At the beginning of August, Gu Yin and Wang Shi took Gu Ye to see the doctor.
It's not that he's sick, but that he's grown too much.
An average three- or four-year-old child grows two or three inches a year, and he grows two inches in half a year.
Because Gu Ye and Wu An often wear clothes mixed together, Gu Yin and Wang Shi didn't notice it at first, but one day Wu An suddenly exclaimed: "Xiaoye, how come you have caught up with me so fast? !"
Only then did the two notice that the two children who used to be tall and short, and who were very distinct, are now almost the same height, and Gu Ye is only one knuckle shorter than Wu An. He is now wearing the new clothes that Gu Yin bought for Wu An before the summer, and his own new clothes have not been worn for a long time because of the inappropriate size.
Wu An's birthday in April was almost six and a half years old.
When Gu Yin first came through, Wu An was much shorter than the children of the same age. Later, he started a business at home, and his nutrition improved. Now his height has caught up with his peers.
In the winter of last year, the old doctor came to see Gu Ye. At that time, the old doctor said that his teeth and bone age should be about four years old. Now he is five years old when he is full, so he shouldn't grow so fast.
"It's a good thing to grow taller, but his mother said that growing too fast is also a burden on the body, so please take a look at it again."
The old doctor checked Gu Ye again and said it was all right, "Children grow in different situations, although it is indeed common for them to grow two or three inches a year, but the old man has also seen children who grow three or four inches a year. And this boy's body is getting stronger and stronger, and the shortcomings in the past are now invisible. I touch his bones, and he will definitely be much taller than the average person in the future. As for why he has grown so much recently, is it because of the recent Do you exercise more, or eat well?"
After what he said, it was true. When Gu Ye was adopted, he wandered outside every day. He didn't go home to eat lunch, but only ate snacks and jerky in his purse, and he grew slowly.
Later, he began to learn martial arts, and in the summer, he also started to deliver food. While exercising a lot, his appetite also increased. He ate three meals on time and on time. When he was tired from studying with Wu An at night, he had to add an extra meal.
Knowing that he was in good shape, Gu Yin and Mrs Wang felt relieved.
Gu Yin still wanted to celebrate Gu Ye's birthday, but because he didn't know his birthday, he couldn't be counted as four years old.
In fact, as early as Wu'an's birthday, Mrs. Wang wanted to celebrate the birthdays of the two children together.
Gu Ye was reluctant at the time, Gu Yin thought he was the one who didn't want to be the one who took the road, and persuaded Wang not to do that.
Now that I mention it again, Gu Ye is still unwilling, and Gu Yin asks him why.
He twisted his fingers, rarely showing his shy and shy side, and whispered to her, "I want to celebrate my birthday when I meet my mother before winter."
Gu Yin's heart softened when she heard this, but Wang Shi's reaction was even bigger, and her eyes became red.
She immediately replied: "That's fine, then you can pick a date and tell your mother or your mother in advance that our Ono's first birthday will be handled by her!"
Gu Ye's face was flushed, and he ran away as if he should make a sound.
But when he returned to the store, his shyness was gone.
Because of his appeal, the business in the autumn store not only recovered to the previous level, but even improved to a higher level. The children all know that food belongs to his family. What.
Their answer is naturally to eat for the sky.
Because of this, Gu Yin asked Feng Carpenter again to make all the small two-person tables that she wanted to put in the aisle before the opening. Six double tables were added to the store in one go, and the seats were still full in the morning, noon and evening.
The children greeted him when they saw him, and when Gu Yin and Wang Shi came back, he became the little adult again.
…
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a big festival. From August 12th to 14th, the town will hold three consecutive days of lantern festivals. It will be lively from before dark until the next morning. Of course, there is also the most traditional one, every household must eat moon cakes.
Unlike the zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, people who know simple cooking skills generally make them. The process of moon cakes is much more complicated, and they are usually purchased from outside. Even if the family is very ordinary, they will buy one or two moon cakes to share with the whole family.
In front of Hanxianglou and Wangyuelou, they can fight like black-eyed chickens for the gift boxes of rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival. This mooncake that every household has to buy has become a battleground between the two.
Of course, because the Dragon Boat Festival and the organization of the delivery team were unfavorable twice, the two did not rashly do anything, and they are still waiting to see what new tricks Shiweitian will turn over this time.
Gu Yin didn't do anything new and was researching all kinds of moon cakes.
