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Chapter 34: Rock Candied Gourds
Chapter 34: Rock Candied Gourds
As soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, Shen Shaoguang felt something different, it was cold and it was too bright outside.
Pushing open a little window around the quilt, Shen Shaoguang shuddered when the cold air hit him, looking out through the crack of the window, it was really white. After two days of gloom, the snow finally came down.
This is the third snowfall this winter. The first two races were both small and casual, and they stopped before they could get rewarded. A thin layer on the roof ridges and branches was very indifferent. Those that landed on the ground were trampled by horses. It became black mud, and the Chang'an people who had planned to enjoy the snow and have a feast had to give up.
This snow is really good. don't know when it got up at night, the ground has been covered with a thick layer, and it's still splattering all the time.
Because he didn't sell morning food, there was time in the morning, Shen Shaoguang slowly put on his clothes and woke up A Yuan.
When they were all up, A Yuan went to the store in front to fetch hot water, and Shen Shaoguang instructed her, "Look at what kind of food Yu Saburo made today?"
Ah Yuan agreed in a crisp voice, and soon brought hot water.
"It's said to be eating mutton cable cake this morning!"
Shen Shaoguang nodded and said with a smile, "It's very suitable!" In this weather, it's good to eat mutton noodle soup in the morning and feel warm all over. The third princess Yu did a good job in arranging the food.
Putting warm water in the mouthwash cup and washbasin, Shen Shaoguang first dipped in green salt to brush his teeth, then cleaned his face, and A Yuan also finished washing over there.
Ah Yuan splashed the residual water, and Shen Shaoguang combed her hair.
Shen Shaoguang likes Hu clothes, and several sets of winter clothes made this winter are all Hu clothes. Today's set is amber with variegated fox fur on the collar. If a person with darker and slightly yellower skin wears this color, his face will be like a soup, but Shen Shaoguang's face is white, and the material of ordinary Yongzhou brocade is actually wearing a lot of preciousness.
In order to match the clothes, Shen Shaoguang combed a simple and neat Uighur conical bun, and by the way drew a hard eyebrow. Looking at her little lady with flat shoulders, slender waist and long legs, wearing a Hu clothing with narrow sleeves and a tight waistband, A Yuan first praised: "It's so beautiful!"
Shen Shaoguang knew that there was nothing wrong with A Yuan, so he was somewhat immune to her rainbow farts.
"Better than Lin Shaoyin!" In order to increase credibility, A Yuan used a contrasting rhetoric.
"..." Shen Shaoguang turned his head and taught her, "This is handsome, even more handsome than Lin Shaoyin!"
A Yuan nodded, and since then the vocabulary has expanded a bit. But then he looked down at his belly, his face became depressed - even in this dynasty, which regarded fat as a beauty, A Yuan also exceeded the standard.
A round's exercise is enough, the problem is still eating. Since he followed Shen Shaoguang, it was as if his breath was blowing, and his eyes became round.
Shen Shaoguang felt a little guilty: "How about you only eat 70% full from now on?"
A Yuan just wanted to nod his head, and remembered the aroma of the mutton soup he smelled just now, pursed his lips, and asked Shen Shaoguang, "How about I start lunch again?"
Shen Shaoguang looked helpless, "Okay, okay."
When we got to the front, the soba was just right, steaming hot, with a fragrant mutton flavor.
Not in a hurry to eat noodles, Shen Shaoguang first took a sip of soup with a spoon, um, minced mutton in a soy pot, added a sufficient amount of pepper, fragrant!
The noodles are also good, wide noodles, very strong, Shen Shaoguang said that he couldn't do it, and if nothing else, he was not strong enough.
Shen Shaoguang praised it very much, and Yu San was indifferent, but seeing that a pot of soba was eaten up, even Shen Shaoguang, who usually eats less, also ate a large bowl, and the other two were even more praised. Holding his stomach, Yu San showed a complacent smile.
There was really a lot to eat in the morning. Shen Shaoguang stood at the door, looking at the snow without feet outside, and finally rested his heart to go out for a walk.
Yu Sandao: "I'm afraid Qu Dalang, who sells fish, will not be able to come today. I don't know if the meat and vegetable sellers will be able to bring them. Fortunately, the weather has been cloudy for the past two days, and some vegetables and meat have been stocked, and there is enough rice, grain, and charcoal. ."
Since the business became more and more busy, Shen Shaoguang stopped going to buy vegetables at home, and only picked two seasoned and honest vegetable vendors and meat merchants to send them, and the tofu shop also sent a plate of tofu every day.
"It doesn't matter, what do you do, it doesn't matter if it is out of stock occasionally, this is called hunger marketing..." Shen Shaoguang is fine when he is full, today's heavy snow will inevitably affect the business, so he starts talking nonsense more and more.
Ah Yuan touched his stomach, but couldn't find the feeling of "hunger".
Yu San's expectations were not bad, the fish seller did not come, but the meat seller did. Meat is nothing but pork and mutton, which are usually good and good, but the vegetable vendors who only have onions, garlic, isatis, radishes, and taro brought a surprise today—a small basket of fresh hawthorn fruits.
"This is a rare thing!" Shen Shaoguang smiled first.
Hawthorn is sometimes sold on the streets in autumn, but the people of this dynasty seem to be very general about this, and there are not many people who buy it. Shen Shaoguang occasionally buys some to make hawthorn cakes. .
"This was put by the owner of the cellar who kept these cabbage and radishes in the suburbs of Beijing. It was his wife who was overjoyed and loved this. She was afraid that she would not be able to eat them in the winter, so she kept some in the cellar. It's more than a basket."
