love cafeteria

Chapter 7 Mother's Memories

At twelve o'clock in the morning, Eggboy watched his exaggerated performance in the "Haoyigou" program, and danced to cooperate. The old director put down the newspaper, rubbed his eyes and said, "I really envy Eggboy who has such an optimistic attitude every day." Spiritually, it’s good to be young.”

"Oh, old dean, don't put gold on his face." Mr. Qiao said, "He's not young, it's mentally handicapped children who are much happier."

"Oh, old Qiao, I don't accept that I haven't dealt with you for two days? Do you want to rekindle the flames of war?" Egg Boy shouted with his eyes wide open.

"Burn it, burn it, I'm afraid you won't succeed!" Mr. Qiao rolled up his sleeves without flinching.

"Okay, Joe, I'll beat you to death today!" Tanzai slapped the Three Kingdoms Killing card on the table and shouted, "Come on, let's start!"

"These two young ones are pinching again." I shook my head helplessly.

The two faced each other tit-for-tat, their swords were on the verge of breaking out, and they each divided their hands. Eggboy quickly chose his role as a general, but Mr. Qiao wavered between the three candidates. He didn't know which one to choose. Called impatiently: "Young Master Qiao, can you please hurry up?"

"Why are you in a hurry, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, haven't you heard of it? You have to let me think about it."

"5 minutes have passed, you are not thinking about it, this is called hatching eggs!"

When Tanzai and Mr. Qiao were arguing endlessly, the door of the cafeteria opened, and a middle-aged man in his 40s walked in. He was wearing a shirt and dressed like a traditional civil servant. He hesitated a little after entering, and looked around for a while. Fan, I was about to go up to him and ask him what he wanted to eat, when Mr. Qiao slammed a card in his hand on the table and said, "It's you, Gao Shun!"

The middle-aged man was startled, and looked at Mr. Qiao, "Who are you? How do you know me?"

Mr. Qiao was also stunned: "I don't know you."

"You don't know me? Then how do you know my name?"

"Your name?" Mr. Qiao looked at him, then at the card in his hand, "Your name is...Gao Shun?"

"correct."

Mr. Qiao and Danzi looked at each other for a moment, then laughed dumbfoundedly, "What a coincidence, you have the same name as the characters in Three Kingdoms Killing."

"Oh, that's it." After the buddy named Gao Shun figured out the reason, he couldn't help laughing, "It's really a coincidence, you just called my name out of the blue, which surprised me What?" He looked at me again, "Are you the boss? I passed by and saw that the lights were still on, so I came over to have a look. I didn't expect it was still open."

I smiled and said, "Shenai Canteen is only open at night, providing rest and food for city people wandering at night. If you pass by here during the day, you won't see me."

"Interesting." He nodded and asked again, "Boss, what can you do here?"

"You can order whatever you want, as long as I have eaten, I can make it for you."

There was some suspicion on his face: "Tamaled pork, can you make it?"

I said, "There is tamales, but you have to wait for a while." Although tamales are traditional southern snacks, the process is complicated and time-consuming, which is not common in restaurants in this city.

I turned into the kitchen and started making tamales.Wash the five flowers, cut them into strips about 4 cm long, 2.5 cm wide, and 1 cm thick, wipe them dry with a cloth, and then mix refined salt, soy sauce, sweet noodle sauce, fermented bean curd juice, minced ginger, rice wine, monosodium glutamate, and sugar Stir together and marinate for about 5 minutes.In tamales, rice is a very important element, which can be said to be the essence of tamales. The rice turns golden yellow after being fried in the pot for 5 minutes. Rice is ground into roe-sized powder to make spiced rice noodles.At this point, the main raw materials of tamales are made, and the rest is a matter of craftsmanship and procedures.The flame roared and licked the bottom of the pot sharply and violently, causing the temperature in the steamer to rise suddenly.

Gao Shun couldn't wait any longer, and asked, "Boss, are you still okay?"

I walked out of the kitchen, picked up the towel behind the bar, wiped my hands and said, "Don't worry, the tamales need to be steamed for about half an hour." I looked at my watch, "There are still 10 minutes left."

