I trade in both worlds

Chapter 34: Cooking

Xu Qiwei said with a little regret: "Well, there are people who don't like such delicious food."

Xu Zhun, who couldn't stand it, said, "Just like you don't like onions."

Xu Qiwei turned his head away and snorted, then sat on the doorstep and continued to eat the cucumber.

Xu Xu finished his meal in a few bites and told the three people: "Look after Tiantian. I'm going to clean up the house."

Several children were in the yard. Xu Xu didn't plan to go there today to avoid the children losing sight of him.

There were seven or eight boxes of various sizes in the utility room, as well as some bamboo baskets and jars of various sizes. Xu Xu cleared out the jars first, opened them and looked at them, and found that they were all empty.

Xu Xu thought that there were quite a few things in the west wing, and there was no need to take them out for the time being. However, if they were piled here, it would look extremely messy. Thinking of the shelves she had just seen over there, she planned to ask someone to make a few shelves in a few days and put them on the three walls. This way, it would be easy to find things after tidying up, and it would look clean and tidy.

First move the jars according to their sizes to the inner corners, two on each side and two in the middle, and then stack a few smaller ones on top.

Then he cleaned up the bamboo basket and took out the good ones for daily use. The bamboo basket was basically filled with some sacks. Xu Xu folded the sacks and rolled them into a bundle, and took a separate bamboo basket to hold these trivial things.

I was busy until the afternoon, and the utility room was basically cleaned out. Six wooden boxes were cleared out, and there were several bamboo baskets full of garbage. These things will be burned together in a pit dug tomorrow.

He moved a wooden box to the study, wiped the surface of the box clean, and found that the contents were well preserved. These were camphorwood boxes, which were naturally insect-proof. Xu Xu put the books he had cleaned out today into the box one by one.

After cleaning up, it was time to prepare dinner. Xu Xu first boiled some water for a bath. He took an egg and steamed the egg custard. He added water to the bottom of the pot and heated the pig's trotters. He separated them with a cross-shaped wooden frame and then put a bamboo curtain on it. He put the egg on top and steamed it together.

Xu Xu prepared four bowls, put a handful of dry rice in each bowl, took the steamed egg custard and placed it aside, dripped a few drops of sesame oil, and waited until it cooled down a little before serving.

Pick up the bamboo curtain and wooden frame, scoop a spoonful of pig's trotter soup into each bowl, and give the three pig's trotters in the pot to the children. Then give each person an egg and soak the dry rice in it before eating.

Xu Xu moved an old kang table to the yard. The table was low, so it was just right for the children to sit and eat with a few small stools. He first brought out three bowls of dry rice and placed them on the table for them to eat first. Xu Xu then started to feed Xu Tingting with egg custard.

The dry rice absorbs all the broth from the braised pig's trotters and it smells extremely delicious. Xu Jin especially likes to eat dry rice. When Xu's mother was around, she would cook dry rice every now and then. There was never a shortage of dry rice at home. When the rice was almost finished, Xu's mother would start drying it again.

Xu Jin hasn't eaten dry rice since his mother fell ill. Today, tears started to flow while he was eating. He was afraid that his sister would be sad if she saw it, so he secretly wiped her tears with his sleeve.

Over the past month, Xu Jin seemed to have grown up overnight. He used to act like a spoiled child and act like a spoiled brat, but recently he hasn't done that anymore. It was as if he knew that there was no one who could make him act like a spoiled child or act like a spoiled brat anymore.

Suddenly Xu Xu realized that the death of his mother and his neglect of the children during this period had caused Xu Jin to become cautious and insecure. Xu Xu decided to pay more attention to the children from today onwards. They were still young and there were some things he shouldn't worry about.

When Xu Xu saw Xu Jin's actions, her heart was so heavy that her eyes quickly became wet. Not wanting to cause the other two to cry, she raised her head and sniffed, then said in a hoarse voice, "It's delicious. Be careful with the heat."

Knowing that his sister saw him crying, Xu Jin lowered his head even more and said "hmm" softly.

Xu Zhun may have sensed something. He looked up at Xu Xu and Xu Jin, said nothing, and continued to look at the dry rice in the bowl. Suddenly, he felt like he couldn't eat anymore.

Xu Qiwei looked at this and that, wondering what was wrong with them. Although he was puzzled, he subconsciously did not dare to ask, and just shrank his neck and continued to eat.

Xu Xu took a deep breath and said, "Eat well. We will make something delicious together tomorrow."

As soon as the delicious food was mentioned, Xu Qiwei immediately forgot the strange atmosphere just now: "What delicious food, steamed buns?"

Xu Xu shook his head: "No, we will fry dough sticks tomorrow."

After thinking about it, Xu Qiwei felt that he had never eaten it before: "What is fried dough sticks? Are they delicious?"

Thinking of fried dough sticks, Xu Zhun also became interested: "They are delicious. Sister, I want to have one."

In the past, when Xu's father came back from town, he would bring some food, sometimes steamed buns, fried dough sticks, sometimes walnut cakes, osmanthus cakes, but the fried dough sticks were fried, so Xu's mother wouldn't let them eat too much, and each time they would share one. So this time, when he heard that there would be fried dough sticks tomorrow, he specifically emphasized that he wanted to eat one.

Xu Qiwei has always been his uncle's little follower. After hearing what his uncle said, he immediately followed up and said, "I want to eat one too."

Xu Xu smiled and said, "Sure, Xiao Jin and Xiao Zhun will help make fried dough sticks tomorrow, okay?"

Xu Jin's attention was finally diverted, and he began to worry that he might not be able to do it well: "But I have never done it before, and I don't know how to do it."

Xu Xu encouraged: "Sister will teach you, do you want to help me do it tomorrow?"

"Yes." Xu Jin nodded happily.

Seeing Xu Jin happy, Xu Zhun was also happy: "I want to eat what I made."

Xu Qiwei raised his hand and said, "I want one too."

Seeing the children forgetting the previous atmosphere and becoming happy, Xu Xu secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, but you have to finish your meal first, wash up and go to bed early, because you have to help with the work tomorrow."

After hearing this, the three children quickly ate their food, and their only thought was to finish their meal quickly, take a bath and go to bed, because they had to work the next day, and they were actually a little excited just thinking about it.

The next morning, Xu Xu prepared to dry some dry rice. He saw that there was not much dry rice left in the jar yesterday, and he estimated that it would only take one or two meals to finish it.

You don't have to use rice to make dry rice, you can also use wheat. It's just that Xu's mother likes to eat rice, so the dry rice in the Xu family is all rice. Xu Xu and the twins basically inherited Xu's mother's eating habits, and the dry rice at home is only made of rice.

Xu Xu decided to dry more rice this time, so he harvested 10 liters of rice, washed it, put it in a pot and added water to cook. Dry rice is actually the cooked rice that is spread out, separating the grains, and then put in the sun to dry. This way it can be stored for a long time and is also convenient to eat, just soak it in hot soup.

The rice soup from cooking would be served in a small soup pot and a little sugar would be added. It was fragrant and delicious. Xu Xu and the children all liked it and sometimes drank it like water. The rice soup could be used to make steamed buns and could also be fermented and used to pickle sauerkraut.

Today's breakfast is egg porridge. Xu Xu took four bowls, beat an egg in each bowl, added some sesame oil and salt, and scooped the freshly boiled porridge into the bowl. Xu Tiantian's breakfast was to replace the porridge with boiled rice soup.