Chapter 110 Sesame Dumplings + Mushroom Sauce...
Yu Miaoyin poured the roasted peanuts into their hands, saying, "Here, eat them. But these are too hot to eat, so it's better to eat less."
The roasted peanuts had an incredibly strong aroma. Peeling off the top red skin revealed the plump, glistening kernels inside. Little Tangbao tilted her head back and poured all the peanuts from her palm into her mouth. The crunchy peanuts crackled in her mouth, and she exclaimed, "It feels like my mouth is setting off firecrackers!"
The peanuts, with their nutty aroma, slowly spread in her mouth. Grandma was amused by Xiaotangbao's words; this child was so funny.
The glutinous rice balls are filled with sesame. Nowadays, all sorts of glutinous rice balls are available on the market—fruit-flavored, taro-flavored, chocolate-flavored, cheese-flavored, and some people even put toppings inside. However, Yu Miaoyin still prefers the sesame-filled kind. When she was little, her family often bought black sesame-filled ones.
She mixed the roasted black sesame seeds and peanuts with white sugar and ground them into powder in a food processor. Then she added lard, honey, and other ingredients to the powder, stirred it well, and refrigerated it to set. She then took out glutinous rice flour to make the dumpling wrappers. After everything was prepared, the filling was also frozen. Yu Miaoyin divided the dough and sesame filling into appropriate sizes, and Yiling helped wrap the dumplings. Grandma and Xiaotangbao also came to help. While the children were rolling the dumplings, they were comparing whose dumplings were rounder with Grandma and Yiling. The kitchen was filled with laughter and joy.
The group worked together and finished quickly. Yu Miaoyin boiled water and started cooking the glutinous rice balls. The rice balls cooked very easily; in just a few minutes, they floated to the surface. Yu Miaoyin turned off the heat and opened the lid. Thankfully, the rice ball skins hadn't broken.
Grandma brought over four round bowls. After eating the glutinous rice balls, we still had to have dinner. Yu Miaoyin didn't make much, since today is the Little New Year, and it's mainly for good luck.
After receiving the glutinous rice balls, everyone was attracted by their cuteness. The round, chubby little ones huddled together, and Xiao Tangbao pointed to the roundest one and said, "I made this glutinous rice ball!"
“Yes, that’s great. Hurry up and eat it!” Yu Miaoyin said. Seeing that the child seemed reluctant to eat it, she added, “Take a picture before you eat it, so the glutinous rice ball will stay forever.”
Yes! Xiao Tangbao took out her Little Genius smartwatch, took a picture, sent it to Xiao Ran first, then to Jiajia before starting to eat.
Jiajia was very sad as she ate frozen bagged glutinous rice balls.
She took a small bite first, and the glutinous rice ball had a small hole in it. The sesame filling inside immediately flowed out. Little Tangbao quickly opened her mouth wide and ate the whole glutinous rice ball, afraid that the sesame filling would escape.
Grandma took a big bite of each glutinous rice ball; the skin was chewy and bouncy, with an exceptionally delicate texture. With each bite, the sesame filling burst out, fragrant and silky, with a rich flavor and even a slightly grainy texture. After rolling it across her tongue, it left a mouthful of roasted sesame aroma.
Yu Miaoyin told them not to eat too many glutinous rice balls, but the three of them didn't listen at all. They ate one after another until they were full and couldn't even eat dinner. It's really not their fault; it's just that the glutinous rice balls were too delicious!
After the eve of the Lunar New Year, the Spring Festival is getting closer and closer. Supermarkets are decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and they've started playing "Wishing you prosperity."
Normally at this time, the bulk weighing area of the supermarket is the busiest, but today was an exception. Everyone was gathered around the condiment section waiting for the stockers to put mushroom sauce on the shelves, and even the security guards were standing there to maintain order, afraid that a fight might break out.
The reason was simple: the mushroom sauce now on the shelves was Mr. Yu's version. It wasn't cheap, more expensive than the mushroom sauce they usually bought, but everyone was willing to buy it, after all, it was made by Mr. Yu. The stock clerk put one on the shelf, and in less than a second, a swift, invisible hand snatched it away! The stock clerk even had the illusion that everyone was fighting over free eggs.
