How prosperous the prose is in the mountains during the New Year.

After dinner, the daughter said, Mom, let's go back to the mountains for the New Year. Don't let dad drive to the south. How boring! I said: I also want to go back to the mountains for the New Year, and firecrackers are not allowed in the city. Except for those who sell things, there is no taste of the year.

My husband's family lives in a beautiful mountain village at the foot of Baiyun Mountain. Although there are only 30 families and the resident population is only about 130, they have a beautiful name-Baiyanggou. Since they got married, almost everyone went home on holiday and spent the Spring Festival in the mountains. It's really lively, don't you believe it? Then let me tell you something. ...

First, steamed buns

6 1 year1when I got home on February 25th, my mother-in-law had already sent three or four pots of noodles. My four brothers and sisters and I put down our luggage and started making noodles. After waking up, we will go to the stove to make hot water, clean the grate and cage cloth of steamed buns, and steam all the dishes that are not commonly used in hot water. By the way, we will stew bean paste, steam red dates and serve the dishes on the stove. After all this, the noodles in the basin woke up on the hot kang. Put the chopping board in place, knead the dough, divide the dough and knead it into small dough. At this time, it's time to show our skills-knead a pot of steamed buns, a pot of steamed buns, a pot of bean paste, a pot of jujube steamed buns, two pots of meat stuffing and two pots of vegetarian stuffing. Finally, I like to show off and rub out thin strips of different lengths. On each thin strip, I gently cut out thin roads or diamond-shaped pieces like fish scales with a kitchen knife, and circled the city with dates. There are three dates, five dates, and a dozen dates in each row for my mother-in-law.

All kinds of steamed buns are arranged neatly, just like soldiers to be inspected. However, the mother-in-law will not let them into the pot immediately. At this time, she will take out a clean white cloth several meters long and cover it, then let them wait quietly for more than ten minutes, and then steam it in the pot. When my mother-in-law passed the acceptance test and said, "Let's go into the pot", we went out and discharged them into the pot one by one. At this time, the firewood in the pot burned vigorously and ran to the bottom of the pot like game. Ten minutes, fifteen minutes, and twenty minutes have passed, and my mother-in-law decisively ordered "All right, let's withdraw the fire!" For a time, the whole yard was filled with the delicious and fruity wheat flavor of steamed bread. As soon as the lid is lifted, we can't take care of the heat in our hands, so we can't wait to take out one and open one in our mouth. How about you take a bite and I take a bite? How much alkaline noodles do you put in? Is the temperature big or small?

However, there is often no problem. At this time, we can safely hand over the task of burning the fire and watching the pot to our teenage nephew and start the next task.

Second, prepare food.

Because my mother-in-law's house is a bit remote in the mountains, when I first got married and transferred here, my colleagues always said that Baiyanggou was a war zone behind enemy lines. I wonder, how can it be an enemy-occupied area after so many years of liberation? After so many years of reform and opening up, why is it still an enemy war zone? They all explained it several times before I realized that it meant remote location and traffic congestion (now the roads are very developed and the traffic is very convenient). So every time we go home, we will buy a lot of big bags of vegetables, especially during the Spring Festival, we will bring more vegetables and meat. At this time, we sit in front of the fire or in the sun, chatting and choosing dishes. This is garlic seedlings, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, beans, cucumbers and celery that can last for a few days; That is spinach, mushrooms, chives, leeks, fennel seedlings and so on. Then eat first. They wrap it in jiaozi for the New Year and cook it. Sort them, wash them and put them away so that they won't burn or freeze. Because every time I go back to my mother-in-law's house, in order to save trouble and time, I will take time to scald garlic sprouts, celery, zucchini, mushrooms, beans, etc. with hot water, then cool them with cold water, drain the water, put them in plastic bags and put them in a big basin for later use.

Because there are many people, frying a dish every day is not enough, and it takes a lot of effort, so my specialty is here: cut celery into half a village, cook the cooked peanut beans and soybeans with steamed bread respectively, and add the scalded lotus root slices. Although the quantity is not much, there are many, but they will be full of a large pot together, and only a little salt will be salted and cooled. When my daughter was nervous about studying in Australia last year, she asked me in detail what to do, and she did the same for several days.

