister Jiang Xue was the first to comment.

The eldest brother Jiang Fei also praised: "It tastes good. It seems that Xiao Feng really has a talent in this area!"

Father Jiang nodded and said, "You are good enough to become a master at this level!"

Jiang Feng looked at his mother and asked, "Mom, what do you think?"

Jiang's mother smiled and said, "You have been able to achieve this level in just a few days. It is really amazing. You did not bring out the freshness of the crab meat this time, and you put a little too much meat."

Jiang Feng nodded repeatedly after listening to it, then scooped one for himself and tasted it carefully. He found that his mother's comments were indeed very insightful. Compared with the dumplings his mother made herself, it was indeed not as fresh and fragrant, and there was a little more meat, which made it easy to get sick of eating.

So Jiang Feng quickly took out his mobile phone and wrote down the questions.

…

Wednesday, November 9, 2022.

A girls’ dormitory at a key university in the provincial capital of Zhejiang Province.

It is said that the world of college girls is complicated, and a dormitory of four people can form five groups.

However, among thousands of college girls' dormitories, there is also true sisterhood, such as the dormitory where Huang Lingwei is located. The four girls in the dormitory have been together for more than three years. Because they have similar personalities, they have long become close friends who can talk about anything.

At this time, the three sisters in the dormitory were discussing Huang Lingwei's birthday celebration tomorrow.

Sister A asked, "Weiwei, where is your birthday party tomorrow?"

Huang Lingwei said: "I haven't thought about it yet!"

Sister B said: "There aren't many choices. There are only one or two KTVs that are close to our school and popular."

Sister C said, "I think the KTV that Sister A booked last time is pretty good."

Sister A said, "Actually, the location is not the point. The point is, Weiwei, who are you going to invite to your birthday party? Do you want to invite your admirers?"

Huang Lingwei shook her head and said, "I have never liked those kinds of crowded and lively scenes, especially when it's my birthday. I have to take care of every guest who comes to attend. It's exhausting and exhausting the whole process. It's simply torture. So even if I want to have a party, I don't plan to invite anyone else. It's enough for me to have you three accompany me!"

Sister B said, "Weiwei, you have a good personality and are low-key. You are not like some socialites in school who want to invite all the boys in the school to their birthday."

Sister C laughed and said, "Sister B, those socialites spend the whole year hoping to make a fortune from those licking dogs on their birthdays. But our Weiwei is of such status that there is no way she could do such a thing."

Huang Lingwei said modestly: "Don't say that. What kind of identity do I have? I am just an ordinary person."

Sister A said, "Weiwei, you are a rich and beautiful girl, so don't be so modest. Since we don't plan to invite anyone else, it will be easy to arrange if it's just the four of us in the dormitory!"

Huang Lingwei asked: "Sister A, do you have any good recommendations?"

Sister A began to talk about her thoughts, "Celebrating a birthday is nothing more than eating, drinking and having fun. If my little brother is with us, then having fun is naturally more important than eating and drinking. But if there is no little brother, and it is just the four of us sisters, then it will definitely be right to focus on eating and drinking!"

After hearing this, all the girls nodded secretly.

Then, Huang Lingwei began to discuss with the three girls where to eat and drink tomorrow.