The Garden Life of a Little Gardener

The eldest cousin heard a sound in the yard, pushed the door and stretched out his head, and saw two young men walking into the house.

The shorter one walking in front is his nephew Zhou Quan, who is the big man following behind?Why does it look so familiar?

The big man who came in saw the big cousin who poked his head out, and greeted him very politely: "Uncle Youde, long time no see."

Hearing the words, Chen Youde first glanced at the other party's face in confusion, thought about it carefully, patted his thigh for a while and said, "You are Baoyan, right? Your child has changed a lot. If it weren't for your family's iconic I almost didn’t recognize the Danfeng eyes and the natural curls. I heard from Wen Li that you came back a few days ago, but I was too busy to catch up. It just so happened that you and Ah Quan were together today, and we’re open to get drunk or not to return.”

As he spoke, he led Zhouquan and Baoyan into the room, and when he lifted the curtain, he shouted excitedly into the room: "Mom, Dongmei, look who's back?"

I haven't seen Aunt Dongmei for ten years, and I don't recognize Baoyan anymore, but my aunt, sitting cross-legged on the kang, heard her son's call, found out her own reading glasses and put them on, and raised her eyebrows at the big brother who had just entered the door. After the young man took a closer look, tears suddenly flowed down his face.

Everyone was startled when they saw this, and hurried up to ask what was wrong.

In the end, my aunt bowed her hand and said: "Don't worry about me, I'm happy. This child is the Bao family's Azun, it must be, and he is exactly the same as his grandfather when he was young. I will not admit his mistake."

The tall man heard that he was sitting on the edge of the kang, so that the light in the room could better shine on his face, which would help the old lady see more clearly.

It was brighter as it got closer, and the old lady could see it more clearly.

She stretched out her hand to caress the other person's face, nodded again and again and said, "That's right, it's Ah Yuan from the Bao family, good boy, are you back?"

"Well, I'm back, and I don't plan to leave when I come back."

"Okay, okay, if you don't leave, don't leave. There is no home outside. When you come back, your grandpa, grandma, and your mother will be happy."

"Your face is so cold, isn't it cold outside? Get on the kang, the top of the kang is hot."

The little aunt who loved the children greeted the two children to go to the kang to warm up, while the uncle and his wife who stayed in the ground quickly set up the kang table and everything, and the two of them had already started serving dishes one after the other.

The Kang table is still the same Kang table, and the round table is also the same, but the dishes on it are different from yesterday.

The main course on the table yesterday was stewed red mushrooms with an old hen cooked by my aunt, but today the main dish on the table is a pot full of sauerkraut stewed with big bones.

Yellow-green sauerkraut, cut into half-centimeter-thick filaments, remove the blood from the fresh pork bones, and soak them in home-cooked millet mixed with pepper water for an hour, so that not only can you remove the fishy smell, but you can also extract the meat from the big bones. Meaty smell.

Then put the chopped sauerkraut, soaked pork bones, star anise, pepper, green onion and ginger and other seasonings into the large iron pot on the stove, and simmer slowly for several hours until the meat is crispy and the soup is mellow , add salt, chicken essence and pepper noodles, wait for a while after seasoning, a pot of soup with delicious sauerkraut and stewed big bones can be out of the pot.

This is a very homely stew in Northeast China, and almost every housewife can make it.

However, the status of this dish in the hearts of Northeast people is definitely no less than that of hot pot in the hearts of Sichuan people.

As long as it is autumn and winter, the aroma of sauerkraut stew will float all over the street.

The uncle pushed the main dish on the table towards Zhouquan and Baoyan, and said: "The best big bones have been stewed for four or five hours, but they are so crispy, you should eat them while they are hot. It's a pity Now is not the best season to eat sauerkraut, if it is autumn and winter, the stew will taste fresher than this."

The time to pick up sauerkraut in Northeast China is autumn. At that time, the cabbage harvest is abundant and the temperature is suitable. A tank of sauerkraut can usually be ready in more than a month.

Fermented sauerkraut not only retains most of the nutrition of cabbage, but also contains rich lactic acid bacteria through fermentation, and decomposes a large amount of amino acids.

When these substances meet with the meat, the lactic acid will decompose the fat of the meat, and the amino acid will stimulate the delicious aroma of the meat.

Therefore, a good pot of sauerkraut stewed with big bones must be fragrant but not greasy, sour, fresh and delicious.

The pot of stewed big bones with sauerkraut placed in front of Zhou Quan and the others was a good pot of stewed vegetables.

Although the best season for eating sauerkraut has passed, Zhouquan is still very happy to gnaw on the bones while guarding the pot.

He tore off a large piece of flesh from the big bone stick, chewing it was delicious and fresh.

Just eating the bones is not enough, you must drink the soup when you eat stewed sauerkraut, the sour and fragrant stewed soup is really appetizing and warming up.

After eating all the meat on a piece of bone, Zhou Zhou wiped off the oil stains on his hands, picked up the chopsticks and began to eat the bone marrow inside the bone.

The bone marrow in the big stick bone is the essence of the tube bone. The pork bone marrow in the tube bone can be delicious and nourishing if it is well made.