Mooncakes are well-known in Cantonese style and Suzhou style. In fact, if they are classified by production area, there are also Beijing-style, Taiwan-style, Dian-style, Hong Kong-style, Chao-style, and even Japanese-style. to an innumerable variety.
But she asked the shopkeeper Zhou, and the people in the town are still the same as later generations, and they still like Cantonese-style and Su-style moon cakes.
These two classic mooncakes must be made. Four don’t sound good, and five are too many to control the cost, so Gu Yin only plans to make another snowy mooncake.
Hanxianglou's chefs are from Guangdong and Guangxi, and they naturally make Cantonese-style mooncakes. On the other hand, Wangyuelou has always made Suzhou-style mooncakes, and the shopkeeper Zhou also made Suzhou-style mooncakes. Gu Yin distributed the Suzhou-style mooncakes to shopkeeper Zhou, and was responsible for the other two.
The first is Cantonese-style moon cakes. There is a key thing to do this, called invert syrup.
Mix water and sugar in proportion, boil in a pot with good heat conduction and add white vinegar, then turn to low heat, after more than two quarters of an hour, the syrup turns light amber, turn off the heat and pour it out to cool, you will get a dark amber color. Viscous syrup.
The texture of syrup is very similar to honey. It can be used as a substitute for honey in the cooking process, but the price is much cheaper than that of honey. After all, honey is not as fake as in later generations, and it is limited by limited medical technology. Beekeepers also It is a high-risk occupation, and the price of honey can be imagined.
Add water to the edible soda flour and mix it into water, mix it with invert syrup, add a little edible oil with a light taste, stir well, add flour, stir until there is no dry powder, and then press it with your hands. After fully mixing, you will get a smooth and delicate dough. After half an hour to an hour, wrap the pre-fried bean paste, first roll it into a ball, then flatten it, wrap it with a salted egg yolk and round it, then take a piece of dough and wrap the filling.
While wrapping it, Gu Yin told Chef Xu who was watching, "This crust has no gluten. When wrapping, you have to push it with your palm, and turn it while pushing it like this. You can't pull it, otherwise the skin will be easily broken."
After the dough was completely wrapped with the filling, Gu Yin finally closed the dough tightly, sprinkled with dry flour to prevent sticking, and finally shook off the excess flour to prevent it from affecting the taste. After that, put it into the mold to press out the flower shape, spray a layer of water to prevent it from drying out, and then put it in the oven.
In this era, there were only ovens and no ovens, but at the beginning of August, Gu Yin had asked shopkeeper Zhou to find people in the backyard of Shiweitian to build an earthen bread kiln, which could completely replace the role of the oven.
Preheat the bread kiln for a quarter of an hour, then put the moon cakes into the oven and bake for a quarter of an hour on medium heat, bake until they are set and take out, brush with a thin layer of egg yolk water one by one with a fine-bristle brush, and finally bake in the kiln for a quarter of an hour.
After coming out of the kiln, the sweet aroma of the moon cakes wafted towards them. Cook Xu and Shiliu Song swallowed, and Wu An and Gu Ye also stared expectantly.
However, the taste of the mooncakes just out of the kiln was not the best, and they had to return to the oil for a day, so Gu Yin asked them to wait another day, and then started to make other things.
Put the fresh milk on the fire and start cooking on medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the pan. After boiling, cook for one minute and turn off the heat. Then put it in the ice cellar for half a day. There will be a thick layer of milk skin on the milk. Take out this layer of milk skin and let Chef Xu and His two little apprentices took turns to go into battle, serving as a human-flesh egg beater and stirring at high speed.
When they have beaten the milk skin until it has a grainy texture, then add a few spoons of ice milk, and beat the milk skin until it is like bean curd dregs, then take it out with a spoon, press it on a filter with fine holes, filter out the water, and wrap it up and put it in. In the ice cellar overnight, the result is home-made butter.
When the butter was made, it happened to be the day when the moon cakes returned to the oil the next day, and it was also the time when everyone looked forward to tasting the moon cakes.
The moon cakes she made are palm-sized, adults can eat one, and children can share one piece.
"It's so sweet and so soft, it's worthy of Master's craftsmanship!" Chef Xu ate the fastest, and he had already eaten half of the piece while he was talking.
The eyes of everyone who are poor in words are bright, but they can't say anything else.
