When 618 emptied the shopping cart, I didn't notice that there was a small item mixed in and paid together, and when I received it, I found that it was the black sesame shortening that I had been in the shopping cart for a long time but had not bought.
Black sesame crisp
"Is it to make us remember bittersweetly?" The son asked with a smile. He looked at the ingredient list, shook his head, and said, "Who eats such a high-calorie thing now?" ”
Indeed it is. But I remember my grandfather loved to eat these sweets, and in the past, their lime buckets used to have candy snacks such as shortbread, zongzi candy, shortbread, poured slices, and onion tube sugar all year round.
Shortbread, rice dumplings, shortbread, poured slices, shallot tube sugar
Thinking of sesame shortening, I go back to my childhood. Every time one of us children memorized a poem and wrote a few words correctly, Grandpa would bend his index finger to scrape the bridge of our noses, laugh and say "Piggy", and then bend down to take a snack from the lime bucket to reward us. My favorite is this black sesame crisp. I had forgotten what poems I had memorized and what words I had learned, but the sticky and fragrant sweetness that filled the entire mouth was still between my lips and teeth.
A square white paper bag, with red box and red characters on the front, written with the name of the merchant, flipped to the back to tear open the sticky small corner, and then opened in its entirety, is two rows of shortbread wrapped in oil paper. I opened the oil paper, gently picked it with my two fingers, and mentioned it slightly, and when it happened to be a long strip, the outer layer of black sesame powder fell down. You can also stuff a whole brain into the mouth, so the mouth presents different levels of different traits of the plump sweet taste - sesame flour wheat flour alone is too trivial, just crisp and too sticky, now with a little toughness of the "belt" wrapped in a sticky core and delicate powder, all at once let the chewing, crisp, sweet and greasy feeling are fused together. After eating the mouth, the powder scattered in the oil paper can not be thrown, take the oil paper on the black sesame powder folded a few folds, black sesame powder because of some maltose residue of stickiness, it is made into a small square. If there is still some loose powder, then you can't grab it by hand, you can only use the oil paper as a funnel, and pour it directly into your mouth on your neck. Eating this is the most afraid of being anxious, and I will choke on it in a hurry.
Shortening
I probably haven't eaten these desserts in at least twenty years. In fact, I have been with my grandfather for a total of 13 years, and he has been away from us for 23 years.
Grandpa was a skinny little old man. The hair was white, the cheekbones were high, the mouth was flat—there were not many teeth left in less than 70 years. In childhood, our grandfather was a sweet-loving old man who doted on us.
Grandpa's house has a small courtyard with a grape shed and a small 2-storey building. To the west is a cool hall, and on summer afternoons my sister and I often eat ice bricks and read comic strips in the recliner. The east is divided into two rooms, the first half is counted as a hall house, the sacrifice and the like are here, the north half is grandpa's room, and the easternmost side is a creaky wooden staircase.
Grapevine shed in the yard
Grandpa's bed was leaning against the southeast corner of the room, and on the north side by the window was a desk, and the most conspicuous thing on the desk was various medicines. Hydrogen peroxide, iodine and the like are his usual, when we children broke the skin, do not have to tell the adults, they went into grandpa's room, took cotton balls dipped in hydrogen peroxide to disinfect themselves, watched those bubbles pop out and then broken, and then bandaged themselves, because often watch grandpa treat his wounds like this, he learned early. Grandpa's injuries were caused by a Japanese bullet when he was young, and the illness followed him for most of his life.
iodine
There were books and some newspapers on the desk, and my grandfather liked to tell us the Classic of Mountains and Seas. My grandfather, who reads the newspaper every day, did not go to school, I did not know it until the fifth grade, he taught himself to recognize the words.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas
Grandpa was the secretary of the brigade. In the summer of 1994, the school organized our writing interest group of about 10 people to interview my grandfather's house, in the cool hall to the west, my grandmother helped us make a large pot of herbal tea, put a lot of desserts on the table, we sat around grandpa to listen to him talk about the material changes brought about by the changes of the times: the road in front of the door, from the mud road that turned into a mud pond when it rained, to a gravel road, and then into a wide asphalt road; listen to him talk about the changes in the spiritual life brought about by the changes of the times: most of the illiterate people in our village from their generation To my parents' generation of many high school graduates and even college students, to hope that our generation will receive high-quality education, there will be many college students in the future; listen to him talk about the changes caused by the changes of the times to fishermen: from poverty and smelly culture and being looked down upon, to self-reliance, to learning culture to explore aquaculture, and began to no longer live under the people. He talked about how the fishermen struggled to make a living with the wind and waves, how they caught the robbers in the Taihu Lake, how they went from eating and drinking to gradually settling on land, and how they slowly ate their stomachs and straightened their waists little by little... Grandpa talked.