Bao Yan on the other side is obviously very aware of his own taste. When eating bones, he will deliberately avoid the bone and eat the spine part, so that the delicious and nutritious pork bone marrow in the bone will be given to him quietly. Zhou Quan stayed.

The pork bone marrow was not exclusive to Zhouquan, and he distributed it to other people at the table bit by bit. My aunt ate the pork bone marrow dug up by her nephew and grandson, and the creases on her smiling face opened.

After eating and drinking, the meal was removed and tea for digestion was served. Uncle Chen's family looked at the young man sitting on the head of his kang, took a sip of tea and asked, "Bao Yan, how have you been here all these years? Since Since you went to Uncle Bao’s and Junior Brother’s to learn how to cook, there’s been no news of you in the village.”

Hearing this, the tall young man put down the teacup in his hand, and replied with a slight smile: "At the beginning, I learned how to cook from my master, and after I became an apprentice, I went abroad for a while with a few senior brothers."

"Ah, have you gone abroad yet? You are really capable, what is it like abroad?" My cousin who had never left this city, and the farthest was to send flowers in the city, asked curiously.

"Overseas are similar to ours. They are all high-rise buildings, but the architectural style is a little different. We went to the United States, and there are people of all colors walking on the street. The tastes of the people there are actually easy to grasp. As long as you do it well Hamburgers, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and roasts, and you can be a good cook over there."

"Hahaha, Ah Huang, you are so funny, how can anyone always eat something so simple? If your restaurant only serves these, you will have to pay for it."

"Uncle Chen, I'm not joking at all. The company has opened several chain fast food restaurants in the United States. They sell various flavors of hamburgers, barbecue, French fries, mashed potatoes, onion rings and other things. The business is very special. good."

"Really? Then this foreigner is not picky eater, so it's easy to feed."

Are foreigners easy to support?

Zhou Quan, who was gnawing on the bone, heard this sentence, and one by one of his teeth bit the meat with too much force, and gnawed on the bone.

Caressing his innocent and painful front teeth, Zhou Quan silently raised his head and glanced at the bamboo horse beside him, but he caught the curved line of the other's lips.

The front teeth are still hurting Zhou Quan:......

Unaware of the sadness in his nephew's eyes, the eldest cousin of the Chen family was immersed in happiness when he learned that Bao Yan should live well even outside.

He took a sip of shochu, picked up a chopsticks dish, and said while eating and drinking: "I know that you are all doing well, so I am relieved. Ah Quan intends to stay in the village and help everyone find a way. Ah What do you want to do when you come back? Do you want to open a restaurant after learning the craft?"

Baoyan, who was always sitting upright, replied without hesitation: "I want to renovate the old house at home, and then run a homestay in the village."

"What is a homestay?"

"It means that it has the atmosphere of local people's life, and combines local culture, natural landscape, ecology, environmental resources, and agricultural, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry production activities to operate as a family sideline business and provide tourists with accommodation for rural life. In fact, it is to put it bluntly. The vacant houses are cleared up and rented out to people who want to enjoy the rural life.”

"What? Who will come to live in our old house? The houses in the city are very good. They have dozens of floors. There are elevator guards. It's very comfortable to live in. Do people like our old houses? ?”

"Uncle, you don't know that. People in modern metropolises are under great pressure. When they have time, they like to go to some quiet and comfortable places where they can relax physically and mentally. Isn't there such a famous poem, Caiju Seeing Nanshan leisurely under the east fence, returning to the countryside is a very hot topic in the urban life circle now, they just come to live for three or two days, relax and play something new, and then leave, they will not stay for a long time.”

"Oh, how do you calculate the rent with others? You only live for three or two days, so how dare you ask them for money."

"The rent must be collected. After all, they come to play, and the homestay provides services. This is also a business."

"I don't understand, I really don't understand. The current generation is changing too fast, and we are outdated. But Ah Quan, don't you want to repair the house? It happens that Baoyan's side is also repairing, so you two just get together and work together." gone."

Hearing this sentence, the tall young man turned his body to Fa Xiao and asked, "Do you want to repair the house? Which one? The small second floor of your house?"

"Well, it's not all repairs, it's just waterproofing, repairing a shower room, and building a biogas pool."

"It just so happens that I also have these projects over there. Let the designer come to your house tomorrow to have a look."

Zhou Quan and Bao Yan had two meals at the uncle of the Chen family this night. Not long after the dinner was over, Chen Wenli, who was off the evening shift, came back, and the friends who hadn't been together for many years came directly again. A supper.

After the climax of the moon, the two of them left the Chen family. Zhou Quan looked at the Ford Raptor in front of his cousin's house, smelled the faint smell of alcohol on the person behind him, and said, "Brother Wen Li said that your old house is not yet You can't live in the house, you've been drinking again so late, don't go back to the hotel today, stay at my house."

Baoyan, who was walking in the shadow of the other party, paused when he heard this, and said, "Is it convenient?"

"What's so inconvenient about this? Don't you sleep too much in our house? You have special bedding for you, but you haven't had time to dry it yet. You and I have to share a bed with you tonight."

Hearing the words, the young man in the shadow lowered his head, put his hands in his pockets but walked very briskly, caught up with Fa Xiao in front of him in a few steps, put his arms around his neck, pulled him towards him playfully and said softly: "It's okay, I don't despise you."