Only the shopkeeper Zhou finally said: "The crust is fragrant and soft, the bean paste is delicate and soft and tough, the egg yolk is fragrant and fragrant, and the whole mooncake has distinct layers. I actually prefer the Su-style, but the Cantonese-style mooncake from Dongjia is sweet but not greasy. I like it. of."
In fact, it was the first time for Gu Yin to bake moon cakes in a bread kiln, and after hearing the words of the shopkeeper Zhou, she also calmed down.
Because it is a trial, the number of moon cakes this time is not large, and everyone tastes it and they are gone.
Both Wu An and Gu Ye slapped their mouths reluctantly. Gu Ye also said, "Actually, I can finish one."
Wu An nodded, and then the two of them looked at Gu Yin together.
The meaning is obvious, they only ate half of it each, and they haven't eaten enough!
"Don't worry, there is something else to eat today." Gu Yin rubbed them one by one in a funny way, and then started to work.
Put eggs and sugar in a bowl, stir well, then add milk and stir again, then add flour and wheat starch, stir until there are no dry powder particles, then add the prepared butter to the pot, boil over low heat while stirring continuously, wait until The butter melts and the liquid in the pan starts to solidify. When the water evaporates completely, there is a non-stick yellow dough in the pan. Take it out and let it cool.
During this period, Gu Yin added milk, oil, and sugar to the bowl, then added glutinous rice flour and sticky rice flour after stirring. After stirring the wheat starch, strained it with gauze, then poured it into a plate, put another plate on it, and steamed it for two quarter of an hour.
After a quarter of an hour, she took out the dough, mixed it with a spoon, and put it aside to cool.
At this time, the custard filling has also been cooled, take it to the chopping board and knead it into a long strip, and then cut it into small doses and round it.
After the dough is cooled, it is also cut into small doses. Of course, the dough is one-third larger than the filling. Finally, use the method of wrapping Cantonese-style moon cakes with the tiger's mouth to press the crust and slowly gather it upwards. Put it into the mold and press out the flower shape.
Snowskin mooncakes do not need to be baked, and the taste is the best as long as they are sealed and stored in the ice cellar for half a day.
This mooncake is made in the morning and can be eaten in the afternoon.
Wu An trotted to school, while Gu Ye ended his martial arts practice early and waited early.
When the two little guys arrived, Gu Yin asked someone to go to the ice cellar to take out the snowskin mooncakes.
Snowy mooncakes are white and translucent, only half the size of Cantonese-style mooncakes, and they are so delicate just by looking at them.
Although they looked forward to it all day, Wu An and Gu Ye were reluctant to open their mouths, but Gu Yin urged them, and the two of them took a piece and put it in their mouths.
The crust is ice-cold, soft and glutinous and delicious. The egg yolk filling is full of milky taste in addition to the sweetness. The two delicate tastes are integrated into one, sweet but not greasy, fragrant and soft, especially suitable for children's tastes.
The two of them each took a small plate and divided them into three, and Gu Yin gave the rest to Shopkeeper Zhou and Chef Xu to taste.
Chef Xu is fond of sweets. Cantonese-style mooncakes were his favorite in the past. After eating these snowskin mooncakes, the order in his heart changed.
It's just that he was too embarrassed to fight with the child, so he could only lick his fingers aftertaste.
Seeing him like this, Wu An and Gu Ye looked at each other, and each gave him one.
His face was flushed with embarrassment, and he waved his hand and said, "No, no, I'll just have a taste."
Gu Yin asked the two children to eat outside, and then said to Chef Xu: "If you want to eat it, don't worry about it, the Cantonese style and snowskin mooncakes will be handed over to you for half a month. If you don't do well, Eat it yourself."
"To... do it for me?" Chef Xu became excited, and his breathing became a little heavier.
He has been a teacher for a while, but he has been learning and playing by the side, and he has never been a leader. This time he is entrusted with an important task, and he is naturally both nervous and excited.
Gu Yin nodded and said, "Although the two kinds of moon cakes require more attention and the steps are a bit cumbersome, in fact, no step is difficult to disassemble. From this beginning, I will assign tasks to you little by little. "
Shiweitian's business is getting more and more prosperous. Shopkeeper Zhou is in his prime, and his big iron pot can just cook a plate of dishes at a time. In addition to the lunch market and the evening market, he did not find it difficult to fry 10 or 20 hot dishes by himself.
Gu Yin is not, in terms of physical strength, women are no better than men, and the things on the white case are more trivial and take longer. There are more and more customers, and she has to take into account the operation and management of the entire store while cooking, which has begun to feel difficult.
