"Could it be an old photo? That can’t be right; isn’t that outfit Balenciaga?"
Chen Mo enlarged the photo and looked at it for a long ti, finally realizing, "Wow, what kind of photography skills are these? They can make my little courtyard and the vegetables look like a Bulgari afternoon tea? Incredible..."
After looking through all nine photos, Chen Mo still found it a bit unbelievable.
These photography skills might even put those food magazine photographers to sha.
After posting the photos, it was finally ti to eat!
But looking at this dish, the moms were collectively puzzled again.
"What kind of ingredients are these? Which one should we eat first?"
"Just eat whichever one you want; they should all be edible."
"They look so strange; could it be there’s so many ingredients just for appearance’s sake? Let try it first."
Jingyi’s Mother picked up a net-like ingredient from the plate, which looked sowhat crisp and tough, and put it in her mouth, chewing gently with a connoisseur’s attitude. It tasted crisp and tender, sowhat like eating tripe, but also had the delicate and smooth texture of mushroom skirts.
The stem part of the mushroom, due to its unique shape, had a strong ability to absorb the soup. With one bite, the mouth was filled with soup, intertwining delicious and crisp textures, creating a very special taste.
"Delicious! This turns out to be a kind of mushroom!"
Feeling everyone’s attention, Jingyi’s Mother excitedly said, "I didn’t expect there to be such a unique looking mushroom. What’s it called? We should buy so and cook it at ho next ti."
The bamboo fungus Chen Mo used was red-veiled bamboo fungus, not exactly bright red but with a hint of dark red.
Gao Le’s Mother swallowed, "Haven’t you heard of ’red caps and white stems’? We don’t have this stuff around here; I think it’s better not to cook it ourselves."
Then she added, "In case it makes you see little people, that wouldn’t be good."
Zihan’s Mother chuckled quietly, "Yeah, yeah, in case it makes you see little people, and Jingyi’s Mother calls out Xiaochen’s na to her husband, that would be bad~"
Jingyi’s Mother pretended to be surprised, "Hey, don’t you want to?"
For a mont, the moms’ table burst into laughter, drawing the attention of guests at other tables, who had no idea what was going on, scratching their heads in confusion.
Wang Heng ultimately miscalculated.
The helper in charge of serving the dishes wouldn’t let him carry them, so he followed the chef back to the table, sitting down, "Alright, you all eat quickly! With so many ingredients in this vegetarian dish, it can’t be that it’s all gone by the ti it reaches , right?"
"That won’t happen," Liao Feng laughed.
Truth be told, this round might have been luck. Wang Heng really didn’t get to eat any good dishes, like that braised abalone and pork.
When it was Wang Heng’s turn, there was only a small piece of fat that had accidentally fallen off when others were picking their food!
Then there was the three-taste lobster; Wang Heng only got to drink a spoonful of egg custard.
The colleagues joked but didn’t really deprive him of food. Besides, this dish, Dinghu Shangsu, was so exquisitely made that everyone was very restrained when picking food, seemingly afraid of ruining this landscape painting.
Before long, the round was over, and the vegetarian dish reached Wang Heng.
Wang Heng smiled and directly lifted the remaining dish into his bowl, "Ah, so satisfying! Just wondering what the main dish will be later."
He emptied the bowl’s contents, including the soup, into his mouth.
"Mmm..." Wang Heng closed his eyes with enjoynt, leaving the other colleagues speechless.
Whether he was doing it on purpose or genuinely enjoying it, his acting was almost on par with Teacher He’s!
The light, fragrant, tender, and smooth combination of textures and flavors instantly filled the mouth, and the taste of the ingredients themselves was hardly destroyed.
After finishing a mouthful, Wang Heng was a bit dumbfounded, smacking his lips.
"The vegetarian dish tastes good, but why does it feel like I haven’t eaten anything? I’m hungrier than before."
Liao Feng also gritted his teeth, "Indeed, I feel the sa way. Normally at this stage, with eight cold dishes and ten hot dishes, I’d be stuffed at a banquet. I shouldn’t feel this way."
