Boil some rice water in a pot, then put a steamer basket on top, and wash a few salted duck eggs and chicken eggs to boil together.
Peel and crush the garlic with salt, then put the hard-boiled eggs in and mash them. Add sesame oil and MSG, and you can also add some light soy sauce for better flavor.
I took out some pickled cucumbers and chili peppers that I had made a while ago from the cellar and ate them with unleavened flatbread. It tasted pretty good.
After preparing dinner, Xu Han went to the wasteland to call Lu Chuan to come back for dinner together.
"Don't do it now, dinner is ready, let's eat first! We can finish it tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll head back now."
After dinner, the two sat in the yard to rest for a while, and then got up to wash up and go to bed.
The next morning, Xu Han got up early to make breakfast, as she and Lu Chuan would be working in the fields that day.
There's a plow and harrow at home. The soil in the mountains is very good, with a thick layer of fallen leaves accumulated over the years, making the soil very loose.
The rocks and tree roots were cleared away last time the land was cleared, so this time we can use a plow and harrow to till it, which will be easier.
Although the soil was very loose, it was still very tiring to plow it by hand.
It would be great to have a cow, but it's not suitable to raise a cow at home. Cows are very strong and eat a lot, and we can't let them graze outside in the deep mountains. We don't have time to cut grass to feed them, so we've never raised a cow.
Fortunately, the family doesn't have much land, and they don't need to cultivate it all at once.
This time we'll probably plant about six acres of potatoes. We'll plant potatoes in the areas where we harvested corn and soybeans before, since potatoes are easy to grow and have a high yield.
We can save the flour later to feed our dogs as supplementary food; it's much more economical than feeding them flour every day!
Growing your own food is more laborious and time-consuming, but it's much more cost-effective than buying from others. Every penny saved counts! There are many other expenses to come!
Xu Han and her companion believed that they should grow what they could themselves, and only buy what they couldn't grow. They had plenty of space to grow it, so why waste money?
After finishing breakfast, the two went to the backyard to pick the recently ripened vegetables, and then went to the wasteland to start tilling the land.
Today I called all the puppies out of the house. They're right at the front door, so we don't have to go far and we don't have to worry about them getting lost. Black Wind and Black Spot are here watching over them too!
As soon as the puppies arrived at the wasteland, they ran around wildly, and Xu Han ignored them and started plowing the land with Lu Chuan.
I was busy until lunchtime and only managed to cultivate one acre of land. It's estimated that it will take seven days to prepare all this land. After cultivating, we still need to make ridges! Making ridges makes it easier to plant potatoes.
After finishing their meal, the two continued working, and this continued for several days in a row...
The sixth day arrived in the blink of an eye. Xu Han got up early this morning to prepare potato seeds. There were a lot of potato seeds to prepare this time, which was a big project.
First, cut the potatoes with sprouts in half, and cut the smaller ones into quarters. Then, wrap the cut surfaces with wood ash and set them aside for later use.
The land outside has been plowed, and Lu Chuan is making ridges for the potatoes. They can be planted tomorrow!
It took Xu Han all morning to cut all the potatoes. After she finished, she felt like her hands didn't belong to her anymore. Her wrists were so sore that she couldn't even lift them.
I didn't want to cook lunch, so I just ate the food from the space.
In the afternoon, Xu Han was tending to the vegetable garden at home. The weeds in the garden had grown too tall, and if they weren't pulled out soon, they would affect the growth of the vegetables.
After weeding, I need to prune the vegetable branches. I haven't been able to take good care of the vegetable garden lately. There are so many things to do, and I've been busy all afternoon.
In the evening, Xu Han planned to make a dish of boiled fish fillets. She hadn't had it in a long time, and the last one she made was already gone and stored in her space.
Take out several large fish, clean them thoroughly, and then start slicing them. First, remove the fish bones, and then slice the fish at an angle with a knife.
The fish slices shouldn't be too thin, or they'll easily break; nor should they be too thick, or they won't absorb the flavor. This step really tests your knife skills.
I sliced a whole bowlful of fish fillets, then rinsed them thoroughly with clean water until no blood remained. After squeezing out the excess water, I started marinating the fish fillets.
Add a little salt to the fish fillets to season them, then start kneading the fish fillets until they become sticky and viscous, then add starch.
This starch is leftover from when I was drying potatoes before. There's not much left, just enough for this time! I'll need to make some more another day.
The starch needs to be added in several batches, not all at once, otherwise it will easily form lumps.
You also need to add an appropriate amount of egg white, this step is to make the fish slices more tender.
After the fish fillets are coated with starch, set them aside for later use. Start preparing the broth. The broth will not taste good if you use plain water; it must be made with fish broth.
Clean the remaining fish head and bones, heat oil in a pan, fry the fish head and bones until golden brown on both sides, add boiling water, and the fish soup will turn white instantly.
After bringing the water to a boil, add an appropriate amount of fermented soybean paste and hot pot base, then add seasonings to taste.
After the water boiled, I poured the prepared greens into the pot to blanch them. Suddenly I realized that I was missing bean sprouts. I must sprout some bean sprouts myself next time!
Place the blanched vegetables at the bottom of the bowl, then continue blanching the fish slices. The fish slices must be added one by one, otherwise they will easily stick together and not separate.
After blanching, put all the fish fillets into a bowl, add an appropriate amount of Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers and sesame seeds, pour hot oil over them to release the aroma, and finally garnish with cilantro. A delicious boiled fish fillet dish is now complete.
The staple food is still rice, and the fish soup from the boiled fish fillets is also very delicious, so there's no need to make soup.
After everything was ready, Xu Han went outside to call Lu Chuan home for dinner.
"You've finished everything! I've also finished cooking, let's go home and eat!"
"Okay, I was just about to go back too!" With that, he got up, and the two of them went home together for dinner.
"Wash your hands first, I'll go get the food. I made boiled fish fillets today!"
After saying that, Xu Han turned around and went into the kitchen, where she took the prepared food to the table in the yard.
Lu Chuan washed his hands and got ready to eat.
"The food looks delicious today, with perfect color, aroma, and taste. I could eat an extra bowl of rice!" Lu Chuan said in a flattering tone.
"If you like it, eat more. I made a lot more and put them in my space."
"The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, when should we go to the county town? There are still so many things we need to buy!" Xu Han suggested.
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