Especially this time, Gu Ye has grown so much taller. She didn't find out that she was a mother. She felt very uncomfortable, and she wanted to spend more time with her family.
So that day she made it again in front of Chef Xu. She made more ingredients like butter and bean paste, so that Chef Xu could start from half-finished products.
After Gu Ye and Wu An left the big kitchen, he asked Wu An to ask for a snowskin mooncake.
Although he knew that there were still three pieces left in his hand, Wu An generously gave him his own, and he didn't forget to tell him, "It's going to be an evening meal in a while, so don't eat too much."
Gu Ye took the moon cake but didn't eat it, but took out a small plate to eat.
As soon as he came out, Fan Jinsong and Xiaopang hugged him.
In the summer, they delivered food together every day. Recently, the delivery team was disbanded, and the children were not used to it without him taking the lead.
"Why did Brother Ye come so early today?"
"Is Brother Ye tired of learning martial arts?"
Everyone asked in a row, Gu Ye shook his head and said no, then took the moon cakes in the bowl and shared them with everyone.
He bought a lot of toys with his own wages. At first, it was natural to cause trouble for the delivery teams of Hanxianglou and Wangyuelou. Later, when the goal was achieved, he distributed these toys to everyone for free. Because of this, the children in the town took his lead.
Now that the snowskin mooncake is brought out, the children's eyes are shining, but no one has reached out to touch it.
Gu Ye finally gave the small plate to Fan Jinsong and asked him to distribute it.
Therefore, the No. 8 person who followed Gu Ye first could of course get a small piece, while the others could only get a little taste, and the later ones couldn't even eat the fillings.
"Bingbing, so fragrant, so sweet, so delicious!" Little Fatty couldn't wait to put the snowskin mooncake in his mouth, and exclaimed loudly.
However, as he spoke, he swallowed and swallowed the melted moon cake into his stomach at once.
"I haven't tasted it yet!" Little Fatty cried with a sad face, if it wasn't for Gu Ye watching from the side, he would have wanted to cry.
With his negative example, Fan Jinsong and the others didn't dare to finish it in one bite, only small bites.
"It's really fragrant and sweet, and the stuffing in it is the best, sweeter than sugar!"
"I didn't like the taste of milk originally, but the milk in this is too fragrant!"
"Uuuuu, I only have a little pie crust, what is the flavor of the filling, who will give me a bite?"
It was the first time that he had eaten something like this. Whoever was willing to share it with him would eat it quickly to prevent others from grabbing it.
"It's called Snowskin Mooncake. Our family sells this during the Mid-Autumn Festival." Gu Ye finally said.
After saying this, he let everyone disperse, and now the children knew what to do.
Of course, I still want to eat what I have eaten, and I want to eat it again. It is even worse if I haven't eaten it. I can't imagine what kind of good taste it is, so everyone praises it like that.
The first thing I did when I got home, of course, was to tell the adults to eat the snowskin mooncakes.
Although Shiweitian has only opened for less than half a year, after a series of publicity for its opening, Dragon Boat Festival and summer takeaways, people in the town have heard of it, even if they have never eaten it.
Everyone knows that food is not very expensive, and parents who are rich or generous immediately agree to it. Those who are not so rich and generous, of course, let their children stop being greedy, and eat their own meals before thinking about it.
But the festivals are meant to be lively and festive. Seeing that their children are unhappy, parents who don't agree will reconsider when they look back. At least go to inquire about the price first.
So the next day, Gu Yin received more than a dozen parents who asked about snowskin mooncakes.
The steps of making snowy mooncakes are not complicated, but the cost of materials is high, and the price of a small piece is only ten cents.
If it is time to put it aside, the children of ordinary people must not be able to afford snacks for ten pennies, but since it is a holiday, parents grit their teeth and buy them.
The number of people who made reservations has been endless since this day. Seven days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, hundreds of snowskin mooncakes have been ordered.
Both Hanxianglou and Wangyuelou were staring at food for the sky. Seeing that Gu Yin had been tinkering for a long time and only tinkered with the moon cakes that the children like to eat, the two families dismissed it. Children have small stomachs, how many pieces can one person eat? And no matter how much parents love their children, they will not spend too much money on buying snacks for their children. This profit is really limited!
It is still the mooncakes for adults to eat and the mooncake gift box for gifts to make a lot of money!
