Chapter 309: Whimsy
All you have to do is tell them, when the county taxes are paid, we will go to the villages to collect the grain, and there is no need to trouble them to send it to the town. Du Mei was not as anxious as Niu Er, and said calmly.
She has Song Jiu's 1,000 stone grain as the base, and she is sure in her heart, how much autumn grain can be harvested, she is not so anxious.
"Okay, okay, the black loach will come in a while, and I'll talk to him like this." Niu Er nodded repeatedly.
"It's not early, I rushed to Qinghe County to deliver duck eggs, and I left first." Seeing that the matter was settled, Du Mei got up and planned to go out.
"When will the big girl come? You see, I've been keeping accounts these days. Niu Er leaned over and took out the account book, he felt that he was heavier than a hammer with a pen.
"Brother Niu, just write more in the future." Du Mei took the account book and looked at it, although the handwriting was not good-looking, the account was still remembered clearly.
"I'm just a big old man, I can't hold a pen." Niu Er scratched his head, he didn't know how many catties and taels he had.
"Brother Niu, have you thought about it, if we make the grain store bigger in the future, and go to Qinghe County or even Jiangling City to open a branch, you all have to be alone, and you can't rely on the big girl alone." Du Mei has the heart to tell them to be motivated, and they are right.
She didn't know what the future would hold, but she wouldn't just stay in the corner of Sheshan Town.
"Where? Qinghe County? Gangneung Fortress! Niu Er suspected that there was something wrong with his ears, and asked loudly with a bull's eye.
"That's right! In the future, it will not necessarily be a grain store, there may be others, in short, it will have to go further afield to do business. Du Mei nodded firmly.
"Good long, girl, you really dare to think about it!" Niu Er opened his mouth and was so shocked that he couldn't close it for a long time.
Du Mei has such big ambitions, how can he, a person who claims to be her brother, drag his feet! Since then, Niu Er has really started practicing from writing, and he also pulled the black dragon to practice together.
Hei Jiaolong was puzzled, I don't know how Niu Er changed his sex overnight, but he didn't dare not practice, if he didn't practice, Niu Er would have to practice boxing on him!
Not to mention how their pair of difficult brothers and sisters will be motivated in the future, only that at this time, Du Mei and Niu Er explained clearly, went out and got in the car and went straight to Qinghe County.
When Du Mei arrived at the Zuixian Building, it was just in time for lunch, there were not many guests in the restaurant, but the kitchen was very busy, the fat housekeeper assigned a job without touching the ground, and the cooks performed their duties, taking care of the food simmering on the stove, the fragrance of various foods was mixed, and the hot air filled the entire kitchen.
Du Mei got out of the car at the small door of the back kitchen, and the young man with the organic spirit ran in to call someone, and the shopkeeper Dong came out to see her in person.
"The kitchen was out of stock yesterday, I thought that the countryside was busy with the autumn harvest, I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to come, and I wanted Lao Liu to go to your house, but I didn't want you to come. What are you sending today? The guests all said it was good. Shopkeeper Dong said with a smile on his face, but his eyes were fixed on the jar at Du Mei's feet.
"Well, but this is the last one of the year." Du Mei smiled and nodded.
Now it's October, the weather is getting cooler, Du Mei is afraid that the ducks will be frozen, the sun is high to let Du Ying put on the river beach, and rush back early in the afternoon, so that the ducks eat less small fish and shrimp, and the double yolk eggs are also less.
"It's a bit of a pity, it looks like we'll have to wait until next year." Shopkeeper Dong sighed slightly.
"I have a duck egg to eat, I don't know if the shopkeeper Dong can taste a face or two?" Du Mei asked, pointing to a small bamboo basket on his arm.
"Oh? What is that? The shopkeeper Dong became interested at once, and Du Mei's bamboo basket was covered with a blue coarse cloth, and it was difficult to see what was inside for a while.
"Can I borrow your kitchen?" Du Mei asked.
"Yes, yes, please come in." Shopkeeper Dong bowed down and made a gesture of please.
On the big stove, Du Mei took out a dozen or so Songhua eggs and a small can of pickled peppers that had been washed in the bamboo basket.
"This is ......" Shopkeeper Dong picked up one and turned it upside down, except for the white color, the duck eggs in front of him were no different from ordinary ones.
"This is my freshly pickled Songhua egg." Du Mei didn't explain much, and directly peeled the eggs.
"Songhua eggs?" Dong shopkeeper felt a little curious, he has been doing this for decades, duck eggs have not been any novel way to eat, Du Mei's salted duck eggs are already unusual, what new tricks can this pine flower egg turn out?
The cook, who was not busy in the kitchen, saw them standing together to make food, and they all gathered around them out of curiosity. There are enthusiastic ones who help peel eggs.
"Ah, what is this?" One person was amazed at the pine flowers.
"This is so beautiful!" The other was impressed by the color.
"Is this really edible?" Another person was frightened by the soft touch of the pine flower egg.
As everyone spoke, they peeled all the dozen or so pine eggs, which were placed on the plate, ranging from dark black to golden yellow, with different shades of color, each one different. The people in the Drunken Immortal Building felt very novel, and discussed how to eat the Songhua eggs around them.
Du Mei simply cut two pine eggs, divided each egg into eight petals and placed them in a disc, drizzled with aged vinegar, and poured pickled pepper over them. The strange fragrance of Songhua eggs is mixed with sour and spicy atmosphere, which is highlighted in the many fat and greasy meat aromas in the kitchen, which makes people feel refreshing and greasy.