The author's mother, grandmother and grandfather are photographed in Shanghai
That time the essay was particularly easy to write. That afternoon, I looked up at the old man for the first time from the perspective of an audience member, and as a teenager I saw that it was an old man with a villager in his chest.
When I was in elementary school, before every exam, my grandfather always jokingly reminded me and my cousin that no one should wear a "hemp coat" (paralysis), and no one told us that after my grandfather died. He missed our high school and college entrance examinations, he didn't see us wearing master's hats, and he didn't know that my cousin and I had both stepped up to the podium and were teachers he would certainly be proud of.
The author (center) takes a group photo with his grandfather and cousin in Nanjing
When he was young, he took the villagers to earn centimeters, when he was about to retire, he took the lead in forming an economic cooperative, and after retirement, he also did crab farming experiments at his own expense, and all he thought about was how to lead the villagers to live a good life. But he did not see the glory of crab farming and sales in Taihu Lake in those years, and did not see that so many fishermen had become rich people. Of course, if he was still there, in order to protect the waters of Taihu Lake, he would definitely be the first person to respond to the demolition of the enclosure, and he would definitely continue to help the villagers find a way out.
Taihu lake crab farming
On March 8, 1996, Grandpa left, and that night was so cold that ice beads suddenly fell in the middle of the night. Grandpa lay there, covered with layers of white cloth, and I never saw him again.
Before grandpa died, his family kept going to Shanghai and Beijing to buy him all kinds of things he loved to eat and things he hadn't eaten. Before he died, he changed back into the skinny little "gluttonous" little old man.
Grandpa certainly did not expect that now we will fly abroad to eat food, and we will also click the mobile phone from time to time to bring all kinds of delicacies to our eyes.
No, like this black sesame crisp, inadvertently wrapped in front of me, the packaging is no longer what I remembered, but the taste is still the same.
About the Author
Xi Lu, a native of Wujiang, Jiangsu Province, was born in March 1983. The little women after the 80s who grew up by Taihu Lake like to write wildly, and the life in the small fishing village when she was a child never needs to be remembered, because she has never forgotten. The thoughts of my grandfather, I hope that occasionally can be released not through tears, but through simple words.
Author: Xi Lu
Responsible editors: Qian Xiaoyan, Wu Ying
Technical Editor: Wu Ying
Image source: Xi Lu, Collections & Network
"Magnificent 70 years, my new era" essay notice
1. Essay theme
Closely centering on the main line of celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, from the perspective of the development of individuals, families, Wujiang and the country, the brilliant achievements of national construction and the development of Wujiang under the leadership of the Communist Party of China are vividly displayed in words, as well as the spiritual outlook of the broad masses of the people striving for a happy life.
2. Content of the essay
It is required to tell the personal experiences and personal experiences of themselves and the people around them from the perspective of the first person, to see the big in the small, and to reflect the great changes brought about by the development of the motherland and the construction of the hometown through the transformation of personal family destiny. The content must be truthful and accurate, and plagiarism is strictly prohibited. The length is about 2000-3000 words; the manuscript must be an original work, not published in other media, and the author's name, contact information, personal profile and personal recent photos should be indicated at the end of the article; it is better to be accompanied by photos related to the content of the manuscript.
3. Deadline for essay collection
September 30
4. Objects of the essay
People from all walks of life who work, study and live in Wujiang
5. Posting method
1. The essay is sent to the mailbox [email protected] by electronic manuscript;
2. Please indicate the "My New Era" theme sample in the email.
6. Selection and recruitment of essays
The Wujiang District Archives launched a suitable essay on the "WujiangTong" WeChat public account and gave a reward for the manuscript fee. After the end of the essay collection activity, the Wujiang District Archives organized the judges to select the first, second and third prizes based on the quality of the article and the number of WeChat readings, and the accepted articles will be collected and published.
〓Friendly reminder: This event refuses to submit more than one draft