With Cui Yan's help, it would be much easier for Yin Xiaoman to do anything he wanted.
She took a look at the seafood that Ren Ping'an brought over this morning and found that there were several kilograms of fresh cuttlefish in it. Then she decided to make dumplings for the experts for lunch.
Now that there are more experts in the group, she rarely makes this kind of labor-intensive pasta.
The main thing is that Dami is still young. It's okay to let him do some rough work, but you expect him to sit there and make buns and dumplings with you... Even if he dares to make them, Yin Xiaoman won't dare to let him waste noodles.
Now that Cui Yan is here, these problems no longer exist.
After the two of them discussed it, they started to get busy.
One kneads the dough and the other prepares the seafood.
After Cui Yan kneaded the dough and let it rise, she ran to the backyard to pick vegetables.
She picked beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and a handful of greens.
When she came back, Yin Xiaoman had already cleaned the octopus and started cutting it into pieces.
Both of them are housewives who have to serve meals to the whole family all year round. Even if there are many people to feed, making dumplings is an easy job for them.
The row of small stoves that Ren Ping'an first built when he was renovating the kitchen were finally put to use at this moment.
Turn up the fire, put the big steamer borrowed from the kitchen on it, and when the steam rises, the aroma will waft in the air...
The kids who were sent to pick coconuts all ran back at some point and huddled together at the window.
They all breathed in deeply with greedy expressions.
"I said that Aunt Man's cooking is the most delicious! I've been thinking about it for years!" Hu Zi outside the window took a deep sniff and said loudly with a satisfied look on his face.
Everyone laughed.
"You are so greedy! It's been several years, how old are you? You didn't give birth several years ago!" Cui Yan laughed and scolded her youngest son through the window.
Hu Zi is the youngest son of the Qi family and the most favored one at home. He is not afraid of his mother.
Hearing Cui Yan say this, he straightened his neck and shouted: "It's been several years. I've been thinking about Aunt Xiaoman in my dreams! Add in the daytime, it's been several years!"
Hearing him say this, Yin Xiaoman couldn't help but laugh.
She took a freshly washed tomato from the chopping board and stuffed it into Huzi's mouth through the window: "Wow, our Huzi can count now? He even knows how to add up the day and night. That's great!"
After saying that, she turned to look at Cui Yan and said, "Why don't we ask Qiangzi and Huzi to come to our house to study with the three of them in the evening? Now that Ning Gong and Mr. Hua are free, they will come to give them lessons!"
"That's feasible!" Cui Yan was very happy to hear her say that.
Her child is one year older than Dabao and Erniu, and is almost old enough to go to school now.
Nowadays, classes are suspended everywhere due to revolutions. Students in schools have no classes to attend, so naturally there is no place to recruit students.
Although Cui Yan only graduated from junior high school, she has been to school and knows the benefits of going to school.
No matter what people say outside, she only believes in one truth - if you are illiterate and uneducated, you will not have a bright future.
Let’s not talk about anything else, just look at the people she is most familiar with: her man, Xiaoman’s man, and Liu Chang… not to mention Ning Gaogong and the others, which one of them got to their current position without going to school or making revolution?
Cui Yan had heard that Xiaoman was an excellent student before she joined the army.
Later I learned that she had been teaching her two children at home.
But at that time, the two boys in her family were wild in temperament and very young, so she didn't take them too seriously.
But now, since she had such an opportunity, how could she not seize it?
Not to mention asking Ning Gong and Mr. Hua to teach, Xiaoman's level is more than enough to teach these naughty kids.
While we were still talking about the children, the buns were already being steamed.
Because it was Qi Feng's first day, Shen Qingyun had to take him to check on everyone in each row and class, and he also had to have lunch with his subordinates at noon. So Yin Xiaoman didn't wait for them at all.
In addition, Cui Yan's beehives could not be brought over until the next batch of people arrived on the island. She had nothing to do now, so she took the initiative to take on the task of delivering meals to the expert group with Dami.
After they left, Yin Xiaoman cooked a soup with kelp, vegetables and tomatoes.
After they came back, the two families moved the table to the shady corner of the yard and happily had their first meal together after meeting.
Although Da Mi, Qiang Zi and Hu Zi did not know each other before, the boys' friendship was established while climbing the mountain together.
