My favorite noodle dish is cat's ear, which is so delicious that I never get tired of it.

Cat's ear is a specialty noodle in Hejin, Jinnan, where the noodle is cut into small squares of about 1cm, pinched diagonally, and then closed horizontally, so that the shape resembles a cat's ear.

01

Cat's ears are a sign of nostalgia.

In our hometown, cat's ears are the staple food of choice for entertaining relatives and guests, and for organizing weddings and celebrations.

Particularly in the past, when there was not enough food to go around, it was difficult to secure a meal of noodles.

But when relatives came, they made noodles, rolled them out and sliced them, and the women sat together on the bed and pinched cat ears.

At the same time, according to the seasonal choice of radish, pumpkin, cabbage, leek, tomato, egg, tofu and so on, fry a pot of fragrant bashimi dishes, and put the boiled cat ears into it.

Even if the in-laws, new daughter-in-law, new son-in-law to the door, the oil lump, cat ears are superior meal.

The cat's ear is also the first choice of the chief steward for breakfast, as it is easy to increase or decrease the number of people eating according to the number of people at a wedding.

A few days before the event, the neighboring women came to help, and dozens of pounds of noodles, more than a dozen women sitting around a few stalls, the sun, talking and laughing, hand grabbed a handful of noodles, two fingers flying like a pinch.

Over the years, the village has bought a few processing cat ears machine, encountered things on a large scale, the amount of time, go to the mechanism. Of course, the mechanism of the comparison with the hand-kneaded, the taste is much worse.

Early in the morning on the day of the start, the chef with a diameter of nearly two meters of the large iron pot fry a pot of vegetables, adding boiled cat ears, the entire alleyway aroma overflowing, hot and sour tantalizing.

No need to greet the neighbors, they all came to eat. Each person a big bowl, there are sitting around the table, there is a bowl of squatting next to the side, all eat sweaty, full of ambition.

Because of the funeral breakfast also choose to eat cat ears, see the old age in the sun, people often joke, when to eat your cat ears? The old lifer is not angry, squinting and smiling, let you think, will not let you eat!

02

Cat ears are a deep friendship.

The most impressive meal of cat's ears was eaten at an old president's house when we visited him.

The old president was recovering from an illness and we visited him in the village.

Possibly knowing that we were coming, he and his wife bought meat in advance, cooked a good soup, and pinched a lot of cat's ears, so they had to keep us for dinner.

The cat's ears are still fresh in my mind, and I can't stop thinking about them.

The oil soup is spicy and brightly colored, and buried in each bowl is a white and yellow lotus egg.

Pursed lips in the bowl along the edge of a taste, soup fresh flavor, sour and delicious.

Chopsticks stir, cabbage, tofu, diced meat, vermicelli, seaweed, or shredded, or diced, knife work, all complete.

Particularly the cat's ear into the mouth, tendon smooth, into the fragrance and flavor. We were all in unison, and we all praised it. I don't care about the reserve, each person has used two or three bowls.

Many times with classmates and friends dinner, we all know my hobby, every time I order a meal when the staple food point cat ears: meat cat ears, tomatoes and eggs cat ears, radish bashful cat ears, leeks and tofu cat ears ......

County where the new restaurant, which cat ears do well, friends have invited I went to taste.

These years are also single working outside, every Friday, there are classmates give me a phone call, invited me to eat cat ears, often to the county do not go home, first go to eat a bowl of cat ears to get addicted to.

03

Cat's ear is a strong kinship.

My favorite food is still my mother's cat ears, which is the taste of my mother.

Except for holidays, my mother used to make cat ears when I went to school and when I had to leave home.

I went to high school outside the country and came back only once a semester.

Every time school started, my mother made fragrant cat's ears early and scooped them up for us to eat, but then she went out to work. Every time we said goodbye, we didn't see our mother.

One time when I was carrying my luggage out of the alley, I unconsciously looked back and caught a glimpse of my mother hiding behind the door, shedding tears.

Since then I have learned that every time I leave home, my mother is not really busy, but she has soft eyes and does not want to face the parting scene.

Later we worked outside. Every weekend back, my mother carefully prepared many meals, but always let me eat a bowl of cat ears.

This year, during the Ching Ming Festival vacation, my son and daughter-in-law, who were working in Beijing, came back.

I received a call from my father early in the morning: "Your mother pinched the cat's ear, and at noon with the children to go home for dinner".

When I entered the room, I saw my mother hunched over, concentrating on her cat ears, which were drying on the dining table next to her.

My father told me that my mother, who was in poor health and could not work hard enough to make the dough, woke him up at 4 a.m. to make the dough. Mother had been slicing and kneading alone for hours.

Mother was very happy: "It's rare for the children to come back, so I have the heart to do it.

The mother said, pinching cat ears is not laborious, only due to leg pain, sitting for a long time torment, from time to time to stretch their legs on the sofa to knock knock knock.

A table of exquisite cat ears is the mother one by one carefully pinched out, each small cat ears are sent to the mother's care for the younger generation.

Looking at my mother's red eyes and tired demeanor, I was saddened.

04

Cat's ears are a permanent attachment between relatives

Parents are the same in all the world, they are stingy with themselves, but always give their all to their children.

In the eyes of the parents, children are always children, there are always endless worries, there are always endless heart.

I remember when I first came to work in Yuncheng, single, my parents were afraid that I could not eat well, pinched a lot of cat's ears, drying to me to bring.

Father according to three or two people to eat a meal of the amount of packaging package, each bag put a note, which reads: "Cooking before soaking in cool water for ten minutes".

A small note, into the parents how much concern!

Parents are in their eighties. When they have time, they often pinch cat ears and dry them to collect them. Every time we go home to visit them let us bring some. My parents were always worried that we were too busy working to pinch them.

It wasn't just us. My son, who works in Beijing, and my nephew, who works in the U.S., often have cat ears in their refrigerators that Grandma pinched.

A cat's ear is a love, a bowl of cat's ear full of love. From the cat ears I ate out of the sweet and sour: there is the sweetness of enjoying parental care, there is the heartache of parental labor, and there is the sourness of parting once and for all!