The Garden Life of a Little Gardener

During the lunch break of Baojia Homestay, Chef Bao washed his hands and took the towel handed over by Zhouquan to wipe off the water droplets.

Zhou Quan placed the bowls and chopsticks on the table, brought out the vegetables and soup in the food box, washed the freshly picked autumn cucumbers in the yard and put them next to the sauce bowl, one soup, one dish and one pickle, this is the noon for two people meal.

Folded the towel and put it on the side of the sink, took off his shoes and sat cross-legged on the kang, broke off a piece of cucumber, dipped it in sauce and took a big bite.

"Hi~."

Zhou Quan, who was lowering his head to serve his meal, heard a long breath from the person opposite, as if he had touched something and felt pain.

When he raised his head, he saw the person opposite was frowning and grinning, chewing a cucumber in his mouth, but his brows were getting tighter and tighter.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Quan asked with concern, handing over the rice bowl.

"It's nothing, there seems to be a hole in the mouth, and it was sanded by sauce."

"Open your mouth and let me see."

"It's okay, maybe I accidentally bit my teeth and I didn't notice."

"Open your mouth and let me see." The person who was worried about the other party's tone became a lot heavier.

Chef Bao, who was afraid that he would be angry, opened his mouth obediently, and Zhou Quan saw that a blister had burst around his lip.

"It's bubbling, is it on fire?"

"Maybe. I've lived a lot recently and drank less water. In addition, the weather is hot and sun-drenched. Maybe I'm getting angry."

Although it is already mid-September, the weather in the north is dry and hot, and the highest temperature during the day is almost [-] degrees.

Chef Bao's own system is slanted, and he spends all day watching the stove and cooking fire, so it's no wonder he doesn't catch fire.

"I'll go to the village doctor to buy some medicinal powder for you to apply."

"No, it's just a small hole, it will heal itself in a few days."

"Then don't you have to be in pain these days? How can this work? I can't even eat well. I remember that Uncle Wen had a mouth ulcer a few days ago, and he should have watermelon cream on his body. I'll go ask him for some. .”

"Let's talk after eating, or you won't be able to eat a mouthful of bitter rice."

Zhou Quan thought about it, so he used the big spoon in the soup bowl to scoop up a bowl full of old duck soup and handed it to the other party, saying: "Drink more soup, the old duck soup nourishes yin and eliminates fire."

Sipping the duck soup in the bowl, Chef Bao put a chopstick into his mouth and asked, "I saw Uncle Chen coming over just now, what's the matter?"

"Oh, on the day of our rest next Tuesday, there happened to be something in the village. It was said that someone from the forestry side of the city came to help our village solve the problem of rabbits and pheasants harassing production. They said they came in the morning and left in the afternoon. The town said hello and let the reception at noon Let's go to the village committee to buy vegetables, please go over and take charge of the cooking."

"Okay, I see, I will arrive on Monday next Tuesday."

After lunch, Zhou Quan went to Uncle Wen to get some watermelon frosting. After applying it to Chef Bao, he forced him to take a nap, but he himself went to the village doctor's house.

I told the doctor about Chef Bao's situation, and the village doctor said it was autumn dryness, so he brought a bottle of watermelon cream to take away and told him to drink more water and eat more moisturizing things.

Holding the medicine, Zhou Quan didn't go directly back to the B&B, but walked up the creek and came to a family in the east of the village closest to the foot of the mountain.

There is a big pear tree outside the yard of this family. The sweet pear tree has been planted for more than ten years. The fruit on it is in the shape of a scoop, with a small head and a round belly. It is called Big Yali in the village.

Through the gate of the yard, Zhou Quan shouted inside: "Brother Wen Wen, sister-in-law Huai Hua, are you at home?"

As soon as he finished talking about the watchdog in the yard, he started barking. A few seconds later, a man in his early thirties led a five or six-year-old girl with pigtails and pushed open the door and came out.

"Ah Quan, why are you here?"

"Brother Baoyan is getting angry, can you give me some pears from your family?"

"Okay, you pick it here, and I'll get you the bag."

Saying that, Chen Wenming let go of his daughter's hand and went back to the house to get the plastic bag.

In the villages in the Northeast, some of the agricultural products grown by the villagers are almost shared.

Children in the village pick dates, plums, sweet apricots, apples and pears as soon as they climb the tree. Adults need to talk to the host in advance, and the host will usually provide them with enthusiasm.

Standing under the pear tree, Zhou Quan picked a few that looked good, found the biggest one, wiped it clean with his clothes, and handed it to the little girl with braids.

The little girl ran around and smiled so much that her gaping teeth were showing, and she pointed to the bigger one on the tree if she was not satisfied.

The big pear was a bit high, Zhou Quan jumped up and grabbed the branch first, then pulled it down, and reached the pear down on tiptoe.

The little girl hugged the two big pears and said, "Thank you, Uncle Quan. It's good to be tall. When I asked my dad to pick it, he couldn't reach it. I will grow up in the future, and I will be taller than you." Be tall."

Hearing this, Zhou Quan thought for a while that his brother Wen Wen had barely reached the height of 1.7 meters, and suddenly he couldn't laugh or cry.