What's more, he has been in the Shen family for a long time, and is called "brother" by his two younger brothers every day. The child has already been trained with a sense of responsibility as an eldest brother.
Even with two more brothers, he was still able to handle the task with ease.
So at the dinner table, everyone, from the older to the younger, felt completely at home, and all of a sudden they became familiar with each other like a family again.
Octopus will shrink when exposed to heat.
When you are putting the filling on the plate, you won’t feel that it is too watery. The steamed buns are filled with soup and are fresh, fragrant and hot.
Qiangzi and Huzi followed the example of the other three children and carefully took a small bite of the bun, waiting for the soup inside to flow into the vinegar dish, and then slowly put them into their mouths to eat.
After taking a bite, both of them couldn't help but hum, and then held their breath almost at the same time, closing their mouths tightly, their eyes wide open, full of surprise and satisfaction, but no one spoke at all.
Seeing them like this, the three children of the Shen family were not surprised at all. Da Mi and Da Bao just looked up and continued eating their buns.
Only Erniu was interested in chatting with her two brothers.
"Delicious, right? The octopus buns and dumplings made by my mother are super delicious, the best in the world!" Her expression was full of pride.
But the two children had no intention of refutation and just nodded frantically.
Only after he swallowed the bun in his mouth did Qiangzi let out a long sigh and exclaimed, "It's so delicious! It's not the best in the world, it's the best in the universe!"
|Wow, Qiangzi is so awesome? Do you know the whole universe? "Hearing him say this, Yin Xiaoman was also amused.
"Isn't that so?"
Qiangzi puffed out his chest proudly: "My father taught me! My father also taught me a lot of other things!"
When Qiangzi was talking, Huzi didn't respond at all and just kept eating.
He thinks his brother is so stupid!
Can't you say it later? If you have to say it now, you will miss so many buns!
When it comes to eating, Huzi is much smarter than Qiangzi. He didn't just stuff the food into his mouth like his brother did.
He secretly glanced at his brother Dabao who was sitting next to him.
He felt that as the smartest person in Aunt Xiaoman's family, Brother Dabao must know best how to eat these things to make them taste good.
Sure enough, he understood after a while -
Why was it that when Auntie asked them to pour vinegar into the vinegar dish just now, Dabao and the other three only poured a tiny bit?
It turns out that they bite the buns first, wait for the juice inside to flow into the vinegar, and then eat them. In this way, after the buns are eaten, the soup and vinegar are completely blended together, and finally you can drink the vinegar soup in one gulp!
He tried -
The rich meaty aroma mixed with the sour taste of vinegar is especially good after eating a meat bun...
Hu Zi narrowed his eyes happily and instantly felt that this was the real number one in the world!
No, the best in the universe!
This bun is so delicious!
Everyone present was full.
After dinner, Yin Xiaoman originally intended to let the two children and Cui Yan go back to have a rest, after all, they had just come here by boat this morning.
Who knew that he would be stopped by rice.
"If you want to eat coconut milk cake, you have to work." He ordered the children like a boss.
Yin Xiaoman wanted to stop him, but Cui Yan stopped him: "Don't bother with the children's affairs, let them solve it themselves. By the way, is that coconut milk cake difficult to make?"
Coconut milk cake is not difficult to make at all, the difficult part is squeezing the coconut milk.
There are no machines available here, so the only way to squeeze coconut milk is to chop the coconut meat into pieces by hand.
The finer the chop, the more juice will come out.
Ever since Yin Xiaoman figured out the right ratio, this kind of work at home has basically been done by the three children.
Usually Dabao is responsible for digging out all the coconut meat from the coconut, Erniu is responsible for collecting the coconut water, and Dami is responsible for chopping the coconut meat. Occasionally, Dabao will come over to replace his brother for a while.
There are a lot of people today, so we need a lot of coconut milk. How could Da Mi let go of Qiangzi and Huzi, two young laborers who were guarding them?
So, the little guys divided the work without much discussion.
Because the two little guys were novices, Da Mi asked them to start by learning how to dig coconut meat. Erniu was still responsible for collecting all the coconut water, putting it into empty cans, and then placing it in a basin of cool water.
Dabao took a step up and started chopping coconut meat with his brother.
