Lin Yan didn't go out to the yard, but ate his lunch in the kitchen. The spare ribs were quite delicious, paired with the pumpkin. The pumpkin was sweet and soft, and the spare ribs were so tender that they fell off the bone with a bite. Lin Yan thought about adding this dish to the pancake, and putting pumpkin or taro on the bottom. It would be delicious.
After eating, Lin Yan went back to his room and rested for more than half an hour. He was awakened by the braying of a donkey in the backyard in a daze, and then he realized that he had forgotten to feed it. He quickly got up, pulled some hay to feed the donkey, and then fed the chickens and pigs. Fortunately, they had something to eat and finally stopped braying.
It was still early, so Lin Yan took out his sewing basket. Last time he said he would make diaper rings for the baby, he had only made a few. Now that he had some free time, he made some more as a backup.
He was busy in the shop all day and rarely went to the village to hang out. He didn't have much friendship with the young women and men in the village, so even when he was at home, he would not go out to play with anyone.
Lin Yan made a few urine rings and found two broken clothes to mend before stopping and preparing to prepare dinner.
Lin Yan walked over to the bucket where the fish were stored, looked at the lively sea bass, rolled up his sleeves, and began to process it. He knocked the fish unconscious with a stick, expertly scraped off the scales, then used a knife to cut open the fish's belly, removed the internal organs, and cleaned the fish.
Put the cleaned fish on a plate, cut some ginger slices and green onion segments, stuff half of them into the fish belly to remove the fishy smell, and put the other half on the fish body, then pour some white wine and salt on it and spread it evenly.
The fish was marinated. Lin Yan looked at the snails in the bucket. When he came back, he had put the snails in the bucket with water and some sesame oil to let the snails spit out the mud and sand.
Wash the chicken wings and cut them in half vertically. Add onion segments, ginger slices, rice wine and salt, mix well, and finally drizzle with a circle of cooking oil and marinate for about 15 minutes.
Boil water over a fire. Add chopped scallions, ginger slices, and rice wine. Rinse the conchs thoroughly and blanch them in the water. Remove the conchs and set aside. Combine the sauce with salt, soy sauce, tsaoko powder, and a spoonful of chili sauce. Add some water and mix well.
The chicken wings were marinated at this time. Lin Yan cleaned the pot, lit a fire, and when the pot was hot, he scooped a spoonful of lard, put the chicken wings in after the oil was hot, and fried until both sides were golden brown.
Leave some oil in the pan, add a few peeled garlic cloves, chopped scallions, and diced onions, stir-fry until fragrant, then add the chicken wings and conch, drizzle with the prepared sauce, cover and simmer on low heat for about half a minute. Lin Yan planned to steam the fish and rice after the conch and chicken wings were cooked, steaming them in two separate pots; steaming them together would cause the flavors to mix.
Soon the fragrance came out, and Lin Yan found a casserole. After the conch chicken wings were cooked, he scooped them into the casserole and covered it with a lid to prevent it from cooling down too quickly. Even if it cooled down, he could heat it up on a small stove, just like eating hot pot.
The next step is to steam the sea bass and rice. This is simple. After Lin Yan steamed the two, he went out to check if his family had returned. From a distance, he saw many villagers returning home one after another, so he guessed that it would be soon.
After cooking, it was time to feed the chickens. Lin Yan chopped some vegetable leaves and scooped a spoonful of porridge from this morning into the mix. Since it was hot, if the porridge wasn't finished in one day, it would go bad. Lin Yan was full from lunch, so he had a little porridge left, so he simply fed it to the chickens. If he had time, he could also go dig up earthworms to feed them.
The pigs' food was also carried over. Before it even reached the pen, the pigs started grumbling. Lin Yan approached the pen carrying the pig food. The two fat pigs excitedly thrashed around in the pen, their grunts echoing. Lin Yan poured the pig food into the trough and watched the pigs happily eat. He felt an inexplicable sense of security in his heart.
Back in the kitchen, the sea bass was already steamed. Lin Yan brought it out on a cloth, sprinkled it with chopped green onions, and drizzled it with hot oil. With a sizzling sound, the aroma instantly filled the air. The brown rice was also steamed, and the aroma was pervasive. Lin Yan checked the door again, and when he saw his family approaching, he returned to the kitchen and set the table: a steaming hot pot of conch and chicken wings, tender steamed sea bass, fragrant rice, and a plate of stir-fried vegetables.
Zhao Shiyun pushed the door open and walked in. Before he even came in, he smelled the fragrance of food and his stomach started to growl.
"You're back, wash your hands and have dinner." Lin Yan served food to everyone. Everyone washed their hands and faces, and patted the dust off their bodies with a cloth towel.
"Wow, Brother Fu, what is this?" Brother Yu had never seen a conch before.
"This is flower snail." Lin Yan suddenly remembered that he had not taken the bamboo sticks yet. He went to the utility room and got out a few bamboo sticks and demonstrated to them how to eat flower snails.
"Use a bamboo stick to poke the snail meat and twist it out. The snail shell can't be eaten, so throw it away. The rest is edible." Lin Yan dipped the selected snail meat in the sauce in the casserole before putting it into his mouth. The snail meat was tender and chewy, with a faint sweet fragrance. Seeing Lin Yan eating it, everyone started to move, imitating Lin Yan's behavior to pick it out with bamboo sticks and dip it in the sauce. "Delicious!" Yu Ge'er's eyes lit up. He couldn't wait to pick up a piece of chicken wing and eat it. "The chicken wings are delicious too. Brother, where are these flower snails from? I haven't eaten them yet."
"This is only available near the sea. I went to buy sea bass today and saw that the fishmonger had it, so I bought some." Lin Yan hadn't eaten it for a long time, and he felt a little nostalgic when he ate it now. Well, he missed his father.
He pursed his lips to hide his sudden depression, picked up a piece of sea bass with chopsticks and started eating.
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