The General's Delicious Wife Chapter 049: 60th Birthday
On the 60th birthday of the Cui Old Sire, his children and grandchildren tried their best to celebrate his birthday, even his second son who was far away in Liaodong had also rushed back.
So Old Sire Cui was in a great mood for several days in a row.
He got up early and put on a new scarlet robe, received the kowtow greetings from his grandsons and granddaughters at home. He ate a bowl of chicken soup and prawn longevity noodles specially prepared for him by Xia Yue Chu. He usually wore a serious face, but he was smiling nonstop today.
The whole family was able to touch Old Sire Cui's light (Meaning: was able to share the fortune on the credit of Old Sire Cui), and each person received a small bowl of longevity noodles.
Except for Second Sire's family, it was the first time for everyone else to taste fresh prawns, and they dug into the food without lifting their heads up.
Madam Wang smiled and asked, "Younger sister-in-law, what do you think of Xiao Xia's cooking skills after tasting it, it is not an insult to the quality ingredients you had specially brought back, right?"
Before Madam Liu could speak, Cui Second Sire had already rushed to reply, "This chicken soup and prawn noodles is really good. The clear chicken soup is especially rare, it is not a single bit overpowering, on the contrary, it highlights the deliciousness and texture of the prawn. I have been near the sea so many years, and yet I have never eaten such authentic prawn noodles."
"It's good that its delicious." Madam Wang brightens up even more, "I was afraid that Xiao Xia does not know how to handle these and make a mess, insulting the good things that Second Brother had brought back."
Madam Liu knew that she was deliberately shading herself, and she was so angry that she was twisting the handkerchief in her hands, pretending that nothing had happened while still wearing a smile on the surface.
Cui Second Sire wiped his mouth and commented, "I heard that this Xiao Xia is the main chef of today's birthday banquet? It seems that I am going to have a blessed appetite today."
The sun climbed higher in its height, and the guests began to arrive one after another.
They could not just have the guest to sit there dryly, the back kitchen quickly served up a few dishes of snacks.
Several fifteen or sixteen-year-old maidens, carrying one plate each, introduced the dish name in a crisp voice.
"Hibiscus Jujube Cake."
"Lotus Flower Pastry."
"Peony Blessing Biscuit."
"Well Wishing Hawthorn Roll."
The snacks were made small and delicate, even the female guests and children could eat it in one bite, but it does not affect the intricate details of those snacks. It was like a plate of art on the table, not food.
The last two maidens worked together to bring up a large tray, it was a pagoda shaped stacked up by many longevity peaches that was around the size of a baby's fist each.
The longevity peach skin was smooth and the pink blush on the tip was seamlessly joined to the white bun. It looked as if a platter of real peaches was served.
Cui Second Sire rubbed his stomach and laughed: "I was dazzled before the feast started. There are so many good-looking snacks, I don't even know what to eat!"
Cui Shu Qing took the lead and put a longevity peach in front of Cui Old Sire and said, "You are an old birthday star today. Hurry up and eat a birthday peach."
"Okay, okay, good boy, you eat one too!" The Cui Old Sire could not close his mouth with his joy overflowing.
Cui Shu Qing hurriedly picked one for himself, and said, "Of course, I want to eat it, I have to share this joyous blessing that you have."
Watching Cui Shu Qing's pleasing act in front of Cui Old Sire, then looking at her two sons who only knew how to bury their heads and eat, Madam Liu was even more irked.
But Cui Second Sire was a really easy-going person. He picked a longevity peach for her saying, "This is delicious, you try it too."
The Cui Old Sire picked up the longevity peach, bit off half of it in one bite, and said in surprise: "There is actually stuffings inside."
"Grandfather, the one you have is bean paste fillings, and the one I am eating is chicken and shepherd's purse vegetable fillings." Cui Shu Qing finished the longevity peach in his hand with two bites, he picked another one from the platter and bit it open only to find that it was actually five kernel filling.
The nuts and seeds in the fillings had been roasted beforehand, chewing on it bestrewed the mouth fully in fragrance.
Other than nuts and sugar, there were also dried fruits in it. The sweet and sour fruits was perfect in relieving the oiliness of the nuts, the delicious treat made one bloom in appetite.
"This is truly made from the heart!"
