After reading a few pages, I was deeply immersed in the life of Zhabai's mother, cazac. Every day, I watched them herding sheep, squeezing yogurt, making cheese, making naan cakes, making tea and eating naan cakes over and over again.
Kathy, the original ecological pancake maker.
Kathy, the youngest daughter of Zach's mother, is responsible for baking Nan cakes at home. Nan cake is the most important food for Kazakh nomads. The work during the day is busy and hard. When you are hungry for lunch, guests will cook milk tea and make naan cakes. Every time, a lot of naan cakes are made and stored, and the baked naan cakes are not so easy to deteriorate in the cold air of the grassland.
The naan cake made by little girl Kathy is original ecology. Pick up some dried cow dung first, and then dig a big baking pit in the ground. Knock the pot full of cow dung twice on the ground, pour the flour directly in and mix the flour. When baking, the lid is a little small. Just around the lid, put a circle of cow dung to press the lid. The freshly baked South Pancakes are brown and bright, and their fragrance is overflowing. The fly in the ointment is that there will be some scattered cow dung residue on the surface of the south cake. The little girl wiped it with a rag that had just wiped the table and threw it into the bag.
Freshly baked naan cakes are usually not eaten immediately. It's all stored before eating, and then it's just baked. At this time, the newly baked ones will also be stored. The newly baked South Cake is brown, fragrant and chewy. The stored south pancakes are too hard and can only smell cold. People are worried that they can't eat fresh naan cakes, and the stored naan cakes are even more reluctant to eat.
Maybe we will think, why not eat now and bake now. As a nomadic Kazakh, the day's work is hard and intensive, and people have no more time to prepare every meal. Only when the sun goes down and the sheep are in the pen can we relax and cook a hot meal.
It is extremely impolite for guests to visit us every day, and it is also impolite to prepare naan cakes at home. When guests come home, they will soon spread a floral carpet, which is our tablecloth. Put naan cakes, pour milk tea and entertain guests. Therefore, at home all the year round, at any time, Nanbing can't be broken.
Stewed vermicelli with celery.
The days of grazing on the grassland, away from the city, away from the bustling, all rely on water plants. The food is poor and monotonous. Everyday is milk tea and naan cake. Once in a while, be a Lamian Noodles and cook a stew, and life will be improved. Maybe everyone will think that they don't have many sheep, so they should be able to eat mutton often. People on the grassland feed themselves on sheep. Sheep are used to produce wool and then sell it for money. Whoever is willing to kill a sheep will eat it.
Li Juan will buy some vegetables and fruits when he goes to the county on business. I bought celery and vermicelli once, and I plan to add mutton oil stewed vermicelli at night. As soon as the words came out, the little girl Tashi and the young man Smahuli began to look forward to the dinner in the evening. Worried that guests would visit during the day, I had to wait until evening. After all, the ingredients are limited, and guests are embarrassed to eat alone.
After a day's work, Li Juan returned to the tent at night and began to be busy with celery stew vermicelli at night. It was really delicious when it was baked, and the three of them couldn't wait for Zach to worship his mother and start eating. While eating, the dog outside barked, and it was obvious that someone was coming. The first reaction of the three people is to hide pots and pans. In fact, the smell of the house and the leaking pot handle are telling the truth. If Zach worships his mother at home, a scolding is inevitable.
The grandeur and difficulty of transformation
Kazakh nomads all live on aquatic plants. They usually stay in a pasture and only stay for a while, no matter how rich the aquatic plants are here. In order to protect the turf from being overused and for other herders to graze, we won't stay long.
Packaging before the transition is extremely cumbersome and careful. Everything should be tied with thick and strong wool ropes. Small fragile items should be wrapped in thick felt. A long journey, a difficult journey, and an unexpected situation at any time are easy to damage everything.
The yurt will be demolished the day before moving, and only a simple tent will be built that night. Sleep for a few hours at night and get up before dawn to load camels. Camels are the main means of transportation for moving and changing places, and are used to carry household items. People are riding horses and leading camels.
Almost every transition takes more than ten hours of trekking. The climate change on the grassland is endless, and the wind and rain continue all the way. Li Juan often wears all his thick clothes, but he still can't resist the biting cold wind and rain on the grassland. Zach worships his mother's family very much, and usually washes his hair and takes a bath the day before the transition, rain or shine. When I leave the next day, I must put on my latest and most beautiful clothes. I will dress up carefully, and I attach great importance to every transition.
On the way to the transition, if you meet a yurt, whether you are familiar with the host or not, the host will greet you with homemade yogurt and milk tea on the only way. For those who are hungry and cold in the transition period, this is undoubtedly a timely help and a warm feeling.
After a long journey, I arrived at my destination and was still unloading camels. Neighbors who live on another mountain will send their young children to entertain their neighbors from afar with naan cakes and milk tea. Two brothers and sisters who came once, the elder sister looked three or four years old, and the younger brother was still wobbly.
I managed to climb a hill. Although I was very careful, when I put down the thermos with hot milk tea, I heard a bang and the inner container of the thermos was broken. Usually such a big child, in the face of such a situation, will cry grievances. Children on the grassland can walk and start working. It seems that Si Tong is used to this situation. Just silently picked up the shell of the thermos bottle, put down Nan's cake and went back. After a while, you will find this little brother and sister, carrying another thermos, coming again in an instant.
Party all night.
The work on the grassland is heavy and hard, and every day is spent in busy and repeated busy. After busy leisure time, I lie on the grass and look at the blue sky and white clouds and the distant scenery. Or sleep in a yurt until dark.
If there is a party nearby, my brothers and sisters must attend. Get up early, finish the work to be done during the day quickly, drive the sheep back to the sheepfold in the afternoon and start combing. At sunset, I will ride a horse to the party. The party on the grassland may be arranged at night because it is known that young and strong workers have a lot of work to do during the day.
Young people usually get together all night, singing and dancing. The next morning, I dragged my tired body home. When you get home, there is no time to catch up on sleep. You should pick up your tools and get to work at once. Li Juan really wanted to see the wonderful party, but at the thought of staying up late, he immediately backed out, even though Zach admired his mother and encouraged her many times.