"The taste is indeed different."
Xia Yu drank the hot tea he just brewed. The taste had indeed improved, and it was not just a little bit.
Grunt.
Drinking tea on an empty stomach was not good for health.
Xia Yu touched his stomach and drank a few sips of tea. After tasting it carefully, he put down his teacup unwillingly.
Xia Yu's eyes brightened.
Tea ceremony was the way to appreciate the beauty of tea.
This was a kind of life art, life etiquette, and a way of self-cultivation.
The earliest and most perfect tea ceremony was created by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty.
Before, Xia Yu thought that the tea ceremony was something useless. The complicated ritual was just for watching. In the past two years, the old man's words and teachings had changed his way of thinking.
Strict tea art was just like cooking.
Ordinary people could also cook, stir-fry dishes and brew tea, but compared to the pros, that kind of cooking and tea art could not match up.
Any skill had to be practiced seriously, rigorously, and meticulously when it came to a professional level.
Xia Yu digested the knowledge of tea ceremony in his brain just then. Like a doctor of tea who had been trained in tea ceremony for many years, he tasted his tea and secretly put his thumb up.
Nice!
Thousand points of fame were worth to spend this way!
A few sips of hot tea went into his stomach. His sleepy head suddenly became clear.
"Tea still needs some snacks to go together with it..."
Xia Yu's mouth closed and he became hungry. He scooped up water and planned to make his own breakfast. At the same time, he would make breakfast for An Ya and Mu Xiaoyue.
Knock, knock!
Someone knocked on the kitchen door.
"What?" Xia Yu asked impatiently. His back was against the door and he worked hard at the kitchen counter.
"…"
There was a weird silence.
Xia Yu thought that it was Mu Xiaoyue but he heard no response. Xia Yu poured hot water into a flour-filled copper pot and looked back, then he was startled.
At the door, it was not An Ya nor Mu Xiaoyue, but a slim girl.
Maki Morita appeared to be dressed up specially today.
She wore a white shirt on the top, a black skirt underneath, and a pair of brown uniform shoes on her feet. Black cotton socks covered her calves. She exuded a youthful atmosphere.
She clearly understood the advantages of her temperament.
Perhaps it was because she helped her family take care of the pastry shop since she was a child. Morita Maki was far more mature than her peers.
Her long shirt showed off her curvy body and she seemed to be mature and elegant. If she wasn't wearing a short skirt on her lower body, but a woman's suit and trousers, she would be a beautiful office lady.
Xia Yu's eyes lit up, and he blew a whistle in his heart.
Maki Morita's look really suited his taste.
"Why didn't you say something when you came?" Xia Yu laughed whilst rubbing the dough.
"Something."
Xia Yu felt speechless, so he stopped and pointed to the semi-formed dough in the copper basin. "You can rub the dough, pastry master."
"No problem!"
This day, Morita seemed to be playful. She was obviously familiar with the kitchen in the restaurant. She rolled up the sleeves of her white shirt, carefully washed her white and slender hands, and stood beside Xia Yu.
The expert started to work.
Xia Yu nodded secretly when he saw Morita's kneading technique.
The basic skills were very good. Although for modern pastries, many machines replaced hand work, as a chef, you could not rely too much on machines. The basic skills still needed to be accumulated by practice.
Maki Morita, as she said, had never given up on her cooking skills. She had been accumulating and improving her skill over the years, waiting for a transformation.
'It seems that she is the best at Japanese traditional dim sum,' Xia Yu thought with his chin up.
Morita's Pastry Shop was also considered a long-established brand. Not to mention the craftsmanship of Uncle Morita, according to the memory of the body, the sea bream, cherry cake, dorayaki, mochi, and dango made by Morita were very good.
She was skilful.
However, pastry was only a specialization direction. Morita once participated Togetsu Middle School selection, and her specialty was definitely not only dim sum.
When Morita Maki kneaded the dough, Xia Yu was not idle. He took a piece of fresh pork from the refrigerator and picked up a kitchen knife.
Chop, chop, chop, and chop again. Until it became minced meat.
Next was to flavor the meat, add salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and stir well.
At the same time, you could stir it together with onion and ginger soaked in water. You could also mince the ginger and mix into the stir. Xia Yu took the two to mix, added ginger, onion water, and added a little minced green onion and stirred.
Maki Morita had already kneaded the dough and placed it to the side. She gazed at the hard-working Xia Yu. "Are you making steamed buns?"
"Correct!"
Xia Yu took on the following work with his hand. Cutting the dough, rolling the dough, and filling them with dough. After a short while, the three-layer steamer on the kitchen counter was filled with small steamed buns.
Xia Yu put the steamer on the stove and lit it.
Bzzt!
The blue flames bloomed. Xia Yu washed his hands cheerfully. Then he stared at the girl waiting nearby.
"Remember what I said last night?"
"Do you really want to help me?"
Morita opened her mouth slightly and said hesitantly, "However, the assessment of the transferred students of the Togetsu High School is much more difficult than the middle school entrance selection. I'm afraid that only one or two of the 100 candidates will pass."
The students of Togetsu High School were basically directly promoted from middle school. Before graduation, these middle school students had been screened. Even the internal direct examination was not easy.
It took time to steam the steamed buns.
Facing the girl's question, Xia Yu did not answer, but instead just turned around from the place where the ingredients were stored and took out a box of fresh eggs covered with plastic wrap.
"Use eggs to cook. No matter what it is, do it until I am satisfied."
As he said, Xia Yu put a box of eggs into the girl's hands.
"Eggs... Cooking?"
Morita tilted her head and pointed her finger at her ruddy lower lip. She couldn't understand Xia Yu for a while.
Make egg dishes to get his approval?
And then?
The girl didn't know that what Xia Yu was asking her to do was to prepare her for the transfer exam in advance. In other words, it was a preview and warm-up of the exam.
She saw Xia Yu's calm eyes. Morita nodded after thinking a little. "Yes, Ah Yu."
"Although I don't know what you are thinking for the time being, but if you say you want to help me, you must be helping me. Having said that, since the last selection, you haven't tasted my work in two years. This time, I will let you see my progress! I said that I will never give up!"
Maki Morita suddenly became serious.
Xia Yu silently retreated to the kitchen door whilst staring quietly at Maki Morita who was looking down. He thought very curiously, what kind of dishes would she make with eggs?
Whether it is western, Japanese or Chinese, eggs were the most basic ingredients.
Pastry?
This possibility was the highest. After all, it was a specialization, and eggs could make a lot of delicious snacks.
If you went according to the normal plot, at the end of March, students would enter the examination room for the Togetsu Higher Department. Rina would hold an egg and scare away all candidates except Yukihira Soma.
He wished that he could help Morita enter that examination room and successfully pass the examination.
This was another way of compensation, which could also be said to pay off the debts of the predecessor.
He couldn't help stopping the love affair. He couldn't make a good girl wait for so long. Xia Yu couldn't be more conscientious.
Moreover, isn't it interesting to have Maki Morita go to Togetsu for him?
Xia Yu began to imagine.