My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 317: Chapter 225: Fried Balls

Li Xiang got home in the middle of the night. Little Fox and Er Huang scrambled out of the doghouse to greet him, wagging their tails and rubbing against his legs, one on each side.

A moment later, the kittens and the little hedgehog came over as well.

On the back mountain, Tuantuan was munching on bamboo shoots with great relish. Seeing the lively scene in the courtyard from afar, it excitedly ran down the mountain. With a light leap, its fluffy, chubby body sailed over the high courtyard wall and into Li Xiang’s backyard. ’It’s the middle of the night, anyway. No one will notice.’

’Even if they did, they couldn’t do anything about it. Our Tuantuan has a special status. No one would dare to say a thing.’

The little critters were all very smart. They didn’t make any loud noises, afraid of waking Grandma. Or the villagers farther away.

Only the big rooster and the two goslings were cooped up in their pens, unable to get out, and were growing a little restless. Li Xiang paid them no mind. ’There’s no rush. We’ll all meet at the morning meeting tomorrow.’

Li Xiang played with his little pets for a while before telling them to go back to sleep. Then, he went back to his room as well.

In truth, the little animals didn’t sleep much at night. The kittens, in particular, loved to do parkour at night; how could they possibly fall asleep?

What surprised Li Xiang was that the mother cat hadn’t gone into heat at all in the last six months. ’Could she be hitting menopause?’

As for the kittens, they were still young, not even a year old yet. It wasn’t their time.

Some female cats go into heat early, starting at four or five months, which might be related to their cat food or living environment. Male cats, on the other hand, tend to go into heat reactively. That is, they only start when they smell a female in heat nearby. But if they’re not interested, they might not react at all.

These little ones in Li Xiang’s house, perhaps like their master, were late bloomers and hadn’t shown any such behavior yet. Li Xiang decided to let Nature take its course. It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford to raise more, and besides, one shouldn’t impose human ethics on animals.

Animals have their own modes of survival.

He filled the bathtub in the master bathroom on the second floor more than halfway with hot water and took a comfortable, long soak.

Although it was only late September, the weather was a bit strange. The north was a world of ice and snow, while the south felt like deep autumn, with waves of chill in the air.

After his bath, he watched some TV in the living room. There was a weather program on, where a senior expert had been invited to explain this year’s bizarre weather.

The expert explained that the heavy snow in the south might also come particularly early this year. There would be a period of extremely cold, snowy, and rainy weather, estimated to last for more than twenty days. He urged the public to prepare for the cold and frost in advance.

Li Xiang shook his head. In reality, what the expert didn’t know was that it wouldn’t be just over twenty days. It would last for a full six months, continuing all the way through the Lunar New Year.

A minor ice age.

’I should start preparing to hole up for the winter, too.’ Li Xiang checked the date. The heavy snow wasn’t far off; it would start after the National Day holiday week.

Of course, he didn’t need any special warning. The snow had already started up north, and the weather expert had given a reasonably good forecast.

He believed that with this mental preparation, the second half of the year wouldn’t be too difficult for everyone.

The next day, early in the morning, Li Xiang checked his little pets’ cultivation progress, fed them Spirit Fruits, and gave them a lecture. Afterward, he started deep-frying all sorts of meatballs at home: fish balls, meatballs, lotus root balls, and tofu balls.

The fish he used were no ordinary fish. They were conger eel, Spanish mackerel, greater lizardfish, cod, and grouper/wrasse.

These were all top-quality ingredients for making fish balls. Spanish mackerel, for example, has plump meat that’s thick with few bones, and it’s rich in vitamin A and DHA, making it especially suitable for creating tender, delicious fish balls.

Conger eel, with few bones and a lot of meat, is white, tender, and highly absorbent, resulting in very springy fish balls. Grouper and wrasse are high-end sea fish with delicious meat, creating fish balls with a delicate texture and high nutritional value.

The key to removing the fishy smell from fish balls lies in the freshness of the fish and soaking it in scallion-ginger water and Sichuan peppercorn water.

Li Xiang had a particular love for the taste of Sichuan peppercorns. If the concentration of the flavor was adjusted perfectly, it was absolutely divine. Too strong or too weak, and it just wouldn’t taste good.

Additionally, slamming the fish paste and adding egg whites were also crucial steps in the process. Repeatedly slamming the paste makes the fish balls springier, while the egg whites add to their tenderness.

As for the meatballs, Li Xiang didn’t use pork or regular beef, but whale meat, antelope meat, and venison.

Anyway, since the meat was minced into a paste, Grandma wouldn’t know what it was. Li Xiang just told her it was beef.

Grandma had a small appetite. She would only eat one or two pieces of meat or one or two large meatballs with her meal and then no more, so Li Xiang wasn’t worried she would eat too much and feel unwell.

Besides, eating these kinds of meat in moderation was especially beneficial for the elderly. It would keep their hands and feet from getting cold in the winter.

Putting aside antelope meat and venison, the taste of whale meat alone was by no means bad, and its nutritional and economic value was extremely high.

Its meat could not only be eaten but also be rendered into oil to provide light for humanity. Whale oil could also be used in industry, medicine, cosmetics, and other fields. In industry, for example, whale oil was often made into lubricants for aircraft engines, ships, industrial machinery, and car engines.

In today’s society where there is no shortage of food and drink, the Little Book still insists on whaling despite the criticism, even having a special ”Whale Festival.” This just goes to show how delicious and valuable whale meat is.

It is by no means merely the continuation of a ”culture.”

Regarding whales, Japan has all sorts of ways to eat them. Among them, a dish called ”Tender-Roasted Whale Liver” is considered a luxury cuisine.