While they were doing these things, Yin Xiaoman had no intention of getting involved at all. After finishing the chores in the kitchen, he simply pulled Cui Yan into the house to rest and chat.
Looking through the window, Cui Yan was amazed at how well-trained and skilled the three children of the Shen family were.
Especially when she saw Dabao and Erniu each wearing a small apron around their waists, looking like little adults, each doing their own work, she could hardly believe her eyes.
"How do you teach them? How do you make them so self-conscious?" She couldn't help but turn her head to ask Yin Xiaoman for advice.
"No need to teach." Yin Xiaoman answered calmly.
"No need to teach?!" How could Cui Yan believe it!
Yin Xiaoman glanced outside and smiled slightly: "If you want to eat, you have to work. Slowly you will be able to do everything."
Cui Yan: “…”
So, this proficiency is all due to greed?
Coconut milk extraction is tedious, but not difficult to do. Take out the coconut meat and chop it into pieces. Then add appropriate amount of hot water and stir well. Then pour it into a bowl through gauze. If the coconut milk is not fine enough, filter it again.
So, even though they are just a few kids, each of them does their job well. In less than an hour, I had squeezed out almost half a basin of coconut milk.
He took out a bag of fruit gummy candies from the cupboard, gave one to each of them, and touched their little heads one by one. Then Yin Xiaoman let them go out to play.
She and Cui Yan returned to the kitchen, picked up the remaining residue from squeezing the coconut milk, turned on the fire again, and started frying the coconut flakes.
She moved skillfully, stirring the food up and down with the spatula. Soon, the rich aroma unique to coconut milk spread throughout the kitchen.
Cui Yan took a breath and then suddenly laughed.
Yin Xiaoman was busy with his work, but he looked at her: "What are you laughing at?"
Cui Yan smiled and rubbed her nose with her hand, then said: "Speaking of which, I am an adult now, and I have long stopped snatching things from children. When I heard that you were going to make some coconut milk cake, my first reaction was that it was for the children. I didn't even want to taste it.
But now, I think I can’t control myself, this smells so good…”
As she spoke, she suddenly stretched out her hand and made a fierce expression towards Yin Xiaoman: "Hurry up, give me one of those fruit juice candies you gave to those kids just now. They are so red and yellow, I have never even seen them before. I am so greedy!"
Yin Xiaoman never expected that Cui Yan would say such words to her, and she couldn't help laughing.
"Eat it if you like. It's not expensive. The fruits used are all grown on the island. If you want to eat it, I'll make it for you later!"
After saying that, he pointed to the table under the window sill and said, "The box of candy is over there, sister-in-law, take it yourself."
Now that it had been brought up, Cui Yan had no reason to be embarrassed. She walked to the table with confidence and opened the iron box that was obviously used to hold the biscuits.
When the lid of the box was opened, all the fruit juice candies inside appeared before her eyes.
Cui Yan came from the capital, and her family used to be well off, so she was not unworldly.
When she was a child, she had seen but never eaten expensive candies such as milk candy and sachima, let alone the hard candies sold in the supply and marketing cooperatives today.
But I have never seen such colorful and variously shaped small candies.
She curiously picked up a yellow fan-shaped one, which was soft yet elastic. She turned it over again and discovered that there were actually lines on the back of the candy! It looks like the shape of a shell, lifelike.
She couldn't help but pick up another purple one.
After taking a closer look, I found that there was a pair of long ears on the candy, which was in the shape of a little rabbit!
"Did you do this yourself? How did you do it?" Cui Yan was extremely surprised. In her eyes, Yin Xiaoman had directly upgraded to the level of a god!
"There are many fruits on this island. Sister-in-law, you will know if you stay for a while. I can't say anything else here, but you can satisfy your appetite. Many fruits can't even be seen in other places, but here they are everywhere in the mountains and plains."
Cui Yan had already experienced this when she saw Coconut just now, and she nodded.
Yin Xiaoman scooped the fried coconut flakes out of the pot and spread them out on a bamboo plate covered with a large piece of gauze to cool.
She glanced at the fruit candy in Cui Yan's hand and said, "The one you have now is made of wild grape juice, and the color is obtained by boiling grape skins. The yellow one just now is made of mango, and the white one is made of coconut milk. Sister-in-law, you can try the mango one first, you must have never eaten that before."
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