Chen Wenming, who didn't know that he was rejected by his daughter, found a big dark bag from the house and gave it to Zhou Quan. Zhou Quan waved and said that he didn't need it. He just wanted a few sweet autumn pears. If the bag he found was really full, it would be enough to pull it out and sell it for a day.

With a few big pears in his clothes, Zhou Quan waved goodbye to Chen Wenming's father and daughter.

In autumn, especially in early autumn, when it comes to the most suitable fruit to eat, pears must be on the list.

Whenever they had a hoarse voice or dry mouth when they were young, their parents would definitely make some for them. The sweetness is the first impression of desserts in the hearts of peasant children.

To deal with Qiuzao, Zhouquan felt that he still had to use the old method, and besides the rock sugar, he also added honey to it. The authentic and pure farm honey is absolutely nourishing.

Zhou Quan, who seldom cooks, has never made duck pear soup with rock sugar and honey before, but he saw that Brother Baoyan made it. It is not difficult to wash the pears, cut them from the tail, and use a spoon to dig out the core of the pears. Add an appropriate amount of rock sugar, cover the pear tail, put it in a bowl and stew it in a steamer for 15 minutes. When it comes out of the pan, sprinkle some honey on it.

Very simple, almost without any technical content, he memorized all the steps just by looking at one side.

In his mind, he kept thinking about Chef Bao's actions when he made the pear cup. After confirming that he remembered every step without mistakes, he couldn't help being excited. a message.

"I'll go home in an hour, and I'll make you a duck and pear cup with rock sugar and honey."

After the message was sent, the other party replied within a few seconds, with only three words, "Got it."

Just these three words Zhouquan felt that he was satisfied, and happily went home with the big pear in his arms.

As soon as he entered the house, Chef Bao couldn't wait to enter the kitchen. After washing the pears, he found honey and rock sugar.

According to the order of the meeting in his mind before, Zhou Quan carefully cut the tail of the pear.

With a click, the pear was cut horizontally, and about one-third of the pear handle at the end fell off, leaving a large pear belly standing on the cutting board.

"Well, now you just need to dig out the pear core, put rock sugar in it, cover the lid and put the pot on. It's quite simple."

Having said that, Zhou Quan took out a spoon from the cupboard, and dug towards the center of the pear belly.

.......

Didn't dig it? ? ?Why is the core of this pear so hard! ! !

Holding the spoon, I dug down vigorously. This time, I dug a hole directly in the belly of the pear.

........

Looking at the pear belly with a big hole on the edge, Zhou Quan felt that this pear should not be used. After the rock sugar is preheated, it will turn into water. With the water vapor entering the pot, when the normal pear cup is out of the pot, the pear belly There should be sweet water in it, but now this pear belly obviously can't hold water.

The water in the pear cup is the essence of this bowl of soup, without those essences, it would be better to enjoy sweet pears directly.

"It's okay, this is just a practice session. After all, it's the first time I do it. It's normal to make some small mistakes. Just change to a pear."

Putting the failed sweet pear aside, Zhouquan took out another pear, cut off the tail one by one and kept it as a cover, and carefully dug it bit by bit with a spoon.

This time it didn't break, but the speed was too slow, Zhou Quan only dug out one-third of the pear's belly in the past ten minutes.

Anxious, he couldn't help but use the spoon again, but he used too much force once, and clicked the spoon directly through the middle of the pear belly and came out through the skin.

.........

It doesn't matter, the pear is still being replaced.

The flower elves who found that the master came home but didn't enter the house came out to look for him, hugged the door frame of the kitchen and looked in, and saw the master standing on the cutting board stupidly, staring blankly at the cutting board. There are various shapes, but there is no finished pear cup.

Diao Lan, who didn't know what the master wanted to do, tilted her head to observe carefully, but Wenzhu was clever enough to understand what the master meant.

It tried to remind: "Master, fresh pears are very brittle due to their high moisture content. When digging out the core, you have to be careful and patient."

When I was a child, Zhou Quan, who had never done manual work alone in labor class, felt a little pain in his knees.

Dazed, he remembered the message he had sent to Brother Baoyan before he entered the door, and took out his phone to see that it had been nearly four or ten minutes since the message was sent.

"It's broken, it's broken, Brother Baoyan is always on time, and he promised that he will never be one minute behind in an hour, what should we do now?"

Those big pears from Chen Wenming's house have all been killed on the cutting board, and now it's too late even if I want to ask for it. What if Brother Baozhen comes back full of expectations but can't eat anything? manage?

The more he thought about it, the more anxious Zhouquan started to circle around in the kitchen. After a few circles, he suddenly stopped, staring at the broken pears on the cutting board and squinting slightly.

A few seconds later, he went back to the cutting board and picked up the kitchen knife, sliced ​​it, cut it, put it in the big wrist, put it in a rock sugar pot, and steamed it.

Twenty minutes later, Chef Bao was about to come back. Looking at the large bowl delivered to him, he was very surprised and asked, "Is this duck pear cup with rock sugar and honey?"

Zhou Quan smiled awkwardly when he heard this and said in a low voice, "This is duck pear...soup with rock sugar and honey."

Chef Bao:......