"Yes, this is the first time I have eaten a birthday peach with fillings!""
"What's rare is that there are fillings wrapped inside yet it can keep the shape of a peach. This chef's culinary skill is not simple at all."
The snacks were all sweet and sour in flavor, and the quantity was not large. It was portioned to only one piece per person. So it was served as an appetizer.
Everyone at the table of the elders were steadfast, and the food was divided equally by per person, but the table for the juniors had already broken into a rowdy game of snatch.
"Ai, this birthday peach is so beautifully made, I can't bear to eat it anymore."
"Give it to me if you are not eating it, I haven't eaten the meat stuffing yet!"
"Who said I'm not eating... ... Ei, this person, how can you just grab it by hand!"
Not only did those few dishes of snacks and the platter of longevity peach failed to alleviate the unbearable wait for anyone, but instead, they made people feel hungry even more.
Fortunately, the speed of the back kitchen was not slow, and soon the dishes started to move (Meaning: started to be served).
The first to be served up are two cold dishes, a meat dish and a vegetarian dish.
One of the cold dishes was the Suoyi Cucumber that Xia Yue Chu used to demonstrate her knife skills yesterday. The cucumber that has been cut was placed onto the plate as several florets, like blossoms of green and white water lilies.
The other cold dish was Crystal Meat Jelly, which was cooked differently from the usual countryside practice of purely boiling in the cauldron, the meat jelly that Xia Yue Chu made was from steaming instead, this quality made it exceptionally transparent and clear. Inside it was thinly sliced meat and skin that looks like curled up chrysanthemum petals.
The Crystal Meat Jelly was cut into squares with wavy edges, spread out into layers on the plate, and right in the middle was a small glass bowl of garlic dipping sauce.
Cui Second Sire's eyes lit up when he saw the Crystal Meat Jelly, he quickly picked up a piece, dipped it into the garlic sauce and stuffed it into his mouth.
The Crystal Meat Jelly was particularly elastic in its chew, because it was made though steaming, it did not carry any hint of fire and smoke, which made his mouth full on the intensity of the meat fragrance and the smoothness of the jelly.
He ate a few pieces in a row before slowing down and breathed a sigh of relief, "This is what I missed the most after leaving the house. This Crystal Meat Jelly is really well made!"
"Second Uncle, don't stuff yourself too much even if you like it, keep some belly space to eat the following dishes!"
Cui Shu Qing has been studying how the Suoyi cucumbers were cut for a while, but as soon as he heard this, he quickly grabbed two pieces of the Crystal Meat Jelly and stuffed them into his mouth, and his eyes widened in surprise.
Cui Second Sire saw the silly look on his nephew's face and suddenly laughed out loud.
"Silly boy, how is it, isn't it delicious?"
Cui Shu Qing could not spare and effort to speak, seeing that the Crystal Meat Jelly was almost divided up, he hurriedly filled his bowl with a few pieces again.
Cui Second Sire raised his eyebrows when he witnessed this and was about to laugh at him again when the kitchen served new dishes again.
"Stewed Chicken with Mushroom."
"Charcoal Roast Yellow Clams."
Stewed Chicken with Mushroom was regarded as a prominent must-have dish for any banquet in the northeast, although there was an explosion of aroma when the lid was removed, everyone's eyes were still attracted by the yellow clams.
The yellow clams had already spit out the mud and sand during the lead time of the delivery, so Xia Yue Chu simply washed it and placed it on the metal grill to roast it until it opened its mouth. Then she had someone bringing her a metal platter, putting charcoal fire on it, placing the metal grill above it, and she called for people to serve the dish.
Even Elder Sister Shan, who admired Xia Yue Chu very much, hesitated and asked in a low voice, "I heard this is something the Second Sire brought back specially from the seaside, wouldn't it be too simple like this?"
"Sister, don't worry, since I am doing it like this, there has to be a reason for it."
Looking at the yellow clams which was sizzling on the metal grill, everyone looked at each other and thought to themselves how do they eat this dish?
No one had ever seen a dish like this, and they were actually brought out directly with the charcoal fire. No one dared to be the first to stretch out their chopsticks, fearing that other people might laugh at them if they did not eat it in the right manner.
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Translator Notes:
Why am I translating at this timing? Why?
Translated by YellowBean.