"Introduce some dishes with local characteristics!" My friend took the menu and smiled.
"Smoked goose, snail, smoked vole, golden bamboo shoots with chicken, chrysanthemum grass carp, loach vermicelli, boiled carp pods, and hometown tofu; In addition, there are pickled potherb mustard (the best in America), fried tofu, green fried wheat beans, and wengong dishes. , as well as baked beans, flax rice, rye seeds, bitter stored cakes, cold water seeds, rat koji rye and other special snacks ... "
The waiter who has memorized the menu reported a series of dishes in one breath. I smiled and shook my head and said, "We don't like meat for dinner. We prefer something light." I looked at the menu with my friends and looked at the back. Suddenly, a conspicuous dish name caught my attention: wild celery! I haven't eaten wild celery for more than thirty years. "That's it, wild celery." My friend agreed at once, and then we ordered fried tofu, fried potato flour and three red bamboo shoots and shredded pork soup from our hometown.
The dish of green celery floating on the dining table was greasy, which brought my thoughts back to the hard years in the distant past.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the vast majority of ordinary people living in rural areas were living in poverty. It is common to lack salt and vinegar at home, let alone spend money on food. As far as I remember, in addition to having meat to entertain relatives, I can also get some fishy. At ordinary times, the most stuttering in our family of seven is wild celery.
Because there were very few things to eat at that time, and there were many brothers and sisters, all of whom were in the stage of growing up. Looking at the empty plate, parents can do nothing. One summer afternoon, my father went to the Li Lun River to grind noodles. I saw the sparse wild celery growing next to the water mill, so I lit it and walked straight along the winding river. Although the wild celery growing along the banks of the river is not very concentrated, there are enough wild celery for us to eat for a while along the banks of more than ten miles.
Father pulled a lot of wild celery by hand that day and took it home at night. Mother was very happy to see a handful of wild celery brought back by her father. She immediately went into the kitchen to wash a small part, and then mixed a plate of raw wild celery with salt and vinegar for us to eat.
"Very bitter!" I took a long drink, spit it out quickly and put it in my hand. That smell is a smell that I hate and find hard to accept. Big sister also complained. My brother is weak and always picky about food. Naturally, he doesn't like it.
My mother looked at me with a sad face and said a little angrily, "It's good to be able to eat and serve." What are you talking about? " ! Food, how bitter it can be, don't eat it if it is too bitter! "As soon as my mother's voice fell, we sat around the square table made of lime in the middle of the yard, and suddenly we were silent and didn't dare to make any noise.
I ran back to my room angrily and began to cry. When my father saw this scene, he immediately got up and followed me, bent down, touched my head, and then smiled and said, "It must be a bit bitter for you to eat your meal first. If you try to eat the food in steamed bread, it will be less bitter. Just try it. Is it bitter to put some vegetables in the steamed bread first? "
I refused to leave the house, so my father went out. After a while, my father sent steamed bread and some vegetables home. Just order. Look at the big blisters on your mouth. It is difficult to grow well without food. My father piteously pointed his finger at my festering mouth and kindly advised me.
I took a bite of steamed bread, and the taste of wild celery sandwiched between steamed bread was still bitter and strange, but I still resisted. No matter what my father said, I don't want to eat wild celery, so my father had to pat me on the shoulder and say, "Then give this steamed bread to my sister and you can have another one."
The next afternoon, my parents took us to dig in a ditch 3 or 4 miles away. When we got home, the moon had climbed to the top of the tree. After an afternoon of hard physical labor and sultry weather, we sweated a lot and everyone was exhausted when we got home. My sister is more sensible than us and took the initiative to mix a dish for us according to her mother's cooking method the day before. Life was really hard at that time. Apart from this kind of wild celery, there is no other food to eat. Even that little wild celery was discovered by my father with great care.
When the food was served, neither my sister nor I ate it. When my father saw us chewing dry steamed bread, he pointed to the dishes on the plate and said, "Try it. It's sour and sour. It's definitely delicious when dipped in it."
My sister broke off a small piece of steamed bread and tasted it. She immediately shook my arm and said, "Sister, really, soaking in water is not bitter."
For a long time, mom and dad often went to the vertical wheel river to pinch wild celery. They are very careful every time, for fear of uprooting it, because it will grow new leaves. Besides, we also dipped the plate in wild celery water for a long time to eat steamed bread.
Later, my father got some leek roots from there and planted them on the wall in our backyard.
"Qiu Er, you and Joan take good care of these leeks, and you will have food! You must remember to water it often! " My father stood at the foot of the city wall and said to my elder sister and me. He is always so kind and kind, and there is always a kind of love in his eyes.
The city wall is high and there is no ladder. I often climb to the wall along the tree next to me, and my elder sister gives me a basin to water vegetables. Together with our two sisters who don't like wild celery, we carefully and devoutly manage the "small vegetable garden" opened by our father. Although the vegetable garden is small, less than 3 meters long and 2 feet wide, our hearts are full of hope. We are very happy to watch leek grow up.
In spring, my father brought back more than 10 pepper seedlings. My elder sister and I dug, loosened the soil, dug holes and watered them, and planted three rows of peppers. The vegetable garden has been lengthened by more than one meter. Looking at the sun-baked pepper seedlings, they gradually straightened their waists through watering, and then blossomed small white flowers. We often sit on the wall and watch for a long time, unwilling to go down. Growing vegetables has brought great fun and joy to our childhood.
I cut a handful of leeks with a sickle for the first time-green, thin and long. I squatted on the wall and handed my food to the elder sister standing below. I accidentally dropped a few, and my sister immediately bent down to pick them up. I climbed down the tree and ran to the kitchen with my elder sister. The excitement is beyond description.
Mom saw the leeks in our hands and praised us for our skill. So, she personally mixed us a plate of leeks. Although there is not a drop of oil, it is better than eating wild celery.
After all, there were too few leeks, and my mother later mixed them with wild celery for us to eat. Maybe it's because I like growing leeks. When eating mixed vegetables, I think wild celery is not as bitter as when I first started eating it. My sister and I slowly began to eat wild celery.
As autumn approaches, mom and dad pull out a lot of wild celery and then dry it and collect it. When the green peppers come down, my mother often opens some dried wild celery with boiling water and then mixes them with green peppers for us to eat.
In this way, our family of seven people, a dish every day, almost no drop of oil (at that time, everyone only ate half a catty of sesame oil every year), spent many years.
Looking at the green celery floating on the dining table in front of me again, my eyes seem to be covered with a gentle mist, and the waves in my heart are hard to calm down for a long time. The voice and smile of my father, who has always been amiable, clearly emerged in front of my eyes, and unconsciously tears actually wetted my eyes. How I want to order some dishes that my father loves! But in the process of growing up, I only know that my father doesn't eat any meat. I really don't know what dishes my father likes to eat!
The most regrettable thing in life is that children want to raise and not stay! After the bitter days, my father left us forever, failed to taste a decent meal he liked, and failed to see the great changes in the married life of each child, which left me with lifelong regrets.
Father's love, the feeling that always moistens my heart, the unforgettable past, gradually precipitated into the most beautiful, dignified and inexhaustible warmth in my heart with the passage of time. Father's love, accompanied me through the difficult times of life and helped me overcome all kinds of difficulties in life.
Live slowly, and dad will always be with you!