Chang’an Small Restaurant

Shen Shaoguang carefully took out a multi-layered sweet-scented osmanthus cake from the mold, put it on a large plate, and decorated it with walnut kernels, hazelnut pulp, pine nuts, red dates and other dried fruits. Topped with a layer of osmanthus honey, it smells sweet and looks beautiful.

This is for tonight's sacrificial stove.

A Yuan circled around the operating table, "Such a big cake must weigh ten pounds."

Shen Shaoguang teased her while pouring nectar, "Where are you going? There are 800 catties of cakes."

A Yuan stared at her round eyes, and the little lady with her face covered her eyes again.

"In the previous dynasty, there was an old lady who lived through the ages. There was a flower cake shop in Beijing. In order to please the old lady, I decided to buy a different birthday cake. But in the palace, What kind of cake is not there? How can it be different?”①

A Chang and A Yuan both tilted their heads and listened to Shen Shaoguang's lecture on the ancients, Yu San glanced at them, the work under their hands kept on, but they also listened with open ears.

"The flower cake shop is thinking, since the pattern is limited, let's make it bigger! Bigger is spectacular, and it also shows my celestial style, right?"

"This is a flower cake and longevity peach of 800 catties. The question is, how could this thing reach the Queen Mother so easily? When the longevity peach was presented, green hair grew on it."

A Yuan asked: "And then?"

"And then throw it away." Shen Shaoguang gave her a look.

A Yuan stomped her feet and pouted.

Shen Shaoguang smiled and greeted A Yuan and put the decorated osmanthus cake into the big food box with him.

A Yuan burst out laughing, "Little lady is too narrow!" A Chang also laughed, and even Yu San raised the corner of his mouth.

Shen Shaoguang also smiled slightly. This story tells us, don't have too full of dreams like the owner of the flower cake shop - such as buying back the old house.

Back from the Lin house that day, Shen Shaoguang continued to have several days of old dreams, most of which were the current affairs of the original body, catching butterflies, fishing, swinging, writing, painting, eating cakes, Ye Niang He looks young, and his elder brother is a cute little boy. After waking up, Shen Shaoguang will always feel melancholy for a while.

In the past life, Shen Shaoguang slept very well, but now she has so many dreams, maybe it is time-travel syndrome?

It's funny, Shen Shaoguang even dreamed of something more absurd. She is already grown up, but Aye Aniang is still young.

Aye is unhappy.

A Niang asked him, Aye said: "Ali is going to get married, I really can't bear it."

A Niang said helplessly, "Xiao Langzi is really hard to pick. Children from aristocratic families, Jinshi and the first, have such appearance and calm temperament, what else do you want? Besides, in this Beijing , I will see it if I want to see it.”

A brother, who was still a teenager, shook his head with Aye, "After all, I'm married, it's better to stay at home."

In the dream, he smiled, and caught a glimpse of a handsome figure in the shadow of flowers.

…Oh, it turned out to be a spring dream.

What is it like, maybe Gu Tianle when he was young?

Someone came outside, "The owner's wife?"

Shen Shaoguang agreed and went out from the kitchen. The person who ordered the big sweet-scented osmanthus cake came to pick it up.

Shen Shaoguang lifted the lid of the food box, checked it for him, and put the other pastry desserts he ordered in another food box, instructing him to be careful not to scatter it.

The butler-like guest left money, thanked Shen Shaoguang with a smile, and said that after a while, someone would bring a food box, and then let the servant beside him carry the cake and leave.

Those who ordered flower cakes and honey offerings came to pick them up one after another, and when the first twilight drum sounded, all the cakes ordered were taken away.

Shen Shaoguang asked A Yuan to put out the sign that it was closed tonight, and together with Yu San, prepared things for the stove and dinner.

The sacrificial stove at this time was much more solemn than in later generations. There were chicken, duck, fish and meat cakes, especially wine and gummies. The palace also specially slaughtered yellow sheep and burned yellow sheep.

This glutinous rice cake has lumps and strips, and it is not the "sugar melon" that Shen Shaoguang ate when he was a child.

Shen Shaoguang always felt that the sugar melon was more delicious, it was about the size of a small egg, similar to the shape of a melon, the skin was very thin, the inside was hollow, and the skin was decorated with green or Orange-red pattern, one bite, it was very crisp at first, then sticky and sweet.

What is lacking in the current glue is that crispness.

