Chapter 1372 - 539: Dad, Is This the "Seafood" You Bought? Farewell and Welcome New Year’s Eve Dinner!

Chapter 1372: Chapter 539: Dad, Is This the "Seafood" You Bought? Farewell and Welcome New Year’s Eve Dinner!

For the people, the New Year’s Eve dinner is the most important meal of the year.

It’s not just about bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new; it’s also about rewarding the family’s hard work throughout the year and hoping for a better future.

In the restaurant, Chen Meijuan was skillfully rolling dumpling wrappers with several elderly ladies.

There were many people eating today, so the dumpling fillings were divided into several types: beef and green onion, fennel pork, three-flavor shrimp, chives lamb, and zucchini egg, symbolizing five fortunes arriving.

Old Mrs. Lin said:

"Tonight let’s fill up the poverty pit; eat as much as you can."

Filling up the poverty pit is an old saying, suggesting that impoverished families are in a "poverty pit." At the end of the year, there’s a chance to fill the pit with food.

Once filled, you won’t be poor in the coming year.

Life will become prosperous and beautiful.

This is actually a hopeful wish, and it’s also an excuse for the family to have a lavish meal during the New Year.

But because of the beautiful meaning, it gives people something to look forward to, so the elderly carried this saying on from generation to generation.

Next to her, Shen Jiayue, who originally wanted to help but was stopped by Han Shuzhen, said:

"Then I have to eat more, not only to fill up the poverty pit but to pile it up into a little hill."

Chen Meijuan was worried her daughter-in-law would binge eat and quickly said:

"No need, no need, even if our family has a poverty pit, you don’t need to fill it, just eat until you’re full. Don’t eat forcefully; it could harm your health."

These words reminded Han Shuzhen of her experiences on duty at the hospital during Spring Festival a few years ago. On New Year’s Eve, the emergency room was constantly receiving patients who had overeaten, thrown up, suffered acute pancreatitis, or even ended up with stomach perforations needing urgent care.

Most of these cases were due to binge eating, eating forcefully, and eventually needing a stomach wash at the hospital.

In extreme cases, they required surgery to barely save their lives.

Therefore, filling the pit carries risks, so be cautious with eating.

Big Aunt Qi Xiangzhi skillfully rolled dumpling wrappers and laughed, saying:

"We Northern people eat dumplings for every holiday, but I don’t know what Southern people eat on New Year’s Eve, do they still eat rice?"

Shen Jiayue was chatting with online friends about the New Year’s Eve dinner and laughed when she heard this, saying:

"Big Aunt, there are many places in the South too; some drink lamb soup, some eat sticky rice balls. Customs vary across regions. Only we Northern people wrap dumplings at every opportunity, it’s even become a trend online."

Chen Meijuan smiled:

"The earth nourishes its people. I think dumplings are quite delicious and never get tired of them."

While chatting, Shen Guofu was driving Lin Xu’s Maserati slowly into the courtyard.

In the morning, he went to buy seafood, purchasing some large shrimp, eel, swimming crab, and other seafood products. Higher-end items like grouper were sold out, but the shop owner mentioned there would be another batch in the afternoon, so Shen Guofu drove over again, enjoying driving in the process.

The strong acceleration from 720 horsepower, combined with the carbon fiber body, piqued Old Shen’s interest in the Maserati.

He had already decided to order two in Beijing and select some personalized features.

Opening the trunk, he took out two large bags of newly bought ingredients and headed to the kitchen:

"It was worth the trip; I bought two groupers and some big shrimp. The price is higher than in Beijing, and there are also some hermit crabs, blood clams, and oysters."

Hermit crabs are what Southern people call hermit crabs.

At this time, Lin Xu was helping brothers Chen Meiliang and Chen Meide to organize dishes that needed steaming.

There were savory dishes like braised meat, crispy meat, crispy pork ribs, crispy chicken pieces, crispy beef, glass noodles meatballs, sweet potato balls, cabbage rolls, and sweet dishes like snow pear bird’s nest and orange steamed egg.

The so-called snow pear bird’s nest involves scooping out the center of a snow pear and placing thoroughly soaked cubilose inside, steaming it with purified water and crystal sugar, creating a combination of crystal sugar pear and crystal sugar bird’s nest.

Because it looks good and tastes nice, everyone gets a portion today.

Lin Xu and his two uncles had been busy in the kitchen all morning, preparing the snow pears.

Lin Xu arranged all the snow pears on the steaming tray and turned his face, noticing that Shen Guofu was holding a furry thing that looked like a cow’s head but with longer hair than a cow’s.

Curiously, he asked:

"Dad, is this seafood too?"

"Oh, it’s not seafood. I happened to pass by the area, and saw a meat shop offering discounted camel hump. This item is quite rare, and it was only a few hundred yuan, so I bought it for everyone to try something new."

Camel hump?

Upon hearing this name, even brothers Chen Meide and Chen Meiliang turned their heads.

They had often heard about steamed camel hump and steamed bear paw in cross talks, but had never seen them in reality.

Chen Meide curiously asked:

"Isn’t it said that camel humps store water? Would this thing burst out like a spoiled watermelon, full of water?"

Shen Guofu placed the bag on the workbench and said:

"Originally, I thought this was all water too. But upon closer inspection, it’s a big bunch of fat, like goose liver. However, the person selling the hump said it looks fatty but contains membranes, which makes it somewhat different from goose liver."

The camel hump looks like a giant taro wrapped in a felt hat. Lin Xu took it and said:

"Since we’ve got the ingredients, let’s add two more dishes tonight."

He took out the camel hump and examined it; the cut did look like a large mass of fat.

As he leaned in to smell it, he noticed it even had a hint of a creamy scent.