Gao Shun's cell phone rang suddenly, he glanced at the caller ID, his brows were slightly frowned, and his expression became gloomy.After hesitating for a while, he still connected the phone. "Hello." Gao Shun said in a low voice.After a few seconds of silence, Gao Shun said, "I'll be back later, soon." The other party said something again, and Gao Shun showed an extremely impatient expression, "Didn't I say something?" , and went home soon. I didn’t mean to be so late, I was working overtime tonight, and I passed by a restaurant that was still closed, and the boss said that I could make tamales, so I waited for a while.” After a few seconds of silence, Gao Shun Said, "Mom likes to eat this. I heard her talking about it once." The other party continued to talk, and some noisy voices radiated from the receiver, and it could be vaguely heard that it was a female voice.I guess it might be Gao Shun's wife.While the other party was chattering, Gao Shun said briefly, "That's it, I'm hanging up." Then, he hung up the phone.

"Is the family waiting in a hurry?" I asked.

"En." Gao Shun answered vaguely, his eyes cast out of the window.

"What do you do, you leave work so late?" I asked casually.

"It's not a good job to do foreign trade. I'm so busy every day." Talking about work, Gao Shun smiled helplessly.

The smell of tamales has been mixed with the dense smoke, I looked up at the wall clock, the time is almost up.So, go back to the kitchen and turn off the fire.Open the steamer, and a tender and rich steamed pork is presented in front of you.I packed the tamales, and after Gao Shun paid the money, he said politely: "Boss, I'm sorry to ask you to make such a troublesome supper at such a late hour."

"It doesn't matter, the chef's job is to cook, which is also my pleasure."

After Gao Shun went out, Tanzai, who was playing Three Kingdoms, shook his head mockingly: "Hey, he's also a 'strict wife'."

two.
Danzi has become obsessed with the Three Kingdoms Killing, and every night he will drag Mr. Qiao to kill him for a few rounds before he is satisfied.That night, the two fought again, and when the fight was in full swing, Tanzai suddenly said inexplicably: "It seems that Gao Shun hasn't come again."

"Which Gao Shun?" Mr. Qiao didn't react for a while.

"It's that Gao Shun, the buddy who came to buy tamales that night, you accidentally called his name."

"Oh." Master Qiao remembered, "That's right, it seems like I haven't seen him anymore."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gao Shun pushed open the cafeteria door and walked in.I was happy: "Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao is here."

Gao Shun was a little strange and asked, "Boss, who is Cao Cao?"

"No, I was telling them about the characters in Three Kingdoms Killing." I smiled, "What do you want to eat today?"

"It's better to have tamales, pack them up."

"Oh." I agreed, and then asked again, "Is the taste you made last time okay?"

He smiled embarrassedly: "I haven't eaten it, so I don't know how it tastes. I bought it and took it home for my mother to eat."

"So that's the case. It seems that your mother has a soft spot for tamales."

Gao Shun's face was covered with a gloomy color, he forced a smile and said: "My mother has Alzheimer's disease, can't remember many things, and now I don't even know who I am. But she Sometimes I will say 'Tamaled pork is delicious', so I often buy some tamales for her, hoping to use this taste to arouse her past memories."

"So that's how it is." I sighed, "So what's going on now, is it working?"

He sighed and said, "It doesn't seem to have any effect. My mother seems to like eating the tamales you made very much. Last time I ate all the tamales I brought back. But my memory is still blank."

I patted Gao Shun on the shoulder, and comforted me: "Brother, don't worry, take your time, hard work pays off, and there will be no effect at all."

That night, when I made the steamed pork with rice noodles, I paid special attention to it. Every process and the heat were very precise, and I poured all my skills into the taste of this southern snack.Since this steamed pork dish carries so many hopes of Gao Shun, I want to make its taste more vivid. Perhaps, the taste buds can evoke those long-term memories sleeping in my mind.Living in this cruel world, sometimes, we have to expect miracles to happen.

When I packed the tamales and took them out, Gao Shun was answering the phone again.He turned his back and deliberately lowered his voice, but the weak voice still flowed out. "I went out to buy tamales, last time my mother ate very well... I want to bring her some more... I'll go back in a while... Didn't I say, I'll go back in a while... It's ready, let's go now It's over... Don't urge me to go, it's useless to urge you...Okay, I got it, I'll be right back!" Gao Shun hung up the phone, looking at us with a bit of embarrassment.

