When she returned to the construction site, it was already 7 or 8 in the evening. Most of the workers lived in their own dormitories, with an average of three or four people per dorm, either bunk beds or ordinary platform beds, spread across two floors. On the left side lived the construction workers, while the right side housed technical workers like cent mixer truck drivers, crane operators, and bulldozer operators.
However, when compared, it was clear that the people on the right in the plank houses earned more or else why would they each have a room to themselves!
There was a water boiler in the kitchen. After washing their feet, the mother and daughter went to bed and put Xiao Xiao to sleep. Afterward, she began to prepare the ingredients needed for the next day's als.
After all, cooking for more than forty people by herself ant that if she didn't do so preparation the night before, she might not finish everything on ti the next day.
So, that night she started by setting the dough, then went to the kitchen and boiled forty-three eggs—adding to her and her daughter, a total of 43 people, which was the number the foreman had reported to her that evening.
She didn't buy any tea leaves since they were expensive, and it didn't seem cost-effective, so she planned to make plain brine eggs instead.
The workers at the site preferred strong flavors because their labor was exhausting and they needed calories. Although plain boiled eggs were healthy and delicious, they preferred sothing saltier. Since she was new, she needed to change the old lifestyle a bit and show off her skills.
The brine for the eggs was similar to that used for making tea-flavored eggs. She added various seasonings and sauces and carefully placed the washed eggs into the pot. After cooking them until they were hard-boiled, she cracked each egg and then boiled them for another five minutes. Then she turned off the heat and let them steep directly, soaking overnight would ensure the eggs were thoroughly seasoned.
For breakfast, Northern people typically ate porridge with stead buns and pickled vegetables, along with an egg, ensuring a nutritious al.
Seeing that there was kelp among the ingredients, she cleaned it and soaked it in just-boiled hot water, so by the next morning, it would be just the right texture—not too soft or too hard, after a brief boil.
She kept busy until after 10 p.m., finishing all the tasks, then firmly secured the door and placed beer bottles in front of it. Since she was the only woman at the site, taking necessary precautions was a must.
The next day, before it was even light out, around 5 a.m., she got up. Breakfast was served at 7.30, and she only had a little over two hours.
Upon arriving in the kitchen, she first placed the soup pot on the large coal stove, adding millet and chunks of a whole pumpkin, then just covered it and let it simr.
She placed the yeast-risen dough into the mixer to stir, then added alkaline powder and started to knead. Kneading dough was physically demanding, and due to her strength limitations, she spread the kneading into three separate parts. She spent nearly an hour just on kneading.
After finishing the dough, it was ti for shaping. She spread finely chopped scallion, oil, salt, and Five-Spice Powder onto the dough, then rolled it up to form flower rolls or oil rolls. For flower rolls, the dough had to be turned, whereas oil rolls could be placed directly into the stear plates after rolling.
She brushed oil onto the plates to prevent sticking; there was no need for cloth, which made things very convenient.
Once the oil and flower rolls were neatly arranged, she flipped the switch, and there was no need to look after them; they would be ready in half an hour.
The leftover dough was key to the next batch, so she kept it subrged in water in the mixing bowl because it would be a continuous process, as steaming would likely have to happen every day.
With the stead buns on their way and the porridge simring, she took out four or five large radishes, washed them, and began the laborious task of shredding them.
Radishes shredded with a grater didn't taste as good, so she usually cut them by hand. Fortunately, the original owner's knife skills were not bad, so she was able to ensure that each shred was uniformly thin and the sa size. After cutting the radish into shreds, she added salt, light soy sauce, white vinegar, a little sugar, chili oil, and other seasonings and left it to marinate after mixing well.
Since radishes alone were a bit plain, she applied the sa technique to the kelp, cutting it into strips and adding various seasonings to make Sour and Spicy Seaweed Strips.
After finishing the two cold dishes, it was almost 7 o'clock. The porridge was ready, so she hurriedly put the pot of eggs on to reheat.
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