"That place is relatively remote. Although it is within the territory of Jiuquan, the surrounding area can be said to be a deserted place." Compared to Li Xiao, who did not understand, Mo Jie had people there so he understood the key. "Come back and forth, and you will understand.
It took a lot of time on the road.”
"Tomorrow, after I discuss it with my uncle, I'll ask him to arrange a route or a shuttle bus or something."
"If this is the case, it would be better for us to search for some delicious food in Jiuquan before setting off." After understanding what Mo Jie meant, Li Xiao temporarily gave up the idea of going to the rocket launch center to see with his own eyes.
It was close to noon when the two came out. They had eaten and drank enough. According to the audience's opinion, now was a good time to go to Jinta Populus Forest.
Li Xiao returned to the hotel, drove out the car, and drove directly to Jinta Populus euphratica forest with one person and one bear.
The weather was perfect when we arrived, with the sun shining brightly on the earth.
After buying the ticket, you can drive directly into the scenic spot, which is very convenient.
Li Xiao lowered the car window, and the air around him was filled with the unique light woody aroma of Populus euphratica trees.
There are only two colors in the scenic spot: golden and blue.
Large tracts of golden poplar trees grow in rows on both sides of the road, almost blocking out the sky and the sun.
After the car drove for a while on the road, Li Xiao found that there were not many cars driving in. Most of them were sightseeing cars driving slowly, and there were also a few pedestrians taking selfies of the scenery around them.
"It is said that Populus euphratica will not die for a thousand years, will not fall down for a thousand years after death, and will not rot for a thousand years after it falls." Affected by the surrounding environment, Li Xiao drove slowly and slowly, "I don't know how many years the Populus euphratica forests in front of us will last."
As the road widened, a broad view appeared in front of them.
A "mirror" appeared in front of them.
The golden reflection on the water is reflected along with the color of the sky, the water and the sky are connected, and the bright clothes of the tourists add a lot of color to the vast lake.
This is the core scenic spot of Jinta Populus euphratica Forest: Jinbo Lake.
To be honest, from the perspective of modern people, Populus euphratica forest does not look very distinctive.
The only backdrop to the stark wasteland and Populus euphratica is probably the blue sky and the occasional passing bird.
But precisely because of its unique sense of desolation, it brought Li Xiao an epic hymn.
Now is the time when the lake is in full swing. Many poplar trees near the lake have their roots covered by the lake water, as if they are growing directly in the water.
The lake water creates soft ripples due to the light wind, causing the treetops to ripple. On the loess sky, poplar euphratica trees and the lake water suddenly appear in the field of vision, giving an inexplicable sadness and grandeur.
The deeper we go into the Populus euphratica forest, the more we feel that we have entered a golden ocean, and the golden color almost drowns Li Xiao - the dense Populus euphratica in the distance has all kinds of strange postures: some are upright, some are twisted,
There is even a tendency to hang upside down; closer, there is a poplar tree that is still in the form of a seedling, with its narrow leaves and slender branches. At first glance, it looks like an autumn willow tree.
The poplar trees inside became more and more dense, and the originally open avenue became narrower and narrower until it could only accommodate one car.
When they came to the end of a path closed by poplar trees, looking at the dense poplar trees that completely blocked the sun, Li Xiao said to Mo Jie half-jokingly: "Do you think we have wandered into something by mistake?"
Fairy tale world? Just like Alice."
The road ahead is not completely closed by poplar trees, but if Li Xiao's car goes further, there is a risk of getting stuck.
At first glance, this trail looks like an intersection leading to some mysterious world.
Driving slowly through the scenic spot, the originally two-hour journey took more than three hours to complete due to Li Xiao's speed.
When we left the Golden Pagoda Poplar Forest, it was already close to five o'clock in the afternoon.
"Is there anything you want to eat?" Li Xiao asked Mo Jie, who was sitting in the car with eyes wide open.
"I don't really want to eat staple food at the moment, why not look for a delicious snack bar somewhere?" Mo Jie was not sure, "But it's almost time to have dinner at this time. If Brother Li has any ideas, just go there.
You can also find staple food."
"No problem. Who doesn't want to eat staple food?" Li Xiao waved his hand. After Mo Jie suggested this, he also started to think about snacks as a meal.
The main reason is that Jiuquan doesn't seem to have any famous delicacies no matter how you look at it. It's better to go to a snack bar and look at the menu, maybe you can taste different delicacies.
