On New Year's Eve, the Zhou family children slept until noon, and even Grandma Zhou, who usually woke up at six or seven o'clock, slept for two extra hours.
After several days of gloom, the sun actually came out on New Year's Day.
Zhou Sui rubbed her eyes and looked at the bright sun in the sky, feeling very comfortable.
"Girl, come over to your grandma's after you've had breakfast." Zhou Dayong was moving a table outside when he saw Zhou Sui get up and casually said this.
"knew."
The Zhou family celebrates the New Year in a lively manner. Both branches of the family gather in Old Mrs. Zhou's courtyard to work together and have a reunion dinner.
When our families weren't well-off, we would discuss buying one of these items, and then we would buy the other one.
This year everyone has more money, so they all rushed to buy things. In the end, both families bought some. Fortunately, the vegetables can be stored for winter, so each family can bring some vegetables and make a big feast.
Lunch was simple; after finishing, everyone took on their tasks and started working.
In previous years, the head chefs were Li Qiuju and Zhang Cui, but this year there are two more people: Zhou Peng and Zhou Sui.
Zhou Sui simply wanted to make something new for everyone to eat, while Zhou Peng's culinary skills had greatly improved over the past few months of running a boxed lunch business, and he couldn't wait to show off his skills during the Chinese New Year.
As for the others, Zhou Dayong and Zhou Dawu were responsible for slaughtering and other tasks, and also for chopping wood and starting fires.
Zhou Yu followed the people in the kitchen, picking and washing vegetables, and doing odd jobs.
Zhou Xu, that kid, can't sit still, so we arranged for him to put up couplets and the character "福" (fortune).
Grandma Zhou carried a small bucket of cooked paste and followed behind Zhou Xu, directing him to paste the paste.
The people in the kitchen chatted as they worked. "I must say, Sui Sui cut this fish quite nicely. What dish are you going to make with this fish again?"
Zhang Cui had been watching from the moment Zhou Sui began cutting the fish.
"Squirrel-shaped mandarin fish." Zhou Sui rinsed the cut fish in water and then coated the fish meat with a layer of starch.
"This name sounds strange. It's just a fish, so where does the squirrel come from?"
Zhou Sui smiled. She didn't know where the name came from; it was just what everyone called her.
"Why keep the fish head when there's hardly any meat on it?" Zhang Cui asked again as she watched Zhou Sui marinate the fish head.
"You should keep the fish head even if you don't eat it; it's just for decoration. You'll see when it's done." Without the fish head, this dish wouldn't look perfect.
Zhang Cui nodded as if she understood but not quite. She only knew how to cook some home-style dishes. She used to eat fish during the Chinese New Year, but she mostly braised it, feeling that as long as it didn't have a fishy smell, it was fine.
But with two more children helping out today, she felt that this year's New Year's Eve dinner would be different from usual.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, Zhou Dayong and his brother came up with a way to set up the large round table over the stove, so that people would stay warm and the food wouldn't get cold so quickly.
Once the table was set up, the kitchen started serving dishes one after another. The first dishes were appetizers and dry dishes, and the two chatterboxes from the Zhou family were naturally in charge of serving them.
"Come on, come on, let's have some cold seaweed salad, wood ear mushrooms, and cucumber."
"There are also four-happiness meatballs and salt and pepper peanuts."
The two of them, who didn't know where they learned it from, started singing the names of the dishes as they served them.
Grandma Zhou was sitting alone at the table. Looking at the four dishes, she was taken aback at first, then smiled and said, "These meatballs are arranged correctly. They look really good."
Zhou Sui arranged all the dishes on special plates, matching each dish with a particular plate.
Even the same dish can look completely different after being plated.
"Please wait a moment, I'll serve you the noodles right away." Zhou Yu bowed respectfully to the old lady, then followed Zhou Xu away.
Grandma Zhou just sat there watching the two perform Errenzhuan (a traditional Chinese folk art form).
"Boiled prawns, a symbol of prosperity and good fortune."
"Stuffed cabbage with meat, flowers bloom and wealth abounds."
Next, the hot dishes were served, and the two of them racked their brains to come up with auspicious words.
Spicy chicken wings, soaring high.
"Garlic vermicelli, a fortune beyond measure."
"Steamed pork ribs with glutinous rice, a dish that brings wealth and prosperity."
"Steamed meatballs with egg, bringing wealth and prosperity."
These two people were naturally sweet-talking, and their acting was so convincing that Old Lady Zhou couldn't stop smiling as she listened to their auspicious words.
After finishing their work, Zhou Dayong and his brother joined in the fun, saying, "You two have really put in the effort to study; you've finally come home this year to make a contribution."
The combination of delicious food and auspicious words brought a smile to the faces of the two men.
The atmosphere at the Zhou family's New Year celebration this year was more relaxed and joyful than ever before, probably because it was a bumper year.
The kitchen staff cooked quickly, and more than a dozen dishes were served one after another on the table.
There are braised pork with quail eggs, crispy duck, braised beef, blanched bok choy, eggplant fritters with minced meat, and eight-treasure rice.
The eggplant box was made by Zhou Sui and arranged in the shape of a small lantern. It was decorated with shredded carrot peel as lantern tassels. Zhou Xu carried it carefully, afraid that it would be crooked and affect the appearance.
As soon as the eggplant fritters were served, the Zhou brothers' eyes widened in amazement. "Sui Sui's skills are amazing! They look so good!"
Zhou Yu chimed in from the side, "My sister only came up with ideas and plating; everything else was done by my aunt."
She ruined one eggplant because she didn't cut it well.
In the end, it was Li Qiuju who had to step in and chop the discarded eggplant into minced meat and mix it into the meat paste.
"Hahaha." Zhou Dawu laughed, "Not bad, no one can know everything."
As they were talking, Zhou Xu came over carrying a clay pot. "Chicken soup is here, old hen soup. My sister said that a lot of tonics were added to this chicken soup and it's a must-drink for everyone."
The casserole was placed in the center of the table, and as soon as the lid was lifted, the unique aroma of chicken soup wafted out.
Then Zhou Xu added, "The chicken was stewed by my older brother, and the tonics inside were added by my sister."
Even Zhou Dayong laughed. "What dish did your sister cook from start to finish?"
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