After the meal, Xu Manman felt like she was digging her toes through the villa.
The cousin was embarrassed, but Chen Ming was not embarrassed at all.
"Caleb, let me tell you, Manman is the chef in charge of our family's New Year's celebrations every year. All year round, our family looks forward to eating the meal she cooks.
Manman is self-taught in cooking, and she taught me how to cook.”
Xu Manman took a deep breath. Since she couldn't beat them, she had no choice but to join in. "Eat more. Aren't we going to set off fireworks after we bring them back?"
Setting off fireworks and firecrackers during the Chinese New Year is a tradition in China. They are rarely used abroad. The few they bought had to be purchased after traveling all over the island. They were just the stock left over from New Year's Day.
When Xu Manman saw the dazzling fireworks exploding in the sky, she finally felt the reality of the New Year.
Because of the time difference, six o'clock in the morning here is considered midnight in China, so after setting off the fireworks, they went back and had a good sleep, and did not get up until midnight to prepare supper.
The midnight snack was naturally dumplings, with the same filling prepared by Xu Manman, and Chen Ming kneading the dough and rolling out the skin. As a "culinary genius", Caleb learned how to make a perfectly shaped dumpling in just over ten minutes of teaching.
The three of them worked together and quickly made about two hundred dumplings.
Fennel and eggs, pork, carrot and corn, beef, mushroom, and zucchini and shrimp.
I was so full during the day that it took me so long to digest most of the food, so I only ate half of the dumplings for supper and froze the rest in the refrigerator to make fried dumplings later.
At 0:00 Beijing time, 6:00 Hawaii time, when the sunlight gradually appeared on the sea, they officially welcomed their "New Year".
Here, of course, there is no need to visit relatives, but the next day, the three of them still dressed up ceremoniously and took a stroll on the street.
Maybe they were lucky, but they also bought peanuts and melon seeds at a farm produce store, but they were all raw.
How could this be a problem for the Chinese people who have loved food all their lives? Xu Manman and Chen Ming excitedly went home carrying two small cloth bags, looking more excited than if they had picked up gold.
Xu Manman found a small iron pot that was not often used in the corner of the kitchen, added a little bit of salt, and started stir-frying.
After cooling, put them into sealed jars. This is their New Year's happiness.
After frying some of the peanuts, Xu Manman also kept some and peeled the peanut kernels. Half of them were made into fried peanuts, and the other half was mixed with butter to make beef-pressed peanut candy.
The three of them huddled on the sofa, watched TV, and ate a bowl of sesame-filled dumplings they had made themselves. Early in the morning of the third day, they cleaned up the villa, packed their luggage, and boarded planes to go their separate ways.
In the new semester, Xu Manman officially started studying for a doctorate. Because she did not formally obtain a master's degree, her courses were no more than last semester.
Not only do you have to take doctoral courses, but you also have to take the required master's courses. Moreover, at the doctoral level, more emphasis is placed on the ability to research and do projects than on theoretical learning.
So, although Xu Manman is not so busy that she has no time to rest, she doesn't have much free time either.
Fortunately, we have two days off a week here and there is no evening self-study. Compared with students, teachers don’t like to work overtime. Except for class time, the rest of the time is free.
She is not short of money and does not need to compress her time to work and study. Compared with most people, her life is very comfortable.
In the spring, I drove out for an outing with Caleb King.
It is worth mentioning that this year there are also many government-sponsored international students coming here, and they are also receiving preliminary language training at Columbia University. However, when they first arrived, Xu Manman was still in Hawaii.
When school started, I only saw three students assigned to Columbia University. Although the number of assigned students was not large, the number of government-sponsored study abroad programs this year actually doubled compared to last year.
The list of schools for the United States' public exchange program has also increased, and many students have been sent to the United Kingdom and Germany.
After receiving the news from the embassy, Xu Manman met her new classmates shortly after school started, along with seven other classmates who were assigned there at the same time.
It was only at this time that Xu Manman learned from her younger classmates that there was also a boy named Xu Jianguo coming with them.
"Xu Jianguo? Is he 20 years old, 182cm tall, and has eyes that look a bit like mine?"
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