I handed over the packaged tamales and said, "Okay, let's go back quickly."

"Excuse me, boss." Gao Shun took the tamales and paid.

"It's okay, come back if necessary, these are small things—" I said meaningfully, "The important thing is not to make mother sad."

He glanced at me gratefully and embarrassedly, then turned and left the canteen.

Danzai looked at his back submerged in the night, and snorted coldly: "It's really useless to put the name Gao Shun on him."

"Why?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"At any rate, he is also one of the heroes in the Three Kingdoms Killing. He runs the army rigorously, rushes into the battle, and regards death as home. How can he be like this Gao Shun, who looks submissive and is under the control of women all day long."

"Ouch." Mr. Qiao exclaimed with feigned surprise, "Danzi can speak ancient Chinese."

"Hmph, nonsense." Danzi rolled his eyes at him, "Is the killing of the Three Kingdoms every day just for nothing? Old Qiao, to be honest, you have to change your personality too. When you get married in the future, you might be a 'wife in charge'." strict'."

"Stop talking nonsense here!" Mr. Qiao angrily threw out a card, "Duel!"

Gao Shun would come to Shen Ai Cafeteria every now and then, asking for a package of tamales.Almost every time he was waiting for tamales to be made, he would receive a phone call to be urged.When answering the phone, Gao Shun gave people the feeling of being humbled, but in terms of attitude and tone, he seemed to be trying to maintain his dignity and courage as a man, making people feel like he was a The little fish struggling to move forward in the waves against the current is suffering and strenuous.

That night, Gao Shun came to Shenai Canteen again.What is different from usual is that as soon as he entered the door, he shouted happily: "Boss, hard work pays off, your steamed pork finally works!"

I quickly asked him to sit down and let him talk about what was going on.

It turned out that this evening, Gao Shun's mother was talking about the delicious tamales again, so Gao Shun asked his mother why she likes tamales so much.The mother was silent for a while, and began to mutter to herself, saying that when she first gave birth to her child, it was a difficult time, and many people did not have enough to eat, but she needed to breastfeed, and she was not nutritious and could not produce milk at all, so she was so anxious that she turned around .After the village party secretary learned about the situation, he specially allocated some grain and meat from the production team to her to meet her urgent needs.That night, Gao Shun's mother made a dish of tamales, which in her opinion was the most delicious food she had ever eaten in her life.

After Gao Shun finished speaking, he sighed and said: "After a long drought, there is rain. No wonder the taste of tamales is so deep in my mother's memory. At that time, it was a meal that was related to life and death."

I also said with emotion: "Yes. But, to be precise, that meal of tamales is related to your life and death. In order for you to survive under the difficult conditions at that time, your mother must find a way to strengthen nutrition. It can be said that the meal of tamales , saved your life!"

Gao Shun pursed his lips and nodded, his eyes were red: "It turns out that my mother's memory of tamales is, after all, her memory of me."

I stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and asked, "How about it, do you want to bring home some tamales tonight?"

"Yeah." He nodded vigorously, "Since my mother likes to eat it, I'll come here every day to buy it for her."

I walked into the kitchen, cured the meat, sat on the pot, lit the fire, and every step was carried out very rigorously and sacredly.This little tamales, in one person's memories, carry so much sorrow and joy!At least, for Gao Shun's mother, it has gone beyond the meaning of ordinary food, and it is more like a memory fragment from the past, shining with warm colors, which is so unique and shallowly lying in the ocean of memory.

That night, I discovered that Gao Shun did not answer his wife's phone call.While waiting for the tamales to come out of the pan, his phone rang three times and he hung up all of them.When he hung up the phone, Gao Shun had a solemn expression and didn't say a word.

three.
Gao Shun must have quarreled with his wife.When he came to buy tamales for several days in a row, his mobile phone would still ring, but every time he picked it up, Gao Shun just listened with a gloomy face, without saying a word, and let the chattering woman's voice come out of the mobile phone.In the end, he got tired of listening to it, and he simply hung up, and sometimes even shut down the phone directly.

