Chronicle of Farming in Muxianfu

Chapter 91 Preparations for the Birthday Banquet ([-])

Woke up early the next day, had breakfast, and went to help the autumn equinox prepare snacks during the winter solstice and summer solstice. Originally, it was only for the birthday banquet, but the gifts from the villagers were much heavier than usual, and Mu Ai thought about seeing off guests. Each person brings back a pack of snacks, which is rarely in return, so the task of the autumnal equinox is a bit heavier.

The second time he entered the yard, Guo Huai started to build a shed with a strong labor force.A total of ten tables have been prepared for the banquet, three tables in the hall of the main room, one table in the east and west wing rooms, one table in the east courtyard, and four tables in the courtyard, so as to replace the ones made by the masters for the convenience of eating when the house was built. The desks and stools are all there, otherwise I have to go out and borrow them.

All around the courtyard corners are framed with wood, in case the weather suddenly turns cold to light a fire for warmth. All of them are written in different fonts in big golden characters of longevity.In front of the screen are two large carved mahogany chairs, and a slightly higher tea table of the same color is added in the middle.In the rest of the open space, three large round tables were placed, and each table could easily seat ten people without any problem.Large flower balls made of red silk are hung on the pillars and beams around, which looks festive and lively.East
The west wing room has not been changed much, but some small decorations in the small hall have been gathered together to make the space appear more spacious, and a large table has been added to it.

Mu Jiu, who had just entered the mansion not long ago, was carrying a kitchen knife and was about to kill a chicken. When he looked up and saw the mistress coming, he quickly stood up and bowed cautiously. Mu Ai waved his hand with a gentle smile, signaling him to keep busy.

Aunt Guo led Ersao Wu and Xiaoqing to steam steamed buns, and the kitchen was filled with white mist.Mu Ai didn't want to delay, so after asking a few words, he turned around and went back to his room to take care of Simba, so that Xia Zhi could spare time to help the autumn equinox, and it could be regarded as doing his part for the birthday banquet.

When I go to bed at night, the snacks are wrapped in oiled paper, and the red thread is neatly tied with a wishful knot.All the ingredients are also prepared, and the steamed buns are packed in baskets.

Mu Ai took Simba to wash up and go to bed early, so as to recover his energy, he will be busy tomorrow.

At the very beginning of Mao, everyone in the mansion got up.Guo Huai led Ah Da and a few strong ones, and went to the pigsty to the east to catch the fattest pig and came back. After killing the pig with a knife and collecting the pig blood, Aunt Guo's boiled water was ready, and she took a big ladle to scoop it up. I splashed it on the pig and started shaving the pig with a wooden case.

Rinse and disembowel the belly, cut the flesh and bones.A new earthen stove was built on the side of the yard, and a large pot was set up early, and a dozen pieces of bone and tofu-sized loin meat were thrown in. After adding salt, scallion and ginger, the fire was stewed, and the others moved quickly. He wiped away the blood and tidied up his bowels.After stewing for almost an hour, the mellow aroma of broth wafted all over the yard, causing everyone to sniff their noses while busy with work, and occasionally tease and play with each other.

Guo Huai looked around again and felt that there was nothing missing, so he ordered dinner.Everyone immediately sat down at the long table, took the big bowl from Aunt Guo and the others, ate three or four big steamed buns with thin noodles that were double in weight, with the broth sprinkled with young vegetable leaves.

While eating, Guo Huai told everyone to cheer up today and not to embarrass his wife.

Everyone agreed in unison.Aunt Guo asked Roulan, Aunt Wu, and Xiaoqing to eat first. She washed her hands twice, picked a piece of lean meat and tore it into thin strips and put it on a plate. And brought it to the small kitchen, smiled and asked the autumn equinox to give it to his wife to taste.

Autumn Equinox was worrying about what soup to serve with steamed buns, so he happily took it.

After everyone ate and drank enough, Ah Da and Ah Er began to clean up the pig's head, carefully burned the fine hair with charcoal, scraped and washed it, then threw it into a large pot, added water and various seasonings and continued to simmer on high heat, and reserved it for the noon banquet.

When Mu Ai had breakfast, he drank the fragrant broth, and when he heard that the autumnal equinox said that the outer courtyard had killed all the pigs, he praised himself for his good luck. It was just like in YY novels. An almighty butler came back, so I saved a lot of worry.

After the meal, Dongzhi took Ruyi and Xiao Miao to serve the old lady and Shuan Shuan to change new clothes and wear jewelry
Mu Ai also carried Simba back to the room, changed him into a new set of royal blue clothes, and then asked Chun Equinox to dress her up.

Because today is a festive day, the dress should not be too plain.Mu Ai chose a lilac-colored smoked gauze Bixialuo jacket embroidered with large peonies, and a skirt with concubine-colored narcissus scattered flowers and green leaves underneath.The overall color is delicate and elegant, neither ostentatious nor shabby.

Mu Ai's hair is black and straight, especially suitable for all kinds of beautiful sideburns, but unfortunately she doesn't like trouble by nature, and she always simply combs it with a screw.Today, in order to match the shirt and skirt, the spring equinox finally got a chance to show its talents. Its hands dexterously flipped up and down, and within a quarter of an hour, it formed a noble and dignified concentric temple.