The most bizarre thing is that at this time, when offering sacrifices to the stove, wine and sugar are smeared on the kitchen master's mouth, which is like a child's game of pretending to be a family wine.

Zao Jun is a man, so Ah Chang did the job of dipping a bamboo chopstick in wine and feeding him.

When he finished ordering, Shen Shaoguang prayed with a smile, hoping that Zaojun would have a full meal and go to the gate of heaven, and the long spoon would be short of the cloud, and he would beg for the return of the city...②

In fact, men usually do this sacrifice stove. The so-called "men don't worship the moon, women don't worship the stove", but there was no one else in the Shen family, so Shen Shaoguang had to come by himself.

Shen Shaoguang turned into paper money and horses again, Yu San A Yuan and A Chang also kowtowed and sent the kitchen boss, the Kitchen King, to heaven, and the sacrifice was over.

And then there's the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. At this time, there was no "Xiao Nian" name, and there were no regulations on what to eat on this day. Most of them were eaten with the Kitchen God.

Shen Shaoguang prepared the pot, closed the store, and the four of them ate the shabu-shabu lively.

Shen Shaoguang took the rinsed tofu into a bowl, dipped it in the triple juice of sesame sauce, shrimp oil, and leek flowers, and also rinsed the wasabi, radish, taro, etc., but the meat was delicious Less, just rinse a few fresh meatballs.

Ayuan and Achang are meat pie, they are not resistant to all kinds of meatballs, shredded shredded leaves, pork blood and duck blood tofu. Be enthusiastic.

Yu San is much more introverted and only eats mutton and wasabi in a milk soup pot.

Seeing that Shen Shaoguang had eaten a few small meatballs in soup, he stopped, Yu San stood up, "I'm going to grab some houto, who wants to eat?"

A Yuan and A Chang shook their heads and were enjoying themselves, who wants to eat hoto? How come you can't eat enough of this hot pot? Is it really like what the little lady said, she was a hot pot expert in her last life?

Shen Shaoguang raised his hand, "I want a little, thin, so that it can be cooked and digested."

Yu San frowned and gave her a "why are you so picky" look, and took the reconciled noodles to make hoto.

After a while, Yu San used a small bamboo curtain to hold some houto pieces out, some of them were petal houto pieces with fine pleats, and some of them were in the shape of ordinary chives.

Shen Shaoguang smiled and took some petals and put them in his pot, and Yu San took the rest and threw them into his pot.

Shen Shaoguang and Yu San were full, only drank the drink and watched two small ones.

Shen Shaoguang remembered that when he was sixteen or seventeen years old in his previous life, he was very good at eating. If he could eat a roast chicken by himself, he had to add another biscuits. In fact, the age of this world is only nineteen years old now, why is the appetite not so good? Could it be that Appetite is still playing for two lifetimes? Seeing two hearty foodies, Shen Shaoguang was only envious.

The two little guys were full after eating meat and vegetables, and they didn't bother to make noodles again and again.

After dinner, Yu San led A Yuan and A Chang to tidy up the kitchen and clean, and Shen Shaoguang slowly walked back to the back house with the lantern that A Yuan had ordered.

Lao Bai wrote a poem saying that after the small banquet, "the song goes back to the courtyard, and the lights go down the stairs."

Yan Shu thinks that this is "a rich and noble person who speaks well." And Kou Laoxi's "Old Juejue's waist is rich, and the pillow is jade cool" is vulgar, very vulgar, "not a rich and noble language" .

Later, Mr. Lu Xun also believed that Bai Le was a genius who could really write about wealth and honor, and he did not use words such as gold, jade and splendid to decorate.

Shen Shaoguang also thinks that Bai Shi is very rich, and thinks that he has achieved half of the achievements in Bai Shangshu's poems. There is no "shengge", but there is a "courtyard". There are "lights"... I am amused by thinking about it, my sense of humor that has nowhere to be placed!

Mrs. Tai woke up and let her take a sip or two. The maids all bowed and answered yes. After another two words, Lin Yan exited his grandmother's yard.

Behind her, the maid closed the courtyard door. The boy servant was holding the lamp in front, and Lin Yan walked to the study while thinking about the detailed arrangements for the Yuanzheng Da Dynasty meeting Jingzhao patrolling to be adjusted tonight.

, with the distant sound of more drums and the footsteps of one master and one servant, resounding in this cold and silent winter night.

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②Adapted from Song Fancheng's poem.