"Children, don't be greedy, it's the New Year after Laba Festival; drink Laba porridge for a few days, it will be sweet on the twenty-three; on the twenty-three, sticky melons; on the twenty-four, clean the house; on the twenty-five, frozen tofu;
On the twenty-sixth, go buy meat; on the twenty-seventh, slaughter the rooster; on the twenty-eighth, make the noodles; on the twenty-nine, steam the steamed buns; on the thirtieth, stay up all night; on the first and second day of the lunar month, walk around the streets."
The children were chasing each other in the alley with windmills, and some were running and singing, laughing and joking.
When Zhang Yu listened to the songs sung by the children in the alley, he realized that tomorrow was the Laba Festival.
As the saying goes, during Laba Seventh and Laba Festival, the cold rice seedlings freeze to death. These are the two coldest days of the year. During the Laba Festival, people eat Laba porridge and Laba garlic.
Laba porridge, also known as "Seven Treasures and Five Flavors Porridge", "Buddha Porridge", "Everyone's Rice", etc., is a kind of porridge made from a variety of ingredients.
Eating Laba porridge is a custom during the Laba Festival. The traditional ingredients of Laba porridge include rice, millet, corn, barley, red dates, lotus seeds, peanuts, longan and red beans, mung beans, soybeans, black beans, kidney beans and other beans.
In the cold winter, drinking a steaming bowl of Laba porridge is very comfortable and happy.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu couldn't help but sigh that time flies so fast. It turned out that he had traveled through time for more than half a year without knowing it.
Speaking of which, since he went to college and worked after graduation, because there were no holidays, he basically had no time to go back to his hometown during the Laba Festival, so he had been eating Laba porridge made by his family for a long time.
I still remember that when I was a child in my previous life, although I was not very wealthy, every year when Laba Festival was coming, my sister-in-law would prepare many kinds of ingredients for several days, so that she could cook a big pot of Laba porridge during Laba Festival.
My sister-in-law has always believed that drinking a steaming bowl of Laba porridge in the cold winter months can not only ward off the cold, but also increase appetite and nourish the body, so she prepares the ingredients early every year and will never miss out.
Especially in the early years, we would exchange Laba porridge with our neighbors. Later, as the economy developed better and better, and everyone became richer, Laba porridge was no longer a rare item. This habit
It gradually disappeared, but I still cook some for my family to eat every year.
I remember that at that time, several children in the family were looking forward to the arrival of Laba for several days in advance.
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, when my sister-in-law was making porridge, the children would stare directly at the big pot, for fear of missing something.
Especially when it's time to eat, I hold a big bowl full of fragrant Laba porridge in my hand, and I can't wait to take a sip, even if my mouth is burned and I don't want to spit it out.
Thinking about it now, it was not only a bowl of porridge, but also my sister-in-law's best wishes for the children. In Zhang Yu's memory, my sister-in-law in this life would also cook Laba porridge every year to satisfy the family's greed.
Thinking of the sweet and delicious Laba porridge, Zhang Yu couldn't help but feel a little greedy.
Zhang Yu went out this time to find someone to ask what information he needed to learn Russian, and whether he could help with some tutoring about Russian.
Because students in later generations generally learn English, few people learn Russian.
In his last exam, he ignored the fact that most high school students in this era are learning Russian. He doesn't know it at all. It's basically a blind cover. It's natural that he failed. Fortunately, because he was perfect in other subjects.
He passed, so the class teacher gave him another chance.
After getting the results, I introduced him to a friend who had studied Russian and was very proficient in Russian. He could pay her to be a tutor.
He got on his bicycle and rode quickly to the address given by the class teacher. When he got there, he knocked on the door and exchanged greetings, explaining his purpose. Ye Huizhi readily agreed to him and agreed to attend an afternoon class every Saturday afternoon.
After coming out of the Russian teacher's house, Zhang Yu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after having solved his current major problem, and then hurried back home. He happened to meet Zhang Guifang at the entrance of the alley carrying a lot of things home.
"Sister-in-law, I'll come," Zhang Yu said, taking the things in Zhang Guifang's hands and putting them on the back seat of the bicycle.
Zhang Guifang did not refuse. After passing the thing to Zhang Yu, she waved her hand and said, "It's just a small thing. It's quite heavy after holding it for a long time. It hurts my hands."
"Sister-in-law, what did you buy?"
"Isn't it Laba tomorrow? I managed to get a few things to make porridge, but it seems I won't be able to get enough this year." Zhang Guifang sighed as she said that this year's situation has already begun.
After it came out, life was not easy for everyone, and supplies were low.
At this time in previous years, as long as she had money, it would be easy to get together the ingredients needed for Laba porridge, but that was not the case this year. She couldn't even buy it with money. She waited in line for a long time to finally get a few items together.
The two walked while talking, and when they arrived at home, Zhang Yu opened the bag to see what was inside.
I saw about seven or eight kilograms of white rice in the bag. A small bag of chestnuts, five or six kilograms of millet, a small bowl of soybeans, some red beans, and a small piece of rock sugar.
"When I went there, there happened to be a supply of rice and millet, so I bought more. I couldn't use it all at once and kept it for the New Year. But I couldn't get other raw materials. This year's Laba porridge is probably not as delicious as in previous years.
.”
"Sister-in-law, I still have some ingredients here, which ones do you think can be used?" As he said this, he used the cover of the cabinet to secretly take out some things from the space and put them in the cabinet.
"Let me see, you have a lot of things." Looking at the red dates, lotus seeds, peanuts, longans, walnuts in the cupboard... Zhang Guifang showed an expression of joy. With these ingredients, Laba porridge is complete.
She didn't ask Zhang Yu where these materials came from, as long as they were safe. Regarding this point, Zhang Yu took out things and went home from time to time in the past six months, but no one found out when he took them back, which dissuaded her.
concerns.
All she had to do was to cover Xiaoyu in the yard, deal with some of the flaws he had exposed, and dispel the doubts of the neighbors.
Zhang Guifang is particularly particular about cooking Laba porridge. Unlike some people who basically cook everything together. When it is cooked, some are rotten and some have just been cooked. So she starts washing the rice, soaking the fruits, and peeling the skin from the evening
, remove the core, and start simmering it over low heat again in the middle of the night. It wasn't until the next morning that the Laba porridge was ready.
The aroma of cooking Laba porridge at night awoke the neighbors who were not full from their sleep.
The neighbors who woke up rubbed their growling stomachs, ignored the cold weather, opened the windows and inhaled the aroma in the air, and then looked around through the windows to see whose family was cooking rice porridge.
Finally, I fell asleep with the smell of Laba porridge. I guess even my dreams were about Laba porridge.
