Becoming a stepmother of three children gives me space

Looking at the bearded man's fleeing figure from afar, Xiao Yunxi was speechless. Madam Miao didn't even reveal her identity, but he was scared and ran away. How dare he go out into society like this?

It was difficult for her to understand the ancient people's concept of hierarchy.

To put it nicely, the bearded man was a handyman, but to put it bluntly, he was a thug hired by the head of the village. In modern times, he would be a temporary worker who would take the blame at any time and was not registered with the government.

It's okay to use big words to deal with ordinary people, but those with a little status don't dare to confront them head-on, otherwise they wouldn't come and arrest people when the village chief is away.

Mrs. Zhou's maidservants are dressed more luxuriously than the head of the village. If they don't run away now, are they waiting to be caught?

"Thank you, Mrs. Zhou."

"If you really want to thank me, make some more delicious food. The food you cook is very much to my taste."

"No problem...but it'll cost extra."

"..."

Xiao Yunxi made a joke to liven up the atmosphere. Since she had helped him a lot, it was necessary to take advantage of her.

The custom-made stone mill has not yet arrived, so we are using the small stone mill from Aunt Li's house.

Tang Xiaowan used a spoon to scoop the soaked beans into the stone mill. Xiao Yunxi held the handle on the stone mill and turned it slowly. Fortunately, it was a small one. If it was a big one, it would require an old donkey.

The aunts saw her grinding beans and scratched their heads in confusion.

There are two ways to eat soybeans: make bean rice or feed it to livestock. What does soy milk look like if the beans are ground into soy milk?

"The beans are not tasty. When ground into soy milk, it has a fishy smell and is not tasty."

Xiao Yunxi smiled mysteriously:

“It’s guaranteed to be delicious if made into tofu.”

“Is tofu made from soybeans?”

"Of course! Tofu is cheap to make, but the process is laborious. However, tofu tastes just as good as meat. You'll see later."

Although the stone mill is not big, it is still very tiring to keep turning it. The aunts took turns and soon a pot of beans was ground into two large buckets of bean and water mixture.

The next step is to separate the dregs from the soy milk.

A fine white cloth was tied to a cross-shaped shoulder pole, and a large wooden basin was placed underneath. The mixture was scooped into the gauze spoonful by spoonful, and the bean water seeped through the gauze and fell into the basin.

The rough bean dregs are left on the white cloth. The pole should be rolled continuously to accelerate the penetration and filter out more bean juice.

Pour the filtered bean water into a large iron pot and start cooking. The fire should not be too big and you should stir it constantly with a spoon to prevent the pot from sticking.

When the bean and water mixture is ground, it has a strong bean smell. After being boiled in water, the bean smell slowly turns into a bean fragrance, which fills the kitchen with hot steam.

“Boiled soy milk smells pretty good.”

When the soy milk starts to boil, continue to cook on low heat. Because soy milk contains saponins, it will experience a false boil phenomenon, which can cause vomiting, abdominal pain and other discomforts after consumption.

Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, take a few large blue-rimmed bowls, put some malt sugar in them, pour boiling hot soy milk in them, and give one bowl to each person.

"Yunxi, is this tofu?"

"It's not tofu yet, it's soy milk, and it's delicious too."

Pick up a bowl and give it to Grandma Tang:

"Milk, try it, be careful it's hot."

Holding the bowl, Grandma Tang squinted her eyes:

"The beans tasted fishy when they were just ground, but I didn't expect them to taste so delicious when boiled. Let me try it."

Blow along the edge of the bowl, then take a sip, and your eyes will instantly light up:

"Oh, soy milk is so delicious!"

Seeing this, the others all picked up their bowls and slurped them up. Aunt Li was too anxious and grimaced because of the heat.

"It tastes good!"

“Soy milk is so delicious!”

Xiaobao smelled the fragrance and rushed over.

"My lady, I want it, I want it."

Niuniu followed and shouted:

"Mom, Niuniu wants it!"