"Could it be the portions are too small?" Liu Jingqi also felt similarly; the empty plates on the table glead cleanly, but she didn’t feel full at all.
"The portions aren’t small, about the sa as other restaurants."
"Anyway, we’re not full. What’s the main dish for us today?"
"Tch, it’s those won. I saw each of them had a bowl of rice earlier. They must not be hungry now."
Everyone started chatting again.
No other reason, just simply not full!
When it ca to the main dish, Chen Mo took a back seat.
Chen Mo originally thought of focusing on luxurious pastries, but later realized that making those took too much ti and effort and, to be honest, might not even taste good.
It would be best to choose a main dish according to everyone’s taste.
First up, pork and scallion shumai!
The at filling was seasoned by Chen Mo according to the recipe he used when selling at the bridge stall back then, using Level-A ingredients for the flour, and the preparation was left to his mom. They were steaming in the stear now.
The second main dish was fried sesa cakes.
Jingzhou’s sesa cakes are made with yellow millet flour, also called proso millet flour.
The flour needs to be stead directly, and while it’s hot, it’s kneaded until smooth, then divided into small dough balls, filled with red date paste, and fried.
For frying, you must use sesa oil, also called linseed oil. This oil has a very special aroma, giving the fried items a golden hue and an extrely delicious taste. Once fried, the sesa cakes are dusted with sugar before eating.
It’s sothing those who like it can eat several of, whereas those who don’t can’t even eat a bite.
Especially kids, who particularly dislike this, saying it’s gross and can’t be swallowed.
But this is a must-have main dish at banquets, symbolizing success!
The third main dish is simpler, white flour buns, ten per table.
Typically, by the end of a big banquet, everyone is too full to eat more, and ten buns are indeed a bit too many, with most tables eating at most one or two.
The fourth main dish, Eight-Treasure Rice!
Glutinous rice embedded with red dates, lotus seeds, dried longan, and chestnuts is stead tower-shaped and topped with osmanthus syrup. It’s soft and tasty and is a common main dish at Jingzhou banquets.
The difficulty of making these four dishes isn’t high. They were all prepared by Liu Xiuzhen with the help of a few aunts from the village.
After the last hot dish was served, the four main dishes were almost simultaneously brought to each table.
The Dinghu Shangsu that the guests ate not only failed to fill them but even made them a bit hungrier.
Primarily because this vegetarian dish was too fragrant, the plant and fungus aromas washed away the grease in their mouths and bellies, making them very appetizing!
Seeing the main dishes being served, everyone picked up their utensils like a pack of ravenous wolves.
One serving of Eight-Treasure Rice was divided among everyone with a spoon!
The shumai basket of ten was divided directly by headcount, without hesitation.
Even the sesa cakes, each person got one, eating with gusto.
When it ca to the last white flour buns...
Seeing everyone was a bit full, Wang Heng’s eyes lit up, "Is anyone having a bun?"
"Wow, are you a pig? Can you still eat?"
Wang Heng sneered, directly taking one bun, splitting it open lengthwise, and then...
Taking one half, he scraped the i Cai Kou Rou’s oil and sauce onto the bun, along with the residual sauce from the Dezhou Roasted Chicken.
Seeing Wang Heng start "cleaning the plate" with his bun, Liu Jingqi finally responded, "He’s a true pig, indeed!"
Nevertheless, he wasn’t left behind, mimicking Wang Heng by grabbing a bun and splitting it open, also searching for empty plates on the table.
It wasn’t much different at other tables, either; everyone seed to tacitly approve of this thod, all using buns to sop up the sauce from the plates.
Outside the courtyard, a mile away.
An uncle dressed sowhat ’scruffily’, followed by seven or eight mutts, carried a tattered bag with a big grin on his face.
The courtyard gate had ribbons and a red carpet, clearly hosting an event!
This uncle was Jiuniu Pass’s village guardian, called the Dog Commander.
Dog Commander showed a silly smile, "Lucky you, you’re in for a treat today!"
He bent down, picked up a wooden stick, inserted it through the tattered bag, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and headed toward the courtyard.
"Lucky you!"
"Lucky you!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers