Chapter 251 Shabu-boiled mutton

Shake the big wooden basin to coat the fillings in the basin with glutinous rice flour evenly, pick them out with chopsticks, put them in warm water to absorb moisture, and then put them in the glutinous rice flour basin again to roll them with glutinous rice flour...

Repeat this process about ten times until the Yuanxiao is rolled into the appropriate size.

At this time, the Yuanxiao also becomes white and round, looking very pleasing to the eye.

When eating, put the Yuanxiao into the pot when the water boils, add cold water three or four times after it boils. When all the Yuanxiao float up, you can scoop them out and put them in a bowl.

Yuanxiao is made by rolling glutinous rice flour, and the layers of glutinous rice flour are very solid. The skin tastes soft and sticky when eaten, but it is more solid than the rice dumplings. The sesame and peanut fillings inside are delicate, sweet, and extremely fragrant, and very delicious.

Xia Mingyue likes sweet things, so she put some sugar in the Yuanxiao bowl, making it taste even sweeter.

In addition to those with sesame filling, Xia Mingyue also made some Yuanxiao with red bean paste filling, and even made some solid glutinous rice balls without filling using pure glutinous rice flour.

But these solid dumplings are very small, about the size of peanuts.

Everyone has doubts about the purpose of these small dumplings that have no fillings, are extremely small, and are not big enough to fill the gaps between teeth.

But soon, this special glutinous rice ball became a favorite and sought-after food by everyone.

Because Xia Mingyue took out the newly made glutinous rice wine after the New Year, added eggs, wolfberries, etc., and made delicious glutinous rice wine dumplings.

The fermented glutinous rice tastes sweet and sour, and the solid glutinous rice dumplings are very soft and sticky. In the cold first month of the year, a hot bowl of them is delicious and comfortable.

In addition to eating the dumplings herself, Xia Mingyue gave some to Manager Ge, Wu Xiong, and the academy, and also asked He Shunzi to bring many to Dexinyuan.

On the fifteenth day, the entire Jinqiu County was decorated with lights and was very lively.

When it gets dark, the streets are filled with colorful lanterns hanging high, which makes them even more beautiful.

In order to have a good start in the new year, many shops hang a few lanterns with riddles on them in front of their shops for customers to guess. If they guess the riddle correctly, they can take it away.

The teahouses and taverns were even more lively, as the Spring Examination was approaching and the scholars were about to leave for the exam. This was the last big festival before leaving, so they all wanted to get together, drink tea and wine, and have some fun.

Moreover, guessing lantern riddles is an interesting and auspicious activity, which makes the scholars more interested.

In addition to guessing riddles, some poetry writing and couplet writing competitions were spontaneously organized to create an atmosphere. As a result, there was constant laughter and occasional cheers in the teahouses and taverns.

But this kind of excitement does not belong to Yueran Restaurant.

At this time, students were trying to avoid it as much as possible, and even some old customers who loved its dishes did not dare to patronize it often for the sake of face, and could only secretly buy a few dishes to take home.

He didn't even dare to go in or out of the door, for fear of being seen and gossiped by others.

Zou Fuquan was somewhat dissatisfied with the thief-like appearance of these people, which made Yueran Restaurant seem very shameless. However, if he did not do so, he was afraid that even the last few old customers would no longer patronize the restaurant, so he could only swallow his resentment and cooperate.

But the more you tolerate, the more resentment you feel.

Zou Fuquan blamed all his dissatisfaction on Manager Ge and Xia Mingyue, but at this time he did not dare to act rashly for fear of affecting the business of Yueran Restaurant.

As the saying goes, a gentleman's revenge is never too late.

There is still a long time to go, so let’s just wait and see!
Xia Mingyue was unaware of Zou Fuquan's thoughts. Instead, she took advantage of the Lantern Festival to have Xia Ji's food stall sell glutinous rice dumplings with fermented rice wine for two days, to add some novelty to the food stall.

Jinqiu County is located in the north, and people have not had much contact with food like fermented glutinous rice, so they only think it is very novel. After tasting it, they also find it comfortable to eat, so it is quite popular. After the fifteenth day, the weather gradually warms up, the New Year atmosphere gradually weakens, and everyone starts working for the new year.

Xia Ji’s business in all locations remains the same as before.

Because of the vigorous promotion of franchising by food stalls everywhere, people in some towns around the county began to consider opening a Xia Ji food shop in their town, and some even wanted to join a braised food shop.

Xia Mingyue met several franchisees who were very interested, and also made some inquiries everywhere, preparing to release two or three more franchisees during the first month of the year.

Lou Shanzi, Zhao Dahu and Zhao Erhu are still learning cooking very hard and have made great progress. Xia Mingyue has assigned the task of preparing three meals a day for the family and the central kitchen staff to them.

Firstly, it would reduce some of the work burden on Jiang Zhuguo and Lu, and secondly, it would allow the three of them to exercise and practice more.

On the 20th day of the first lunar month, guests came to our house.

When Xia Mingyue saw that the person coming was Fang Linwang, she was very surprised, "Master Fang, why are you here?"

"I've finished the work in Xiaohezhuang, and I have nothing to do, so I just walked around." Fang Linwang replied.

Just take a walk?

Xia Mingyue narrowed her eyes and smiled slyly, "It takes at least half a day for Xiaohe Village to get to here by fast horse. Master Fang can walk to the county town and even to this Xinghua Lane..."

"I find that you two are really like family." Fang Linwang curled his lips and widened his eyes.

Others would see through it but not say anything, and just laugh it off, but you two are different, you insist on making it clear.

What? You're happy just because he loses face, right?

What vicious hobbies?

"Forget it." Fang Linwang waved his hands, "I'm here to deliver a letter."

"Your husband asked me to come here and tell you that although the bridge in Xiaohe Village has been built, the army is urging them to return to the camp, so they really don't have time to go home. They can only come back when they visit their relatives next time. He asked you not to worry about them at home and take good care of yourself."

"Yes, Lu Dutou also said that Master Fang is quite old and it is not easy for him to make this trip. He needs to be treated well so that he can feel at ease."

Xia Mingyue, "..."

"Did Lu Qiyan really say this?" Xia Mingyue asked with a frown.

"The first sentence was said by Lu Dutou, and the second sentence..." Fang Linwang admitted very straightforwardly, "I thought of it myself, Lu Dutou didn't say it."

"But this is what Lu Dutou really thought. He just forgot to say it, but he must have remembered it in his heart. I just said it for him."

Xia Mingyue, "..."

Fine!

Considering that you have helped Lu Qiyan a lot and you are so thick-skinned, I won't bother with you!

At noon, Xia Mingyue did not let Lou Shanzi and others cook for Fang Linwang, but only asked them to cut all the fresh mutton into thin slices, and also prepared some fresh vegetables such as mushrooms, cabbage hearts, tofu, etc.