Gousheng licked his lips, staring at the bowl in a daze. Xiao Yunxi gave them each a bowl in a small bowl.

"Let it cool before drinking. Be careful of the heat."

Adults don't care whether it's hot or not, they drink it with their teeth bared and their eyes wide open.

After the soy milk is cooked, the next step is the key step - making tofu!

There are northern and southern types of tofu.

Southern tofu is made by dotting tofu with gypsum water, which makes it more delicate in texture and suitable for cold dishes and soups. Due to its high water content, it is easier to break. It is also called tender tofu.

Northern tofu is made by brine-dipped tofu. It has a tight texture, high hardness, low water content, and toughness. It is suitable for frying and stir-frying. It is also called old tofu.

Xiao Yunxi made old tofu, not only because there was no gypsum in that era, but also because old tofu is high in calcium and protein, which can supplement calcium for children.

There is no good opportunity to get the ewe out of the space, so calcium supplementation is urgent, especially for Xiaobao, who still walks unsteadily and needs to be adjusted.

It is actually very simple to make tofu. Just pour the prepared brine into the pot.

Everyone is curious, what is the purpose of putting cold water in?

Is it a drop in temperature?

Gradually, the liquid soy milk in the pot condensed into a little white flocculent substance. As it was stirred continuously, the white flocculent substance became more and more solid.

The soy milk in the pot disappeared, replaced by a white gelatinous substance.

Everyone couldn't help but ask, is it still safe to eat after it becomes like this? Is it spoiled?

Xiao Yunxi put clean gauze in the wooden box, put the white condensate into the box, smoothed the surface, covered it with gauze, covered it with wooden boards, and pressed it with stones.

The next step is to witness the miracle. Once the water is squeezed out and the tofu is formed, it is done.

Seeing that she had finished her work, Aunt Li asked hurriedly:

"What's going on? Why is the soy milk all lumpy? Is it still edible?"

"That step is to make tofu, the most critical step in making tofu."

Tang Xiaowan is young and outspoken.

"Tofu? Is it the water in the basin that does the trick?"

"Yeah, that's the key to tofu."

"What the hell is that?"

Aunt Zhou slapped her:

"You're the only one who talks too much. What are you asking?"

The technical secrets are all family heirlooms, how can I ask them openly? Tang Xiaowan blushed:

"Sister Yunxi, I just want to ask..."

"it does not matter."

Xiao Yunxi originally planned to teach them the tofu-making skills, but not now. She had to wait until they passed the test.

It takes time for tofu to be fully formed.

The aunts continued to make clothes under the sun. Strength lies in numbers. Xiaobao's third set of new clothes, the outer coat and lining, were already made.

The lining is made of white cloth and filled with cotton, which is very warm. There is a whole row of buttons on the edge, which can be buttoned to put the jacket together.

This design is because the baby is too naughty and likes to play in the mud, so the clothes will be dirty in half a day.

In early summer, the weather is cool, and clothes are thin, so they are easy to wash and can be dried in one day. In autumn and winter, cotton clothes take several days to dry after washing.

The separate design allows you to wash only the jacket, which is convenient and saves trouble.

Xiaobao and Goudan were playing in the mud again. She was a little confused as to why children liked playing in the mud and water.

Take Goudan and Xiaobao for example, they came up with something new. They made a boat out of mud and put it in the sink, playing with the water and mud at the same time. It was quite creative.

"Beep, beep, the boat is coming."

"Oh, the boat sank."

"Why can Grandpa Tang's boat swim in the water, but our boat sinks in a short time?"

"You must be too stupid."

Xiao Bao persevered in making a boat out of mud and put it in the sink, but the boat still sank to the bottom. Xiao Bao was so anxious that he kept scratching his head.

His hands were covered in mud that was stuck to his hair and clothes. Xiao Yunxi had a lot of black lines on her forehead. She really couldn't have such a naughty child anymore!