For regular customers who love the cafeteria, I think it is necessary for me, as the owner of the shop, to express my concern appropriately. However, it is difficult for an upright official to break up housework. Regarding this kind of matter, I still don't know how to speak up.However, Egg Boy didn't seem to have any concerns about this. After Gao Shun hung up the phone silently again, Egg Boy asked him, "What's the matter, did you quarrel with sister-in-law?"

Gao Shun didn't comment, just sighed dejectedly: "Oh!"

I took the opportunity to walk over and handed him a cigarette: "Life is like this, bumps and bumps are inevitable, just bear with each other and you'll be fine."

Gao Shun lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and after exhaling a column of smoke, he shook his head and smiled wryly: "Some things are really intolerable. Boss, I'm not afraid of your jokes. My mother is only a son like me. You said she won't live with me. Who did I live with? Although my mother is now demented and doesn't know anyone, she has worked hard to raise me, shouldn't I take good care of her now?"

"Yes, of course it should." I said, "Why, is the disease still not getting better?"

"No." Gao Shun scratched his hair and took another deep breath of the cigarette, "Mother is still the same now, she can remember tamales occasionally, but she doesn't remember anything else, and she doesn't know anyone. Before, she could still Helping with the work, looking after the children, etc. Now that she has lost her memory, the daughter-in-law thinks it is too troublesome to take care of the elderly, so she wants to send her to a nursing home. Because of this, we have quarreled several times."

"Every family has scriptures that are difficult to recite!" I also sighed, what else can I say, housework is the most confusing thing in this world.

That night, Gao Shun packed a portion of tamales as usual, but his steps out of the cafeteria seemed a bit heavy.

The days passed like running water, and after that night, I haven't seen Gao Shun for a long time.I heard this name occasionally, and it was also when Tanzai and Mr. Qiao were playing Three Kingdoms Kill.Sometimes when mentioning him, Tanzai would always say a few words: "Oh, that 'wife is strict'."

I often think of the scene when Gao Shun came to Shenai Canteen for the last time, and his heavy steps when he left.Maternal love, family affection, fetters, reality, these things are inextricably intertwined, and they are put on Gao Shun's body like shackles, exhausting him physically and mentally.I just don't know, is his mother better?Have the symptoms of dementia improved?At a certain moment, can you recognize that the person who bought tamales for you is your son?I don't know, whenever I think of these, I can only shake my head helplessly.

It quickly entered late autumn, and the leaves began to wither, creating a desolate scene.In the afternoon, I was sitting behind the bar, using a notebook to record the ingredients I needed to purchase today, when suddenly there was a "squeak", and someone pushed the door in.I didn't look up, and said habitually: "Sorry, the store only opens at night."

"Boss, it's me."

I raised my head and saw Gao Shun whom I hadn't seen for a long time.Behind him was a woman with pale temples. If I guessed correctly, this should be Gao Shun's mother.

I hurriedly stood up and said hello: "Why are you here now?"

"That's right." Gao Shun glanced back at his mother, and said with a wry smile, "Boss, I'm not afraid of your jokes, I finally compromised. Now the family has a big quarrel for three days, and a small quarrel for two days, so I have nothing to do." Thinking, the whole person is blinded every day, and I really can't bear it. There is no way to go on like this... I gave in, and I am going to send my mother to the nursing home. I came to you specially today, and I want my mother to eat tamales again. "

I hurriedly asked Gao Shun and his mother to sit down.The old man's expression was a little dull, as if his eyes were not focused on anything, as if everything that happened at this moment had nothing to do with her.The years of suffering have honed deep and shallow wrinkles on her face, like ravines formed by rivers on the plain.Gao Shun asked me nervously: "Boss, can we make tamales now?"

"Yes, you can sit with Auntie for a while, and I'll start doing it right away."

"Boss, I'm sorry to trouble you." Gao Shun's voice was relieved but deep.

I went into the kitchen and started making tamales.Cutting meat, seasoning, frying rice, lighting... I don’t know why, every step is carried out so heavily, as if preparing a separate banquet for friends who are about to travel far.While waiting for the cooking time, I suddenly remembered two lines of poems inexplicably: I advise you to drink a glass of wine, and there is no old friend when you leave Yangguan in the west.