Xia Zhi took the makeup box and was dazzled by a row of seven or eight gemstone hairpins inside. She thought all of them were beautiful, so she hesitated for a while, and finally Mu Ai picked one up by herself with a big pearl in her mouth The golden phoenix hairpin was used to fix the hair, and then a gold step rock inlaid with sapphires was inserted on the right side of the hair, and paired with earrings also inlaid with pearls and two emerald jade bracelets. She did not need to apply any foundation, but simply painted her eyebrows and a thin layer of lip gloss, and immediately her whole body revealed a noble and graceful appearance. When she smiled slightly, the eyebrows and eyes immediately became gentle and kind. Two completely different temperaments are perfectly integrated in her body.

Simba blinked his big eyes. It was the first time he saw his mother dressed up so beautifully. He chuckled and flung himself into his mother's arms to act like a baby. Xia Zhi was afraid that he would mess up his wife's hair, so he quickly took a snack to coax him down.

In the middle of the day, several daughter-in-laws in the village who had been friends with Aunt Guo on weekdays all came to help, including Qiao Niang and Sixth Sister-in-law. Mu Ai smiled and invited them to the living room for a brief chat. They all wore new clothes, although they were not satin, they were also made of high-quality cotton, with good colors and patterns, much better than the rough linen they used to wear.

Autumn Equinox brought Kexin to serve tea and snacks. No matter how noble the family background is, the women in this time and space have to wash their hands and make soup after entering the in-law's house for three days, so they are very familiar with cooking.

So when I saw the beautiful snacks, I was very interested, and you chatted with me.Mu Ai has always liked Qiaoniang's gentle temperament, so she pulled her to ask a few questions about the children and the elderly in the family. When mentioning her son, Qiaoniang was very proud. Her six-year-old child can already read more than 200 characters. I am very happy, and often say that I want my grandson to be an official to honor my ancestors in the future.

Mu Ai also smiled and praised a few words, but Qiao Niang blushed instead, feeling that she might be boasting.After sitting like this for two or three cups of tea, an older woman named Liu Ersao took the lead and went to help in the kitchen. Mu Ai thanked her and asked Xiao An to bring some blue numb aprons that she had rushed to make a few days ago And the sleeves came out and tied them, and then Aunt Guo took them to the big kitchen.

The menu for today's banquet has a total of four cold dishes, seven hot meals and one soup, with a total of ten dishes, which means perfection.

The cold dishes are chicken hands in sauce, pork ears mixed with cucumber shreds, tofu in honey sauce, and five-spice marinated eggs. Fried eggplant, the last soup is persimmon beef brisket soup.

Mu Ai originally planned to think about some dishes related to the birthday character, but unfortunately she did not have the opportunity to participate in any large-scale birthday banquets in modern times, and there was nothing suitable after searching through the few limited cookbooks in the space. After two hours, I tried to make a bowl of longevity noodles that didn't break my head.

Several daughters-in-law followed Aunt Guo talking and laughing into the big kitchen. The ingredients had been sorted and placed on the chopping boards around them, so they followed Aunt Guo’s arrangement, killing the fish for the fish, pinching the beans for the beans, and chopping the meat for stuffing Stuffing, beans, eggplants, cucumbers and persimmons, they have seen it from afar before, now they have the opportunity to take a closer look, how can they not see enough.Sixth sister-in-law held up an eggplant, pursed her lips and smiled, "Aunt Guo, this thing is black and purple, does it taste good?" Aunt Guo replied while she was busy, "You peeled her Son, the inside is white, waiting to be stuffed with meat and fried in oil, I guarantee you won’t be able to eat a large plate.”

"Really? If it's really so delicious, then the few of us will have a good time today. The elders of the clan said that they will change to these kinds of dishes next year. Let's learn from them. In the future, when people come to the family, we can also eat them." Show off." Second Aunt Liu interjected.

Aunt Guo took the lid off the wooden pot, threw a few strips of pork belly into the pot, waited for the blood to boil off, and then cut it into small pieces, ready to make braised pork. "Then I really don't have a chance to learn it today, and I've only eaten it once or twice. This dish was made by the autumn equinox girl next to our wife. However, everyone will plant it next year, and my wife will definitely pass it on to everyone. .”

Qiao Niang was peeling the sweet potatoes, and she interrupted the conversation with a smile, "The sweet potatoes we planted this year are really sweet, my little monkey walks around the cellar a few times every day, if it's not strict, it's raw He can eat two or three."

Maybe it was because they thought of the children in their own families, everyone laughed and echoed, this one said, "My family's Tao boy also pretended to have a stomachache a few days ago, which scared me so much that I broke out in sweat. He ran to Mr. Wang, but he shouted that as long as he ate a sweet potato, he would be fine. I was so angry that I slapped my butt more than a dozen times." The other said, "The same is true of my brat, it can't be a few The children play together on weekdays, have you discussed it?"

Children are always a topic that women can't finish talking about. The more the women talked, the more lively they became. The subordinates continued to be busy, and the topic began to slowly turn to the school that Kaichun planned to build...

After working like this for more than half an hour, Aunt Guo invited Qiaoniang and Sixth Sister-in-law to help bring the prepared minced meat, eggplant, sweet potato and a large pot of washed carp to the small kitchen of Xikuanyuan.It is said to the outside world that candied sweet potatoes, fried eggplant and braised carp require high heat and experience. Mu Ai ordered Qiufen to cook these dishes in the small kitchen, but in fact it is because of the use of seasonings such as starch and white sugar. , It is not easy to take it out in full view of the big kitchen.

　Support genuine! !

　　Support genuine! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)