Third, make tofu and stir-fry sesame sugar.

On the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, my father-in-law began to make tofu. Soaked soybeans are full of water and bulging, just waiting for people to squeeze and grind them. The stone mill with its own sink began to turn and turn. A spoonful of soybeans was placed in the round eyes of the upper millstone and then flowed into the cauldron from the stone trough at the bottom of the lower millstone. Round and round, round and round, soon more than ten kilograms of soybeans became a large pot of white soybean milk as thick as milk. The firewood is burning again. My father-in-law's eyes were fixed on the white water. When there was a slight ripple, he motioned to remove the big firewood, leaving only a small fine firewood to burn slowly. At this time, the bean foam in the pot is like a doll just waking up, busy stretching its limbs, and the spoon in the father's hand is placed in the water in the pot, just like calming the child's head and patiently stirring it to calm it down. Seeing the opportunity, my father-in-law put the brine into the soybean milk bit by bit. At this time, soybean milk began to flocculate, just like ice floating on a thawed river. My father-in-law stirred it and took a look. "All right, get rid of the fire!"

At this time, we knew that the key time had come, and we quickly handed over the cage cloth, the wicker basket and the hedge made by my father-in-law. My father-in-law fished out the solidified soybean milk with soup and water with a colander, put it on the cage cloth of the big basket, drained the water, and left the soybean milk block. The cage cloth was tightly wrapped and screwed, and my family handed me slates and stones to press on it. The tofu made after such pressing for one day or one night is hard and firm. Do you know why the tofu in the mountains is delicious this time?

Put down the tofu and let it drain slowly. Here, another job began. At dawn, my father-in-law has kneaded sesame sugar noodles according to the proportion of saline-alkali alum. At this time, the soft muscles are full, so we clean up the soybean milk pot, heat the pot and start frying sesame sugar. I saw my father-in-law wipe his hands with oil first, and then put a layer of oil on the chopping board. This just grabbed a big ball of noodles from the basin and put it on the chopping board. After a few moves, the noodles became the thickness of a rolling pin, and while walking, the palm of your hand beat the beat and became a thin strip. The knife in his hand fell, and two small squares were stacked together, and a knife was cut in the middle. But soon, he lifted the pot and slid it into the oil. Haha, the shape of sesame candy came out. Pick up the chopsticks and turn them over. Hey, aren't you obedient? Put another chopstick and press it to make it fully warm in the oil. Haha, the smell of sesame candy came out, and the heat came out. I fished it out and the nephews around me watched eagerly. I quickly use chopsticks to pull the sesame candy just out of the pot into pieces and distribute it to them for tasting. Seeing that there are still two pieces of dough the size of steamed bread, I applied for my own experiment and fried a snack. My father-in-law is so happy that he can have a rest. He smiled and agreed with tolerance. I rubbed some flour into the dough, then rolled it into a big pancake with a rolling pin, rolled it on the rolling pin, pulled it open with a knife and cut it into long squares. Each square is cut into filaments like vermicelli, then divided into pieces and clamped on each piece with chopsticks. Much cleaner than the snacks sold there!

Sometimes, I will cook the sugar in advance to a paste that can be smoked, and fry some steamed bread slices, apple slices, yam slices, peanuts and so on. You should make Lamian Noodles, or fry some sugar-coated hot noodle soup (also called fried chicken head) and sugar cakes. Because I love six brothers and sisters and a dozen nephews, which were their favorite desserts when they were children. The thrifty parents-in-law always looked at me with a tolerant smile, never reprimanded me or showed a dissatisfied look. On the contrary, they praised my neighbors everywhere that I was not only highly educated, but also proficient in everything, making them envy their good daughter-in-law and their blessings.