At this time, a female voice came in from outside: "What's the matter, haven't you left yet? What are you doing here?" I turned out of the kitchen and saw a woman walking in.Judging from his age and tone of voice, this person should be Gao Shun's wife.

Gao Shun said: "Before I leave, I want to take my mother to eat tamales again."

"When can't you eat tamales, but at this time?"

"I will go to the nursing home in the future. Where can I have a chance to eat it? Let me ask you, will you buy tamales from here to send to mom?"

Seeing that the two couples were about to quarrel again, I hurriedly stepped forward to persuade them: "You two, don't be impatient. The tamales are steaming, and it will be ready in 5 minutes, soon, soon."

Gao Shun and his wife were sitting face to face, both of them had sullen faces, neither paying attention to the other.The old lady sat quietly, not speaking, not knowing what she was thinking.

The tamales came out of the pan quickly, I took them out and put them in front of the old man.Gao Shun scooped up a small bowl for his mother, blew on it, and said, "Mom, eat slowly, be careful not to burn it."

The old man tasted it, chewed it slowly, nodded, and said, "Well, it's tamales, delicious."

"Eat more if it tastes good." Gao Shun took another spoonful into his mother's bowl.The old man ate with relish, and suddenly froze for a moment, as if thinking of something, he took out a cloth handkerchief from his pocket and spread it on the table, and then put the tamales on the cloth handkerchief spoonful by spoonful.Seeing this, Gao Shun hurriedly dissuaded him, "Mom, what are you doing? It's all over the place." The old man didn't speak, but just spooned the tamales onto the cloth handkerchief.Seeing this, Gao Shun had no choice but to snatch Bupa from her hand.

In this way, the old lady quit. She grabbed Bupa and grabbed it back desperately, while muttering: "I will take these back to Xiaoshun, he is still hungry at home."

We all froze.Gao Shun let go of his hand, and the cloth handkerchief fell to the ground, and the tamales wrapped in it were scattered everywhere.

The old man knelt down, hurriedly picked up the tamales on the ground, and complained to himself angrily: "Oh, what's wrong with me, why did I get all the tamales on the ground? Xiao Shun hasn't eaten yet, and he's still hungry. That's terrible." What should I do!"

"Mom!" Gao Shun couldn't control himself anymore, knelt on the ground, hugged his mother and cried loudly.

I hurriedly turned around, raised my head, and rubbed my sore nose, trying not to let the warm liquid in my eye sockets slip down.When I turned around again, I saw Gao Shun's wife rubbing her red eyes and walking to the old man's side, and slowly helped her up.

Gao Shun's wife brushed the dust off the old man's clothes and said with a choked voice, "Mom, let's go home."

"Go home." The old man murmured and repeated.

"Well, go home." Gao Shun's wife said.

I leaned against the door of Shenai Canteen and watched the three of them supporting each other as they walked slowly in the lonely alley in late autumn.The yellow leaves on the tree fly down one by one and fall to the ground, and will eventually turn into spring mud.I took a deep breath and smelled autumn mixed with tamales.In the end, this dish of tamales still failed to awaken the memory of a mother, but it awakened us again.

Steamed meat

Raw materials Main ingredients: 500 grams of pork belly, 100-150 grams of rice

Accessories: appropriate amount of light soy sauce, appropriate amount of dark soy sauce, appropriate amount of pepper, appropriate amount of cooking wine, a little sugar, potatoes or sweet potatoes.

practice:

1. Slice the pork belly, add cooking wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, pepper, a little sugar, mix well, and marinate for two hours.

2. Put rice in the cold pot, if you like noodles, you can add more.

3. Stir-fry over low heat until slightly yellow, turn off the heat, and remove from the pot.

4. Put the fried rice into a blender and grind it into powder.

5. Pour the homemade tamales into the marinated pork belly and mix well.

6. Put potato cubes or sweet potato cubes on the bottom of the bowl, and arrange the mixed meat slices neatly.

7. Put it in a pressure cooker and steam for 10 to [-] minutes, then take it out of the pot.

8. Take a plate and buckle it on top of the bowl, turn the bowl over, place on a plate, and serve.

(End of this chapter)