"Hawthorn activates blood and removes blood stasis. Happy ladies are not suitable to eat more. You go back and tell the owner of the pit—"
The vegetable vendor hurriedly thanked the owner of the cellar. Unexpectedly, the little lady continued to ask, "How much does he have? Can you buy more for me?"
The vegetable vendor was suddenly suspicious. What Mrs. Shen said just now was not for the sake of asking for other people's fruit, right?
Yu San smiled slyly, and returned to the kitchen with a basket of cabbage and radishes.
The vegetable vendor hurriedly smiled: "This is on the little old man."
Shen Shaoguang, who was suspected of stealing food from a pregnant woman's mouth, bought this fruit, hummed a little tune, and poured it into a warm water basin to wash it clean. This fruit is really good. Full and full, no bug holes yet.
"Does the little lady want to make hawthorn cake?" A Yuan asked with a smile. The little lady said that the hawthorn cake helps digestion. I think it is because everyone eats too much, so I need to do this to help.
"What's so delicious about hawthorn cake?" Shen Shaoguang was proud of the official seal, "I'll make rock candied haws for you to try."
Hearing the name is a delicious snack, A Yuan looked forward to it.
Shen Shaoguang asked them to cut vegetables, meat and noodles to prepare lunch, but he took a half-day leisurely to pick cores with knives, stuffed bean paste, and put on bamboo skewers to make candied haws.
Candied fruit has a place in the hearts of every child born in the 1980s and 1990s. In that era when there were not many kinds of snacks and pocket money was not enough, ice cream in summer and candied haws in winter were the two major levers in the snack industry.
When the weather was freezing cold, someone was riding a bicycle with a grass handle tied behind it, "Tangdun'er—"
The grass handle was filled with strings of "sugar piers", including pure hawthorn, bean paste, yam, yam bean, orange and apple, all covered with shiny transparent candy skins. Still hanging sugar thorns.
Regarding the name of this thing, it is called "Bingtanghu'er" not far from the capital city. Another classmate said that her hometown called it "Sugarball".
Whether the rock candied haws are delicious or not, the key lies in the heat of boiling the sugar, boil it slowly on a low heat, wait until you pick it up with chopsticks, you can pull the wire, it is almost the same. Crispy, that's fine.
If the heat is owed, it will stick to the teeth; if it is overdue, it will be even worse and suffer.
With the foundation of making yam, Shen Shaoguang's time to boil sugar is not bad. Give it a try, the sugar is ready, roll the candied haws in the pot, and drop it on a large flat plate smeared with oil next to it, and the beautiful candy thorns will come out. superior.
In a short while, the grass handle was full, and there were twenty or thirty strings.
Bright red, bright ice, and very good-looking. Not to mention A Yuan and A Chang, even Yu San turned his head to look.
Shen Shaoguang instructed A Yuan: "First get it under the eaves to cool off, avoid some wind and snow, and wait until the candy is cool before it's delicious."
As if he had received the imperial edict, A Yuan went out holding the grass handle.
After a while, the proprietress and the guys in the store all ate the candied haws, and even Yu San couldn't help but come here. The little lady is really talented in these fancy foods.
Shen Shaoguang was holding a candied gourd, standing in front of the door while eating and admiring the scenery, the snow was vast, the white walls and black tiles, pedestrians, carriages and horses, and two little ladies holding umbrellas, more like an ancient picture scroll, or legend.
Who would have thought that the carriage had just passed, but it stopped again, and an acquaintance, Lin Shaoyin, stepped out of the car.
Didn't go to court today? Shen Shaoguang calculated, oh, the days of resting. Still going out in this weather?
In the morning, Lin Yan went to see the illness of Su Zhen, a doctor from the Fourth Sect of Guozijian. The old gentleman was very ill. He was afraid that he would be taboo if he went in the afternoon.
When came back just now, opened the curtain with a sense of feeling, and saw the little lady Shen, who was wearing a neat beard dress and a chic beard, but funnyly holding a string of red fruits.
In such a rainy and snowy weather, he had just left the bed of the patient with the gloomy clouds, and suddenly saw this leisurely and even lively scene, Lin Yan's frowning brows finally loosened, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, this little lady Shen. , is really going to have fun...
"Lin Langjun - is this going out to enjoy the snow? Really elegant." Shen Shaoguang greeted with a smile.
"Not as good as Lady Shen." Lin Yan replied with a smile, turning his eyes to the candied gourd in her hand.
"..." Is this an irony, a joke, or an ironic joke? Shen Shaoguang looked at the back of Lin Yan's head, he didn't expect such a serious Lin Shaoyin to speak like this...
"We haven't come out for lunch yet, but we can order some houto for Mr. Lang now." Shen Shaoguang put aside the half string of candied haws that had not been eaten yet, to greet the guest who was not easy to serve.
Lin Yan pondered a little.
"Would you like to eat a candied haws too, and think about it slowly?" This question was purely a pushback, revenge for the "not as good as" he just said.
Lin Yan looked up at Shen Shaoguang.
Shen Shaoguang responded with a polite and attentive smile.
"it is good."
"..." Shen Shaoguang paused, nodded, and said with a smile, "Lang Jun wait a moment."
Then there is the weird time when the five people in the house eat candied fruit each.
After Yu Sansan finished eating two bites, he led Ah Chang, who wanted to touch another one, back to the kitchen. Ah Yuan took another one and went to the kitchen. Shen Shaoguang was the proprietress, she could handle it better than them. Then, eat her half bunch of candied haws.
It was Lin Shaoyin, after all, he was a high-ranking official who passed the scientific examination and stood in the courtroom.
It was the two little ladies who broke the strange atmosphere. From the green silk umbrella, it was Shen Shaoguang who saw the two outside just now.