Chapter 35 Dog Man
Occasionally, the sound of firewood burning could be heard outside the house, and the old-fashioned fan in the house made a squeaking sound every time it turned.
The wind was warm, and the sunlight outside shone into the house through the open door.
Zhao Yeqing didn't know when he fell asleep. When he opened his eyes, Mu Xi was no longer on the bench, and there was no one outside the house.
Even the two pieces of paste and the snow cake disappeared.
There was a cup of lukewarm herbal tea on the table.
She hates drinking warm water the most, either icy cold or hot. She always feels indescribable discomfort after drinking warm water.
It was already past five in the afternoon, and she remembered what Mu Xi had asked her to do at noon, asking her to repay him for saving her life.
I looked around the kitchen, not knowing what to cook.
The weather is too hot, so killing a chicken and stewing it with matsutake chicken soup is a bit too nourishing. Stir-fried wild boar meat is not a good idea either, as the taste of wild boar meat is too overbearing and will cover up the aroma of the matsutake mushrooms.
The best way to eat it is to pan-fry it in its original flavor.
It’s a pity that there is no butter at home. Although butter has fragrance, it can complement the fragrance of matsutake mushrooms.
Now you can only make do with vegetable oil, and it’s best not to use rapeseed oil as it has too strong an aroma. Use odorless vegetable oil like corn oil to preserve the original flavor.
Just having one dish of fried matsutake mushrooms is definitely not enough.
Zhao Yeqing saw that there were several bags of ribs in the freezer and took out one to thaw.
She planned to make a dish of braised pork ribs with eggplant and beans.
This dish was the first one she had when she went to the north. Her northern friends took her to a restaurant and this was the first dish served. It was a huge plate and it deeply shocked her soul.
She walked to the small vegetable garden. Vegetables and fruits had begun to bear fruit one after another. The first batch of tomatoes had begun to turn red, and some of the early eggplants were already about ten centimeters in size. She had originally planned to grow them and pick them when they were bigger, but now they had to be sacrificed.
The eggplants you grow yourself are unlikely to grow into the big, plump eggplants sold in the vegetable market. They are generally a little smaller in size.
The large vegetable garden is also growing lushly and greenly. It makes me feel good just looking at it. Plus, I grew it myself, so I feel a great sense of accomplishment.
The beans are still very tender, and only a few can be picked. She turned the racks of cowpeas and green beans several times, and the two kinds of beans together were barely enough for one meal.
Sweet potato leaves are a by-product of the sweet potato growing process. They are high-yielding and delicious, and do not require much care.
When the crops are in their peak period, it will be impossible to eat them all, even if you raise a pig at home.
Now look at where it is still tender, pick the tender tips and stir-fry them in a plate.
The garlic fruits in the field are not very big yet, but the garlic leaves are already edible. Stir-fried garlic sprouts with bacon is also one of her favorite dishes.
Zhao Yeqing took all the ingredients back to the kitchen and started cooking.
Cook the ribs first, as this takes the longest time.
You need to add enough ginger slices, cooking wine and peppercorns to remove the smell of wild boar meat. Put the ribs in cold water and boil them over high heat. Foam will float on the surface, and the foam is red, which is different from ordinary pork.
After taking out the ribs, clean off the blood foam, put them into the pot, stir-fry with other spices, and then add hot water to cover the ribs.
The seasonings are homemade soy sauce and dark soy sauce, as well as a few grains of rock sugar.
It takes twenty minutes of stewing before adding eggplant and beans. If you add them too early, they will be overcooked.
She had eaten this dish in the north before, and it was topped with some steamed buns. The steamed buns were full of pork ribs flavor, and she could eat five of them.
Unfortunately, there is too little flour now, and she is reluctant to use it, so it will be gone after making two meals.
As the staple food, she chose rice first. There were less than 50 kilograms of rice left. She originally estimated that the rice would last her four months, but now there are two of them, and the boy’s appetite is bigger, so she estimated that the rice would last her less than two months.
The rice is steamed and the ribs are almost ready.
She stir-fried the vegetables first, and then started frying the matsutake mushrooms when Mu Xi came back, to ensure that she could eat them first.
Sweet potato leaves are easy to cook, and the vegetables don’t have to be afraid of being cold, so just fry them and serve.
When the food was almost cold, Mu Xi finally came back.
The ones who appeared earlier than him were Huhu and Xuebing. They were obviously tired from playing. I don’t know how long they had been walking outside today. They looked listless when they returned home. Huhu ran to the freezer and wandered around.
This is the milk that is fed every day. The leftovers are frozen in the freezer. In the morning, Huhu will dig into the freezer, which means it is hungry.
The milk in the freezer had been used up in the morning, so now they could be fed milk. Zhao Yeqing took a bottle from the cupboard and poured it into each of their small basins.
Mu Xi walked in, covered in dust.
"Where have you been? Why did you take so long?" Zhao Yeqing asked while washing matsutake mushrooms at the sink.
There was nothing special in his hand except a few fruits.
Mu Xi put the kiwi fruit in his hand next to the sink and said, "I just walked around and tried to find something. I didn't find anything. I'll go check again tomorrow."
"What is it? Maybe I know."
"Have you seen the beehive?" Mu Xi didn't keep him in suspense.
"Indeed, I haven't seen it. I wanted to find it before. Do you want to use honey? There is still some in the cupboard."
The sink was next to the kitchen window, facing the reservoir outside. Mu Xi scooped water from the reservoir to wash the mud off the soles of his shoes.
Hearing this, he replied, "No, I saw it, there's not much left."
Speaking of this, Zhao Yeqing brought out his previous idea, "Have you seen the land left by the trees I cut down? Some time ago, I was thinking about whether I could build two beehives to raise some bees."
Mu Xi nodded, "Very good, but how many flowers do you plan to plant?"
Zhao Yeqing was stunned as he was washing the matsutake mushrooms. "What kind of flowers are you planting?"
"To raise bees you need a source of nectar, otherwise you'll have to rely on the wild flowers on the mountain. When do you plan to eat honey?" Mu Xi shook off the water on his shoes. "I saw your box of seeds. There are a lot of flower seeds, right? Just scatter them."
When you plant flowers, you will have nectar only when they bloom. It is also troublesome to find bee colonies, and there is a risk of catching them once you find them.
Zhao Yeqing felt that honey was not that important.
"Forget it, it's too troublesome." Nothing is difficult in the world as long as you are willing to give up.
Mu Xi didn't say anything, as if he had gotten an expected answer.
She cleans the matsutake mushrooms very carefully. The skin contains nutrients and cannot be peeled off, so it can only be cleaned carefully.
Cut it into thin slices with a knife and fry it in hot oil. The rich mushroom aroma will spread soon after it is put into the pan.
Fry both sides until they turn slightly yellow and you can take them out without even adding salt.
Zhao Yeqing shouted outside that it was time for dinner.
Mu Xi put down the bacon he was turning, washed his hands, and walked in to serve the dishes.
The ribs were just uncovered and served, still warm.
"Try it."
Mu Xi took a bite of each of them out of courtesy and said, "It's good, better than what I made."
Zhao Yeqing felt very uncomfortable hearing his sincere and ambiguous compliments and looked at him in surprise.
Mu Xi picked up another piece of food with chopsticks and said, "You can do it from now on."
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