At this time, Chef Xu was finally able to make moon cakes that satisfied Gu Yin, and the snowskin moon cakes that had been ordered could come to pick up the goods. Cantonese-style moon cakes and Suzhou-style moon cakes made by shopkeeper Zhou were also tasted at Shiweitian. Activity.
Cantonese-style mooncakes are sweet and cost eight cents a piece, while Suzhou-style mooncakes are fragrant and crispy.
As for the mooncake gift box that the guests used to give gifts, Shiweitian also made it this time.
A round wooden box is evenly divided into three pieces, one each for Cantonese-style, Suzhou-style and snowskin mooncakes, so that guests of all tastes can take care of it. If you buy it in a box, it will be two cents cheaper than buying it alone, and you can get a small and exquisite wooden box for nothing. Although the wooden box is not valuable, it is very good for the small bits and pieces of needles and threads that are usually used for it.
As soon as this gift box was launched, the response was very good.
Someone immediately said: "My mother likes to eat Su-style, and my wife likes to eat Cantonese-style. Every year, I go to two restaurants, and my children are clamoring to try this kind of cake crust. This time it's convenient!"
"Yeah, the two moon cakes, Hanxianglou and Wangyuelou, don't sell alone. You can't eat too much at one time. This moon cake was originally meant to be tasted, and it was for the holidays. How can ordinary people like us take this? Are you eating?"
There are also impatient and greedy customers, who immediately bought a box and ate it on the spot after tasting it. The three flavors are naturally delicious. After eating, he smashed it and smashed his mouth. He even picked up the oil paper on the bottom of the box and smelled it.
When he picked it up, he realized that it was wrong. There were actually characters written on the back, and the four big characters of "Good fortune" were written in the corners.
The box of moon cakes sold from Gu Yin was waiting for him to find out. Upon seeing this, she immediately said: "Congratulations, you have won our Mid-Autumn Festival Grand Prize! Anyone who eats this 'good luck' can win A note for refunding ten pennies!"
"There is such a thing!" The guest laughed. "It seems that I have a good luck this year. I don't need to refund the money. I will add a few more coins and give me another box. I just haven't eaten enough!"
This time, he opened the gift box and read the note first, but unfortunately this time there were only four characters "Thank you for your patronage".
Seeing that he was lost, others had to joke: "What good things do you think about? Can you give me another ten cents per box?"
"That's right, I think this is just for auspiciousness, and ten articles are posted in boxes. Do you still want to do business?"
But this kind of propaganda method that may get real money is still a novelty, especially during the holidays. Who doesn't want to be the one with good luck
Also, in order to see the note inside, I didn't wait until August 15th to pick up the goods, but came early to get it and eat it directly.
That is definitely not every box with a prize, but if you get lucky, you will be happier than picking up money for nothing, and you have to brag about your good luck when you go back.
Under this kind of publicity, a total of 200 sets of Shiweitian's mooncake gift boxes were sold. Of course, there are also those who don't want the most expensive snowskin mooncakes. As long as the other two are sold separately, Shiweitian will also sell them for three or four hundred yuan.
The day before the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival, Gu Ye came back and told Gu Yin that the two big restaurants had started selling moon cakes. A group of children will sing nursery rhymes at the lantern festival to promote how delicious their moon cakes are.
This time, they didn't get any information at all. If it wasn't for Li Dachun and Gu Ye, he might not know it by now. And this time, both of them came prepared, and the selected children had all undergone secret training, and would not be so easily hooked by him to play.
Gu Ye felt that he couldn't handle it, so he came to talk to his mother.
"We have a lot of people, but we don't have training. I'm afraid we can't compare." Gu Ye's face was sullen like a little adult, and he was already thinking in his heart that if his mother didn't let him fight, he would still have a way to clean up those people.
This kind of publicity method is naturally born out of Gu Yin's previous measures to hire children to sell cold drinks and deliver food, which is not new to her.
Seeing the appearance of her little cubs like an enemy, Gu Yin couldn't help laughing and said, "It's okay, my mother has already prepared, you can play with your little friends at the lantern festival, don't worry about anything else."
Gu Ye, of course, believed in his mother, and immediately stopped worrying.
On August 12, the first day of the Lantern Festival, many people gathered in the town center before dark.
And as soon as they get here, they will see a very eye-catching big red banner with a large line of characters on the banner—
"Welcome to the Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Festival in Hanshan Town, exclusively sponsored by Shiweitian Mooncakes!"
The inscription is still the official seal of the county government!