Chapter 346 - 345
Jinrong sipped his milk tea and took a bite of his youtiao, which somewhat satisfied his cravings, before asking Jiang Yifan, who had also chosen milk tea and youtiao, "How do you like it? It’s better than what we make in our own kitchen, right?"
Jiang Yifan nodded and replied, "It’s different, much richer in flavor. It’s inevitable, as even the cooks at the county government office make milk tea that tastes different from your residence."
"Hm, I’ll find a chance for Nanny Liu to instruct the kitchen on how to make it really nice." Jinrong continued eating his youtiao and savoring his delicious milk tea, and the bowl of noodle soup before Guan He suddenly didn’t seem so bothersome.
Guan He was restless, though, just having finished a stick of youtiao, he picked up a small flower roll and described excitedly to Jinrong, "Her family even deep-fries these small flower rolls and eats them covered in sweet cream, both fragrant and sweet, with a taste that’s excellent."
Jinrong immediately looked towards Qi Younian, who smiled helplessly and said, "We’ll add deep-fried flower rolls and sweet cream to our lunch." Jinrong glanced back at Guan He and indeed saw a look of triumph on his face.
Cheung Wusi laughed and commented from the side, "I find the taste of these cheese balls quite nice too, similar to the fried flower rolls, yet with a distinct difference. Like Sixth Master said, we’re going to be here for a good while longer, plenty of opportunities to eat."
......
The lunch, besides including the deep-fried flower rolls Guan He had spoken of, featured dishes that were light and easy to digest in order to save enough appetite for the substantial New Year’s Eve dinner.
Although the dishes were light, they were not merely perfunctory; eight main courses included hot oil sliced radish, spicy mixed potato shreds, sweet and sour cabbage, stir-fried beef tenderloin with bamboo shoots, squid spawn stewed with cabbage, stir-fried dried cucumber, tofu skin cabbage rolls, and hand-torn cabbage. There was also a soup of dried shrimp and winter melon, with the main dish being deep-fried flower rolls and a palatable radish cake on the side.
The flavors of the soup dishes were commendable, especially considering Wan Yan had brought back dried abalone and squid from the capital, which provided an exquisite flavor to the soups and stewed cabbage.
After lunch, Jinrong heaped praises for the Qi family’s cuisine. The cooks from the same kitchen had managed to create completely different style dishes. Post-meal, he seriously contemplated with Jiang Yifan whether it would be too excessive to take a few of the talented kitchen maids back with him and send a few others to Ye Xinyan to make up the difference.