"My father nodded his head in agreement. He brought out a bag of top quality flour and ordered the servants to bring fresh water from a nearby stream. He got the servants to bring in a new noodle making table while he threw away the dough I had kneaded before.
He got the cook to bring in a slew of fresh ingredients. Jin Hua Huo Tui (Jin Hua Ham a.k.a Top grade ham), Xia Ren (Shrimp), Gan Bei (scallop) and many more... All these ingredients were laid out on a table between me and her.
My father told me to prepare two of our hardest and famous noodle, Zhen Hun Mian (Soul settling Noodles) and Dou Fu Mian (Beancurd Noodles). While her father told her to prepare Siew Mai (Can't find the word for it) and Ge Ge Xiao Bao Zi (Laughing Bun).
She nodded her, without uttering a sound, started working on the flour. I, same as her, following my father's orders, starting making new dough.
He took a sip of his tea, chuckling to himself. Looking out to the moon which seems to be interested in the story while rocking in his cane woven chair...
I wasn't looking at her. Actually, I do not have the time to look at her. The two noodles dishes that my father had asked for, requires a lot of concentration and effort. I was determined not to fail him. However, I still managed to steal a glance at her every now and then.
She amazes me. She don't look strong, she got no bulging muscles. And yet, the way she handle the dough blew me away. It was so effortless, so easy to her, as if she was playing with either the water or the flour.
The skin she made for the Xiu Mais were so thin that it looked almost transparent.
I was also finishing up on my Zhen Hun Mian. This noodle dish is hard because there are three very important requirements to it. One, the noodles must be two meter long with no breaks in it. Two, it must be almost transparent. Three, the noodles must be as thin as paper.
She was stealing glances at what I'm doing too as she let out a gasp of surprise when she saw my noodles. I could see my father smiling and her father, surprised.
I began working on my next noodle dish, Dou Fu Mian, while she began to fill the ingredients for the Siew Mai. I almost fell when I saw how her Siew Mai pouch looked like. It was a pouch with five pockets with one being slightly larger.
I asked myself what kind of Siew Mai is that? But her father was smiling, and my father was nodding his head off in agreement. I decided not to think about it but to concentrate on my noodles.
The Beancurd noodles is much more harder than Zhen Hun Mian. This dish has only one requirement and one ingredient. That is to make the noodles out of Dehydrated Beancurd.
(Due to the sheer number of steps and poor memory, I can't recall much. Its very hard to make the noodles though. I have seen my grandfather made it once and the skills and effort needed is huge. To put it across simply, one has to dehydrate a large block of beancurd, and cut it up into strips. Knife work and cooking skills are major issues here as one does not simply cut and cook anyway he/she like.)
While I was busy with the Beancurd noodles, she started working on her Ge Ge Xiao Boa Zi. I cannot, at that point, comprehend what she was doing to the dough. She simply stretch it over the mould and that's it.
I did not see the dough fluff up. She simply placed a few dices of beef into the dough with a handful of rice vermicelli and wrapped it up. I thought that was a dumb way of making buns!"
He broke into laughter, almost spilling his tea. My dad and his siblings were chuckling in one corner.
A gentle laughter came from the room where the small black diffuser is playing old Cantonese songs....
"After all the preparations were done, we started to do the cooking. She started heating up a wok of oil and she placed the buns she made in to it. I was in bafflement as I have always thought that buns were supposed to be steamed.
Then an amazing thing happened. The bun which was flat before, begin to fluff up! Up to now, I still do not know how.
Although I was in awe but I did not lost my concentration on my noodles.
By the time we were done, our fathers have already retreated to the dinning area. The servants carried our efforts to them, setting it out in between the both of them. The both of them were nodding their heads, smiling when they saw the noodles and dim sum.
Her father had nothing but praises for my noodles. It was the best noodles he had ever tasted before except those from my father's hands. My father was praising his daughter for the skills that she had when preparing the Siew Mai and the Ge Ge Xiao Bun.
We were both standing in front of them, listening to what they were saying. I was smiling from ear to ear and she was blushing with her head lowered.
After the both of them had chatted for awhile, her father told me to bring her out and enjoy the night.
I was surprised by her father's suggestion. She was staring hard to the ground, her cheeks, red like a tomato. I looked at my father with pleading eyes, screaming for help silently, hoping that he would wrap up this awkward situation.
Instead, he took out his money pouch, handed quite a bit of money to me and told me to enjoy the night. I stood there, with the money in my hands, wild eyed, in shock, not knowing what to do next!"
He shook his head while he chuckled. His eyes were glistening under light from the shy moon, half hiding behind the dark clouds along with the restless light breeze dancing around.
He stopped to catch his breath, took a sip of his tea, looked at me and smile while rocking in his old can woven rocking chair...
To be continued
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