Ten days were insignificant in Elena's life.
But the last ten days have been a miracle.
Elena, whose physical fitness reached 7 points, underwent a period of "diet therapy" and her physical condition changed greatly.
At this time, she looked about forty-five years old, and the standard for judging age was still before the disaster. The dimple on her left cheek that had disappeared for a long time became three-dimensional just by smiling.
Having been in a wheelchair for several years, she has been very quiet and restless in recent days, busy and taking care of her children...mainly Lin, to prepare for farming in the coming year.
...Well, we are building a fermentation tank for farmyard manure.
When Wang Qi and Li Xiang came to the kitchen, there was no one there, and they were not in a hurry. They boiled water to take baths separately, set up a fire in front of the fake sofa to dry their hair, and prepared for barbecue.
Invite the neighbor to have a meal today, to reward the "employees", and at the same time, see what information I can get from Elena.
It wasn't as grand as the first banquet, mainly because they had just come back from outside and had to deal with the praying mantis, so they really didn't have much time left to worry about. Being simple can also help reduce feelings of alienation.
But even if it is just barbecue, Wang Qi also wants to do some tricks.
When I was cleaning the fresh meat and getting ready to grill it, I suddenly thought of husky barbecue and thought I might give it a try.
This kind of barbecue is simply to slice the meat, marinate it, and then grill it on skewers. Obviously there is no room for marinating at home, but slicing and stacking the grill makes sense in its own right.
The meat baked in this way has lower moisture. Due to the increased surface area, the crispiness of the layer cut off the surface will be more obvious. Although it may not necessarily taste better, at least it can make a difference in taste.
There are too few options for the existing ingredients. Even if it is just a difference in taste, it is worth a try.
In order to avoid monotony, Wang Qi still tried to marinate it.
Take a small pot and cook the oak and pine leaves, and use a little sugar to fry the caramel color to increase the flavor.
I hesitated about whether to add salt to the marinade, but decided to be lazy and get it together.
The marinade was being made, and Anna and Varya also came into the kitchen and had already changed their clothes.
Wang Qi didn't want to move anymore, so he simply asked others to help: "Anna, help me cut that piece of meat into large pieces and eat together tonight."
Anna followed the instructions without much hesitation, as if she had adapted to the relationship between the two parties.
As he was cutting the meat, he asked, "Do you want it marinated? Do we have some sauce that we need?"
"sure."
With Anna's wink, Varya went out to get it, and soon two bottles were placed in front of Wang Qi.
Both are glass bottles, one is pickled radish...maybe radish, the other one is darker under the firelight, but it doesn't seem to be black. When I unscrew the lid and smell it, it seems to be soybean paste.
They didn't know how to preserve it, but it didn't freeze at this temperature. There was only some ice residue in the pickled radish.
Wang Qi took a spoon and a small plate and scooped out a little bit to try.
…It’s really pickled radish!
Maybe because of the geographical location, it's not spicy at all (low temperature is not conducive to the production of capsaicin).
The soybean paste is also different from expected. There should be other ingredients in it and the production method is also different, but overall it is not much different from doenjang, salty and has a weak soybean flavor.
"Isn't this a dipping sauce?" Li wanted to translate, but he couldn't translate "dipping sauce", so Wang Qi made a gesture.
Anna nodded: "Yes, we will also rub it on the meat and roast it."
A little subtle.
However, he was not disappointed. Wang Qi knew that except for the big food empire he once belonged to, people in other regions had almost zero development in sauces. Even unfermented things would dare to be called sauce if they were made into a paste. Here you can see soybean paste that looks like that, which is already considered the best.
In fact, there is soybean paste, which is very close to soy sauce, but I guess the local sunshine intensity and duration may not be enough to make serious soy sauce.
Wang Qi looked at his sauce basin: "Forget it, just use it as a dipping sauce and a cold dish."
He had already added the salt, and the soybean paste would be fatal if added, but he could use a little pickled radish juice and use it as ginger water.
Just as the marinade was mixed, Elena opened the door and came in.
At this time, she no longer uses the wheelchair and is smiling all over her face.
"I saw Varya bringing things down. Is he really making food? King, what is today?"
She didn't speak fast, probably because she was used to speaking at a low speed when she was in a wheelchair, but Wang Qi could hear her clearly.
"She asked what to eat." The great translator was still as refined.
Wang Qi showed her the marinade basin: "Just play with it, I don't know what it will taste like."
"You are a gourmet." Elena commented.
In her eyes, not everyone is willing to try new things, not to mention that it is difficult to differentiate with the existing spice conditions. Just like her Anna, she lost enthusiasm after trying it a few times.
But Wang's attitude towards food is completely different. He really keeps trying to make the ingredients more delicious under limited conditions.
Wang Qi shook his head and did not reply.
Foodie? It feels like it is a word that deliberately distinguishes people's identities. He still likes to call the foodies in his previous life, "Lao Tao".
Anna was almost done cutting it, and Wang Qi started marinating, skewering, and putting the meat on the grill.
"What is this?" Elena was curious.
"The barbecue method of a certain region, but without spices, I don't know what it tastes like. It may be similar to ordinary barbecue."
The great translator still relayed it in a concise way: "It's a barbecue from another place. You'll know it after you eat it."
Elena's smile became even brighter. She had no talent for languages, and she also knew that Qin language contained a lot of information as an ideographic language. The girl's translation was a bit perfunctory, but she was right. You'll know it after you eat it.
Wang Qi glanced sideways at Li Xiang, looked at Elena and said in the local language: "While you have time, why not tell a story about hunting demons, ghosts and bugs."
"OK."
As we get older, we tend to like to reminisce, and most of human memories will gradually beautified automatically.
...Actually, there are still a lot of bad things, and Elena blocks them out.
The story of hunting demons has been told to the children many times. This time she told it in more detail. Maybe her memory has improved?
"I once saw a report that the demon hunters released from the different-dimensional nodes are not the first ones to escape. Each of them has certain differences in behavior and cognition, like a completely new race. "(For the process of demon hunting, please see the name of 056 Demon Hunting)
The bugs really came from nowhere. They appeared at a very special time. At that time, there were still a small number of demon hunters wandering around the city. It was very dangerous for the survivors to go out. They could only rely on the food before the disaster to survive and began to learn indoor planting techniques. No one knows exactly when the bugs appear, and they don’t notice anything unusual until spring.
Demon hunters and bugs began to prey on each other. At that time, scorpion ants were not what they are now. They were more like scorpions than now, and their tail blades secreted toxins. The scorpion ant guards were just larger scorpion ants.
Insects at this period were still at a disadvantage. They moved in groups. Survivors would occasionally observe witch hunters escaping with scorpion ants in their mouths. However, Elena had not seen with her own eyes whether the scorpion ants could prey on witch hunters at that time. It was also during this period that there were gradually no survivors in the entire southern area of the city. They might have died in the conflict between the two sides, or they might have escaped.
Changes occurred in the second spring after the disaster.
The size of the scorpion ants seems to have changed a little, and it seems to really threaten the life safety of the demon hunters. There are fewer and fewer demon hunters in the city. But some people say that because witchers are triploid and cannot reproduce, and their lifespan is very short, they have nothing to do with scorpion ants.
Li Xiang struggled to translate, so he simply brought the dictionary.
This is the benefit of studying cultural classes. Even if she doesn't understand something, she can still find the corresponding word in the dictionary and point it out to Wang Qi.
Elena is not in a hurry, she will stop and wait.
The speed of coming and going cannot be increased. When the demon hunter is driven away, the barbecue is ready to eat.