The two of them drove the car out of the scenic spot and headed back to the hotel.
In order to find food, Li Xiao took another road specially.
The lanterns are on at the beginning, and the night is fading.
The road to Jiuquan is always more desolate than other places.
Halfway through the car, a small snack bar passed by.
At the critical moment, Li Xiao's "food radar" came into play, and he turned the car around on the spot and returned to the place where he was just now.
"What's wrong? Brother Li, did you drop something?" Mo Jie didn't understand until he saw Li Xiao pointing at a shop outside the window.
Several large gilded characters are engraved on a dark wood plaque. It is not clear what is written on it due to the distance, but it looks quite artistic from a distance.
"This store looks quite small." If it weren't for Li Xiao's signal, Mo Jie wouldn't have been able to tell that there was a store there at first glance.
There were many parking spaces on the roadside. Li Xiao asked Mo Jie to get out of the car first, then he found a place to park the car, and the two of them walked in together.
【Desert Juice】
"It is said that Hezhi is a special snack in the northwest. Today we can find out." Li Xiao said as he walked inside, and Mo Jie behind him looked even more interested.
When you walk into the store, a faint mutton smell lingers in the air.
The first floor was already full of people, and when they walked up to the second floor, they realized that there was a cave inside.
This store only rents a storefront on the first floor, but the rented area on the second floor is fully twice that of the first floor, which looks quite spacious.
This approach not only allows the store to have a suitable facade, but also saves a lot of rent and can rent more space. From a businessman's perspective, it really makes the best use of everything.
I just don’t know how the food here tastes.
Li Xiao took the exquisite-looking menu from the waiter's hand. The first signature snack on it was mutton with sauce.
At the back are various mutton snacks such as braised pancakes and roasted mutton.
There are some drinks at the end, and what interests Li Xiao is the one above called "Memory of Childhood".
"What is this memory of childhood?" Li Xiao asked the waiter.
"You can tell this customer just by ordering one. You won't lose money anyway." Upon hearing Li Xiao's question, the waiter gave him a look that made people understand.
Li Xiao became interested: "Then let's have a piece of mutton juice and a pancake, as well as a special oil tea." Gu
As for reminiscing about childhood, let’s wait until after we finish eating to see if we still have room in our stomach.
As usual, Mo Jie ordered one according to Li Xiao's order.
After placing the order, a thin flatbread was quickly presented.
The palm-sized round cake is slightly browned on the outside, and smells faintly of the unique roasted aroma of the pancake.
In the northwest, this pancake is equivalent to rice in the hearts of southerners, and it is a staple food.
"Brother Li, you won't stay in Jiuquan for long this time, will you?" Not to mention anything else, there is really very little food in Jiuquan.
Apart from a rocket launch center, there seems to be nothing else famous.
"Maybe we've seen the launch center, prepared some supplies for the road, and checked out what delicious food there is to eat, and we're almost ready to go." Li Xiao also had a hunch that he would stay in Jiuquan for a short time, probably in the past two days.
It’s time to continue on the road.
"Then I may not be able to stay with Brother Li for long." Mo Jie was a little regretful. As a deadbeat, his experience following Li Xiao these days was much richer than his experience in the past twenty years.
"This kind of thing just depends on fate. I'm still waiting to be your first volunteer to test the software." Li Xiao didn't express too much emotion.
He walked and ate all the way and saw so many different people and things, and everyone was a guest on his journey.
"We'd better focus on the delicious food in front of us."
Li Xiao waved his hand in front of Mo Jie's eyes, breaking his mind that was lost in thoughts.
A bowl of brightly colored soup vermicelli was brought to the table by the waiter.
This is mutton gravy.
Mutton Heju, the so-called He means rich ingredients, and Juice means mutton stew.
The selection of mutton is very particular. It must be fat and strong, so that the stewed broth will be delicious enough.
First use the mutton bones to make the stock, and only after simmering for three hours can the essence of the mutton bones be completely squeezed out.
After the mutton is fully beaten, chop it into minced meat, add egg white, soy sauce, cooking wine, flour, green onion and ginger, stir evenly, tan it into meatballs, blanch it in the pot, take it out and set aside.
The next step is to make the pork stuffed with pork: put the washed pork into the pot, add cooking wine and ginger slices, cook and remove, crush the cooked sesame seeds and crushed peanuts, add salt, white sugar and a little sesame oil, stir evenly, and stir the pork evenly.
