Chapter 40.1 The Predestined Affinity of Congee
A few days following the Winter Solstice was the Laba Festival[1]. At this time, the grand occasion of where the whole country would consume congee had yet to originate, with only monasteries and Buddhist nunneries that ‘cooked medicinal cuisine’ and distributed to their faithful believers.
There were several nuns in Guangming Temple giving medicinal cuisine to the worshippers at the entrance of the main hall. There were also nuns who delivered medicinal cuisine to the residence of high-ranking families with whom they had dealings with.
Due to Shen Shaoguang's connection with Guangming Nunnery, before Jing Qing left the Lane Gate, she made a personal stop to deliver a bowl to her as well. Shen Shaoguang received it with a smile and exchanged a few pleasantries. Seeing that Jing Qing was in a hurry and knowing that she had to make several stops, Shen Shaoguang took out some money, put it in the basket by the porridge pot, and personally saw her off.
Jing Qing felt a bit embarrassed, "There is really no need to be polite. We received so many benefits from you, this time we just want you to try our medicinal cuisine."
Shen Shaoguang smiled and said, "I’ve also made some Eight-Treasure Congee, which is similar to your medicinal cuisine. I will send it to the nunnery later and you can try it when you come back. Let me know how it compares to your medicinal cuisine."
Jing Qing laughed, "But of course!"
The two said goodbye at the door, and Shen Shaoguang watched Jing Qing mount the carriage and drive away.
As she said, Shen Shaoguang personally delivered a potful of Eight-Treasure Congee to the nunnery.
This Eight-Treasure Congee was naturally cooked according to the modern recipes. In her previous life, like most young people, Shen Shaoguang did not attach much importance to these traditional festivals. Now that she was a stranger in a foreign land, she cherished the memories of these events very much.
Just like Shen Shaoguang's former classmate who used to study abroad. When she was in China, she would act with a foreigners' panache, but when she went abroad, she loudly sang patriotic songs during her road trip from New York all the way to Washington.
When talking about this in a video call with her, Shen Shaoguang laughed and teased, "Does your song library contain such a large repertoire?" It couldn’t have been a repeat of a single song, right?
Her classmate also chuckled, "The key is that I’m expressing my love for the motherland, okay?"
Shen Shaoguang was also immersed in the adoration for the olden days. Now she was the head of her own family, she could celebrate any festival as she had in the past.
The current selection of fruits and vegetables were not as diverse as those of the modern era, but almost all grains and cereals had already been introduced and accepted. Rice, corn, proso millet, adlay millet, and red beans were all a must. Lotus seeds, hazelnut, pine nuts, walnuts, and chestnuts were also indispensable, but the most important congee ingredient was red dates.
It’s said that the most tasteful method to prepare red dates was to peel its skin and remove the core, and then add them when the congee was cooked. The skin of the dates were not to be thrown away, but used in the boiling water. The date-flavored water was used to cook the congee to enhance the jujube fragrance and taste.
Shen Shaoguang had never sampled such exquisite Laba congee. The congee often she drank was made by throwing whole dates into the congee, so when she drank the porridge, she frequently needed to spit out the inconsumable date cores. Occasionally, there would also be some red date skins stuck to the roof of her mouth.
Now that she was personally cooking the congee, Shen Shaoguang took a while to mull over before beginning. She soaked the dates, removed the seeds, grinded the dates into paste in a small mortar and pestle. With a fine strainer, the jujube skins would be filtered out, albeit a bit rough, but it solved both the core and skin issue.
This Eight-Treasure Congee garnered high praises from Senior Buddhist Nun Yuanjue.
Topped above the congee film[2] were various crunchy nips, such as pine and hazelnut, which added a nutty and earthy flavor. Various small bits of fruits were also in the mix, adding a natural sweetness and a splash of color. Stir it with a soup spoon before taking a sip. The grains were all soft while the toppings added a complex layering, catering to both the taste buds and sense of texture; distinctly different from the usual mushy congee.
Senior Buddhist Nun Yuanjue smiled and said, "We’ll have to base our following year’s medicinal cuisine on this."
Shen Shaoguang felt as if she had experienced the absurdity of ‘a grandson traveling back in time to teach his grandfather’. Laba Congee’s predecessor should have been the medicinal cuisines of this era, but was it now going to be substituted and replaced? Though, thankfully this was just a nunnery, thankfully this was only a common food, there was no need to take it too seriously.
This Laba congee was not only given to her neighbors and Guangming Nunnery, but also to her diners. Among which, one claimed that their Elder Madam loved porridge the most and wanted to purchase a potful. She hadn’t known before, but gradually learned from time, that this was a person from Deputy Magistrate Lin’s Residence. Just like what she had done for Guangming Nunnery, Shen Shaoguang also presented him a potful.
Unexpectedly, this pot of congee gave Shen Shaoguang the opportunity to return to her ‘former home’.
…
Although there was no such saying that ‘After Laba was the New Years’ at this time, in fact, people have lived with similar beliefs for over thousands of years. Following the Laba Festival, the days would pass increasingly fast, and the incoming sense of a New Year would get stronger and stronger.
The store had stocked a good deal of cured meats, rice grains, wines, and other beverages, as well as vegetables that can be stored for a long time, such as radish and napa cabbage. Just to prepare for when the butcher shops, rice and grain shops, and other shops would close in the next few days to celebrate the New Year. There was no need to wait until the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to clean the house. Year-end cleaning had already begun as the four cleaned both the back house and storefront.
Shen Shaoguang, A’Yuan, and the others’ New New Year clothes have also been commissioned. Shen Shaoguang's needlework was mediocre, while A’Yuan couldn’t even properly hold a needle and sew a horizontal line, therefore, they could only hire professionals when it came to making new clothes.
Perhaps the officials were busy with the year-end performance summary report, while the merchants were taking inventory and demanding payments of debts– or avoiding paying debts, there were fewer people coming to the tavern for a casual drink. Taking advantage of this, Shen Shaoguang took Yu San, A’Yuan, and A’Chang to leisurely prepare for the Lunar New Year, and of course, occasionally accepted a few orders of different pastries.
Since her store’s rise to fame from the Double Seventh Festival’s floral cakes, people would come to her tavern to order cakes whenever a festival or date, when gifts or sacrifices were necessary, occurs. She had even received a couple commissions during the Winter Solstice, allowing Shen Shaoguang to make a small profit.
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Footnotes:
[1] Laba Festival - Laba Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the eighth day of the month of La, the twelfth month of the Chinese calendar. It is the beginning of the Chinese New Year period. It is customary on this day to eat Laba congee.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laba_Festival
[2] congee film (粥皮儿) - Natural occurrence on congee/porridge, caused by the vaporization and evaporation on the surface of the porridge, the reduction of water content, and the over-thickness from starch. Chinese medicine attaches great importance to this congee film, and it has very good health effects and it's delicious.
Source: https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/573247272.html?&mzl=qb_xg_2&word=
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Food:
Eight-Treasure Congee/ Labe Congee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FUK2urcj-U