Today is the 28th day of the lunar year. After finishing breakfast, Xu Han started making dough.
Lu Chuan went to continue digging the hole. There was nothing particularly needed for him to do at home, and he was just idle at home anyway, so he could only dig the hole.
I wonder how he got through those years on his own. In this day and age, without cell phones and televisions, how boring must it have been!
Because we made a lot today, we fermented several basins of dough and put them all on the kang (a heated brick bed) where the high temperature made them ferment faster.
Making steamed buns is an essential part of Chinese New Year. I've been preparing steamed bread for a while, but I won't make any today. I'll focus on making steamed buns. I just finished all the steamed buns in my storage space, so I'll make some more for now.
Let's make a tofu and vermicelli filling first. Cut the tofu into small cubes, then put them in a pan and stir-fry them in oil until they turn golden brown. Set them aside.
Next, chop the pre-soaked glass noodles and wood ear mushrooms into small pieces, stir-fry them in the pot, and then put them together with the tofu for later use.
Take out the carrots, wash them clean, grate them into thin shreds, squeeze out the water, and put them in a bowl.
Add appropriate seasonings to the bowl, along with coarse and fine chili powder.
Heat oil in a wok, then pour it over chili powder to instantly release its aroma.
After mixing well, the vegetarian buns with tofu and vermicelli filling are ready.
In addition, Xu Han also prepared vegetarian buns with dried vegetable, vermicelli and tofu filling, as well as meat buns with mutton and beef fillings.
After preparing the filling, Xu Han started making steamed buns in the room. The wrapped buns were then placed on the steamer for a second proofing.
Once the buns have risen, store them in the storage space first, because it takes longer for one person to make them, and if they rise for too long, they will crack and easily spoil.
After wrapping up the two sets of steamers, it was already lunchtime, so Xu Han started steaming the buns.
Just as she added fuel to the fire, Lu Chuan returned. "The food isn't ready yet! Would you like to eat something to tide you over?" Xu Han asked.
"No need, aren't we making steamed buns today? We can just eat steamed buns later." With that, she sat down and started a fire.
Xu Han then started cooking some soup in an earthenware pot. Today she made hot and sour soup with ham, mushrooms, and tofu. It was sour and spicy, very appetizing, and perfect for winter.
After the soup was made, the steamed buns were almost cooked. The aroma of the steamed buns was immediately noticeable when the lid was lifted. After putting them all into the basket, they stored them in their spatial storage. Then the two of them began to eat the freshly steamed hot buns.
"These two pots are steaming spicy tofu with vermicelli and tofu with vermicelli and dried vegetables. Which one would you like?" Xu Han asked.
"Then let's try them all! The buns I made before didn't have tofu, so I think they'll all taste good." Lu Chuan grabbed one in each hand and started eating.
Xu Han also chose a dried vegetable one, took a bite and felt it was indeed quite good, so she said, "It's pretty delicious."
"I think they're all delicious, even better than meat!" Lu Chuan commented.
"Only you think vegetarian food tastes good. Ordinary families don't even have vegetarian food, let alone meat," Xu Han joked.
"I can hunt, so why would I be afraid of not having meat to eat if I follow you?" Lu Chuan teased Xu Han.
After joking around for a while and finishing lunch, Lu Chuan went outside to dig a hole again, while Xu Han continued to make steamed buns.
Xu Han was busy wrapping and steaming buns at the same time, and finally finished wrapping all the buns around 7:30.
For dinner, Xu Han and Lu Chuan ate mutton offal noodles with dried wild amaranth, which was also very delicious.
The next day, time really flies! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, so I won't cook today.
Today, their main task was to clean the house, including the yard, storage room, woodshed, house, kitchen, and every nook and cranny.
We need to reorganize what needs to be reorganized, since there's not much space left.
Every night, the two of them would freeze some ice in a wooden bucket and put it in the space. To save space, Lu Chuan made a new square wooden bucket, which was not very thick or very big.
However, since we make a lot of molds, we can freeze quite a lot of ice at once.
I've accumulated a lot over this period of time, but fortunately, the items can be stacked in the space and won't fall over.
It looks exactly the same when it's put in and exactly the same when it's taken out; it's completely still.
Otherwise, with so many things piled up together, it would be quite troublesome if one thing fell out one minute and another the next.
Xu Han and Lu Chuan tidied up the storeroom, cellar, and woodshed together. They put what could be put outside and what couldn't be put inside the space.
After another round of tidying up, a small portion of space was freed up.
After finishing, Lu Chuan cleaned up the area and then went to tidy up the front and back yards.
Xu Han was in charge of tidying up the house. She quickly took out the things that needed washing and washed them, since there was still a day left to dry them!
Dirty clothes, bed sheets, blankets, and shoes—all of them were washed.
Re-scrub everything that needs scrubbing, mop the floor, and pull out any furniture that needs to be pulled out. Clean every area that can be cleaned.
Use a broom to sweep the beams and door frames, as there are spider webs in some places.
Although we clean every day, there are always some hard-to-reach spots that we don't clean. So we're taking advantage of the Chinese New Year to clean them all up.
At noon, the two ate some simple steamed buns with stir-fried vegetables, and then continued working.
The kitchen was the hardest place to clean, as it was greasy and black. Lu Chuan then used some whitewash to repaint the walls. Fortunately, it was relatively simple and he finished it in no time.
However, the roof beams were still black and grimy. There was no range hood, so the cooking fumes would all go up there.
After cleaning the whole house, it looked brand new. Although the layout and other aspects didn't seem to have changed, it felt like a lot had changed.
It looks much more comfortable now, a clean and tidy place for the New Year, a fresh start for the new year!
It was already dark by then. Xu Han took out a hot pot from her spatial storage. "Let's have a beef hot pot today!"
It's a treat for the two of them who are exhausted after a long day of cleaning.
The two enjoyed their hot pot meal with some fruit wine.
Xu Han said, "Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, let's prepare more food! Let's make everything from scratch, not the food from the space. Even if it's just the two of us, we should still have a proper New Year, we can't be careless."
Xu Han values traditional festivals very much, and she goes home every year to spend the holidays with her family.
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