06:34 Discovered a Fascinating Phenomenon People only yawn when their eyes are open. 06:36 Noodles and Pastry Are Quite Tricky to Make I tried steaming buns once before and failed. Yesterday, I attempted making pancakes and nearly failed again. Mastering the properties of ingredients and controlling the heat really requires a lot of experience. Huanhuan has had diarrhea since Friday, so I haven’t made anything particularly tasty these past couple of days. ...
Today, we planned to go to Huanhuan’s maternal grandmother’s house. She had been inviting us to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in Chengguan for a while. Huanhuan’s father went ahead first, while we took our time at home before heading over. We also carried a bag of rice that Huanhuan had received from her workplace. The second aunt was there too and prepared a big table full of delicious dishes for us. We went out to buy some fruit—lychees were particularly expensive at 10 yuan per pound, but they didn’t taste very good. We’ll have to buy fewer next time. We also bought a pineapple (I’ve always thought it was just another name for the same fruit). The vendor’s “Dubai knife skills” turned a whole large pineapple into just a tiny box of fruit. It might have been better to peel the pineapple ourselves during the family gathering—that way, we could have avoided sitting around with nothing to do but play on our phones. ...
This morning, I made lobster tail pasta, and it turned out pretty good. It’s just not as tasty as live crayfish, but it’s fine to have occasionally. After a short nap in the afternoon, we went to the seafood street and bought some oysters (¥3 each, opened on the spot) and clams (¥7 per pound—the vendor even threw out the bad ones). It was quite a good deal. Then we headed to the supermarket to pick up some side ingredients and seasonings. ...
A few days ago, my older brother went to Henan for a university classmate’s wedding. Yesterday afternoon, he called me to share what he had learned, mainly about the cost-effectiveness of studying abroad, the difficulties of studying overseas, the challenges of growing older, and the situation after returning to China. I was already aware of these things, but hearing him reiterate them made me even more anxious. Last night, when I video-called Huanhuan, I sensed she seemed a bit down. I asked her what was wrong, but she said it was nothing. ...
This morning, my mom called and told me to go to the sports center tomorrow morning to eat stewed goose. I really didn’t want to go, but my second aunt and my sister Lian kept nagging nonstop on the other end of the line, making it impossible to refuse. I quickly got up, cooked a bowl of noodles, and shared some with Xiaohuanhuan. Then, I prepared the materials for tomorrow’s qualification review while Huanhuan helped me wash the dishes and tidy up neatly. ...
To create more alone time with Huanhuan, we headed to Shuicheng today, planning to spend two days together. While waiting for the bus at noon, I got hungry and casually ate a bowl of beef noodles by the roadside. As a result, I wasn’t very hungry when we arrived in Shuicheng and had little appetite. During this trip home, I noticed an old broken phone that my sister used to have. I also observed that Manman and Ningning would become very eager to use phones when they had no playmates. So, I thought of taking this broken phone with me to see if I could fix it. ...
I slept quite well last night, without any dreams. This morning, Huanhuan’s dad came back while we were still sleeping in. After getting up, I washed my hair, and Huanhuan’s dad went out to buy groceries. At noon, I tried stir-frying pork liver for the first time—it tasted a bit odd, but Huanhuan’s dad thought it was quite delicious. In the afternoon, I went to Huanhuan’s office to wait for her while she worked on her speech draft. After she finished, she bought me some cakes, and then we went to eat Luosifen (river snail rice noodles). It didn’t taste as good as before. ...