Fourth, decals

"Twenty-eight, applique flowers", singing a ballad, came to the root of twelfth lunar month. A few days after returning home, after dinner, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and I took scissors, red, pink, green, yellow and other colors of paper and began to cut and hang. Cut it into strips the size of A4 paper, and then cut it into the Yangtze River Delta shape with spring characters, blessings or other diamond patterns in the middle. After breakfast on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, my husband took a pair of couplets and colorful pendants bought in Unicom, Mobile and Supermarket, and led several nephews to the old house, then went to the brigade and several lonely old people. Finally, he went back to our own home and posted them. Red flowers are full of spring, and the curtains all over the yard are smiling in the wind, as if to say to the mountains, "New Year!

Speaking of which, I remember that before the Spring Festival in 1 1, Grandpa Five, who could write Chinese calligraphy in the village, died, and my fourth uncle, a neighbor, came to my house with red paper and ink and said that he would write two couplets. My husband and I looked at each other and said shyly, "fourth uncle, I'm sorry, we can't write in brush, and we haven't taken a brush." Fourth Uncle Ai Aidit said, "Two. Do you want to throw away the good things of this ancestor? " My husband said that I still have ready-made ones at home. Can I give you some? Can fourth uncle say, "couplets are ready-made, but the ranking of ancestors and the password of divination must always be written?" "Honey, look at me and say, your handwriting is good. Why don't you write to your uncle slowly? I had to practice it several times in the newspaper, and then wrote a few strokes on red paper according to the tips of my fourth uncle. From then on, I secretly made up my mind to learn to write Chinese calligraphy. He is the author of Cao Quanbei, Han Bamboo Slips, Shi Chenbei and Weibei. Last year, he systematically studied the preface to the holy teachings with his teacher. This year, he can boldly write Spring Festival couplets for the villagers to satisfy his fourth uncle's wishes.

Five, receive a knot in one's heart

After the couplets were hung up, the children in the village began to pick baskets, take ropes and drums, gongs and cymbals from the brigade, and collect pimples from door to door in the village. A child in the brigade will sit there and knock on the big drum, which will shake the whole small mountain village as if it were going to shake and jump. Every household will know that it is time to prepare firewood. The younger children walked in front of the door, banging on "choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke choke But there are also noisy adults who will urge them to play a little joke: "There is no suitable pimple. If you want, pull out the big roots under the wall! " Several teenagers looked at the big tree roots much thicker than their own bodies, especially the thick branches around them, and discussed them in a low voice. The main family looked at them excitedly, but did not come forward to help. They also said, "Don't use axes or knives in my house on New Year's Eve. If you can walk, you can burn it. Don't call me stingy if you don't leave. " At this time, I saw two children, Jun and Long, take out the rope they carried with them, and wound it around the root of the tree several times, tying several knots each time. Then they asked other partners to put their baskets on the street outside the door and bring two sticks. Two older children hunched in front with ropes and pulled hard. Two children are behind, prying at the roots with sticks. Their mouths are like shouting, "tie a knot and let's go!" " Throw it away and let's go! "All of a sudden, all of a sudden, big tree roots let four teenagers drag pry out of the door. At this time, the man in the host family laughed and laughed at himself: "I thought a few rabbits could not run away, but who knew there was a way!" "This big tree root has been sawed for several days!" However, the spit of the mountain people is a nail and will never repent. As he spoke, he began to help, helping to pull the big tree roots into the street to keep warm and help the children build firewood. The army will proudly say, "As long as you can get it at home, as long as you promise to give it to me, I will definitely let you bring it in. How can I take it out? How about it, uncle, will you give it back to me?" If you give me more, I will pull it out. I also want to tell the villagers that you are the most generous and will be prosperous next year! "The first time I spent the New Year at my in-laws' house, I didn't understand why a pile of firewood and tree bumps were lit on the street in the early morning of the first day. Neighbors said, "This is used to treat miscellaneous diseases by warming fire." But I observed that before sunrise, all the neighbors began to pay New Year greetings in the dark. In mountain villages where there were no street lamps before, people built their houses according to the mountain situation. Streets and yards are full of potholes, and the stones on the steps are irregular and uneven. In addition, the night temperature in mountainous areas is very low, which may be for lighting and heating. And according to legend, this monster was afraid of fire in 2000, so the ancients spread it to the first day.