"This pattern really looks like a pine flower, how can it still have a little fruit wood aroma?" Shopkeeper Dong looked down closely, sniffed closer, and frowned. He is indeed a chef, and his sense of smell is extremely keen.
"My pine flower egg is pickled with wild persimmon tree grass ash, isn't it a little sweet fragrance of persimmon?" Du Mei had already smelled this aroma at home, and after Dong mentioned it, she remembered the reason.
"I wonder what it tastes like?" Shopkeeper Dong didn't dare to move with chopsticks, the fragrance was very attractive, but he didn't know the bottom of his heart.
"My family ate it yesterday, what does it taste...... After keeping it and eating it, I can't stop it! Du Mei took a piece, dipped it in vinegar and pepper, and ate it with a mouthful.
For every new food, the first to eat it is a warrior.
Shopkeeper Dong ate a piece according to Du Mei's appearance and tasted it carefully. When the people in the Drunken Immortal Building saw them eating, some of the brave ones also took a piece, dipped it in the juice and stuffed it into their mouths.
"This ......" sour, spicy, crispy, elastic, glutinous, these flavors and tastes magically combined in the mouth of the shopkeeper Dong, this chef who is very picky about eating, couldn't help but savor it, and was speechless with satisfaction for a while.
When he tasted this delicious bite and wanted to stretch out his chopsticks to pick up the second piece, the others saw this, fearing that they would not be able to eat it, and they had already swarmed up, and the plate was neutral in time and space!
"It tastes so ...... It's just wonderful. "A fat cook didn't grab the second piece, so he had to suck~ the tip of his tongue.
"This egg is so special." Another cook tasted the juice of pickled peppers mixed with vinegar in his mouth, which is an extremely ordinary seasoning, but how to eat it is different.
"Shopkeeper Dong, what I said is true." Du Mei turned his head and looked at the shopkeeper Dong with a smile.
"The taste is indeed extraordinary, and it is very different from salted duck eggs, but after all, it is still duck eggs, and the price of a dish will not be high." Shopkeeper Dong said a little regretfully.
"I'm just cutting something for everyone to taste, if it's serious, I can make it more beautiful." Du Mei had already thought about this.
In a place like Zuixianlou, where rich people feast, the dishes are the most exquisite in color, flavor, and shape. Songhua egg is impeccable in color, fragrance and taste, but it is a duck egg after all, if you want to sell it at a high price, you can only work the shape.
"In this way, Du Ruren came prepared." Shopkeeper Dong said with a smile. He was looking forward to what kind of simple duck eggs Du Mei would make.
Du Mei chose four similar black ones from the peeled pine eggs, each cut eight petals, and changed them into 32 petals, and arranged them neatly in a porcelain plate with waves on the edges. Then she chose a pale gold one, cut it horizontally, took only the small head of the duck egg, carved the lower part into a zigzag shape, and placed it in the middle of the thirty-two petals, and the serrations just fit in one place with the tips of the petals. Finally, drizzle with aged vinegar and sprinkle a little juicy pickled pepper between the eggs.
Du Mei did it attentively, and the shopkeeper Dong was surprised. The girl in front of me has never learned to cook seriously, and how to do it is so skillful and meticulous! And this arrangement is even more magnificent, and he has already vaguely guessed something.
"This is called the moon on the sea." Du Mei took a step back to look at the finished product she had made, and happily named the dish.
The pale golden one in the center is undoubtedly the rising moon, and the dark egg whites in a circle are the pitch-black sea, and a little syrupy yellow in the center of each egg yolk is connected together to form a circle, which is the halo reflected by the moon on the sea!
"What a sea rises and the moon rises!" Shopkeeper Dong stroked his palms and laughed, which was almost the same as he guessed, except that Du Mei's dish name was more poetic.
"If the shopkeeper Dong is happy, I can also make another plate of fish play lotus leaves." Du Mei said with a smile when he saw that he was happy.
"This ...... Please take a look! Shopkeeper Dong raised his eyebrows.
Today's Du Mei impressed the shopkeeper Dong, and he was very surprised in his heart, this girl has a talent that is different from ordinary people in cooking!
"I want a rectangular plate with a green aquatic plant pattern." Du Mei said to the cook beside him.
"Yes, yes, yes." There was no shortage of plates in the kitchen, and after a while, I found one according to Du Mei's request.
Du Mei takes a brown pine egg and divides it into two, half of the big head is buckled on the left side of the plate, half of it is cut into four petals with a knife, the sharp corners of one end of the four petals are concentrated at the lower end of the other half, and then the lower end of the four petals is vigorously expanded, at this time a small ink-colored goldfish has begun to take shape.
She then took half of the cucumber and cut out a few very thin and transparent slices, carefully placed them on both sides of the half egg to act as fins, and used a small spoon to pick out a little bit of the yellow egg core from the remaining half of the egg, and dotted it on the part of the inky goldfish's eyes, so that the fish seemed to come alive in an instant!
Shopkeeper Dong and the onlookers were dumbfounded, where is this cooking, it is clearly painting.
Du Mei's fingers were delicate, and he quickly concocted the same little golden goldfish on the other side of the plate. It's just that the eyes are made of inky egg yolks. The two goldfish, one black and one yellow, immediately contrasted with each other in the plate, as if they were about to swim if they were given some water, and everyone on the lookers held their breath and did not dare to blink for a moment!