What does summer taste like? I think it is the first breath of fresh air after getting up in the morning. It feels “cool, wet, mixed with the fragrance of soil and various plants”
I planted some vines, cucumbers, loofah and other vine vegetables on the outer wall. After a season has passed, the entire outer wall is wrapped in vines and turns green.
I picked fresh cucumbers and some mushrooms. I can use them to make cucumber skin bacon, shredded chicken cold noodles, cucumber fried rice, and chicken burritos. This is Liziqi’s summer recipe.
Make a Bamboo Fence On The Walls
I also laid bamboo fences on the other three outer walls of the yard. To surround the bamboo rafts, I chose to drive screws into the brick walls and then tighten them. Then choose some slender bamboo poles to make horizontal strips, and temporarily fix them with iron wires. After the bamboos are flat on the wall, tighten them with pliers and it is finally completed. Although it looks cumbersome, the effect is very beautiful.
Making Cucumber Skin Fried Bacon
The growth process of cucumber is seedling raising, transplanting, flowering, melon and fruit, and ripening. I have grown cucumbers and loofah on all the walls of my yard. My cucumbers have been ripe for more than a month. I picked them, partly sun-dried as cucumber skins, partly washed and marinated in brine.
When I was a waiter in a restaurant, there was a dish called “fried bacon with cucumber skin”. Many people said it was delicious and I remember the price clearly. That was in 2005, 16 yuan a piece. At that time, my monthly salary was 300 yuan, and I was reluctant to take a day’s salary to order food haha.
Picking Mushrooms
After a few rains in summer, colorful wild mushrooms will emerge with cute little heads, accompanying the newly molted cicadas to announce the summer weather. The weather was stuffy and humid. The mountains are full of ferocious mosquitoes, so be sure to wear long clothes and trousers.
Make a Mushroom Dish
We usually wash the mushrooms with pumpkin leaves, and the small burrs on the leaves can wipe off the mud and dust on its surface. From the washed mushrooms, tear the mushroom cap and the mushroom handle into small pieces. First put the mushroom umbrella in the oil and fry it slowly, and then you can put some ginger, chili, and pepper in it. When the mushroom cap is fried until it starts to dehydrate, put in the mushroom handle and salt, and boil it until it is dehydrated by 70%. If fried too dry, it won’t taste good and won’t chew. The boiled mushrooms are super delicious.
Making Cucumber Shredded Chicken Cold Noodles
After soaking the cucumber skin, cut it into thin shreds, and stir-fry it with shredded bacon, which is very fragrant. Braised a chicken with cooked mushrooms accompanied by cucumber and soba noodles. I took shredded chicken and made a shredded chicken noodle.
Making pickled cucumbers
Pickled cucumbers were also made in the first two days. Cut the green cucumbers in half, then use salt to kill the water and dry the surface water. Then make a pot of spice soup with chili, pepper, star anise and fennel. After boiling, add soy sauce, white wine, salt and sugar. Put the salt-killed cucumber strips in to marinate. It is generally better to marinate for two or three days. Try to eat it within a week.
Make Cucumber Skin Meatball Soup
There was also some cucumber skin at the end, which was chopped with pork to make a cucumber skin meatball soup. Too delicious. The fragrant meatballs bite down, and the cucumber skin is a little crispy. This meatball recipe comes from the “Gong Cai Meatballs” that I have eaten before, and it tastes very crispy.
Finally, under the premise of health, I think you should eat what you want, drink what you want, and play what you want. You must live every day well, so love yourself, your family, and be kind to yourself.