Sixth, Bao jiaozi.

At the age of thirty (or twenty-nine), after breakfast, my four brothers and sisters and I began to make dough, including jiaozi. Mountain people don't lack wood. The rolling pin and chopping board at home are homemade and strong. The small rolling pin used by my mother-in-law to pack jiaozi is as big as my mother's. I think it's thick and big, so it's inconvenient to use. So before returning to my hometown the next year, I bought a rolling pin the thickness of my thumb. I'm from the plain. jiaozi, who was cleaned up by his hometown, pinched two or three folds in the back and stood for a long time. She wrapped three or four jiaozi-sized pieces, but when she squeezed jiaozi, she didn't let go of the small pieces of wood, and her mother-in-law's eyes were straight. Usually I can roll noodles with three or four people, but now I can use them with two people at most. Soon, our lunch in jiaozi was packed. There are several kinds of stuffing in jiaozi at noon. The purpose is to taste the stuffing made in the morning. In this way, the jiaozi wrapped in the afternoon is delicious, either too salty or too light. If it is not suitable, take remedial measures after lunch. Less than an hour after lunch, we packed four or five baskets of jiaozi. Mother-in-law will stick some yellow paper on the jiaozi to prevent the dumpling skin from drying, which I think is unsanitary. Then it was covered with a clean white cloth. At this time, my four siblings and I began to wander around the village with my small rolling pin and the small potato chips she made to help pack jiaozi. Go to grandpa Mao Ershuan's house first and help grandma pack two chopsticks; Go to Fourth Uncle's house, Uncle Niu's house, Aunt Xiaoling's house, Brother Haiqiao's house, Sister-in-law Zhi Tao's house and Brother Xiping's house one by one to see if there is any need for help. This home takes ten minutes, and that home takes ten or twenty minutes. Basically, my four brothers and sisters and I moved back to Korea before cooking dinner. In fact, other people's homes are not waiting for our help. We just take advantage of this reunion moment, because we are not often at home, so we look around every family, which also shows our gratitude to their usual concern for their in-laws and harmonious feelings with their neighbors. So in our village, even in neighboring villages, when my name is mentioned, almost everyone knows who my daughter-in-law is and how I treat my in-laws and neighbors. I can also be said to be a star daughter-in-law

Seven, family entertainment

As we are a big family with many adults and children, we can play poker in several classes. Besides working during the day, my wife and I always urge and help the children to do their homework and study. But before the 30th and 6th, adults and children can often play for a few days: watching TV, playing poker, skipping rope, kicking shuttlecock, hula hoop, KTV and so on. We also have family games. In the evening, all the children rested, and we adults were still very playful, so we began to sit around the fire, make two pots of tea, bring a big plate of melon seeds, fruits and snacks, and play mahjong several times while chatting. Sometimes, because I care too much about the topic, I don't even know myself. I think it's useless and throw it away. Several times, the third brother deducted the winning card, and he didn't realize it. He was still muttering about the interesting things in the village, putting the cards on the table and waiting for others to make peace until everyone saw: "How do you play this card?" Haven't you already buckled yourself? He ha ha a simple and honest smile: "nothing, anyway, winning or losing is in our own home, let me go on." "Laughing and laughing, we continued to play cards, talking and laughing, watching birthday cards until midnight. So, we put on thick clothes, ran to the yard with firecrackers and fireworks, and rattled the firecrackers to set off fireworks. At this time, all the family members were awakened. Fireworks in the dark reflected the smiling faces of family members, while children danced and shouted in the yard. Happy spring festival! Bring a blessing! " Then, with the expectation of the Spring Festival, enter the sweet dream country and get up at dawn to pay a New Year call.

When I write this, there seems to be a colorful voice hanging in the wind in the mountain village. It wobbles, much like old people standing at the entrance of the village, raising their hands and looking forward, muttering, "It's the New Year, go home! Chinese New Year, come back! " Yes, pack your bags and go home for the New Year!