Grandpa Xu had been waiting at the supermarket since early morning and successfully snagged two bottles. He then went to a breakfast shop and bought two large steamed buns. Back home, he quickly opened the mushroom sauce, and a powerful, rich aroma wafted out, momentarily stunning him. He scooped a spoonful of the mushroom sauce onto the steamed bun, large chunks of mushroom lying on top, the sauce seeping into the bun, making it exceptionally moist. The bun was still warm, which made the mushroom sauce even more fragrant. With one bite, the wheat flavor of the bun combined with the savory aroma of the mushrooms exploded on his tongue.
Xu Ruian's family was still sleeping when they smelled the aroma and quickly got up. They thought a culinary genius had come to their house!
The Lu family.
Lu Jingming brought the mushroom sauce home. "Mom, here's the mushroom sauce you wanted."
Ms. Lu came downstairs and said, "It's here! This mushroom sauce smells amazing!"
Lu Jingming looked around and asked, "Where's Dad?"
Ms. Lu gets angry whenever this man is mentioned. She complains, "He's a workaholic. Have you ever seen him come home? He might as well live in the factory."
Just then, Mr. Lu's WeChat message came through: "Do you have any mushroom sauce at home?" I asked my assistant to buy some, but the assistant said it was all sold out. "Isn't this from your factory? Please save me a bottle!"
Lu Jingming replied: We have some at home, but we don't have any in stock right now. We're still rushing to produce them.
Upon hearing his son's words, Mr. Lu hurried home.
"You knew you were back?" Ms. Lu said, "I thought you had died at the factory."
"As for the mushroom sauce, let Sister Zhang make something delicious with it," said Mr. Lu. Sister Zhang is their family's cook.
Ms. Lu took the two bottles of mushroom sauce away, saying, "Don't even think about it, my son gave them to me."
Mr. Lu stepped forward and pleaded in a low voice for the mushroom sauce, "Wife, I was wrong. Please let me have some. I work so hard so that you can have money to spend. Didn't you say you wanted to buy that bag your friend had that cost hundreds of thousands? I'll give you the money, go buy it. Just let me have a bite of the mushroom sauce."
For the sake of the money, Ms. Lu agreed. They asked Sister Zhang to make mushroom and meat sauce rice. With the mushroom sauce made by Boss Yu, the mushroom and meat sauce rice was incredibly fragrant. Large chunks of meat and mushrooms were paired with rice, making it a very satisfying meal.
Meanwhile, at Lin Xiangwan's house, Ju Zi quietly brought in two jars of mushroom sauce that she had bought at a high price. "Sister, here's the mushroom sauce you wanted."
Lin Xiangwan's eyes lit up. These past few days had been filled with eating grass and Pamela's food; the mere mention of a delicious treat made her eyes gleam. "Orange, I'm going to give you a raise!"
Lin Xiangwan loved the food at the small restaurant so much that, a few days ago, when she had no business activities or announcements, she went on a trip to Yuncheng with Xu Qingyu and ate a lot of delicious food, especially at Yu Ji's small restaurant. The two of them seemed to have not eaten in ages, and they ate three portions of food, until they were so full they could hardly walk. After eating their fill, the two went back to the hotel to sleep. After a few days of such bliss, Lin Xiangwan was greeted with salad, boiled beef, and Pamela.
Lin Xiangwan sneaked into the kitchen, intending to enjoy a good meal. The next second, a hand snatched the mushroom sauce from her hand. "Wanwan, there are still a few days until your Spring Festival Gala live broadcast. Are you sure you want to eat more? You can't do face-slimming effects during a live broadcast."
"Sister Xia, just one bite, and I promise I'll lose weight to my target weight." Lin Xiangwan silently raised four fingers to swear.
"No way! If you don't reach your target weight, I'm confiscating these two jars of mushroom sauce. You're a female celebrity! You used to calculate the calories in every steamed bun you ate, what's wrong with you now!" Sister Xia was exasperated. Was this Yu's Little Restaurant really that delicious?
For the sake of the mushroom sauce, Lin Xiangwan gritted her teeth, turned around, and went to the treadmill to start running.
She now finds mushroom sauce annoying, but to her surprise, a friend who had just returned from a trip to Yuncheng brought her a jar of mushroom sauce that evening, telling her, "If we weren't college classmates, I would never have given it to you!"