Wrap the slices in the filling to close.
The remaining side dishes are vermicelli, tofu, fungus and the like.
Add seasonings to the stock, bring to a boil, add the already cooked mutton slices, the vermicelli cut into chunks, and the previously prepared side dishes, cook over high heat for five minutes, take out the pot and sprinkle with coriander, green onions, minced chili peppers, and a mutton dish
The juice is ready.
The bowl of mutton gravy placed in front of Li Xiao was made up of red and white colors, with slight green accents, which looked quite pleasing to the eye.
Moving the camera closer, the audience in the live broadcast room can clearly see that the milky white soup is still emitting steam.
"It smells delicious."
Li Xiao scooped out a mouthful of hot soup with a spoon, blew on it gently and put it into his mouth.
As soon as you take it in, every cell in your mouth seems to have been exploded, soaked thoroughly by the spiciness of the ginger and chili inside.
As soon as the spiciness wore off, the rich aroma from the stewed lamb bones immediately invaded Li Xiao's mouth.
"As soon as this mouthful of soup came in, it captured my tongue."
This sentence is a bit exaggerated, but it is not false.
Then, Li Xiao scooped out a mutton meatball with a spoon.
The meatballs are deep-fried and have a golden flour layer on top. After being soaked in the soup, the skin becomes softer and looks like it has absorbed the juice.
Li Xiao first took a sip of the soup and then took bites.
The skin feels half-soft and half-crispy after being soaked in the soup, but the meatballs inside still have a burnt aroma after being deep-fried.
He bit down harder with his teeth, and the hot soup suddenly burned Li Xiao's tongue.
As soon as I let go of my hand, the spoon, balls, and soup fell directly back into the bowl, causing a small splash of water.
"hiss……"
Li Xiao picked up the meatballs and put them in front of the camera. The audience could clearly see that the meatballs were filled with soup. The flesh of the meatballs was broken open and juices were still sizzling out after being pinched by the chopsticks.
The colored soup dripped into the bowl, dyeing part of the soup underneath with color.
"To be honest, I'm so surprised."
Li Xiao has never seen anyone add soup to deep-fried meatballs. Normal people will only experience the crispy texture when eating fried snacks, and will never expect that the chef will actually add soup.
Pour it in.
Li Xiao, who had his tongue burned, only then remembered the reminder that the waiter had just said to be careful about burning your mouth, and his expression was incomprehensible for a moment.
"I didn't expect that I would be burned by fried meatballs filled with soup one day after having experienced many battles."
Li Xiao pursed her lips and began to savor the soup that just exploded in her mouth.
"This soup is not the same type as the mutton soup in the bowl. It tastes like marinade."
“The meatballs made this way taste amazing.”
"On the outside, it looks like ordinary fried meatball skin dipped in water, with crispy meatballs in the middle. But when you bite into it, you get a mouthful of piping hot marinade. The whole meatball gives people several different tastes.
The creativity is very clever.”
After finishing the fried meatballs that were still bubbling with juice in two bites, Li Xiao continued to move towards the pork stuffed with sand in the bowl.
This time, Li Xiao carefully picked up the meatballs and fiddled with it on a spoon. He found that it was not as plump and round as meatballs, so he carefully put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully.
The fragrant sesame and chopped peanuts are refined with sesame oil, and the filling is half dense and half crispy. The texture of each bite is different, which makes Li Xiao feel like he has opened a blind box.
The meat used for the sauce is high-quality pork belly that has been deep-fried. It is fat and lean in alternate parts, and oil will continue to come out in your mouth when you eat it.
But because of the blend of fillings inside, the whole piece of meat tastes fat but not greasy, with a smooth texture and a chewy texture.
"This piece of pork belly is also very good." Li Xiao opened the pork belly, revealing the thick and fine fillings inside: "The thickness of the meat selected for the pork belly is very particular."
"If it is too thick, due to the characteristics of pork belly, the flavor of the fat will be very strong and the fillings will be covered when you eat it. If it is too thin, it will not be able to withstand so many fillings and it will be easy to eat from it.
The sides leak out and the overall taste of the pork stuffed with sand is lost.”
Although the piece of meat in the shot was taken out of the mutton juice, the filling inside has not been invaded by the soup at all.
