She collected herself and walked into the dimly lit small kitchen.
The space and location of the small kitchen in front of me are better than Hua's. It is spacious and bright, and the position of the window facing the light source is just right.
Hua Shi stood on tiptoe and pushed open the two tightly closed windows, letting the light from outside in, and the view suddenly became brighter.
The kitchen was very clean. There were two long wooden cabinets in the corner on the left. The cabinets were not closed, and the sundries inside could be clearly seen: bowls, chopsticks, plates... were neatly placed on the same level, and there were also some miscellaneous things that were not very clear.
There are five openings on the stove. The larger opening is used to place a large iron pot, and there are four smaller ones next to it. Only one opening has a black tile pot on it, and the opening below is for burning firewood, with some unburned firewood still left.
The large open space on the right was where dry firewood was stored, but there was very little firewood in this area, making it look empty. There were only some scattered branches and a few large, thick pieces of wood that had not been chopped into small pieces.
There was only half of the water left in the water tank at the kitchen door.
Hua Shi walked over and lifted the wooden lid on the big pot. There were two yellow corn tortillas left inside, still steaming.
It must be what Grandma He had left over from her breakfast, and she wanted to save it for lunch.
Hua Shi took out a wooden plate from the cabinet, put the tortillas on the plate, and put it on the cabinet next to it.
She planned to divide this last basket of winter dates into two parts, one to make sugared dates and the other to make candied dates.
The method of making candied dates is easier and more convenient. After washing the winter dates with clean water, dry the water on the skin, then put the sugar cubes into the pot, add a small amount of water, and stir-fry into syrup. When the syrup is heated until it can be drawn into threads, put the dried winter dates in and stir-fry together.
This process requires a lot of patience, because if you are not careful and fail to control the heat well, the sugar will easily be burnt, or the winter dates will be fried into a mushy state.
Because the materials were limited, Hua Shi was very attentive and careful, for fear of messing it up.
Although she hadn't cooked much in several months, the memory was engraved in her mind and body, and she deliberately avoided it.
A large portion of frosted dates was quickly made. She held her breath, fiddling with the heat and the spatula up and down, and worked herself into a sweat. Fortunately, it was a complete success and not messed up.
"Meow……"
The black cat squatted beside her, circling around her back and forth, with its head tilted back, looking at her curiously with its cat eyes.
Now Jian Huashi finally finished everything. He kicked his hind legs and jumped onto the stove. He sniffed and moved towards the candied dates in the wooden plate.
It was attracted by the smell of the spring water. The frosted dates processed with spring water had a great appeal to it...
Smelling the scent, I couldn't help but come closer...
"Meow?!"
When Hua Shi saw it trying to show off its things, he raised his hand and knocked it on the head.
The black cat let out a cry of grievance and was driven away.
"Just stay by the side and don't make any trouble. If you mess up, I'll deal with you when I get back."
There was an obvious threat in Hua Shi's lowered voice.
"Meow……"
The black cat sat back on the ground and let out a listless cry. After understanding Hua Shi's words, it didn't dare to do anything more. It squatted on the ground obediently and didn't jump onto the stove again.
Let's get our attention back to the main business. The preparation of candied dates is a little more difficult than that of dates in syrup.
First, you need to remove the seeds from the dates, then use your hands to make neat marks on the outer peel. The last step is to control the heat, dissolve the sugar in water, pour all the processed winter dates in, and cook them together with the sugar water...
Cook until the sugar water is half dry, then start stir-frying until the sugar threads adhere to the skin of the winter dates. At this time, under the heating of high fire, the winter dates lose their moisture and their skin turns yellow, with a sweet and greasy fragrance.
The last step is to dry the sugar threads stuck on the surface of the winter dates over fire. When the sugar is completely adhered to the winter dates, the candied dates are almost finished.
Hua Shi was afraid that the carbon ash from the burning firewood would fly up and stick to the surface of the candied dates, which could still be pulled into sugar threads, so she didn't dare to dry them directly over charcoal fire.
If you have an oven, you can just put it in and bake it without worrying about the charcoal ash smell or the flavor changing.
Conditions were limited, so she could only resort to the crude method of standing by the stove, waiting for the candied dates in the pot to dry up piece by piece, and constantly making sure the fire wasn't too strong, otherwise it would easily burn the hut...
Time passed minute by minute, and from the small kitchen in the east room, there were occasional trivial sounds, but they were not noisy.
She had been busy tending to the flowers with her head down, and did not notice that the small noises she made attracted the attention of Mrs. He in the main room.
The old lady no longer sat in the main room, but moved a small wooden chair and sat under the eaves of the main room. From time to time, she raised her head and looked towards the kitchen in the east room, where a figure flashed by from time to time.
Listening to the bursts of noisy sounds, the courtyard, which used to be as quiet as death, seemed to have a lively and lively atmosphere...
After Hua Shi finally finished making everything, she didn't delay any longer. She packed the candied dates and candied dates separately with the oil paper wrapped around the sugar cubes and put them in the basket.
A basket of winter dates may look like a lot, but in fact there are not that many. It is less than a full basket. Taking into account the ones that failed at the beginning, there is only half a basket left that is presentable.
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