After her friend left, Xia Jie looked at the mushroom sauce for a while. The packaging was so ordinary; could it really taste good? Thinking this, Xia Jie opened the jar. The delicious aroma of the mushroom sauce wafting out of the sealed container was incredibly enticing. The small opening was crammed with mushroom pieces, all submerged in the oily sauce, their surfaces glistening with a thin layer of oil. It smelled amazing. Xia Jie swallowed hard, scooped up a bowl of leftover rice, mixed it with the mushroom sauce, and started eating. It was so delicious! The mushrooms were large and chewy; no wonder Wanwan liked it so much!
While eating, Xia Jie thought, since Wanwan likes it so much, could she use the mushroom sauce to threaten her into making a few more sets of Pamela?
Many food bloggers have also posted videos online teaching how to make delicious food using Yu Laoban's mushroom sauce, such as mushroom sauce fried rice, mushroom sauce steamed fish head, mushroom sauce stir-fried eggplant, etc. The comments are all asking, "Now that I've learned how, where can I buy the mushroom sauce?"
Lu Jingming didn't expect everyone to like the mushroom sauce so much. At first, he thought he would sell it locally in Yuncheng, but he didn't expect it to be so popular. It was sold out as soon as it was put on the shelves, and there were even scalpers selling it at high prices.
To this end, he hired more employees and opened an additional production line to produce mushroom sauce.
——
Four days before the New Year, Yu Miaoyin closed the shop. The two cleaned the house thoroughly, put up the character "福" (good fortune), and prepared New Year's goods, new clothes, and new shoes.
Yu Miaoyin also made her own New Year's goods, including cat ears and fried dough twists. She also remembered that when she was very young, her family would make sugar rings, which were as beautiful as flowers.
She packed the fried food she had made and delivered it to her grandmother and Uncle Xu's family. Both families also brought a lot of New Year's goods.
Just then, Yi Ling's parents returned. Yu Miaoyin handed the fried dough twists and cat ear-shaped pastries she had made to Wen's mother. The two of them took one and tried it. The outer crust was exceptionally fragrant. Looking at the fried dough twists bitten into from the side, the layers of crust were stacked one on top of another, and the filling made of sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, and white sugar looked particularly tempting. Grandma put the whole fried dough twist into her mouth. The first thing she tasted was the crispy, crumbly crust, followed by the sweet and crumbly filling that slid into her mouth.
No one in their family knew how to make fried dough sticks, so they had to buy them from outside. After trying Yu Miaoyin's fried dough sticks, and then the ones from the supermarket, they all thought they weren't very good. Indeed, there's no harm in comparison.
After seeing off Grandma and Grandpa Xu's family, Yu Miaoyin packed some more items to give to He Li's family. Just as she was about to leave, Lu Jingming sent her a WeChat message saying he had brought some New Year's goods and asking if she was free.
After all, she was a shareholder, and it was perfectly normal for Lu Jingming to send New Year's gifts to shareholders. Yu Miaoyin didn't refuse and told him to come over now. While waiting for Lu Jingming to arrive, she also packed some fried dough twists and cat ear-shaped pastries for him.
Lu Jingming handed her the New Year's gifts. He had sent out many New Year's gifts to relatives, friends, and business partners these past few days. Each gift was selected with the help of his assistant, but he had chosen them himself.
"Happy New Year in advance," Lu Jingming said, handing over the carefully selected gift.
"Thank you, and Happy New Year to you too." Yu Miaoyin handed him the fried dough twists and cat ears she had made; "I didn't prepare anything, so I can only give you some things I made."
"Thank you, Miaoyin," Lu Jingming said. This fried dough stick and cat ear noodles are even more delicious than the ones his grandma makes.
Yu Miaoyin asked, "Where's Wyatt? Should I get some for him too? Has he not eaten yet?"
As she spoke, Yu Miaoyin turned back and filled another bag. "Could you please give this to Wyatt for me, and also tell him Happy New Year?"
Lu Jingming hummed in agreement: "Okay, you go home first, it's cold outside."
"Okay." Yu Miaoyin turned and went back.
Lu Jingming returned to his car and sent a WeChat message to Wyatt.
Lu Jingming: Miaoyin asked me to send you some local specialties from Yuncheng, fried dough twists and cat's ear-shaped pastries. Your flight takes off in an hour, so you probably won't be able to come back. I'll eat these two for you.
A minute later, Wyatt replied: Oh no! I changed my ticket, where are you?
Wyatt stood at the airport wondering what cat ears were. But he knew they were made by Boss Yu, and they must be delicious.
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Author's Note: Just a few more chapters and it'll be finished! Thank you all for subscribing. I'll be doing a giveaway when it's finished! [Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers]
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